Friday, July 31, 2009

Microwave Generation (Memory Lane)

So I've been told that's what its called.What's good folks I was talkin to Mylez over lunch yesterday and I mentioned a commercial to him. After explaining it to him he told me he hadn't seen it, I told him I had intentions of going to youtube, finding the link and sending it to him. Immediately I was sent into memory Lane.
The simple fact that Technology has made us so efficient yet so lazy was mind blowing to me. Think about it I can be in front of my computer (which 10-15 years ago not many people if any had) and I can go to various sites on the internet: I.E. www.ThaBullPen.Blogspot.com (Yea its a shameless plug lmao, but so what its my site) and I can share that same link with someone via email. I can even post it on someone FaceBook, MySpace or any other networking site. That person than has the option: "Do I want to check my Email, FaceBook and Myspace through my computer or through my phone?" WHOA! Think about that folks, remember when people barely sent text message because it would add more charges to the bill? Now there's almost nothing that can't be done through your phone. In fact all the words you are reading and most of the words that you read here on this blog are first typed out and then emailed from my phone.
So had I been having that conversation with Mylez 10 years ago, I'd ask "Did you see this commercial?" And if he said "No" we'd have no choice but to wait till he saw it. But now I can simply copy and paste a link and send it to him to various internet accounts.
And remember pressing Play and Record at the same time when your favorite song came on the radio? Sure you do... remember, you would come home from school and you would hope and Pray that Angie Martinez or Funk Flex would play that song that you love, and if you didn't well 'tomorrow's another day'. Now we have LimeWire, JamGlue and Imeem. No more waiting, you hear a song you like all you need is the name (sometimes not even that, just the artist or a few words from the chorus) to download it and instantly drag it onto your iPod. Before you know it, the song you just fell in love with and heard for the first time today is the song your listening to all day.
Before I leave ya'll I wanna reminisce a lil more! This post even applies to Baggin! Remember a time when you saw a girl that you liked? She lived in your neighborhood (cause you weren't allowed to go past the last street light on the block) or went to your school (Cause that was the ONLY form of social networking you had) and you thought to yourself: "I gotta crush on her" lmao. What did you do? You went up to her started a lil small talk and eventually worked up enough nerve to ask her for her number (Her house number of course) she says Yes. What did you do now? You reached in your back pocket, got out ya lil PaperMate Pen and proceeded to hand it to her where she will then proceed to take your hand and wrote her number on your palm! OH SHIT LEMME TAKE YOU BACK! LOL! No (718) necessary cause back then all number were just 7 numbers strong. No area codes needed. So you were hype and you ran somewhere to find a piece of paper where you can write it down before ya sweaty palms erased the number! And from there you followed the (Hold on now--im bout to hit you with the "Oh Shit" effect) you followed the 3-Day Rule! OOOOHH SNAP! Remember that one? Lmao. If your not familiar with the 3-Day rule chances are you are not from my generation, lol. Then when you called she fronted like she wasn't waitin for that call for the past 72 hours? Like: "Whooo?, Ooooh, what's up?" She knew she made sure to stay in that day waiting for that call, and when she picked up you heard: "Hello--Ma, its alright I got it" Oh man!
These days are gone. If you bag a girl today, she's expecting a text in a few hours otherwise you fall into a pool of forgotten faces. Lol. Damn that was a good Post, leave ya comments folks. Tell me how much you miss those days. And feel free to add memories of your own

Thursday, July 30, 2009

That's Ridiculous

Now I don't do any Celebrity bloggin, but lately these people have been going further than usual. Given, celebs are in the public eye more than the average person so it's only natural to expect them to have some screws loose in the head!

Let's start with Kelis and NaS. I have no idea whats going on in their private lives, (cause I don't care anything about celeb's lives outside of what they do to entertain me) but I was going through my home girls blog where she mentioned that after their divorce Kelis is requesting that 'God's Son' pays $55,000 USD in child support A MONTH! Come the Eff on Man! This left me so baffled that I had to hit the Streets! (My cousins Julie and Stacey--Both mothers to toddlers) Now before I go into what I asked them allow me to tell you how I feel.

You see I'm a huge realist. And although I do not have children, I'm no fool... I know it doesn't take $55K a month to raise a child. I'm well aware that its expensive but not that much. I personally felt that for a baby Only including Needs like clothing, food, formula, milk, diapers etc. and wants like toys and other stuff of that nature would be approx. $500 a mo. So this is why I contacted Stacey and Julie. I asked them how much it cost a month to raise their babies (which are my favorite nephews along with KJ btw) and they told me for Needs and Wants alone would be about an average of $250 a month. So I then asked what it cost when you throw in Doctors bills, Babysitters/school. I was told that it was approx. $500-$1,000 a month.

Now here's where I air Kelis out: "YOU ARE EFFIN BUGGIN!" regardless of how much a man makes, that's a ridiculously excessive amount of money a month for "A child" we all know that's payback for something that happened in the relationship, and I'm willing to bet that the whole 55 a month is not going to the babies College fund. And its not like Kelis doesn't have money of her own so why the financial rape? I feel that this is a womans way of getting a man back, but enough about that before I give you 6 more paragraphs of borderline hateful words!

and on to Kanye! he said "I am the new 'King of Pop" NO YOU ARE NOT! WTF is wrong with these celebs man? With that said I will now sign off. lol

Stay up and Watch your Heads you could get hit with whatever these Celebs are suffering from!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Who is Ralph Lifshitz?

You don't know? Well you should, your wearing his shirt like it's going out of style....

What's goin on ya'll? Now anyone who knows me knows I have a trillion and one interests, one of them being fashion. Growing up, my mom tried her best to keep me in clothes she felt was fashionable, elegant, and stylish. I didn't always agree with the things she picked out but I will forever be grateful for her efforts because as I get older I find myself gravitating more towards the things she fought with me to try to get me into as apposed to the things I preferred in elementary and high school. I tend to look at Loafs and other shoes rather than look for the newest 'Jordans' or 'Nikes', I prefer a cardigan (Which is becoming way too popular) and a button up rather than a white tee and 'Champion' Hoodie! Not to say that I wouldn't take them all cause Lord knows I'd never turn my back on 'Nike' just saying I have a more mature style now. "Polo" is definitely one of those things my mom tried to get me into, and possibly the only thing I didn't argue with her about!

But I must say one thing I HATE is when something that has been around for ages all of a sudden becomes trendy! I Hate it! I Hate It! I Hate it! This brings me to the title of the post....

Ralph Lifshitz, more commonly known as Ralph Lauren (which is what he changed his name to) has been one of my favorite designers for as long as I can remember. Even before I knew who he was I knew I was a huge fan of those collard shirts with the 'Little Man on the Horse'. I didn't always love polo shirts but when I began to love em it was important to me that it had that "Polo Ralph Lauren" logo. But more recently it has become something I call a "Hood Staple" in other words something that the young men and women from the hood get their hands on and ruin! Don't get me wrong, I'm not here trying to play the roll of Fashion Police nor am I anyone to say what you should or shouldn't wear. But I will tell you this, I've never worn anything without having some sort of knowledge of the history of the brand, whether it be personal memory, or actual literature on the product.


^Before you began reading, could you Identify this Face?^
Ralph Lauren in all his Splendor

This is why I get upset with "Hood Staples" they never seize to amaze me. Things that were once ridiculed and outcast ed become the "in" thing and the norm. Like Asolo Boots! I HATE them with all the blood, passion, sweat, and tears in my body, and I kid you not, had I wore them 2 years ago, my peers would laugh at me because I wasn't wearing Timberland boots, am I lying? But now, they're on the feet of all men and women between the ages of 4 and 24. It's disgusting. "Polo Ralph Lauren" is no different, not saying that there was a time where it wasn't accepted, it just wasn't as big as it is now here in the urban communities. But like I said, my biggest pet peeve is seeing someone wearing it and knowing that they know not the history and or origins of the brand.
I.E. Did you know that Ralph Lauren was born in the Bronx? Or that he got his start working at Brooks Brothers as a Salesman? No, so I guess you wouldn't have known that in 1967 he opened up his own Necktie Store where he also sold ties of his own design, correct? I thought so! I won't give you more history on it, all I want to share is this: Next time a rapper or some other form of artists mentions something, particularly a brand or designer don't run out and spend all your money on it just because it flew out of their mouths. Do some research, see where that brand or designer came from, figure out what the style's intention is, see if that brand or designer is right for you, because if not what happens is, it becomes over saturated and quite frankly annoying to see on your back.

I wanna give a Shout out to 3 of my cousins:

Kessler: This man was born in Honduras, but as a huge fan of quality he's been wearing Polo since he stepped foot in this country over a decade and a half ago, and maybe even before that!

Hernan: I mean, he wasn't calling himself 'Young Ralph Lauren' for nothing, and this was years before 'F.L.Y.' came out with "Swag Surfin"

Buddy: His Favorite style of shirts has always been Polo shirts, so you could never say he's following the trends either!

To all my people with their own individual style and trends shout outs to you, to all you trendy whores who just hop on bandwagons, go......

Stay Up and Stay tuned ya'll
Luv ya all!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

It's Called Art!!

So I'm walkin to the corner store the other morning before work right? And I see a piece of the building on the corner sectioned off by Police Tape. I didn't think much of it but as I got closer I saw a van that read 'Graffiti Free NYC' along the side of it in orange letters... Now seeing this alone offended me, but as I passed the van I saw a young man with some sort of pressurized Water Gun machine pointed at the front wall of the building. He was taking off the Graffiti that had been placed there with ease. It was as effortless as puttin the spray paint on the wall in the first place. Now call me what you want but this further offended me lol.

I was a bit offended because although I've never done graff I've always been into and have known a few people who do it. Given; in its origins back in the 80's Graff had rules and regulations to follow, and buildings along with Trees and the ground were places that got very little if any respect if you tagged (Graffitied) them. But the reason I took offense to this was not because he was simply erasing what seemed to have taken the artist a while to put up, but because of what him and the company he works for represents. 

They represent "The Man"! Lol they represent the erasing of an era and generation of young people in hopes to make it out to seem as if they never existed. I'm well aware that this sounds a bit over dramatic but you have to understand, regardless of how I appear, how I speak and or how I think; I am from the Hood, and although I've tried to separate myself from the negative aspects of it I still appreciate and love all the good things that come from it. I.E. The sense of community (kids growing up together), the sense of Pride ("Reppin your hood, and appreciating the things life has taught you through the concrete and bricks) and so on and so forth. So Graffiti to me is no different than Block Parties, Hip-Hop and Corner stores. Its where I was born and raised. I'm not sayin I want it to go back to the days when the train was covered in spray paint but Graffiti although many may not want to admit it, IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE ART!! No its not a Picasso, but art is not judged by how many stokes you can put on a blank canvas but rather how an artist (of any form) can give you a piece of his or hers imagination in concrete form wether it be words put along side a musical melody, or a drawing on what would have otherwise just been another blank piece of paper, a waste of a tree. With that said I give you some pics I took shortly after my witnessing of murder. Murder of art that is. 

^^ Not the same guy i saw but this is what it was ^^
SHAME!
(This pic was not taken by me)


^^ I feel neither one of these Men needs Introduction ^^
If You don't know either one then.....


^^ I've been seeing This mans work for as long as I have had vision ^^
Cope if you reading this MAJOR shout outs to you man. I'm a big fan!


^^ Another Popular name around my Way ^^
                   Shout Outs to Ryno

^^ Oh yeah! the Ladies get their Hands Dirty too ^^
                                   Miss 17


^^ My homie get it in too (I'm proud to say I actually know this Artist) ^^
          I see you Baby Girl (Picture her own)


^^ This was just cool to me ^^


^^ Gotta love pieces of Girls ^^

***ALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY ME UNLESS OTHERWISE MENTIONED***

Stay Up Folks and please continue to Stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Alex-Andrea :: Photo Finish

What's goin on Bull Penners?
In my undying efforts to give you my portfolio as it unfolds I present to you my latest shoot with my good friend Alex-Andrea (aint that the illest name?)

^^ I love her new Hair Cut ^^

I've known Alex for about 2 and a half years now and we've always been cool. When she found out that I was an aspiring Photographer she told me she was an aspiring Model. We were both shocked lol, but we figured that both our aspirations should get to know each other and now they're well on their way to marriage.

^^ Little Black Dress ^^

This is only the beginning so to the world I say: Prepare yourselves for the takeover!

Stay Up and Stay Tuned!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Life!

Today I saw a little girl, no older than 5 clutched in her mothers arms having a Seizure. It was very scary and left me a bit shook up.

Scene: I'm Standing on W. 140th St. in Harlem working with Chris and a client. He had just finished snapping pics by the Big L Mural when (what seemed to be) out of nowhere a young lady is walking with 3 little girls, one of which she was carrying. Like a stiff doll the little girl was being carried as her body laid straight and shaking, not realizing what was going on I dismissed it. The mother who had been walking quietly although seemingly worried, snapped out of the trance that her fear had put her in and yelled out "She's having a Seizure please Help me! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP A CAB?!

Immediately everyone attention was directed towards trying to stop a cab. And as if it were scripted; like a Guardian Angel falling from the heavens came a Taxi Cab... We quickly flagged him down and yelled "Harlem Hospital, Now" the lady jumped in, and behind her stiff with fear the other 2 girls were hesitant, but after being pushed and encouraged to "Go with your Mommy" they jumped in the cab, Chris repeated: "Harlem Hospital, and take that Light" an older gentleman on the corner must have seen the ordeal unfold and told the driver the same "C'mon let's go, forget the light, just Go!" The tires screeched and the car was quickly out of sight. :Scene

Shortly after it happened I no longer gave it thought, but now that I'm here not doing very much it has hit me. I'm worried about the little Girl, I wonder if all turned out well, and I'm praying for her and her family. In part the situation has hit me so hard because it reminds me of my baby Cousin Tamara, who almost 7 years ago lost her life to an illness that even Doctors didn't recognize. Tamara was just at the tender age of 5. The loss hit my family hard, but above all else, it nearly destroyed my aunt (Her Mom).

Today when I witnessed this, I saw my cousins face in the little girl and it all reminded me yet again how fragile and sometimes how extremely short life is. Its especially sad when the person losing their life is a person who has barely begun their life in the first place. Just Thank The Lord Above every day that your still here. I know that's what I do.

Stay Up and Stay Tuned Folks!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

One of Those Days/Brotherly Love

(This Post is Heavy on Pics)
Whats goin on Folks? So Today's story begins Yesterday morning. Now I try to tell myself each morning: "Today is gonna be a good day, I'm Feeling, Lookin, and Smellin Like a Million Bucks and ai't nuttin gonna stop my Shine" But Yesterday before I could even get my deodorant on a few things happened that blew my natural High! (Maybe I'll tell you later what it was, maybe I won't)
Needless to say, the terrible mood carried on into my day at work, so much so that I had to leave early. But during lunch I caught up with Che and he convinced me that we had to chill, so I told him we would after work. So shortly after clocking out I met up with him and about 30 minutes after that we both met up with Mylez. We went to go see "Public Enemy" and we all felt it could have been better. So I don't think I have to tell you how well things were starting to turn out. My terrible day was shaping out to be a Good Evening....

^^ ESPN Zone Bar during Lunch ^^
Don't worry I didn't drink

^^ Watching the MJ Memorial Ceremony ^^

^^ Walkin From 42nd to 34th ^^

^^ I had some Free Passes ^^
So This...

^^ ...Meant This ^^

^^ Headin Back Home ^^

^^ Leaving Time Square ^^
I felt and looked like a Tourist taking pics

So Today I was off and Mylez had decided that we should go to Jamaica Queens to chill and buy some stuff, and so I said "Hell Yea, we Out!" All in All it was a decent evening and following day. I guess what this Post really is, is a Thank You to my fellas, they make everything seem like nothing on days like this. Shout outs also go to Rich, he was tryna cheer me up at work and I must admit, it worked a lil bit. Good lookin Bruh!

^^ On the E Train to Queens ^^

^^ Saw This and Had to take a Pic ^^
oh and Look...

^^ AHH HA! GIMME MINE SON! ^^
we bringin it back baby!! lol

So Good lookin to my brothers, Rich that means you too. Like the Song playin says: We gone be Major Baby!

Stay Up an Stay Tuned

Monday, July 6, 2009

Givin you a Visual

Aight folks, this one is simple. Here's what I wanna say:

Videos are gettin dumb whack. I was over here watching Birthday Sex by Jeremih. (A song I actually like btw) and I'm watchin this dude dodge the cooch being thrown at him like a 6th grader scared to lose his virginity.

Then you got The Dream and Kanye rippin off George Lucas for a low budget bad imitation of Star Wars for their "Walking on the Moon" video. Green Screen space ships and stary Galaxy backgrounds and such. What's wrong with these artist and directors?

Has anyone seen Drake fail on his video for 'Best I Ever Had'? LMAO... I must admit his lil jokes whenever the beat dropped were kinda funny but boy oh boy was that a whack video. If Kanye Directed that (I don't remember paying attention to the credits) then the complete opposite of Kudos to him. Sorry Yeezy.

Now I don't care if I already posted about this or not but "D.O.A(DEATH OF AUTO-TUNES) BY JAY-Z WOOOOO. Visually stunning, played out like a Movie, the haircut of the Blueprint 3 Afro at the End of it. Oh Man! That Video was just DOPE!

What ever happened to the Missy Videos? Remember Busta's video for 'Dangerous' with Spliff Starr as the white man resisting arrest and escaping? And 'Put Your hands Where my Eyes can See'? 'Mo Money 'Mo Problems'? And oh man, remember 'Victory'? Or anything Hype Williams and or Little X directed at their prime. Maybe I'm taking it too far back for all the young'ns out there. I mean these videos are for ya'll after all. So more recently, Remember the video for 'Touch the Sky' by Kanye, why couldn't he do something like that for Drake? You see there was a time where the video was more than just a bunch of girls runnin around showin thier goods (not that I dislike that) and niggas havin slow motion cameos in the club poppin bottles. Videos used to be the pairing of a great song with a 4 minute film/motion picture to further portray the image being expressed by the artist. I feel that the difference now (besides everyone being followers and no one being unique and creative individuals) is that the artist no longer has much say or input as to how the video should and or will be. Now the Director comes in, tells the artist which way it'll be and its a wrap from there. This can cause you to even begin to dislike the song you once loved due to the video being whack.

So yea that's my post, these videos are whack, now I remember why I don't watch them anymore. So all you Artist and Directors need to step it up. Artist, start voicing out and having more creative ideas, your paying for the video so you have all the right in the world to have it your way. Directors, your credit is being shown regardless of anything so don't go overboard, remember; sometimes simplicity is key.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Our Father

"AIGHT SO I WAS THINKIN: THE POPE IS SUPPOSEDLY THE CLOSEST MAN TO GOD ON OUR PLANET RIGHT? SO GIVEN HE HAS (OR AT LEAST SHOULD) HAVE THE MOST AMOUNT OF FAITH IN THE KNOWN WORLD RIGHT? IF THIS IS THE CASE THEN WHY DOES HE ROLL AROUND IN A BULLET PROOF CASE? DOES HE FEEL THAT GOD IS GONNA SLIP UP ONE DAY AND LET HARM COME HIS WAY IN THE FORM OF A BULLET?"

What's goin on everyone? What you see above is my most recent FaceBook Status update. It was written because at some point in conversation amongst my brothers the subject of the Pope came about. So this (the Status) was mentioned and it rose eyebrows and questions alike.

So you see, I was raised in a catholic family, a Spanish Catholic family at that, and in this family, Faith in God is what propels us to continue to wake up every morning. We go on with faith and hope that at the end of this dreaded life there is a beautiful after life flooded with Milk and Honey. But I Digress. Back to the subject.

Now we are taught all about our religion through our family (mainly mothers and grandmother) and through the teachings of the New York Catholic school system. It is here that we learn who the Pope is. From what I remember being taught he is the leader of the Catholic religion and the father to every practicing Catholic in the known world. So I remember the order being Priest, Bishops and then the Pope, or something very similar but the Pope being the highest. Now nowhere does it say that he is, but he seems to be portrayed as the highest being among us mere mortals and he is the man under the man, God that is. Now I'm not saying that this is the truth, nor am I saying that it's impossible to be the closest person to God, cause we all know that only you and God know your true Heart. But this is what we've been taught to believe. So this is why the question amongst others came up. Another was "If he's our go-to guy here on Earth, the man between us and the Lord, why is he so hard to get a hold of?" Think about it, you couldn't seek guidance or any form of conversation from the Pope tomorrow if you wanted to.
So all I meant in the status update was that its a bit insulting to see him on TV in the Pope-Mobile separated from the people by a Bullet Proof Glass. If he is indeed the man they make him out to be to us than his Faith in the Lord should be strong enough to know two things:

A. God is protecting him, there is no need for the Bullet Proof case
&
B. If indeed he is shot or somehow fatally wounded (Lord Forbid) than that is God's will and his soul will be at the Lords side in the Kingdom of Heaven soon after leaving his body

Feel free to leave comments and express your thoughts and or beliefs.
Stay Up and Stay Tuned!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Summer Summer Summer Time

What's goin on folks?
Pull up a chair and gather around I wanna talk to ya'll for a lil bit.

So summer is coming up and that only means one thing round here (for me at least) PARTAAAAYY!!

LOL. Aight so first and foremost lets go back to our roots... where does all this excitement for the summer months come from? I'll tell you: School, grade school and Junior high to be exact. I'm bout to take ya'll back.... Remember the first day of June? You knew that at most you had about 20-25 days of school left and in those 20-25 days you weren't even gonna be doin much. Most likely you had a few tests here and there and after that it was freedom for 2 and a half to 3 months. Now you see me, I had summer school damn near EVERY year of my academic career, but even for me summer meant: "No more projects, No more books, No more teacher's dirty Looks!" AAOOWW. write that one down! this is back where nothing in the world mattered, so long as you could ride your bike every day, hang out with your friends outside, have icies and ice cream all day, run up and down like chickens with heads cut off, and waking up if and when you wanted to.

I remember, my mom used to leave for work and tell me to watch my brother, leave money for food on the table and tell me that she'd call from work every hour or so. My brother and I would head outside with our bikes and ride around like all adults had disappeared of the face of the Earth. Pretty much Summer is and should be like a real life Jimmy Neutron movie.

But see we're older now, we have jobs and there's no such thing as a Summer anthem anymore on the radio. We don't ride bikes anymore nor do we even wait for summer because chances are we're working all the way through it! It's all about the night life now, which is in part what is inspiring this Post. I just want it to be one of the best Summers yet. Plus my Birthday is on Aug. 14Th, so its only right I end the Summer with a bang!

I plan on kicking it off on Saturday for a July 4Th cookout where the fellas are supposed to be performing. All I want is to take a lot of pictures, chill with a lot of girls and consume a lot of liquor. lol.

With all that Said I'm making a list of all the things to make yours and my summer POPPIN this year:

1. Stay Cool... Wear some shorts and a T, it be hot as hell, leave the fashion for the evening.
2. Avoid confrontation. Someone bumped into you, let it slide you don't wanna end up in jail next to a bum in 93 degree (in the shade) weather
3. Find an Air Conditioned room and make some Love... It's amazing how relaxed you are after a good session!
4. Sleep till 3pm. Ain't much goin on before then anyway.
5. Attend a cookout or two
6. Appreciate the scenery. Girls wear less in the summer try and get you one. Fellas, this does not by any means mean be an animal.
7. Club nights one of the reasons we love Life. Tell the bartender to give you a Patron Straight on the Rocks.
8. Attend Eno's Annual "Big Ass Birthday party Bash Celebration Extravaganza"
9. Bump "Summertime" By The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff at least once a day all summer.

Taking it Back:
0. Have Some cereal for breakfast, remember that?
1. Go catch a Movie, I hear 'Harry Potter' got another Blockbuster on the way.
2. Go to the Pool and Beach, bring your sun block.

Print out this list and Check em off as you do em, and we're guaranteed to have a dope summer.No Caption necessary!

^See no. 6 on the List^
Oh Yeah Partna!

^The Prince and Jazzy Jeff^
Showin Us How it's Done!