• 2006-01-31: US: Scientific panel concludes that Teflon chemical a likely carcinogen [by Vex Hecubus]
• 2006-01-31: AU: Australia reviews ‘Prison Break’ [by rebekah]
• 2006-01-31: NY: ‘Leopard man’ given 4 years [by rebekah]
• 2006-01-31: Malaysia: FT Day tattoo, anyone? [by rebekah]
• 2006-01-31: UK: Talk in tattoo shop brings arrest in Kent cat’s shooting [by revolutionaerie]
• 2006-01-31: NJ: Merchant challenges Woodbury’s tattoo shop ban [by revolutionaerie]
• 2006-01-31: UK: It used to be a heart here and a girl’s face there… [by rebekah]
• 2006-01-31: CA: Holistic health–a trend worth trying? [by revolutionaerie]
• 2006-01-31: USA: KFed Almost Pierces Sean Preston [by severed]

Please note that links may expire. IAM members, please help out by submitting stories!

I love getting photos of tattooed people. I prefer them to be good tattoos, but honestly, almost without exception I think tattoos, good or bad, make a person look better. Try and think about the people below without the tattoos, and while I’m sure they’d still look good, there’d be something important missing. When I was a little kid, I drew on myself — I’ve never liked the appearance of plainskin.

Credits, left to right: 1. Tribal by Mike at Premiere in Brooklyn, and ankh by Ink Link in Charlotte, NC, 2. Kelly’s very nice carnation tattoo by Jay at Addictive in London, Ontario, and 3. Ava’s wonderful work by Yann at Your meat is mine in Paris, France.

This suicide suspension photo c/o Sinstress is really nice!

From the ModBlog email inbox:

I’m a tattoo apprentice at “The Laughing Buddha Tattoo and Body Piercing.” We put a piece in my fucking pit the other day — I’m from that county in Oklahoma, and went to jail there for some bull-shit, so the F.T.C. stands for “Fuck That County.”

Thanks Shaun! Anyone else got a good story or tattoo? Send it in.

Most of the pictures on BME of piercings are relatively documentary in nature — they’re shots of the piercing, rather than the person bearing it. But still, every once in a while folks send me photos that are more portraits of them than portraits of their body modifications. Here’s a few recent examples:

From left to right, here are the credits: 1. “Sensual Sorcery’s” piercings by Nick at Tribal Urge in Southsea, 2. Adry in Hungary’s navel piercing, 3. “Acid Angel” from Poland’s navel piercing, and 4. “Super Kug” in Germany also has a navel piercing.

This is a very funny nipple piercing photo, and could probably use a caption.

Check out this pretty extreme tattoo removal (left to right: just getting starting, removal procedure completed, healed) by Castillo in Venezuela… I’ve never wanted a tattoo removed that badly personally, so I think if it was me in the client’s position, I’d probably go for a tattoo coverup instead.

They call him Woolslave.

PS. To be clear, I’m not posting this for ridicule or as a joke. I’m posting it because it’s truly fascinating to me both the range of people’s fetishes, and how specific they are…

Check out this neat piercing done by Steve Filpansick over at Consolidated Ink and Steel in Flint, Michigan. As I’ve mentioned before, I am always very happy to see people with atypical bodies go out and customize them even more than biology already did for them!

You’ll swim in the sweat of a million orgies
You’ll live in a fire as sweet as hell
When you give your soul to the rays of the mortal sun
Or give your lips to the kiss of the scorpion

On Toast, by Neil at Damaged Ink