The Swiftening, Part 6: reputation (2017)… Shite Heaven In Hell

The Swiftening, Part 6: reputation (2017)… Shite Heaven In Hell

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 debut2008’s Fearless2010’s Speak Now, and 2012‘s Red, and 2014’s 1989 which we encourage you to check out if you haven’t already.

Continue reading “The Swiftening, Part 6: reputation (2017)… Shite Heaven In Hell”

The Swiftening, Part 5: 1989 (2014)… “Fast Five” sounds like a handjob

The Swiftening, Part 5: 1989 (2014)… “Fast Five” sounds like a handjob

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, which we encourage you to check out if you haven’t already.

Continue reading “The Swiftening, Part 5: 1989 (2014)… “Fast Five” sounds like a handjob”

Friday Five: Special 2020 Wrap-Up Edition!

Friday Five: Special 2020 Wrap-Up Edition!

2020 was, to put it mildly, a weird year.

COVID affected every aspect of our lives, including the art we consumed and, perhaps more importantly, how we consume it. We couldn’t go to the movie theater. Many artists we releasing their “quarantine albums”. Most shows and movies had to stop production for some period of time. Sports went away and then came back under weird conditions.

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great year for the arts. It was just… different.

Because of this, we scrapped our plans to write the “Best Of” articles that usually appear in magazines and websites. We’re bringing back the Friday Five. We asked our writers and guest contributors to list their five favorite pieces of consumed media from the last year.

Here is what The Fancy Boys loved about 2020.

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The Swiftening, part 4: Rednarok [Red (2012)]

The Swiftening, part 4: Rednarok [Red (2012)]

Until very recently, Jordan Holmes had never, intentionally, listened to a Taylor Swift song in his life. Then he began The Swiftening, in which he promised to listen to every Taylor Swift album in its entirety. Parts 1-3 of The Swiftening gave us Jordan’s thoughts on her 2006 self-titled album, 2008’s Fearless, and 2010’s Speak Now.

Red is Taylor Swift’s 4th studio album and I knew from the beginning this is where things would get tricky. 

Red was the album most referenced to me as music to look forward to. The album means a lot, or some at least, to a lot of, or some at least, people. “Tread lightly – at your peril” was the tone. 

Abandon hope all ‘Ye who enter here. 

Continue reading “The Swiftening, part 4: Rednarok [Red (2012)]”

The Swiftening, Part 3: Speak Now (2010)

The Swiftening, Part 3: Speak Now (2010)

Until recently, Jordan Holmes had never, intentionally, listened to a Taylor Swift song in his life. Then began The Swiftening, in which he decided to listen to every album of hers in chronological order and give his thoughts. You can read his thoughts on her 2006 self-titled debut, and her 2008 breakout Fearless by clicking on the links.

I swear to you, I hit play on “Mine” the first track from Taylor Swift’s 3rd studio album, two seconds later I hit pause and audibly sighed, said – out loud, to no one – “This is going to be tough.” 

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Fancy Boys Stay Home With The Movies: Wonder Woman 1984 & Soul

Fancy Boys Stay Home With The Movies: Wonder Woman 1984 & Soul

For me, going to the movie theater on Christmas Day is just a tradition; it’s something I’ve come to expect. Even without the dangers and restrictions of COVID, I would have broken that tradition this year, thanks to my five-month old son. Thanks a lot, you adorable, wonderful baby! Ugh! However, two of 2020’s biggest and most anticipated releases were dropped to streaming services on December 25th, so I got to watch them from the comfort of my house. Let’s dive into the newest film in the Detective Comics franchise and the 23rd film from Pixar.

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Ranking the Songs of ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’

Ranking the Songs of ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’

Today is Christmas Eve, just one more sleep ’til Christmas as Kermit sings in The Muppets Christmas Carol. There are many, perhaps too many, film versions of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday novella. In my opinion, the only opinion that matters in this column, the Brian Henson-directed, Sir Michael Caine-starring, Muppet-filled musical version from 1992 is the only one that stands the test of time. It combines childhood nostalgia with legitimate humor and tender tugs at heartstrings with legitimate terror. It’s a tradition in my family to watch it while putting up the Christmas tree, so I have decades of experience in annually singing along. I insist on you watching the movie before reading, but if you want to do the reverse, how could I possibly stop you? So here is the definitive, objective ranking of the songs in The Muppets Christmas Carol.

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The Five Best Christmas Rock Songs

The Five Best Christmas Rock Songs

A while back, I made a list of great songs for your different Christmas mixes and I mentioned that I would make a list of the best rock songs for your holiday playlist. For a while, I’d forgotten I’d said that. However, I remember NOW. So let’s get into it. We’ll make this short and sweet so there’s not a lot of reading and a whole lot of rocking!

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The Swiftening, Part 1: Taylor Swift (2006)

The Swiftening, Part 1: Taylor Swift (2006)

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier this week, I reviewed the new album from Taylor Swift. My friend, the perfect and hilarious Jordan Holmes, responded as such:

From that tweet came great discussion. From that discussion came the idea for Jordan to review Swift’s entire discography. Here is part one, a look at the 2006 self-titled debut.)

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Lady Of The Woods: A review of Taylor Swift’s evermore

Lady Of The Woods: A review of Taylor Swift’s evermore

Guess who’s back? Back again? Taylor’s back! Tell a friend!

Let’s just get down to the nuts and bolts here and lay out everything you need to know: On Friday, Taylor Swift released evermore, her second album of 2020 and her third album in two years. According to Swift, she just enjoyed the process of working with her folklore collaborators Aaron Dessner (of indie-rock darlings The National), Jack Antonoff (longtime collaborator and Bleachers frontman), and Joe Alwyn (boyfriend who works under the pseudonym William Bowery) that the team just kept working and making music. The album, unsurprisingly, has dominated Spotify streams over the weekend while the Swift Boats (my personal name for her fans and I’m not going to stop calling them that) have lost their minds.

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