Pop Culture

Farewell to The Office on Netflix: the Union that Changed The Way We Watch TV

by Michael GraceLeave a Comment on Farewell to The Office on Netflix: the Union that Changed The Way We Watch TV
Farewell to The Office on Netflix: the Union that Changed The Way We Watch TV

When Netflix began, it was a novel concept. You request DVDs, you watch them, you mail them back, and then the next movie in your queue gets mailed to you. Kelly Kapoor actually explains this in an episode of The Office in which the employees of Dunder Mifflin gamble on various prop bets in the office. Netflix gets name-dropped a few times on the show, all during its primarily mail-only era. Once the service moved to streaming, it was super weird. For a time, there was softcore porn and DIY home repair videos. It was a brave, new, strange world. The only way I could watch at that time was through an app on my Nintendo Wii. The pickup of The Office, among many other 2000s sitcoms was, surprisingly, the best thing that the service could have done for itself. In doing so, it changed the trajectory of careers, made the show a second-hand success, and jumpstarted the endless, mindless binge. On January 1st, The Office leaves Netflix for NBC’s own streaming service, ending one of the most important unions in TV history.

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Music/Movies, Uncategorized

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

by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment on 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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Music/Movies

Ranking the Songs of ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’

by Michael GraceLeave a Comment on 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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Uncategorized

The Swiftening 2: No Fear T-Shirt [Fearless (2008)]

by The Fancy Boys9 Comments on The Swiftening 2: No Fear T-Shirt [Fearless (2008)]
The Swiftening 2: No Fear T-Shirt [Fearless (2008)]

Last week, special guest contributor Jordan Holmes began what he called “The Swiftening”, in which he would listen to every Taylor Swift album in chronological order despite never having, intentionally, listened to any of her songs before. It began with Swift’s 2006 self-titled debut, which you can read here.

Against all the odds, an unemployed podcast host struggling to start writing another – god knows whatever you’d call what he did last time – has managed to craft from his vast resource of quarantine time another bitter screed against someone vastly more talented and successful. 

(I wrote that before I finished, so if you didn’t read it… I didn’t.)

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Sports

2021 NBA Preview: 30 Guys To Watch

by Michael GraceLeave a Comment on 2021 NBA Preview: 30 Guys To Watch
2021 NBA Preview: 30 Guys To Watch

Imagine being a Bulls fan in your 30s. The glory days came and went long before Hi-Def TV, DVR, and handheld-miracle supercomputers. The name Derrick Rose probably elicits more trauma than fondness, and that’s it. That’s all you know since childhood. Pain. But what if you could appreciate the league from a different perspective? Instead of basketball being a causeway between football pain and baseball pain, why not enjoy the beauty of the game through the players that make any night something special? I’m here to help. This isn’t going to be a list of stars. You know who LeBron James and Kevin Durant are. You know they’re worth watching. This is a list of 30 players, one per team, that deserve some attention this season.

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Music/Movies

The Five Best Christmas Rock Songs

by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment on 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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Music/Movies, The Swiftening

The Swiftening, Part 1: Taylor Swift (2006)

by The Fancy Boys10 Comments on 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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Advice

Brandon’s Guide to Adulting: Christmas (Covid Edition)

by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment on Brandon’s Guide to Adulting: Christmas (Covid Edition)
Brandon’s Guide to Adulting: Christmas (Covid Edition)

Being an adult sucks. No matter what think pieces written in large publications like The New York Times and Highlights Magazine tell you, there is no easy way to hit your post-fun-of-not-worrying-about-catching-an-STD days. Getting older involves a series of inevitable truths: 

1: You will get a gym membership you will never use, even though you tell yourself this is the month you turn it all around. 

2: You are going to develop opinions about certain craft beers you enjoy, no matter how many times you try to shake that feeling by drinking way too much Keystone Ice.

3: Stuff that you promised yourself you would never stress will come down on you like an avalanche. Examples include bills, affording diapers, and tapas.

4: You will lose your friends(more on this in a minute).

5: You are going to start to enjoy music you promised yourself you hated during their youth. You know how your dad always plays Electric Light Orchestra in his car when you are driving around with him? When he was young, he swore up and down that he would never like that shit, and that Black Sabbath was god. Keep that in mind when you are making fun of Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, and Pentatonix.

6: You know what? No. Fuck Pentatonix. They should be burned at the stake to redeem us from an angry god for all of our sins.

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