Straight off a Dollar Store shelf at the lovely Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas, and stocked just a few bins over from the storied Orchard Skittles, comes Kranky Candy, the coffee dusted confection you will soon come to know and love. Is it an afternoon snack? A breakfast substitute? Repurposed industrial by-product? You decide.
Joining me in his first proper appearance* on Tobyblog is my good friend Brian Hammons of ReviewTheWorld.com.
Together we sample.
We discover.
And we bring our findings to the world. Enjoy.
(* The beer review, shot as it was on an already shaky stomach, and with a lame furtive effort to avoid being spotted by the patrolling cops, hardly counts. -TJM)
Once again we were proud to host buddy Brian Hammons of the food/candy/retro/life blog Review the World as he made his way down to Dallas for the big UFC 185 fight night. What a weekend! Among other things, I introduced Brian Hammons to some of the best tacos in the COUNTRY. Go see what resulted over on reviewtheworld.com.
One thing I love is end of year retrospectives. And in the grand tradition I started last year, I offer to you the top ten Review the World episodes of 2014. So clear your personal calendars, grab a bag of Rap Snacks, and settle in the for the show. These are all episodes I love, and I encourage you to watch every one in its entirety.
We begin with Brian’s most recent entry, one that was intended to cap all of his furious activity for 2014, and at one point, possibly forever. Brian has been incredibly consistent at providing a new episode every week for almost two years now, a remarkable feat, and it looks like the pace may slow a bit in 2015 as he takes some time to breathe and refuel his creative juices. And what more perfect way to allude to that than by taking us back to the source primeval — where it all started — his boyhood home in Hamilton, Ohio. My only complaint is that I wish it had been a lot longer, with more backstory, maybe hitting some more significant spots. But it would ultimately be impossible to encapsulate everything that’s been catalogued over the course of 15 years on reviewtheworld.com. In fact, more than any other episode this year, with all their references to older material, this one made be want to dive in to the back catalog, which may be the point all along. At any rate, it was a great way to end the year.
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Those of you paying close attention will remember that Tobyblog owes its existence to my good buddy Brian Hammons of the nostalgia blog reviewtheworld.com. His site is a surprisingly deep personal catalog that is as much a call to action and personal philosophical movement as anything.
Continue Reading »The third and final installment of the big Zapp’s Potato Chip sampler review, representing my first donation to the blog. I’d go on to send a couple more “care packs” which would feature in a huge percentage of Brian’s output during 2014 and 2015, something of which I’m quite proud.
Highlights of this video include some of Brian’s prettier cinemagraphic work and Chris making a joke about his “bulge”.