Super Bowl 2016: Commercials, halftime show, science, football, and other stuff – The Verge

Tour the $10,000 per night Airbnb that Beyoncé hung out in after the Super Bowl

2016-02-09T10:51:08-05:00

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Is there anything - apart from your dance moves - that you wouldn't like to know Beyoncé's opinion on?

Well, just one day after the debut of "Formation," and the reveal of her opinions on hot sauce, Red Lobster, and Illuminati theories, Beyoncé decided to grace us with her opinion on a somewhat more abstract concept - the sharing economy!

While in the San Francisco area for the Super Bowl, Beyoncé stayed in an Airbnb in the Los Altos Hills, and had, self-reportedly "a Super weekend."

It was a Super weekend Airbnb
Posted by Beyoncé on Monday, February 8, 2016

The five-bedroom, 11-acre rental property offers a gym, a game room with a full b …

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Who was Super Bowl 50’s musical MVP?

2016-02-08T11:57:45-05:00

When you're busy firing off jokes with your friends on Super Bowl Sunday and pretending to be unfamiliar with Coldplay's discography, it's easy to forget that an appearance at the Big Game® - whether it's a halftime set, an anthem performance, or even a big commercial - is close to the pinnacle of anyone's career. It's one of the world's biggest stages, and its audience is full of people who don't typically pay close attention to music and culture. When else do musicians have a chance to play for people who don't know Bruno Mars from a Bronco?

Beyoncé was last night's headliner in everything but name, but plenty of other performers managed …

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The 10 best Super Bowl 50 commercials — and the two worst

2016-02-08T10:33:49-05:00

Super Bowl 50 disappointed most of us not high on the Rocky Mountains. However, the event did excel in its secondary function as a royal rumble between the world's largest brands and commercial factories.

This years ads felt fresh compared to the crops of years past. The "dead child" count was kept to a zero, and the obligatory drunk driving commercial was fine - actually, it was good!

I've compiled my picks for the 10 best ads, below, and tagged on the two worst for good measure. Share your favorites in the comments.

Best commercials:

10. Amazon Echo - #baldwinbowl

This isn't an especially good ad. But, it features Missy Elliott and Jason …

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People are being super mean to Tim Cook about his blurry Super Bowl photo

2016-02-08T00:04:13-05:00

Tim Cook, who runs one of the world's most important companies and does not need this crap from any of you, is getting roasted after posting a wild, out-of-focus shot on Twitter tonight at the end of Super Bowl 50. Presumably shot with an iPhone, the photo shows what appears to be the aftermath of Super Bowl 50, in which people on the field are being showered with confetti, or maybe nerve gas. It's not totally clear.

"Shot with iPhone," quote-tweeted a bunch of jackals, after Cook shared his blurry photo from the 20-yard line of Levi's Stadium. The Apple CEO and football fan had tweeted in praise of the Denver Broncos, and now he's going to …

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Beyoncé shares amazing photos from Super Bowl halftime show rehearsals

2016-02-07T22:44:23-05:00

Tonight's Super Bowl 50 halftime show featured a performance by Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyoncé. The roughly 12-minute set was true to everything the mid-game break has come to exemplify; it was spectacle, it was frenzied, and considering how many pieces were involved, it mostly went off without a hitch. Just as Super Bowl 50 came to a close, Beyoncé gave fans one more bonus; behind-the-scenes photos from the show's dress rehearsal. Everyone's in costume, and there's even some pyro - but you won't see any people in the stands. It's a really striking visual. Immediately following her performance, Beyoncé announced the Formation World Tour. …

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Watch the X-Men: Apocalypse Super Bowl trailer

2016-02-07T21:30:46-05:00

The first X-Men: Apocalypse trailer served to introduce the titular new baddie (played by Oscar Isaac). In contrast, the Super Bowl spot is way more focused on teasing the summer blockbuster's big action moments: a bevy of surface-to-air missiles launching from a field. A city being destroyed by unclear forces. Olivia Munn (as Psylocke) cutting a car in half. And in the tradition of environmental destruction films, the soundtrack is an old Coldplay song ("Don't Panic") slowed down and sung by Clairity.

X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters May 27th.

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It turns out that the Toyota Prius makes a great getaway car

2016-02-07T21:05:38-05:00

The new Toyota Prius is a pretty good new car. But is it good enough to make a getaway car for four inept bank robbers who parked their original getaway ride in a tow zone? That's what Toyota would like you to believe anyway.

In this ad, which aired during Super Bowl 50, four bank robbers - three of whom are played by Chris Bauer, Pablo Schreiber, and James Ransone, three members of the Sobotka family from The Wire - struggle to find a getaway vehicle, considering an Uber before deciding to steal a new Toyota Prius (and leaving a bag of cash for the owner). The police give chase, with the cops and perps poking fun at common perceptions of t …

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Beyoncé announces Formation World Tour during the Super Bowl

2016-02-07T20:55:30-05:00

Beyoncé just pulled off a Super Bowl hat trick. In addition to releasing a new single and performing during the Half Time Show, Bey just announced that her Formation World Tour will launch on April 27th.

News about the tour leaked earlier this afternoon, leaving fans waiting with bated breath for the announcement:

Beyoncé gears up for the FORMATION World Tour! GET READY! Announcement shortly! pic.twitter.com/XO4Q8pa9F6
- THE BEYHIVÉ (@TheBeyHiveTeam) February 8, 2016

The reveal was finally made during the Super Bowl telecast, and tickets will go up for presale on February 16th. This is a big deal for a few reasons. The first is that Beyonc …

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Watch the Super Bowl trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence

2016-02-07T20:54:54-05:00

It's only fitting that the most American event - the Super Bowl - featured a trailer for the most American movie. Viewers of the big game today got a 45-second look at the upcoming Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to the 1996 alien invasion movie that blew up the White House, let Will Smith punch his first alien, and generated the most stirring speech ever committed to film.

While the original film was hardly short on pyrotechnics, Resurgence looks like it'll blow up even more of the planet, as the aliens bring bigger guns and greater numbers back to Earth to finish their aborted invasion. Whole skyscrapers are ripped out of their f …

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Ant-Man takes on the Hulk in Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl commercial

2016-02-07T20:09:39-05:00

Even though Mark Ruffalo's Hulk will be notably absent in Captain America: Civil War (which just got a brand new 30-second spot), that doesn't mean he can't have a run-in or two with his fellow Avengers this year. In Coca-Cola's Super Bowl spot, master thief Scott Lang (aka Ant-Man) manages to steal a Coke Mini from right under the nose of Dr. Bruce Banner. Obviously, that makes the big guy a little angry, resulting in a chase across an unnamed city. Don't worry, though. They make up in the end.

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