My Favorite Christmas Carol

First off...hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and at to your heart's content.  I know I had a good time fellowshipping with the family...ate and drifted in and out consciousness.

AND NOW FINALLY...we have arrived at the 2011 Christmas season.  Contrary to what the retailers will have you think, Christmas doesn't start until after Thanksgiving...not after Halloween (like the malls do...smh).  Everyone has their own Christmas song that reminds them of Christmas past.  For me...this song marked December on Rap City (you know...when it was good).  RIP Nate Dogg...classic track man from your good folks at Death Row Records.

-Dub

Reason No. 21546411243 Why I Hate PETA

Those crazy asses over at PETA are at it again, trying to ruin the fun of the masses.  The animal rights organization is taking issue with the Tanooki suit that Mario will don in the newest Mario video game (the same one he's been wearing since 1987 or so).  PETA thinks that Mario will have people hunting real life Tanooki racoons for their fur...I guess so people can try to fly like Mario does.  For one...I never knew the name of the suit until this story came about.  Two, even for the people who knew the name of the suit...how many people people actually knew that it was a real animal? *Katt Williams voice* Dont worry...I'll wait.  Now I do agree that the fur trade is pretty bad in how they poach some animals out of existence but going after a video game character isn't the answer....but they don't hear that over the hum of their hybrid car's engine.  Damn hippies

-Dub

New Video Game Hotness

I would like to take this time to apologize to my small but loyal following for nreglecting my blog over the last week.  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 came out and has completely taken over my life.  I've been drinking Mountain Dew by the case to get the bottle caps for double XP points.  Carzy thing is...I'm not a big soda fan at all.  I swear...do not judge me in any way, shape, or form.

Another November...another edition of Call Of Duty game.  This year's iteration is Modern Warfare 3, a sequel to 2009's Modern Warfare 2 and is sure to break all kinds of sales records (early estimates have 1st day sales in the US and UK at 6.5 million units).  MW3 is definitely a solid game and a marked improvement from MW2 in many areas.  The story is short of course (haven't played it all the way through...where they do that at?) but it's still compelling. It's very hard to just play one mission without getting temporarily sucked into the story.  99.999% of the people who bought the game for the online multiplayer.  It's deep and even more rewarding this time around.  They've revamped the weapon leveling and kill streaks...not gonna go too in depth with the changes (not gonna turn this into a full-fledged game review) but it's very obvious that they focused on keeping the game balanced while rewarding players for long streaks.  They even expanded the Special Operations and added a Survival Mode (think Gears Of War's horde mode) for even more online co-op play.  The graphics look more refined and smooth...A LOT better than Black Ops.  If you're on the fence about the game I would strongly suggest you take the leap if you want to have a deep online multiplayer experience.

In other dope ass video games news, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection finally dropped (same day as MW3...the people @ Konami must not have calanders).  This 2 disc set contains remastered versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.  The set also includes the PSP's Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and some SNES Metal Gear games.  This is a must have for any Metal Gear Solid fan (such as myself....HUGE CHRISTMAS PRESENT HINT!!!!).  The games have been remastered in HD so you can enjoy them on your PS3 in all of their cinematic glory.  Also a plus for people who don't have a PSP and haven't played Peace Walker yet.  One of my biggest beefs with the PlayStation Network (in relation to Xbox Live) is that they don't sell PS2 games for download (probably because Sony is still selling a good number of PS2s at a wallet friendly $99 price point).  If you want to play old games you have to wait for the studio to re-release the game...takes a lot longer and is usually a little more expensive.  But the upside is they're normally released in HD for the first time....patience is a virtue FTW.  This fall/holiday season has been chock full of top notch titles just itching to get bought, such as Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield, Skyrim, Saint's Row 3, and Assassain's Creed: Revalations just to name a few..  I'm tapped out until the first of next year....I have too many Christmas presents to buy.  I have to be responsible and all that...being a grown up sucks.  Happy playing!

-Dub

Happy Bank Transfer Day!

Happy Bank Transfer Day!  So I know you're probably thinking "What the hell is Bank Transfer Day?"  It's the day when you're supposed to ditch your bank in favor of a credit union.  Kind of hard today since many credit unions aren't open on Saturdays but the concept is to leave those corrupt institutions and place your hard earned money is more likely to work for you.  This year's iteration of this concept has taken a new tenor because of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the recent fees that banks are trying to force down their customer's throats, such as a $5 monthly fee to use a debt card.  Now, truth me told, I work for a credit union so this may come across as a sales pitch for the one I work...which is why I won't tell you where I work (most of my close friends already know anyway lol).  I'm sharing this because the credit union approach is completely different from the bank approach.  Banks are there to serve their shareholders and to give them a return on their investment.  To that end, they will do anything to keep their profit margins high.  With the credit card/overdraft fee reform a couple of years ago, banks were scrambling to recoup those fees. That's why free checking accounts went away and some banks are even charging for teller services and paper statements.  Banks used to give you something for your trouble (i.e. interest on your accounts) for having your money in their institution that they were going to lend out and make money on.  What a novel concept...right?  Credit unions, however, are co-ops that exist for the financial benefit for the entire membership.  They're not there to make money (let me repeat that...THEY'RE NOT HERE TO MAKE MONEY) but rather for the financial thrift of their members.  You want your money held in an institution where they have your best interests in mind (i.e. low loan/mortgage rates, interest-bearing accounts, etc).  If you're looking to change from a bank to a credit union you can start your search here at findacreditunion.com.  Happy hunting guys...gotta save your coins as best you can these days.

-Dub  

The Sissification of Today's Youth

I try to temper my comments on today's youth because I don't have kids and, in a lot of ways, I'm still a kid myself.  But with that being said, the stuff I hear coming out of today's elementary/middle/high schools is really making me believe that the next generation is going to be whiny, lazy sissies that get upset with things don't go their way.  Youth/amateur sports are where many young people gain many transferable life skills, such as perseverance, team work, and how to develop a strong work ethic.  This is where me and my brother (along with other family members of mine) learned these skills, so when I hear stories about diabolical helicopter parents interfering with this crucial crucible of learning I can't help but feel a certain kind of way about that.

...which brings me to this story I came across today.  A high school soccer team in Maryland is having their season cancelled by the school's administrators for a celebratory dance.  Yes...a damn dance.  Apparently the soccer team is on the playoffs and won a close game against a rival.  To celebrate they did The Bernie, from the 80's movie about the cats carrying around the dead dude all weekend.  Well apparently some punk ass parents from the other team took issue with the celebration and complained to the school's principal.  Because the principal found this act to be in poor taste, they thought it best to cancel their season, I guess not to piss off any more families.  Um...what?? Because some parents were mad that their precious soccer player lost a game and the other team was happy about it, that's ground to complain.  Look, I've been on the other side of close (and not so close) losses where the other team acted up when they won.  We were mad...not because they were happy they won (you should be) but because we let them lose.  Moral of the story?  If you don't want them dancing, don't let them win.  Those are probably the same kind of parents that give participation trophies out (newsflash-not every kid on the team should get a trophy...some kids suck.  It's life...if they can't deal with not getting a trophy, try dealing with not getting a job after college) and want their kids to go to schools where they don't give failing grades (so the kids won't get discouraged *blank stare*).  Maybe I'm being too harsh...I can see of it was an over the top T.O/Chad Johnson style dance.  But The Bernie? Give me a break...tell that kid to brush themselves off when they get knocked down.  Fall down 7 times, get up 8.

-Dub

I LOVE THE INNANETS

Wanna good laugh??

STEP 1-Go to google.com

STEP 2-search "do a barrel roll"

STEP 3-Prepare to bug out

If you don't get the reference it's from Star Fox 64, a game where you were the leader of a squadron of space fighter jet pilots that were animals.  The rabbit, named Peppy, had one only piece of advice when shit got hairy (no pun intended): DO A BARREL ROLL!! Never really helped you do anything but make a spiral of fire when you got blowed up. Oh geek humor...the greatest brand of giggles.

-Dub

The Ultimate Hustle

So I'm sure anyone that pays any attention to the innanets news has found out that Kim Kardashian has filed divorce from her DUMB ASS (I'll explain in a minute) husband Kris Humphries.  A whole 72 days of marriage bliss...more like marriage piss.  I didn't watch the show but apparently things were sour since...forever.  Hell his stupid ass didn't even know she was married before...how do you NOT know that about the woman you're about to marry?  You should know everything about her...her blood type...what color her eyes (SN-great thing about being a black guy that's in to black women...if our woman is mad and she closes her eyes and asks "What color are my eyes??!" we can always confidently say brown....and if her eyes are anything other than that (i.e. green, hazel) then that's not anything we'd easily forget)...what she had for lunch last Tuesday.  Cynics always say something like "I saw this coming"...I started to say that but I honestly can't say I saw it happening this fast.  I thought she would at least collect some over priced Christmas presents, do a Christmas special/fashion show, be on Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special, and then leave his ass around the 5th of January.  Boy was I wrong...she's given a new meaning to the term "whirlwind romance"...she takes it all the way home though.  She leaves everything fucked up like a tornado just ripped through.  She dated him, married, and divorced in LESS than a year (she met him last December)...ain't that a bitch?

But let's take a deeper look (no Ray J sex tape pun intended) into the hustler known as Kim Kardashian.  She dated this dude (was sure to make some side money off of being at the games of whatever team he play on this year), got him to buy her a $2 million engagement ring (he's a NBA player...remember there's a lockout going on right now), made like $18 million off of THEIR wedding, then was like "um...naw...I don't wanna do this anymore."  The kicker?  HE WAS ONE OF THE LAST PEOPLE TO FIND OUT...word is dude found out on TMZ yesterday morning.  That's some cold ass shit there..,.her pockets are lined with money and he's like "WUT???"  He should have never dated her attention/money loving ass to begin with.  Besides..I wouldn't want to marry a chick that's famous for having a sex tape with a dude that's not me.  You know that nightmare that guys have when they realize their woman has had sex with another dude...that porn that pops in their head that involve a dick that's not theirs? Well he lived the real life version of that...the trash talk he's going to hear this year is going to be epic.  Not like i expected her to be a saint...but I don't see how anyone can like her after this...that's just something a low down person does.  At least call the man and tell him the real before letting it be known.  Your publicists shouldn't know before your husband...but I guess that's the life in Hollywood.  I hope he hires some lawyers to get a lot of money...but wait...his ass signed a pre-nump...dumb ass.

I had fun with the #ThingsLongerThanKimsMarriage trending topic on Twitter...but this is a real one:  the NBA lockout (124 days and counting) has really lasted longer than their marriage. The "finding real love in a fake ass world" struggle is real.

-Dub