Those of y'all who are members of the Big & Strong group have already seen this strapping lad, but I wanted to share him here as a prime archetypal example of a classic, deliciously goonish bullpup:





The jawline, the expression, the pose = Perfection. All this bubbaboy needs is a fresh HnT (and maybe an Aggie uniform :-p) and he'd be a postergoon if I ever saw one. Anyone out there able to identify the school? Be curious to know what's in this lug's wrasslin' future!

EDIT: whiskerfish has solved the mystery; the bullpup's 411 can be found here.

It's an icy day here in the Federal City, with roads slick, sidewalks dangerous, and me working from home instead of dealing with semi-Suthroners who don't know how to drive in this slushy mess of a storm. What better way to keep warm during this day of weather craptacularness than to enjoy in one of the latest pieces by my talented artist buddy Neil/bulklust -- a kickass painting entitled 'Homeland Security' that was inspired by my photo series of NYPD HWY Patrolbulls working their Manhattan checkpoint mixed with a delightful dose of artistic liberty:




(ORIGINAL ON NEIL'S FLICKR HERE)
Wowsers, I'd say Neil's done a bang-up job portraying one of HWY's most stalwart sentries on the beat, and just looking at his version of the scene has me feeling all warm and toasty all of a sudden! (And I'm sure HWY guys who stumble on this post are going to be a bit jealous that they weren't likewise painted for posterity like their bullish colleague here.)

If you haven't checked out Neil's kickass artworks before, I do recommend 'em -- though do note some are more NSFW than others. In the meantime, I'm getting another cup of hot cocoa and staying indoors. Stay warm out there, folks!

I've decided instead of a usual Friday 'Name the Bullgoon!' post that I'd work this weekend on putting together a full year-end 'Bullgoon of the Year' poll; look for that sometime before Christmas, either in one big-ass post or in a series I'll post through on 'til New Years.

In the meantime, here's a slight change of the usual photo-scenery in the form of a couple smiling, Oakley-shaded, high-n-tighted big boys from the Air Force doing some kind of training exercise and lookin' all lugalicious. Props to a bud in TX for sending these along to me; I just had to share 'em here!







And now back to wrapping up some morning work on a very drizzly Friday.

Oh, Florida: you may be known mostly for voting 'irregularities', snowbirds, Disney, and Jimmy Buffett, but to me you'll always be the land of sausage-skin-tight motorbreeches -- as shown by this attendee at the Southeast Police Motorcycle Rodeo earlier this month:





Plenty of additional, full-size shots posted here; some other personal favorites from the batch are two big-assed Jacksonville PD patrolbulls (seen here, here and here and showing off a particularly kickass forearm tatt here) and a strutting Florida HP bubbagoon (complete with camo ballcap) seen here.

In a week, the big-ass agency project I've been handling will finally come to pass, and I can then return to a less stressed-out/busy/exhausted/pissed-off plane of normality. For the time being, the long holiday weekend of Veterans' Day will have to serve as enough of a breather. I plan to try and enjoy the last gasp of pseudo-warm weather on Monday with a stroll along the Mall and the Wall, to watch the leaves start falling like various metallic-colored currencies onto the Potomac, and to bring my trusty camera along to record what I expect to be a subdued but still significant USPP/MPDC presence for the Vets Day crowds. This might be a bit more of a relaxing way to spend the weekend than my prior weekend spent at various hang-outs from Adams Morgan to the Charm City with my H.S. buddy D. and C., his Amero-Irish girlfriend from Cleveland (by way of Yale and intense Arabic studies in San'a', Yemen).


WOMAN WITH GOLDEN FAWN (IN AN UNFINISHED PARK BEHIND JUDICIARY SQUARE)
NOVEMBER 7, 2007

In other news, got an email from some lobbying/activist group working toward Third World debt relief; they want to use some of the pics I took (mostly of various signs and placards) at the IMF/World Bank protests last month -- and then uploaded to my Flickr -- as part of the set of graphics they plan to use in their end-of-year mailer to supporters. The email ends with quotations from Fannie Lou Hamer and James Baldwin and concludes with Stephen Biko's 'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.' The sign-off before the correspondent's signature is, literally, 'In peace and solidarity.' I'll of course let them use my pics (I generally let those who contact me use 'em at their will), but one must ask if there's some large chunk of irony about said group scoping out my Flickr collection and somehow avoiding or not realizing its more dominant subject matter. Ah, well, gave me a much-needed chuckle.

I'll conclude by giving mad props to wooferstl for helping me not go completely bonkers at work by cobbling together this kickass collage of still-shots from the Deal or No Deal episode I mentioned a week ago. It gives a good sampling of both the competing motorlug (light gray shirt) and his big Irish bubbamoose motor-partner (really tight dark gray shirt), who was referred to by the first cop as '[his] heavy ahhrtillery.' I'm really hoping someone out there (bootglove?) scored it on DVR for transferral to comp/torrent format -- it's an episode of such delicious, over-the-top goonery that it really should be archived for the ages :-p

And now back to the grind.

HDR -- short for 'High Dynamic Range' imaging -- photos really can allow for some fantastic color combinations and light-shifting effects. I've no idea how to do it myself but plenty of other Flickr users seem to have a real knack for rendering their pics into fantastic HDR colorscapes. And while of course the majority of HDR photos are of stunning city shots -- take these pics of Amsterdam, Singapore, Manhattan, and Tokyo for example -- there are those HDR artists who like to focus on other subjects...such as NYPD Highway Patrol bullgoon bruisers parking their hogs for what I'm guessing is ATLAS/HERCULES duty along Lexington Avenue:

PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE MOUNTED HOSS
SEPTEMBER 22, 2007: GAITHERSBURG, MD
I've finished uploading a selection of photos from this year's North American Police Equestrian Championships onto my Flickr, as some have probably already noticed.

In attendance at this year's event, in addition to the Pennsylvania State Police trooper above, were units from Providence, RI; Toronto, ON; New York, NY; Passaic County, NJ; Montgomery County, MD; the US Park Police; New Castle County, DE; Lexington and Louisville, KY; Nassau County, NY; and sundry others. It was definitely great fun to get even more practice with police photography, but there's also an immense difference in size, attitude, and gender demographics between motor- and mounted cops; this is pretty clear if you compare my Mid-Atlantic Motor Rodeo shots with these latest ones. Anyways, enjoy, and if you can't see the full-size pics, just shoot me a note with your Flickr/Yahoo ID and I can open that feature up for y'all.

Wow, whatta day yesterday!







THE PHILADELPHIA HERO THRILL SHOW / SOUTH PHILADELPHIA SPORTS COMPLEX
SEPTEMBER 8, 2007
Aside from some traffic on I-95 N, the mobs of screaming kids clogging the show grounds, and the fact that I eventually ran out of room on my 2GB memory card (but that's a good sign, no?), yesterday rocked. Not only did I get a heaping eyeful of Philly's Finest (and Bravest), but I also got to hang out with Craig -- a Delawarian with similiar police-photography interests and a member of mastersergeant's MAUL cadre. With his help, we scored access to an awesome photography spot to capture much of the antics in the performance ring. And, not only that, but we got in for free (we were both gifted with extra tickets by a friendly gentleman right outside the fairgrounds -- w00t!). Add in some spectacular sunny weather and an after-show screening of Magnum Force and you have the perfect recipe for quite a memorable late-summer day-trip.

I've got loads of pics to process, so they'll be forthcoming in time -- with selections posted here and the bulk on my Flickr, as per procedure.

Just when I thought I'd be spending another week photographing Victorian architecture and memorials to Soviet warcrimes (how gauche!), along comes another massively archetypal example of the bubbagoon tourist herd which wonderfully clogs the Federal City in the summer. This big slab of bulgin' beef hails from what I'm guessing is Hardin County, Texas. And boo-yah, is he a keeper, all decked-out to swagger around town with a get-up that announces where he's from to a full two-block radius, and then some...




( Behold the Man Sporting this Too-Unironic-for-Boswash-T-shirt [But Not to Me] )

An end of the week dose of some apple-cheeked, NYPD bull-bulk to get the day started right (why is the guy on the right not in HWY yet, I have to wonder?); notable, though, that while they are smiling, they're also wearing black mourning-bands across their shields. Hope they stay safe out there!






Weekend plans include dragging my ass outta bed tomorrow at 0500h to make it to the Pentagon in time to see off the metro-DC component of motorcycle cops participating in [the] America's 9/11 (First Responders Memorial) Ride. Should be interesting should I succeed at an early rise, and perhaps a good chance to practice my photog skillz. After that event, I'm lined-up to attend the Mid-Atlantic Police Motor Rodeo on 9/15 in Fairfax (VA), and the North American Police Equestrian Championships the weekend after in Gaithersburg (MD). W00t!

Virginia's recent choice to enact 'bad driver fees' (For example: it's now a ~$1,150[!] total fee if you're convicted of not using your turn signal properly [per Title 46.2-860]) may totally suck ass, but at least the state's standards for trooper recruitment meet my expectations as proved by this shot I stumbled across on teh intarwebs:



His smirk, fingers the size of sausages, the cap perched to cover the eyes and the double-chin are classic; that he's getting his boots polished is the icing on the cake. It's also good to see that the VA State motor-lugs get to sport leathers in wintertime, albeit sadly not the 3/4ths style worn by lawmen up north. Harumph. Maybe with all the new fees VA will be siphoning from drivers the Staties can afford some new duds?

In other news, I'm gonna soon be posting a kickass colorization of one of my drawings by griffmoss/'Moose'; it really puts my original black and white version to shame. I'll let this banner preview whet your appetite in the meantime:

Reader Steve from Illinois visited his local Highland Games practice run last weekend, and took some more excellent shots of these bullgoons in action.These two prime lugs particularly stood out for me among the bunch:







More big-ass, Celtic-themed USDA Grade-A Midsector Beef can be found at the above link. Thanks, Steve, for sending these my way -- and here's to a yet 'nother round of great snaps at the next Highland Games in August! :D

I would like to give props to brunorepublic   for his creative and kickass series of LJ usericon 'stamps'. If you haven't seen 'em pop up in your comments as yet, do check 'em out.

Seeing as I liked his mock-national icons so much -- and since I have ridiculous ample usericon space -- I figured I'd do my own take on the theme with icons for the gooniverse, a.k.a., the Goonited States. Here's what I cobbled together last night:



Suggestions/ideas/tips on crafting better icons?

As usual, NYPD HWY continues to show how they rule the roost when it comes to lookin' as tough-ass and goony as cops can get. Whadda classic shot I found via Flickr:







I almost want to caption this with 'I IS SERIOUS COP, THIS IS SERIOUS BLOG', but I'm not sure the world is quite ready for lolgoons.

Phew. Just got in from the National Police Motorcycle Rodeo on the Mall, and boy, whadda day. I've over 200 pics to go through to process and upload, which I think I'll do over the next few days rather than all in one batch. All in all, an awesome event, and a hint of what's to come w/r/t this year's Mid-Atlantic Motor Rodeo in September (which is even larger than today's rodeo). Good times!

Saw this van today in Ballston--Arlington, and did a double-take. The Goonited States gets closer and closer everyday, it seems. Can Goonburger fast food joints be far off?





SLOUCHING TOWARD GOONORRAH
JULY 9, 2007: BALLSTON--ARLINGTON, VA

DC really attracts a boatload of a certain type of tourist demographic -- namely the cornfed, Suthro-Midwestern beefhead variety, as exhibited by this slab of fireplug-built daddy-pork I caught waddling near Freedom Plaza with his family:










The full-size ones are on my Flickr, as usual.

Oy, I'm still recovering from the 4th, which in some ways felt a bit like New Year's stuck in the middle of summer. I started the day by meeting a friend from high school (now living in Baltimore) on the Mall, but only managed to snag scant photos of the immense security detail DC roped in from all neighboring jurisdictions to staff the festivities. Suffice it to say, next year I will aim to arrive earlier and document the police lugs more carefully. Right before the weather turned wonky, we ended up over in Court House--Arlington, where we barcrawled, smoked hookahs, watched the fireworks from a rooftop deck, and proceded to foolishly engage in a shot-drinking competition with a highly-tatooed, former Royal Marine, security lug from Wales. Fun times!


VIRGINIA STATE POLICE K-9 TROOPERS MANNING SECURITY CHECKPOINT ON THE NATIONAL MALL
JULY 4, 2007

Just a friendly heads-up to alert y'all that, of all police agencies, the Mississippi Highway Patrol (or, more accurately, the Mississippi State Troopers' Association) has started a Flickr album, located here. If snaps of big proud patrol-bulls receiving anti-DUI awards, sweaty SWAT bubba-jocks waddle-stomping around on training missions, goofy-grinning troopers posing with the "Sweet Potatoe [sic] Queen of Mississippi", and, the following shot of the MHP Motor Squad are your kinda thing, you might wanna check it out:




I'm not wild about the gray on baby-blue uniforms of the MHP, myself, but the Mississippi-shaped shield ("badge") makes me smile. Definitely a great look at an under-media-saturated agency, to be sure, and a pleasure to think about how pine-tar thick these guys accents must be! :-p

A classic slice of wide-assed NYPD goodness, as gleaned from a set of pics of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade on Flickr:






Note also the faint hint of a neckroll starting to show where his columnar neck meets his thick skull. :-p

I'll state right up front that I wasn't torn for long in the choice between attending Pridefest (tiny beer 'gardens', overpriced food, and cute bulldog-rescue society tents), or wandering a few blocks over to witness the clusterf*ck of Pride-meeting-a-national-pro-Palestine-rally-meeting-with-a-pro-Israel-counterprotest. While I find the Israel-Palestine issue hyperbolic, hopelessly intractable (it's been going on for more than twice as long as I've lived!) and just plain merciless (kids from my high school were incinerated in a bus bombing back in the day), I could not of course resist the allure of the heavy police attendance guarding the Mall, Capitol, and related grounds, nor could I deny myself the joys of the melodrama that comprises half of any decently-attended protest. So, hereforth is the second part of my Pride Weekend posts, which promises to be probably be my largest photo-post yet. Enjoy!



( I'm in yer nation's capital, documentinz teh protestdrama )

Steve W., a reader of this blog and an excellent photographer, has given me permission to post some of his kickass pics from Highland Games Strongman events in central Illinois. His skill and taste in highlighting the biggest lugs of the Games is spot-on, and sure provides a nice interlude between my continuing posts from National Police Week, I think. And these shots provide some definite goonspiration for some new drawings, too. Check behind the cut for the full sampling of (work-safe) bulgin' thick farmer-lugs in kilted regalia:




( More Midsector Meatheads )

Big thanks to Steve for allowing me to post these here; for more of his pics from the Highland Games, and his other photographic interests, check out his Flickr page.

For some reason, the lobby of my building is swarming with a squad of MPDC police recruits, all decked out in the tan version of the quite militarist uniform they like to wear here in the District (combat boots, rolled-up sleeves, BDUs, USMC-style caps, the works). I've no explanation as to why they're here, but I ain't complaining.

In other news, since many LJers will be off to IML this weekend, I figure I'll resume my National Police Week photo-posts sometime next week. In the meantime, I'll be running around this weekend to find events associated with the Rolling Thunder motorcycle run, as well as the 'National Memorial Day' parade on Monday; my camera will most certainly be in tow for those should I attend ;)