The Best Podcasts of 2017

For my final top 5 list of 2017 I’m going to tackle podcasts. I’m not going to do shows per say. Instead I’m going to talk about specific episodes of podcasts I listen to, the return of some podcasts and new ones I have just recently discovered, or just started. I should mention, the majority of what I listen to is sports podcast, but there isn’t one single sports related show or episode in my top 5. I also excluded the “X Millennial Man” podcast because it’s the greatest podcast ever, and I happen to cohost it as well. In fact, comedy, my other favorite podcast genre, is what fills my list. I love to laugh, and comedy podcasts have been pretty great this year. Let’s get to it.

At number 5 I have the newest podcast on my list, and that is the premiere of “Raised By TV”. I’ve talked at length about this show. It’s hosted by Lauren Lapkus and Jon Gabrus, 2 of my favorite improv podcasters, and they deep dive into different topics that they recall from 90’s TV. This is a perfect show for someone like me because, while I wasn’t raised by TV, I can relate to 99 percent of what they talk about. I remember the commercials, game shows, TGIF and the very special episode readings they do at the end. This is one of the funniest new shows to come out this year. I also enjoy how neither Lapkus or Gabrus play characters, or take notes. It’s just them and the stuff they remember. “Raised By TV” is definitely worth checking out for anyone that grew up watching 90’s television.

At number 4 I have any time Bone and Chief Queaf show up on an episode of “Comedy Bang! Bang!”. These are 2 sisters, played by men, and they are riotous. Chief Queaf has a pretty wild backstory. She travels across the world trying to track down Carmen Sandiego. There’s another 90’s reference for you kids out there. She can never find her, and claims to hate her, although, she may be in love with her. Every time Chief says, “Gumshoes!”, I crack up. The only person I think Chief Queaf despises more than Carmen Sandiego is her sister Bone Queaf. Bone is loud and proud and sassy. Every time she says her name she has to explain it. For example, Bone will say, “my name is Bone Queaf. That’s Bone, like a steak, and Queaf(sorry Mom and Dad), like a pussy fart”. She does this every time, and it works every time. The relationship between the 2 is pretty hilarious, and when I see that they are going to be on “CBB”, I drop whatever podcast I’m listening to, and start that one.

At number 3 I have the glorious return of “ Womp It Up”. We’ve had to wait for a year and a half for Chardog and Wompler, but they’re back and better than ever. First off, Lennon Parham and Jessica St Clair are improv geniuses. And these 2 characters they created a few years back on “CBB” are 2 of their best. “Womp It Up” finds Wompler and Chardog interviewing local students and teachers at the high school they go to in Marina Del Rey. The people they get to be guests are awesome. Actors like Seth Morris, Paul Scheer, Casey Wilson and Jason Mantzoukas are just perfect in this format, especially Mantzoukas. He’s a gem on “ Womp It Up”. It’s bittersweet that this show is back on. Parham and St Clair’s excellent, and extremely underrated TV show, “Playing House” was cancelled, so I think they decided to go back to podcasting until they get another idea for a show. I am happy that “Womp It Up” is back though.

At number 2 I have my personal discovery of “My Dad Wrote A Porno”. I wrote about this podcast a few months ago, and it is still as cringeworthy and funny as ever. The premise is amazing. The fact that the main host is reading his own father’s erotic stories is a riot. The 2 other hosts add the exact amount of confusion and laughter that I would have if I were in their same situation. To hear the host read “Belinda Blinks” is so great. And I love that his 2 friends continually remind him that this is his own father’s writing. This podcast was recommended by a friend, and I am now indebted to him for life. I laugh harder at this show than any on my list. Go listen to “MDWAP”, and then try to imagine this being your father’s writing and reading it to your friends. It only enhances the listening experience.

And at number 1 I have the “ How Did This Get Made” re release of their “The Room” episode with added interviews with the cast of “The Disaster Artist”. This was a dream podcast for me. The main reason I first watched “The Room” was because of what I heard the hosts of “HDTGM” say the first time they covered the movie. That podcast lives in lore for me now. The fact that they had Greg Sestero on, you may know him as Mark from “The Room”, made it that much better. To hear the stories he told about working on that movie was amazing. Listening to it again made me smile. Then, after they replayed their original episode, Paul Scheer took it upon himself to interview people from “The Disaster Artist”. He’s in the movie, he’s great in it by the way, so it was pretty cool of him to get these people on mic. He got James and Dave Franco to sit and talk with him for about 10 minutes. Seth Rogen and the actress that played Lisa in “The Disaster Artist” gave him a good 5 minutes. Tom Bissell and his writing partner, Bissell co wrote “The Disaster Artist” book and movie, talked about their relationship with “The Room” and “The Disaster Artist”. But, the creme de la creme was getting Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero to sit down for 5 or so minutes. It went as crazily as you can imagine. The fact that Scheer and “HDTGM” did this was a pure delight. This is a podcast I will go back to and listen to many, many more times. It is so awesome.

Well, there you have it. Those are my top 5 podcasts/podcast moments/podcast characters of 2017. This wraps up my best of 2017. I hope everyone has a good holiday, and I will be back with new content on the 26th.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is thinking about using part of 2018 doing some podcasts about the erotic stories from the  head editor. Who wants to hear all about GI Joe / Star Wars dirty fanfic?

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The Best Films of 2017

Being that we are currently in the midst of the holiday season, I figured what better time than this week than to do my top 5 lists of 2017.

2017 has been kind of a train wreck, but there has been some pretty good things to come out in the world of music, movies, TV, podcasts and sports moments. Those are the 5 topics I will cover this week, one topic per day. Today I'm going to start with movies.

Movies was one of the hardest lists for me to pair down to 5. There were a ton of very good movies that came out this year. For example, some great movies that did not make my list, "Wonder Woman", "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", "The Big Sick", "John Wick: Chapter 2", "The Lego Batman Movie" and "Coco". I saw all these movies and thought they were awesome. Also, I have not seen the new "Star Wars" movie, I haven't seen "Thor: Ragnarok" or "War for the Planet of the Apes", "Dunkirk", and many, many others. Too many to name. But, I finally got my list paired down to what I consider to be the best 5 movies of the year. Here we go.

At number 5 I have "Blade Runner 2049". That enough should show you how great I thought the movies were this year. This was the movie I was looking most forward too, and boy did it deliver. I'm a big time fan of the original "Blade Runner", so I had enormous expectations. Well, Ryan Gosling and Denis Villenvue delivered. The visuals were stunning. The acting was great. The story was great. The scenery was magical. I loved that they kept the tone and look of the original. It was everything that I wanted, but so much more. The movie ran almost three hours long, and I could have watched it for three more hours. "Blade Runner 2049" more than lived up to the hype, and it is such a quality companion to the wonderful "Blade Runner". That is my number 5 movie people.

At number 4 I have "Baby Driver". I know that this movie has the Kevin Spacey stink on it, but if you can try and push past that, this movie is amazing. The opening chase scene set to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Bellbottoms", is heart racing and tremendous. From that moment on, "Baby Driver" just goes and goes hard. The driving is so cool and slick and real. The acting is top notch. This is Jaime Foxx's best role in my opinion. The action is intense. But what makes this movie stand apart is the way Edgar Wright mixes the music with the storyline. Every song has a meaning to the scene that it is in. I heard someone describe the movie as an action/car chase/ musical, and I couldn't agree more. Edgar Wright completely knocked it out of the park with this movie. Also, the soundtrack rules. Go watch this movie now, then go buy the soundtrack and watch it again. "Baby Driver" is awesome.

At number 3 I have "Get Out". I'm one of the few people that didn't get to the theaters to see the movie, but I did see it recently. My wife and I rented it on Netflix and watched it right around Halloween. "Get Out" is a big time achievement by Jordan Peele. His love for the horror genre, but also his comedic chops, make this a one of a kind movie. The Golden Globes got it way wrong by putting this movie in the Comedy and Musical category though. It should just be nominated for Best Movie. Putting that aside though, "Get Out" had me on edge more than any horror/suspense movie that I have ever watched. I also could not look away from the screen, and I did not figure out what was going on until they revealed it in the movie. All the actors did an amazing job as well. They put their all into their roles, and it really shows. Jordan Peele has an unique vision, and I cannot wait to see what he does next. Until then though, go watch "Get Out".

At number 2 I have "Logan". This is, by far, the best "superhero" movie I have ever seen. I know awhile back that I wrote that "Guardians of the Galaxy" has taken over as my favorite superhero movies, but "Logan" is still the best "superhero" movie. What I love so much about "Logan" is the violence. This movie is brutal. "Logan" shows what his claws would actually do to someone's head when he uses them. There is so much blood and gore. It is crazy. I also love how "Logan" is more a Western than a "superhero" movie. I like to say that it is a Western that just happens to have some super heroes in it. Besides all that, the acting in "Logan" is pretty amazing. Hugh Jackman is great. The little girl that plays Weapon X is awesome. The villain is brutal. Stephen Merchant is a revelation. But no one is better than Sir Patrick Stewart. What he does with an old, Alzheimer's ridden Professor X in this movie is amazing. He more than deserves Oscar consideration. "Logan" may be the best "superhero movie ever made.

And at number 1, I have "The Disaster Artist". And no, this is not recency bias. "The Disaster Artist" is a masterpiece. James Franco made something absolutely perfect. I could not love this movie anymore. It is perfect in every single way. The comedy is top notch. The drama, and yes there is drama, fits in quite nicely. The recreations of all the insanity that went into making "The Room" was amazing. James Franco better damn well get Oscar consideration. Not only does he direct this movie great, but his acting as Tommy Wiseau is perfection. He was so, so good. So was his brother Dave Franco as Greg Sestero. Everyone else in this movie, and there are a lot of big time names, did a wonderful job. For any fan of "The Room", "The Disaster Artist" is a stupendous love letter to the wackiness of it all. For people that didn't see "The Room", "The Disaster Artist" is a must see for fans of friendship/Hollywood/chasing your dream style of movie. For me it gets no better than "The Disaster Artist" in 2017. It is a masterpiece.

There you have it, my top 5 movies of the year. Come back tomorrow for my top 5 albums of the year. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He also did not see the number of forgettable movies that got nominated for a bunch of Golden Globes. He still needs to catch up to timeless classics like "The Tourist", "The Artist", and "La La Land". He will catch up with those films when he is bored with good movies.

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Ty Watches "The Disaster Artist"

I had the great pleasure of seeing “The Disaster Artist” this past Saturday. I’ve been very much looking forward to this movie since I heard they were going to make it over a year ago. I’m a big fan of “The Room”, and when I saw they were going to make a movie about making that movie and Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero’s friendship, I couldn’t wait. Then, I saw the cast and I knew I had to see this movie on opening weekend. “The Disaster Artist” was a hit at every festival, and the early reviews were pretty much all positive. This only built my anticipation. My wife bought us tickets about a week ago, and we finally got to see it on Saturday.

I was absolutely blown away. First of all, the theater we saw the movie in was sold out. I was stunned, but in a good way. I never thought a niche movie like this would appeal to a mass audience. Boy was I wrong. After the previews the movie started and it had my full attention for every single second of its 105 minute run time. This was such a perfect way to tell this story.

The first third of the movie was all about Tommy and Greg’s friendship. “The Room” doesn’t come into the story until about 40 minutes in. We see a “young” Tommy and a young Greg meet in an acting class in San Francisco. We see their friendship grow from scene partners to roommates to collaborators. I must say, all the buzz that James Franco is getting is well deserved. He embodies Tommy Wiseau. It’s not just the accent either. He looks like him. He has his same gestures. He laughs like him. He became Tommy. He was amazing. He better damn well get an Oscar nomination. Dave Franco was just as good as Greg. He embodied the faith and trust that Greg inexplicably has for Tommy to this day. His devotion is at times charming, but also sad. The younger Franco was so good. I imagine this had to have been so much fun for them to do as well. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time they’ve acted together. They crushed it.

Outside of the Francos, everyone else in this movie was awesome. Ari Graynor as the actress that played the infamous Lisa showed us the naive and ultimately disgusted young actress. Seth Rogen and Paul Scheer as 2 key workers on the movie were hilarious. Rogen was a delight, as usual. Scheer crushes his performance. He was great. Josh Hutcherson as Denny, phenomenal. His haircut was worth the admission alone. Zac Efron as Chris R, wonderfully absurd and hilarious. Nathan Fielder as the psychologist, perfect. Jason Mantzoukas and Hannibal Buress as the guys that sell Tommy the equipment for the movie, perfect. There are so many cameos, and they are all amazing. Too many to list. Just know, JJ Abrams shows up in the very first scene.

When we do get to the making of “The Room”, “The Disaster Artist” effortlessly bounces between comedy and drama. This was where James Franco truly shines. The stuff he says and does on the set are so crazy, but it’s all true. Only an actor like James Franco could’ve pulled this off. I do not want to spoil anything for anyone. I will say though, you don’t have to see “The Room” to like “The Disaster Artist”, but if you’ve seen “The Room”, you’ll understand the movie more, and I think you’ll love it like I did.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. It is a true masterpiece. Due yourself a favor and go see “The Disaster Artist”. It has definitely been the best movie I’ve seen in 2017.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He and his brother have worked together on an entertainment product. I wonder what that could be?

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