blog dot cameronbanga dot com

(I apologize in advance if you take the time to read this. It is way to early in the morning and the whole thing is prolly a grammatical and coherent mess. Thanks for taking the time though, I hope you find enjoyment or entertainment in it. PS, if you had a top moment of your year with me, feel free to comment this note and let me know. I may have forgotten all about it when it should be on this list.)

As I sit here on my laptop Stalkbooking the night away, I have finally come to the tremendously frightening conclusion that the year 2007 will be gone in a mere 48 hours. And what better time to come up with a top 10 list of my year's events than now? Besides, if I want to get my list out before Bud makes his, I got to get a jump on this shit.

I'm going to try to put the events in order of relative importance, 10 to 1. However, I am sure that half-way through writing this that I will think if a new event and my order will be all screwed up. I am also sure that I will forget some major happenings, so forgive me and just remind me of them if you think I should have added it.

Here is a list of honorable mentions. They will be mentioned by name only and without a summary. If they are confusing because you don't understand the inside joke, I apologize. Make up the story for it in your mind.

* World Series Champion (In the most important World Series)

* Trip to the Wrong Beach

* Sam Haanpaa, 10-12

* Rule Interpretation by Leia.

* Stomping Goodbye, Mike Lucien

* Off Constantly

* He Threw Up, Right There::point::

* Leitz - "It's A SNOW DAY" Everyone else - "STFU dude, it is 7AM"

* Man Voice

* Kissing the Knuckles

* Inspector 34

* DOWN GOES SOTHMAN!!! DOWN GOES SOTHMAN!!!

* You're YouTube? Seriously? You are YouTube?

* It's Heckler!

* Is that a guy or a girl? Is that Tila Tequilla? What are we watching?

* Are you going to tape me drinking hot sauce, or what?

* She fell over, I didn't know what to do! I went in for the kiss and she fell

* She knocked my tooth out. I tried to get it back in, but I couldn't.

* You two both owe me 10 bucks

* Laps of Victory

* "Hey Girl! Nice ___"

10. FC Lank FTW PT DOS

To some people, it is only intramural soccer. To others, it is fucking intramural soccer. After an undefeated season and the championship in my freshman year, anything less in 2007 would be a complete disappointment. After taking the regular season in convincing fashion, the playoffs would prove to be a slightly bigger challenge. The final game against the law school was an instant classic and the game winning goal by Julian was world-class. Last year, you could say it was luck. This year, we made a statement. I loved every minute of game time with you guys and can't wait till next year. Definitely keep an eye out for that undefeated streak to continue well into the next year.

9. The Nights at Augusta National

When Megan Lee invited me mini-golfing on a late August evening, she told me we would be in for a battle. After some amazing shots and that fucking guitar-shaped hole, we came out in 2nd place. A second place finish in itself isn't really worth writing home about, especially when only three teams took the field for competition. But that night wasn't only about golf, it was about life lessons, friendships, and learning to be tender. Zao Island would be home to tons of other great moments as well this summer and fall. What were the odds that we would see her there? Why is this band covering U2? And who the hell is Dillhole? Oh Zao, 2008 is so far away.

8. That night was A-MAE-ZING

I never saw myself joining the management staff at WVUR. Hell, I didn't see myself doing a lot of the amazing things which happened to me in 2007. But after an application and interview, I found myself tacking the title of news director onto my e-mail signatures and the Evening Source and NewsCenter95 became two words which are now in my Firefox auto complete list as of RIGHT NOW. Since, I have fallen fell in love, engaged, and married WVUR and it was the best decision of my life(if that sounds manly?). With the job came some sweet perks; less sleep, the ability to juggle fruit, my choice of either Nick Kovatch or Katie Coxey as the desktop backgrounds, and the chance to meet Mae. They were really sweet guys who definitely knew how to be clutch like Bryce Drew.

7. Welcome to Sun Prairie, WI

As we pulled into the O'Hare oasis for my second or third pit stop, I didn't really think my stomach(or more specifically, it's contents) would hold out for the day long trip. We were stuck in traffic, learned a great lesson in karma, and I managed to get asked by Bud roughly 284 times why we had to take a detour to a blip in the map, Sun Prairie, which some unfortunately call home. By the end of the day, we got a sweet parking spot, I ate cheese fries out of a helmet, we saw a running chorizo, and 4 months later I am still getting yelled at about those fucking mini oreo cookies. PS Emily, we never got to see the midget hall of fame.

6. Taylor Fucking Twellman

Talk about an up and down season. The Fire started off undefeated through their first handful, sucked through the late spring and early summer, and then were lead on a memorable playoff run on the feet of Rolfey, Conde, and Blanco. One game away from the MLS Cup, Tom and I would watch and cry in our Jimmy Johns colas as Taylor Twellman scored maybe what will go down as one of the greatest goals in MLS playoff history. Here is a link, take a look about 50 seconds in and see what you think for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKOeZBh1dzU&feature=related

Even though it ended on a sour note, the 2007 Fire season was a great one. Got to see Jason, Teom, and Cait DuBois get into the Fire spirit, which was great. I also got my season tickets for next year, so I got to be pumped as ever for the 08 campaign.

5. Slice That Cheese Romantically (for it will help save the children of the world)

Spot 5 on this list may contain more backstory, drama, hateful txt mssgs, and lackluster cooking than this Facebook note has room for. To summarize, Bud likes girl, girl is bitch to Bud, Bud tries everything including chicken parm, girl is still a bitch. This love story had it's moments, including a hell of a lot of pizza hut, questionable railcat attendance motives, and the saving of babies from death by car. As bitter as it was for you Bud, I don't think any other night that the one you, Jason, and I spent could have capped off the summer any more perfectly. PS, don't worry. No one could ever have made use of those items as well as you could have sir. You are and always will be my badass pimp of a friend who laid it all on the line for love. You sir, are the things of which legends are made.

4. FEILHABER!!!!!

Between working 40 hours a week (about 55-60 if you include lunch and drive time), I didn't have the free time I really wanted to spend with friends. However, if my friends and I found a connection through anything this summer, it was soccer. Jason, Av, Bud, and I followed pretty much every Gold Cup game at my house with viewing parties powered by Chipotle and Jimmy Johns. To cap it off, we added Ple to our party and hit up the Gold Cup final in Chicago. It was the second US national team game of my life and first of two for the summer. It definitely won't be a day I will forget for a long time to come, mostly due to a US win in arguably the best sporting event I will event attend live. Why was it the best? One word: Feilhaber. Just check it out and place yourself live. 60,000 people (about 50,000 of which were cheering for the visiting Mexican side), time running out, your team just suffers and injury, and you see this unfold right before your eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcGA2W4d5_E

3. New York times

When I got an e-mail about a lady from a PR firm on Thursday evening about the hazards brought forth by the Nintendo Wii game console, I didn't see myself in New York by Monday. During three days (with about 30ish hours in the car and about 6 in the actual city), I got to learn a lot about what myself and my friends are capable of, how to take advantage of what life throws your way, and that if you really reach for the sky, anything is within your reach. I definitely got to take the trip of my life and the experience of visiting and interviewing Eric Rhey of PC Magazine definitely will be etched in my mind for years to come. As will that hotel room, three damn blue shirts, not snatching, Rockafeller Center, the sweet Apple cube, New Jersey pizza, and that $2.99 pop-up map which got us home when we were destined to drive around the big Apple for hours. Sometimes I look back and wonder really how that trip happened and what really made us consider the journey? Then I realize that sometimes the journey is greater than the destination. Dillon and Jason, I hope you guys enjoyed it as well.

2. New York Times

I really don't know if I will ever have another moment in life as cool as this one was. I guess it may be kinda depressing to think that your capstone moment came at 19, but hell if this is it I am happy. Back in early January I got bored during Christmas break and started a smaller Blogger site to post about Apple and Nintendo (yeah, typical nerd stuff). One story about OS X and a Digg.com front page later, my blog was mentioned in the New York Times. Sure it is one paragraph with a paraphrase and a link, but to me it was the world. Running to Barnes and Noble to grab the print copy of this may have just been the greatest moment of euphoria I have ever had. Here is the online version, again not much, but enough to make my number 2 event of the year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/business/06online.html?pagewanted=all

1. The Break-Up

So here I am, the number one event of my year. The list has been pretty positive so far (besides for Taylor Fucking Twellman) and you would think that I would keep up the trend as I move on to spot numero uno. Ah, but alas you are wrong my good friend. Sadly enough, this event is more somber, more life altering. Definitely for me, the most monumental event of my year was breaking up with girlfriend of four years, Jessica. It was just real hard to get over losing the emotional attachment to someone who was your best friend for a greater part of your over-dramatic teenage years. She was the only girl I ever took to a high school dance, the one who would talk to me for hours when my mom was in the hospital, the one who baked me cookies for my birthday, spent countless hours watching me play soccer just because she knew it was important to me for her to be there, made spaghetti dinner for me and her before new episodes of Growing Up Gotti, and worked through the struggles of our first year apart while I was at college with me. She was the girl who I figured would be sharing stuff like this with me forever, even if I made the mistake of never telling her that. Yeah, I prolly am making too big of a deal about it. Yeah, it was just a teen-year girlfriend. Yeah, I should never get upset over girls, dudes before hoes, don't tase me bros, and all those nonsensical rhymes. Whether I (or you, or anyone else I guess) likes it or not, this event definitely meant more to me and made more of an impact than any other single event of the year. Am I over it totally? Prolly not. Will I ever be? Hopefully, at least I feel like I am moving toward that point, even though it is months later. While this moment may be a depressing way to cap off my 07 list, it is(well, technically was) me and I really can't change that, only build off it and live with it.

Thnks fr th mmrs 2007. I hope 2008 tastes like you, only sweeter.

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I decided to start working on some new year resolutions a little early and make a couple changes to this website.

I am now going to use this as a place for me to keep a personal little blog/journal and write about whatever comes to mind.

I hope you enjoy everything you find. If you have a question or comment, e-mail me at Cameron@CameronBanga.com.

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So, I was shopping at my local Wal-Mart today and I found this little bugger on display in the electronics section.




I guess I gave a somewhat misleading title by stating that these are new Nanos. The green Nano on the left is actually counterfeit. You can tell by the large screen, USB port instead of an actual iPod dock port, the fact that the click-button is actually a slightly different color than the case, and the fact that the bottom section of the click-wheel has an option for volume instead of the usual play/pause.

Interesting none the less to see that this one somehow slipped into an Apple display case in a Wal-Mart store. Has anyone else seen anything similar to this in their Wal-Mart stores?

Also, since I am posting a quick update, I figured I would also mention this to everyone who was a fan of the WiiChat.com Show. I started a new gaming podcast last weekish. It is part of this new Nintendo gaming community called Rough Gem Gaming. You can find out more about the project at http://www.roughgemgaming.com.

It is a Nintendo based community for people who want to just chill and set up WiFi matches or talk with friends about Wii related news. I encourage you all to check it out. We are running some Madden 08 and Mario Strikers Charges leagues and tournaments, so be sure to check out the forums there if you are interested. We also have a podcast, much in the old spirit of the WiiChat.com Show. You can download it from iTunes here.

Watch live video from cbanga on Justin.tv

Are you looking for more Macintosh tips and tricks? I recently started a new video podcast which helps teach Mac users the finer details of OS X. Each episode runs 5 minutes in length or less and uses screen shots or video to help give examples of the lessons being taught.

Check it out here at www.appleinfive.com

As many of you most likely know, the official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website was opened to to the general public yesterday. The site claims to be giving daily updates on the upcoming Wii game. So far, not a whole lot of new information has been revealed. The most important piece of information released by Nintendo may have been the announcement of all the different musical composers working on the soundtrack.
However, if you take a look at that screen shot, something interesting sticks out if you pay real close attention.
If you check out the "How to Play" icon, you will notice a horizontal Wiimote. Could this hint at a possible control scheme for the Wii fighter? The website is already hinting at a list of possible characters in the game with the addition of certain music composers from famous Japanese gaming series. Could this be another hint that the game will be played with the Wiimote horizontally much like NES games are played on the Virtual Console? Back when the Wii was still the Revolution, Nintendo stated officially several times that gamers should hold on to a GameCube controller for Brawl because the game would not take full advantage of the motion sensing controller.

Again, I must state that this entire theory is just speculative. However, it does not seem too far fetched of an idea. The Wiimote in the icon could have easily been placed vertically instead of horizontally. We must also assume that web designers in charge of the site have a fair amount of knowledge about the game because they have been working with the team and Sakurai-san to produce the website.

Post your comments on how you think the game would play with a horizontal Wiimote control style. Personally, I see it working quite well with the 1 and 2 buttons working to preform attacks. The B button under the controller could preform grabs and shaking the controller could make the character jump.

The official site looks like it will be updated regularly, so we should see some information on the control style soon. Until then, feel free to speculate away. Please be sure to leave a comment with your opinions on the control style and let me know what you thought of this post by e-mailing me at TeenageFanboy@gmail.com

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For all you Diggnation fans, I just wanted to let you all know about this ringtone I made.

It is a small mp3 file from an episode a couple months ago where Kevin was trying to sing Toxic by Britney Spears.

If you need a way to get the file to your cell-phone, I suggest www.mobile17.com

Here is the file, I hope you enjoy.
http://s11.up-file.com/download3/cfd76c164564_53lgw5qtyt6aa0vs/Diggnation-Ringtone.m4a

Also, for you gaming fans on the site, I wanted to let you all know about my new project. I recently helped launch GamerDebate. The site is a forum/podcast/essay community which revolves around gamers arguing popular topics in the world of gaming. It is a been a success so far and I invite all you gamers to check it out. We're always looking for more gamers to jump into the debates, exspecially PS3 or XBOX 360 gamers. Check it out at www.gamerdebate.com

I'll be getting some more posts in soon.
-Cameron

So, a week or so ago I was helping my dad with my MacBook. He wanted to watch some snowmobile movie that was on a DVD he had received in the mail. It was one of those homemade kind of DVDs that he most likely overpaid for, but that doesn't really matter. Anyways, I placed the DVD in my MacBook Super Drive and the DVD the DVD became stuck in the drive. I kept pressing eject to no avail. The drive made made a continuous noise that indicated that some sort of problem was occurring, but nothing ever came out.

I decided to search the internet for some solutions and I found very little help. Several topics on the Apple Support forums talked about the problem occuring on a MacBook Pro and these topics suggested the use of a credit card. Several different posters on the forum indicated that the problem is caused when the DVD or CD can not clear the top part of the Super Drive slot. The CD continues to hit the top of the slot and bounce back into the drive, causing the noise.

I initially tried this, but to no avail. I don't know how different the MacBook and MacBook Pro drives are, but a credit card was too thick in my opinion. I had no success with a credit card. The forum posters appeared to be correct about the problem. The top of the DVD was not clearing the top of the drive and the DVD needed to be guided out of the drive. It made sense to use the credit card to guide the DVD out of the drive, but the credit card was too thick.

Then I had an idea, I decided to try a thin business card. The business card fit into the slot with relative ease. I had finally found a tool to help me with my problem.

I must make note quick, I DON'T CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU DO TO YOUR MACBOOK WHILE TRYING THIS. YOU MIGHT SCREW UP YOUR COMPUTER THIS WAY. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK AND CONTACT APPLE BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT THIS.

After a couple minutes or messing around, I found a successful technique. First, insert the business card or any other type of card which has a similar thickness into the drive. Then, position the card so that it is partially on top of the CD. You do NOT want to insert the card all the way into the drive. You want your fingers gripping the card at all given times. When the card is partially over the disc, position the card so that it is centered in the drive with about 3/4 of the card in the drive. The other 1/4th of of the card should be firmly grasped by your fingers. The card should now act as a guide for the top of the DVD. Press the eject button on your MacBook and the DVD should slide out with ease.


AGAIN, I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU MAY CAUSE. ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Anyways, this method seemed to work for me. If anyone else has any suggestions or tips about how to do this any easier, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at TeenageFanboy@gmail.com.

Check out WiiChat.com!
Subscribe via iTunes.
Digg this podcast.
Check out our MySpace.
Join our Facebook group.

Sorry, I skipped a couple of weeks.

So, last week the WiiChat.com crew traveled up to New York City for an interview with Erik Rhey for the WiiChat.com Show. Erik is a Senior Editor for PC Magazine. To check out our interview with Erik, visit this link.

Upon arriving in New York, we headed straight to the Ziff Davis building. The Ziff Davis building itself was extremely impressive. When you walk in the door, you are immediately greeted by two large plasma TVs and a large display case with the latest issue of every magazine that Ziff Davis publishes. We were met in the Ziff Davis lobby by the Rosen Group PR representative who helped set up the interview. An elevator took us up to the PC Magazine office on the 11th floor of the building. This might be off-topic, but the elevator was easily the fastest elevator I have ever been on in my life. The elevator went up 11 floors in about 10 seconds, no joke.

When we exited the elevator, we were greeted by Erik in front of two huge glass doors. There was a keypad at the door to keep out any unwanted visitors who would happen to get past the security in the lobby. We introduced ourselves to Erik who let us take a free issue of the latest PC Magazine from a sweet little display stand which held about 20 or so issues. We then began our tour of the PC Magazine labs.

Erik used a nifty little thumb pad to open two large sliding glass doors. When I say large, I mean real large. These doors were abouy the size of two to three regular doors put together. Once the doors opened, we entered into the PC Magazine labs. This was just a nice sized room enclosed in all glass walls where the different PC equipment they test could be found. My first thoughts upon entering the room all revolved around the sheer amount of tech equipment which could be found in the room. I would assume that PC Magazine sees a lot of computers in their office. However, I didn't really know that so many would be set up at the same time. At first glance, the room seems to be really unorganized. However, after Erik gave us the tour I realized just now neat and orderly it is. Computers are sorted based on what purpose they serve for the magazine. New PCs for review are in one area. Another area might house computers which are used for testing MP3 players. One area was full of printers. One of the most popular areas was full of iPod accessories. It was apparent after the tour that the iPod accessory market is definitely a market with staying power. PC Magazine might need to hire a new editor or two just to keep up with all they latest iPod stereos they will review.

The area of the laboratory that drew my attention the most was the video game area. Three large televisions were set up. One housed a Wii, another housed a X-BOX 360, and you guessed it, the last housed a PS3. Before the interview, I was skeptical as to if a PC Magazine editor had enough gaming knowledge for an interview on Wii injuries. This tour put to rest any questions I have. These guys are serious gamers. Erik and I were talking about this and he really explained it well. The PS3 and the 360 have expanded gaming to the point where a magazine like PC Magazine must cover these machines because they basically are PCs. Erik also stated that as a tech magazine, the Wii must also be represented because of the massive impact of the console in the tech world.

The people we met in the PC Mag labs were all great too. They all had a real love for technology. Any question we had was immediately answered with the utmost authority.

After our tour, I had my interview with Erik. The interview was held in the PC Magazine podcast studio. On our walk from the PC Magazine labs to the podcast studio, we walked through a decent amount of cubicle space. If you have ever seen the 1UP Show, you should have an idea as to what the cubicles look like. Basically, just imagine plain cubicles full of tech goodies. This was a decent sized conference room which they dedicate to their audio podcasts. If you search iTunes, you can find these podcasts with no problem if you want to see what kind of content they put out. If you watch our video interview, you will see Erik and I sitting at a table. In the corner of the room, a similar table is set out with 4 nice microphone/headsets. It was a pretty sweet set-up for a audio podcast. As a podcaster myself, I found this room really interesting. It was cool to see the audio set up they use in order to have an extremely professional sounding podcast.

I had a great time at the PC Magazine office. Thanks again to Erik for the tour and the interview, it was really awesome. If it isn't apparent through my blog and video podcast, I have a real passion for technology. I also enjoy writing and sharing my opinion about technology. It was really cool to have the opportunity to see how people with a similar passion make a living through writing about technology.

A wise man once said,"Pics or didn't happen." I didn't take pictures while at the office. However, I have put together this low-budget model of the PC Magazine office floor plan. This should help give an idea as to what the office looks like. Hopefully, this will verify that the trip did in fact happen.

Last week, I was was given the chance to interview Erik Rhey of PC Magazine with regards to Wii injuries. Part of the WiiChat.com crew and I traveled from Northwest Indiana up to New York City to visit Erik in his office for the interview.

Below, you can find the interview. I believe that it turned out very well and it gives great insight into Wiinjuries from the viewpoint of a media professional. Erik might write for PC Magazine, but he definitely knew his gaming.

The interview is in two parts. I hope you all enjoy it.

Part 1


Part 2


These excerpts come from episode 7 of the WiiChat.com Show. To check out the rest of the episode, please visit the link below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1425256284959615919

For more information on Erik or PC Magazine, please check out their website, PCMag.com.

Check out WiiChat.com!
Subscribe via iTunes.
Digg this podcast.
Check out our MySpace.
Join our Facebook group.
Subscribe to our YouTube videos.

Check out WiiChat.com!
Subscribe via iTunes.
Digg this podcast.
Check out our MySpace.
Join our Facebook group.

Today went unbelievably well. Dillon, Jason, and I found our way into New York quite easily. We found the Ziff Davis building no problem, but parking was a bitch. We had to park a decent distance away.

I'm not going to lie, the Ziff Davis building was pretty impressive. PC Magazine Senior Editor Erik Rhey gave us a sweet tour of their labs before our interview with him. I might post more about that tour at a later time.

While in New York, we visited the Nintendo World Store. The building was unbelievable. It was a Nintendo nerd heaven. Tons of DSes and tons of Wiis to game it up with. If you need a classic controller, hit them up. They had about 200 in stock on shelves. No regular controllers or Wiis to be found for sale though.

We also stopped by the Apple Store on 5th Ave. It is the Apple Store with a big class cube as an entrance. It was pretty sweet, but I kind of prefer the Chicago store.

Anyways, more on the PC Magazine interview in a later post. My interview with Eric Rhey will be found in episode 7 of the WiiChat.com Show which should be out early next week. Thanks again to Erik for the interview. He was a really cool guy. IF you have time, be sure to check out his stuff at www.pcmag.com

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We're almost there. We just arrived at the hotel. We are only about an hour and a half from downtown New York City.

The trip was great. It might have been the best 12-hour car ride of my life. Anyways, a lot of work is remaining before tomorrow. I can't wait to head downtown and enjoy the Big Apple.

More updates tomorrow

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We're off. In the next three days, our WiiChat.com Show team will be heading to New York City in order to interview PC Magazine editor Eric Rhey. I will be posting on this blog regularly with updates. I hope everyone continues to check it out while we are on our journey.

More to come soon...

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I recently stumbled upon a project which really drew my interest. I have been a huge Zelda fan for a long time. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is easily my favorite game of all-time. The music in the game really helped bring the experience to life.

The project which I discovered was the ZREO project. The ZREO project is an attempt to recreate every song ever in a Zelda game. This ambitious project began about 4 years ago. Recently, the team discovered a new sense of fame with their Soundscapes series. I recently had a chance to talk with FireGS and Master of Zelda about the project. Here is what they had to say.