a substitute blogumn by Zachary Halley The last communiqué I received from Mr. Dixon was “written with the pen that wrote the second serif on the health care bill, asking me to take over the column this week as he would be conducting a feasibility study in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.  I’ve learned not to question. [...]

. an occasional blogumn about an assortment of things by Ryan Dixon Here’s a tip for any theatre-centric PhD candidate desperately looking for a thesis topic: write your dissertation on the history of sequels to Broadway musicals. In fact, I’ll make your job even easier and provide you with the research: Bring Back Birdie (sequel [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon FIERCELY ANTICIPATING THE ORACLE OF DIXON: 2010 EDITION The NFL playoffs are starting this weekend without the Pittsburgh Steelers. No matter how you look at it, the evidence is pretty clear: It’s all my fault. During the course of the NFL’s regular season I used a section of each [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon Introduction to the 2009 Edition Last December, I wrote a blogumn explaining my unconditional love for Hickory Farm’s Beef Stick. The post was a raging success and, after talking with the editor, we’ve decided to bring it back as a special holiday treat. However, like that Christmas Eve story [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon FIERCELY ANTICIPATING The McRib This past Sunday I was driving down the long, wide stretch of San Fernando Blvd in Burbank, CA, searching for a place to buy a salad for lunch, when I passed the local McDonald’s and noticed that the “McDouble” sign that had graced the windows [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon FIERCELY ANTICIPATING Black Friday Conventional wisdom has it that Thanksgiving is the one day where family and friends reunite, reconnect, and relapse over a grocery-store-bought feast of turkey, stuffing and wine. Football is watched. Happy tears are shed. Everlasting memories are made. Balderdash. Come on, admit it, if I [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon In which the Bengals are declawed, A Christmas Carol sings again and 2012 can’t come fast enough. FIERCELY ANTICIPATING Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers It seems like once every other decade or so the Cincinnati Bengals manage to sew together a football season where they not only surface above [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon In Which Applebee’s is Defended, the Minnesota Vikings Dissed and Saw VI Declawed… FIERCELY DEFENDING Eating at Applebee’s Are you an aspiring comedy writer? Do you need an easy joke to top off that last scene? Is mentioning George W. Bush a little too political and/or dated? Well, in [...]

From the comments of Ryan Dixon’s Fierce Anticipation, in which he laid out a video argument for just how bad Cleveland sucks (especially when compared to Pittsburgh). Jersey Joe: Cleveland is a rather clean and quiet city, but has very passionate sports fans [...] When you say Cleveland to most Pittsburgh fans, they immediately think [...]

. a blogumn by Ryan Dixon In Which The Stepfather Arrives, Usher Falls and Cleveland Still Sucks… FIERCELY ANTICIPATING Choosing Between The Stepfather and The Fall of the House of Usher As I see it, if you’re in the mood for a gothic and gory tale of severe family dysfunction and death, you can either [...]