February 2005
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Month February 2005

Entries 5 Total

GoDaddy’s missing second ad spot during the Superbowl

Feb 7, ’05 5:00 PM

Apparently, the GoDaddy ad spot from yesterday’s SuperBowl was supposed to run twice, not just once during the first quarter. For those who didn’t see the game, in the spot a young brunette testifies in front of a fake committee wearing a tight white tank-top and manifesting serious cleavage. Predictably, one of the shoulder straps breaks, and she dances a bit. Various old folks look upset, and one old guy is huffing oxygen, apparently overcome by the woman’s dancing. To be clear, at no time is there a "wardrobe malfunction" other than the strap breaking, and no actual obscenity occurs. But apparently somebody didn’t like the ad and killed the second spot.

The CEO of GoDaddy blogged today on why the ad didn’t appear twice. It seems that the NFL asked Fox not to air the ad a second time, and Fox complied. One imagines that GoDaddy will get its second 2.4 million bucks back, but more interesting is the blogospheric reaction. Some have been quick to call this censorship, others are wondering about breach of contract.

It’s not censorship. The relationship between GoDaddy.com and Fox is a private business relationship, undoubtedly with a standard written contract. Without seeing the contract, it’s difficult to know if Fox breached, but one imagines it’s likely that Fox retains the right to not air material at its choice, and would then simply be liable for a refund or credits for future ads. Frankly, there’s nothing interesting here from a legal point of view.

I do find it fascinating, however, that Fox and the NFL were sufficiently freaked out about public opinion and the general cultural climate in our country that an ad that involves a fully clothed woman dancing was considered problematic.

Especially since, if one watches any of a half-dozen other Fox shows (e.g., Totally Outrageous Behavior, the O.C., American Idol, and virtually every one of Fox’s exploitative reality shows), you’d see a heck of a lot more than was displayed in the GoDaddy SuperBowl ad. Let’s face it, Fox isn’t exactly known for family entertainment and wholesomeness. So I find it both hilarious and kind of creepy that Fox moved that quickly to ensure that our delicate minds weren’t re-exposed to GoDaddy during the final minutes of the game.

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Tasting notes: 2001 White Burgundies

Feb 6, ’05 11:18 AM

Last night, a number of us gathered at Bill Fleckenstein’s home to finish up a series of 3 tastings: 1999, 2000, and 2001 white burgundies. Last night we focused on the 2001′s. Eight wines had been decanted for several hours and were served in blind decanters. We knew the lineup, but did not know which decanter held which wine.

The 2001 Raveneau Montee de Tonnerre Chablis stood out from the rest, with a wonderfully subtle, stony, and lemony nose. The rest of the wines were all from the Cotes d’Or and thus required more analysis. At least one bottle was simply bad, beginning the evening with a squashy, oxidized nose that worsened as the evening continued, though it was clearly a good wine given the palate.

The clear standout, rated as the wine of the night by everyone, was the 2001 Coche-Dury Meursault. Most then preferred the Ramonet Champ-Canet, which had a hint of the piney aroma characteristic of Ramonet’s Chassagnes, but was subtle and understated. After this, preferences were much more individualized. I liked the Colin Deleger Puligny Les Demoiselles next, but I believe this ranking is anomalous because the Pillot Vergers Clos St. Marc (squashy wine) and Leflaive Clavoillon were off bottles and normally would have knocked our socks off. In the middle, or what normally would have been the bottom end of my rankings, were the Marc Colin Vide Bourse Chassagne and the Carillon Champ-Canet. Both were good, solid wines, but they paled in comparison tonight with the Coche and Ramonet.

Fleck then served a “reference wine” by way of comparison — a crisp, pale, young-tasting wine with a huge nose and a smooth, mellow palate. This turned out to be the 1979 Ampeau Les Combettes, served to demonstrate how age-worthy white burgundy can be. A phenomenal wine — several at the table guessed the wine was only a few years old.

During a dinner of grilled whole beef tenderloins and simple pasta with mushrooms, we drank a lovely but slightly fading 1985 La Chapelle Hermitage, a slightly oxidized but lovely Camigliano 1997 Brunello, and a 1990 Pichon Baron which reminded everyone of a young, juicy Quilceda Creek. I had brought Henri Bonneau’s 1992 Cuvee Celestins, but the early consensus was that the bottle was off or slightly corked. Chuck Miller disagreed, and indeed the initial “corkiness” appears to have been a bad case of bottle stink, as I happily confirmed later that night at home. Chris Camarda brought his 1997 Andrew Will Klipsun Merlot, which is starting show some maturity and complexity but also has plenty of life left.

We finished with a fascinating 1959 Banyuls and molten chocolate dessert, and a bottle of 1983 Climens which Fleck swears goes perfectly with chocolate. In all, a fabulous evening.

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Richard Olney and Lulu’s Provencal Table

Feb 6, ’05 10:11 AM

Since Crescat Sententia doesn’t have comments, I’m writing in response to Waddling Thunder’s discussion of Olney’s book Lulu’s Provencal Table. I happen to agree that this classic has less Olney than one might ordinarily expect, but from my perspective, Waddling Thunder is missing something crucial. This is no ordinary cookbook; it is, rather, a tribute to a great winemaking family and their "extended family" of associations from Olney to Kermit Lynch to Alice Waters and her compatriots. Olney intentionally removes himself from the foreground in the book, preferring instead to allow Lulu Peyraud to tell the story of the food, wine, and friends associated with Domaine Tempier.

Peyraudstempier20001

For the book is nothing less than Olney’s argument that certain foods, certain wines, and a group of special friends can transcend each of these categories and become something richer: a community. This community, and its history, do receive a much deeper treatment in Olney’s Reflexions, but to my mind, Lulu’s Provencal Table stands as an essential tribute to the Peyrauds who built Tempier and those who carry it on into the next generation.

(photo of Catherine and Jean-Marie Peyraud by the author, November 2000)

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In Memoriam: Ernst Mayr (1904 – 2004)

Feb 4, ’05 8:08 PM

Ernst Mayr, one of the twentieth century’s greatest biologists, died yesterday at the age of 100. During his 80-year career in evolutionary biology, Mayr helped create the "Modern Synthesis" that knit genetics, paleontology, and systematics together under the umbrella of Darwinian evolution. Virtually all of modern biology owes a tremendous debt to Mayr and his colleagues in the Synthesis (e.g., Wright, Dobzhansky, Stebbins).

Beyond that debt, Mayr occupied a unique place in modern biology due to the breadth of his work. He pioneered the analysis of species diversity and the role of geographic separation in speciation. But most importantly in my view, Mayr sharpened our understanding of the philosophical issues underlying the Darwinian conception of the natural world. His 1959 article, Typological and Population Thinking, was the first recognition that Darwin had ushered in not just a new scientific theory but one that relied upon a new way of understanding variation and change. Mayr noted that the shift from "typological" to "population" thinking, or in other terminology, the rejection of Aristotelian essentialism, was crucial to understanding how variation was causal in evolution, instead of merely noise around unchanging "kinds" or "types." This realization is deeply woven into modern biology, even if this lesson has yet failed to completely penetrate Western culture and common sense.

Furthermore, Mayr wrote widely and deeply about the history and philosophy of biology. His Growth of Biological Thought remains a key resource and my well-thumbed copy occupies pride of place on my biology shelves. In his historical and philosophical work, Mayr also fought against the teleological tradition both in biology and in Western culture. The following made a deep impression upon me, both in scientific and political outlook:

In the case of teleology, Darwin clearly placed a burden upon us. We can no longer rely on the assumption that no matter what we do, everything will surely in due time become better and better….Even though Voltaire in his satire Candide exaggerated the thinking of a cosmic teleologist, there is no doubt that there is no validity whatsoever in any form of panglossianism. If we want to have a better world, it is up to us to take the necessary steps. We must revise our ethical principles. We must begin to think more of the future of mankind as a whole, or even simply of the future of our community, our population, and take the necessary steps even though they may be painful for the individual. This lesson is perhaps the most difficult consequence of Darwin’s theories. (1)

Truly, Ernst Mayr was a giant among scientists. He was of a generation when one man, particularly one with his breadth of intellect and interests, could help radically transform the entire field of biological endeavor. Few do so, but Mayr did, and left biology a much richer discipline for his 80 years of thought, observation, and dedication.

Note:

(1) Mayr 1995, "Darwin’s Impact on Modern Thought," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, p. 317-325.

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Low moments in American history: Gonzales confirmed as AG

Feb 3, ’05 5:13 PM

In what must surely rank as one of our low moments as a country, Gonzales was confirmed 60-36 as Attorney General today. Six Democrats voted to confirm. Their names and states are listed here, so that we will not forget them during their next primary campaigns:


Landrieu (D-LA) Lieberman (D-CT)
Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR) Salazar (D-CO)

Regardless of Republican attempts to paint Gonzales as the target of a Dem smear campaign designed to target Administration foreign policy, the documentary record is clear.

But let’s get beyond the legalisms, the constitutional arguments, and the Geneva Convention for a moment. Even if Gonzales can, on specific legal grounds, be construed as not "condoning" or "advocating" torture, the mere fact that we need scholars and lawyers determining how thinly we can slice the terminology is an indication of a more basic failure.

That failure is our willingness to drop our moral self-image and commitments at the first sign of fear and threat. While never perfect, Americans have always held the moral self-image that we are a people that don’t do things like torture. That self-image, and its historical realization in policy and law, has allowed us to serve as an example and claim some moral high ground from which we can help oppressed peoples when necessary.

We do not, I do not, want our country to lose that moral high ground, particularly without a much more serious debate and a much more serious and immediate threat.

As a result, I view Gonzales’ confirmation as a dark day in our history. Moreover, I congratulate the 36 Democrats, my own Senators Cantwell and Murray included, who took the moral and courageous step of voting against confirmation. Not that you didn’t have my support before, but today you earned it again.

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