Politics and Eastern Bloc chaos aside, there were some other bits of recent news, that need repeating. Like the reports from survivors of that Costa Concordia cruise liner, which recently had trouble staying upright due to a lapse in judgment by its captain. Apparently, the music playing over a loudspeaker in one of the restaurants on board just before the calamity was “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme from the movie “Titanic.”
It has also come out that the owners of Costa Concordia have offered survivors a 30-percent discount on their next cruise.
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To get an accurate reading on their breathalyzers, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement went shopping for booze and mixers so that 15 of their employees could get intoxicated. They spent $330 for the test and also bought Doritos.
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Huh? Members of the Tennessee Tea Party movement are calling for the state legislature to get rid of the negativity in textbooks when portraying the Founding Fathers. One Tea Party spokesman said that teachers should cease their “made-up criticism” regarding the “Founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites.”
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Traders on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange smashed their rice bowls in a protest over the reduced time for a lunch break by a half-hour, from 90 to 60 minutes.
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Barry Petchesky of Slate.com writes that it was possible the Giants put 12 men on the field intentionally on the Patriots last drive. Whether or not that was true, it certainly worked to their advantage, as it only cost them five yards and got rid of eight seconds. “This was a game where cutting-edge deviousness was on display,” wrote Petchesky.
Guess we’ll never know. But don’t be surprised if the rule changes to give the offense time lost in the last two minutes on a defensive penalty.
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Then there were the commercials. It is the only three hours of the year when I don’t dive for my mute button as soon as the insufferable ads begin. My personal opinions on those expensive Super Bowl spots:
Bud Lite. Bad. Whatever happened to the creative minds that brought us the immigrants trying to learn to speak English by saying – “Bood Lite?”
Audi. Bad. Any vampire lover worth his garlic knows that car lights have no effect on the undead.
Elton John. Really Bad. I don’t even remember what this was for. And who was the guy in the room with him when he dropped through the floor?
Coke. Bad. Um, those two cute polar bears watching the Super Bowl weren’t that cute.
Chevy. Grad mistakes dorm fridge for new car. I laughed at that one.
Volkswagen. The dog losing weight was pretty funny. But my Cairn Terrier Gus left the room during it.
Then there was the one with Adriana Lima. I confess I don’t remember what this was for, either. But it was very tasteful.
Hyundai. Great. You’ve seen it before, a super fast horse or in this case cheetah is going to race a fast car. So some guy lets the pacing cheetah out of its cage, and it bursts forward, but after just a few steps it turns around to attack the guy back at the cage. He runs off screaming but is soon caught and presumably mauled.
But in the end it was the game, as it should be, that was much better than the commercials, pre-game hype and halftime whatever that was.