OUR WRITERS

Reporter Leanne Aguilera was raised in a small Orange County town, across the street from Disneyland, Lauren Conrad, and the entire cast of “The O.C.” (She and Mischa Barton are no longer on speaking terms.) In lieu of dating, she perfected the art of obsessing over TV couples, more commonly known as “shipping.” After graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Leanne decided to uncover one of life’s greatest mysteries: What’s coming up on your favorite TV show?
Staff editor Michael Arbeiter’s natural state of being can best be described as “mild panic attack.” His earliest memories of growing up in Queens, New York, involve nighttime conversations with a voice from his bedroom wall (the jury’s still out on what that was all about) and a love for classic television that spawned from the very first time he was allowed to watch “The Munsters.” Attending college at SUNY Binghamton, a 20-year-old Michael learned two things: that he could center his future on this love for TV and movies, and that dragons never actually existed — he was kind of late in the game on that one.
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, then escaped to New York to live in a succession of very small apartments and write about pop culture. She spent a decade at Entertainment Weekly, cofounded SexyFeminist.com, and now writes for several publications, including Women’s Health, Writer’s Digest, Fast Company, and Vulture. Her history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 'Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted,' will be published in 2013; her collaboration with Heather Wood Rudulph, 'Sexy Feminism,' will be published in 2013. She is the author of 'Why? Because We Still Like You,' a history of the original Mickey Mouse Club published in 2010.
Before joining the Hollywood.com team as LA News Director, Jean was a contributing editor at Zap2it.com, an associate editor at AOL TV/Huffington Post TV, and wrote about everything from vampires to 'Harry Potter' for MTV News, MTV.com's Hollywood Crush and Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. She would like to think she has found the ideal balance in her consumption of both highbrow and lowbrow entertainment, but the sheer volume of 'House Hunters' and 'Parking Wars' episodes on her DVR would reveal otherwise.
Staff Writer Christian Blauvelt is Hollywood.com’s expert for all things geek. Can’t tell the difference between a Kowakian monkey lizard and a Krayt dragon? Don’t know whether to order a raktajino or a Romulan Ale from your Ferengi barman? He’s your geek! This knowledge was acquired over many years of rigorous training during his youth on the swamp planet St. Petersburg, FL. Think of him like Channing Tatum in Magic Mike but with entertainment journalism in place of the custom furniture ambitions and minus the washboard abs. A stint on the ice planet Hoth (Northwestern University) finally led to him coming to Coruscant (New York City), where he helps share his knowledge with you all. He will desperately try to avoid puns like, "Set phasers for phun!"
Anna Brand officially began her career in journalism when she landed her first internship at the now-defunct Jane magazine (RIP). Since then, she's tackled everything from celebrity interviews and entertainment news to home décor and fashion trends. Reporting was her jam until she was matched with her biggest thrill, headline writing. Now, Anna edits the homepage for Hollywood.com, where she crafts teasing copy so that all you people will click on our stories! When she's not in the office, Anna can be found gossiping about Bravo's Housewives like they're her friends, studying Oliver Hudson's jawline, and channeling Joey Potter while watching old Dawson's Creek episodes.
Writer Sydney Bucksbaum likes to think her hobby of watching insane amounts of TV isn't an obsession... it's not an obsession, okay, so just drop it! As the resident CW-lover on the Hollywood.com staff, she truly believes her Clark Kent/Dean Winchester/Damon Salvatore/Lucas Scott/Oliver Queen/Chuck Bass/Seymour Birkhoff/Wade Kinsella/Vincent Keller/Micah Barnes is out there somewhere, waiting for her, in real life (just go with it). After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, Sydney has made it her mission to campaign for more shirtless scenes for her favorite CW hunks. You're welcome.
Before joining the Hollywood.com team, Lisa spent one year traveling the world in search of culture, and a country that wasn't Kardashian obsessed. FYI: none exist. But since she wasn't born a Hilton — and therefore needed multiple jobs to pay for the many airline miles — she wrote about her trip experiences and other celebrities for 'TV Guide,' 'InTouch,' 'OK!,' 'Redbook,' 'Marie Claire' and many others. Her last job was as a senior associate editor at EW.com, and she blames her love for reality TV and teen dramas on the little amount of sleep she gets thanks to her newest title, Mom.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, President of Hollywood.com Box Office Paul Dergarabedian loves movies of course, but has a true passion for music, art, photography and architecture. Stanley Kubrick is a God even though like Orson Welles’ 'Citizen Kane, his '2001: A Space Odyssey' is overrated but still brilliant! Little known fact: Paul was a National Collegiate Driving Champion (cars not golf) in the late 80's!
News editor Lindsey DiMattina started her career writing for a series of interior design magazines in South Florida but moved to NYC on a whim. She dabbled in fashion PR then took a job doing celebrity reporting. For three years, she broke news about Kim Kardashian, Mariah Carey, Snooki, Bachelor/Bachelorette winners, Teen Moms, and many more. In her spare time, you can find her rocking out to Sugarland or Lil Jon and walking her dog Bene Hendrix (named after the Jimi Hendrix). She never misses an episode of “Revenge,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Game of Thrones,” or “The Borgias.”
Hollywood.com's 'American Idol' blogger Colton Dixon is a singer from the eleventh season of the show. His debut Christian rock album, 'A Messenger,' hit stores on January 29.
Senior VP of Content/Editorial Director Michelle Lee is an award-winning author, budding photographer and carb aficionado. After stints as a tech biz reporter and fashion editor, she became an editor at 'Glamour,' 'CosmoGIRL' and 'Us Weekly' magazines then was named Editor in Chief of 'In Touch Weekly.' Michelle’s stories about pop culture have appeared in places like 'Marie Claire,' 'Elle,' 'Maxim,' 'Cosmopolitan,' 'Papermag.com' and many others. When she's not watching 'Game of Thrones' or reading horror movie spoilers, she's watching really bad reality TV.
Staff Writer Alicia Lutes is a corgi enthusiast from Connecticut living in Los Angeles. She loves Tina Fey, television, ugly things and really money cheese plates. Growing up, her grandfather frequently said, "you’re so god-damned good with words! You should do something with words with your life!" so she made it her quest to plaster her wordy witticisms across the Internet. She looks forward to retiring at the age of 80 and opening a fromagerie with a small army of wrinkly-faced and stumpy-legged dogs.
Hollywood.com's 'Bachelorette' blogger Arie Luyendyk, Jr. is a professional autoracing driver and has been racing nearly all his life. He was the first runner-up during the eighth season of ABC’s 'The Bachelorette' in 2012 and qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 in 2006. Arie Jr.began racing in 1992 in go-karts and progressed through the ranks, competing in various racing series from Formula Ford to USF2000 and the A1GP. He finished runner-up in the points’ championship in INDYCAR’s Firestone Indy Lights Series where he was also voted INDYCAR’s Firestone Indy Lights "Most Popular Driver" four years in a row. For more information, visit www.ariejr.com.
Jenni Miller has been writing for fun and profit since the age of six. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College several years later, she dove into the wild world of online media — just before the dot com crash. She's interviewed everyone from Mike Leigh to The Lizardman, traversed the tundra of Park City, visited movie sets, and reviewed too many movies, books, and video games to count. Jenni was the senior editor of Premiere.com and has contributed to a variety of outlets, from classy joints like VanityFair.com and GQ.com to, well, other sites. She is planning to write a book (or at least a short story) about the weirdos who go to see movies on opening day, herself included.
After getting his master's degree in poetry, Senior Writer Brian Moylan started writing about television and pop culture for Gawker, The Guardian, The Washington Blade and a few other reputable publications. Brian has an honorary PhD in “Jersey Shore” studies from the University of Chicago. He's shared his often hilarious views about the tube on VH1, MSNBC, TV Guide Channel, MTV (Canada), BBC radio, and NPR. He can usually be found at his apartment in New York yelling at the TV and dodging calls from Real Housewives. He is a Taurus and likes long walks on the beach, fried chicken, and almost every reality television program ever created (especially “The Swan”).
Television Editor Shaunna Murphy was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs of New Jersey. Largely shunned by her peers, she struck up friendships with the likes of Buffy Summers and the X-Men in their stead. After graduating from NYU where she studied political journalism, she moved to Los Angeles when she realized that writing about reality TV is a much nobler pursuit. She now lives in New York, again, with her two cats — Arya Stark and Joffrey Baratheon.
After a few years of working behind the scenes on movies and TV shows (and earning an IMDb page for bragging rights), Movies Editor Matt Patches made a hard right into the world of entertainment journalism. In 2009, Patches became the Associate Movies Editor of UGO.com, departing in 2010 to go rogue as a writer-for-hire. Patches covered movies and festivals for a number of outlets, including Movieline, MTV NextMovie, CinemaBlend, and Film School Rejects, before joining Hollywood.com as Movies Editor in 2011. He proudly names "Groundhog Day" as his favorite movie of all time.
Staff editor Aly Semigran is a New York City native who grew up in Philadelphia and spent the better part of her youth trying to figure out what the Philly Phanatic was (an anteater?), quoting 'The Simpsons,' and learning all about movies from her dad. After graduating from Temple University, where she studied journalism, she moved back to NYC and began her career as a freelance entertainment journalist. Her work has been published in Entertainment Weekly, Maxim, Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia City Paper, MTV.com, and iVillage.com. She is thrilled to be a part of the Hollywood.com team and she is still quoting 'The Simpsons.' ('I'm Idaho!')
Staff writer Kelsea Stahler was born in a pile of dirt. Okay, she was actually born in an old Naval hospital in San Diego, which then became a pile of dirt and remained as such for a number of years before becoming a parking lot perfectly sized for circus tents, and finally a museum. She eventually left San Diego to attend New York University, where she studied Journalism and English literature — two less-than profitable liberal arts degrees about which guidance counselors warned her. Against all odds, she now resides in Brooklyn, where she fights the constant fear that the locals will soon discover she isn’t quite cool enough to live there, and makes a living writing absurd, pop culture features about Batman, zombies, vampires, funny people, and Ron Swanson.
Celebrities Editor Abbey Stone hails from the fair isle of Martha's Vineyard, a lovely, vaguely dinosaur-shaped spot of land located off the coast of Cape Cod, MA, that is best known for exporting preppy salmon-colored pants. But the bright lights of New York City beckoned, and Abbey was lured away from her coastal haven to attend Barnard College. She graduated in 2010 with a degree in English and a much less useful minor in Dance. Abbey has been published in Dance Magazine, The Huffington Post, Time Out New York, and Popstar! magazine (where she learned more than she ever wanted to know about Justin Bieber). Abbey now lives in Brooklyn, where she spends her days watching stupid Internet videos and reading pretentious books.
Kate Ward is the current Executive Editor for Hollywood.com, a former editor and writer for Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, and a forever fan of pop culture. A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Ward — whose work has also appeared in Glamour magazine — loves talking about nutgrafs and hates exclamation points, despite using them on a regular basis. Specializing in reality TV, ’90s nostalgia, and bad movies, Ward is likely the oldest person to attend "American Idols LIVE!" every year with her mom.