When I was a kid, I loved everything about Christmas—the weather, the pageantry, the food, but most of all the annual Christmas specials that aired on T.V. All, that is, save one. I could not understand the appeal of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. I was much more of a fan of Rankin and Bass cartoons [...]

Happy book week, Fierce & Nerdy! This being the holiday shopping season, books are on my mind even more than usual. That’s because bar none, hands down, books are my favorite gift to both give and receive. This opinion might soon be antiquated, however. Electronic reading devices like Amazon’s Kindle are this seasons hottest gift, [...]

If you’ve ever traveled by car any kind of distance in the American Southwest, you are aware that a certain degree of forethought must be given to carrying enough fuel when crossing the great expanses of unremitting desert that lie between the rest stops. There are long stretches of nothing, and just when you feel [...]

It’s getting to be that time of year again with the elections over and the holidays still a month off, we Americans need to find something to argue about. Luckily the BCS has started publishing its poll of standings for College Football, an annual hot topic for debate for anyone whose alma mater of choice [...]

Ask any technological prognosticator, and they will assure you that the next major change in our home consumption of entertainment content will be the merging of our televisions with our computers. We already see it happening, what with our cable services also being our Internet providers, and with On Demand and streaming videos playable on [...]

A crisp autumn wind blows sweeps across the land, supermarkets bulge with pumpkins, and seasonal “Halloween Headquarters” stores magically appear in malls across the country. Nothing like the start of fall to put you in the mood for an indoor sport played on an artificial ice surface. Wait…hockey season is starting this week? Indeed it [...]

Greed isn’t good, and neither is making a sequel of a movie over a decade old. An economic downturn leading to a recession and millions of Americans out of work—what a perfect time for the return of that great anti-hero of business Gordon Gekko! Well, actually, his timing could have been a little better, maybe [...]

“I love the preseason. Give me more!” –Mike Tomlin, Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers Far be it for me to disagree with the youngest Head Coach to ever win a Super Bowl. The NFL Preseason is unfairly maligned. It’s a great system that eases both the players and the fans into what is by [...]

. a favorite argument by Joe Rusin Joe Says: The column below feels the most pertinent, since FaN is taking a vacation itself. The best part of the FaN vacation will definitely be when it’s back, though. From July 28, 2010 As summer passes its midpoint, many of us have been engaging in ritual summer [...]

. a blogumn by Joe Rusin Seriously. Stop. Every where I go this summer, when the conversation turns to the subject of movies, people always are whining, “There’s just nothing to see. It’s a terrible summer for movies.” I don’t necessarily disagree. With a few exceptions (notably an INCEPTION) this summer has given us a [...]