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I would try to set these comics up, but they don’t really need it. Click on each for a larger version.

And that, as they say it, is all.

I found these stats about the Super Bowl on Gizmodo, and thought I’d pass them along:

1,000,000,000 worldwide television audience
130,000,000 US viewers
70,000 fans at Ford Field in Detroit
38,000 dollars per second of commercial time
720p HD standard of the broadcast
500 monitors in control trucks
400 crew people for production, technical, administrative and support
100x optical zoom of the longest Canon lens to be used
180 frames per second of Sony’s new experimental super slo-mo camera
90 inputs on the video switcher
90 miles of cable for cameras and microphones
60 microphones, including 12 on-field parabolic mics
54 cameras used by FOX at last year’s Super Bowl, but not all were HD as they are this year
40 digital video instant replay units
36 TV cameras
36 seasons of ABC NFL coverage, of which this is the last season and last game
29 mobile vehicles
25 degrees, forecast temperature outside the domed stadium at kickoff, a concern of ABC technicians
20 “hard” cameras (stationary as opposed to hand-held)
10 television production trucks (not including the infamous horse trailer)
10 commercials bought by the game’s biggest advertiser, Anheuser-Busch
7 handheld cameras
6 robotic cameras
6 super slo-mo cameras
5 million dollars per minute to buy a commercial
4 announcers: Al Michaels, John Madden, Michelle Tafoya and Suzy Kolber
3 60-second advertisements (the rest are :30), bought by General Motors, Burger King and ESPN
2 operators for SkyCam: one cameraman, one “pilot”
1 director, Drew Esocoff, his second Super Bowl as a director

Related Links:
ABC Sports Prepares for HD Super Bowl XL [TV Technology]
Super Bowl XL on ABC Sports in SD/HD simulcast [Broadcast Engineering]
Super Bowl XL Ready to Go in Detroit [Broadcast Newsroom]
Super Bowl Gets Supersized Production [Broadcasting & Cable]

I saw Fight Club the other night for the first time, and I really liked it. I’d always heard it was one of those movies that I needed to see, but I never had… until now. I don’t know why, maybe it was the movie, maybe it was the fact that I had to rush Lindsay back before the dorms were locked… but I got out of my car, and walking back to the dorm just felt weird. I kept expecting somebody to walk up and want to fight me, and at the same time I was wishing someone would walk my direction so I could fight them.

(For those of you who know me, you know any such fight would probably be fairly entertaining. And for those of you who don’t know me, when I say entertaining, I don’t mean it would be a good fight.)

In other (and bad) news… Nokia has decided to close the department my dad works in… not relocate, close. So, my dad (and about 300 other people?) will effectively lose his/their jobs at the end of February. There is a chance he can find another job within the company, but nothing’s certain. Please keep my dad and my family in your prayers; this isn’t easy for him.

I hate this cloud of uncertainty. It lets some rays of sunshine through, but…