Fancy Boys Club

The Swiftening, Part 11: The Tortured Poets Department- The Uncomfortable Writers Depot

April 23, 2024by The Fancy BoysLeave a Comment

Before December of 2020, Jordan Holmes (comedian, author, podcaster) had never, intentionally, listened to a Taylor Swift song. Then began The Swiftening, where Jordan decided to review every Swift album in order. So far, he has covered Swift’s 2006 debut, 2008’s Fearless, 2010’s Speak Now, and 2012 ‘s Red, 2014’s 1989, 2017’s reputation, 2019’s Lover, and 2020’s folklore and evermore, which we encourage you to check out if you haven’t already.

Back again, as we all knew I would be, the allure of hating cannot be denied. I rarely finish what I begin, and I doubt I will follow her career, alleging talentless desperation after every release, but today, today is… today and I hate.

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Music/Movies, Pop Culture

A Woman In-Between Eras: Examining The Tortured Poets Department

April 22, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

To open The Tortured Poets Department, her twelfth album (and fourth in five years), Taylor Swift gives us “Fortnight”. Swift and longtime producer Jack Antonoff give us a song that sonically feels in place with the catalog of Lana Del Rey (unsurprising, considering Antonoff also produces some of her music) as the thirty-four year old singer gives us the story of a woman dealing with a relationship gone way too wrong and delving into alcohol and thoughts of violence to her man’s new wife. “I loved you, it’s ruining my life,” Swift sings in a track that feels like something her and Antonoff could do in their sleep. It’s a good track, and Swiftboats (my term for Swift fans, many of whom have long since forgotten about John Kerry) will love it because it’s the kind of song they’ve heard and loved and sung along to before. It’s a very solid Taylor Swift song.

And that’s why it’s a little underwhelming.

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Comedy

A decade of Seeing You Next Tuesday…

April 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Open mics are weird things. As I mentioned in a piece I wrote earlier this year, you are given the chance to get onstage and talk into a microphone and the only thing you have to be able to do is show up and write your name down. On that night, a person going up for the first time is on even playing field with an experienced veteran. All that matters are the jokes.

There are some open mics that are basically booking auditions. Usually held by comedy clubs, these mics are not about working on new material, but they’re about trying to get paid work. Those mics serve a purpose (comedians should learn how to professionally try out for spots) and they are important, and because of that, they’re usually very well attended.

But See You Next Tuesday, a mic celebrating its tenth anniversary of being in the bottom level of Plainfield bar MoeJoes, is not an audition mic. It’s something much, much more special than that.

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NFL, Sports

A Chicago Bears Choose Your Own Adventure

March 15, 2024March 14, 2024by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment

It’s impressive sometimes how quickly you can go from “what are you doing?” to “what, you are doing it!” The Chicago Bears stepped into free agency with the third most available cap space in the NFL, and up until 9:30 PM on Thursday, the results were….underwhelming? Just okay? Good for depth? For the most part, the signings up this point have been moves a team that believes it is close to a championship make. Depth moves in the middle to bottom of the roster. Building strong special teams. Overpaying for a running back they didn’t need.

Generally, those are moves that teams make when they know they are close to a championship level and are safeguarding themselves up and down the roster against injury. Then the Bears traded for future Wide Receiver Keenan Allen. The Los Angeles Chargers came to Allen asking him to take a pay cut. He is due to make 18 million with a cap hit of 23 million in 2024, the final season of his contract. Allen said no. The Chargers proceeded to jettison him to the Bears for nothing more than a 4th round pick.

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2024 Oscars Coverage, part XI: The Secondsies! Plus, final prediction tallies

March 10, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Most years, I do a column about who the Oscar nominees should be, and that is always fun for me, mainly because it allows me to feel smart and smug and self-righteous. But, you know what? In 2023, the Academy did a pretty good job picking the nominees. I don’t agree with all of them, but I’m onboard with most. So, I gave myself a challenge: Could I pick a slate of films and performances who deserved to be nominated while excluding all of those who were?

Like that, The Secondsies were born.

There is only one rule for The Secondsies. Anyone who is nominated for an Oscar in their category is ineligible to be nominated. This is a nice way to make sure that not just the obvious snubs got mentioned, but also to include some deserving nominees who never had a chance. I’ll present the nominees for The Secondsies and then end my Oscars prediction recap.

Let’s get re-nominating!

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2024 Oscars Coverage, Part X: Picking the winners, part 6- Best Director and Best Picture

March 8, 2024March 8, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

When Oppenheimer came out of the nominations with 13 noms, you had to wonder if it would be the kind of film that would keep it’s role as behemoth (Everything Everywhere All At Once) or lose steam and limp to the finish line (The Power Of The Dog). Will Christopher Nolan and his powerful biography win it all? Will Nolan win his first Oscar for directing?

Let’s see.

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Music/Movies, Oscars, Uncategorized

FBC 2024 Oscars Coverage, Part IX- Predicting the winners, part 5- The lead acting categories

March 7, 2024March 5, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Remember when my predictions started and I said Best Animated Feature was the closest major race? If that’s true, then Best Actress is a close second. There are two woman who each have an excellent chance of winning. Best Actor is a little (well, a lot) easier to pick.

Let’s get leading!

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2024 Oscars Coverage, Part VIII: Predicting the winners, part 4- all the below the line categories

March 6, 2024March 5, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Before we get to the lead acting categories, as well as Best Director and Best Picture, let’s take a look at all of the smaller categories. I get that some believe that there are no small categories if you love movies (and I do), but you know what I mean: we know actors and movies and even some directors. No one could tell me what Rodrigo Prieto, cinematographer, looks like.

These are the categories that can make or break your Oscar bracket. Let’s knock them out!

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2024 Oscars Coverage, Part VII: Predicting the winners, part 3- the screenplay categories

March 5, 2024March 3, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

When Killers Of The Flower Moon was the only Best Picture nominee not nominated in the screenplay category, that kind of let you know that it’s stock was dropping. Still, the nine other nominees (plus May December) have made up one of the strongest years for screenplays in a very long time. Both the original and adapted categories have felt very fluid and it still kind of feels like a toss-up. But, the votes are in and predictions need to be made.

With that said, let’s get original and adaptive!

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Music/Movies, Oscars

FBC 2024 Oscar Coverage, part VI: Predicting the winners, part 2- The supporting acting categories

March 4, 2024March 3, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Normally, I would do screenplays before I even thought about getting into the acting categories, but I’m mixing it up. I’m doing so mostly because the screenplay categories feel very wide open while the two categories we’re delving into today are very solid locks. Basically, I need one more day to help decide who I want winning the harder categories.

Let’s get supportive!

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