Brian Juergens has been an integral part of our success for longer than many of you may be aware. Back when we were still called AfterElton, Brian was our blog editor, and responsible for much of AE's content, as well as reigning in contributors (for which he deserved some kind of prize).

Brian left the site for a while, but picked up where he left off when he came back, providing movie reviews, pop culture posts, and indispensable recaps for such shows as American Horror Story, Looking, Shameless, Game Of Thrones, and most famously, True Blood.

In addition to his regular True Blood recaps, he and hubby Andy Swist (who's made his own mark on TheBacklot) create hilarious video recaps on Brian's site CampBlood.org (which was the first website devoted to horror films from a gay perspective).

Today is Brian's something-something birthday, and if you need another reason to celebrate his impact, consider this: If it wasn't for Brian, I wouldn't be here.

Picture it: AfterElton, 2008-ish (it's something of a blur). A young reader falls in love with this gay pop culture website, and after he leaves a multitude of snarky comments on various posts, he's contacted by Brian, who offers him a job. That young reader was me. Brian said he liked my moxie ... and I liked showing it to him.

So if it wasn't for Brian Juergens, you wouldn't have my bad puns and annoying 80's obsession.

But please wish him a Happy Birthday anyway.