Randoms - on Super Bowl ads, Napster, Bloc Party, why I'm not doing an OC recap and Rachel Ray

So my normal blogging schedule has been thrown way off by work and illness. I'll be back to my normal pace soon, hopefully.

In the mean time, quick shots. [click here to continue]

Two final Super Bowl commercial mentions. First, the best and worst ads by Seth Stevenson of Slate.

A Lays potato chips ad uses MC Hammer for comedic value. Sadly, no comedy results.

Second, running commentary on Adland. Okay, the Super Bowl is over, let's move on.

Oh wait, it's not. Remember Napster's iTunes+iPod=$10,000 claim? Well, I have already weighed in on the subject, but after the commercial aired, both Daring Fireball and Playlist poked serious holes in the math.

I think subscription is a fantastic model. My girlfriend subscribes to Rhapsody and it's great. Access to unlimited songs means I can listen to artists I may not have otherwise given a chance to.

But pay-per-download and subscription are two entirely different products. You buy your music at iTunes. You rent your music at Napster or Rhapsody. I love Netflix, but it would be incredibly stupid for Netflix to go around comparing $18 a month to the gazillions of dollars it would cost to buy every DVD out there. Same thing here - Napster is pretending to be something it is not.

Bloc Party at Bowery Ballroom on Thur 4/7? I'm there like Mr Belvedere.

I admit, I haven't listened to much, but I like what I've heard so far and there's no harm in just stumbling over to the Bowery. I'll just have to tape The OC that night.

Speaking of which, I haven't done an OC episode review and I'm not going to. It's already Tuesday and professional recapologists have already weighed in.

It wasn't that interesting an episode anyway. We learn three things that we already knew - Sandy loves to sabotage his marriage and drive Kirsten to drink, Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody drive this show, and homoeroticism trumps heteroeroticism every time. But it did yield a great quote from the Glasper:

There are very few people that could make the blossoming of a teenaged lesbian affair tedious. Mischa Barton is one of them.

There is no single person who divides opinions of Americans more than Rachel Ray (I'm pretty apathetic to her myself - she's attractive, but I don't think she's particularly hot, and I don't watch her shows enough to be annoyed by her).

Though I did notice that she visited Durham and Chapel Hill in an episode of $40 in 24 Hours that aired recently, and I was pretty amused to hear her describe Franklin St on the UNC campus as "ultra hip and funky chic" or some variation thereof.

I don't know if the town's completely changed since I graduated, but I never thought of Drunklin Street as especially hip, funky or chic when I was at Carolina. To the show's credit, Double R visited Mama Dip's, but I can't say I approve of the choice of barbecue restaurant or her order.