Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Blame it on the Grammy's

This year's Grammy Awards show was actually quite entertaining for me.  I can't actually recall how long it's been since I watched the entire show.  But this past Sunday night, that's exactly what we did (save for the commercials).  I thought the mix of performers was great.  The fact that I knew them all and are fans of many was a huge plus.  I also appreciate the Grammy's because it invigorates me and often inspires me to check out new music and artists [Hello - Esmeralda Spalding? Who saw that one coming?].

It's because of the Grammy's that I rekindled my May-December romance with Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers.  I downloaded a handful of songs from the former and just the song performed from the latter.  Mumford & Sons' performance was cool; maybe it was the banjo player, whom I swear was humping his banjo, that really caught my eye.  Whatever it was, I took a fancy to them again, beyond the Little Lion Man.  "The Cave" and "Awake My Soul" are great pieces.  But it's because of the Grammy's that, as I approached the incline on the San Mateo bridge this morning, I was belting out the following words:

But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear? (x2)

Monday, February 7, 2011

Super Bowl 2011

Thoughts on the big game this year.  I have only a handful.

The national anthem:  Admittedly, it sounded off when Christina Aguilera started singing the second line (wrong, btw) instead of the fourth, but I have to say that I was preparing my stopwatch to time how long it took her to sing the note of the word "brave".  ;-)  Anyways, performance for me wasn't Christina-esque. Or, maybe it was and I just wasn't feeling it.  FAIL.  

The game:  Just okay.  Maybe it's because I had no real allegiance to either team, but I found the game rather boring.  There were a few show stopper plays, but the game itself I couldn't really get into.  It should be noted that I was rooting for Troy and Clay whenever they or their team had a good play.  And no, I wasn't rooting for Aaron Rodgers.  Not because he went to Cal (although that would be a valid reason), but because I'm still bitter after all of these years.  Bitter because - and it still hurts to even say it - he could have been a Niner.  :: sigh ::

The commercials:  Again, just okay.  I thought the etrade commercial was cute.  "Shh.."  Lol.  And the Doritos ones were kinda funny.  A handful more garnered a chuckle out of me, but since I can't recollect them right now, they obviously weren't that great.  My absolute favorite commercial, one that I'm sure millions of people will agree on, is the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial with that little kid.  Best! 



The halftime show:  Now, I know a lot of people drank haterade during the halftime show because hella people were complaining afterwards.  The Black Eyed Peas are known for their dance beats and sometimes that just doesn't translate live.  I think Fergie sounded off, and could someone explain to me what the eff the sound engineer was doing..!!  Seriously, the sound mixing was awful and really took away from a decent performance.  Slash = cool, Fergie "singing" along = FAIL.  Usher = awesome.  Bringing back the running man = A+.  Tron-like theatrics and dance pumping beats.  It was a solid "B".

Post-shows:  Glee was actually not half bad.  And the 'Don't Stop Believing' SF Giants special was really cool.  Great to re-live those memories, especially the day after Fan Fest (oh, don't even get me started on that..).