Xbox One Reaches 2 Million Sales

In a race of innovation, Microsoft considered adding a scent factor to its console. The design was supposed to add delicious scents to your home. Now, in the race of sales between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 continues, Microsoft announced that they have sold more than 2 million consoles this week. The console is almost on par with PlayStation 4, which has sold 2.1 million consoles since its release. The numbers are record setting for Microsoft’s console.

The first day of sales, Xbox One sold 1 million consoles. Not impressed? Let me put that into perspective for you, the PlayStation 2 only sold 500,000 consoles on day one release, the Wii sold 600,000 consoles at launch and Xbox 360 sold only 300,000 consoles within the first month!

On November 22, 2005, Microsoft released the Xbox 360. It was reported that production for the console only began 69 days before launch. Microsoft was not able to produce a sufficient amount of consoles in time, which led to shortages.

Microsoft has seemed to learn from its mistakes by producing more consoles for launch, although there still seems to be shortage of the console. 

Grammy Nominations

        The nominations for the 56^th Grammy Awards were released last week. I must say the competition is stiff this year with each category featuring favorites of the masses. Rapper Jay-Z lead all nominations with nine including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell Williams all had seven nominations. 

 

Courtesy of Pitchfork.com 

         Personally, I’m curious to see how many awards Kendrick Lamar will win. To me, no other rapper has had a bigger year than Kendrick. I exclude Macklemore from that because his success for an independent artist is amazing and beyond words. I would exclude Jay-Z as well because he is definitely one of the top 10 rappers of the last decade (or even top 10 rappers ever). Lamar is nominated for Album of the Year (good kid, m.A.A.d. city), Best New Artist, Best R&B Performance (“How Many Drinks?” – Miguel featuring Kendrick Lamar), Best Rap Performance (“Swimming Pools (Drank)”), Best Rap Song (“Problems” – A$AP Rocky featuring Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar), Best Rap/Sung Performance (“Now Or Never” featuring Mary J. Blige), and Best Rap Album (good kid, m.A.A.d. city). My prediction would be that Lamar wins at two to four of his categories. If he doesn’t get Album of the Year, I will be shocked if he doesn’t get Best Rap Album.

         In a previous article I wrote, I talked about how 2013 was the year for artists making a comeback. The top names nominated this year would be Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z. Timberlake returned from a music hiatus and released a two-part masterpiece with The 20/20 Experience. Timberlake was nominated for Best Solo Performance (“Mirrors”), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Suit & Tie” with Jay-Z), Best Pop Vocal Album (The 20/20 Experience: The Complete Edition) and a few others. Jay-Z dominated the nominations with nine including Best Rap Song (“Holy Grail” featuring Justin Timberlake), Best Rap Album (Magna Carta…Holy Grail), and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (“Holy Grail” featuring Justin Timberlake & “Part II (On The Run)” featuring Beyonce). 

 

Courtesy of Los Angeles Times 

         Singer/Producer Pharrell Williams had an incredible 2013 and the seven Grammy nominations he received proves that. Williams received two nominations within the same category for Record of the Year (Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”). Williams competition in that category include Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive”, Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” and Lorde’s chart-topping song “Royals.” 

 

Courtesy of Billboard 

        Kanye West, who I wrote about in most recent article, received two Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album (Yeezus) and Best Rap Song (“New Slaves”). This does not come as a surprise to me because Yeezus was way different from his previous albums, but West has some strong competition in Best Rap Album category including Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, Jay-Z’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail and Drake’s Nothing Was the Same. 

Twitter: @OddKingz 

Outbreak week 3- Trystan

Trystan Hurst

Outbreak- Week 4

         The stench of dead flesh fills my nose as I enter the cabin. The smell glues my feet to the floor, and I freeze not even breathing. The roamer stands in the middle of the living room slowly walking and looking for his next meal. I contemplate what to do in my head, whether or not to turn and run or tackle him. Before I come to my decision, I realize I’m on the ground with this thing coming for my face. I throw my arms up over my face and punch him in the nose and struggling to throw it off of me. I didn’t have much of a chance to assess this roamer, which looks to have been a grown man. As I struggle against his surprising strength I wonder who he was. I’ve encountered roamers in packs but never really taken into account that these were once humans. Now that I’m face-to-face with one and he wants to devour my flesh I try to imagine what he was like.

         Before I can imagine who he was, his crushing weight is lifted off of me. I blink rapidly at Bri who has returned the favor of saving a life. After living in this cabin for almost a month, this is the first time we have both encountered roamers alone. We have killed several while we have been here, but they have never been very close to the cabin, let alone in it. Most of the roamers stay around the lake in search of anything living, mostly bears and wildlife which is good for us. I pull myself off the floor to help Bri who seems to have taken my spot glued to the floor. She stands right in front of the roamer who just tried to eat my face wide-eyed and shocked it seems. In the few seconds she has to stare incredulously at this creature we have seen several of, I grab the sword from her hand and launch at the roamer. I want to kill it before it can kill either of us and I aim for its head but before I make it to him, Bri has tackled and pinned me to the floor.

         “Do you want to kill us both?!?” I shout in her face but it doesn’t faze her. She is still staring at the roamer as if seeing one for the first time, and to my surprise he isn’t trying to attack us. He is standing about 6 feet away, and then I realize he is not a roamer. He is not dead. I shove Bri off me and she looks at me as though she forgot she had just tackled me when I was trying to save us both. “He’s alive.” I whisper. She throws a finger up to her mouth, hushing me. She studies the man a few moments longer and cocks her head and turns to me. “That’s my uncle.”  She says as tears begin to trickle down her cheeks.  

Top 3 Movies for Christmas

• ·      How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – This Dr. Seuss tale features actor Jim Carrey as the Grinch who is on a mission to destroy the Christmas cheer in Whoville. Everyone knows of the Grinch. The ugly, green creature that hates Christmas. The Grinch lives in the mountains overlooking Whoville until Cindy Lou Who decides he should be apart of the Christmas cheer, which shocks and startles the town. Once the Grinch joins the Christmas cheer, his torture as a child reoccurs which sets him on his journey on Christmas Eve to steal all of the Who’s Christmas presents.
• ·      A Christmas Story (1883)- Most have seen this infamous Christmas movie that tells the tale of young Ralphie who dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun. The BB gun is all he requests for Christmas to which everyone tells him he will shoot his eye out. On Christmas day, after the family opens presents Ralphie discovers he does not get what he asked for. Then his father pulls out a present no one had seen, which to Ralphie and the family’s surprise is his BB gun. He immediately runs outside to test it out and prove everyone’s fear true.
• ·      Home Alone (1990)- The large Mcallister family is preparing for a Christmas vacation when the youngest of the bunch gets left behind. Young Kevin discovers what it is like to be home alone in his three story house. He spends this freedom jumping on beds and of course loading up on junk food until two burglars attempt to rob his house on Christmas Eve. Kevin develops a series of traps to protect his house from these burglars. A fun film for the family to enjoy and laugh during the Christmas season.                                                                                           @itsnottrystan

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Last Minute Gift Ideas

1.     Gift Cards- Gift cards are a great last minute gift because you can run into most stores (like Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Food City) for almost any kind of gift card including: restaurants, fast- food, shops, iTunes, movies, and many more.  These are, also, great for people that are not very good at picking presents because you can get them a gift card and they can get what they want. Personally I like gift cards because, for example, if someone got you clothes but they were to small/ big, you would have to stand in those long return lines after the holidays, when you could just get them a gift card and they could find there size easier. 

2.     For Girls- When I think of last minute gifts for girls, I always think of: Bath and Body Works, warm accessories (scarves, mittens, socks), and taking them for a manicure/pedicure.  These are very generic gifts that almost all girls will love and appreciate. A way to combine some of these would be to wrap up lotion and a manicure/pedicure gift card with a pair of warm socks, colorful mittens, or a stylish scarf.

3.     For Guys- Guys are more difficult to decide for, at least for me. I would say go to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shop, or Gander Mountain to see if there is anything there that they have talked about or something that is interesting to them. You could also take them skiing/snowboarding; it would be fun and entertaining to watch.  Another gift idea would be a video game. There are so many different kinds of video games that almost every guy is interested in one. (Just make sure they have the gaming system that matches the one on the game)

4.     Food- Food is always a great option, but you have to know if the person getting the gift is allergic to any foods.  My family always makes food platters for our neighbors.  There are so many different varieties of foods you could do breakfast, fruit, dessert, peppermint, green and red, mud buddies, party mix, and so many more platters.  I feel like you can not really go wrong with food.

 ~Alex Warner~

(shmalex_warner)

Ask Allie

Dear Allie,

            I have found myself unusually stressed lately, what can a poor boy do?

                                    ~overworked and under paid

Dear Overworked and under paid,

            Something I find to help me relieve stress is running! It gives me time alone to think. I understand if you’re not the running type, any type of physical activity would a good way to channel your stress. During the day if you find yourself stressed you could take a couple minutes and just take deep breaths and think of a happy place. Remember that it will get better soon.

                                                Good Luck,

                                                            Allie

Dear Allie,

             We only have like 2 weeks left in this semester and I have a 12%, what should I do.

                                    ~probs gonna fail

Dear Probs Gonna Fail,

            First of all, you should have never let your grade get that low. It’s not that hard to make a decent grade all you have to do is try and turn the work in and the teacher will give you a grade. To have a 12 is ridiculous, but what I would do is talk to your teacher and see if he/ she will give some worksheets or a paper to write or something that will help your grade.

                                    Good Luck,

                                                Allie

Dear Allie,

 I’m always in a bad mood and I take it out on others,  and its starting to affect my friendships, what do I do, because I know its my fault.

                        ~mean muggin’ mandy

Dear Mean Muggin’ Mandy,

            You are the one who decides how you act, not others, although they have a part in it. When you start feeling the bad mood coming on think of something that makes you happy, and tell yourself you’re not going to be in a bad mood. When you get up in the morning tell yourself it’s going to be a good day. Make sure you tell your friends when you are in a mood that way they can expect it, and be sure to apologize to them.

                                    Good Luck,

                                                Allie