You may have noticed, the Stupor Bowl went down yesterday. I heard it suggested that they move the game to Saturday, allowing America a day to recover before trudging back to work. My brain, liver and intestines would like to publicly endorse this idea. Wings n’ beer are not just for breakfast anymore, but that doesn’t mean you won’t regret overconsuming them the next day. I now realize the error of my ways yesterday and hope to make smarter, safer decisions in the future. Here are some other thoughts I had throughout the day.

- For me, the main theme going in to the game was that it defined you as a sports fan. Are you one who tends to root for the underdog? Then the Saints are your team. Do you prefer to see perfection, watch legends-in-the making, and get caught up in the hyperbole of sports history? Then you should root for Peyton Manning and the Colts.
- It’s always a dangerous practice for one player to be contemplated as the best ever going in to the championship game. We went through this in 2008 when the favored Lakers took on the Celtics and going into the series, every blowhard sports pontificator went on and on about whether Kobe Bryant was better than Michael Freaking Jordan. Is he at the table!? In the conversation?!! Who would YOU want with the ball and the game on the line!!?? Needless to say, the Lakers lost in 6. The funny thing is the athlete in question does nothing to fan these flames except be great. It’s not like Peyton Manning showed up at media day with a F%&@ UNITAS t-shirt on. Yet the pre-game coverage was 30% on Dwight Freeney’s ankle, 20% on Saints legend Archie Manning rooting for the Colts, and 50% on the greatness of Peyton Manning and the level at which he was performing. From now on, if your team’s best player is constantly being considered the best ever going into the big game, you should be very, very nervous.
- If you want me to purchase your product, you are best served having a humorous animal in your overpriced Super Bowl ad. Give me violin virtuoso beavers over Danica Patrick any day of the week.
- Speaking of which, hey Go Daddy- if I want to watch porn on the internet, I’ll watch porn on the internet. I’m not gonna go to your lame ass website to watch girls in tank tops. Trying to send dudes to the internet to watch your pretty-yet-clothed vixens is like sending a drug enthusiast to Amsterdam for a light beer.

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Nothing like tucking in your bastard child with a nice bedtime story about The Who drummer Keith Moon.  Sure, it’s a little macabre, but everyone knows that tales of the Boogie Man are uber emo.

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When Green Day originally made their mark writing songs about smoking dope and jacking off, who would’ve thought they would become the modern day version of The Who, making ambitious modern rock operas and having the Berkeley Repertory Theater staging a production based on their work? After all, the original rock operas like Tommy and prog rock bands like Boston and Steely Dan spawned a violent backlash and return to primal rock energy that ultimately led to the original punk explosion of the late 70’s, the original inspiration for Green Day. By making these grander artistic statements, the band is trying to fuze the two, and has been able to retain their youthful energy and appeal to a new generation of fans along the way.

Green Day followed up their original breakthrough Dookie with Insomniac, a spit-in-your face 38 minute collection of punk songs with little regard for commercial aspirations. A gritty return to the band’s 924 Gilman Street roots, it was perhaps their most underrated artistic moment. Their second wave of commercial success came with the multi-platinum song cycle American Idiot. Would the follow up be another return to the band’s roots again? In a word, no. 21st Century Breakdown feels like a sequel to American Idiot of sorts, and while Idiot was largely an indictment of the Bush administration, 21st Century is a treatise of more complicated modern times where the idiot in question isn’t as clear. On the title track, Billie Joe is trying to sort out the mess we’re in- “We are the desperate in the decline/Raised by the bastards of 1969”.

The first single, “Know Your Enemy” feels like generic Green Day, adhering to the successful premise of the previous modern day rock opera American Idiot- the big multi-part epics may move the band creatively, the simple three chord pop-punk songs are going to actually move units at Walmart. This track doesn’t do much for me, feels like a sharp song to use in a promo for the NBA playoffs as opposed to a greater political or societal statement.

“Viva La Gloria” is a portrait of a maturing punk band, finding their place in modern rock. Starts off with strings and piano, finishes as a polished punk track.

“Last Night On Earth” treads similar terrain as “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. I can almost see the disco ball spinning around my head as I slow dance with my prom date during this one.

“Peacemaker” touches on the Irish Punk of Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly, without delving too deep in those waters.

As the title suggests, “American Eulogy (Mass Hysteria/Modern World)” covers modern society and all of its ills. Doesn’t sound like Billie Joe wants any part of it- “I don’t want to live in the modern world. I am a nation without bureaucratic ties. In neither allocation as it’s written- FUCKIN’ LIES!”

At a sprawling 70+ minutes and 18 tracks, there is a lot to consume here. It reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ double album Stadium Arcadium in that the inclination is to narrow it down to a shorter, more concise collection of songs but the consistency throughout the album makes it tough to determine which songs should have been b-sides instead of on the album. The first word that comes to mind to summarize it is solid. They manage to make a musically varied and ambitious album without pushing the boundaries of their sound too much.