The Superbowl and the Emasculation of the American Male

I have a confession to make. The 44th Superbowl was my first Superbowl ever. Actually, it was really my first football game ever. The Superbowl is probably one of the single most iconic American events of the year, right up there with the Fourth of July, so I guess I've been missing out on an essential part of our culture. I have to concede that, though I do not follow any sports, and I won't stat now, the game itself was pretty entertaining, and there were some massively good plays (and just plain massive players). However, I've always heard that the best part of the Superbowl are the commercials. Corporations vie for prime slots during the game, and second are measured out in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was sorely disappointed.
First of all, none of the commercials were clever, witty, or even remotely interesting; I'm not a big fan of commercials in the first place (perhaps one day I will rant about them) and these were no exception. There was not one redeeming quality to any of the commercials this year. I did, however, notice something quite interesting. At least three of the commercials (I think there was another one, maybe two) were based on the American male losing his 'gender role.' I won't get into what that role is right now, but I don't think I need to (I actually have a picture of a Dockers billboard commercial that illustrates what I am saying on Facebook). Car companies to wireless providers tried to sell there products by saying that men should fight back and demand certain 'manly' pleasures, strongly implying that the American male is swiftly becoming emasculated, and these benevolent corporations want to help. It was, frankly, weird. I have no idea where this idea came from, and I don't even know if it is true, if feminists will rejoice, if men really care, etc. It just stood out for me.
The funniest add, I think, followed the stages of a man's life, highlighting all the manly responsibilities he had and then, almost as if giving men permission, tells the audience that men deserve skin care. Buy Dove MANLY skin care products.
And a Post-Script: The Who were a great band. Their songs are iconic and they were revolutionary, but the performance tonight was actually sad to watch. They looked as though they were on their last legs (though the light show was cool). Why don't they get contemporary artists for these shows, or at least a band who aren't yet members of AARP.

I'm Back

Sorry for the very long delay in updates; for any of you still reading, I went to California right after the last post and then to Puerto Rico a few days after that. I did not have a computer in either of those places, and I just got back yesterday. Both trips were awesome (though not quite on the level of 2.5 months in Argentina), but since I have a huge backlog of stories to write from all three trips, and, of course, everything that is going on now, I am going to randomly switch around what I write about. Things may not be in chronological order.
Meanwhile, I am now back in NY for the month of February, working to make some more money for the next phase of traveling. Speaking of, I am not yet sure where I will go. Obviously, finances play a huge role in my decision making process; if I had (much) more money I would spend 3 or 4 (or more) months in Europe. I'm looking for cheaper suggestions however, and I am definitely up for advice. Do any of my faithful readers have suggestions for a penurious pilgrim?