Delicious Tuna with Guaranteed Purity: Safe Catch

Since my kids aren’t huge fans of seafood, it’s easy for me to forget just how much I enjoy a good salmon, tuna salad, bbq swordfish steak, or freshly grilled trout. As we’ve become more aware of the cost and consequences of commercial fishing, it’s also become something else to consider before making a purchase decision at the store or choosing something from a restaurant menu. With tuna, one of my long-time favorites, the issue…Read More

A Week Driving the 2022 BMW X3 xDrive30i Compact SUV

Of all the different vehicle types on the road today, I most like compact SUVs. The overall size, the interior dimensions, the high seating, and the space for passengers and cargo, all add up to a great form factor for solo drivers, couples, and smaller families. It’s no surprise then that the 2022 BMW X3 was a fun drive experience with a size almost identical to my daughter’s Audi Q3 and so many other compact…Read More

Popular and Ready for a Facelift: The 2022 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro 4×4 Double Cab

It’s been an interesting fortnight of Toyota vehicles, starting with the 2022 Toyota Tundra, the big brother, followed by the rare 2022 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro 4×4 Double Cab. Since they’re at different points in the Toyota design cycle, it’s been very informative to see just how much difference the rumored Tacoma remodel will have on this already ridiculously popular light truck. And that difference is reputedly quite significant. But here’s the thing: The Tacoma…Read More

All the Mod Cons: The 2022 Toyota Tundra 4×4 Ltd Crewcab

I’ve been reviewing a lot of pickup trucks lately, which is great because it really lets me see how different manufacturers tackle some pretty basic requirements for a vehicle that ends up possessing both a work and play identity. Pickup trucks have this dual identity more than a typical SUV or sedan, even if “real” commercial trucks are a different category of vehicle (and almost always bare-bones with barely a radio, let alone a fancy…Read More

Roomy but Fuel INefficient 2022 INFINITI QX80 Sensory 4WD

I had a vehicular epiphany many years ago when I went to school to pick up my three kids and their musical instruments – including a 3/4-size cello – in a Toyota Prius. There was no way to deny the fact that we just didn’t have enough room for everyone and everything we wanted in the vehicle. In response, I upgraded to a much bigger vehicle, a Toyota Highlander. Sedans might be great for when…Read More

A Fun, Zippy Drive with the Sleek 2022 Honda Civic 4D Touring

Honda sells a lot of Civics, around 300,000 annual in the United States alone. Get into one and it’s immediately obvious why they’re so popular; it’s a solid combination of sleek design, very good fuel efficiency, a zippy drive, and an entirely reasonable price tag, making it a splendid first new vehicle for many young families. What most startled me about the 2022 Civic 1.5T 4D Touring car that Honda Motor Co. loaned me for…Read More

The 2022 RAM 1500 Rebel G/T: Great, but Glitchy

I drove the 2022 RAM 1500 with the “Big Horn” trim package a few months ago and enjoyed it quite a bit. These big luxury trucks are great to drive with wide, luxurious seats, powerful engines, and a great sound system. When RAM offered me the chance to also drive the RAM 1500 with the “Rebel G/T” trim, I was curious; how much difference does a trim kit make? After all, in most vehicles, the…Read More

Grand Opening: Table Mountain Station at the Colorado Railroad Museum

One of the many unwritten obligations of a parent is to suss out all the weird, unusual, and interesting places in your area to take your children. Duck ponds, bike paths, exotic candy stores, and restaurants where you get to eat with your fingers. At least, I always tried to expand my children’s horizons by going to a variety of places in Colorado. One of our favorite day jaunts was when Gareth and I visited…Read More

Crossing the Serengeti in a 2021 Land Rover Defender 110 SE

Okay, so I didn’t really cross the Serengeti, though it’s Africa where the fabled Land Rover gained its reputation as being unstoppable, even through the toughest terrain on Earth. Heck, I didn’t even go over a curb or hit a mud puddle in my suburban and mountain road test of the 2021 Land Rover Defender 110 SE, but it was still a very interesting drive and a unique, albeit somewhat uncomfortable interior design. Range Rover,…Read More

A Driving Week with the 2022 BMW M240i xDrive Coupe

True story, the 2022 BMW M240i xDrive Coupe is the first vehicle I’ve driven from Bayerische Motoren Werke that I feel really embodies their “driving experience” motto. It’s a really fun drive, fast, nimble, responsive, and luxuriously comfortable. Even its curb appearance is terrific, a tiger just waiting to leap into traffic or fly around the next mountain hairpin curve. As always, I drove this vehicle for a full week, a variety of highway, suburban…Read More

A WEEK WITH THE LUXURIOUS 2022 RAM 1500 BIG HORN PICKUP TRUCK

From a 10,000 foot view, I definitely live in 4×4 truck country here in Colorado, but zoom in closer on that map and I’m in the ‘burbs in Boulder, Colorado. A few of my neighbors have big trucks but I’m more in SUV land – with a healthy sprinkling of Subarus – than bigger trucks. That’s why it was fun when RAM Trucks reached out and offered me a week behind the wheel of the…Read More

Film Review: Disappointing Actioner “Uncharted”

I really wanted to like this movie. The video game franchise upon which it’s built is terrific, Tom Holland, our hero, is charismatic and entertaining, and I love globe-trotting action films with a hint of history in the vein of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. But the sad reality is that popular action film director Ruben Fleischer just doesn’t deliver. The industry has a running joke about how big screen video game adaptations are cursed and it’s…Read More

Film Review: Daft, Entertaining Sci-Fi Thriller “Moonfall”

Some movies have the ability to pull you right into the story, offering a cinema vérité slice of life so realistic that you never stop to think about the mechanics of the film. They aren’t actors going through a script, with microphones hanging overhead, cameras in their faces, and the requirement to shoot and reshoot until the director is satisfied, it’s just… life. Other films exist in a different world and demand suspension of disbelief….Read More

Game Review: Cute Battle Royale Card Game “Battle Pufs”

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and plenty of games have picked up the theme with one v. one combat. Co-op? That’s for softies! If you’re really tough, if you’re gaming with equally tough folk, you want to battle for dominance. Sure, most of your characters might die in the process, but hey, that’s why they invented the concept of collateral damage, right? As long as you come out on top when the dust settles,…Read More

Solid American Luxury: The 2022 Chevrolet Traverse AWD RS

It used to be that American cars were made in America, and foreign cars were made overseas and imported. In that environment, it wasn’t a surprise that many people sought to “buy American” to support American workers. That simple vision has long since become obsolete, with “foreign” cars manufactured in factories based in the United States while “American” cars are manufactured overseas then shipped in for sale. The Chevrolet I’m reviewing is similar, with less…Read More

Maxxed out Luxury with the 2022 Infiniti QX55 SUV

Prior to the mid 1980s, Japanese cars were defined by the pedestrian brands of Datsun, Toyota, and Honda. All huge manufacturing keiretsu, all producing construction equipment, heavy machinery, even lawnmowers and motorcycles. When Honda introduced its luxury brand Acura in 1986 to compete directly with the European luxury brands, it proved an inspiration for the other two companies. 1986 had Datsun rebrand its American lineup under the Nissan identity, and in 1989 Nissan introduce Infinit…Read More

Game Review: Sudoku + Dice = Indie Puzzler “Disuko!”

You’d need to have hidden under a rock not to bump into the engaging and popular mathematical puzzle game Sudoku. Invented by Japanese puzzle enthusiast Maki Kaji, it’s a 9×9 grid comprised of 9 3×3 boxes. Each 3×3 box, each row, and each column can only contain a single occurrence of the digits one through nine. Each box, then, ends up filled in with 1, 2, 3, … 9, as does each row and column….Read More

Film Review: Fun, Overly Long “The Matrix Resurrections”

There are a very small number of movies that have had a profound impact upon our culture, jumping immediately to the status of cult classic or, in some instances, genre classic. The Matrix, released in 1999, was just such a hit, a film that turned actor Keanu Reeves into a star, catapulted director siblings The Wachowski’s onto the A-list and had us all marveling at the “bullet-time” super-slow-motion action sequences. The story was engaging, a stunning…Read More