I'm a replicating pod. The cats often seem startled as a result.

I have a voice lesson scheduled tonight, and last week's was a good one, but what with all the coughing I'm not sure I shouldn't go ahead and cancel this one. Except I've only had about a half dozen lessons since the start of November, and backsliding can occur as a side effect of infrequency. Bleh.

I disagree with the assessment that the Super Bowl was boring, but I'll say that it was a football geek kind of game and not a shootout, which seems to be the only kind of game the average consumer likes. I was muttering under my breath how I didn't think either quarterback was Super Bowl caliber right before the first interception. Both quarterbacks sucked, but even if Collins hadn't made it that much easier for the Ravens I think their defense still would have dismantled the Giants offense. Their defense was that good.

Ads: e*trade wins for the "Invest Wisely" one. The VW GTI caught in the tree was good for a snort, the monster.com ads were okay but not terribly inspired, and Anheuser-Busch batted about .500 (the "What are you doing?" ad being the best of the lot, followed by "It's not that bad"). Pepsi should just Go The Hell Away, Cingular should hire a different ad agency (they get credit for using the word "gimp," but that ad teetered on the edge of An Inspiration to Us All, and the rest of them were pointless), I'm not exactly sure what Accenture was trying to accomplish, and I'm disappointed that IBM reused an ad instead of bringing out a new one. Oh, and despite the hubbub surrounding the running of the squirrels (and the continued discussion of last year's visually clever but unoriginal cat herders -- the joke was long stale), I will never, ever believe that EDS is capable of anything original, when they're known for requiring their male employees to wear coats and ties. Anybody who'll work under those conditions isn't the sort of person I want solving my computer problems.

The real winners of the night were the Eyevision folks. Those wraparound replays kicked ass.

Anyway, I should figure out if I'm going to work or staying home to cough in comfort.

link (29 jan)