[Decade]

> I was astounded at the how banal and low brow most advertising is these days. I seem to remember a time when ads were clever and creative, but the ones I kept seeing with monotonous regularity were nothing more than quick sound bites ordering people to go buy junk or watch more crap.

No, the ads were bad 8 years ago, too. You just remembered the clever ones because they were your only reason to tune in to the Super Bowl.

I blame the news organizations. Self-appointed gatekeepers of truth. I stopped watching mainstream news many years ago, before I lost my TV, because it was so bland and distorted and a tremendous waste of time. Not in a fun way.

And after experiencing several horse races, I decided to stay away from the election news cycle, too. I voted in both the primary and the general, and my choices for both lost, but it was so pleasant to know everything I needed to know about the presidential candidates such a long time in advance.