When was the last time I blogged, March? Wow, I've neglected this thing for a while now, and I probably will continue to after I write this. I really don't care though, nor do I care if anyone reads this. So yeah anyways...

I've decided that unless you have a job, girlfriend, or something extremely interesting going on in your life, the months of june, july, and august are really boring. Considering I have none of the above my life is a living borefest (which explains why I'm blogging right now). The most interesting thing I did all summer was take a road trip to Chicago (which was awesome I might add). The problem is, that roadtrip was in early June and I didn't do anything realitively close to as exciting as that other than go to Warped Tour (which was also awesome). So basically, my summer peaked way too early and every other activity I partook in just didn't compare.

Getting beat on Fight Night made me want to bite someone's ear off.

So what did I do all summer? The last thing any college should be doing; spending money. Most of that went to my Xbox 360 however, as I hoped a new game or two would releave me of my boredom. Well that sort of worked. Fight Night Round 4 came first, and while that game is very fun, getting destroyed by 12 year olds who had mastered the art of exploiting (or were just really, really good) made me shelve the game for weeks at a time.

I put this guy on the Bobcats, and they won the NBA Title. Maybe the actual Bobcats should do the same.

Next I tried NBA 2k9. I've come to the conclusion that this game is an addiction, because I bought it back in March or April and played the hell out of it to the point where there was no point in playing it again. Problem is, I kept coming back to the game, playing it for a extended period of time, then realizing I have zero desire to go through a franchise mode with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Whats worse is I've repeated this process at least a dozen times.

This game saved me from cured me of my chronic boredom.

So what game came to my rescue? Tales. Of. Vesperia. I totally missed out on this game, and am now currently playing it and loving it. I needed something different, and Tales is certainly that. I have all intentions to finish the game, and hopefully by that time something else has come out that can relieve me of my boredom, except by that time I imagine, school, basketball, and parties will be keeping me from being bored.

Knowing

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury

Plot: A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

Source: imdb.com

Review:

This is going to be a tough review, mainly because even with all the flaws I found in this movie, I still throughly enjoyed it. First of all, Nicolas Cage is great, not his best performance by any means (and it will be hard for him to touch his Lord of War performance) but it was good. Anyways, this movie centers around these numbers, and how they predict all these major catastrophic events that have or are going to happen. As Cage trys to figure out what the numbers all mean, events happen just as they numbers say they will. These catastrophic events are played out very well, and are in fact the best parts of the movie. They're shocking to say the least, even though the special effects aren't the greatest, they still show terrible events happening right before your eyes and its pretty intense stuff. One scene in particular reminded oh too well of 9/11 in fact.

As the movie goes on, I became increasingly more excited to find out how this story would eventually play out, then, the movie almost does a complete 180. I won't spoil it for you but its a pretty big twist, and in all honesty its not the twist you're hoping for, at least it wasn't the one I was looking for. Even though I am a big sci-fi buff, I sort of questioned the direction the movie goes. I understand the meaning and all that, it just wasn't what I was expecting at all or what I was looking for.

I should also point out that the child actors in the film, are terrible. Like, I know most child actors aren't good ever, but usually they have smaller roles and don't bring down the movie with their awful performances. However, the son in this movie has a really big part, and by the end you're rolling your eyes at the unconvincing performance he gives. Also, I'm a big Rose Bryne fan, I loved her in Troy, 28 Weeks Later, the TV show Damages, and especially in Sunshine. She is basically one of my favorite actresses. With that being said, I felt her performance in this was sub par. She was good up until she went into panic mode, and then she just sort of turned into an annoying b*tch.

So all in all, Knowing is good and enjoyable. However, I left the theater feeling a little unsatisfied. Whether I'd recommend this movie to you or not really all depends on you. I saw the movie with two others, and we all enjoyed it, but all of us felt about the same regarding the ending. If you like the premise and idea of the movie, or you're just a Nic Cage fan in general, I say see it. If not, save your money for something else.

My Rating: 2 1/2 Stars

I can see down your shirt!

One thing you'll learn (or haved learned) about college is you have a lot of free time; which, can be spent doing a number of things. Now as fun as getting piss drunk can be, I reserve the weekend for doing that, leaving me five days in which only 3 hours are spent in school. So, I like to play a lot of video games during the week. After finishing Dead Space and not wanting to beat Fallout 3 just yet, I decided I needed to search out a new game to go through. I brought up the suggestion of Assassin's Creed to my suitemates and I received the following responses:

"That game is f*cking awesome."

"Dude, thats the best game I've ever played on the 360."

"That sh!t is dope."

Guess I missed something. All I've heard is Assassin's Creed is fun, but too short and repetitive. So far, none of that is true. After getting it used for 17 bucks, I've found the game not fun, but really fun, not short (if you reach every high point and save every person), and too be honest, not that repetitive. I mean yeah, you are doing the same thing 9 times, but repetitive is only bad if doing the same thing over and over again is boring, and I can think of a number of other "repetitive" things that don't get boring (having sex, watching your favorite youtube videos, posting on Gamespot message boards). So basically what I'm saying is that Assassin's Creed has been real pleasant surprise. I expected a good game, but I've been enjoying it much more than I thought I would. And the whole, "memory used to go back in time thing", thats pretty cool.

There's something behind me, isn't there?

I have to give EA credit, they finally made a REALLY good game. They must of hired some devs who thought to themselves, "You know, I'd like to actually make a really good game instead of the mediocre crap that this company is known for." Whatever their reason, they nailed it straight on the head with Dead Space. What an amazing gaming experience, from the opening sequence (which to me, is one of the most beautiful and haunting scenes in video game history) to the climactic finale Dead Space delivers one of the most rewarding gaming experiences of 2008.

Resident Evil and Silent Hill had their time, it's Dead Space's time to shine.

I choose....

If you're a Cavs fan, you've got to be dreading the summer of 2010.  What a summer that will be though, there will be trips to the beach, the 2010 World Cup, oh and yes, Lebron James will be a free agent.  By the way things are looking in the league right now, you'd think King James was a free agent after this season.  Teams have been clearing cap space in hopes to cash in on the best player in the NBA, the most promienent being the Nets and Knicks.  Jay-Z (who owns the Nets) said recently he really wants James in New Jersey (or Brooklyn, where the Nets will be in 2010), and the Knicks have said recently its Lebron or bust for them. 

Obviously only one team will be able to get Lebron, and its just as likely that he could stay in Cleavland, but teams like the Nets and Knicks shouldn't feel bad if they don't land the big star.  Other notable stars that could be filing for free agency in two years include Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Tyson Chandler, Manu Ginobli, Richard Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Michael Redd.  Now obviously some of these players have no intention of leaving their respected teams (Pierce and Ming come to mind for me), many of these players look like fair game.  Its going to be one hell of a summer no doubt, and it could ultimately make or break many teams looking to land the biggest stars in the NBA.  So if one of these players listed above belongs to your beloved team, you better hope their treating that player well.

EDIT:  While you're here, check out these latest 2 dunks by King James that show why this guy is wanted so bad.  Honestly, there probably isn't another guy playing right now that can do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk7QqnLpcEA

For the past week and a half I've been unable to make any forum or blog posts due to an error when I submit my post, so if it appears that I was disappearing again you now know why.  But good news, I've figured out how to fix the glitch so now I can post away once again.  Look for new blogs soon.

Someone didn't pay attention in Geography

For all of you who didn't vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin, your reason may have some merit.  Republican aides that worked for John McCain are speaking out against Sarah Palin detailing some pretty shocking information.  According to these sources, Palin became more and more irriated throughout the election and near the end had an emotional breakdown.  She was also very rude and mean to her aides, causing some to come to the verge of tears.  The worst part though is the report that she thought Africa was a country, not a continent (she appartently figured the country of South Africa was a region of Africa).

Although I still stand by my support for John McCain, this news troubles me.  Picking Governor Palin as his running mate was a controversal one from the start, and now I see why so many conservates were concerned with the choice.  I for one supported the pick at first, but as the election progressed my support for Palin declined.

The main question here is, how many votes did Palin lose for McCain?  If I had to guess, quite a few.  This makes me wonder, did Palin think Zimbabwe was a state?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZHTJsR4Bc

Adrian Peterson was great this week, Jake Delhomme...not so much.

Gonna start this weekly segment, yes the Monday Night game has played out yet but I want to write a blog so this week's segment will be on Monday instead of Tuesday like it will normally be.

Winners...

Julius Peppers.

Last season Peppers was a complete non-factor, his heart didn't seem in it and he looked far from the Pro-Bowl defensive end we were so used to seeing. This year, the guy is back in full form and he proved it yesterday. Yes it was against the Raiders but Peppers posted 3 sacks (which is more than he had all last season), 2 forced fumbles, and had constant pressure on the quarterback. With this being a contract year for the former Tar Heel, expect a big pay day for Peppers.

The Indianapolis Colts.

People were ready to write these guys off a couple weeks ago after their loss to the Titans but since then they have bounced back, winning 2 in a row and beating the Steelers on the road. Although they aren't the dominant Colts were used to seeing, a wild-card berth is looking better and better for them each week.

Adrian Peterson.

Peterson torched the Packers for 192 yards rushing and a TD. Not only that, but the Vikings won putting them in a tie for first place in the NFC North. After a 0-2 start, this team is back in it and Peterson is carrying them on his back.

Losers...

Jake Delhomme.

Yes, the Panthers won but Jake Delhomme was 7-22 with 72 yards passing, 1 TD, 4 INTs, and a QB rating of 12.3 (an all time low). The guy has made a great recovery from Tommy John surgery but this performance was probably one of the worst Panthers fans have seen since David Carr was sporting the white gloves. Seeing Jake play as bad as he did yesterday reminded me of why I wanted this guy's head on a spike two years ago. The Panthers can survive bad performances like this when they play teams like the Raiders, but they don't have a chance if he lays an egg against the Bucs or Giants.

The Buffalo Bills.

Remember when this team was 5-1 and were the favorite to win the division? After losing to the Patriots yesterday they've lost 3 straight to division opponents. Its obviously not too late to salvage the season, but other AFC teams like the Colts and Jets right there in the mix, the Bills need to get things straight if they want to have any chance of making the playoffs.

Ben Roethlisberger.

Jake Delhomme may have had the worst performance of the week, but Big Ben was right behind him. Roethlisberger had 0 TDs and 3 INTs yesterday and just played poorly throughout. If the guy was hurt, the Steelers shouldn't have played him, Leftwitch came in last week and played well so why not give him the start again and if he sucked it up, put in Ben. Obviously Roethlisberger is a better QB than Leftwitch but did he give the Steelers the best chance to win yesterday? That I'm not so sure about.

Here comes that change he was talking about.

I'm going to try and be as non biased as I can here. First off, let me say my support was with John McCain. I researched both canidates and came to the conclusion that McCain was the better choice. If you have a problem with that, I couldn't care less.

Now however, the votes are in. Barack Obama will be our next president. Not only that, but the Senate's power has shifted to the Democrats. So now, after eight years of complaining, the Democrats finally get their chance to back up their bark. They now hold the majority, let's see what they can do. More importantly, let's see what Barack Obama can do. His promise is "change" but will he be able to keep that promise? Our country is $700 trillion dollars in debt, and we are still at war. Much of Obama's success as president will ride on how he deals with those situations.

Right now there's a lot of tension in the air, Obama supporters are going rejoicing while McCain supporters are severely pissed (trust me, I'm witnessing it as I type this). My message to all of you is vent tonight and tomorrow, then make up. What's important now is that everyone eventually supports Obama, because hoping he will fail just so you can say, "I told you so" is just plain wrong. If he fails, our country suffers, its that simple. So please Mr. President, don't screw it up.

Enjoying the sunset Mr. Fenix?

The other day I was in my suitemate's dorm room watching some show that I can't remember the name of. Anyways, the commercials came on and the three of us in the room were using the break in the show to do other things until a commercial for Gears of War 2 came on. The three of us stopped what we were doing and watched the 30 second commercial which is known as "The Last Day". Although I don't have a lot of interest in the game, I found myself sucked into the commercial, as were my suitemates who are far from being videogame fanatics. That commercial alone sparked some interest in the game for me, and has caused me to find the full version on youtube and also find out the name of the song used in the commercial (which I find sounds very good).

Gears 2 isn't the only game come up with some great commercials. Fable 2's use of the boy sitting at the table and changing into different types of heroes ranging from an old wizard with a long white beard to a flaming monster with horns was described by a frien of mine as being, "bada**." Dead Space's use of a haunting version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" sent chills down my spine (well maybe not, but you get what I'm trying to say). Probably my favorite though is Sony's commercial for Resistance 2. The 60 second TV spot shows different people proclaiming the coming of the alien race and the end of the world while showing clips of the game in-between.

For us gamers that know our stuff, these commercials serve only as hype inducers since we already know what the game is all about. However, for those who are un-aware of these games, these commercials alone can grab people's attention. I guarantee you there was someone who saw the commercial for Gears 2 and went, "Holy crap, Gears of War 2 is coming out!?!?! I'm so getting that!" Obviously that reaction was probably from a 12 year old or someone with the vocabulary of a 12 year old but again, you should get what I'm trying to say. My point is that these commercials are accurately describing the games while being very well done at the same time. Being a future marketing major, I take my hat off to Microsoft and Sony's marketing teams, their doing their part to get these games advertised.

Here are the commercials I was referring to:

Gears of War 2 - "The Last Day"

Fable 2

Dead Space

Resistance 2 - "Rise, Stand, Resist"

I feel your pain Daunte.

Three years ago, Daunte Culpepper was considered one of the best quarterbacks in pro football. Then his knee was tore apart by the Carolina Panthers. Since then, he's been cut by the Vikings, and released by the Dolphins and Raiders after 1 season. Then, this past off-season, no team would sign him so Culpepper decided to retire. That retirement didn't last long.

The Detriot Lions have signed Culpepper to a 2 year deal, finally giving the former pro-bowler a home to play football in. This couldn't have come any sooner. I don't know if teams were still uncertain about the knee but honestly, even with the knee injury this guy is still better than half the quarterbacks in the NFL. I mean, he did throw for 39 touchdowns in 2004 (I know, he was my fantasy football quarterback). I'm just surprised that teams in dire need of a quarterback before the season began wern't that interested in Culpepper. Honestly, the Chiefs, 49ers, and Lions should all be ashamed for not going after this guy earlier. I would mention the Vikings, but bringing back Culpepper isn't really an option after the way things ended there.

Obviously Culpepper does not make the Lions that much better, but he's definitely better than what they have right now. I wish him the best though, but if he's due for a breakout game lets make sure its after the Panthers play the Lions in two weeks.

I'll leave you with this video though, because if you haven't seen Captain Compete save USC Football, you need to.

This man will run you over.

Well we're pretty much at the halfway point of the NFL season and what a crazy season it has been. Honestly, with all thats happened its almost impossible to call who's going to the Super Bowl. Here's some things that have stuck out to me.

- The Titans are the best team in football, without their franchise quarterback. Somehow, Kerry Collins (who looks hung over almost all the time) has lead this team to a 7-0 record. Well, maybe the defense has done most of the work, still, give credit to Collins for being able to manage this offense. Also, is it time to start suggesting that LenDale White might be a better running back than Reggie Bush? Yes, Bush has the flash, but White has been getting it done (10 TDs so far). Bush may get all the publicity, but White has quietly ran for more yards than Bush including a 1,100 yards rushing last season.

- The NFC East is the best conference in football. Every team has a winning record and even though Dallas is a mess right now, they're still 5-3 and coming off a big win against the Bucs.

- The Chargers and Vikings are all overrated. Remember those who said the Superbowl matchup would be Chargers vs Vikings? Yeah, seemed like good pics at the time. Seriously though, both these teams have losing records and are definitely underachieving. The Chargers have a bit of an excuse because of injuries but the Vikings don't. The Vikings are basically this year's version of the 07 Panthers, plenty of talent but no QB. Sorry Gus Ferrotte but you aren't the answer, you're just way better than Travaris Jackson.

- Even with Brett Farve, the Jets still aren't a playoff team. Yes they're 4-3 and are still very much in the playoff hunt, but the Patriots refuse to go away even without Tom Brady and the Dolphins have found a way to win. Thats not good news for the Jets.

- Matt Ryan is the rookie of the year. Seriously, without him the Falcons are terrible. Of course Michael Turner is helping too. Still, Ryan is playing very well and has helped Roddy White have a breakout year.

Thats about it, I managed to go through that how blog without even mentioning my Panthers (who are 6-2 and in 1st place in the South). Feel free to criticize me.

Also, a Happy Halloween to you all, whatever you're doing tonight, make sure you don't go out looking like this guy.

"We must never acquiesce!"

What has it been, 2-2 1/2 months since I last blogged? Oh how time passes. College just takes up your time, among other things. In my triumphant return to blogging, I will be changing the ****of my blog. Before I was pretty much blogging about my life and I've realized that writing about your life isn't really blogging, its like keeping a journal that anyone can read. Its great to know there are a few people out there that were so interested in my life (although its a little creepy at the same time, no offense) but I'm done blogging my life. Its time I switched to more interesting topics. My blogs from now on will take a different approach, they'll basically focus on gaming, the movie industry, and sports. Think of it as an unofficial blog to The Triple A Union since thats pretty much what we talk about over there. I'm going to think of some weekly occuring blogs that you can come to expect but I'm going to take things slow at first just so I can get back into the swing of things. With that being said, I won't throw my life completely out of my blog, anytime something important happens in my life, such as marriage, imprisonment, or death, I'll be sure to let you know.

Why am I doing this? Simply put, I enjoy writing. Also, considering I am not currently writing my masterpiece novel, I need something to fufill my writing needs besides essays in English ****(which I have been rocking by the way). My hope is that you will read my blog because writing a blog that no one reads is kind of pointless (and sad).

So this is the first blog of many, be sure to check back every couple days or check my sig as I'll have a link to my latest blog there.

Oh, and while your here, check out my presidential pick's speech. Its very convincing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM6z8oljZEk

Heres how this list works. First of all, these are my top ten FAVORITE, not my top ten best films of all time. Of course since they're my favorite I'd consider them ten of the greatest movies ever made. Anyways, movies 6-10 are ranked while the remaining 5 are sort of just all on the same place because in my opinion, each of those movies is #1 in its own way. But here is the list, with a picture and a small description as to why it made my list.

#10. Superbad

To put a comedy on my top ten list is somewhat of a stretch but the reason Superbad makes this list is because simply after seeing it probably 5-8 times (can't remember exactly), it's still just as funny as it was the first time. Plus, I don't think you can find a better movie that accurately depicts a typical high school senior's life.

#9. Children of Men

After trying to see this movie for months I finally managed to rent it and upon watching it became engulfed by its chilling story, amazing cinenmatography, and haunting soundtrack. Say what you want about its ending, but you can't deny great filmmaking.

#8. Lord of War

You could almost consider Lord of War a documentry. Based on actual events rather than an actual story, Lord of War opened my eyes to the world of international gun dealing. Nicolas Cage does an excellent job and by the end I was looking up where I could get my own gun of Rambo.

#7. Sunshine

This could be the best movie to receive the least amount of publicity. The only reason I had even heard of this movie was through a banner ad I saw on imdb.com. When I finally saw it, I was blown away. Yes, scientifically there are errors but please people, enjoy the movie for what it is. Although the plot is about trying to re-ignite the sun, it's really more of a backdrop. What its more about is how the crew has to deal with the impossible odds against them and how they keep their sanity. So combine that with superb acting from every cast member as well as stunning special effects and you'll get why I have this at #7.

#6. Collateral

Talk about a taxi drivers worst nightmare. With a compelling story that has a few twists thrown in, great acting from both Jaime Fox and Tom Cruise, plus great cinematography and probably my favorite movie scene ever (the coyote crossing the street scene), that pretty much sums up why this is at #6. When it comes down to it, this is a ****c story of good vs evil and its done extremely well.

The Top 5: (in no order)

The Dark Knight

Has there ever been a movie that had so much hype and actually lived up to it all? The Dark Knight comes extremely close. If you've read my review for this movie you already know how much I love it. Put down Ledger for Best Supporting Actor Oscar and put this one down for Best Picture.

V For Vendetta

There is something about this movie that just makes me want to put on a Guy Fawkes mask and go start a revolution. Hugo Weaving aka Mr. Smith does an amazing job as V but Natalie Portman stole the show with her performance. By the end of this movie I was in a sense of shock and awe. In my opinion, the best film done by the Wachowski Brothers (and I loved The Matrix).

Gattaca

Chances are your high school biology teacher put this movie on for your ****on some Friday right before a holiday break. Of course after watching it you were probably thinking, "Why have I never seen this?" Well at least I did. Gattaca gets on my top 5 because quite simply it is the most inspiring movie I have ever seen. Honestly, forget all those sports movies that try to be inspiring, this blows them all out of the water. The movie also has my favorite soundtrack of all time which is just as equally inspiring. To sum this movie up in one sentence I give you the tagline: "There is no gene for the human spirit."

Fight Club

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is...well...you know what I'm talking about. To this day Fight Club has the biggest twist in movie history. I'm so glad I didn't pick up on it before the truth came out. I'd say the book is better (but thats the case with any movie adaptation of a book) but this movie is still damn good.

Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)

Why do I put the Director's Cut? Because although the theaterical version of KoH is very good, it would barely scratch the top 10 if at all. The DC is what Ridley Scott had envisioned for this film, before Fox went and cut out a lot of really important elements and turned it into an action movie. To this day its the only film I like Orlando Bloom in and to this day is my favorite historical epic. If you haven't seen the DC, go see it; now.

First off, great news. My roommate got to move into the same room with me so basically in the end we both got a room upgrade.

Anyways, more great news. I am now a student of UNCW. I got to move in a day early on Friday because of my position with the basketball but the catch with that was I had to get up at 6:30am to help other freshmen move in from 8am-1pm. God was that tiring. I was with about 7 of the basketball players and one assistant coach and once all of us snuck away and watched some of the US vs Spain basketball game. Then later we had a water fight with the volleyball team (who I believe all think I'm actually on the basketball team) and after one of the basketball players (a crazy black dude) got mad because they threw water on him he filled up a pan with really hot water and threw it over them. I also found out from one of the other managers (who I met by total accident at lunch today) that we get paid $200 a month to be a manager and $500 a month if you are a senior I believe. I honestly had no idea about this so with this news it basically means I don't have to get a job.

I'm on the first floor of my dorm and I've met some of my hall mates who all seem pretty cool. Our RA (Resident Assistant) is a total a$$hole though. My roommate and I have come up with the name, "Captain Douchef@g for him and we plan on spreading that around as well as pulling some pranks on him that will not get us suspended because that would suck BIG TIME.

I had orientation today (missed all the June orientation dates) and although it was extremely boring I met a few cool people. We ended up making fun of the boring speakers that would talk to us about stuff we already knew and one of the people I met dubbed the nickname "Stretch" upon me because she said I am tall (which is ironic because I can't touch my toes).

Overall its been a good experience in the 3 days I've been here. Obviously things will change a bit when classes start wedensday. My good friend is moving in tomorrow with the rest of upper classmen so it'll be cool to see him.

I'll keep you updated and post a V-blog of my room once we get the LCD TV in the room.

So yesterday I got a call from my friend and future roommate who tells me that he was contacted by someone claiming to be his roommate. Obviously this doesn't make sense because he is supposed to be rooming with me but after checking his housing situation online it says that he is indeed rooming with this person. So at this point I'm thinking what the hell is going on? I go online to see my housing situation and it lists 18 different roommates. Now I'm really confused. I call up UNCW's housing desk and after a few minutes they discover that I was transferred by the Head of Basketball Operations to another dorm. Then it hits me. Way back in April the head coach of the basketball team asked if I would like to room with the team since I was going to be manager and I said I would because at the time I had no plans for housing. Not long after that my friend got into UNCW and asked if I would like to room with him and I said yes but that there was a possibility I would be transferred and he said that was fine. The issue here is that I expected to here whether or not I would dorm with the team at least a month ago and when I received my official housing situation I assumed I was rooming with my friend, not the team. Now, 4 days before I'm supposed to move in I find out I've been transferred.

There is good news to this however. The dorm I was switched to is a better dorm, plus I will have my own room instead of sharing a room and I will only have to share a bathroom with 3 other people instead of an entire hall. The bad news obviously is that I'm not rooming with my friend. I talked to him about it though and we agreed that I would go ahead with this new situation and if his new roommate turned out to be a total sketch-ball I would see if I could switch rooms with his new roommate so I could get back to rooming with my friend.

But yeah, now I gotta buy a TV because originally my friend was going to take care of that but my parents said they'd take care of a TV (thats a win).

In other news I bought The Orange Box recently for $30 and I am in love with it. I had borrowed it earlier from a friend and had gotten through some of Half Life 2 and most of Portal but now I have gotten much farther through HL2 and have beaten in Portal (the cake is a lie!) Team Fortress 2 is also a lot of fun, I just wish more people played it. Duke, I know you'll be reading this so here me out, we need to have a TF 2 game night, the game is loads of fun.

Thats it, I'll let you know how move in goes once I get settled down and get through orientation.

Those with a lot of time on their hands can do a number of things; some more constructive than others. I created a community. It was two years ago today that I sat at my computer thinking over what kind of union I could create on Gamespot. A number of ideas came into my head, none of which seemed to really stick with me. Then my friend who was busy watching TV said, "Remember that website you made a couple years ago?" The lightbulb clicked on. I turned to my computer screen and pulled up the page where I was to create my union, and in the box labeled, "Union Name" I wrote, "The Triple A".

I'm sure the main question many of you have is what The Triple A stands for. It simply means, The Association of Associating Associates. You can thank my 15 year old self for that one. Of course, instead of calling it that we shortened it down and are now commonly mistaken for an auto insurance company. If you have read the history of the union (you can find that in the directory) you'd know that The Triple A was originally a website. For 2 years a friend and myself ran that website, putting in hours of hard work and learning how to do html coding and in those two years we managed to get 42 members to join our forum. Not that we had much to offer anyways. Aside from about 20 something reviews, a few fan made halo videos, and a forum, we had well, nothing. Still, to this day I take great pride in that website, and there were moments where it really shined. We had a tiny community that consisted of other small websites like ours that were in the same place we were and for a time we supported each other until one by one, each of us realized our websites would never be the websites we wanted them to be. Below is the homepage for that website.

Flash forward to August 12th, 2006. When I created the union my expectations were low and rightly so considering how "popular" the website had gotten. It didn't take long to realize however, that this union could become special. I began inviting everyone I could by going into threads, copying gamespot usernames and pasting them into the invite box. I got 100 members after maybe a month, and by this time my expectations had been passed. Then WaylanderFW joined the union. He, like all the other members had been randomly recruited. He however, had one thing that disgtinguished him from the others, his ability with graphic design. They say that a big part of selling something is the way you present it. Waylander made us look better than Gamespot. The union was now rapidly growing and there was now a group of people posting on a daily basis. My community was now in place. Mccavour, haloman, Waylander, duke, badaboom, Sir_Sleepalot, pyroguy (my friend who helped run the website), magicman (my friend watching TV at my house 2 years ago), Kuzih (our only active female poster), DeadManSaloon and Strag3n. This is the original crew and without them we wouldn't be here. All of them get a lot of props.

Since then we have had our share of ups and downs, some of ups being hitting the one year mark, managing to reach level 4 before Gamespot froze the leveling system, and of course being nominated for Best Gamespot Union and finishing a respectable 3rd. Some of those lows would be not getting any union updates after being promised them, getting one of our members extremely angry because of a racist video that was posted, and of course the 4 month period I call "The Depression" in which I totally neglected it until it was on the verge of dying. You could actually say the union died, however with its death came its rebirth. After realizing that I could no longer run the union a savior came along and after a 2 week stand off with "The Greatest Union Leader Evah!" or "GULE" as I refer to him (no offense btw), dukebd699 was named the new leader of the union. Duke did not just save the union however, he made it better. I can honestly say that the union is better than I ever made it and although the people are mainly new, the "community" is still intact.

I don't know what the future holds for this union or if we'll even be here one year from now but I can say without a doubt that right now this union stands among the top unions on Gamespot and I'm not just saying that because I created it. This union is good people, it's active and has a great community. Lets make a toast to 2 years of well...everything, and to that one year from now, we'll all be able to toast to 3 years.

So I randomly had the impulse to do another video blog from my hotel room in Charlotte, NC. So here it is. I talk mainly about the Panthers and other random stuff. Enjoy it, I hope.

In my last blog I told you that a dream of mine is to become a successful writer. Although I have never completed a story, I have written a few pieces for school and this is one of them. At the end of the year our school newspaper The Mycenean prints a senior edition of the paper that is strictly just for seniors. One of the features of this paper is a senior reflection section where students that have been nominated by their English teacher can write a piece for the paper that reflects on a certain part of their high school career that made an impact on them. I was very fortunate to be nominated by my teacher and I took the opportunity. There were about 10 reflections in the paper and while all the others took a very serious approach, I went with a piece that was supposed to be funny and sarcastic but that ended with a serious message. I was pretty nervous about how people would react to it but I got unnamious positive reviews for my friends, classmates, and from my dad's co-workers who he decided to send it out to. Overall I'm pretty proud of it. So below is the reflection, one thing I must point out is that my dream of becoming a spanish intrepter for the United Nations was completely sarcastic, I didn't have to tell my friends that because they know me well enough but I thought I'd mention it in case you didn't realize I was kidding. Also, I'm pretty sure the title means, "I don't understand anything!" but I can't be sure. Anyways, enjoy.

No Entiendo Nada!

One of the requirements of high school is taking at least two years of a foreign language. Many decide to just take the required two years however; I had bigger goals in mind. I wanted to pursue foreign language to its highest peak to maybe even one day becoming an interpreter for the United Nations, a position held only by the very best. This may come as a shock to many of you, but those who know me will realize the true nature of this dream of mine.

When it was time to chase this dream, I decided to take Spanish because French didn't sound so appealing and Latin hasn't been spoken in at least 2,000 years. Sophomore year I took Spanish 1 and after finishing with a solid B, I was convinced that I was the next prodigy in the field of foreign language; so much so, that I changed my schedule so I could take Spanish 2 the next semester. I walked into my Spanish 2 class excited to further enhance my knowledge of Spanish. As the teacher began to speak in Spanish I intently listened to what she had to say.

"Hola clase. Yo es excitado…untranslatable…something about Christmas…something about having fun…untranslatable". I sat there dumbstruck trying to figure out what came after "excited" as the rest of the ****was getting out a piece of paper and writing a paragraph of who knows what.

Three test grades later of 60, 65, and a 70 with the words, "Much improved" written on the third test, as well as zero help from my father who said the Spanish term for glass was, "El Glasso," I realized that becoming a Spanish interpreter was out of the question and it was now a struggle for survival. Instead of succumbing to what looked like an obvious fate of failure, I buckled down and managed a C in the **** Obviously my long term ambitions had been crushed, but I had persevered through the insurmountable odds of my limited ability to comprehend another language and survived the **** It's important that we overcome such challenges or we will never get anywhere in life which is why today I have no regrets other than deciding to learn Spanish in the first place. So although I can still walk down the Spanish hallway, I still get chills whenever I hear the phrase, "Hola clase!"

Hope you liked it, and feel free to express any comments or critiscism you may have about it.