Super Bowl snoozers

It's a good thing the football was so heart-stopping last night. Because the Super Bowl ads were anything but exciting.

In fact at about 8 o'clock it hit me: It's a myth that ads that air during the Super Bowl are the most creative 30-second slots in the world of advertising.

First of all, CBS used too many of the commercial breaks to relentlessly promote it's mediocre programming. But as bad as those self-congratulatory spots were, the paid advertising was much, much worse.

Time and again the folks I was watching the game with - younger than me, incidentally - looked at each other at the conclusion of a commercial and chorused "Whaaaaa?"

Those screaming chickens, for instance. I had to go on the Internet this morning to see what they were selling. Not gonna tell you, either. Why should I give this misguided adverstiser free ink?

Even the writers behind the lovable Miller High Life guy let us down this year. The Doritos ads? Yawn.

But enough negativity. There were a few mildly entertaining moments during the TV time-outs.

My favorites? The Bridgestone killer-whale tire ad (which only made sense to those of us who saw "The Hangover" and loved it) and the Bud Light ad that showed a house built of beer cans.

The winner of the Worst 2010 Super Bowl Ad?

This Census Bureau spot. Not only was it lame. But we helped pay for it.  Watch it again and remind yourself, that this was $2.5 million of our money. Down the Youtube.

www.youtube.com/user/paytonschlewitt

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Snow!!!

You know what they say: Never let a blizzard interfere with your workout!

The Virginia Beach Snowwalk

Seaweed-head snowman on the beach at 37th Street

The always popular police-tape snowman.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Pass the hand sanitizer

It's back.

TripAdvisor's annual list of the Ten Dirtiest Hotels in America. The kind of publicity the hospitality industry simply cannot - and would not - buy.

Oh my. Looks like Virginia Beach boasts not just one but two hotels in the Big Ten.

That'll have the tourists flocking to town.

TripAdvisor - as best I can tell - is an Internet site that collects consumer reviews of hotels and restaurants. Subjective? You bet.

One person's Roach Motel can be another's Ritz.

Still, an establishment that's showered with glowing reviews from patrons from all over the country may very well be a good bet. Likewise, a joint that's blasted over and over by dissatisfied travelers deserves careful scrutiny.

Sorry to keep you in suspense. Here are the local inns that made the list of shame:

Number Three is the Tropicana Resort Hotel on 17th Street. Of the 173 posted reviews, 86 percent give the place a big thumbs down.

Coming in at Number Four is the Super 8 Virginia Beach on 26th Street. Forty eight folks weighed in and a whopping 88 percent said the place left a lot to be desired.

To be fair, each hotel also received a few postive ratings from guests who enjoyed their stay and thought they received a good value.

Wondering about that top spot?

Drum roll, please: The hotel most in need of maid service, according to TripAdvisor, anyway, is the Heritage Marina Hotel in San Francisco.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Kaine's parting shot

Nice try, Tim.

Looks like former Gov. Tim Kaine had one final surprise for law-abiding Virginians.

He quietly arranged to transfer a double murderer - serving two life sentences - back to his native Germany. Once there, Jens Soering could be released in as little as two years.

Count on it. Europeans have no stomach for long prison sentences. If they did, the Lockerbie Scotland bomber would be behind bars instead of living in Libya right now.

Gov. Bob McDonnell objects to this bit of lame-duck chicanery. It remains to be seen if he has the power to stop what his predecessor put in motion.

Here's hoping.

I wrote about this particular murderer in a 2007 column headlined,  "Sympathy for lifers? Nope, not on your life."

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Pit bulls. Again.

It didn't take long.

The New Year was only nine days old when we logged what appears to be the first death-by-pit bull in the United States.

On Saturday a 3-year-old Apple Valley, California boy was mauled to death by his family pet after he was left alone - for minutes - with the lovable dog.

Get  ready. Here it comes.

Bad owners. Bad breeders. Bad boy.

It's never the dog. And ordinances banning pit bulls are never the answer.

Or are they?

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Transparency on body scans

In my Sunday column I wrote about airport full-body scans and how like it or not these Peeping Tom machines are going to be a part of the flying public's future.

Seems it's easier to inconvenience the masses than it is to tell the folks with terrorist ties that they can't fly.

Wait. There's more.

CNN is reporting that the feds have been, ah, not telling the whole truth about these clever machines. Despite official assurances to the contrary, they actually can store information and images.

And yes, the machines can be hacked.

 Bon voyage!

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

It's time

When the electric reindeer collapse on the lawn, it's a sign.

Time to pack up Christmas.

By most methods of counting today marks the Twelfth Day of Christmas and tradition superstition says you should leave your decorations up until now or take your chances with a rash of bad luck in the coming 12 months.

If your Santas and reindeer and garlands and angels are already tucked away in the attic, better luck next year! 

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Apostrophe abuse

So there I was, shopping for a bottle of bubbly last week, when I spied this sign in one of my favorite shops:

I considered fleeing but I love the place. The staff is nice. The prices are good. The selection is great. Besides, I was on a mission. So I turned into the champagne aisle and tried to put that Saturday's out of my mind.

"May I help you?" chirped a helpful clerk.

"Yes, as a matter of fact you can," I said, leading her to the front of the store where I pointed to the sign.

"You can get rid of that apostrophe," I said.

"I didn't make the sign," she said, looking puzzled and pointing to another clerk an aisle away. "He did."

"What's wrong?" the signmaker wanted to know.

"It's that danged apostrophe," I said. "You need to get rid of it."

"Why?" he asked.

I took a deep breath.

"Because Saturdays is plural, not possessive. The wine tastings happen on multiple Saturdays, they don't belong to Saturdays," I explained, realizing exactly how crazy I sounded.

"It’s been a long time since I was in school," he sputtered.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with apostrophe adrenalin. I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't shut up.

"That's the good thing about grammar," I continued, sounding like a real jerk.  "The rules about apostrophes are exactly the same now as they were back when you were in second grade."

Why am I telling you this? To explain that those of us with little language nits we like to pick sometimes lose our perspective. (And I am not a grammarian, by the way. Anyone who reads my column knows that I have a bad sentence fragment habit and my use of commas is best described as misuse. But apostrophes? Don't get me started.)

That brings us to news that "The Great Typo Hunt" is expected to hit bookstores in August. It's being penned by Benjamin Herson and Jeff Deck, two "grammar geeks" who canvassed the country in 2008, documenting and sometimes correcting blatant grammatical errors on signs.

They landed in hot water with the feds when they "fixed" a sign at the Grand Canyon.

Look, I don't sympathize with vandals. Yet I understand why this Dartmouth duo felt compelled to take action against public signs that abuse the English language.

Taking a stand against the overuse of apostrophes is a worthy cause. But vandalism? A step too far, I'm afraid.

Still, I'm totally buying the book .

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Day of Infamy

It was President Franklin Roosevelt who correctly predicted that December 7, 1941 would forever be remembered as a day of infamy.

Even those who were born long after the Japanese attacked American ships and aircraft in Pearl Harbor know what happened 68 years ago.

If you've been to Hawaii - and I haven't - chances are you visited the USS Arizona Memorial. According to The National Park Service, about one million people a year tour that remarkable building that straddles, but doesn't touch, the submerged hull of the battleship.

 Well here's a Pearl Harbor Day question for you.

Which American entertainer raised more than 10 percent of the half million dollars it cost to build the USS Arizona memorial?

Hint: I learned the answer during a 2008 visit to Graceland.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Disturbing details on Virginia Tech

It's been two years and nearly eight months since a deranged and violent Virginia Tech student went on a shooting spree that ended in death for 32 students and teachers.

By now the families of the victims - and the public - should have a complete picture of what happened that awful day in Blacksburg and the events that led up to it.

Unfortunately, they don't.

Details about the actions - and inactions - by university administrators and police continue to dribble out. And this drip, drip, drip of information is troubling.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the state is now issuing an "Addendum" to the official account of the massacre at Virginia Tech. 

Sadly, some of the newly uncovered facts raise even more questions.They've caused some survivors to insist that a cover-up is at work.

Virginia deserves an unblinking look at the events of April 16, 2007. The whole story.

Not to point fingers at unprepared or blundering school officials, but to prevent another tragedy of this magnitude elsewhere.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.