Superlinks for Super Tuesday

Here's a round-up of stories that caught my eye over the past week:

First and foremost, as Allie posted earlier: The strike is almost over. Thank deity of choice. Awesome news for those of us who write television blogs and need material to write about, beyond "American Gladiators" and "Moment of Truth."

They're making a movie about G.I. Joe. This would be totally unremarkable, except that Channing Tatum has been cast in the movie. And Channing is beautiful.

In other movie news, Guillermo Del Toro is supposedly set to direct the two 'Hobbit' prequels. And if we can't have PJ back, Del Toro is a pretty good second choce. I could write a whole post about how I excited I am for thee movies, but I'm withholding judgement until I see whether or not Sir Ian signs on.

Variety is reporting that they're set to make a 'Cloverfield' sequel. Of course. It couldn't make that much money and not get one. Still, it's disappointing -- I think the story has been told, and it left the perfect amount of mystery.

David Simon wrote a feature story for this month's Baltimore magazine.

Bad news for us FNL fans: it's not looking good for renewal, according to NBC's head of programming.

This is a cute feature from New York magazine: writers from one show take a stab at writing another. Ever wondered what 'The Office' would look like if the writers behind 'The Simpsons' got a hold of it?

An 'Arrested Development' movie? Yes, please!

The Super Bowl yesterday was the second-most watched program in American TV history. And in case Pats fans start to recover, this shirt from BustedTees should shove them right back down to earth. I don't know if I'll ever get sick of seeing the replay of Eli's Escape and Tyree's Catch.

Finally, and most importantly, if you live in the 21 states holding primaries today, don't forget to vote! I personally am endorsing Barack Obama, but this is America, yo. Exercise your right.

And the Cutest Super Bowl Commerical Award goes to...

My award for cutest commercial of the Super Bowl goes to the Budweiser Clydesdale Team commercial. It also took number 1 on USA Today's Ad Meter - Budweiser is probably a little more excited about that than my cutest commercial honor.

I must admit, I’m a sucker for animals with personalities. My heart melted when the horse and his Dalmatian coach tapped paws in victory. The underdog (or horse, as the case might be) took the prize… not unlike the Giants winning the Super Bowl!

I don't believe what I just saw

ELI MANNING is your Super Bowl MVP. Jesus Christ on a cracker. I am not ashamed to say that there was some happy shrieking, and quite a bit of dancing. I could care less that I predicted a blowout, I'm happy to be wrong because it means THE PATS LOST!! Suck it, Massholes.

(...and that's an angry Yankee fan taking out four years of frustration on the Patriots.)

Moving on, let's give some credit to our fine university. David Tyree, Giants wide receiver, was drafted by the Giants in 2003 after graduating from Syracuse University. He caught Eli's first touchdown pass tonight, and then was on the receiving end of the play of the year, when he caught the ball WITH HIS HELMET during the Giants winning TD drive. See, our football team has produced something good in the past ten years.

And now to things that everybody cares about: the commercials. I thought that this was a pretty weak night overall, with a lot of fair-to-good commercials, but no real "holy crap, that was hilarious" standouts. Even the perennial favorite, Bud Light, seemed to have an off night, though they had two of my favorite ads.

I liked the new campaign that advertised new traits that Bud Light could give you, starting with the fire-breathing man. And I also really enjoyed the final ad with Will Ferrell, especially the final line: "Bud Light: suck one." But I find Will Ferrell endlessly amusing, so I could be biased.

Speaking of biases, I've already betrayed my healthy Justin Timberlake bias, so it should be no surprise that I loved his Pepsi ad. I don't drink soda, but if it got Justin to show up in my room, I'd be all over that. I also really enjoyed the Diet Pespi Max ad featuring the "Night at the Roxbury" send-up. It was really topped off by Chris Kattan's cameo at the end. The only other commercial that I laughed out loud at was Tide's "talking stain" one.

I'm also a sucker for movie trailers, so I loved that there were a lot of those, especially the new 'Narnia' movie, 'Iron Man,' the new Clooney/Krasinski comedy 'Leatherheads,' and the Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy movie 'Wanted.'

I thought the cutest commercial of the night was also a movie trailer, this one from the geniuses at Pixar. The trailer for their new movie 'Wall-E' included cameo appearances by Buzz and Woody and was absolutely adorable.

Worst commercials: salesgenie.com, with two nonsensical animated spots that made absolutely no sense, and were pretty offensive, even to my very low sensitivities. What a waste of $5.4 million.

Creepiest: Those e*trade commercials right at the end of the game. They were funny, but a talking baby is always creepy. Always. Especially when it talks with the voice of a 40-year-old man.

Commercial I had heart palpitations over: Lame commercial, but the Gatorade G2 spot featured two of my biggest sports crushes, Derek Jeter and Peyton Manning. Love.

Most inspiring: So this didn't air in our market, but it aired in a few areas around the country. It's Barack Obama's newest ad, entitled "Join." Not to endorse any political candidates (coughanybodybutHillarycough) but I watch this, and something manages to reach my cold, cynical (Republican) heart.

Still, not a banner night for the commercials. Make sure to pick up the USA Today tomorrow and see how their Ad Meter rated all 50-odd ads. I think Bud Light has won for the past 10 years or so, but maybe this year will end their streak.

Super Bowl Picks

Because we know that about three-quarters of America is watching the game (and the commercials) tonight, it's pointless to do anything but talk about the Super Bowl.

In between rooting for Tom Brady's knees to be taken out, I'll be paying close attention to the commercials, and I'll definitely be recapping them tomorrow on this very blog.

Right now, FOX is doing a package on how the Patriots are "America's Team." That's disgusting. Just gross. What ever happened to America rooting for the underdog?

Anyway, here are our picks for Super Bowl XLII:

Allie: Allie is wearing a Giants shirt to her party tonight, but only because her roommate provided her with one. She's really just in it for the food, and couldn't tell you who might win or what the score might be.

Jenn: Because I'm a Bills fan, and as a rule hate the other two "New York" teams, only truly bizarre circumstances could propel me to root for the Giants tonight. The thought of those Massholes having another reason to celebrate qualifies -- if they win the World Series, Super Bowl, and NBA Championship in the same year, I vote we nuke Boston. Is that too harsh?

I'm ranting. In short, this one looks like a blowout. And I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Patriots 38, Giants 21. Let the talking heads begin re-writing the history books. In the words of Kissing Suzy Kolber:

"Enjoy whatever boozy party you happen to visit. If you're gonna drive drunk, make sure to mow down any celebrating Pats fans you might see in the street. No worries; no jury will convict you."

I'm off to hope for the impossible. LET'S GO GIANTS!!!