First of all, let me start by saying that I really do love Mass Appeal magazine. They do a great job covering music, and culture and fashion and everything else that a good magazine should cover.

Now, getting that out of the way… I remember seeing this on a news-stand not too long ago and being rather confused. First of all, I wasn’t really sure who Michael Pitt was, and secondly I was thrown off by the way that they referred to him on the cover as a “Bushwick Badboy” (notice the lower right corner under Pitt’s name).

Now, I’m not saying that I’m upset because Michael Pitt is claiming Bushwick as his home. I like it whenever anyone, anywhere represents for Bushwick (I should also mention that Bushwick is the home of Mass Appeal Magazine). I’m also not upset that Pitt is using his residence to make a statement about his character. The fact that he chose Bushwick instead of any number of other, nicer neighborhoods certainly does say something. What rubs me the wrong way is that he is described as a “Bushwick Badboy.”

I would like to get something straight right now: Living in Bushwick does not, by any means, make you “hard.” I live in Bushwick and I am not hard, I am an internet blogger. There are certainly some tuff people in Bushwick, but this does not imply that living in Bushwick makes you tuff.

Mass Appeal, please do a little more research before choosing a person to be labeled the “Bushwick Badboy.” I might suggest looking for someone who lived in Bushwick through the 90’s or the 80’s, or maybe even the blackout in ‘77.

Now, I’m not claiming that I know much about Michael Pitt but I get the feeling that he’s probably as much of a “badboy” as another New Yorker who took that same title:

(And just for the record, anything on the Northwest side of Myrtle is soft as warm butter… says the rudeboy from Halsey Ave)

This is a bit of old news, but I’ve never had the chance to publicly gripe about it. My car was stolen a few days before Christmas back in 2007. It was parked on the corner of Bushwick and Hancock, just across the street from my apartment. What really sucks is that I was in the process of trying to sell the car and I had no theft insurance.

I discovered that the car was “took” on Christmas Day. I’m not sure what day it was actually stolen, since I hadn’t driven it since the prior Thursday.

Never try to file a police report on Christmas day. Nobody wants to work that day, including the police. After calling what I though was every conceivable tow yard in the five boroughs I made my first attempt to file a report. When the police arrived, they gave me some new tow yard numbers to call (which just ended up connecting me to the numbers I had already dialed) and told me to call back in when I had finished.

When I called back, they sent a new pair of officers who told me that I should wait a few days to file because they thought the car might turn up in the city impound system. It did not. If I had to guess what each pair of officers was actually doing, I would guess that they just didn’t feel like going through the effort of filing paperwork on Christmas day, and were trying to “pay it forward.”

I will finish with these two side notes:

One: Standing on the corner of Bushwick Ave and Hancock openly talking to the police is a rather terrifying experience especially given the fact that A) I am white and B) I have witnessed a number undercover drug busts since I move here a year ago.

Two: Why the fuck do people love breaking into Honda Civics so much?? In the two years I owned that car, it was broken into twice and then stolen. I lost two radios, two amplifiers, 3 summer tires (which where in the car waiting to be put on), and I had to replace one window (one thief was kind enough to not break my window, and even lock my door when he was done).

Oooff.

There was a report in the Daily News this morning posted at 4:00 am about cops being pulled off the streets of East New York, Brownsville and Bushwick last night in light of the Sean Bell case verdict. Aparently, the police were tipped off that plans were being made to murk patrolmen and do a driveby of the Brooklyn stationhouse.

We were excited at the notion of parking our cars anywhere we wanted without fear of parking tickets but being that it was already Sunday, it sort’ve took all the fun out of it.

Yo!!! I’ve seen this dude before! Found this video snippet on Youtube unbeknownst to me that he was becoming something of an L Train phenom! He seemed a little more subdued the time I ran into him. Maybe he was having a down day, but this video must’ve been taken during mating season the way he’s really going at it in this clip… wow.

Also not to be confused with Weezy’s Birdman:

If you live in Bushwick, then you can understand what it’s like to be hated on constantly.  People can’t help it, they’re jealous of the Bushwick lifestyle and the brash swagger that comes with it.  Perhaps non in history have hated on Bushwick more strongly than Robert Peary.

It all started when proud Bushwick resident Frederick Cook became the first American to travel to the North Pole in April of 1908.  Peary, who traveled to the North Pole once it was already played out in 1909, couldn’t control his envy and launched an entire smear trying to discredit Cook so that he could steal the title of being the first American to reach the North Pole.  Bad form Peary, bad form.

The next time you experience the salty sting of hate, take a trip to Bushwick and Mrytle and lick a shot for Frederick Cook outside of his mansion.  Brrrrraaatt.