Why am I still up?

[cleolinda]

OMG PRINCE. I walked through the den to fix a plate just as he took the stage--I managed to see nothing but Prince, that was my Super Bowl experience this year. And it was, in fact, super. omg. PRINCE. I mean, I knew he was performing, but for some reason I thought the Jehovah's Witness thing meant that he might not want to rock it old school. But no, he gets out there on the Artist Formerly Known as a Symbol-shaped stage with his dancers and his purple guitar and his anti-rain do-rag and starts up "Let's Go Crazy." Obviously he wasn't going to play any of the really raunchy classics, if only because it was network TV--and seriously, after the Breast That Destroyed America incident, it took some balls to book Prince in the first place. What really surprised me was that he played some songs he didn't write himself, which was a novel experience for me. So he starts out with a Princified "We Will Rock You" and move into "Let's Go Crazy," and I don't know what song the second part starts out with, but he goes into "Proud Mary" from there, and then he's got a glow-in-the-dark marching band out there on the field, seriously, and then he goes into "All Along the Watchtower" and from there moves into an awesome cover of the Foo Fighters' "The Best of You," and then he whips his do-rag off into the crowd and breaks out "Purple Rain" and everyone in the stadium's waving lighters and singing along and I'm standing in the kitchen doorway with a dinner plate staring over the den recliner all PRIIIIIIIIINCE! I LOVE YOU PRINCE!, and he's hendrixing his wee heart out on that purple guitar. And I'm telling you, there was this giant scary burst of lightning at the beginning of the show, which means that either Prince commanded the lightning for his halftime show, or God Himself reached down to touch the Purple One. Who was at that moment wearing sky blue and orange. Purple's a state of mind, what can I say.

Speaking of guitars, my stepfather was apparently in a grumbly mood, and at one point he groans, "It's like Jimi Hendrix all over again." And I'm all like FUCK YEAH IT IS! Oh... wait:

1. That's a bad thing?
2. Jimi Hendrix played the Super Bowl?

My sister took great offense at this, by the way, and a minor tiff erupted and I seriously can't understand why my stepfather, a drummer, is grumbling about this. About Prince. Because it's Prince. Best. Halftime. Ever. Anyone who can find me an mp3 rip of the "Best of You" cover gets a thousand internet cookies; I already have it as an flv video file.

No malfunction as Prince rocks halftime. That's right, bitches. Check it. (I love these pictures. Look at her--rain is falling down in barrels and she doesn't care, because she's two feet away from Prince.) Look at that! Look at that! SO COOL. (Okay, it didn't look that obscene in motion.)

Okay, moving on. Reluctantly.

Amateur ads follow Super Bowl tradition. I wouldn't know, because I didn't see any of them. Only PRINCE.

AIDS activist stopped from visiting U.S.

20 face lash for dancing in Saudi Arabia.

Trial of US soldier who refused to go to Iraq opens Monday.

Swiss ready to pay for fight against climate change.

Endangered cranes killed in Fla. storms.

Nader leaves '08 door open, slams Hillary.

Creative's woes not over despite tasty bite of Apple. Woe! I love my Zen! And it does have a recorder function!

Ryan O'Neal accused of assaulting son.

Disney in uncharted waters with "Pirates" game. And knowing my love for pirates virtual pet/rpg games, I will probably be on it come May.

Comments

[shoukinkasegi.livejournal.com]

Jimi played the Super Bowl what?!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

He didn't, of course--my stepfather's comment makes no sense on a lot of different levels.

[shoukinkasegi.livejournal.com]

Does not chnage the fact that you are the biggest fan of the Purple One. Ever.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, I doubt that. I've never seen him in concert, and I think I own like three CDs total. You have to work a lot harder than that these days to be the biggest fan of anyone. : )

[arden-ranger.livejournal.com]

Best review of a half time show ever.

"We expect the next two quarters to be just marginally profitable operationally, but (the quarter to March) may report a loss after taking in some restructuring charges."

Creative said it will continue to reduce operating costs and expects additional restructuring charges in the March quarter to affect results.

Haha! Glad I left their employment when I did. They have zero idea how to market their stuff in the US, and until they do, Apple will never have any serious competition from Creative, because when people think MP3, they think "Ipod" because that's all they've been exposed to. The company president refuses to spend money on national advertising in the US, though they do advertise in Singapore. They also don't offer very appealing incentive packages to any employee not in Tech Support.

I love my Creative MP3 player too, but I got no pity for the people who run the company.

[arpeggiodreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, it did look that obscene in motion.

[mehinda.livejournal.com]

I told my friend hennyway, "If he plays Purple Rain, I'm going to cry!" And he did. And I did (after squealing with joy).

[gannet-guts.livejournal.com]

God that was awesome. Why is he still so sexy?

[artemis-lizzie.livejournal.com]

"I don't know what song the second part starts out with"

It sounded like "Baby I'm a Star" off the Purple Rain soundtrack. It's one of my favorite Prince songs.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the husband, my sister and I were all fairly stymied by Prince's performance (I'm the only one who has ever seen him in concert, so I knew more or less what to expect). These were our initial comments:

Sis and I simultaneously, "OMG, he's wearing a do-rag!"
Me: "Of course he is -- he doesn't want that coiffeur to go back."
Sis: "I hope he doesn't get electrocuted."
Me: "OMG, he sounds just like Fred Armisen on last night's SNL - HAH."
Sis: "Why is it that all his dancers and musicians are still wearing '80s-style clothes? Look at them! They're trapped in the '80s!
Husband: "Why in hell is he singing "Proud Mary?"
Husband: "Why in hell is he singing Hendrix?"
Me: "Not only Hendrix, but actually Dylan."
Sis and Me: "I hope to God he doesn't slip and fall down on his tiny ass."
All of us: "OMG, he took off the do-rag! He doesn't care if his hair goes back! He's beyond cool."
My sister: "His skin looks really dewy in the rain ,which is weird because he's kinda old now."
Me: "Black don't crack."

And so on. It was wildly entertaining on so many levels.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

Don't know if this will qualify for cookie-age, but I've used it for flv-to-mpg conversions and it also has a convert-to-mp3 option:

http://media-convert.com/

Give it a file name from your puter, or an URL, tell it what it is, tell it what you want it to be, say "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho," and out comes a downloadable version in the format you asked.

[kalliopeia.livejournal.com]

I'm bummed that I missed Prince. You just don't get cooler than Prince. I remember when Diamonds and Pearls came out back in, what, 92? And I'd been Prince fan since the early 80s and was hating so much of the music that was popular (Color Me Badd, Boyz II Men, Hammer, etc). And Prince comes along and reminds them ALL how it's done. JJ Jackson used to call him His Royal Badness. :)

He totally commanded that lightning. I'll accept no other explanation. :D

[kalliopeia.livejournal.com]

Because he's Prince.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

Prince really was the best damn part of the Super Bowl (apart from the kcik return for a touchdown the very first play of the game). I was really hoping he'd do "Purple Rain" and he did NOT disappoint me. The lightening was BEYOND cool, but I think that was an effect, and not actual lightening. But frankly, I do like your explanation more.

It is also good to know I was not alone in worrying the poor man would get electrocuted with all those lights and wires and RAIN everywhere. I actually said outloud during the show, "Prince had better NOT get electrocuted." He just put on an amazing show while he was out there. And doing "All Along The Watchtower" takes serious guts. He rocks!

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Oh, Cleo, I had no idea about Prince! Talk about a blast from my past!
I stayed away from the Superbowl because none of my teams were playing and, well, Rome was on.

Thanks for getting those pics and that video. My favorite is the one of that dancer--she looks so incredibly geeked to be there, so happy! *cheese* You can feel the love.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

*OMG icon love*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hey, the YouTube clips are *almost* as good, and I bet news outlets on TV will replay bits of it. If MTV was the least bit with it, they'd start playing the third clip I linked to as a video, the way they used to with VMA performances. The one thing about watching it live was this unfolding sense of having no idea what he was going to do next, and each thing being better than the last. That, and my sister going, "Is he doing a Foo Fighters song?"

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Having rewatched that clip a couple of times, I think what happened was that the lightning happened to hit right as the pyrotechnics went off (obviously), but the pyrotechnics were what made that deep booming sound. I really do think the lightning was spontaneous--Miami really does get fantastic lightning; I saw a whole series of rock-awesome photos on Flickr, one of which I used as a desktop for a while. It's not so much the lightning itself even as how the camera people captured it right at that moment, at that angle.

[3hours.livejournal.com]

OMG SHARE! pretty please?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm totally posting the conversions later today. : ) It's going to take me a while to upload, download the conversions, and upload them again to sendspace--I think I'll post the video as well, maybe in mpg format--but it'll all go up.

[3hours.livejournal.com]

I'll be over in the corner, dying quietly and happily ♥

[anonymisty.livejournal.com]

...and then he goes into "All Along the Watchtower"

I knew I should've tuned in to that stupid game. Dang. I always miss the good stuff.

[cattikins.livejournal.com]

Prince is so fucking amazing. Like...Dude. Best halftime show EVER.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

SERIOUSLY. I just finished converting the video to mp3. It's amazing how well integrated the medley is.