...Where's the Cream Filling?

wattup my faithful blog followers.

Nothing too earthshattering has been going on lately. My company basketball team is currently riding a 4 game winning streak, which is nice. Yesterday I won a ticket to a Bruins game in late February from my company as well. Our company owns a bunch of season tickets to all the Boston sports teams and occasionally raffles them off to employees. I guess it's a nice perk, though I'm not a huge hockey fan, to be quite honest.

My company also has something called "pod outings" where they give everyone in a certain group of the company $20 once a month to go out together and, ultimately, get shitfaced. It's really a great way to get to know the, often, downright strange people who you share a bulk of your life with. Before we hit a local bar, a colleague of mine attempted to eat 40 Twinkies is 30 minutes. It was quite the spectacle, to put it lightly. To heighten the drama, another co-worker started taking bets, with 29 Twinkies being the line. I bet $5 he'd go over. My gut told me he'd hit the wall, but I knew this guy had the heart of a champion, so I put my money on him to pull through.

As each Twinkie was unwrapped, the pile on the plate just kept growing. We had to expand to another plate. The contestant chose to stand for the duration of the event. The timer started and he was off. Armed with only two Solo cups of water, he grabbed for one after the other and downed them. Cream coating the edges of his mouth and parts of his shirt, he made it to double digits in approximately 7 minutes. The themes to Rocky and Top Gun, respectively, blared in the background over the shouts of encouragement from the crowd (actually just those who had bet on him).

At around Twinkie 21 he paused...

the crowd held their collective breaths.

He turned to a bag next to him and spit out a stream of yellow liquid. With only 22 minutes gone by it seemed all was over. He retreated to his corner of the ring to regroup and wallow in his humiliation. His supporters gathered around while others in the crowd shook their heads in disappointment. The judge ruled that, since it was not actual throw-up, but instead an expulsion of the Twinkie that he was attempting to eat, that he was not disqualified, yet would be assessed a one Twinkie penalty.

He returned to the table with renewed vigor. The crowd was loving it! Their hero had risen from the ashes for ONE LAST RUN AT GLORY! 9 Twinkies were placed on a platter-- the 9 he'd need to top 29. With still a solid cup of water at his disposal, he mowed through 3 more creamy, caked delicacies. Reaching for another, a look of fear and sadness crept across the man's face. Time seemed to slow as I realized that this seemingly invincible man, the man who I had supported since approximately 30 minutes prior when I had handed my asian bookie a crisp Abe Lincoln, the man who was a living idol to so many young children, would indeed succumb to a 1.5 oz moist dessert cake.

He turned his head and threw up again into the bag. It was over. A valiant effort, nonetheless. The final count was 25.5 Twinkies, or, according to CalorieKing online, 3825 calories. Not bad for an evening meal.

After that event, we all went to the nearby bar Crossroads and took full advantage of their 'buy a pitcher get a free large pizza. The pizza is surprisingly good... sometimes those deals either have really shitty beer, or really shitty pizza. My cousin Big James stopped by as well, which was nice.

all for now... onto the music. I do love a good mashup. This one may not be the greatest, but it's so frickin catchy. I been sangin it on the T to and from work. People around me seem to love it. I lip-synched it to a cute young lass I spotted from a distance, and she was naturally entranced by my skillz.

Anyways, here's a mashup of two current pop hits. OneRepublic's "Apologize" beat with J. Holiday's vocals from "Bed." Now, I am a fan of "Bed," and have been an even bigger fan ever since I learned that The-Dream is the one who wrote it.

J. Holiday and OneRepublic -- "Apologize in Bed"

Check out the story behind "Bed.":

"The track was considered for Chris Brown -- he thought it was his -- but it was my record and I decided to give it up to J. Holiday," The-Dream explained to Billboard.com. "Chris said the record won't be No. 1 unless he's on it. I bet someone $500,000 that it would go to No. 1 and I collected my money just last week."

Chris Brown's comments may have actually cost him his relationship with The-Dream, who said he plans to never work with the young singer again.

Seriously. The-Dream is just that much of a baller to bet someone half a mil on his skills with some no-name R&B singer and tell Chris "Can't Sing Worth Shit" Brown to go f himself. Dream also has another song he wrote for Holiday called "Suffocate." I gots to check that one out.

peece my people.

Another lazy Sunday... Tally it up

Twas another busy weekend for mr. obbs, readers.

As usual, at about 7pm on Friday, I still did not have plans for the night. Luckily, my buddy from college, David, rang me up and informed me that he was in town. Pretty random, but I made some calls to another friend, Steve Nichols, and he made the 35 minute drive from his house so we all got to hang out and reminisce bout days passed. Or is it "days past"...? Regardless, it was a chill night.

Ended up not getting to bed til 4am... which is kinda unusual. Even on weekends I'm usually in bed round 230 or so. Dave and i watched this video below a couple times before going to bed. It's pretty hilarious:




Anyways, Steve wakes me up at 10am on Saturday to go get some breakfast. Granted, we had spoke bout getting brunch somewhere the nite before, but i was thinkin I wouldn't have minded a lil mo sleep. Nonetheless, we got up, met Dave's gf and had a lovely brunch at some place in South Boston. I had an absolutely delicious grilled blueberry muffin. The homefries were not as good as my homemade ones (which I think i'll make as a side for dinner in a bit...*drool*), however.

Sattaday nite i played some poker fo a bit wit friends, then hit up this benefit event for Kenya hosted by some dude from Colby College. A bunch of Colby alums were there, so naturally i fit riiiight in. There was this cool band onstage. This chubby dude seemed pretty into them, so I started chattin wit him. Tuned out he was the bassist's brother. He told me he was pretty impressed that I was "double fisting with a beer in one hand and a pitcher in the other." I was actually splitting the pitcher with a buddy, but I didn't wanna break this guy's heart, so I played along. Anywhoo... the band was called AcoustiCeol and they played lotsa cool Irish tunes plus some classic covers. Live violin is always a good thing in my book as well.

My posse ended up takin a taxi home and hittin up some late nite McDonald's to round out the nite of money-blowing and high-caloric intake. Again, didn't get to 'bed' (i slept on a chair) until about 3 or 4... not sure exactly of the time.

So... great weekend, but my circadian rhythm is probably gonna be effed for a while... and i've already had to take a nap today. I found a free rug on craigslist and went and picked that up... i friggin love craigslist, though i know i've mentioned that befo.

Oh! We got a new roommate too. An international chick doin some grad school work at Suffolk U. So far she seems cool... she moved in saturday mornin. Haven't seen her since. We'll probs have to throw her a welcoming party in a week or so afer the Patriots kill the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Welp, onto the music. In honor of Dave stoppin by Friday, I'ma put up a track from his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I actually got to see these guys live in Ann Arbor a few years ago with Dave and my friend Doey and they put on a jolly good show. They were also recently on a soundtrack to The OC doing a cover track of... a Killers song I believe.

Anyways, their name is "Tally Hall" and here is their song "Good Day." I just read in some review that this track won first place in BMI's John Lennon Scholarship Competition... awesome.

Tally Hall -- Good Day

Good day all!
xxoo. -- mr. obbs

born and raised in compton

mr. obbs was actually born in rural-ass Maine. A small town of about 2,500 scrubs. One traffic light (blinks yellow one way, red the other-- it's pretty straight forward) one gas station. But anyways, one of my favorite artists out there has to be DJ Quik. Straight outta Compton with a voice similar to that of Eazy-E's, Quik has been makin albums since 1991.

He's worked with 2pac, Jay-Z, Xzibit, Eazy-E, Big Syke, Ludacris, T.I., Wyclef, and Dr. Dre... yet a majority of people have never heard of him! Friggin MTV culture... I stumbled upon him during a freak downloading adventure. I've always been a big Nate Dogg fan, and found this song called "Medley for a V" featuring Snoop Dogg and a whole gang of others. I loved it. Turned out it was produced by Quik and on his album titled "Rhythm-al-ism." Weird title perhaps, but an amazing album.

Quik really is a musician. He has some of the funkiest rap beats I've ever heard. He is also one of the only hiphop artists to include a full-length instrumental track on every album-- titled Quik's Groove. he was greatly influenced by Roger Troutman and his use of the talkbox. Troutman, if you were wondering, is the dude in 2pac's "California Love" who provides the chorus-- he also had a solid career fo his own, for the record. If I had my external hard drive I'd throw some more tracks up for your eardrums, but until that baby comes in the mail, you'll hafta just get by with these two tracks below.

The first one, "Born and Raised in Compton," was off his debut album back in '91, titled "Quik is the Name." After downloading some Quik tracks, I went to my local muzack store and was browsing the used section (cuz I'm a cheap bastid). Found the CD for 99 cents... brought it up to the counter to see if it was a single or if maybe the disc came in two pieces or something. Nope. I was like "gimme it." The cashier took it, read the tracklisting, and said "First track: 'Sweet Black Pussy.' This is definitely the sale of the day." Walked outa happy man.

DJ Quik - Born and Raised in Compton

The second track is off a mixtape Quik threw together before releasing his last solo album "Trauma." It's a dedication of sorts to the late DJ MixMaster Spade. It's a pretty funky track. Some nice horns. It'd fit nicely at a summer bbq or somethin. I hope you dig it.

DJ Quik -- Sure Shot

I'ma upload a bonus track cuz I just can't help myself. It's Playa Hamm from the Penthouse Playaz Clique on the mic. Quik laces a funky beat of course.

Playa Hamm - Sucka Free

Everything else is going alrite with mr. obbs. My boss e-bitched me out today (this has happened more than once now) for browsing the internet too often. Apparently now, if I am on hold (which can be for 5 minutes at a time) I am only allowed to stare at my screen. I used to browse other sites while waiting, but that is no longer acceptable. Good times. I got yelled at previously for browsing Help Wanted ads while at work. I will admit that was perhaps not the smartest thing I have done in my life. meh!

My life is more and more like Office Space every day. I'm serious.

cankles

Hey everybody!!

mr. obbs here, actually checking in from work. I am now working the 8-5 shift... which is a real blast. Not really... i liked the extra hour of sleep... but now I get out an hour earlier, so that's nice too i guess. The ol' catch-22.

My company basketball league continues to wreak havoc upon my body. Last weekend I got a nasty virus and blew chunks across a 4 mile swath of Boston, and this past Tuesday I went up for a rebound and came down on the side of my ankle. It then made a noise not usually heard (mix a crunch and a pop and you'll be close). It was some intense pain. I walked it off as I was told that that is what real men do. I even ran on it a little in the second half. Not a great idea probably, but we won. I got home and iced it. After a few days of limping I'm walking ok today... but my ankle still looks like this:

Pretty awesome. I can barely fit my fatfoot into my shoes now.

Aaaaanyways, Wednesday me and my buddy Joe Mac hit up a bar in Harvard Square. After a pitcher or three we stumbled onto the karaoke stage for a rousing rendition of Garth Brooks' classic "Friends in Low Places." The crowd loved it... we even got a couple out doin a nice lil country waltz! What a great song, btw.

Last nite me and some peeps hit up Anna's Taqueria... pretty decent. I dunno though if it's better than Qdoba... I love the smaller establishments, but Qdobes is f'in good... though it also is a proven cure for constipation. Another catch-22 folks. This lil baby looooves the qdobes:

Tonight my buddy JJ from hiskool is comin down to Boston. It will be good to see him. Gonna tryand meet up for Happy Hour or somefin. We'll see. In the meantime, check out the myspace page for a new hip-hop group (kind of...) which is puttin out their first album sometime this year.

The group's called Chico and The Man. Tonedeff is "Chico" (cuz he's Hispanic) and Kno (of CunninLynguists) is "The Man" (cuz he's white and... the man). Kno will be making all the beats, and Tonedeff will be writing all the rhymes. It could potentially be t he greatest album in the history of Western Civilization. Kno makes some of the most beautiful beats and Tonedeff has the skills to write some pretty deep lyrics. This track on their myspace has two verses: 1 bout a motherly figure, and one about a lover. You gotta listen closely, cuz Tone can put a lot into a small amount of space. Tell me if you think something sinister is gonna happen when you hear the end of the 2nd verse... cuz i think somethin is!

Chico and The Man -- My Lady (http://www.myspace.com/chicoandtheman)

ratatat tat that ass

Not sure what that title is from... but it's some rap lyric which imbedded itself in my memory. It probably took the place of something useful. meh! Anywhoo... mr. obbs has been fairly busy the last few days, so excuse the lack of updates. The world is one big paper chase, folks. I put in a day of work yesterday, but I'll get time-and-a-half pay for the 7 hrs I put in, so once i see my paycheck it'll make it worth it. Work is exhausting though... I get home and am friggin tired. No energy to go out during the week really, and once Friday rolls round, if I don't get a nap in, my motivation to go out is pretty weak.

Anyways, I had a very relaxing day today. One thing I love is a big breakfast. I felt ambitious today and looked up a recipe for homefries on epicurious.com. Since it called for lots of ingredients I either A)can not afford or B) do not own (probably becuz they are so expensive) I instead chose to dice up some potatoes and throw them in a skillet with some vegetable oil. Let me tell you... it was friggin delicious. I was so pleased with myself. I also threw some bacon in there and then made me some eggs. It was a great start to the day. I then proceeded to lie on my couch for a few hours. Erin G hollered at me and donated an old microwave from Gramma Gian to my abode. Much appreciated, to say the least. Now I can make lots of healthy Hungry Man dinners and hot pockets in mere minutes.

My cousin Big James rolled through to provide some human interaction and laughs. Always good spending time wit family. He also helped me cut my hair, as I friggin hate barbers or hairpeople or whatever you wanna call them. I hate givin money to those dudes. I can cut my own damn hair, fank you vedy much. Sorry for the rant, but I had a bad experience a few years ago. I looked like an idiot, and ended up taking scissors to my head once I got home... which didn't affect the cut either way, if that tells you anything.

Anyways, as the title suggests, I'ma lace all the mr. obbs fans with some Ratatat. I first heard these dudes at a party in Muchigan, and i had to politely excuse myself to go check the computer playlist. It was unlike anything mr. obbs had ever heard before. They currently have 2 instrumental albums out (1 instro mixtape, if you will, titled 9 Beats) and 2 albums full of their beats accompanied by some of the biggest rappers in the game, dead or alive. You can check out rap remix Vol. 2 at Ratatatmusic.comfor a free download! mr. obbs recommends this highly! Today I feature a track from the mixtape.

Kanye West - Diamonds (ratatat remix)

And for the love of god check em out at Amazon or any other method you may have **cough**hype machine**cough**

ooooh the american dream

wattup errybuddy.

Had quite an eventful tuesday night. Played some basketball with my company league (sounds like i'm forty..) and anyways, after winning on a near-midcourt last second shot, started to walk to the T. Got that queasy feeling... got to the loading platform and realized i had to hurl. Aimed for the tracks and let it rip. This dude sitting on a bench didn't seem to mind too much. Anyways, I was feeling better, so I got on the next T and took it one stop, where i had to transfer. While waiting for the next T, I puked again into a trashcan. More spectators this time, which was cool. Felt better, so I got on the next T. Took it one stop, when i realized i had to get off. Puked into another can of trash. Decided i could no longer take the subway home... luckily i was only about 3 or 4 miles from home. Started walking. Came upon a CVS open 24hrs! Quickly bought a Sprite and asked where the Pepto was. Upstairs!? Gad damn. Grabbed some and asked how to get to the checkout. Take the elevator... I wasn't gonna make it. The elevator door opens, I throw up in my mouth, and spit it down opening between the door and floor, dropping some spew down the elevator shaft. Quicky paid for my goods, put em in a bag and headed for the closest T stop. Took some pepto, chugged some Sprite. Got on the T. Do not mix pepto and sprite. Just makes for an extra frothy mixture. Anyways, at least I had that CVS bag... as I could sit in the back of the T and puke at will. Got off, disposed of the bag, threw up one of more times, then went to bed. Got up 5 or 6 times during the night to hurl. Good stuff. Anyways, I'm just now getting over it. Took some time off werk and such.

Anyways, I've been listenin to this new R&B guy a lot lately. The-Dream. He wrote Umbrella for Rihanna (not a fan of her, or the song really) and also Bed by J.Holiday (i like that song actually). He claims to have written Umbrella in 12 minutes. Not too shabby. Anyways, he's got a solo album and a remix of his first single "Shawty is a 10" with the greatest, R. Kelly, so he's off to a good start in my book. Check out this jam bout clubbin and havin some dude's chick grindin all up on you. I hate that, but have learned to deal.

The-Dream: I Luv your Girl

Also, gotta shoutout CunninLynguists. Big fan of these guys, and they just finished their first music vid. After 4 albums and 2 mixtapes, here is the video for "K.K.K.Y." off of their new album "Dirty Acres." Check it out people.

Fatterday

Just got back from an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet with my cousin and his buddy... bad news. I don't know what my problem is, but when an endless supply of something is put in front of me, or if there is something offered for free, I feel like I must take as much of it as humanly possible. I'm such a glutton. Anyways, we three stuffed our guts until no room remained. Then drove home and i actually had a foodburp. Gross.

Ever since I stopped rowing, my health has gradually declined. It's started to level off now that I have joined a gym, but the fact is that I will never, EVER be in the same shape that I once was. I lifted weights for about 45 minutes yesterday and am now pretty sore. Pathetic. I'm trying to buy healthier food (kind of) and am actually going to go buy potatoes for possibly the first time in my life. Cut em up, add some salt, sizzle em on the stove and you have a nice lil batch of homefries, right? Is that healthy? I've honestly pondered trying one of those diets where you only drink lemon juice with cayenne peppers for 5 days. We'll see.

In the same healthy state of mind, I wanna bring some attention to the passing of Dan Fogelberg. I sort of was a 'joke' fan after hearing his song "Same Auld Lang Syne" which consistently put me into a mental trance once it played, yet everyone I sent it to told me it was the worst/corniest song they'd ever heard. I stood behind Fogelberg, however, even while others threw salt... and once I heard he was living in Maine, I realized that I couldn't start sippin' the Haterade like all my peers were. So, when a friend informed me a week or so ago that he had died, I at first shrugged it off, as all I knew about the man was that he wrote one of the greatest songs in the history of Western Civilization. But as I read more about his life and the cancer he had been battling, I became legitimately sad. Check out this letter he wrote to his fans:

To each and every man….

I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get a DRE (Digital Rectal Exam) and a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test EVERY YEAR.

The medical community suggests this for men over 50, but men with a family history of prostate cancer should start getting tested at age 40.

The PSA test is a simple blood test…it only takes a minute or two. The DRE, okay, every man squirms at the thought of this exam, but hey, it too takes only a minute or two, and IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.

Prostate cancer can be very slow growing or very aggressive, but detected early while it is still confined to the prostate gland, it can usually be treated and cured successfully.

Once it spreads beyond the prostate it is called Advanced Prostate Cancer (PCa). At this point it becomes imminently more life threatening and harder to treat. Do yourself and your loved ones a huge favor and GET CHECKED REGULARLY. I promise you, you DON’T want to go through what I’m going through if you can avoid it.

Education and awareness are key, I urge you to follow the link below to the Prostate Cancer Foundation web site and read up on how best to protect yourself and reduce your likelihood of contracting this terrible disease.

I grew up hearing stories of people battling various forms of cancer... who hasn't. I guess sometimes it is something that you really don't pay full attention to until it affects you. I hope all fathers and those of age take these testing opportunities seriously, as early detection really is your best chance in most cases.

That's it for the day.

Dan Fogelberg -- Someone's Been Telling You Stories

happy 2008

hello readers.

2008 is upon us... sorry i haven't posted in a bit. I had a few visitors over the weekend to help ring in the new year and such. It went pretty well... though i perhaps imbibed a bit too liberally. I also got a new toaster for my apartment the other day off of craigslist fo FREE. Pretty pleased bout that. i frickin love craig and his lists.

I went to a college bball game tonite thanks to erin g. Basketball is a great sport... for the record. I remember as a young'n my parents would take me to Bowdoin College games fo FREE. Those guys were my heroes. Nice lil trip down memory lane there.

Anywhoo... the music for tonite comes from two different artists. I have a live version of Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan performed by Tom Petty (saw him live and he kicks a lot of ass) and Eddie Vedder which i jacked offa some other blog, and then i have "Let's Go Get Stoned" by Mr. SOS (beat produced by Tonedeff).

Petty/Vedder -- link
Mr. SOS (prod. by Tonedeff) -- Mr SOS

SOS is one of my favorite rappers. This is not a typical track of his, as a lot of his topics are more politically charged... but it shows how he can make a fun, party song as well. Before going solo, he recorded an album with CunninLynguists-- my favorite hip hop group. Anyways, I founda lot of similarities between the orig Dylan song and SOS's. Hope you like em, and be sure to check out Mr. SOS' music on amazon.com... and Robert Zimmerman's as well.

all for now.
-- mr. obbs