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super bowl commercials: and the winner is...

If you're not a Super Bowl watcher, even just for the commercials, your friend the Internet will keep you from being outside today's discussion. Here are videos of this year's commercials, plus those from a few years back, just in case someone starts comparing this year's GoDaddy.com ad to the equally dismal spots of yore. (To learn the storied history of Super Bowl ads, check out this New York Times graphic that catalogs the milestone ads for each year and how many relied on animals and celebrities for their punchlines.)

My favorite for 2007: Definitely the Coca-Cola Happiness Factory ad. It was beautiful, whimsical and imaginative in a Dr. Seuss way. My child self was pretty convinced something as intricate as this occurred inside pop machines, but Coke didn't take the easy way out by having a precocious kiddo slip a quarter in to make the magic work. As an adult, I prefer to think the guts of the H-L machines might be so exciting.

Other ads getting my thumbs up, which is to say I'm slightly less likely to TiVo through them: CareerBuilder's Office Jungle spot, because running through an Amazonian gauntlet while being half-heartedly reminded to sign out doesn't seem so ridiculous; the Emerald Nuts' Robert Goulet ad, because it was so absurd; and the GM Robot commercial, because I'm so over car campaigns based on patriotic songs and long drives through traffic-free country roads.

And Nationwide's infamous Kevin Federline ad? Great. Just great. The MC Hammer variety was hilarious, but this one is so current, it'll actually mean something to people too young to remember Hammertime as a historical period.

Here's a story that says Blockbuster's mouse ad was tops, and another touting the amateur ads.

Shout down in the comments if you disagree, or if you've simply got other favorites.

Confession time: I'd be lying if I claimed to watch the Super Bowl all the way through. I have a low threshold for football, but I can watch baby dogs romp and pounce all day. Thank you, Animal Planet.

I shrieked a lot more at Puppy Bowl than at the actual game, as if my yells would somehow make those giant, doddering samoyed pups stop harassing the teeny mini daschund. (The kitty half-time show wasn't bad, either. Precious, although they really can't compete with a sopping wet Prince.)

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Go: PostSecret gatekeeper and creator Frank Warren will be in Cincy this week.
I just saw that Warren will be signing books at Joseph Beth's Cincinnati store. 7 p.m. Wednesday. I've gotten lazy about driving anywhere outside of New Circle for entertainment, but this may be worth it.

Go again: The Apples in Stereo are playing CD Central and The Dame this week.
The band's new album is out Tuesday, and they kick off their tour in Lexington Thursday. For more info, check out the story I wrote for Sunday's paper about frontman Robert Schneider and his fascination with math.

ad campaigns to love, even if you want to hate them

I adore the new Kleenex ad campaign. I saw it the first time this weekend and was a little charmed by the whole thing -- set up a vintage-styled royal blue couch, soften it up with some fluffy white tissues and listen.

People laugh. People cry. I laugh. I cry. It's brilliant. Can't you just imagine the table of peaked ad execs starring at a box of tissues, praying for inspiration to emerge from its swirly box pattern, until finally one cracks and explains that her cat just died, and she's really sorry but Budgy was her very best friend and she hates to cry in front of people, especially people in gray suits who look so grim, but she just had to let it out. ::sob::

I'm pretty sure that's how it happened.

Or maybe they just realized that an ad campaign based on shooting gooey bricks out your nose wasn't going to get that tasty 18-49 demo.

Let it Out feels like watching a melodramatic StoryCorps during the commercial break. (There will be weeping, every time.) For a second there, I almost forgot this was advertising a product they want us to buy.

I wish I could stop myself now, but it's too late. I've been sucked in before.

• I once considered decorating my bedroom in Apple Think Different posters.
• When I home dye my hair, I have the uncontrollable desire to blast (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. If an unexpected male visitor wandered in on my undeniable hair-dying cuteness, I'd call the cops.
• Two words: Khakis swing.
• 1995. I voted for the purple M&M, and lost. Future troubles with voter registration and absentee ballots would send me on a chocolate-swilling rampage.

Tell me your favorites. Reach out and touch someone. Let it all out. (And read AdAge's list of the 100 best ad campaigns, if you need a refresher.)

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More to ponder: While I'm thinking about the U.S. Postal Service...
You pretty much have to read this test of the postal system. With enough postage and patience, a ski and an unwrapped rose will make it to their destinations.

React: Iggy Pop and the Stooges, once again, not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I'm actually thrilled by this year's inductees. Patti Smith? R.E.M.? Deserved. But after six nominations and no induction, The Stooges must feel like the ugliest bridesmaid out there.