...and the nerds owned the night.

Sure the other night was all about the game, sports fans everywhere enjoyed themselves along with the jocks and meat heads of the world that reveled in all of their saturated fat glory. But there was something else going on that evening, something a bit below the artificial grass. The nerds were winning.

Take the best commercial of the night (and possibly the best Superbowl commercial ever)...the Darth Vader Kid. Sure it was aired in an abbreviated form during the actual game, but the original, a minute long opera that's better than the last three Star Wars films combined, has been watched an astounding 16 million times since it hit youtube. In a night filled with overblown attacks on the senses rather then commercials, this simple use of the Imperial March and a pint-sized Vader trying his darnedest to use the Force until Dad makes a little bit of magic happen is winning hearts everywhere, and for good reason. Here it is in case you missed it....



Plus it accomplished what an ad should accomplish, my next car may be a Volkswagen.

Then there were the trailers. So many extraterrestrials and superheros, so little time. First up was the TV spot for Cowboys and Aliens...



This movie has no choice but to kick a whole lotta ass. Just look at the title....COWBOYS AND ALIENS. Seriously though, show me a guy that doesn't want to witness cowboys shoot the fair one with aliens.

Next it was Marvel's turn to deliver, and in my humble opinion they did so with a swift shield shot to the thunder gods if you know what I'm saying.

Back in the mid nineties, I vividly remember a two inch by two inch box on one of the last pages of an issue of Wizard magazine. It mentioned a Spider-Man or X-Men movie possibly in the works. I lost sleep over those simple words on a page for a month because back then that's all we got. Nerds these days are living in a much different universe.

But the highlight for me personally was watching a double ax handle by my favorite of all creative geniuses, the one and only Mr. Steven Spielberg. He produced both of these upcoming projects...

First up, something that looks like it could possibly be the next LOST...except this time we're sure to get Dinosaurs and not a smoke monster...



And finally, surely a throw back to the wondrous Amblin days of the filmmaker, a movie coming out this summer directed by this generation's answer to early Spielberg, J.J. Abrams...

There has never been a trailer that has gotten me this excited for a movie by showing so little. Every frame of these 32 seconds transcended the screen and became more then just a preview. Sprinkled with the Cocoon theme and sparkling with a hint of Close Encounters, The Goonies, Stand by Me, E.T., etc....there's some kind of intangible Spielberg/Abrams wizardry happening here, but whatever it is...it was an unexpected cherry on top of totally nerdtastic Sunday night sundae.