Belinda

This is a picture with Belinda Peregin. She is a 20-year-old popular singer from Mexico, and pretty good looking in my opinion. I saw her at Reggaeton Night where she was interviewing people for MTV. Actually, I didn't know who she was. My friend Consuelo told me I take a picture with the MTV girl, so I did. Then when I got home I realized that I have some of her music on my computer.



Anyway, this picture doesn't do her justice - so check out one of Belinda's music videos:

Clubbing with a Kingpin

This is a picture of me with Guillermo Coppola taken in the VIP area of the Terrazas del Este club, in Buenos Aires Argentina.

Your first question may be, "What was Ryan Bullock doing in the VIP area of a club in Buenos Aires?" Well, the explanation is that I was not Ryan Bullock that night - I was "Chip Duracell". That's right... of THE Duracell family. My great grandfather started the Duracell battery company, and I am the an "heir to the Duracell family fortune". Of course that is ridiculous - there is no Duracell family. But Chip Duracell gets to step into the VIP area.

The next question is who is Guillermo Coppola. Well, here in Argentina he is known as "El Rey de la Noche" (the King of the Night). Basically, he is a major socialite, politically-connected celebrity, and womanizer who many believe has had links to organized crime here in Argentina. Coppola was Diego Maradona's manager for years. For those of you who don't know, Diego Maradona is a former Argentine soccer player and the current manager of the Argentine national soccer team. Many people consider Maradona the best professional soccer player in the history of the game. He is certainly one of soccer's most controversial figures.

Coppola was arrested back in the mid 90s after police busted him with more than 500 grams of cocaine in his Buenos Aires apartment. He was initially charged with drug possession with intent to sell. Police claimed that he may have been part of a drug ring that sold drugs in resorts along Argentina's Atlantic coast, and Coppola was potentially facing up to 20 years in prison. Here is a New York Times article from about a week after the incident. After he spent over a year in prison, it turned out that the drugs may have been "planted" in Coppola's house by an undercover police officer. Anyway, they let him walk.

There is certainly a lot more to tell about Guillermo Coppola. Back in 2009, he released an autobiographical book full of stories and anecdotes about Maradona, power, drugs, jail, women, scandals, and nightlife. The book cover is pictured here:

Diego Maradona used to say that Guillermo
Coppola could "smoke under water", which is
an argentine expression that means that he
can do anything and everything. That explains
the picture on Coppola's book cover.

Somebody Who Loves Me...

That is a loose translation of the name of a popular Argentine novela - see Alguien que me quiera. "Novelas" or "telenovelas" are sort of like a cross between soap operas and mini-series in the U.S. Novelas are packed full of passion and drama like soap operas, but they generally run for a much shorter duration.

This guy in the picture Miguel Ángel Rodríguez. He is one of the characters in the Argentine novela "Alguien que me quiera". I have run into him a couple times at San Lorenzo soccer games, so I guess he must be a fan.

Apparently Viggo Mortensen was also at the game yesterday. He is an American actor who has been in a number of films - the most well known is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I learned yesterday that he spent a substantial portion of his childhood living in Argentina. Apparently he is also a pretty serious San Lorenzo fan, and he shows up periodically at the games.