Psy and MC Hammer Team Up For Gangnam Style

At the 2012 American Music Awards, Korean popstar and burgeoning Internet legend Psy performed his hit “Gangnam Style” with some help from MC Hammer. A mashup of Psy’s smash and Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” ensued…and it was glorious. It was easily the best teamup of 2012 and quite possibly the most amazing pairing since Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman appeared together in the March 2008 issue of W. Continue reading “Psy and MC Hammer Team Up For Gangnam Style”

Vaping Diaries #18: Ahlusion Review

Raina and I checked out three fantastic e-liquids from Ahlusion — Blue Grass Burley, Devil Dog!, and Poppin’ Peach. In addition to offering high-quality juices, Ahlusion does a phenomenal job of packaging its wares. The e-liquids comes in sealed glass bottles that are covered in bubble wrap. The bottles are placed in a box full of foam peanuts. Standard caps are on the bottles by default and separate dripper caps are included. As far as packaging and presentation go, Ahlusion is the best I’ve seen. Now onto the e-liquids!

Blue Grass Burley: While all three are clearly high-quality juices, this was our favorite. Raina loved the rich, complex tobacco flavor. It reminded me of expensive Nat Sherman cigarettes I used to smoke (when I wasn’t poor). More than any other tobacco e-liquid I’ve tried, this tasted like a real cigarette (though possibly too flavorful for fans of cheapie smokes). This is an amazing e-liquid that fans of high-end cigarettes will love.

Devil Dog!: This is a tricky one to review. Like its sister juice above, this is a complex tobacco e-liquid. One of the owners of Ahlusion is a Marine and he made this juice for his fellow heroes. It’s bold and striking — too much so for likes of Raina and me. When I first tried this juice, the flavor knocked me on my ass. It mellowed after a bit, but was still too much for me, though possibly a great choice for fans of unfiltered cigarettes that have switched to vaping. Raina said that this one put hair on her chest, but I didn’t notice any.

Poppin’ Peach: This juice has a wonderful natural peach flavor, as opposed to many competitors that taste more like a Jolly Rancher or a Now and Later. Raina has been snacking on dried peaches lately and the flavor reminded her of those healthy treats. As for me, I’m an absolute sucker for all things peach, so I was super-happy with this juice. This will definitely be included when Raina and I do a peach shoot-out review in the future.

Bonus: Before I get to the steeping notes, here’s a photo of Raina and me (with a McKayla Maroney is not impressed face).

Steeping Notes

Blue Grass Burley
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: October 23, 2012 7:45PM
Recapped: October 26, 2012 12:46AM
Tested: November 13, 2012

Devil Dog
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: October 23, 2012 7:45PM
Recapped: October 26, 2012 12:46AM
Tested: November 13, 2012

Poppin’ Peach
50/50 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: October 23, 2012 7:45PM
Recapped: October 26, 2012 12:46AM
Tested: November 13, 2012

This Week’s Videogame Releases

Any of you buy a Wii U? What games are you picking up for your new console? In addition to Nintendo’s major release, there are several games set to entertain you over Thanksgiving weekend. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a super-fun brawler that brings numerous iconic videogame characters together. Agent 47 makes his return in Hitman: Absolution. Fans of cartoon adventures will want to check out Rise of the Guardians, while those with a predilection for military games will want to check out History Legends of War: Patton. Disney’s Epic Mickey 2 is now available for PlayStation 3 and Wii; the game is even more fun with this Mickey paintbrush or this Oswald clicker. Lastly, Seth MacFarlane fans will want to pick up Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Vaping Diaries #17: Innokin iTaste MVP Review

The iTaste MVP from Innokin is currently one of the hottest products in vaping and it’s easy to see why. It offers great performance and battery life in a sturdy metal body. What’s even more impressive is that the iTaste MVP offers top performance and versatile features for a low price. That said, it’s missing one key feature and has a few quirks. Read on for more details on Innokin’s latest and greatest.

Continue reading “Vaping Diaries #17: Innokin iTaste MVP Review”

Hostess Going Out of Business, Twinkie Shortage Imminent

Hostess, makers of popular but crap baked goods, has filed for bankruptcy and plans to liquidate all of its assets. The company was looking to cut the wages of its bakers and increase the cost of benefits, but could not come to an agreement with its striking workers. Instead, the company has shut down all of its operations and is looking to sell its physical properties, as well as its valuable brands. In addition to the Hostess line of baked goods, the company owns the Wonder Bread, Nature’s Pride, Dolly Madison, Drake’s, Butternut, Home Pride, and Merita brands. Here’s more from Reuters:

Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, has sought a U.S. court’s permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.

The Irving, Texas-based company said the liquidation would mean that most of its 18,500 employees would lose their jobs.

It’s a sad day for thousands of people that will lose their jobs in a rough economy. That’s awful. Let me do a self-centered 180 so I don’t get too bummed out.

Do any of you eat Hostess garbage? Even as a kid, I thought Twinkies were vile. I did like those apple fruit pies and pudding pies though, but they taste way too sweet to me these days. Any of you happen to be fans of Twinkies or Hostess Cupcakes? Are you bummed that the company is going out of business?

Source

Coffee Talk #540: Your Favorite Aspect of Xbox Live

Xbox Live is now ten-years old. Happy birthday Xbox Live! Microsoft’s online gaming service was and is a big deal for console gaming. It truly transformed what console games could be and greatly extended the capabilities of the actual hardware. It drastically improved the online capabilities of consoles. Hell, there’s a whole generation of gamers that…more

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, STILL not being fooled by the NY Knicks’ hot start, butterscotch vs. caramel, or last night’s X-Factor USA results, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Xbox Live is now ten-years old. Happy birthday Xbox Live! Microsoft’s online gaming service was and is a big deal for console gaming. It truly transformed what console games could be and greatly extended the capabilities of the actual hardware. It drastically improved the online capabilities of consoles. Hell, there’s a whole generation of gamers that has no idea that online console gaming used to be a joke compared to online PC gaming. Features like Achievements, GamerScore, in-game chat, apps, and more were done first on Xbox Live. Many maintain that XBLA still does it better than anyone else.

With all those warm and fuzzy feelings about Xbox Live floating around your brain, I’d love to hear what your favorite aspect of the service is. Is it the online play? Is it the social stuff? Is it the fact that Xbox Live has allowed your Xbox 360 to become a Netflix machine? Kindly leave a comment with your favorite Xbox Live features!

Pokemon Pokedex Hits Japanese iTunes App Store

Well look at that — an official Nintendo gaming product on a competing platform. I’ll be damned. That’s right boys and girls, The Pokemon Company has launched Pokedex For iOS. The app is available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users through the Japanese iTunes App Store. While it’s not exactly a game, it’s certainly a gaming product. And a Nintendo gaming product released for a non-Nintendo platform is a pretty huge deal, don’t you agree?

Do you think this is the beginning of Nintendo releasing more products on different platforms? Or do you think it’s a sign that the world is ending?

Will You Play Google Ingress?

Google has launched Ingress, a location-based game that melds aspects of puzzle, strategy, and MMO games. It’s really hard to describe, but hopefully the launch videos below will give you a better idea of what the game has to offer. On paper, it sounds ambitious and intriguing…but many location-based and alternate-reality games sounded ambitious and intriguing, and most of those games weren’t any fun. Before I go on, here’s an excerpt from the game’s description: Continue reading “Will You Play Google Ingress?”