Its part mockumentary, part satire, and a ton of laughs!  The Canadian series The Yard is now showing for free on Hulu and there are a million reasons why you should watch. The Yard is broken up as children operating inside several clique. Each group functions as a family looking out for one another while ensuring loyalty, respect, and power on the schoolyard.  Just like Goodfellas, where the mafia used guns and drugs, these guys are running a black market on hip trading cards and chasing girls. Take a look at the promo trailer for the series: The series is produced in the mockumentary style.  An un-seen documentarian (voiced by producer Paul Gross) records the students’ interactions and behavior during recess.  The real world scenarios are played out by the two top opposing schoolyard gangs, with follow up interviews with the kids. The main protagonist of the series is 12 year old Nick and the members of his crew: his younger brother J.J. who functions as the brains of the group, his friend Johnny who is the right hand man, a six year old sidekick Adam, and Suzi a big girl with muscle. Nick’s group humorously fights for power on the playground with stories and interactions that mock real world situations we face everyday.  Just like countries fight for global power with politics, these kids are fighting for playground power from bully Frankie and his henchmen. The acting by the kids is top notch.  You could easily see Ray Liotta or Robert DeNiro portraying these characters when they were that age.  The writing, camera work, and production values are absolutely top notch and of higher quality than many shows currently airing on American television networks. Frankie’s gang of bullies includes: “Pork Chop,” his brother Mickey,...

Taking the Staten Island Ferry is like taking a little cruise, offering spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline.  I’ve seen it sailing back and forth at the mouth of the Hudson River and have discovered that the Staten Island Ferry is much more than just a floating bus. The Staten Island Ferry shuttles commuters and tourists back and forth from New York City’s fourth borough of Staten Island; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The ferries depart from Whitehall Terminal in lower Manhattan and St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island.  During rush hours, ferries run every 15 to 20 minutes, slowly decreasing in service to 30 minutes on evenings and weekends, with once an hour service provided late nights. Riding the Staten Island Ferry is one of the best tickets in town as it’s FREE! But, it wasn’t always that way! In 1817, ferry service between New York City and Staten Island began under the ownership of former New York governor Daniel D. Thompkins.  Thompkins secured the rights to operate the ferry service and to build a bridge to the island (which never happened) in exchange for his development of the village of Thompkinsville, which is still a prominent neighborhood, today. When the Civil War began, some of the ships were commandeered by the US Army and never returned to passenger service.  With the opening of the Staten Island Railway in the 1850’s, the population on the island skyrocketed and the number of passengers on the ferries dramatically began to increase. Originally, the cost to ride was the same as the subway, a nickel.  But, as the cost of subway tokens went up, the ferry toll stayed low. The price rose to a dime in...

Want to win a free McRib? Then play Fierce & Nerdy’s Search for the Great McRibiography! Here’s how to win your FREE McRib: 1. Read Ryan’s Dixon’s now classic manifesto: The Five Reasons Why the McRib is the Greatest Fast Food Item of All Time 2. In the Comments section below, share your own personal McRib story or why you think the McRib is the Greatest Fast Food Item of All Time. 3. Fierce & Nerdy’s Blue Ribbon panel (made up of Ryan Dixon, Jersey Joe, and F&N editors Ernessa T. Carter and Amy Robinson) will select the best stories that touch upon the core values of the McRib. (What are those values, exactly? We’re working on it.) 4. Winners will be mailed a coupon for one free McRib! And that’s it. It’s easy. Almost as easy as going to going to your local McDonald’s and ordering yourself a McRib. But hurry, just like the McRib, our contest is for a limited time only: all stories must be posted by TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1st. And now, let’s get on with the show… INTRODUCTION TO THE FIVE REASONS WHY THE MCRIB IS THE GREATEST FAST FOOD ITEM OF ALL TIME Why Me? How did an always poor, mostly anonymous and only occasionally witty blogumnist living in Burbank, CA suddenly find himself as the protagonist in a real-life, 21st century Horatio Alger novel? In 2010,  I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, my voice was heard on NPR and perhaps the greatest corporation in American history became my follower on Twitter. And I owe it all to one saliva-inducing, two-syllable word: McRib. My journey to becoming a PhD in Pork Product and being hailed as the world’s foremost expert on McDonald’s legendary and enigmatic sandwich all...

There are tons of free television and radio stations on the air right now, beaming into your home and car, which most people don’t  know exist.  But fear not, I’m about to help you access these stations – FOR FREE! In a recent blogumn, I discussed how you can listen to distant radio stations from other cities.  Some of the stations that I talked about were digital sub-channels only. Sub-channels are additional channels that both TV and radio stations are broadcasting along with their main signals, for free.  These subchannels are often labeled .2 or HD-2 (and up), but these are completely different channels from their main station, so it’s like getting a second channel for free! As technology advanced, and the government stepped in, stations began broadcasting in digital. With an old analog signal, they were only able to send one channel of programming.  Now that stations are broadcasting in digital, which is nothing more than sending 1’s and 0’s over the air, they are able to send several different channels at once. The sad part is most TV and radio stations have done a really bad job implementing and explaining what these channels are.  But fear not – I’ll make it simple!  So, let’s look at TV first. TELEVISION Television stations make most of their money by broadcasting one of the major networks on their main feed.  This is usually the original analog channel number they were assigned when the station began broadcasting a long time ago. In 2010, when stations were forced to turn off their analog signals by our government and go strictly digital the original channel numbers became meaningless.  Stations were reassigned new digital channel numbers, but most continued to use the old number on-air, so viewers would not get confused. Many...

Last year, I was far from Pittsburgh on vacation and wanted to hear the local broadcast of a live Steelers game. I had no internet access and was just chilling in my hotel room when I found the perfect solution that allows me to listen to radio stations from far away – the Iheartradio app! The free app was a simple download into my Android smart phone.  Within seconds I clicked on Pittsburgh and had the local broadcast, which was, thankfully, broadcasting the game.  Unlike satellite radio or television sports packages, you are getting the actual live broadcast, commercials and all.  The best part – it’s FREE! The Iheartradio app was created by Clear Channel Radio to allow more interactivity between their radio stations.  The app is most used on Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Windows 7 phones.  You can also listen for free and check out all the features on iheart.com. The app delivers instant access to over 800 local radio stations from across the US, exclusive digital-only channels, and rebroadcasts of popular national morning radio shows.  The app also allows for sharing of photos, video, and interacting with DJ’s. Downloading and using the app is quite easy, but it does count against your phone’s data usage plan.   Those on an unlimited plan will have no problem.  But, as phone carriers get cheap and begin to charge for excess bandwidth, you should monitor your data usage rate.  You will be able to listen for a good while without consuming too much data, but be forewarned – those overage fees can be painful! Iheartradio began as Iheartmusic.com and the website first launched in April 2008 giving listeners access to 750 Clear Channel Stations. In October of that year, the app was first released...