by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
Super Bowl commercial preview
The Super Bowl is the clash of the advertising titans as the companies that lay down $2 million plus for 30-seconds of airtime go all out to make sure football-loving Americans know their names and their products. This year at least 28 sponsors have plunked down the cash for your undivided attention, come Super Bowl Sunday, and are pulling out all the stops to keep you from taking a bathroom break while the game’s not on.
The ad getting the most media attention this year is Kevin Federline’s self-deprecating commercial for Nationwide Mutual Insurance. In it, K-Fed stars as a daydreaming nobody who goes from rocking the mic in his head to working the fryer at a fast food joint faster than you can say “hit me baby one more time”. The irony isn’t lost on anyone, particularly KFed himself, and Nationwide is banking on it. The ad, which premiered Monday on Nationwide.com, stirred up controversy long before anyone got a glimpse of it. Steve Anderson, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, sent a letter to Nationwide saying that the commercial is “a direct insult to the 12.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry.” They clearly didn’t get the joke.
Many amateur filmmakers got the opportunity to make their own Super Bowl ads this year and will get to see the fruits of their labors along with millions of their closest friends. Doritos, Chevrolet and the NFL all held contests to get ad ideas from Joe American over the past few months. While both Chevy and the NFL hired experts to create the finished product, Doritos will air an ad that was made entirely by the winning contestant. The five finalists, who were chose among thousands of others by online voters, will be flown to the game and won’t know whose spot won until it airs.
Some ladies out there may want to be paying particularly close attention during commercial breaks this year. A man who goes by the name J.P. has managed to get a company to fork over more than $2 million so that he can propose to his girlfriend while the entire country watches. The unsuspecting bride-to-be has no idea what’s in store for her this Sunday, but come Monday morning some 90 million people will be waiting with baited breath to hear if she says yes. Luckily J.P. and his publicist have already booked his girlfriend on morning talk shows to give us all the (gory?) details.
In what has to be a first, CareerBuilder is currently airing ads to promote their Super Bowl ads. The online job site is giving their familiar chimps the pink slip and unveiling their new campaign Sunday. To stir up some publicity, last week CareerBuilder began airing 30-second spots saying goodbye to the primates and reminding people that they can see the new campaign on game day. A 7-second preview of the 2007 campaign, which focuses on the things people hate about their jobs, is available at www.careerbuilder.com.
Expect many ads from Super Bowl-regular Anheuser-Busch, who hired Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a spot called “Apocalypse”. Another to watch for is commercials for GoDaddy whose provocative spots have been the talk of the web since founder Bob Parsons blogged about the company’s failed attempts to get their ads approved by CBS censors on his website www.bobparsons.com.
While the aforementioned companies are enveloped in pre-game hype, many advertisers are keeping mum about their commercials. FedEx, Diamond Foods Inc., Honda, Toyota and King Pharmaceuticals, among others, are all being very tight-lipped about their multi-million dollar ads to maintain the element of surprise. If you happen to miss any of this year’s Super Bowl ads, be sure to head over to the CBS Sportsline website. The ads will be loaded onto the site at the end of each quarter and will be available for a week after the game.
Before we begin, please know that a hangover is rarely an accepted excuse to miss work on the Monday morning after the Super Bowl so use some common sense. We at EU urge you to drink responsibly. Please don’t drink and drive, know your limits and try not to do anything you may regret in the morning.
Stock up on plenty of liquid refreshments for your crew and make sure everyone has a little something in their stomachs before beginning. Pre-kick-off be sure to pick a designated driver or two. These kind-hearted folks deserve a lot of love for being willing to take a bunch of drunk people home. Be sure to express your gratitude before the game starts as you may be too busy puking in their backseats to remember to do so later. They also may be cunning enough to get some photographic evidence of your escapades in the hours ahead so being on their good side is always a smart move.
The rules are simple. Each player must announce which team they are rooting for and sit with their fellow fans. A 12 ounce cup holds about 8 drinks and a shot is your standard shot of liquor. With these guidelines in mind, drink as follows:
- Take 1 drink when your team makes a first down
- Take 2 drinks when your team punts or kicks
- Take 2 drinks when your team throws an interception
- Take 2 drinks when your team’s quarterback is sacked
- Take 3 drinks for any penalty your team commits
- Take a shot when your team scores a touchdown
- Everyone takes 1 drink for every circle written on the telestrator
- Everyone takes 1 drink when a commercial makes the group laugh out loud
- Everyone takes 1 drink when anyone says “Da Bearss” a la the SNL sketch “Bill Swerski’s Superfans”
- Everyone takes 1 drink when anyone (on television or otherwise) mentions anyone (on television or otherwise) giving 110%
So get ready for your Super Bowl of suds and just remember, no matter how bad you feel on Monday its nothing compared misery the losers will endure.
by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
Maybe you’re just not into all the Super Bowl Hype, or maybe you just want something to flip to when the game gets boring. Whatever the case, if you want something other than the Super Bowl to watch on TV, you’ve got plenty of strange and interesting options. Here’s a few suggestions for Anti-Bowl viewing:
This is the third year Animal Planet will be putting on a Puppy Bowl, and that’s because it gets the highest ratings of any show on cable shown in the Super Bowl time slot besides the Bowl itself. It’s a really basic concept. 14 puppies are put into a model stadium and then are filmed playing around with various chew toys and each other. Info for adopting the puppies is available during the show. A camera at the bottom of the puppies’ water bowl allows viewers to watch the puppies drink water up close. Puppies get penalties when they relieve themselves on the floor-- a referee blows a whistle, calls “Illegal Motion,” throws a flag over the droppings and scoops them up. Don’t miss the kitten half-time show; its kittens gone wild!
Get a dose of exploitative fashion by watching TLC’s What Not to Wear Marathon. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s all about taking on fashion-challenged individuals and giving their entire closet a do-over. Early episodes featured clandestinely taping the victims-er- recipients and later ambushing them with the footage and their fashion faux-pas. These days they’ve changed the format a little, so that you can send in tapes of yourself instead of having friends and relatives secretly nominate you.
DIY’s Super Sunday Knit In will show some of the best episodes of the popular series Knitty Gritty, featuring notable guests, such as Lisa Loeb, Billboard-topping singer-songwriter; Kelley Deal, lead guitarist of rock band The Breeders; bassist and vocalist Share Ross of punk pop band Bubble (formerly of 80s glam band Vixen); and Lily Chin, world’s fastest crocheter. DIY is encouraging viewers to knit for charity during the block. While making squares, learn how to start projects ranging from guitar straps, rock star bags, sushi-roll inspired bathroom accessories, hippie belts, halter-tops and more! Log on to www.DIYnetwork.com/knit for more info on the charity event.
For a little reality mayhem, try VH1, and their series I Love New York. New York is actually a woman, not a city. If you didn’t catch her on VH1’s Flavor of Love, here’s your chance to catch the somewhat-ghetto fabulous New York. She was in two seasons of Flavor of Love, but was not chosen either time. The first time, she went all the way to the finale only to be ousted by the beguiling Hoopz. On her return, she once again romanced Flav all the way to the end only to be beaten out by big booty-ed Deelishis.
These appearances built her a fan base, thus her new show, in which she gets to be the one to pick one guy out of 20 while staying in a mansion. Just to make things more entertaining, the producers have thrown New York’s loudmouthed mom into the mix to help choose New York’s new beau. Apparently, she would do anything to get her girl away from the wrong man, including faking a terminal illness. She and New York will put the 20 through a trial by fire, testing them with physical challenges, making sure they’ll be capable dads and testing their earning potential.
If you’re looking for something with a harder edge than puppies and fashion, try A&E’s Cold Case Files and later in the evening The First 48, which follows homicide detectives in the first critical 48 hours of investigation. The chance of solving a case is cut in half if there are no leads in the first 48. The show follows detectives from around the U.S. during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect, taking viewers behind the scenes of real investigations with first-time access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.
Bravo’s Law and Order Marathon is another choice if you want something with that harder edge, with the fun of fictional drama.
The Discovery Channel will be running Surgery Saved My Life, a reality/docudrama that follows people who must undergo extreme surgical procedures in order to live. Don’t miss that 6-organ transplant at 6PM.
ABC will have Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on at 7PM following the news. After that, it’s America’s Funnies Home Videos and the movie Old School.
From 7-9PM NBC will be running a block of three episodes of Grease: You’re the One That I Want, a reality program in which the leads of the musical Grease are cast from a large group of hopefuls. It’s an American Idol for the musical theater set.
Fox gives us a little of the Simpsons and then gives us the Fox Movie Special: X2: X-Men United.
On the Food Network you can party with Paula Deen, as she cooks and tells down-home stories. The Queen of Southern Cuisine hosts her annual Supper Bowl.
The FX Network shows The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks, starting at 6:30PM. When that’s over, you can indulge in the guilty pleasure of Dirt at 10PM.
On the CW, you can catch a few episodes of Reba, and a new episode 7th Heaven and at 9PM an encore of the last Beauty and the Geek Episode.
Main Dish Kitchen (904) 733-2111, 8505 Baymeadows Road, can be your snack solution for Super Bowl Sunday. While it would be good to get these things done ahead of time, like Friday or Saturday, Main Dish, a meal assembly kitchen, will actually be open from noon to 3PM on Super Bowl Sunday. That means your kitchen will stay pretty much pristine, but you can claim you cooked all of it!
The prep, the mess and the need for planning is a big reason why most people don’t want to bother with cooking after they get home from work. Meal assembly stores, like Main Dish, Super Suppers or Entrees Made Easy are popping up all over Jacksonville because, let’s face it, there’s as much about cooking that’s tedious as it is enjoyable. On cooking shows they either make all that prep work look easy (the chopping, the shopping, the grinding) or they have it done ahead of time, with all the ingredients prepped and ready in ramekins, to be thrown effortlessly into the recipe when the camera is on.
Here’s how it works: each month, the meal assembly stores offer a different menu with a variety of selections, you come in choose which menu items you would like and you assemble them in portions big enough to feed your family. They do all the prep work ahead of time, the ingredients are right in front of you and all the meals are packaged in easy to cook trays. This way you can assemble all your meals for the month, and all you have to do is pop it in the oven when you get home from work. The more servings you make, the cheaper it is per serving, depending on the meal assembly store you visit. Fixing it yourself isn’t the only option; you can also have the staff at the store assemble meals for you, for an extra fee. Also, most of these stores offer a meal of the day that’s already pre-packaged and ready to be cooked for that night’s supper.
Main Dish will have seven stations to assemble from on Super Bowl Sunday: Mexican Mania, Pizza Pizzazz, Walnut Pesto Ravioli, Grande Meat Balls, Tom Spud Potato Skins, Baby Ray’s Meat Loaf and Primo Calzone. Each prepared dish can serve up to 6 people. Be sure to tell the employees there how many people you’ll have, so you can determine how much you’ll need to be put together, depending on the dish. The two stations I would recommend for Super Bowl Sunday are the Mexican Mania and the Pizza Pizzazz. These two stations are setup so that you’ll have more options and more of a variety of selections. Of course, you can always do one from each station, if you care about variety.
The pizza bar offers three sauce options (pesto, alfredo & tomato sauce), a number of veggie-type selections (broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, onions & more) different meats and a variety of cheeses(mozzarella, asiago, gorgonzola.) You can make your own creative pie, or follow one of four recipe options of Pesto Pizza, classic Supreme, Four Cheese or Alfredo.
The Mexican Mania station also has four selections to choose from, as well as a variety of toppings and fixings you can assemble. The selections are: Crazy Quesadillas, Mexican Lasagna, Burrito Pollo and the Big Horn Burrito.
Hours for Main Dish: Drop In and Dish from 3-6PM Monday through Friday, 9:30AM-12:30PM Tuesday & Fridays and from 10AM-2PM on Saturday. They are generally closed on Sundays, but will be open on Super Bowl Sunday from noon-3PM.
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