I often enjoy watching a show on Hulu when having dinner at home. Tonight I put on an episode of The Good Guys, a new "opposite buddy cop show" with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks.

One of the limited commercial interruptions was a public service announcement about exercise featuring Michelle Obama and Elmo on Sesame Street.

I immediately thought of the two great Muppet moments in The West Wing episode "Eppur Si Muove." The first is the scene where First Lady Abbey Bartlet played by Stockard Channing gives Elmo a checkup. Having recently given up her medical license, Elmo wonders aloud if Bartlet should proceed.

"Do you have a diploma you could show Elmo? Can Elmo be frank? This laughing is not filling Elmo with confidence!"

The other great moment is the culmination of many height-related jokes at the expense of C.J. Cregg played by Allison Janney. I think this single frame from the scene during which no dialogue is spoken stands on its own.

According to the Muppet Wiki, the following politicians have appeared with Muppets on television or in person: Kofi Annan, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Queen Elizabeth II, David Gergen, Mike Huckabee, Glenda Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Ed Koch, Wim Kok, Ralph Nader, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Johannes Rau and Christian Wulff. In addition, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen attended a movie screening with Muppets and Kermit has even appeared several times on Hannity & Colmes.

Since its first appearance not too long ago, I have really enjoyed the American Express advert from the series entitled My Life and featuring movie legend Robert De Niro.

While this spot, Tribeca, includes De Niro identifying memorable parts of his home New York City as "my east," "my west" and "my west-side," some people are in an uproar about the depiction of the World Trade Center grounds and memorial site as the caption "my sorrow" is spoken. Those angered by the spot feel it was a use of the dramatic and unfortunate events and memories of 11 September 2001 in a poor manner; that of promoting a product.

Others however counter with the fact that De Niro has been one of the most outspoken famous New York City residents in support of those who perished that day. Additionally, they point out that American Express has been a generous contributor to De Niro's own Tribeca Film Festival, featured near the end of the spot.

Directed by film veteran Martin Scorsese (briefly visible in some versions as De Niro states "my oldest friend"), who I was disappointed did not receive an Oscar® last night for his direction of The Aviator, this commercial is warm, thoughtful and touching. Even more so, I am mesmerised by the Philip Glass adaptation of String Quartet No.3 (Mishima) 1957. Although the alternate version performed on the Kronos Quartet performs Philip Glass album is in its own right soothingly provocative, I believe the cut featured is a new performance recorded specifically for this work. This new version is my favourite.

Thanks to my friend Matt, I have in my possession a DVD recording of the Academy Awards® show during which the extended cut of Tribeca is broadcast. I am going to attempt to rip the audio and video from this copy so that I may post a higher quality rendition here (UPDATE: Sorry, it did not work). In the meantime, check out the linkage below to learn more about the spots, the criticism and for an MP3 of the advert's recording of Mishima.

My Life series by American Express
Streaming Video
Windows Media/Quicktime/Real, 56 Kbps/100 Kbps/300 Kbps
www.mylifemycard.com (link defunct)
www.flickr.com (mirror)

Tribeca, extended version
Windows Media Player File, 2.28 Mb
Windows Media, 300 Kbps
www.mountsutro.org

String Quartet No.3 (Mishima) 1957 by Philip Glass
MP3 Audio, 0.504 Mb, 1:04
64 Kbps, 44 KHz
www.mountsutro.org

The Reviews and Criticism
railbirdj.blogspot.com
us.imdb.com
rantwraith.blogspot.com
radio.weblogs.com
money.cnn.com
www.alarmingnews.com

UPDATE: Monday, 05 February 2007, 2046

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If you enjoyed this article, you should read "The Glass Master."

Today is the big day for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. Super Bowl XXXIX is here and while the game itself promises to be interesting, I have to wonder how much of XXXIX will end up being simply XXX. I do hope Paul McCartney keeps all his clothes on.

If you have ever spent time in Jacksonville, you know that while it may be the largest city in the country (square mileage, not population) there is not a lot to do, especially for the atypical Super Bowl crowd. To help alleviate the inevitable nightmare of insufficient sleeping space, restaurants and bars, five cruise ships are in town and available to anyone needing a hotel room. It should be a big money maker for them too, selling sleeping rooms, alcohol and food without the expense of actually sailing the ships. The only thing they will not be permitted is gambling. While the Tallyrand Terminal is reasonably near by, half of the six ship fleet will be docked in the north-east industrial part of town. Cost to the city: $11.7 million

Additionally, the City of Jacksonville has put together a themed entertainment festival, with live music, food, drinks and Super Bowl merchandise. Across the river is another temporary area, the NFL Experience. Water taxis will be in place to shuttle people across and back. And I am sure The Landing will have lots of themed events going on as well. If I were more interested in sharing space with the more than 80,000 people who will attend, I would consider driving up to check out the extras.

Any readers particularly interested in the game? I will probably tune in here or there, but my interest is minimal. I placed a random bet on the score at the end of each quarter, so maybe by the end of the day I will have won a few hundred dollars.

The Bud Light advert banned from the Super Bowl
Makes fun of the infamous Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction."

Super Bowl Ads
News, Reviews and History.

3-D Seating Chart of Alltel Stadium
Includes a panoramic rendering of the view from each seat.

The Star-Nosed Mole
One scary looking creature. [ via ]

IFilm Streaming Super Bowl Ads

Review of the Super Bowl Adverts
MSN Slate takes a look at them all

On the television last night I overheard an advert for a financial institution at first I assumed to be a joke, not unlike the Geico Insurance spots that mimic infomercials and Old Navy commercials. Amazingly enough, it was no joke: the Fifth Third Bank is legitimate.

Fifth Third traces its origins to the Bank of the Ohio Valley, which opened its doors in Cincinnati in 1858. In 1871, that bank was purchased by the Third National Bank. With the turn of the century came the union of the Third National Bank and the Fifth National Bank, and eventually the organization became known as "Fifth Third Bank." Since its beginning, Fifth Third has provided superior customer service and followed sound banking principles.

Given that historical information, would it not be logical for their name to be the Eighth Bank?