Mirrors

Yaooooowwww!

What's going on Bull Penners. This is another one of those "Personal" type posts.

So the other night I got into somewhat of a "quarrel" on Instagram with a family member. Lookin back at it now I can see that it was childish and very unnecessary, but that's what this blog post is about, reflections.

First of all, if I may explain. I am a pretty cool dude. However, if there is anything that you should know from the anatomically correct heart tattooed on my arm, with the ribbon that reads "Members Only" it's this: I am very selective with who I let in! I mean, think about it, have you ever seen that tattoo? No right? It's hidden on my arm for a reason. You can see all the other ones, but that's one that you can't see unless I show it to you. That's not to say that if you haven't seen it I don't care about you, because that's simply not the case. However it is an indication of how I am in life. Yes, I wear my heart on my sleeve, but if I don't "fucks" with you then you are not allowed to touch it!

Does that make sense? Look at it like this. Think of the embarrassing family name that you've had since birth. Maybe it's Stink Butt, or Pookie, or whatever the fuck else your uncle gave you cause you had beady eyes or a huge bottom lip, or a swollen nose, whatever! It was cute til about 2nd grade, and then you got tired of it, but regardless your family always got away with calling you that because, well, they're your family. Simple enough to understand right? But then when one of the niggas in your classroom over heard it and decided to repeat it, it was a code red on his ass right!? Well that's how I am with joking. Even with the people in my circle. I can take being the butt of the jokes but only for so long before I hit you with the "Aight, that's enough!" I don't like to be laughed at, and I am willing to bet every penny that I am worth that I am not the only one.

Some people are better at dealing with it than I am, but the fact still remains that every one has a boiling point right? Anyway... That's what was going on in the Instagram world. I was being joked on and I wasn't having it.   

On the way to work the next day I spoke to Buddy, Eish and Rudy about it and they made me realize that I was in the wrong. And now I stand here before you a man strong enough (I think,) to admit that it was a LONG trip to work! I mean, one thing I believe is that no one can tell you that you are wrong for feeling what you feel. They can disagree with it, but no one can change YOUR mind!
But basically it was my family tellin me that I am an angry individual. That my temper sometimes get the best of me. Again, it's very hard for me to admit it but I guess it's true. I'll tell you something, nothing is realer than an unintended intervention in a moving car! Nowhere to go, sitting there taking whatever is coming your way from those you love.

However the same way a phoenix dies and rises from it's own ashes, I took those words as my flames, and when the car stopped and I got out, I took that moment as me rising from my ashes! I decided that although I didn't agree with what was being said it had to be true in some way.
I'm a pretty logical dude, I've been in situations where I am trying to tell someone about themselves and they just refuse to believe that what I am saying is true. So I figured If I've ever been a part of the lynch mob trying to tell a man "what it is" and he's not believing it, then how is it that I can be on the other side and think to myself "Well these 3 people can't all be on the same page, simply to be against me." So I STILL don't agree but I accepted the fact that maybe, I am an angry individual. That's fine tho, I feel angry is the new word given to a revolutionist. That'll be explained later.

So what did I learn? Well what I already knew, "people don't like having the mirror turned on themselves. People don't like to be told who they are and definitely don't like to be reminded of their flaws by anyone else but the reflection in the mirror!" I'm no exception to that rule.

And that, leads us into the second portion of this post.

If I don't like having the mirror turned on me, well I'm not the only one. On the ride to work today the topic of discussion was lateness and how bad Rudy and Buddy are with time. I made a statement about how much I don't like to wait for people and how I'm not sure who's worst between Rudy and Buddy. Both of them move like dogs with absolutely no human regard for time and other peoples courtesy. So Buddy didn't like the comment because he personally feels that Rudy is WAY worse than he is. But again that's the mirror being pointed at him. See, the thing of it is this: you are never going to see yourself the way anyone else sees you. The same way your voice sounds different to you when you hear a recording of it is the same way that you see yourself differently than others see you. Buddy defended his point til the point that he began to sound upset. Not in a rage of course cause that's not the type of dude that Buddy is, but he did remind me of myself the day before, choosing not to agree with the other 3 people in the car. And just like that, the table was turned, or should I say the mirror was flipped!

See when its all said and done, I seriously do not believe that I am an angry individual. If anything I simply believe that I think on a different wave length then most people.
 That's me seeing myself differently than how you see me. Buddy doesn't believe he is as bad as Rudy when it comes to tardiness, but that's simply him seeing himself differently. We always see ourselves in the best possible light, but we quickly forget that there is two versions of ourselves. There is the person we see in the mirror and that's how we see ourselves, mentally, physically and whatever else differently from how the world sees us! We are all walking with two faces, two different entities all in our one body!

Did any of that make sense?

Stay Up and Stay Tuned.

The Uniform

This post is about hoes.

I know what you thinkin: "Eno always disrespecting women!" WRONG! I'm disrespecting hoes. Why? Because hoes don't deserve or have earned any respect, at least not mine.
Sit down and let me explain myself.

First let's play a lil picture and word association game.

First off: What is the profession of these men?

^That is correct. Police Officers.

But how did you know they were police officers? Nothing in this picture says "Hey, we are New York's Finest." Ahhhhh, correct you are, their uniform. Very good.

Now, can anyone tell me what this man does?

^Did you think Thief, robber or criminal?

I bet you did, but why? Because you saw him with a ski mask and a gun right? What if I told you, "This is not a robber, just plain ol Rob." Then why the ski mask? Well Rob gets cold easily and it's winter time, so a regular ski cap or skully won't do the trick. Oh why the gun? Rob lives in a dangerous neighborhood where he never intends to ever use his gun, but you never know. Oh and the gun is legally owned, registered and he has a license to carry it.

Are you thinkin to yourself? "Bullshit!" I know I was and I'm the one typing the words out. 

What's my point in all this? My point is that the way you look tells the outside world more than just what your "style" is.

You know that age old saying: "Don't judge a book by it's cover?" Well that's bullshit too. I believe that expression works ONLY when referring to an actual book. When it comes to people however, that goes out the window. Yes it's true, you SHOULDN'T judge a book by its cover, however we tend to forget that many of us walk around with the preface to the book written all over our faces. 

You see, a lot of females choose to wear tight leather and sexy cat suits and sometimes close to nothin when they go out. They post pics that leave little to the imagination on Instagram and then minutes later they post a 'tweetgram' demanding the respect of a lady! Bitch! I can see ya twat! There's nothin lady like about that.

So then they end up being perceived as this:

^That's right Hookers!

(I wanted a more realistic pic but this is all 

Google had for me that wasn't too crazy.)

And even strippers get more respect then hookers! You see ladies it's important to remember that you can be "Sexy" without being trashy. When I see you in the club with your clothes that screams "Come Fuck me!" revealing all the lady parts that only your significant other should be able to identify, I'm not thinkin "Lemme not call her a bitch, cause she's a lady" No. I'm thinkin "Hoe, lemme rub my dick up on it!"

Yeah that's raw, nasty, vulgar, whatever you wanna call it, but I don't believe in being politically correct. I'm always gonna call a spade a spade! A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but I'm still going to consider it to be a rose.

The same applies for men. A lot of dudes walk around with their pants so far off there waist that you wonder what the point of wearing them is. 

Think about it fellas, do any of you have a mother or grandmother that will never stop considering you to be her baby. No matter how much facial hair you grow, no matter how much you tell her "Ma/Grandma, I'm not a baby!" Chances are that'll never change cause some things are just the way they are. However, think of the visuals you use to aid your grandmother. Your grandmother knows how to differentiate a boy from a man. When she goes out and sees all the HS students on the bus what does she see? Lil boys with half their asses out, right? So think: when's the last time your grandmother saw you in a suit and tie? Or even a clean button up? When's the last time you came in to her house and she didn't have to remind you to pick up your pants. Your grandma has no interest in seeing what underwear you chose today. I'm not saying go change your wardrobe, but if grandma thinks you're a baby then you're not helping your case by being dressed any different than a child in high school.

The point of all this is, we all portray something when we get dressed and walk out the house in the morning. 

So when a woman says "I dress how I like doesn't mean I'm a hoe!" Then I can grab a gun and a ski mask and say "I like this look, doesn't mean I'm a thief or criminal" or "Nah I'm not a cop, but I love their navy blue slacks and hats that they wear" Consider your everyday clothing a costume. If we see Pirate we're going to say pirate, no matter how hard you want us to believe you're a hero.

Our costumes, or uniforms is what lets the world know how they're going to treat you or approach you. I know it may seem vain but these are the harsh realities of life. Remember to dress for the job you want, not the job you have... With all that said, I'm gonna go get ready to hit the club and see which one of these hoes is gonna pop it for a real nigga tonight! 

Stay Up and Stay Tuned!

Random Tattoo Post

So a while ago I came across this dope ass Tattoo Video. An artist named Russ Abbot tattooed a fellow artist. The sleeve that he tattoed was done over the course of 3 days, 24 hours all together. If you know anything about tattoos, then you know that's INSANE! Lol.

But anyway, I'm sitting here thinking about the next tattoo I want on the left side of my neck and came across it again. Figured I'd share it with ya.

Enjoy:
http://vimeo.com/37013740

Stay Up, and Stay Tuned.

My Heart and Sole

What's goin on ya'll? How's ya Black history month goin? Lol, Yeah, ya forgot huh?
It's all good, I'm not here to bust ya chops about that.

I was talkin to my mom and brother last night and I said to them "You know, it occurs to me that I am always gonna be a SneakerHead. It's obvious (now) that's not goin anywhere." Lol. But if my sneaker addiction is a dark cloud (which I don't think it is, lol) then there's of course a silver lining here.
I'm sure a lot of ya know, if you've been following my blog since day one, but for those of ya who don't know, my love for sneakers is one of the main reasons why I became a photographer.

Back in 2006/7 I joined an online sneaker community called NikeTalk. It's a large message board/forum site for sneaker fiends just like myself. Then a while after that I got a gig at UniQlo where I met some good friends who were also sneakerheads. Needless to say I just became a bigger addict. I bought a lil Sony Cybershot digital camera to get pics of my kicks to post on NT and the whole nine. Lol.
Anyway, soon after came retirement and I sold off a good chunk of my collection, don't ask. That was right before I bought my first professional DSLR camera in 2009. But now here I am a few years later, back at it. Buying a few pairs a month and slowly but surely becoming a regular on  NikeTalk again. Lol.


So this morning, in my boredom, I decided to take a few pics of some of my newest pairs just for the hell of it.

 Check it out:

These are a pair that I originally saw posted on NikeTalk by another member.

I immediately fell in love. I'm a HUGE sucker for  Air Max 1's 

and this colorway just screamed out for me.That Cheetah print. MMMMM! 

Lol

Again, Air Max 1's. One of my 2 ultimate favorites in the Air Max

line. These in particular are a pair of NikeiD's.

I've designed over 30 pairs of sneakers there

and finally, I ordered these earlier this year. My first pair of ID's.

The colorway was inspired by the Nike Cortez' that Tom Hanks wore in the movie
Forrest Gump. 

And these here are my OG Air Jordan XIV's (14's)

Nickname: Oxidized. Released in 1999
I remember I had these in 6th grade. Jeez Louis! I was in love.

They were my 3rd or 4th pair of Jays at the time & I remember I wore them til they didn't

fit anymore. My mom made me give them to a cousin of mine and they've been nothin more than a distant memory since.

So recently when I found them for a great price online I HAD to cop lol.

That's right I have a pair of 14 year old kicks! Jealous? Lol

For the first time ever I took photographs and didn't edit them in anyway. All I did was add my logo to em and that it. No color correction, no sharpening or blurring. These pictures are as raw as can be. I wanted to get back to the essence of my photography so I went with the oldest muse that I could think of.

I'm sure this is gonna help me become an amazing photographer. Whenever I'm feelin un inspired I'll shoot some flicks of kicks and relay that same energy to any and everything else.

Bonus:

 This is what my pictures were lookin like when I was 

still taking them with my phone! Lol

These are Nike Supreme Trainer II's

taken with a SideKick LX.

And then this is what they looked like when I 

got my Sony CyberShot digi cam.

2006 Retro Air Jordan "Grape" V's.

I think we can call agree I've come a long way! Lol.

Anyway. Hope ya enjoy. Keep em fresh ju heard!?

Stay Up, and Stay Tuned!