SoCS: avoiding ads

I try to avoid as many ads as possible – and to ignore the ones I can’t avoid.

Most of the television I watch is through DVR, so we can skip by the commercials. I use ad-blockers on my computer, although I do still wind up dealing with some. (I’m looking at you, Words with Friends.) I nearly always listen to public radio, which only has brief sponsorship messages and the occasional ad for local concerts, which I like hearing about anyways.

Ironically, the ads I see and hear the most are those that stir controversy, such as the recent Gillette ads highlighting toxic masculinity. I’m sure I will see some of the Super Bowl ads in the coming week. The most inventive ones tend to make the news programs. I’m not sure if or how much watching I will do of the game. Football is not really my thing. I prefer baseball. Even though it does have ads every time a half inning ends or there is a pitching change…
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Join us for Just Jot It January and/or Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Today’s prompt is “ad/add/AD”. The pingback link is here: https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/25/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-26th/
More information and prompts here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/31/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2019-rules/

Super Bowl 50 wrap-up

As a blogger from the United States, I feel obligated to post on the Super Bowl yesterday.

Even though I am not a football fan or inclined to party over sporting events…

So, here are my impressions.

Why did the National Football League ignore its usual habit of counting the Super Bowl in Roman numerals? It should have been billed as Super Bowl L, not Super Bowl 50.

The one thing about the game I was looking forward to was Lady Gaga singing the National Anthem.  She has a beautiful voice and did a really good job singing our not-easy-to-sing anthem.  I appreciated that she had a piano so she had some grounding for pitch in the inhospitable environment of the football stadium.

After that, I would just have soon watched the news or something stashed on the DVR, but B decided to watch the first half and half-time show. I paid more attention to my email inbox than to the game, which seemed to be proceeding with quite a lot of fumbling and flags being thrown.  I learned a couple of penalties that I didn’t know existed.

At 9:00, we got a break from the game to watch Downton Abbey. That was fun!

We switched back over to the game and watched to the end.  So Peyton Manning and Denver, the more experienced team, beat the Carolina Panthers, making their second ever franchise appearance in a Super Bowl. That made sense.

One reason many people watch the Super Bowl is to see the advertisements, which are sometimes clever and innovative. I admit that there were not many that drew my attention this year.  My hands-down favorite was Dame Helen Mirren telling the public in no uncertain terms how despicable it is to drive drunk.

That is the most important message that I hope people received from the game.