improv everywhere

It's a pretty slow day at work, so here's another blog entry.

Iam a fan of random crap, and this troupe outta NYC does some pretty good stuff.

Here's one that's decently funny. There's something about Starbucks and its stereotypically snooty patrons that I don't like.



They also are known for their pants-less subway rides, where people will board the subway as normal and casually take off their pants in front of unsuspecting travelers.

Check out their YouTube channel here and enjoy.

I'm bout to go skatin.

-- obbs

p.s. oooh I just staqrted watching this one and it is awesome so far.

get yo skate on

Good morning all,

I have had a whirlwind week. Workin late on monday... basketball on tues... watchin the BC Eagles get whupped by Wake on Weds...workin late on Thurs...then chilled last nite. Life in the city has a few more options for entertainment than Maine!

Anywhoo. Tonite is shaping up to be a good one. My girlf won an hour of free ice skating for her and 19 friends in Harvard Square. Free hot chocolate and skate rentals too! AND we get to pump our own iPod playlist over the PA system! My roommate and I worked on a killer list of tracks last night. Let's just says I'm pretty excited to get my skate on to "A Whole New World."

Oh, in other news, my company laid off between 40 and 45 peeps on Wednesday. It was pretty unsettling to think of a bunch of guys you've been working with for quite some time are out desperately searching for work. It's a pretty depressing time... I really feel bad for people trying to find work right now. The whole economic crisis we're in somehow had not hit home with me yet... but it finally did on Weds.

Luckily I am still employed, and will try to hold onto this job-- no matter how crummy it may seem at times. It sure beats moving back home to live with mom and pops-- tho I bet they'd love that.

all for now. I should probably get back to my job.

-- obbs

music?

Check out Mysto & Pizzi's fairly dope remix of Rockwell's classic "Somebody's Watchin' Me" ft. Michael Jackson.



Did you know that Rockwell was Berry Gordy's son? Didn't make cash of the name too much, but I bet it didn't hurt in securing a record deal...

KG get angwy!

First off, watch this video.



How ridiculous is that! KG is furious, and rightfully so. Now, I have been a referee before and totally understand how thankless that job is... but if I had been playing, I woulda said some pretty bad shit to this crew. I'm sure Garnett wasn't exactly censoring himself either.

This game was on while my trivia team was REPEATING as champion at a local bar. A 1 point victory for $40 off our bill. Not bad.

Hope all is well, fans. Peep this old school Eric B and Rakim track. Rakim is known as one of the greatest emcees of all time. Not necessarily for what he says, but how he says it.

This video (though they spliced out the chicks in bikinis) was on an old VHS i had growing up -- NBA Jam Session. It was an amazing collection of highlights and bloopers from the games greatest set to old school hiphop. I love basketball.

-- obbs



and just in case you were wondering, Rakim is still at it-- rhymin with some other names you're probably more familiar with... it's pretty sick when the beat drops out. Acapella rappin always seems more profound.

The intro of Premier makin the beat is pretty cool too.



Also, Kanye does not belong here. And, as one of my coworkers said after watching this, "needs to get his head out of his ass."

adios!

no dumping...

Obbs gon weigh in on a very sensitive and often stinky subject here folks.

You see, my place of employment thought it would be wise to consolidate from 3 floors to 2 four or five months ago. I thought this would be ok at first.

Little did I realize that I would be crammed onto a floor of approximately 275 other people. I would say that 75% of these people are male.

You can use your imagination as to how this affects our 3 stall bathroom...

Needless to say, I often have to make 2 or even 3 flyby's before I am granted clearance to land and drop off cargo. It is absurd. And quite possibly a health hazard!!

And once I DO finally touch down, I am astonished at how often I am the first one of my two wingmen to exit the hangar-- even when I was the LAST one in!! Am I simply a speed-demon? Are they reading a novel over there? Was there some step that my parents forgot to teach me in my upbringing that is giving me an amazing advantage in the race to get back to work? I simply do not know.

*sigh*

In music I want you all to check out the producer of my favorite hip-hop act, CunninLynguists. He graciously has put out 5 albums worth of purely instrumental beats. They even include a few "interludes" which feature the *shhhh* undisclosed samples that he used in some of his beats. It is here that I am most interested, as you can see how he took certain elements of the original song and re-wove them into his art.

This isn't Puff aka Sean Combs aka P.Diddy using a Duran Duran lyric verbatim... this is a dude using a simple drum beat or rhythm and completely reworking it.

Check out what I mean.

He took this sample from some obscure cover of the Rolling Stones "Wild Horses" and reworked it to make a beat which uses the word "do" or "due" to complete to emcee's rhymes. Mr. SOS does a damn good job on the song as well, incorporating the sample into his story-- gotta give HIM props on that as well. He just had a baby, by the way. I know this by stalking him on Twitter.

Jus lissen.

sample: link
Mr. SOS (produced by Kno of CunninLynguists) -- Time

Also, just listen to this instrumental. If I were an emcee and asked to write rhyme over this I honestly would say "no way, that track should just stay the way it is." At least those are my thoughts. This is simply beautiful by itself.

Kno -- What'll You Do?

sleep well princes of maine, kings of new england.
-- obbs

winter whites

Obbs checking in from behind the desk. All this holiday shopping has hit the wallet a bit, so I need to do some overtime shifts here and there to gimme dat cash flow, yaknow.

Last nite me and the ladyyyy checked out the Boston Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. It was at the Opera House and was gorrrrrgeous. What a spectacle. I'm usually not one for ballet, but I was very impressed by the dancers and the set design and the whole production. Well done, Boston Ballet. To make things even nicer, we got 'student' tickets for only 20 bones... and our seats were 20 rows away from the stage!! Nuts!

Boston is covered in snow rite now. It started last night and we've gotten 5 inches or so. It's cold... but the first snowfall is always kind of magical. By February I probably will be cursing it... but what the hell.

This evening I hope to spend some time with my cousins and the girlf. Should be a solid evening.

All for now. Enjoy yet another amazing R. Kelly remix. Beyoncé did the original, but as expected when the King of R&B jumps on your song, is outdone on the remix.

R. really sings on this one. And gives the women out there some real talk.



have a good day fans!

-- obbs

good night

Well my trip to Arizona was pretty awesome. Nice sunny weather and some good times with my brother. That's pretty much the two reasons I went... so I'd say it was a very successful and enjoyable trip!

We hung out in Tempe a few times. That is a real cool area it seems. It has a young vibe to it, as ASU is located there. There is this place called the Tempe Marketplace which is essentially an open-air mall with restaurants and bars throughout, as well as stages for live music and couches with fireplaces for shoppers to sit and warm up during their frigid 65 degree winters. Pretty awesome.

In music news, Kno -- the producer for CunninLynguists -- was recently asked to do a remix for the now-released Maroon 5 album called "Call and Response," where famous producers like Swizz Beats and ?uestlove from the Roots reworked M5 songs.



That's pretty awesome, and I think he actually made the song better than the original. The beat seems to fit the subject matter of the song a bit more, IMO.

Sadly, Kno's version had to be left off the final CD due to issues regarding the sample he used. I asked on the blog run by the label Kno is a part of why Maroon 5 couldn't have ponied up the funds to pay to clear the sample, and Kno replied:

The issue wasn’t money, a sample used in my track was too obscure and they couldn’t find the publisher. Instead of just saying fuck it and mashing on with it, the label dropped it last minute. Understandable.

Cool. Bottom line is Kno is getting recognized for his beats by some bigger ears... which is exciting for a fan who has been following for 5 or 6 years now.

Check out Kno's remix to Maroon 5's "Goodnight, Goodnight" below:



Last night was my company Christmas party. It was pretty amazing. With the economy in the crapper, I keep seeing stats about how companies are canceling or down-sizing their holiday celebrations and gifts. My whole company gave us a mug, and (since I am dating the event coordinator) know that they spent over $70,000 for the party last night. Food, DJ, and 4 hours of open bar for about 700 people will do that.

It was a good night. No, it was a great night.

goodnight,
-- dr. obbs

raisin arizona

Welp, I had an awesome thanksgiving. Food, friends, family, and football. And a nappie on a couch. All that eating really took it outta me... phew.

Then on Saturday, since all my cousins were still in town, we threw an ugly sweater party. It. Was. Epic. People really got into the spirit of it which just made it all the more fun. Showing up at a bar all dressed like fools is something I hope to do more often. Read my entry detailing the pirate pub crawl for more thoughts on THAT.

BUT! The big news is that tomorrow I am flying out to Arizona to see my brother and his fianceé! And their doggies. I have not been out there yet... and they've been there for... a little over 2 years. I had to do some mental math there.

It'll be cool. He has season tickets to the Cardinals, so we're gonna tailgate and see them destroy the St. Louis Rams. Not sure what else, but i don't leave until Tuesday the 9th, so that's a pretty solid stay.

That's about it for now. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Until then, check out this hilariously sexist badger!!



-- obbs