I want to take a second to address an issue that came up regarding the cover photo from last week’s issue. The photo depicted an art exhibit that featured some material that might be offensive to some people. That was not the goal of the exhibit or of the paper, in fact the exhibit’s message was to spur thinking about America’s past and confront the harsh reality of it. As a newspaper we strive to give voice to all people and promote awareness within the community. That being said, I apologize for not providing context to the photo that was placed on the cover. We should have given more details on the exhibit that took place last year as a part of the First Friday Art Walk series. The photo was meant to represent the event itself and not that particular exhibit and I apologize if I offended anyone.

Now for the rest of the Observation Deck.

Happy post-game, Wildcats! Let it be known that I did not watch the Super Bowl due to the lack of cable and general uncaring. Although, I did hear that the Eagles won so congrats to them, I guess. In the spirit of the game, I will be writing about some of the commercials that caught my eye. I Googled them so if I missed any good ones let me know on the Observer’s Facebook or Twitter (send links too so I can see them)!

“It’s a Tide ad”- This ad was my favorite one. It starts unexpectedly with David Harbour driving a car in an attempt to make you think that the ad is for a car, then pans to a bar scene for another fake-out. But in a surprise move, Harbour stated that the ad is in fact for Tide because there are no stains anywhere in the commercial. I liked this one because it was funny without being that sort of obnoxious Super Bowl comedy and it gives slight jabs to other commercials.

“Alexa Loses Her Voice” – Whatever would the world do without the trademark Alexa voice to help us in our daily lives? Well, now we know. When Alexa loses her voice, the people at Amazon have to go to plan B, which is using other famous voices. With cameos from Chef Gordon Ramsey, Rebel Wilson and Anthony Hopkins this commercial makes us glad we still have Alexa. I loved that Ramsey was the cameo voice for a cooking question and I hope that one day he voices all cooking-related answers.

“West World 2” – This commercial was one of the trailers that caught my eye. I am not a huge fan of action movies or show trailers because they are so fast-paced that I am not sure what exactly the show or movie is about. The West World trailer was a full minute which gave them enough time to build some narrative and draw me into the world they were creating. And as someone who hasn’t watched the first season, I now want to watch the show and see if it is as good as it looks.

“Lindsey Vonn, Olympics” – Out of all of the Olympic commercials from the Super Bowl, this one was my favorite. It featured Lindsey Vonn, a U.S. skier, and her career as a skier. The ad showed her getting into a bad accident during one of the Olympic events and her training to get back into competing shape, while being set to “This Girl is on Fire.” I thought this ad was motivational and showed how difficult it is to be an Olympic athlete.

Those are my favorites for this year! Once again there were ads that were good and some that were not so good, some with subtle humor and some that beat you over the head with it. I didn’t see the the halftime show but I heard Justin Timberlake killed it, but there were no “nip slips” this year (what a disappointment).

Have a great week everyone!