Nigerians In America--Making Nigeria Proud Every Day

The title is sarcastic by the way. There are many Nigerians in America that need to go and take a flying leap off a bridge because they make the rest of us look bad.

I just finished reading a CNN Fortune article titled, The King of Home Equity Fraud. If you haven't read it or heard about it, you should check it out. It makes for a good read, and guess what, the "king" is a Nigerian named Tobechi Onwuhara. He has been on the FBI most wanted list since 2008. I guess it was a slow news day over at CNN Fortune since they wrote this article only this week.

Onwuhara's story is like a movie script waiting to happen. In short, I have a feeling Nollywood will base a story on him very soon--if they haven't already. In a 3 year period this dude stole $44million dollars from high-income home mortgage equities across America. At least, this is the amount that the FBI is aware of. According to them, his total take might actually be about $80million to $100million depending on how long Onwuhara was really in business.

The thing that struck me is not that he is a scam artist--after all what else is new? It is the story and the way it is told like a book or a movie waiting to happen.

First Class Blogger Award (Who Knew Non-Nigerians Read This Blog?)

Y'all are going to think I'm vain now that I have a Blog Badges & Awards page, but the reason I set up the page is so that I can avoid crowding my sidebar with all this "stuff".

I finally decided to do this because over the weekend the folks over at First Class Blogger Award sent me an email to tell me that Ego Du Jour was named a First Class Blog for the week of January 23rd!


I thought somebody had nominated me or something? Turns out there was no nomination and somehow these folks found my tiny corner of the blog universe and decided they like my blog. Here's what the awards are about straight from their web page:

Are You Self-Interested?

Some of you may be aware that I am taking an Economics class this session as part of my "pre-MBA". If you didn't know, now you know.

Sha, in the very first chapter of the Econs. textbook, I came across what I will describe as the "Economic Theory of Self-Interest". My dear friends, it turns out that in Economics, the idea of a "selfless" act is a myth. According to the textbook, each act you perform--no matter how stupid, foolish, or selfless it may seem to the rest of us--is actually an act made because you believe you will get some sort of benefit/gain. Basically, everything we do is out of self-interest even if it seems "selfless".

Before you jump to the morality of this whole discussion, pause for a bit and truly think about this.

Do you agree?

Stylish and Versatile Bloggers

Thanks to both Lucid Lilith and Myne Whitman for each giving me a Stylish and Versatile blogger award!

Once you have been named a Stylish and Versatile blogger, you first have to share 7 things about yourself and then name your own Stylish and Versatile bloggers.

So here it goes...

New Zodiac Signs.

Has your zodiac sign changed? Mine hasn't. This news has been out for about a year now but pardon me I'm just getting to it.

I don't believe in the whole concept of predicting your future or a love match based on Zodiac signs, but they're fun to check out nonetheless. Haven't we all tried one of those zodiac based "love predictors" at some point? Here's a chart showing the old dates and the new dates.

Apparently the earth's wobbliness (not a scientific term) has resulted in this shift of the zodiac. The earth's axis spins slowly (not the day to day "right to left" spinning, I'm referring to a longer "top to bottom" rotation that takes about 26,000 years to complete),  and this has caused the sky to shift a bit.

Like I said, my zodiac sign hasn't changed, I'm still a Taurus. Interestingly enough, Alpa Chino is now an  Aries. My mother is still a Leo. My sister and father however are now Libras. Has yours changed?

Since Alpa Chino and I are no longer both Taureans (I just had a Caprica moment typing that, Taurons, get it?), I decided to look up the characteristics of an Aries & Taurus match.

"The Game" Returns to BET

 

I became a fan of this show during my sophomore year of college. Why? My life--at the time--looked like it was going to turn out like Melanie and Derwin's story (hopefully minus the drama). I was pre-med, dating an NFL hopeful who kept hinting at impending marriage proposals, and watching this show I imagined that when he made it big our lives would turn out like Melanie and Derwin. My roommate used to say it was almost as if the show was giving me a glimpse into my "future".

Well, first of all I'm not going to med. school. Second, I broke up with Mr. NFL. Third, my poor football player's dreams got destroyed by a leg injury. Lets just say life did not imitate art. I grew up, my plans changed.

But, I still watched The Game. I thought it was an interesting combination of sitcom and drama. I was so very annoyed when the show became a victim of the CW Network's attempt to move its lineup more towards "drama" (specifically teen drama). Although the cast members started a campaign to have the show become more "dramatic" to fit in with the CW's new direction, it got canceled May 2009. Somebody asked on Twitter yesterday why the show got canceled if it was so popular in the first place. The answer, there are numerous examples of TV shows getting canned because of executive decisions--despite the shows having a strong fan base. I will say that the CW's new direction definitely works for them. Gossip Girl? 90210? Vampire Diaries? They're doing well.

So, yesterday, The Game returned to almost 8 million viewers (according to initial estimates, it might actually be higher). I don't think BET has ever had that high of a ratings on a weeknight.

How did the show do? As a fan my answer is, "meh".

A Real Blog Post. Sorta

Hopefully you guys like the new look. Its silly but I myself have trouble remembering this is my blog after all the changes. Go figure. I decided it was time for a change, new year and all, so here we are!


As I write this it looks like I'm heading for my 3rd straight shortened work week thanks to all the snow we've been having in NY. The snow from the Christmas weekend storm still hasn't melted yet and we have just been getting more snow since then.

In other news, this weekend I plan to hang out with Mogaji (at least on Saturday) and watch this Nigerian movie:



I believe I mentioned last year--after watching Silent Scandals--that Genevieve and Majid are my new favorite pairing. I'm glad they reunited for another movie. I just look forward to hearing Majid's high pitched voice whenever he is trying to "act" indignant. Of course there is also the bad grammar that is rampant amongst supporting cast members and the hilarious male characters trying to be sexy. Ahh fun.

Big in 2010 (Most Commented On)

I promised so I have delivered. Here Top 10 posts--in terms of comments--for 2010. If you've been following the blog then I doubt this list will surprise you too much, the posts are listed in order from highest to lowest. Enjoy!

• Jos Victims On Facebook     

• I Think I Have Made A Momentous Decision 

• You Expect Me To Watch Nollywood When Bollywood Exists?

• Being You Before "You" Becomes "We"

• Manliness