Time To Say Goodbye
Since we started frying up pop culture in butter over a year ago, we’ve written over 800 posts, had over 10,000 comments, and nearly 250,000 page views – not too shabby for a bunch of misfits. It’s been a fantastic ride, but our cholesterol count needs a rest. No, none of us has gotten a book deal, it’s just time for the band to move on to solo projects and close the doors on Fry Butter. Feel free to enjoy our archives and catch up on posts you’ve missed.
Thank you so much, steady readers and faithful commenters (special shout-out to our hardcore fans!), for keeping us honest and pushing us forward to watch more TV and movies, listen to more music, and keep scouring the internet for long lost video clips from bygone eras. (I’m still hunting for a clip of that Mervyn’s lady chanting “open open open open”!) Read more…
Why I Love Pop Culture
I spend so much of my life consuming pop culture for critical purposes, with an eye to what I’m going to turn into a column, and how I’m going to interpret something, that sometimes I forget why I love pop culture. It’s sort of like when I used to be an ice cream maker (yes really) and I got sort of bored with ice cream, as an institution; I could make some kickass, mighty fine ice cream, but I’d forgotten the whole reason people consume ice cream, why I was making it in the first place, what the whole point was.
There’s a reason I started consuming pop culture and was willing to push through the cultural barriers created by spending my early childhood in Greece and missing out on a lot of the pop culture phenomena other people in my age bracket take for granted. It wasn’t until high school that I really started engaging with pop culture, and realised I’d been doing it on a subconscious level my whole life. I was steeped in pop culture references and actually becoming a student of pop culture gave me a deeper appreciation for all those things. (And helped me figure out why people looked at me funny sometimes.)
Grey’s Anatomy: Unaccompanied Minor
For months fans were warned the season seven finale would not be the full frontal visceral assault observed last May. With expectations tempered I went into the finale hoping there would be some forward motion on all those stagnant story arcs that have languished in the wake of the exciting trinity of Mark/Callie/Arizona. As a person who likes the trinity a lot, I was still eager to spend time with the three remaining original residents: Alex, Meredith and Cristina. While there was nary a grief stricken shooter or gratuitous bouts of Emmy-bait acting, the emotional casualty rate was high. And after the jump, I’ll tell you all about it. If you haven’t seen the episode and don’t wish to be spoiled, do not read any further. Read more…
Wednesday Jukebox: Songs In the Key of Stevie
This past Friday was the 61st birthday of Stevland Hardaway Morris, better known to the world as Stevie Wonder. Given that last week we focused on Will Smith (who doesn’t mind a Stevie sample), it seemed like a good time to listen to the original source to help us get over the hump of the week.
Movie & TV Tropes That Are Actually Useful
The film and television tropes discourse is usually centers around how little value (other than unintentional lulz) they add to the films and shows where they are utilized. But this is not always true. Sometimes they are quite helpful to both characters and the audience. Tropes often serve as visual shortcuts enabling filmmakers to get to the unremarkable ending as efficiently as possible. And who doesn’t love a shortcut? Read more…
May Brings Allergies and More TV Show Cancellations
Cast of NBC's The Event reacting to the news. Another casualty of the Blair Underwood curse.
FOX was the first to take an ax to its under-performing roster of shows and now NBC and ABC have rolled up their sleeves and done the same. No surprises: The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles were some of the shows jettisoned from NBC’s schedule. Chuck received a paltry 13 episode final season order, which I’m sure will still cause its loyal, small (highly coveted demographic group) fanbase to complain. Overall, things are looking pretty grisly for the big four networks. The viewership numbers just aren’t there, as other entertainment options lure away sometimey fans and the rapidly vanishing casual viewers. Read more…
Grey’s Anatomy Season 7: Episodes 14 – 21
How Do You Like Your Horror?
With a date like this, I can’t pass up an opportunity to talk about horror, a much maligned and often ignored genre. Now, I’ll reveal my prejudices up front, here: I love horror, but I’m also very picky about it. Other folks can’t stand it, not in any way, shape, or form. And some of us are indiscriminate horror lovers who take it campy, kitschy, cerebral, and any other way they can get it.
As with science fiction, a genre we discussed last year, horror tends to get a bad rep. It’s derided as trashy when in fact, it can have a lot of depth, and it can also be a lot of fun. And, of course, it’s a pop culture touchstone; you may not be consciously aware of it but there’s a good chance you reference famous horror films at least once a day!
5 Pilots I Hope Don’t Make it to Series
Reboot may be just another word for nothing left to lose, but Tinseltown shows no signs of slowing down its sausage factory like production of refried source material. Charlie Angels has been reboot several times, most recently the two big budget, splashy film adaptations, but now the jigglevision franchise is coming back home to television. Veteran heartthrob Robert “RJ” Wagner is assuming the role of “Charlie” in the ABC reboot. The former Hart to Hart star and perpetual bon vivant is the right balance of cheek, charm, cheese and gravitas. And despite knowing better, I am kind of all over this potential reboot. The same can’t be said for 90% of the other dreck the networks have to sort through before announcing their fall lineups.Entertainment Weekly has a round up of the pilots hoping for that series order. Of the slew of pilot hopefuls, five impressed me by being the worst of a terrible lot. Read more…
Who is that Actor: Shohreh Aghdashloo
Friend of Fry Butter Beth hipped me to the birthday of one of my favorite actresses – the terminally stunning Shohreh Aghdashloo (show-ray aug-dash-loo) – and even though it’s not Sunday, I had to make a special, “Who is that Actor” post in her honor. Aghdashloo first blipped for me – in all places – during her guest appearance on Matlock. It was a sliver of a role, but I was smitten and wondered if she’d break into larger parts. Read more…
It’s hard to believe there was a time where Will Smith’s name above anything guaranteed fun. I Robot was the genesis of Smith’s Julia Robertesque “dour” period (Mary Reily and all those glum movies she made post Kiefer break up/Pretty Woman), and of his dour period I, Robot is bested only by I Am Legend in terms of bleak unwatchability. (I mean both are great, but well they ain’t ID-4!) The release of Men in Black III is still a year way, which is a long time to keep revisiting Smith’s more upbeat fare. More importantly, it’s been over five years since he dug through his mama’s record collection, dusted off a disco track and turned into a summer anthem. You know what? I kind of miss ol’ samplelicious Will. It was like getting two songs in one! Read more…
Fox cleaned house announcing the cancellation of Human Target, Breaking In and The Chicago Code. The Chicago Code is the second series from veteran showrunner Shawn Ryan (The Shield) to see its fortunes unceremoniously reversed. Fox didn’t have a strong roster going into the fall and many of their freshman shows are long gone Read more…
Don’t Say We Never Gave You Anything: Beards
Somewhere between Why We Love… and LOL Search Terms, certain phrases pop up in the stats that give us a peak into the psyche of our audience. I love knowing what brought people into the door of Fry Butter, especially when it’s something specific that I’m fond of myself. In this case, beards! Read more…
Gender 101 for Trans People
Chaz Bono ruffled more than a few feathers in the trans community this week when he gave an interview to The New York Times in which he explained his decision to transition:
“There’s a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they’re mismatched. That’s all it is. It’s not complicated, it’s not a neurosis. It’s a mix-up. It’s a birth defect, like a cleft palate.”
Yes, that is one way of looking at it, but certainly, not everyone who transitions—or defines themselves along the transgender spectrum—feels that way. And while Chaz is entitled to his opinion, half-assed reporting from the Times notwithstanding*, I would like to interject a few opinions of my own regarding the way in which some transfolk talk about transition and the way in which the media pick it up and report it. Read more…
The Martini Shot: Madge Sinclair
Beautiful, elegant and austere. Those are some adjectives describing the late Emmy-winning Madge Sinclair who left this world in 1995. Before moving to the United States from her native Jamaica to pursue her passion for acting, Sinclair had been an educator. Contrary to popular belief, Sinclair was the first female starship Captain courtesy of her all too brief appearance in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Thrice she has starred opposite James Earl Jones: On the short lived series Gabriel’s Fire where Sinclair earned a Best Supporting Emmy award, as the patient Queen to Eddie Murphy’s dorky prince in Coming to America and arguably her most popular role, that of Sarabi in The Lion King. Read more…
Happy Mother’s Day!
Lucille Bluth did her best to keep the rest of the Bluth brood from imploding. Sure she loved a cocktail and it was always 5pm in her world, but she was a great antidote to all those bland, judgey mousy haired sitcom mothers who seemed to be variations of the same character. Lucille Bluth was an original. Read more…
It’s Season Finale Time!
And we all know what that means, right, kids? Early May marks the plot turning points where things start tightening up to set us for up that cliffhanger ending that will keep us committed until next season. Which raises the question, given the lacklustre state of the 2010-2011 television season, of what they’re going to do to hook us in. Can’t catch a fish with rotting bait, folks.
The finale formula generally seems to involve characters put in a new and unexpected position filled with tension. Relationships will be left on the brink! Some major matter is unresolved but will magically clear up in the first 10 minutes of the season premiere in the fall! Something wacky happens! There’s a good chance that someone will experience a significant life change (marriage, childbirth, death, acquired disability) so we can spend a few episodes chewing that over when the season returns, and so viewers have a reason to return because they want to see what happens next. Read more…
Happy Birthday, George Clooney!
We all like to dream of Clooney pitching woo...I choose to be more realistic about which Clooney would pitch woo to me!
In honor of the 50th birthday of Hollywood’s favorite ageing bachelor – George Timothy Clooney – here’s what the Fry Buttians have said about this glorious achievement in human evolution. Read more…
Wednesday Jukebox: Covered in Beatles
Last Wednesday Raymond J dropped some King-Sized covers on y’all. This week I’m tackling the most sacred of the sacred: The Beatles. At this point I feel compelled to mention that while being a fairly big fan of The Beatles, I am not a fan of them singing their own works. With the exception of George, I find their vocals tinny and reminiscent of mating feral cats. Now their work as solo artists, my opinion differs quite considerably. Double Fantasy, Somewhere in England, Goodnight Vienna and McCartney by John, George, Ringo and Paul/Wings (respectively) are some of my favorite albums, mostly because it seems like Clapton and Bowie, their voices got better with age, or perhaps I became more tolerant of them. It’s interesting that as more time passes, the less The Beatles seem to have a strangehold on the pop music discourse. It’s entirely possible to have a respectful and calm discussion about satisfying covers of their music; a feat that probably yielded more dissension than discourse in the past. Read more…
Quick Pats of Butter: Look Once, Think Twice
~ The news has been flooded with fervor surrounding the death of Osama bid Laden and I have my filter shields up full power to help deal with the chaos, so only news from trusted sources gets let in, like my friend Jerri who tipped me off to this bit on GossipCop.com about Dwayne “The [Trademarked] Rock” Johnson:
Johnson tweeted, “Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free… home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” What’s interesting about Johnson’s excited tweet is that it came roughly 45 minutes before news confirming bin Laden’s death began leaking to media outlets.
Damn, The Rock really does show up everywhere and knows everyone. Read more…
Richard Tiffany Gere is a sexy screen legend whose oeuvre boasts an impressive 51 credits dating back to the year I was born. As the undisputed king of both the erotic thriller (a thriller is always elevated to “erotic” status when the lead is Richard Gere) and its more chaste cousin – the romantic dramedy – Gere’s work is often overlooked come awards season, but that’s just hateration. While his filmography doesn’t always demonstrate the best use of his talents, it does demonstrate being foxy and talented is sometimes a curse as much as it is a blessing. That said, Xena bless him for always giving us dedicated fans at least a film a year in which to bask in the glow of his radiant silvery mane. Over the last week or so, I’ve been binging on some of his choicest cuts and have come up a few notable lessons from his filmography, as it relates to matters of the heart. Read more…
Who is that Actor: Richard Jenkins
In the hundreds of years Richard Jenkins been playing supporting characters he finally got his big leading man break in the film The Visitor, which earned him a lead actor Oscar nod. However, he is probably best known as the folksy patriarch from beyond, Nathaniel Fisher Sr. on Six Feet Under. Richard Jenkins puts the “pro” in prolific: Read more…
What’s Your Dream Movie/TV Adaptation?
You have unlimited access to the production budget at your favourite studio and you get to assemble the cast and crew. Sky’s the limit (dead talent is not ruled out!). Anything you want can be adapted to film or television, and, what’s more, they’ll do it right. None of this butchering a beloved text in the name of ‘making it more interesting for general audiences.’ Or maybe you want to switch it up a bit! You can do that too. The question is, what text are you going to choose?
There’s no judging here. The floor is open to all genres; I really want to know what you, gentle readers, would choose for a film or television adaptation if all the barriers were down and you really could do anything. The more details, the better. I totally want to hear your dream cast list, who you want on production, where you want to see the creative team take it. Dark? Light? You want to turn The Odyssey into a sitcom? Go for it!
5 Clichés of…Time Life Music Infomercials
If you’ve ever managed to stay up into the wee hours desperately surfing for something even mildly entertaining – not involving bass fishing or reruns of Silk Stalkings – you’ve probably found yourself unable to turn away from the car wreck otherwise known as Time Life Music infomercials. These brief treks into the craggy terrain of our collective pop music tundra seduce the consumer with their reasonably priced compilation of music you most likely already own or could easily access on YouTube if you were willing to devote that much time to Supertramp’s back catalog. Long ago forgotten musical acts and faded nighttime soap vixens serve as host, inviting you to relive beautiful memories that can be your for three easy credit card payments of $19.95. No CODS! Read more…
Wednesday Jukebox: King-Sized Covers
Last week Snarky’s Jukebox post on covers was so popular, we decided to have a couple spin-offs that focused only on covers of one artist, particularly ones where 1) the original music is considered legendary or classic by many, but 2) the cover reinvents the song into something as good or better than the original. 
This will obviously tread on some hallowed ground for some, hearing people lauding a cover over the original, but hey, get over it. Think of it a different manner: previously alienated audience members are having their hearts softened to the music you love so much, they just needed an intermediary musician to help them hear it.
Today we consider the reinvented canon of the famous and infamous American icon, Elvis Presley. Both of my parents are fans of his, my father especially, so I’ve been around his music all my life, but never really connecting to it directly. When Chuck D first said Elvis didn’t mean isht to him, I at least got the generational aspect of what he was saying. To me, Elvis was just always there, in the background, in every discussion of music and rock and roll and pop culture, whether you loved or criticized him. It wasn’t until I heard these covers of certain songs that I was able to enjoy the music itself for the first time. Read more…
