Well, I Guess I’m Officially Part of Television History…
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: March 1st, 2010




A couple weeks ago, I wrote a blog asking for your help.

I kindly asked you, the fans of The CW Twin Cities, to vote daily for a commercial I did for the Doritos: Crash The Super Bowl Super Bowl Commercial Contest.

If you watched the big game a couple weeks ago, there is probably a great chance that you noticed our commercial, Snack Attack Samurai, which aired during the big game.

(If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch it on YouTube, where we currently have over 1.8 million views!!!)

Was it the craziest night/experience of my life? Yeah, you could say that.

Was there even crazier news to follow? Yeah, you could say that too.

A couple days after the fact, the Nielsen Rating System reported that this year’s Super Bowl was the “Most Watched Television Event of All-Time” with just over 106 million viewers. That’s right, the series finale of M*A*S*H had finally been dethroned.

But the craziest news was still to come… Nielsen also did a commercial-by-commercial break down, where it was reported, that our commercial was the “Most Watched Television Commercial of All-Time.”

Ridiculous. I know.

So, if you voted for our commercial; thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you.

Thank you.

Because of your help, I now have a place in television history.

And that’s pretty darn cool.



Torchlight Parade: A 30-Minute Blur of Fun
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: February 3rd, 2010

Until this Saturday, I’d never been to or been in the St. Paul Winter Carnival’s Torchlight Parade. Prior to going, I was little confused as to what it would all entail; waving, throwing candy, storming the castle with an angry mob to destroy the monster…?

So, what was the parade like?

Well, the streets of downtown St. Paul were packed with people, and we (The CW Twin Cities) were loaded up with TONS of free T-shirts, hats and posters to give away.

Now I don’t know how much you know about ‘working large crowds of people’, but if there is one thing I have learned in my experience, it’s this – people LOVE free stuff.

So let’s just put it this way – we were pretty darn popular that night.

Thanks again to everyone who came out and we hope to see you all next year!

(And, bring your monster-destroying pitchfork… just in case!)




I NEED YOUR HELP!
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: November 24th, 2009

100 Million People Could See My Super Bowl Commercial...But I NEED Your Help!


I have some pretty amazing news C-Dubsters...

"Snack Attack Samarai" - An entry I worked on for the Doritos: "Crash The Super Bowl" Commercial Contest - has officially been named a Top 6 Finalist!

No. This is not joke.

So, here's the skinny; we won $25,000 - which is awesome (obviously) - but it gets even better...

Voting has begun and goes until January 31st. You can vote DAILY!!

Whichever 3 videos get the most votes, AIR DURING THE SUPER BOWL!

That's right my friends - our commercial has a 50/50 shot of getting Super Bowl airtime.

Crazy.

So... as you can see, every single vote counts.

How do you vote?

Simple.

1) Go http://crashthesuperbowl.com
2) Vote for "Snack Attack Samurai"
3) Repeat daily till January 31st

That's it.

And get this - Doritos is picking one random voter to win Super Bowl tickets - it could be you!

Plus, we're going to have a big ol' Super Bowl party in Downtown Minneapolis to reward our voter's hard work; details soon!

So... please, please, please with sugar-on-top - vote for "Snack Attack Samurai" at http://crashthesuperbowl.com and help get another Minnesota team to the Super Bowl!

Be Our Fan on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow me on Twitter

Thanks Everyone!!

Deal or No Deal… The Arcade Game?
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: November 24th, 2009

Two weekends ago, my sister & her husband met my girlfriend & me in Downtown Minneapolis to check out a movie.

Once we had rendezvoused, we realized we had about an hour or two to kill before the movie started; so we decided to kill it the way any normal, twenty-something adults should: arcade games at Gameworks..

If there is one “sport” I love way too much, it's skee-ball.
Seriously people, I could skee-ball all-day long – and sometimes do.

But along with skee-balling, monster/alien shooting, and NASCAR racing – a certain video game caught my attention and ended up eating most of my game credits.

Deal or No Deal: The Arcade Game.
If you think watching the show is addictive, wait 'till you play the video game; and at $11,000 – it can be yours.

Otherwise, feel free to drop countless tokens/credits on it at Gameworks in Block E, DT Minneapolis – chances are – you’ll find me doing the same.

And remember: Arcade games are life; the rest are just details.




Scratch it off the "Bucket List"...
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: October 28th, 2009

Scratch it off the “Bucket List”…

Like most people my age, a good portion of my childhood and middle school television memories involve Saved by the Bell.

When the program originally aired (1989-1993), it was nestled amongst Saturday morning cartoon favorites, such as Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Garfield and Friends, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Bobby’s World, Smurfs, Super Mario Bros., etc.

Saturday morning cartoons, truly a lost art form, not only gave me [and countless others] a reason to get out of bed with the birds on a non-school day, they gave us a reason to live.

Yes. That is how important Saturday morning cartoons were to my generation.

But amongst the animated serials, there was Saved by the Bell – a live-action sitcom featuring six friends at Bayside High, located in the heart of Southern California.

The preppy schemer, the chauvinistic jock, the ultimate geek, the girl-next-door cheerleader, the feminist brain and the spoiled rich girl: what more could a young, impressionable youth need to learn about the social hierarchy we were all soon to face when we blossomed into teenagers ourselves?

These characters weren’t just characters – they were our friends.

In our minds, we all went to Bayside High.

We were there when Zack and Kelly broke up. We were there for the Love Cuffs. We were there when slimy ring salesman turned the gang’s fingers green. We were there for Casey Kasem and “The Sprain”.

And oh yes – we were all there when the most infamous line of dialogue of all-time was uttered by the caffeine pill popping, Stansbury-driven Jesse; “I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so, I’m so… scared!”

A classic moment of television history was born.

And thanks to the phenomenon that is syndicated television, reruns of Saved by the Bell found new homes on new networks in new timeslots – which were usually after school.

We were in middle school now and we knew that the program was kind of hokey and ridiculous, but guess what – we still watched.

Why? – Because nostalgic charm is a powerful force.

And don’t forget, these were our friends.

Which leads me to the title of this blog entry: for I can, once and for all, officially call A.C. Slater my friend…



Thank you, Mario. You have made me a happy person.

Your friend,
Mike Rylander




AT THE MOVIES
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: October 22nd, 2009

Recently, Natalie & I sat down and chatted with A.O. Scott & Michael Phillips, the new hosts of “At The Movies”, about their new jobs, which films of 2009 have been their favorites so far, and how a kid playing with action figures can sometimes tell a better story than a multimillion dollar movie starring action figures.

You can watch the interview by clicking here.

You can also catch all new episodes of “At The Movies” on The CW Twin Cities on Saturdays at 6:30PM. (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: Which is right after an all-new episode of the game show I host with Natalie Kane, “21 Cards”, which is on at 6PM)

And on the subject of movies of 2009, here’s a list of my favorite three movies of 2009 so far:

(Why only three? Because so far, I’ve only seen three new movies in 2009. I know, I know, I know… I’m way behind.)

3) “Where The Wild Things Are” – Now some people didn’t care for this movie; I did. I found my inner-eight year-old wanting to jump up and immediately cause mayhem. I found Spike Jonze’s take on the insecurities of childhood, and the inner-anger that exists in all of us, to be touching, poignant, funny and real – definitely not easy subjects to present on a universal appeal.

2) “Capitalism: A Love Story” – One of Michael Moore’s efforts to date; clear, concise, touching, personal. I was so “charged” after seeing this movie, I was ready to take to the streets. Hopefully the rest of America feels the same way. Not dwelling in a state of hopelessness and despair, Moore makes a strong case for “we the people” and our ability to change parts of our country that have obviously failed us. Remember; the revolution will not be televised, so see this film today!

1) “Up” – Wow. Pixar continues to dominate not only the cartoon/family film world, but the film world in general. Much like their previous films (Wall-E in 2008, Ratatouille in 2007, Cars in 2006, the list goes on and on), this film delivers on all levels, to all audiences. Kids and adults are laughing at the same time for the same reasons – unlike Pixar’s main competitor Dreamworks – where the “kid’s jokes” and “adult jokes” are separate entities and usual crude. And not only does this film deliver on a humorous level, it also touches the heartstrings (Warning: BRING TISSUE). Well done, Pixar – whatever you’re selling, I’m buying!



WHAT'S UP CWTC PEEPS?
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: July 22nd, 2009

So, I’ve got some “old” news today, but still news nevertheless.

Back in June (June 12th – June 14th to be precise), I worked on a weekend project known as the 48-Hour Film Project. For those of you who haven’t heard of said project, it is an international film competition that takes place in over 80 cities, with over 3,000 teams competing.

The “rules” are fairly simple – each team gets a character, a prop and a line of dialogue (same three for all teams) – then, each team draws a “genre” out of a hat. From there, it’s go time. 48-hours to write, shoot, edit and submit a short film no longer than seven minutes. End of story. Sound easy? Well, not really…

This year, I worked with an AWESOME production company called Above-The-Line-Entertainment. I had worked with them (they’re a husband/wife team) previously on a “spec spot” we did for Heinz. You can check it out here!!

Anyway, so they “called me up” to work on their 48-Hour Film, to which, I gladly accepted the challenge. We met Friday night at 7PM, right after our assigned elements were given:

Character: Kevin Schnabel, an expert.
Prop: A Sandwich
Line of Dialogue: “I hope they decide soon.”
Genre: Family Film

Armed with our required elements, our team (about 10 people or so) came up with the story, the characters and the plot arcs. Around midnight, we broke for the day while Justin & Kristen (the husband/wife director/producer team) wrote the script.

Call-time for shooting was bright and early on Saturday morning at a middle school in Hastings, MN. We shot all day, and wrapped late at night. Very long day, but a very fun day filled with lots o’ laughter. The post-production work then began, and the final film was turned in Sunday evening around 6PM – so technically, we made a 47-Hour Film. ;)

In the city of Minneapolis, there were 93 teams total. The screenings for the films took place over the course of 4 nights, with each film being placed in one of seven screening blocks at the historic Riverview Theatre. WALTER THE WOLVERINE (our film) screened in the 2nd block on the 1st night to rave reviews. In fact, we won the “Audience Choice” award for our block!

But there was still more good news to come…

After all seven screening blocks took place, a panel of judges named 13 of the 93 submitted films to the “Minneapolis Best Of” list; and happily, WALTER THE WOLVERINE made the cut!

So, on June 22nd, the Riverview Theatre was packed to the brim yet again for the highly coveted, “Best Of” screening… And I am VERY pleased to announce that our film did VERY well… Below is a list of nominations that our film received:

Best Use of Character: Kevin Schnabel, expert
Best Use of Prop: Sandwich
Best Cinematography
Best Actor, Mike Rylander
Best Picture, Minneapolis

That’s right… I totally scored a “Best Actor” nomination… ☺

And, as you see, our film also scored a “Best Picture” nomination, which means that we ranked in the top 4 of all 93 submitted films. ☺

And, I am also proud to announce that our film WON the award for “Best Use of Character: Kevin Schnabel, expert” – and even prouder to announce that I was the person playing Kevin Schnabel. ☺

So, thank you VERY MUCH to everyone who came out and supported this film. And for those of you who didn’t, without any further adieu, I proudly present… WALTER THE WOLVERINE!



Thanks for stopping by y’all and catch ya’ later!



FOURTH OF JULY
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: July 9th, 2009

What's up y'all? Hope everyone had a SAFE and fun 4th of July - I know I did; well, kind of...

My girlfriend and I took off for Deer Lake, Wisconsin for some food, frivolity and fireworks with at a friend's parent's cabin/home. (Sign of the economic times, huh?)

His parents were extremely friendly and we had an absolute blast - a midnight pontoon (spelling?) ride underneath the stars, wakeboarding behind a speedboat, a bonfire with Smeeses (like a Smore, but with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups instead of Hershey's chocolate bars - just as deliciously caloric as they sound!), oodles and oodles of silly fireworks with silly names (The Moonstalker, Arabian Nights, etc.), an early morning fishing excursion on a set of Hydo-Bikes (my girlfriend is so awesome at fishing - I caught one to her seven), and most importantly, lots and lots and lots of food; grilled meats and veggies, homemade salsa with flavored chips, a french toast and bacon breakfast that would make a King happy, etc.

Basically, we celebrated America's birthday with gluttony and fuel-powered watercrafts, all while blowing stuff up and lighting other stuff on fire. (The way our forefathers intended it to be spent!)

So why did I say it was only "kind of" safe?

Let's just put it this way - my body isn't that of a 21-year-old's anymore and the day after a weekend of wakeboarding (today) proved it. It literally feels like a semi-truck drove over me repeatedly all weekend long. I'm sore in places that I thought only existed in legends. My body, once a well-oiled machine, is now merely a broken-down system of lost dreams.

You get the idea...

But nevertheless, every ounce of pain was worth it. Here's to you America - may your democracy remain free and may your birthday celebrations continue kick my aging, brittle bones and increasingly sensitive stomach.

Cheers!


WHAT'S UP EVERYONE?
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: July 6th, 2009

Sorry it's taken so long to write a new blog post - my spring/summer has been absolutely NUTS thus far and I've been way too busy "doing stuff" to write about "the stuff that I am doing". (Not a bad thing in this economy!)

(NERD ALERT: For those of you on the ol' Twitter., PLEASE feel free to stay current with all my "going-ons" in real-time by following my "Tweets" at @MikeRylander - you can also follow fellow Crew members Natalie & Casey at @NatalieAKane & @CaseyPCarlson)

(WANNABE NERD ALERT: For those of you who have heard of Twitter but are too intimidated to join, I plan on writing at "Twitter How To" blog in very near future... Stay tuned!)

So, what has been keeping me so darn busy this spring/summer? Well, let's start with all the CW Twin Cities stuff...

First up, in May, we had our annual "Upfront Party" at Seven Sushi & Steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis, where the brand new fall line-up on the CW Twin Cities was officially announced to all of our many sponsors, clients and friends. Natalie, Jonathan, Casey and I hosted this year's party and the event was a complete smash! All of us (employees, sponsors, Seven employees, etc.) were blown away by the impressive fall lineup to come, and we anxiously await it's arrival. (If only it could come without summer leaving us!)

The other "cool" thing that happened that night was the launch of the CW Twin Cities Crew Digital Billboards, which are also downtown, and more specifically, literally on top of Seven! It's been a pretty "neat" (pardon my excessive usage of quotations and parentheticals - I guess it's my "style") experience to see a giant, digitized-version of myself on a nearly daily basis. And, funny enough, there was some hilarious "joking around" on Twitter amongst some of my other actor friends that described how Mecha-Mike-Rylander will occasional leap out of the billboard and crunch cars down Nicollet Mall, all while feeding on pedestrians at will. Of course, this was all just joking around... Or is it...? (Mmm... pedestrians... yummy, yummy pedestrians...)

There have been a host of other fun, CWTC-related shoots and events this spring/summer as well - but since time is money and money buys us food and stuff - rather than blah, blah, blah about every single thing we've done and are going to do, I will only hit one more "CWTC-related" tidbit on today's posting... 21 Cards!!

"21 Cards? What are you talking about crazy person Mike?"

Well my friends, 21 Cards is a BRAND-NEW local game show that is going to be aired on The CW Twin Cities starting this fall - and - will be co-hosted by myself and Natalie Kane.

That's right Howie; I'm coming for you... (Insert comically elongated evil laugh)

Yes, yes, yes... I can't say too much now - but based on our pre-production work thus far, I can already tell that's it's going to be a blast... Stay tuned!!

So... other than CWTC stuff, what else has been keeping me so darn busy this spring/summer? Well, it all started off when I was hired by T-Mobile & the NBA to host a series of Playoff Viewing Parties in a "rockstar tour bus" sort-of-way. Our journey began in Dallas, followed by Houston, then Los Angeles, and finishing off in Denver. It was an absolute BLAST! "Rocking the mic" in different venues, to different types of crowds, in different cities was such a cool experience - and taught me that while every city may have a slightly different attitude/culture, people are people, and audiences everywhere are motivated by the same thing - FREE STUFF!! ;)

After coming back from the tour, my summer took another interesting turn when I was hired by a company based out of Fort Myers, Florida to serve as their "national spokesperson" on the live, at-home-shopping cable channel, ShopNBC. Wow - talk about an interesting gig - live national television. No script. No do-overs. No direction. Just you, the product and the camera. Oh yeah - and a couple million eyeballs watching. Very interesting experience. But also very fun! (I sold over $350,000 worth of mobile hot tub!) That's right; mobile hot tubs. Who knew, right?

Shortly after my ShopNBC stint, I learned my good friend (who also happens to be a Minneapolis-based filmmaker) sold his most recent documentary project to The History Channel! That was really exciting... And, even more exciting, I got to portray a "tortured Knight Templar" in one of the re-enactment scenes. The film comes out in September... Stay tuned!!

Oh yeah - real quick - the other plus side of the documentary sale? I co-wrote a screenplay with this guy that was THIS close to being financed into an actual movie last summer. (To the tune of 1.5 million dollars) Unfortunately, the financing fell-through last second and the project had to be put on hold. Well, last fall, my friend and I co-financed an independent shoot of six scenes from the movie to cut a trailer to help us raise the funds to shoot the film next summer. Check it out!! (It's called "The Old Arizona")

So what does the screenplay have to do with the documentary? Well, all of the financiers/investors of the documentary are making their original investment back, plus, X% in profit. What's the X? Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge - but, I can say this: it should (hopefully) make them eager to do it again... Only this time, in our feature film... ;)

Finally, along with all this other stuff, I have been rehearsing an AMAZING play with an AMAZING cast and an AMAZING director. (He's the associate artistic director of the Joe Dowling Studio at the Guthrie) It's been time-consuming and a lot of hard work, but we have a great show on our hands and we are SO excited to share it with the world... When? Let's put it this way... We open in 2.5 hours!! (Yikes! I need to stop typing and get to the theatre!!)

So... there we have it in a very rapid-fire nutshell... It's been a great summer thus far, and I can't wait to see what's next...

Later!


GOING DIGITAL
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: February 17th, 2009

The time has come…
The moment we’ve all been waiting for…
The CW Twin Cities has gone…

(Dramatic tympani solo)

100% DIG-I-TAL…

(Awkward silence)

Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic. But still, it’s a pretty big event...

If you’ve already taken action – don’t worry. If you use rabbit ears still and haven’t gotten a digital converter box – worry. (You won’t be able to watch your favorite CW Twin Cities shows unless you get one!)

So, if you need one and you don’t have one, stop reading this and go get one.
Tell ‘em Mike sent you.

(Silence)

On second thought, don’t do that.
They’ll have no idea what that means.

When you get your converter box, check out the video we made to show you how to hook it up.



CHATTING WITH KIMBERLY ELISE
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: February 6th, 2009

What's up everyone?

So Natalie and I got to interview (via satellite) Kimberly Elise today! If you are wondering to yourself, "now just who the heck is Kimberly Elise", I invite you to check out her info on IMBD.



In a nutshell, she's a really talented and beautiful actress who originally hails from Minneapolis, MN. She's worked with Denzel Washington three diferent times, and has quite a resume to her name.

Today, Natalie and I talked with her about her upcoming TNT Original Movie - "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story" - starring herself and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is based on the inspiring story of Ben Carson, M.D. and takes readers into the life of an inner-city youngster who rose above his circumstances to become director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Kimberly plays Ben's mom, Sonja, a struggling single-parent, and she talked about the role in our interview.

Anyways, thanks for dropping by and be sure to watch Natalie and I's exclusive interview with Kimberly Elise - she was a treat to chat with!