Commercial Curmudgeon

Forgive me, but I’m a commercial curmudgeon. I see great commercials like this one for Skoda motors in England, and in my own country, it’s all fart jokes and shock value.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Superbowl.commercials. And if you're like me, and want to see the commercials, not the game, Mahalo is the best place for Superbowl commercials live coverage. You can find out what is airing when, and see the commercials online mere minutes after they have aired.

But when every company puts out a press release or a teaser to let you, the coveted viewer, know that you can see their product shilled on February 1, you expect more than what is generally given.

I'm fine with knowing what commercials will be aired before they air. It builds buzz, excitement and anticipation. But, frankly, the commercials for the past few years have not been up to par. This is the best that creative marketing minds can come up with? Admittedly, I like that Doritos uses audience participation in creating and choosing the ads, but the ads themselves are hit and miss.

Give me some real creativity, something innovative and exciting, and, oh, I don’t know, risky? Remember those Intel commercials from the 1990's with the dancing astronauts in the psychedelic lame spacesuits? Whether it's a good commercial is debatable, but it sure was memorable. And it was certainly something out of the ordinary.

The big fad this year is purported to be 3-D ads. Dreamworks and Sobe are both going to run ads in 3-D. Seems creative, but it seems more like ploy to get you out to check out the products and locales that offer the 3-D glasses. A bad commercial in 3-D is still a bad commercial.

Even so, If you are interested in getting those 3-D glasses, or making your own, check this out.


I’m watching the commercials at a friend’s house this year, a friend who has TiVo, so we can pause, replay and capture some of the better commercials this year. I just hope they’re worth it. But, I’m an optimist, and I an hopeful that we’ll get more than a few good commercials this year. Besides, any excuse to hang with friends, eat and drink is worth it.

If you'd like to skip Superbowl 43 and don't have Tivo, Mahalo is the place to go. They are super-exhaustive about this sort of thing. Here's a list of the commercials that will air on Superbowl Sunday.

Amy Borkowsky
Angels and Demons Super Bowl Ad
Budweiser Clydesdale Super Bowl Ad
Carreer Builder Super Bowl Ad
Cars.com Super Bowl Ad
Cheetos Super Bowl Ad
Chuck Super Bowl Ad
Denny's Super Bowl Ad
Doritos "Free Doritos" Super Bowl Ad
Doritos New Flavor Pitch Super Bowl Ad
Doritos Power of the Crunch Super Bowl Ad
Doritos Super Bowl Ad
Doritos The Chase Super Bowl Ad
Doritos Too Delicious Super Bowl Ad
Fast and the Furious Super Bowl Ad
Frosted Flakes Super Bowl Ad
GI Joe Super Bowl Ad
Go Daddy Danica Patrick Super Bowl Ad
Go Daddy Super Bowl Ad
H and R Block Super Bowl Ad
Heineken Super Bowl Ad
Heroes Super Bowl Ad
Hyundai Genesis Super Bowl Ad
Hyundai Super Bowl Ad
Jay Leno Super Bowl Ad
Kings Super Bowl Ad
LMAO NBC Super Bowl Ad
Land of the Lost Super Bowl Ad
Medium Super Bowl Ad
Miller One Second Super Bowl Ad
Monsters vs. Aliens Super Bowl Ad
NFL Network Super Bowl Ad
Pedigree Super Bowl Ad
Pepsi Super Bowl Ad
Sobe Lizard Lake Super Bowl Ad
Sobe Super Bowl Ad
Star Trek Super Bowl Ad
Super Bowl Ads 2009
Super Bowl Commercials 2009
Super Bowl Commercials Live Coverage
Teleflora Super Bowl Ad
Transformers Super Bowl Ad

Oscar Time

Cross-posted at my other blog, Garlic is Love.

Oscar nominees were just announced today.

I'm a huge Oscar fan. Not so much for the movies but for the social aspect.

I usually do an Oscar party with my good friend B. Last year I skipped it. I hope to get back into the tradition this year. I like to realy glam up the food I serve, but this year, I am just about partied out. Not to mention that I should be more budget-consious than I have been due to the current economic doldrums.

However, I've got a turkey in the freezer and half a lamb's worth of meat. And I've got a steady supply of root and leaf vegetables coming in weekly from my CSA. So I think I'll be able to put together a nice spread for my guests that won't break my budget.

Hm. Maybe I'll even ask them to bring some canned goods to donate to charity, make it something more than appletinis and red carpets.