Happy Birthday, Dignan Lutz!

We here at The Blogulator are often prone to sarcasm, snark, and what we think are valid opinions, but we are reduced to puddles of joy when happy things come along. And thus, we had to shut business down for a couple of days on account of the newborn son born to Chris and Jerksica last week, Dignan Lutz. He's 8 lbs, 11 oz., mom and baby are doing well, and the first TV program he encountered as a living being was last Thursday's episode of Community.

Congrats, Chris and Jerksy!

(Back to regularly scheduled opinions tomorrow.)

Coming Soon: The Blogulator's Best of 2011 Listgasm!

Heads up! Starting this Monday you will finally be subjected to The Blogulator's Best of 2011 Listgasm. You may be overdosing on this kind of stuff by now, but us normal people who like to relax around the holidays and new year's are back and now want to reflect on the pop culture of the previous calendar year. Here's the schedule you can look forward to:

Monday - Blogulator Radio presents...The Top 20 TV Shows of 2011

Tuesday - The Top 10 Movies of 2011

Wednesday - The Top 10 Albums of 2011

Thursday - The Top 10 Top 40 Jams of 2011

Friday - DoktorPeace presents...The Top 10 Video Games of 2011

Saturday - OHD presents...The Top 10 Books of 2011

Check the hints in the Blogulator TV set above if you want to predict some of the entries on the lists! Can you name all 10?

Blogulator Radio Episode #2: Is Our Opinion Valid?

The second episode of the Blogulator Radio netcast, featuring television news, reviews, and random squabbling, is officially up, courtesy of the Fancy Pants Gangsters network. Click the link for the download link and embedded stream to hear talk of the recent multi-season renewal of Mad Men, the cancellation of FX's Lights Out, and the currently airing second season of Archer. Esteemed Blogulator reader and friend Paal guest co-hosts with Qualler and Brigitte this week and next week will feature Chris and special guests to be announced. To whet your appetite, here are two choice quotes whose context you will only know if you listen/subscribe right now to...Blogulator Radio!

• "What is a producer but a giant penis?" -Brigitte
• "The internet is a dying breed." -Qualler

You can also check out Blogulator Radio via Facebook and Twitter, and email us with your TV questions and topic suggestions at bradio@fancypantsgangsters.com.

Blogulator Radio is LIVE!

Ladies and gentlemen, our first episode of Blogulator Radio, our new TV podcast is live! Thanks to the folks at Fancy Pants Gangsters for hosting us.

Enjoy.

Programming Note

Above: A deligihtful web comic by Sean. Nice job, Sean.

Yo peeps. Just a quick note to let you know that March has become somewhat of an unexpected Spring Break for some of the Blogulatees. Of course, DoktorPeace, Smarmy Sam, and OHD have provided fantastic content this month, which you should most definitely read. But, I (Qualler) have made a day job career change (yes, sadly, The Blogulator does not cover the bills all that well) that has slammed me much more than I expected, and Brigitte has been smoked more than usual by Ph.D. school responsibilities.

And, much more importantly, Chris has had to make an unexpected Bereavement Leave for the last few weeks. On behalf of the rest of the Blogulator staff, Chris, we love you with all of our heart and support you 110%. Hugs, brah.

Anyway, we will return with weekly posts on Monday, March 28. And our very first episode of Blogulator Radio will be premiering on the Fancy Pants Gangsters netcast network soon. That's right: our physical voices will be tickling your eardrums on the topic of television in the very near future.

Carry on, my wayward sons. There will be peace when you are gone. Something something head to rest. Don't you cry no more. (Cue wicked guitar part.)

Coming Soon...Blogulator Radio! Happy Turkey Day!

I have no proper post of verbose pop culture rambling for you this week, my dear readers, and for that, I do not apologize. Why the refusal for what should be much-needed amiability on this fine Tuesday morning? Because I and the rest of the Blogulator staff will undoubtedly earn back your approval soon when we present...Blogulator Radio! That's right, The Blogulator is officially going to be on your earwaves in podcast/netcast form. And I had no time to prepare a blog post for today because I spent almost three hours discussing, prepping, and recording the unaired pilot to the first episode of our new awesome, still-to-be-tinkered-with radio show (which will come in podcast/netcast form).

It's going to focus on just one form of pop culture (TV, the one we seem to be obsessing over the most as of late) and it's going to actually be on a MN-based podcast/netcast network that already has listeners/subscribers and what have you. Exciting, right? Find out more info about the people that are helping make this happens at Fancy Pants Gangsters. They're great and will help make sure the monthly (and hopefully soon thereafter, weekly) program will be not just us babbling about our favorite and least favorite television programs, but actually be entertaining and coherent. How about that! In the meantime, to whet your appetite, below is a list of things that went down at tonight's dry-run through the "Pilot" (see what we did there?) episode of Blogulator Radio at the FPG studios.

• Qualler knowing by memory the name of every TV showrunner that has ever existed
• Brigitte cleverly and purposely calling a DVR a VCR and Chris not realizing it was a joke and thus correcting her
  
• Chris using the word "arguably" way too much and then it finally catching on with Qualler & Brigitte
• DoktorPeace being told at the last minute that he was going to be Skyped in, only to have his dreams dashed minutes later because the technology wasn't available (though it will be next time!)
• The revelation that Chris and his mom watched the short-lived CBS drama about a future-predicting newspaper, Early Edition, devoutly every week
• A brief but important discussion on whether or not Clarissa and Sam ever kissed on Clarissa Explains it All
• Chris sighing exasperatedly every time Brigitte speaks to how much she adores Six Feet Under (and Qualler kind of half-sighing exasperatedly with him)
• Brigitte constantly berating Qualler & Chris for interrupting her because "that's what men do"
• All of us talking about how we all have different perspectives on The Wire but then accidentally agreeing on everything regarding The Wire
• Brigitte knocking the table, making for a very unprofessional-sounding radio program (I also cracked my knuckles a lot but I didn't get yelled at by the producer, ha!)
  

P.S. Can't wait? Catch a glimpse by streaming or downloading the latest episode of FPG's Film Army show featuring yours truly jibber-jabbering with Evan, Courtney, and another not-quite-as-special guest, Bald Bryan from The Film Vault & The Adam Carolla Show.

Programming Note: Hey! Follow Us On Facebook!

Hey friends. Qualler here. I hear there is a popular internet web site that has swept the nation called "The Facebook" that some of you follow. Now, The Blogulator is on said website.

If you are not following us on Facebook yet, please do. To our wonderful followers on Blogger -- feel free to follow us on Facebook, too. Below is the "Like Box" to what is going on over there.

We're also on Twitter: http://twitter.com/theblogulator

That should cover all our social networking needs for the day. Now back to our regularly scheduled whining.

Phoning It In: Precipitous Drops For Key Actors

I completely failed this Holiday weekend to put together my planned review of Mark's Amazingly Spectacular Megatunes Vol. IV. I blame the copious amounts of grilled food (which did include the famous Jucy Lucy burger made by me) combined with the unhealthy amount of television, sunlight, boat rides, and dog playing that I participated in. I hope you all had as great of a weekend as I had. Regardless, next week you will be reading about / listening to tracks on Vol. IV of that seminal series.

Anyway, what I want to rap at y'all about is this: actors or actresses that have had the most noticeable drops in quality and/or quantity in film or television roles. Frequent commenter and beloved follower (and Brigitte's dad, and my dad-in-law) Papa Thor brought this topic to our attention, and what he believes to be the ultimate example of an actor with a particularly precipitous drop: Robert De Niro. (*) He cited specifically his role in Meet the Fockers. I would add Everybody's Fine, last winter's requisite Christmas crowd pleaser, where he played what I imagine was the part of a friendly grandpa. Yes, that's a long way from being a sociopathic taxi driver, isn't it? Brigitte also brought in Diane Keaton, who has gone from starring in great films like Annie Hall and Manhattan and even participating in generally well-done big broad rom-coms like Father of the Bride to being in "that movie where she has all those daughters," according to Brigitte (I think either The Family Stone or Because I Said So.)

(*)And, discussing Robert De Niro gives me a great excuse to post the video on the bottom by Sean that features the best Robert De Niro impression I've ever heard. Nice work, Sean.

Me? I agree that both actors have had a precipitous drop in quality throughout their careers. But I would argue that De Niro probably looked at his paycheck for Meet the Fockers and compared it to the actual work he would have to do to act well in a movie with a good script and chose to pad his retirement account and accept the easy work. Keaton, meanwhile, to me suffered from a lack of quality film parts written for women in their 50s and above, and is thankfully getting what looks to be a perfect role in the as of now proposed new HBO comedy series Tilda, where she would play a powerful celebrity blogger (!!!) alongside Ellen Page. This along with Dustin Hoffman's role in the as of now proposed new HBO drama series Luck(**) tells me that, as good actors get old, they find that writing for people in their age group is much better on the boob tube side of things.

(**)Created by Deadwood's David Milch!!!!!!!!!!!

So, when older actors take crappy parts, is it really their fault, as in, their acting skills have declined so much that they no longer are able to take parts in movies they previously would have starred in? Or, is it a case of actors finding their great roles in different areas these days, like Keaton and Hoffman are doing? Furthermore, what actors or actresses can you think of that truly have suffered a precipitous drop in quality that is their doing? I'm thinking, Mickey Rourke, Burt Reynolds (albeit both actors had their "comebacks" in the form of roles in movies with roles written very much for them) as well as actors like John Travolta and Robert Downey, Jr., who both have had multiple ups and downs in their careers.

Discuss.

Special Mid-Day Blog Post: Thanks, Blogger!

(*Clears throat and shuffles some note cards nervously.*)

It has recently come to the attention of The Blogulator staff that one of Blogger's official blogs has named us today's "Blog of Note". They also tweeted about it here. It's true -- we're famous! (Or, we got a few more hits today from people who aren't ourselves or people searching for the answer to whether or not Nick Hexum of 311 is gay.(*))

(*)No, we don't know if he is or not, nor do we care.

So, for new visitors, on behalf of Chris, Brigitte, Lady Amy, DoktorPeace, Sean, and OHD, I say WELCOME! Stay here if you like. Or, whatever, you can do whatever you want, I guess.

Seriously, though. THANK YOU! Alanis Morissette circa her Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie(**) era sings it on our behalf below:

(**) Seriously, though, that was a really weird album.

Coming Soon: The Blogulator's Best of 2009!

You didn't think we'd go without spouting our opinions on 2009 stuff, did you? Of course not.

As promised by Chris yesterday, our 2009 Best Of lists are coming soon. Here is the schedule:

Thursday, January 7: Top Celebrity News Items of 2009

Friday, January 8: Top 10 Albums of 2009

Monday, January 11: Top 10 TV Shows of 2009

Tuesday, January 12: Top 10 Top 40 Songs of 2009

Wednesday, January 13: Top 10 Movies of 2009

Friday, January 15: Top 10 Video Games of 2009

Later in January: Top Books of 2009

Don't say we didn't warn you.

A Day of Rest For The Blogulator

Brigitte cannot be with us today and the rest of us are lazy or "busy" so we leave you with a calming video to quench your daily thirst for pop culture rambling and discourse. Enjoy...

Blogutwitter is live

In breaking "social networking" (some might say "more like social you're-not-working-right now") news, The Blogulator has officially succumbed to the Twitter revolution:

twitter.com/theblogulator

I implore you Twitterees (is that the word?) to add us to your feed thing-a-ma-jig.

in case you're not into that kind of internetting yet (I say "yet", because it's clearly a matter of time before everybody uses Twitter. 2009 for Twitter is basically what 2004 was for Facebook -- lots of skeptical faces, but in a few years y'all'll be Tweeting away like nobody's business), check out the newly added sidebar on this here site to see our latest Twitter updates (below the links and above the Google Reader shared items.)

Ho Ho Man-Ho. Also: Brief Blogu-Hiatus.

Ryan Phillipe's abs would like to wish you a happy holiday on this holy eve and say the phrase that every moron likes to say to point out the fact that our calendar year changes a digit in only so many days. AND HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!

Also: The Blogulator is officially done for 2008! By the way, we hit Post #500 a few days ago - NICE.

Check back January 1st for the beginning of the onslaught of year end best-of lists here at The Blogulator. We'll be tabulating our votes over the next week to bring you what we thought was the best in video games, books, celebrity gossip, music, TV, and movies over a delightful collaborative week's worth of posts! You see how much more sense that makes, a stupidly large number of blogs/media publications we otherwise respect, reflecting on the year when it's actually over?...MEGA SIGH.

DRINK SOME NOG YO.

The Blogulator Helps Las Vegas Find the Toilet

(Note: Brigitte and Qualler have just arrived in Las Vegas. Brigitte is apparently passed out on the bed from too much flying, so I, Qualler, will fill in for Brigitte now.)

As Lady Amy aptly pointed out, Los Angeles is Las Vegas that got sick and blew neon chunks all over the room instead of hitting the toilet. Well, Brigitte and I are here to help Las Vegas get those chunks back in the toilet so none of us have to run into Brian Grazer. Since I have to get up for my work conference early tomorrow, I'm going to let "True Life: I'm Qualler and Moving to Las Vegas" take over...

Hi! My name is Qualler. I'm 25 years old, and I'm moving to Las Vegas to pursue a music career. So far, things are going really well. I noticed that there are a lot of slot machines everywhere, including the airport! And where there are slot machines, there are people, and where there are people, there is an automatic audience for my acoustic rock that will be taking the city by storm.

20 minutes later...

(Sobbing) I have to actually apply for these jobs?! This is so frustrating! Oh well. I'm here to present to you something about the Top 10* Best** Pop Culture Moments in Las Vegas in the past 50 years. Here we go...

10. CSI: Las Vegas

The CSI: Las Vegas merchandise at the airport threw me off into thinking, "Oh yeah! The short-lived original CSI spinoff! Gotta get some merch." Unfortunately, this show doesn't yet exist. I will now make it the mission of my life to make it happen.

9. The Episode of Full House where Joey Gladstone goes to Las Vegas and accidentally runs into his father.

Two words: Colonel Gladstone! On a side note, actress Jodie Sweetin, who played precocious middle child Stephanie, got married in Las Vegas. Let's just say she's not as hot to me now as she was when I was twelve.

8. True Life: I'm Moving to Las Vegas

Ah yes, people with convoluted dreams and mediocre talent come to Las Vegas to find out that they are totally qualified...to be Hooters' girls.

7. The Sopranos "Kennedy and Heidi"

Two words: "I get it!" Sure you do, Tony. Without spoilers, this was probs the best Sopranos episode ever. But for some reason, Brigitte doesn't want to go to the "Sopranos Last Supper" dinner theater thing while we're here...

6. Zach and Kelly get married in Las Vegas on Saved by the Bell

I actually don't remember anything about what happened in this movie other than vague memories of Mr. Belding appearing at Zach and Kelly's wedding in Las Vegas, and it was a TV movie, followed by the college years series. Yeeeeesh.

5. Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen

I'm not actually a big fan of these movies, but they're great to watch when you're on a plane, because they're so easy to sleep to, and I gotta admire the meticulous way they steal stuff.

4. Las Vegas, the TV show on NBC
I can't believe this was on for five seasons! FIVE!

3. What Happens in Vegas...

Oh wait, this was a bad thing. Die, Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. Please.

2. The Corleone family takes up residence in Las Vegas (The Godfather Part II)

This, on the other hand, was totally sweet. Michael Corleone kinda started messing up the family pretty bad here; on the other hand, it was a movie featuring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro that wasn't Righteous Kill, so it's got that going for it.

1. The Cohens celebrate Caleb's bachelor party on The OC.

No need to even go further than that, other than the fact that Brigitte and I totally miss The OC more than we'll ever know.

Does anybody else have any other great moments in Las Vegas pop culture history?

*Top 10 = Ten Things We Could Think Of At The Time

**Best = The Things We Could Think Of

Google Reader, Torchlight of Mine Soul

Today's post is going to have to be brief, but it touches on something oh so rewarding. No, I'm done talking about Iron Man, so you don't have to click away...yet. I'm always a step behind the program of life, but this Google Reader that I finally set up is probably the best thing that has digitally happened to me since my coveted Iron Man-themed Bluetooth. Or my Iron Man-themed Windows 95 screen saver. Unto itself, it's not really a piece of pop culture, but when I set up all my "feed subscriptions" (kind of like food, but with information, HOLYCRAPTHEFUTUREISNOW) I was suddenly bestowed with the convenient ability to NEVER let a piece of pop culture news pass me by ever again. Living for Google Reader for a week, here are just a few highlights I would like to share with you. Beware, though, if you add The Blogulator to your Reader, you won't be able to follow the comment threads! So subscribe, but then click on the article when it comes up in your feed (don't know if I used the term correctly here) so you can join in on the commenting fun!

What's with these interviews where journalists don't do their job and let celebrities stroke each others' egos for 2-4 pages, publish it, and call it an article? The Onion's AV Club is the latest to do this with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie swooning over Sun Kil Moons/Red House Painters' Mark Kozelak and vice versa. At least it's a more interesting and less ridiculous read than Steven Spielberg having verbal diarrhea with George Lucas in EW a few weeks ago. A better DCFC-related read would be this local write-up on a retrospective from four of the band's best tracks of the past.

He gets trashed a lot by illogical kids who hate it when "celebrities" they like shill themselves out for soda commercials, but I (and I know a couple other Blogulateers do as well) still have enormous respect for Michael Ian Black. I realize the idiocy and comical redundancy of this short essay, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Does this make me an illogical fanboy? Whatever. He apparently also has a book full of this stuff out now that I'd like to get.

We talk about The Wire more than enough, but I can't get over how wonderful and persuasive this Pajiba article is on Season 2 of the show, which poses the argument that this season deserves all the credit, which is tough to believe in if you've seen seasons 3 and 4. And wait, there's more TV news (stay tuned for a Fall TV Preview soon btw!): I don't like repeating sources, but The AV Club also gives a preview of the new Bob Odenkirk and David Cross show, and I have to say, I'm as skeptical as I am immensely excited.

Shameless plug (and news, too!)

Hello bloguteers!
After qualler's blatant subtle promotion of the new Narnia film this past monday, I feel less shame promoting my new summer project.
So yeah, the page is here.
The basic idea is that me and my friend Ryan make short films every week and we let viewers vote on the better film. There are no prizes, but the winner gets to choose constraints, themes, etc for the next week's film. If you've enjoyed the past video posts of mine, I recommend you give it a check.

Any other news to report on? Here are some random news bites..

1. Last week NIN released some free album. I listened to a few songs. The verdict: You get what you pay for. I was not thrilled. Though I'm no major NIN fan by any stretch, I usually enjoy Trent's stuff. Maybe it takes time. My major irk with Trent's music is that his lyrics are total crap. Like every album is required to have lyrics about subservience or being on knees.
Ex: The Beginning of the End, the hand that feeds, and now 1,000,000.

Reminds me of someone else that writes the same songs over and over...

2. New Death Cab for Cutie album dropped Tuesday. "Dropped" means released in the music biz. I'm listening to this one now. It's pretty neat. People say it's heavier than their old stuff. I agree, which means it sounds like regular alt-rock and not whine-time with the resentful-of-his-fathers. Haha, that's misplaced meanness, I've been a D-Cab fan since the Death & Dismemberment tour (indie cred +50). I've even touched Ben G's hand. Game, set, match.

3. I've been Huluing up a ton of old Arrested Development episodes lately and they are hilarious. I watched season one fully on TV, but I missed some of season two and it's good to see the show again. "Oh, that's right, your wife is dead.." I think Maeby is cute. She should be in a movie with Ellen Page.
4. Speed Racer did poorly. Chalk that one up to something that affects the box office.

5. Office finale this Thursday and I'm stoked. Plus another new LOST. May is shaping up to be a nice month.

That's all for me blogulistas. Be sure to check out that site I mentioned. Take it easy.
Bold text is like wearing a tux. You can never be overdressed.

There Will Be Lists

In 2008...

...

...

...

...

...

...there will be lists.

2007 Will Eat Your Family!

Thus begins the Blogulator's final post of 2007. It's been quite the year for us...we added five hilarious new members to our team of writers, got a new logo, replaced that mediocre new logo later with another logo (hopefully more than mediocre?), I started using capital letters, and we collectively spewed out over 100 posts on the pop cultural claptrap we inexplicably consume our free moments with everyday.

So in honor of this big year of change (and staying the same), here are some of the highlights of the Blogulator in 2007. Think of it as one of those awesome clip show episodes of your favorite sitcom starring us: Qualler gets arrested for accidentally stabbing a Santa Monkey while we're all shopping for presents at the mall, so Brigitte, Sean, Nicole, Doktorpeace, Lady Amy, and I have to sit in front of mall security awaiting his release, looking through the various DVDs and CDs we've bought for family and friends, only to recount all the great times we had the past year and eventually learn the true meaning of Christmas.

Before our new contributors jumped into bed with us in September, 2007 offered quite the number of personal dilemmas from the lonely duo of C&Q: Qualler got premium cable and often pondered whether it was worth it or not, I started listening to a lot of Top 40 and worred that I analyzed it too much (The Whiny Alt-Rock Spectrum Graph), and we had two very controversial point-counterpoint series of postings (Heroes vs. The Sopranos, Why I Saw/Won't See 300). Plus Chris bid adieu to 24 after a terrible season and Qualler gave a touching tribute to the officially canceled OC.

But probably the highlight of the pre-transformation Blogulator of this year was the post This is the Best Amateur Filmmaker in Minnesota? in which the subject of the post himself, On the Lot contestant Andrew Hunt, left a comment in semi-third person after Googling himself basically asking for "a duel of the minds" of sorts at a local Minneapolis coffee shop. I e-mailed him to set up the duel, then he said he'd get back to me when he got back from LA. I guess he's still in LA. Oh well, that could have been great.

He's in the front row, second from the left. I'm watching you, Hunt.

Luckily so much more is now covered on the Blogulator thanks to our new auteurs and we don't have to resort to petty fights with competitive reality television stars anymore! Let's take a look at some of their highlights: Brigitte's weekly Top Model updates have been riveting and informative about that one mild behavioral disease that one contestant had, Jigsaw proudly took over Doktorpeace's account and guest-posted in support of yet another Saw installment this Halloween (with the best piece of audio that has ever been on the Internet!), Sean gave an in-depth and insightful look at the depressing decline of Wes Anderson, Nicole set the AFI straight about the best love stories ever told on film, and Lady Amy has been bringing the celebrity gossip juice to the Blogulator in full force. Man, there's been so much content in the past four months...2008 is gonna be crackin'!

This almost makes me sad that we're going to be off the online now until the new year, but it's okay, because starting January 7th, we'll have our official Blogulator Top 10 lists! Check back in two weeks for our favorites in movies, TV, music, and guilty pleasures from 2007!

Coming soon.....

Editor's note: Qualler's post is understandably still in the hopper after his wedding with Brigitte this weekend. We will be back tomorrow with a mega-post together. Now that we are one in marriage, we are also one in blog land. Until then, ponder this thought:

Who would win in a fight between George Clooney as Batman and Fabio as Fabio? Think about it.

Essential meme to represent the current fragile state of popular culture (or just a cute puppy?)

Discuss.