Do The Right Thing

Many moons ago when I was in college, young and convinced of my wisdom and ready to take on the world - as college students are wont to be - I saw the Spike Lee flick "Do the Right Thing". This film led to an extended discussion with my room mate at the time, someone of minority heritage who had grown up in a largely minority neighborhood. It is more than fair to say, that my life experience, despite my confidence and wisdom, was far removed from his frame of reference. Suffice to say, we disagreed.

I refused to believe that someone could so... callously? calmly? obliviously? Take another man's life.

And today we all confront an example nearly scripted out from the movie's scene.
Over a few cigarettes a man died.

Any yet, there is no accountability.

I wish I could find my room mate from so many years ago, and apologize. And tell him he was right. Even now, a quarter of a century later.

My Favorite Movie Scenes (vol 2)

I struggle with what my favorite movies are. People ask me... and I just cannot find a way to rank and sort the many movies I love for many different reasons.

On the other hand, I can put together a list of favorite scenes. Moments that leap out from film into crystallized emotion or thought or acting. Here is round two of this list with 6 more.

*****There are spoilers here. Consider yourself warned.*****

 If you haven't seen a film here. Make it a goal to see it.

These scenes alone make the experience worthy of your time.

Glory (1989)

This movie has some issues, the framing of the ending scene not least, but... "I love the 54th."

Denzel Washington plays Private Silas Trip, an escaped slave who volunteers for an all colored unit raised by the North during the Civil War. Trip resists integration and rejects acceptance by his white officers and by his fellow soldiers. He is a loner, self reliant and independent. He joined for his own personal reasons, not for shared identity or goals. The story progresses, events unfold, and history is told while the characters come together.

Before the climatic engagement, the soldiers of the 54th gather to share in comraderie. There are testimonials,  song, and worship. And Trip has his vulnerability and ache for companionship pulled out of him before the entire unit. He lays himself bare and joins his brothers in arms in an emotional and effective portrayal given an exclamation point by Denzel's wonderful ability to deliver a line:

"I ain't much about no prayin,' now. I ain't never had no family, and... killed off my mama. Well, I just... Y'all's the onliest family I got. I love the 54th. Ain't even much a matter what happens tomorrow, 'cause we men, ain't we? We men."

A man and a people given the freedom to display strength, pride, and character.

The Fall (2006)

(This, IMO, is a much watch film if you have not seen it.)

This is set in the early 1900s at the dawn of the Hollywood movie boom. A young immigrant girl, Alexandria, is in a hospital when she meets another patient - a stuntman named Roy. The story's outline is that Roy begins telling the girl a story of flamboyant heroes in an epic tale. This is done to entertain her and manipulate her into helping him get opium. The young actress (Catinca Untaru) is tremendously adorable as little Alexandria and just eats up screen time. Pair that with a visually stunning film - locations, costumes, colors... and it is an excellent movie.

The scene that matters comes  near the end. Roy has become increasing despondent, with both his own situation and with what he has done to Alexandria. He wishes to end the story, but she insists on completing it. His sadness and angry bleeds into the narrative and hence into Alexandria. She sits by him, crying and pleading for the story (and Roy) to become bold and happy again with a power that is so moving that I fall for it every time.

I am Legend (2007)

Okay, the movie is not faithful to the literary source but despite that, I can forgive it for being good at what it is.

Will Smith plays Robert Neville, the last 'man' left alone in a New York after a plague. (Disclaimer, in the written source it is a spread of vampirism, the movie makes it zombie-like.)

This film is wonderful at displaying Robert Neville's determined isolation, loneliness, and longing. His companion dog, Samantha, is the focal point of this and wonderfully scripted and filmed as a character in her own right holding up his sanity in the face of his stress, grief, and horror. But dogs are not immune, and when Samantha sacrifices herself to protect Neville it leads to a heart wrenching scene as his last friend leaves and becomes a foe. No other response is possible than to cry watching such sacrifice and loss.

Gladiator (2000)

The opening sequence to Gladiator is visually stunning. The might of Rome intruded upon a wilderness, grinding the woods of Germania to mud and tree stumps in an inevitable tide. The tribes shout their defiance, and the legion stares unmoved.

"A people should know when they're conquered"

And then the real organization, determination, efficiency of Rome is displayed as the technology, planning, & logistics are artfully portrayed with slick direction and stunning force. There is no doubt why Rome strode the Earth as they did.

(And I think they did know they were conquered.  But what choice did they have?)

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

Trapped and certainly doomed, as for once Scotty cannot work a miracle to save the ship, Spock seals himself in a certainly deadly situation and proceeds to save the ship. The joy of survival is destroyed as Kirk comes to face the dying Spock through a window, and he is powerless. Spock places his hand against the window in the classic Vulcan position and dies saying "Live long and prosper."

Years of shared experience as a viewer of the series encapsulate all the emotional investment into show, setting, and characters in that one moment. It benefits from nice pacing of the moment, and a brevity of dialogue delivered with some of the best acting those involved ever managed together. I admit I teared up the first time I saw it, and I still do today.

(They never should have brought Spock back. It was one of the truly great character deaths on screen.)

(Oh, and JJ Abrams can just suck it.)

Star Trek: The Next Generation "Family" S4:E2 (1990)

Okay, this is not a "movie scene", I know, but it is a scene worthy of being highlighted in this list without question.

The Season 3 Finale and Season 4 first episode is as fine a dramatic and action filled story in all of Star Trek. And Episode 2 is a critical component of that story arc, it is the heart and soul of what makes the previous episodes' succeed in my opinion.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard has recently been rescued from incorporation within the Borg (Season 3 finale and Season 4 first episode in as fine a dramatic and action filled story in all of Star Trek). The Enterprise returns to Earth for repairs, and Picard takes leave to the surface and returns to the family vineyards now run by his brother Robert. He connects with his nephew, his sister-in-law, and struggles with the idea of leaving Starfleet after his recent travails. Robert stalks around the scenes gruff and dour as any Klingon...

And then the scene: the brothers come to blows, wrestling in the mud of a French vineyard. When they stop to talk, there is a powerful heartfelt brother-to-brother conversation that rings far too true-to-life. Picard sobs and cries, pouring out his humanity and weakness in some wonderful acting:

"They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy and I couldn't stop them. I should have been able to stop them. I tried. I tried so hard. But I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't good enough! I should have been able to stop them. I should... I should..."

and his brother says the things that need to be said, in the way they need saying.

"So... my brother is a human being after all.

This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc.

A long time."

Depth of character, family dynamics, and tough love classically depicted.

And the definitive moment for me in what makes Jean-Luc Picard The Best.

Syria Chaotica

So, at one time the Moderates in Syria had a clear opportunity for victory. A US policy decision was on the table to arm, train, and support the Moderates to contribute to the goal of toppling Assad. Someone talked the Administration into believing that was a bad idea, because we would just end up arming militants. Turkey asked to go in and handle things, and we stopped them. NATO/EU tried to come up with a intervention, and we stopped them.

(As a side note: Russia is buddies with Syria, so we were trying to play nice with Putin by being nice to Syria - fat lot of good that did.)

Some of the people fighting Assad got desperate for aid and turned to militants for help. A flow of arms, fighters, and leaders from the chaos the US helped create in Iraq gave the militants muscle. These militants got organized, became the IS, and were not bashful about attacking the Moderates as much as Assad. The Moderates were beaten back in a two front war. No one paid attention until the IS grabbed land in Iraq, because they astutely took advantage of an opportunity presented. In doing so they gained credibility, more arms, and attracted more fighters to their cause.

The Administration finally started to notice that they may have made a mistake, and that sometimes doing nothing is worse than the pain of doing something.

I have seen several reports that conclude that the Moderates have lost, with few meaningful enclaves remaining. In a recent major battle/last stand against Assad, IS attacked their flank and rear and the Moderate opposition was largely shattered.

It is now we are going to arm and train the Moderates to win in Syria and face off with the IS... Moderates that have already lost the war they wanted to fight, and we are going to ask them to fight a war they probably don't want to fight. This situation is going to take a lot more will and investment from a lot more sources to clean up.


In my opinion March of 2003 was the worst mistake in US foreign policy history. And we have been in a disastrous tail spin ever since with mistake on top of mistake, and it is all coming home to roost.

Israeli-Palestinian Crisis

Am I the only one that thinks it is in Israel's best interest to strength Fatah in the West Bank. It seems to me that a process of reasonable negotiations, moving towards a Palestinian state focused there with economic engagement and incentive would marginalize Hamas. I can easily envision disenchantment by the Palestinians trapped in Gaza under Hamas when they saw a peaceful process with the West Bank. They would see that the message/action of violence and hate from Hamas as less desirable than prosperity and peace...

..right?

Why isn't this a viable path for Israel to take?

Some Words, From Others, to Ponder upon the Subject of Past, Present, and Future

"The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future."
-- Teddy Roosevelt

"What is history? An echo of the past in the future; a reflex from the future on the past."
-- Victor Hugo

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
-- Karl Marx

"And history with all her volumes vast, Hath but one page."
-- Lord Byron

Because my mind works oddly at times

For no particular reason, okay, that is not true. I have been reading Joe Abercrombie's First Law series - an entertaining fantasy yarn, incidentally, well worth the time - in which he presents a creature in his world called the Shanka. This is clearly his stand in for the standard non-human monstrous threat, very much in the same vein as Tolkien's Orcs in terms of being a 'created' species by a evil wizard-type.

Anyway... I challenged myself to to remember (without looking) the names of traditional monstrous humanoid races that function and act together in fantasy. And this is as far as I got.

• Goblin
• Kobold
• Gnoll
• Orc
• Hobgoblin
• Troglodyte
• Troll (this is a bit of a reach, generally portrayed in small numbers, but often along with some of the above)

The following are not always 'good', and certainly are non-human:

• Elves 
• Dwarves
• Gnomes

My Favorite Movie Scenes (vol 1)

I struggle with what my favorite movies are. People ask me... and I just cannot find a way to rank and sort the many movies I love for many different reasons.

On the other hand, I can put together a list of favorite scenes. Moments that leap out from film into crystallized emotion or thought or acting. Here are 5 such.

*****There are spoilers here. Consider yourself warned.*****

 If you haven't seen a film here. Make it a goal to see it.

These scenes alone make these films worthy of your time.

Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Say what you want about the movie script drifting away from the classic novel, the movie is largely well done with some great period costume work, beautiful sets/scenes and nothing quite like Uncas' charge up the hill to reach Alice as she is dragged away by Magua (in one of the best movie villain portrayals ever by the actor Wes Studi).

Wikipedia offers a very dry summary of this scene,  "Uncas, who cares for Alice, races ahead to intercept Magua's band, killing several warriors before engaging Magua in single combat. Magua kills him, then drops his body off the cliff. Rather than join Magua, Alice follows Uncas, jumping to her death."

Fantastic use of music as Uncas runs up the hill, determined, silent, and violent. The relationship with Alice has been effectively and brilliantly conveyed with simple facial expressions and minor physical gestures. It is unspoken, but achingly powerful as he makes his charge, and the results of the scene are a powerful punch in the gut... all without a single spoken word.

I admit that I tear up every time I see it.

Schindler's List (1993)

The story of Oskar Schindler is a fantastic movie by Steven Spielberg. Little needs to be said about it's grim and firm presentation of the holocaust from a specific position within the machination of the worst of that regime. But for me, the moment in this film is near the end. Oskar Schindler has run with many of his remaining workers, they are near the border escaping from the invading Soviets and dodging the last German hold outs. Oskar collapses before the crowd of those he has led to freedom... and breaks down. He cries that he didn't do enough, that he could have done more. That he should have done more. That moment, from a man that had done so very much, bemoaning his failure and weakness is strong and heartbreaking.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The film opens with an older gentleman walking the graveyard of Normandy, his family behind him not understanding... clearly not knowing his story. He finds the grave he wants:

"My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn't sure how I'd feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. And I've tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes, I've earned what all of you have done for me."

And the movie presents itself. A good war film. A good dramatic story. There are several excellent scenes in this work, but it is the end that kills me. Again the film returns to the older man in the graveyard, and he turns to his wife and begs her to tell him he has led a good life, to tell him that he is a good man. It is what every real man wants to know for his life, for his family. In the end. Made more poignant from the sacrifice specifically prompting the request in this case, and unknowing confusion on her part. It is an effective exclamation point on a solid film.

Jaws (1975)

I'll close this Spielberg trifecta with an iconic film, with iconic characters. But it all comes together in one scene for me.

Hooper, Quint, & Brody are out at sea together. They don't exactly see eye to eye and have not been bashful about it. They have been drinking and collect in the galley... They begin talking and find themselves sharing scars. A bunch of mismatched men, out on a mission together, find commonality and share a bit of their personal history and character with each other and the audience. It is accented by the great personal story of the Indianapolis and a little music. It is an honest, focused, and effective moment of levity and heart before the action kicks up with the shark. Well done.

Show me the way to go home 

I'm tired and I want to go to bed 

I had a little drink about an hour ago 

And it went right to my head

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989)

The Cook: Richard Borst (portrayed by Richard Bohringer)

The Thief: Albert Spica (portrayed by Michael Gambon)

His Wife: Georgina (portrayed by Helen Mirren)

Her Lover: Michael (portrayed by Alan Howard)

This is the one film I will save you from my recommendation/insistence you go watch it. This movie is... difficult to tolerate for many. It is one of the few films that I have literally seen people get up and walk out on in the theater. The opening moment is a man being coated in feces as punishment, and it does not particularly go uphill from there. Suffice to say that the Thief is a vile and horrible man.

But this movie does indeed have worthy moments, if you can make your way to them.

The Wife carries on an affair, the Thief finds out. The Lover is tortured and murdered. So then, the Wife goes to the Cook with a plan. She has been meek and mild the entire film, yet presents a plan of horrible vengeance. And there they sit alone in his kitchen, speaking quietly. An air system fan churns away high up the wall *chuff, chuff, chuff* and she makes her request for the Cook's aid. He struggles. The fan churns. The strong color presentation of the kitchen is bright and dreadful as they speak of something unspeakable. The fan churns. She pleads. He struggles. The fan churns. The Cook shares his philosophical theory of why black food sells at a higher price in the restaurant. The fan churns. He eventually complies... and the final scene of the movie moves to it's dreadful end.

******
So there are 5 of mine. What are some of yours?

I have a scone, therefore I am...

I have had... am having... a bizarrely existential morning.

I woke up with a desire to have coffee. By itself this is not particularly unusual, as most of my mornings have 'get out of bed-shower-dress-coffee' as the primary script call sequence to satisfy the prerequisite requirements to meet the conditions for 'wake up'. Today, however, the coffee at home was insufficient to perk my interest (those of you old enough, see what I did there?). So I hauled my pre-woken self to the place where coffee is dispensed with the digital promise of payment. (The 'digital promise of payment' really does sometimes smack of sorcery and other times seems perfectly rational, but that is probably an entirely different discussion.)

(For the curious, the digitally promised coffee was in fact provided. It was warm, brown, and delicious and was consumed with all the relish it deserved. This is not directly pertinent to my story, but it seems fair to share the facts of this liquid joy as coffee has figured so prominently in the setup for something not actually dependent upon the dispensation of the coffee.)

So, the crux of our existential morning.

While standing and waiting to request my cup of warm happiness I found a shelf with scones before my eyes. Now, I already had a breakfast bar - granola, chocolate, cherries - to have for food as an extraneous supplement to coffee in the waking process. "Scones," I thought, "are good." At least, I assume I had such a thought - first because, well, it is a true statement, and second it seems a cranberry-orange scone was handed to me with my cup of coffee (also with my sorcerous promise of payment). I know the second item is true because as I exited my car upon arriving at work I found... a cranberry-orange scone sitting with my belongings to carry into work.

So now I am sitting at my desk. Beside me - a cranberry-orange scone. And I am left only with questions:

• Do I now truly want the scone?
• Will my morning be complete without the scone?
• Perhaps better asked, will there be a butterfly effect from the scone? A Scone Effect, as it were, the consumption of the scone changing the arc of my morning and life into a a parallel temporal timeline different ever so slightly from the timeline I would leave behind just slightly out of phase wherein I did not consume this scone....
• Were their other flavors of scone on that shelf which I passed over, and may have appealed more now that I sit here with scone doubts?
• Who first thought, 'cranberries and orange need to be blended as flavor partners within a scone'?
• Did I actually voice my desire for a scone, and the dutiful employee responded to provide it, or did somehow my unspoken and unconscious mind simply convey the desire so strongly that... no, best not go there...

Health as 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'

This. This right here (headline: $1,000-a-day miracle drug shocks U.S. health care system).

The perfect example of why the healthcare system is broken, and why all the insurance reform in the world (because really, ACA is just insurance reform) is not going to solve the problem long term. As long as you can develop a drug or medical solution and with a straight face trot it out at an outlandish price... yeah, a society of have and have-nots where the rich are healthy with long lifespans and the poor? Well, yeah, who cared about them anyway?...

Today it is a cure for Hep C. Tomorrow, the holy grail of a pill to prevent cancer. Then drops to fix blindness, treatments to live for 300 years,.... it will not stop. But only the privileged will be able to afford them.


"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

No line in any document of liberty and freedom means more to me. None.

I cannot fathom how any free, civilized society with aspirations that grow from this ideal can pretend that Life and Happiness should be gated behind the profit motive. Healthcare is not an equitable system of supply and demand meeting in an open market. It is Infinite Demand behind tightly rationed supply.


Is a solution easy? No. Do I know what it is? No. The system does certainly spur a lot of wonderful advances, such as the cure listed above. But, there remain serious structural failures in that system that make me worried about what is coming. And we cannot even agree on tackling the insurance system without hand wringing and ridiculous political combat. I have little hope on the real issues being addressed.

Are we approaching a Gattaca society?

Articles such as the one recently at Gizmodo show this isn't a question for science fiction books and movies anymore. The question matters. There is no banning this. The idea, the tools... they are out there. The world is too large a place. People, somewhere will do these things. Attempts to prevent it will be sticking a finger in a dike while the waters rise.

Gattaca is perhaps one of the better examples of wrestling with the issues the question presents, wrapped in a general drama and mystery of a man trying to rise above his station and prove the inescapable strength of the human condition.

But what risk lies before us?

Can we, will we, produce a society in which all  benefit or will only the financially and socially affluent be able to lock in their descendants' superior social position, by making themselves truly superior and a step above? Do we face a future in which a new caste structure will arise? (A caste of perfect men that will have robots and drones and bio-adapted cyborg soldiers to secure their will and position.)

And is that better or worse than everyone gaining access to what becomes possible? Everyone tailoring their children according to the fashion and style of day. Generations marked by their shared traits that were applied by their parents, just as we have waves of common names today.

What does the future hold for us?

Fredesende 'The Devil'

I have not made a CK2 post in a bit... not least because I've played multiple games since the AAR I was documenting here and I have sort of lost the narrative thread of my screenshot record. I will try to recover that at some point. As a bone for those that may be interested, I am resurrecting a forum post I made over at Paradox in Q3 of 2013 for those that may not have seen it there.

The History

The game was an 867 start with a custom dynasty (Smiðring). As a Norse/Norse County of Nantes I usurped the Kingdom of Aquitaine and destroyed France. The goal became not to paint the map, but instead keep Aquitaine's direct borders near to what we recognize as the French region, and instead place dynasty members on every throne I could and prop them up. It was a frantically active game that became a Norman Catholic effort supporting landless invasions, pressing other people's claims, joining war after war to defend family members under attack, 10 crusades (3 alone for Jerusalem) the Caliphate converted to Tengri, the Ilkhanate ate the Mongol Horde, republics rose and fell,.... The game was "successful" in that the Dynasty held thrones in independent kingdoms of Asturias, Portugal, Lotharingia, Croatia, Bavaria, Greece, Jerusalem, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, Africa, Alba, Sicily, the joint crowns of Ireland/England, and numerous dukes and counts. Almost any war anywhere in Europe involved sides of the family squabbling over titles.

I had had no liege in the entire game. Some revolts and stresses, nothing too threatening. And every ruler male.

I began to eager look forward to taking the realm and families into EUIV.

The Setting

It was 1400 and Buliwyf X died young, after being maimed on a Crusade. One of my hard case rulers in early 1200s had taken the realm primogeniture, so this left four year old Fredesende to serve as queen.

By luck or design I have very little experience with a non-male ruler. At first, bribes and honorarium kept people off my case. (They like to complain about a woman on the throne, and a young ruler, and a new ruler.)

I sent Fredesende to tutor with mom - Queen of Sicily - figuring mother, correct dynasty (she was in the same family, though distantly related), etc. would be helpful - I couldn't go traitless after all - but Fredesende became wroth and greedy (and envious, maybe?).

Then factional pressure began to mount. My spymaster was busy as a bee, scheming people to behave. I had a nice bank of cash, and used it to keep mercenaries on staff, delaying factions. Then the first revolt, but I could see it coming and moved the retinues and mercenaries there preemptively and rapidly destroyed the faction leader's forces and then chased the others to ground.

The Killing Begins

A dangerous faction developed to install an uncle on the throne. I was concerned enough that I undertook to see him dead, and he was murdered. But my plot was discovered, and she was named Kinslayer. Another faction, another family member. Another murder.

A faction leader met his death.
A revolt, nearly unseated me, but was put down with liberal use of mercenaries.

The Pope offered to cleanse me of the kinslayer sin... I refused (out of spite). But gave him back papal investiture.

A faction proposed a family member to rule in my stead. Then another. I couldn't 'scheme' fast enough. I turned to murder again, and they all fell to the knife, heading off each faction as it formed.

Finally married and gave birth to a daughter. Malus for queen, malus for female heir, malus for dishonorable, malus for kinslayer with dynasty members on every throne that mattered...

The Devil

Bribe after bribe. Murder began to follow murder.

I knew there was no turning back when the game gave Fredesende the nickname of 'The Devil'.

And the murders piled up, one after another after another. Family members of all ages from Egypt to Aragon to Alba - dying green and bloated - old men, children in their minority, cousins so distant I barely knew why they even had a claim, nephews, nieces (once even the young girl I had as a ward to keep her father in line). I pictured each of them crying alone and begging as their relatives pushed them forward onto the knife simply by whispering their name for the throne... I had to get a new, non-dynasty spymaster when I couldn't keep the current one from joining the very factions he was battling. I started scanning the claimant list, anticipating who would be next.

She was excommunicated, but rapidly paid to have that go away. The murders continued.

In all my games I have never seen such an orgy of violence. Without exaggeration it was easily dozens of murders. I lost count. For year after year it was simply a matter of who to kill next.

But she was not going to let the unbroken line of rulers end before 1444 (and EUIV export) and Fredesende was a domineering angry woman who would not be put aside (yes, role playing this had firmly taken hold).

She finally had a son, but that hardly mattered anymore. The hate she had sown was too deep and too broad.

A powerful 70% faction was presenting the claim of her aunt - the wife of the King of Ireland & England. The fighting would start at any moment and all of Europe would rally to the cause of the rebels. It would be unwinnable. I was amazed that things had gone on so long, but she would not surrender. The order was made and the aunt died, as had all the others, and her name was again revealed.

The King of Ireland and England would not be denied, and in turn Fredesende was foully murdered to die cursing his name.

The coronation of the 2 month old King Joscelin of Aquitaine in 1426 was a healing balm on the nerves and sanity of all of Europe and the extended dynasty.

I saved the game. And exited the program.
His reign had to wait until another time. I was drained.


And that is the tale of Fredesende Smiðring, the first of her name, Queen of Aquitaine, and 'The Devil'.

Epiloque

The really sad part is that after taking the game into EUIV, the Joscelin's son Turstin was the last of the Smiðring dynasty and the realm of Aquitaine that Fredesende had doomed herself to keep for her heirs came under the control of the Rozgonyi family. Only two generations and it was all for naught...

My Superbowl XLVIII Post Mortem

Frankly, I was rooting for Seattle (barely) but was prepared for a Denver win. I wanted a close game. I expected a close game. I like fast, aggressive defensive play, but thought Seattle looked a little shaky against the 49ers (certainly SanFran moved the ball on them repeatedly), and was worried that the Broncos would take advantage as a result.

I've harbored a childhood love of the Seahawks because my first NFL branded ball was one of those cheap white plastic ones in Seattle's expansion season ...my brother and friends always gave me trouble about that ball, but it had that awesome eagle logo on the side. (Still one of my favorite logos in sports.)

I've rooted for the Broncos in every Superbowl they have played in previously. I rooted particularly hard during the Orange Crush year, and I've always thought it was the height of marketing stupidity for the soft drink company to have squashed that moniker.

It may be notable that tickets were not selling and were available at face value as late as Thursday/Friday, from what I hear and that by itself is stunning. Reports are that Friday and Saturday the city started filling with Seattle fans, and reporters at the game are saying it was the loudest and most boisterous Superbowl crowd in memory. I must wonder if the 12th Man decided to show up for the game when it became affordable (other than the plane tickets - incidentally, still the first Superbowl where both teams had to travel more than 2,000 miles). The unexpected noise may have contributed to the first play snap, and Denver looked just plain rattled for their next several series.

That rattled bit is important, Denver looked like they threw their game plan out of the window and went into desperation mode too early. It was 2-5-8-15.... Easily reachable with a two capable drives, but by the end of the 1st quarter Denver looked like a team scrambling to recover from a 4th quarter deficit (Superbowl records for passing set by Manning and Thomas on the receiving end, notably). Seattle went man-to-man coverage and let their pass rush go...

Which turned the good game I was hoping for, into the farce that was far less enjoyable than I wanted. Even if the team I wanted came out on top. (At my house we decided that it was all because of the Kurt Russell team intros. The Seattle intro seemed better scripted and better delivered, and that clearly doomed the mountain equines.)

As for the commercials, I thought that they were largely complete flops - unimaginative, lazy, and not worth the $4M USD for 30 seconds. Sadly, many of the ones I thought were particularly horrid were getting buzz in my feeds.

The true exception was perhaps Coke's America the Beautiful ad. That made me want to go out and purchase a pallet of Coke products and hand them out to my friends. That took bravery and heart (perhaps particularly given they are a Georgia based company) to try and remind people what America really is, and not this 'Murica mythology that seems to be gaining hold of late. The web backlash and hate against them for it was notable (for examples: http://deadspin.com/dumb-people-mad-at-multilingual-america-the-beautiful-1514567876). I also heard discussed on the radio this morning, with some people quite upset and promising to switch to Pepsi over it... idiots.

So, the ones I enjoyed in no particular order: Coke, time travel machine Doritos, Cheerios, Ellen's dancing (I don't even remember the product), and the Matrix Kia. The rest was largely junk, crap, and forgettable.

The half-time show sucked. Again. To be fair, I have thought there was really only ever one good show (there were a couple of others that were okay), and that was Prince who delivered a true musical performance. I've never seen Bruno Mars perform, heck don't think I've ever even seen his picture. What I got was standard, modern, & over-produced mish-mash of noise pasted into a package of 50s pop presentation. It appears uninspired and unoriginal from concept to delivery - from the dance moves to the clothes. The musical arrangement was also poor - from the long drum solo to start and the rest of the intro setup which just ate time before the performance started. It was poorly staged and weak. And again a horrible decision to follow the energetic movement of the RHCP (who were not bad, and are obviously proud of looking very good for their age) with that slow syrup. Bad show.

So, all in all... one of the worst Superbowls in my recent memory.