LIVE BLOG: Sunday Night Super Bowl XLVI... Music & Mayhem

It's Super Bowl time, cool cats! And while I really had no intention of watching, I arrived home after an outing in the city after 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with Tivo recording... This is a New York moment, after all, so what the hell...

It's probably the one time during the year where I stop to watch the commercials, while fast forwarding through the TV program... I'm kinda sorta watching at the game, wondering if any of the ads are going to wow the masses. And, of course, I'm jazzed about seeing what Madonna has in store...

6 p.m.: I'm a fan of country music, but my lord, that opening version of "America the Beautiful" sounded more like "Americer the Real Purty." Couldn't Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton sing without infusing the song with such down-home Southern histrionics? Too much.

Kelly Clarkson, on the other hand, was just marvelous with her 1:35-minute version of the National Anthem. Nice wig, girl! She absolutely nailed it with just the right amount of bravado sans turning it into a would-be gospel anthem, a la 2011's Christina Aguilera. But one question: Why did the camera devote all of a few seconds to Clarkson, whereas the country couple got plenty of face time?

7 p.m.: In the first hour, there have already been nine commercial breaks of varying lengths. My god, this is going to be a long night... The Pepsi spot with Elton John and X Factor winner Melanie Amaro was good stuff... Wonder who that hot guy is in the Hyundai Cheetah ad... Hey, Vanessa Williams is an M&M! Now, Barry Manilow in a post-apocalyptic commercial for Chevy.. that was alarming; really in poor taste... The David Beckham H&M ad (which I've seen online) was nothing but a cheap tease... Pepsi polar bears; what is this, 1980?...

7:07p.m.: The New York Giants score a touchdown. Sweet!

8:00p.m.: Halftime, already, and I haven't watched one second of football. This has been painless! Madonna time! "Vogue" opens... (see it on YouTube here). This already looks mammoth! Is it my imagination or does the quality of the broadcast look different, as if this is film? Thank heavens Madonna is lip-syncing, bless her heart. That stage is magnificent, eh? Hey, Black Eyed Peas: This is how it's done.

Second number: "Music." Madge doesn't dance so much, anyone, does she? More like strutting, while the kid dancers do the heavy lifting... Now her new song "Give Me All Your Luvin'." This is a pretty silly ditty, to be honest. Still reminds me of "Mickey," except for the ghastly contributions of Nicky Minaj and M.I.A, which adds a big dollop of horseshit. I'm just not loving it... And now Ceelo Green and a drum corps are tearing this little breakdown into stinky tatters.

Costume change! "Like A Prayer." What a wonderful choice... The scenery is beautiful. Larger than life (especially Ceelo, who looks like an enormous plum as he screams and tries his damndest to ruin Madonna's song)...

Uh, wait... that's it? It's over? Seriously? Whoa... I'm suddenly longing for Lady Gaga. That was pretty and all, but by no means, historic. Last year's Peas was ghastly. This year I feel... non-plussed. Wowsah...

Jon Pareles writes: Madonna the bad girl was forgotten in her Super Bowl halftime extravaganza. A grown-up flanked by younger collaborators, Madonna was not the indefatigable trouper of past decades; her moves were measured, and she let acrobats from Cirque du Soleil offer distractions. This was Madonna as a former party girl turned regent: a gold-crowned queen on her throne, a homecoming queen strutting in the bleachers, a reverently uplifting church singer.

8: 16 p.m.: More ads: Awesome commercial for The Voice with Betty White. The endless woe-is-us ad for Chrysler featuring Clint Eastwood made me want to jump off a bridge; thanks for that... Will Arnett needs to go away forever; a one-trick pony humorist, and the joke ain't funny anymore... Finally, I can stop and fire up some hot dogs & chips and down a liter of Diet Pepsi. Hey, wait a minute, when did New England take the lead, 10 to 9? I missed that...

8:45 p.m.: Patriots: 17; Giants, 12. Come on, New York. If you have to have a dorky looking quarterback with Eli Manning, you could at least win this thing. New England doesn't deserve hot Tom Brady and the trophy.

9:07 p.m.: The heavily hyped Ferris Bueller commercial with Matthew Broderick just aired... brings to mind a whole lot of nothing again... The MetLife spot was adorable with its cartoon icons—but hey, where was Archie?

9:29 p.m.: The droning anti-Apple ad for Samsung cell was among the most asinine I've seen tonight. And BTW, does anyone really think monkeys in commercials is funny anymore?

9:31 p.m.: Four minutes left in the game. Looks like Mayor Bloomberg is going to miss out on his opportunity to hog face time at the fading possibility of a Giant's victory parade... Hey, wait, Eli Manning just made a brilliant interception of New England's ball... or something like that... Even I get that that was cool. There's suspense here now!

9:41 p.m.: Tick, tick, tick...I have no idea what's going on, but this is tight... New York could win if they get to kick a field goal. I think... God, I loathe when sportcasters scream, as if something truly significant has really happened... one of the primary reasons I cannot bear to watch sports... Nothing is so overwhelming that these dudes need to lose their cool like this... 30 seconds remaining... I'm wholly confused. Whoa, at 9:45 p.m., the Giants score. They're in the lead!! Hey, this game is exciting, after all. I'll be damned.

9:53 p.m.: The Giants win!! Yeah! I'm opening the window now to hear if people are yelling outside! I heart New York! I might yell myself. *

Kevin Keller Nominated For GLAAD Award

Out & proud gay Archie Comics character Kevin Keller has been nominated for a 2012 GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Comic Book category. It's his second consecutive nod for the The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

With a wildly successful four-issue mini-series under his belt, Riverdale, N.Y.-based Kevin was recently married—to a dude—in a Life With Archie comic earlier this month. His own series launches in February.

I continue to say it: What a wonderful way for queer kids to realize it's all good to be gay. It's pretty cool for adults that grew up with Archie, too. *

Everything's Archie!

As my interest in all things Archie continues to reach new grown-up heights, I've been trying to get a read on the worth of the '60s-'70s-era cloth 19-inch doll I bought Sunday at an NYC flea market for a cool $5.

I took Arch to St. Mark's Comics in Brooklyn Heights Monday and was given a guesstimate of $22. A couple commenters on doll collector webbies gave me figures between $8 and $18. 

That's it? Well, at least I didn't overpay... and shucks, he's priceless to me! And let's not forget the  treasured original Archie sketch that my buddy Bob asked illustrator Dan Parent to draw for me (on right)...

Meanwhile, after selling $800 worth of no-longer-needed junk in my apartment on eBay over the last month, I've indulged in a second Archie doll (on left). After negotiating with the seller, I knocked this adorable 2005 14-inch Archie Plush Kellytoy down from the asking price of $15 to $10... He should be arriving within the week.

Sadly, at some point, I owned the classic 1987 15" Archie (on right), but he vanished when I moved from Washington to New York in the 1990s. His average eBay price: $75!

Collecting... not a fan of assembling a bunch of junk in a cramped New York apartment... but a few Archiekins keepsakes won't hurt, right? Right?

Meanwhile, as I've written about numerous times, Archie Comics took brave forward steps into the millennium with the first gay character in comic book history, Kevin Keller. Since the gang lives in the state of New York, his February 2012 issue will be devoted to the handsome blonde's same-sex wedding.

What I didn't realize is that there's a subculture in the slash fiction genre that has decided that Archie is also gay—despite his life-long dedication to Veronica and Betty. This is just wrong, cool cats (but a little bit funny as hell, too).

Archie Comics Releases First Kevin Keller Cover For February 2012

Archie Comics has released the premiere issue cover of Kevin Keller's ongoing series, which launches in February 2012. Kevin is, of course, the first openly gay character in mainstream comics history, who was introduced in Veronica #202, which became the fastest-selling comic in Archie's 70-year history. Since, he has garnered his own four-issue mini-series, which is so successful that Kevin now joins the ranks of Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead with his own branded series.

Veteran Archie writer and artist Dan Parent, who created the character, will helm the bold storyline about Kevin becoming president of the student class—and at some point, as a New York state native, falling in love and hosting his same-sex wedding in Riverdale, with all of the Archie gang in attendance. If only reality were as accepting.

As I shared last month, Parent recently drew an original Archie for me as a lifetime fan, a gift from my pal Bob.

Halloween Madness

Sweet Memories: I Was The Most Hated Man On My College Campus

As I'm going through everything in my apartment cleaning, decluttering, tossing, reorganizing and streamlining, the age-old photo albums from my youth finally came down from that top shelf I could never reach. At some point, I'll start leafing through the goods, but one page actually fell out of an album and made me giggle like a... schoolboy.

When I was a senior at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., I wrote a twice-weekly column, "A Closer Look," as Features Editor for the school newspaper The Breeze. After the first few columns failed to fuel much impact, my editor asked me, "What's something you're really passionate about? Something people don't necessarily understand?"

As we brainstormed, I offered, "Well, I've always thought The Beatles are overrated. I've never understood why they get so much credit for changing the world when it was producer George Martin who turned them from a rockabilly group into a boy band."

"You're fucking kidding me," editor Ian said. "That's what you're going to write about."

To say the column was an effective calling card is a vast understatement. Within the week, I was the most hated man at JMU. I'd walk across campus and hear, "Fuck you, Charles," while pissed-off co-eds shouted from dorm windows, "John Lennon lives!" I'd go to parties, where beer would be spilled on my shoes. Think I struck a nerve much?

The next week, the campus newspaper's cartoonist published the lovely image below, which only fortified universal indignation for my viewpoint. But you know what? "A Closer Look" was a hit for the rest of the school year... perhaps outdone only by a three-part page 1 series I wrote for The Breeze about "Gays On Campus" the following spring.

Ah, another golden memory: The night before Part 1 hit campus, my journo prof—who wholly supported the series—said, "I hope you're ready. This probably isn't going to go over well" in the conservative Reagan-era Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He was correct: In Part 3, I quoted the university prez saying, "There are no homosexuals at this school." For real.

Archie (Original) Is In The House

All my life, I've been a huge fan of Archie Comics... I've posted plenty here about new gay character Kevin Keller and the recent nuptials between Archie & Veronica... uh, and Archie & Betty. In fact, my kitchen is a mini gallery of Archie memorabilia, with a calendar, button, magnets, Archie bendie and an Archie bobblehead.

It's my one nod to childhood—and yet, with development of a gay comic character, the franchise remains relevant, if not socially significant in my adult life.

Yesterday, buds Bobby & Timmy came to BK and brought a precious gift. Bob is developing his own gay sports comic strip "Casey At the Bat," and attended the ginormous Comic Con geek gathering earlier this month in New York. There, he met Archie illustrator Dan Parent, and Bobby asked him to draw Archie for me. Parent actually completed the sketch overnight, colored it in and Bobby returned the following day to retrieve. Signed and everything. So precious to meese. Thank you, Bobby!

Archie Comics' Gay Kevin Keller Gets Hitched | Fox News Has A Fit!

If only reality was as rosy... After he was introduced in April 2010, Archie Comics' first gay character Kevin Keller quickly became one of the franchise's most popular, with his own miniseries and a regular series planned for February 2012. And now our boy wonder is getting married. The series' publisher announced Wednesday that Keller will wed in an issue out (and proud) Jan. 4.
The whole gang turns out for Kevin Keller's wedding in Riverdale, N.Y., as we discover how Kevin met his dream man—but there's conflict, too as poor Archie and Veronica get separated... Man, this really is like real life: Gays can marry in New York, heteros can't seem to stay married.

Archie Comics author told the AP last year, "The world of Riverdale has to reflect contemporary culture and to show it is an accepting, diverse place. And that's why Kevin is important, to show that everybody is welcome in this all-American town we've embraced for over 70 years."

Natch, there's only one news outlet that came to the defense of "family values": Fox News. The fanatical folks there were quick to publish an article digging up whatever criticism they could muster from the Family Research Council, a Christian lobbying group: “It's unfortunate that a comic book series usually seen as depicting innocent, all-American life is now being used to advance the sexual revolution. Whatever boost in sales will be more than offset by both kids and parents turned off by this storyline and its obvious social and political agenda." Hey, at least they called it a revolution!

Archie Comics: I'm So Confused... He's Married Veronica & Betty!

This is just too much change for me to take... Sigh... As my childhood fave Archie Comics becomes one of few long-lived comic strips that dares to move it characters forward, they've come up with a bizarro treatment in which Archie marries Veronica and goes to work for his papa-in-law at Lodge Industries... as does Ronnie. Conflict ensues. Now she's pregnant with twins...

No, wait. In a parallel series, Archie Marries Betty and the newlyweds move from Riverdale to New York City to pursue their grown-up dreams. Ah, that sounds better... Oh, no, their former high school teacher Miss Grundy has dropped dead.

Too much reality. Make it stop. Where's my youth-protected force field of the simple life? Then again, Archie Comics has introduced gay character Kevin Keller. Okay, I'm breathing again.

Archie's Gay Pal Kevin Keller Earns Series

Archie Comics' first openly gay character, Kevin Keller, has proven so popular that the iconic title's publisher is issuing his own four-issue series in June.

Keller was introduced in September 2010, in Veronica 202, and the issue sold out instantly, prompting Archie Comics to issue a reprint for the first time in its history. His debut and creator, writer/artist Dan Parent, were also nominated for a GLAAD Media Award at the beginning of the year.

Keller encored earlier this month in Veronica 205 before his series this summer, which focuses on the wanna-be writer's life before he arrived in Riverdale, including his struggles in junior high school. It will also establish that he is an Army brat and introduce friends Wendy & William, whom Keller has been seen texting.

Archie-Style Christmas

(Waffyjon/Flickr)