By Eric Ditzian
We've already weighed in on the best and worst Super Bowl movie ads — now, we tackle the rest.
Best
Hulu: Alec in Hollywood
Baldwin is in full Jack Donaghy mode, popping off flawless line readings, including "Hello, Earth, I'm Alec Baldwin, TV star" and "TV only softens the brain like a ripe banana." He also coins the finest, funniest description of the effects of near-constant 21st-century exposure to entertainment on TVs, computers and portable devices: "cerebral gelatinizing." To top it all off, the tagline is just so amazing — "Hulu: An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy."
Pedigree: Crazy Pets
I've had about enough with the chimps shilling for motor oil and the horses and dogs pitching beer. Finally, we get an ad in which the involvement of animals is more than a mere sight gag — not that there weren't plenty of those (Rhino in the living room! Little old lady chasing an ostrich!). But who can't get behind the cause of dog adoption? This spot brought the funny and warmed my heart long after the buffalo wings had gone cold. Read more...
So, after having a full 12 hours to digest last night's Bob Dylan/Will.I.Am Pepsi commercial, I have come to this conclusion: It certainly could have been worse.
Which also means that it's probably the best thing Will.I.Am has ever done. But let's not let my feelings for the man cloud the issue: For all the hype, the Pepsi commercial — dubbed "The Refresh Anthem" — was not nearly as terrible as I expected it to be. It took Dylan's "Forever Young" (from his '74 album Planet Waves) and, uh, "mashed" it into a duet with Will (or, more specifically, he raps a verse), and the end result was a surprisingly satisfactory hip-pop tune, not — as I had feared — a pornographically harrowing violation of a treasured artist's legacy, as is usually the case with these sort of things.
Still, while I am (relatively) at peace with the song, there's one thing about the spot that still bugs me: the sentiment. Are we asked to believe, just because they trade verses — and a pair of Ray-Bans — that Will is this generation's Dylan? That he is the voice of our times, a rambling, shambling wordsmith who battled injustice and unrest with his songs? If that's the case, then is "Let's Get it Started" the answer to "Blowin' in the Wind?" Read more...
By Jayson Rodriguez
Battle lines were drawn between rappers this weekend. Diddy (along with Snoop Dogg) is a hard-core Pittsburgh Steelers fan, as he said on a video blog last week (which we can't link to, owing to his provocative language) before he headed down to Tampa, Florida, for all the festivities surrounding Super Bowl weekend.
We're guessing former G-Unit rapper Hot Rod rides for the Arizona Cardinals, since he is from Phoenix. But after Super Bowl XLIII, where the Steelers defeated the Cards 27-23, Hot Rod didn't return a text asking for a comment on the game. After all, this hasn't been a good year for Arizona: John McCain took an L in the presidential election, then Kurt Warner and company caught one on Sunday night.
Read more...
By Adrienne Day
Who were you rooting for last night: the Steelers, the Cardinals, or Team Springsteen? Plus, we have the story behind the Boss' mysterious halftime quip, "I'm going to Disneyland!"
Which Super Bowl movie ads scored big and which got sacked in their own end zone? (Hint: We thought the one for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was kind of awesome.)
Diddy's Hitmen production team dish on their involvement with Jay-Z's top-secret American Gangster, which is now up for a Best Rap Album Grammy.
If you missed it, check out the very first footage to be released from "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra," which debuted during last night's game.
"Madden NFL 2009" correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner. Multiplayer looks back at how the football franchise has forecast the victors in years past.
Judging by the online commentary after Bruce Springsteen's rousing halftime set during the Super Bowl, a lot of people were perplexed when he finished with the words, "I'm going to Disneyland!" Was it a plug for the tourist destination? A subtle reference to one of his songs? A strange Florida joke? (Disney World, not Disneyland, is in Florida, and it's in Orlando, not Tampa, where the Super Bowl was held this year.)
Well, just in case anyone doesn't know, nearly every year since 1987 Disney has run a commercial with a player saying the phrase after the Super Bowl, and it's become a catchphrase that people say whenever they win a big game - which the Boss undoubtedly did with his halftime set. Wikipedia has an exhaustive entry on the history and, er, legacy of the phrase, which former Disney honcho Michael Eisner credits his wife, Jane, with inventing.
Just in case you're wondering, that was not Steve Perry singing "Don't Stop Believin' " with Journey during the Super Bowl pregame, nor was it a Journey tribute band. It was, indeed, Journey, with new singer Arnel Pineda, who joined the band in 2007 after being spotted by them singing Journey songs on YouTube.
Of course, "Don't Stop Believin' " gained a whole new life after being played in the last scene of "The Sopranos" finale in June of 2007. MTV News tracked down Perry himself, who revealed that he actually insisted on knowing the end of the show before granting permission for it to be used.
"I was not excited about [the possibility of] the Soprano family being whacked to 'Don't Stop Believin'," Perry told MTV News after the show had aired. "I told them, 'Unless I know what happens -- and I will swear to secrecy -- I can't in good conscience feel good about its use.'" The show's producers made Perry promise to keep it under his lid, which he did, and then they spilled the beans on how the song was used and how the show ends, after which Perry signed off. Read more...
By Christina Garibaldi
One of the many perks of working at MTV News is the people you get to meet and talk to. Yet only a few have ever gotten me really excited, like my teen dreams the Backstreet Boys, Yankees slugger Derek Jeter, and now ... Poison frontman/ "Rock of Love" star Bret Michaels!
Well, I didn't actually get to talk to Bret directly, but he did leave me a pretty kick-ass voicemail. See, yesterday, two of my co-workers were talking about doing a phone interview with Michaels about his picks for the Super Bowl (since he's a Pennsylvania native but an Arizona resident, that's a bit of a dilemma — read what Bret's got to say about it here).
Upon hearing that, I was completely envious and begged just to listen in. I mean, who wouldn't want to talk to him? Isn't every girl's guilty pleasure a little "Rock of Love"? Well, it certainly is mine.
So today was the big day — and although, unfortunately, I couldn't listen in, my two co-workers had a little surprise for waiting for me. Once the interview was over, I went back to my desk and found the voicemail light blinking, and this is what I heard.
Read more...
Are you ready for football season? We know we are. But if your enthusiasm for the start of this year's NFL season could use a little kick in the pants, check out the planned — and rumored — musical performances associated with the launch and conclusion of it.
The NFL has now confirmed that its 89th season will be ushered in by ... well, none other than Usher.
The R&B star will perform during a special and (more importantly) free pregame event on September 4 at 3 p.m. in New York's Columbus Circle. Country crooner Keith Urban will also take the stage, right before the defending Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants, face the Washington Redskins in this year's season opener.
Read more...
