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Modblog news of the week: May 26th 2010

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Tattoo violence, dreams possibly ruined, a wedding proposal, and a modded Playstation.  That’s what we have lined up in today’s “Better late than never” weekly news update.  I’ll admit the long weekend (Canada’s Victoria Day) got the better of me, but thanks to you, the Modblog readers, the stories are still coming in.

Let’s start off with the story that I’m sure everyone has heard of by now.  Four New Hampshire men have allegedly tattooed “Poop Dick” on the ass of a 14 year old boy.  Now I’m calling these guys “men” as they’re all over 18, but you need to keep in mind they all (save one) attend high school with the victim.

“Police say the classmates told the victim they’d stop picking on him if he let them tattoo the image on his rear end. Three of the suspects allegedly tattooed him with their own needles.  The charges include assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and indecent exposure. If convicted, the four suspects are looking at sentences ranging from three to 13 years.”

I think my favorite part of this story is the mother of one of the accused who claims “They told me about it. They were joking about it. They thought it was something funny. And I believe there wasn’t any animosity or hatred.”  In all honesty, I believe her.  I’m not at all saying what the kids did was right, but I’m fairly certain these guys did it for fun.  Gone are the days of a wedgie or a dumpster toss, as every generation seems to feel the need to one-up the prior generation.  Just think, it was only a few years ago the Star Wars kid was embarrassed publicly by his peers for fun.  I’m a little scared to think what’s going to be the at the extreme end of the scale in another 10 years.  (Thanks to BME member brie_co for sending this in).

More news after the break, and I promise it won’t be all bad!

Ok, so I promised it wouldn’t be all bad, but there were still a few other incidences of modification related violence this week.

In Huntington, WV a man was charged with forcibly tattooing a woman.  This pillar of society thought it would be a good idea to tattoo “King Shannon” (his name) into the back of a woman.  I use the term ‘into’ as he first carved the letters, and then rubbed ink into the wound.

Not limiting this week’s violence to North America, a father in South Africa has been charged with killing his daughter for getting a tongue piercing.

“Sphiwe Morgan Dlangisa, 38, is reported to have seen the stud on his 16-year-old daughter’s tongue the day before, he is said to have become very angry and beat her in front of her siblings.   The court heard that in the early hours of November the 1st, Dlangisa allegedly tied Nkululeko to an electric pole outside the house and electrocuted her.”

I think we have an early contender for the “Worst Father of the Year” award.  It would have already gone to the guy who tattooed that infant’s rear, but he was only the babysitter.  I’m guessing just taking the stud out would have been too much trouble.

I spoke last week about Scottish police officers not being allowed to have any visible tattoos.  This week a young man who had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force faced similar problems.  After enlisting, passing a medical check (where his tattoo was examined), and being sworn in, Marvin Goodman was turned away when he reported for basic training.

“The pictures were sent to the recruiter’s superior officer and on Tuesday, Goodman got word that his tattoo was too big.  The Air Force forbids tattoos that exceed 25 percent of an exposed body part.  Goodman’s tattoo runs from his elbow to his wrist.  The Air Force says it made a mistake. Goodman says that mistake destroyed his future plans.”

The upside to this story is while the USAF reviews Marvin’s case, the Army has stepped up and let him know that he’s welcome there, tattoo and all.  I do have a question for our modified troops (both current and former):  Did your modifications cause you any trouble while you served, or were you fortunate enough not to have the difficulties that Marvin is facing?

Speaking of regulations, were you aware that three Canadian provinces have zero regulations when it comes to tattoos?  It seems the Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick (home to BME rockstar Jen) don’t actually have any rules in place to keep studios in check.  This past weekend the Maritime Tattoo Festival hoped to bring awareness to this problem.

“Amber Thorpe, who started the festival, is originally from Alberta, where tattoo parlours are regulated and inspected by the government.   She said a key goal of the festival is to spread a message of cleanliness to fellow tattoo artists.  To be part of the Halifax show, artists are required to get certification through a private company that teaches tattoo and piercing cleanliness to the industry in an eight-hour seminar followed by an exam.”

Hopefully with the media coverage there will be enough public interest to have the provincial governments step up and put some rules in place.  As it stands now, all you need to do to open a studio is have working plumbing and a fire extinguisher.

South of the border, things are much different in Texas.  In Fort Worth the Bobby Jones Tattoo Studio has been shut down by the state for a number of violations.

“An investigator had reported finding that the sterilization process for equipment amounted to placing it in what appeared to be a food pressure cooker, according to his report. “

I wonder if there’s a crock pot recipe for blood borne pathogens?  Steamed needles in a hepatitis sauce sound good to you?

Here at Modblog we see countless images of creative ideas on a daily basis.  I think this image is my favorite for the day..

The Painstation

What you are looking at is a modified Playstation console, jury rigged to become a prison tattoo machine.  BME Member nexizydrate sent in the link to this story, where a prisoner in a UK immigration facility created the device.  According to the article “guards in US jails have found tattoo guns made from Nintendo consoles”.  I guess this means the US is now behind in the next gen console race.  Although it would be interesting to get a Mario tattoo done by a NES machine.

Something we’ve all heard about is wedding proposals.  Stories of grooms-to-be concocting elaborate schemes to pop the question to their significant others.  One story more outlandish than the last, as if it is some big competition to be able to have the Best. Proposal. Ever.  Well Joe Wittenberg of San Diego, you’re officially in the running.

“When it came time to ask the woman he loves, Rachel Streeter, to marry him, he put the machine to his own skin.  “I made a stencil and just followed it along,” says Wittenberg.”

From all us single modified guys out there Joe, I just want to say “screw you!”  How the hell are we supposed to top that?

For this week’s entertainment news we first turn to former Xena star Lucy Lawless.  It seems that while she loves her fans, she’s not too keen on them getting her autograph tattooed on their bodies.

In possibly my favorite story of the week, it seems the conspiracy nuts are going gaga over Gaga.

“There are rumours that the Illuminati cult which the author believes Lady Gaga to be a part of has among its members the political bigwigs like Barack Obama and members of the Bush family”

You can’t make this stuff up.  It’s fantastic.

Oh, and I have no idea what the hell a Justin Bieber is, but supposedly it got a tattoo done in Toronto.

So that’s a wrap for this week.  Remember it is hurricane preparedness week, so check your bunkers and watch out for cows.

Oh, and as always, if you see something in the news, send it my way.

Modblog news of the week: May 9th 2010

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Hi everyone, Rob here with this week’s round up of news from around the world.  This is my first entry as the new “news guy” so be gentle.

The first story of the week was sent in by Botexty.  Over in Sioux City, IA. Inkfliction Tattoo has thrown their support behind today’s “Mother’s Day Race for the Cure“.

“For the month of April, Inkfliction Tattoo is raising money for Susan G. Komen, by tattooing cancer ribbons for $25 and donating all of the proceeds.”

So far Scott and his team at Inkfliction have raised well over $1000 from the tattoos, as well as another $2500 from staff members participating in the race.  So if you happen to be passing through town in the near future, stop by and give these guys a pat on the back.  They deserve it.

It seems that getting tattooed for cancer isn’t just an American idea.  Over in the UK, a company is rallying together to raise money for cancer by having it’s employees get tattooed with cancer ribbons.

“ID Customs Tattoo Studios, owned by Derek Young and Jeff Grimet, came up with the idea after a few people wanted tattoos of the cancer ribbon.

Derek said: ‘Everybody has been touched by cancer at some point whether it was themselves or a member of their family so we thought that this was a good way to do something.’

‘Members of my family have been doing the Race for Life and I thought that this would be something nice to do.’”

So not only are both these shops raising money for a great cause, but they’re also showing people that tattoos aren’t just for sailors, hookers, and fetish models who sleep with the husband of a famous actress.

Speaking of Michelle McGee, according to this article, she’s breaking the “rules” of female tattoos.   I’ll let the author explain…

“My first concern about tattoos is whether or not they look feminine. I think ladies should opt for tattoos that mean something to them but tattoos should be done with femininity in mind. Don’t take suggestions from Michelle “Bombshell” McGee, because she looks like a prison inmate, especially with the odd tattoo she has written on her forehead. That’s just weird.”

So there you have it ladies.  If your tattoos aren’t “feminine” then you look like a prison inmate.

So while prison tattoos on women may be out of fashion, there are still some who think the look can work for them.  With Iron Man 2 debuting this weekend (go see it, and stay after the credits), MTV sat down with Mickey Rourke to talk about his role in the film.

“Rourke had in mind the villains from old Sergio Leone Westerns played by the likes of Eli Wallach or Henry Fonda. He also wanted Vanko to have a mouthful of metallic dental work, a body covered in tattoos and a white cockatoo of whom he is quite fond.”

Rourke also credits director Jon Favreau, for backing his decision, and pushing the studio to let it in the film.  And while the tattoos aren’t given as much focus as they are in other films (see: Eastern Promises), they definitely do help define the character.

Now not all news is good news.  This recent Huffington Post article taps right into the fear mongering side of people who have no knowledge of the modification industry.

“70 percent of people with tongue piercings report complications, ranging from local infections, eroded gums, chipped teeth, and more serious systemic infections including hepatitis B and C.”

This 70 percent also includes a woman in Connecticut who removed her tongue stud 2 days after getting it done, and subsequently developed a severe brain infection.  Unsurprisingly the author writes an entire article on all piercings without mentioning safe practices, or aftercare.  Going through my list of links to post for the week, I came across quite a few of these stories.  While I won’t be posting them all, it seems that as far as the industry has come along in terms of codes of conduct, there are still studios out there willing to make a quick buck regardless of safety.

Back on the international front, the BME world tour gang can look forward to some company while in New Zealand in the form of shrunken heads.

“French lawmakers decided Tuesday to return 16 tattooed and mummified Maori heads to New Zealand, ending years of debate on what to do with the human remains acquired long ago by French museums seeking exotic curiosities.”

Although there is still some legal red tape to go through, it looks like these heads are going to be returned.  Although, museums world-wide are now a little nervous due to the number of mummies floating around.

Over to Bollywood, actress Bipasha Basu has caused quite a stir:

“Sources reveal that Bipasha has right now put on small diamond studs in her new piercing, but later, as the pain lessens, she will go for diamond earings. The sexy siren has been a real trendsetter of sorts, and for all one knows, multiple piercing is soon going to be the order of the day, in the fashion circuit.”

While it’s safe to assume she isn’t the first person to have multiple ear piercings in India, by the sounds of the article I’m assuming that it isn’t something you see in celebrities.  Hopefully some of our readers can enlighten me further.
Finally to wrap the week up, a couple of stories involving tattoos that the owners will probably end up regretting.

Avril Lavigne and her boyfriend, after a night of drinking, decided to get another set of matching tattoos.

And a Manchester City football fan got a little too eager with his support for his team.

So that’s it for this week.  I just want to take a moment to recognize that today is mother’s day, so pick up the phone and call your mom or a mom you know.  To all the modified mommies that visit modblog, I wish you a very happy mother’s day.

If you come across something you think is newsworthy, feel free to submit a link.

Looking for a job?

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Live in Columbus, Ohio?  Looking for a job in the industry?  I got an email from the good folks at Evolved and it seems they’re hiring.  Here’s the info:

Evolved is now interviewing to fill a full time tattoo artist position.
The minimum requirements are:
5 years professional experience, current certification in blood borne pathogens, first aid, and cpr, hepatitis b vaccination, declination, or titer test, a solid printed and digital portfolio, a peachy, cheery disposition, and a dependable and professional attitude.

If this sounds like you, email us at [email protected]

If you’re looking for work and fit the bill, give them a shout!

Full Coverage: News From All Over (June 25, 2009)

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[Conan O’Brien] Longtime admiration for David Letterman notwithstanding, the Conan O’Brien era of the Tonight Show has been downright glorious. I wasn’t quite sure how Conesy would adapt to sunny Los Angeles from humid New York, but, as we can see above, he’s doing his best to make friends with the locals—like, say, the folks at a local tattoo and piercing and head shop. Attention L.A. residents! The gentlemen at Xeniobiotic Tattoo will not pierce your taint, even if you’re Conan O’Brien.

[AFP] See, when I see a headline like, “China tennis star braced for battle of tattoos,” I naturally assume it’s going to be some NBA-style hand-wringing about some little harlot ruining the sanctity of the game by parading around with her demonic flesh-ink exposed for the world to see, her skin covered with graven images, each one more offensive than the last, to the point that all one can do is spit one’s strawberries and cream at the television in disbelief that a sport of such honor and integrity would allow itself to be sullied in this way. But…nah, it’s just because China is a touch draconian about the whole tattoo thing:

China’s Li Na is facing a battle of the tattoos in the second round at Wimbledon, but said if she had her way, her controversial body art would be wiped off.

The number 19 seed has a design etched on her chest — something which was not universally well received in her homeland, where tattoos have long been considered taboo.

She faces Belarussian world number 82 Olga Govortsova, who has three stars tattooed on her inner left forearm, in her quest for a third round spot at Wimbledon.

However, though tattoos are growing in acceptance in China and Li has finally become comfortable showing it off on the tennis court, she said might get tired of seeing it.

“So many people ask me about my tattoo,” Li told AFP.

“It’s a rose with a heart. I’ve had it eight years now. Before, I always wore tape, I didn’t want to show the tattoo. In China, if they see people have a tattoo, they only think maybe she’s not so good a person.”

See? Spoken like a true thug—no respect for the game or its storied history. This monster will be playing tennis for the Denver Nuggets any day now.

[Journal Now] Hey, good news, tattooed folks! We all know that tattoos will curse you with lifelong unemployment, derision from society at large and probably some sort of hybrid Hepatitis/HIV-monster virus, but one thing its been confirmed they won’t give you: Skin cancer. Hooray!

Many inks are made with metals; blue, for example, contains cobalt and aluminum, and red may contain mercury sulfide. That, along with the fact that tattooing can be traumatizing to the skin, prompted suspicion that tattoos might lead to skin cancer. Studies have documented a few cases of cancer at a tattoo site.

But Dr. Ariel Ostad, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, said that does not mean that the tattoo caused the cancer. He said that the ink is unlikely to do any harm because it is confined to cells in the skin called macrophages, whose job is to absorb foreign material.

More likely, he said, the tattoo was placed on an existing mole, making any changes in the mole hard to spot. Several case studies have dealt with melanomas that were overlooked because they arose from hidden moles. Ostad said he is often asked whether tattoos can lead to cancer, and the answer “is unequivocally no.”

Hey, maybe not breaking news, but who doesn’t like confirmation of this sort? It’s about time doctors proved their worth, am I right, fellas? Eh?

[Youth Removal] A few weeks ago, we mentioned a story regarding a program offering free tattoo cover-ups for gang members, but little did we know that a similar project was in the works in our own corner of the community! Allen Falkner, currently of Fade Fast tattoo removal, has launched Youth Removal, a program in which youths 18 years old and younger will be able to have gang tattoos on their hands, neck or face removed for free. Allen, as many have long been aware, has always been a stand-up gent, and this is just another feather in his cap. Really outstanding work.

[Twitter] And finally, if there were any doubt remaining about the value of Twitter, a tweet from earlier this afternoon, courtesy of Esquire:

Hey, that’s just sound advice right there.

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (June 19, 2009)

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[Animal NY] Hoo boy, is this not just the most irritating story ever or what? OK, so, as we (and everybody) mentioned previously, 18-year-old Kimberley Vlaeminck allegedly went to Romanian tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz and ended up with 56 stars tattooed all over her face. She claims she only asked for three and then fell asleep, which is just a preposterously stupid lie, while Toumaniantz says that she knew full well what was happening and only freaked out once her father or boyfriend or whoever lost their respective shit. Now she is suing the tattoo artist, because she wants the stars removed, of course. Is your brain leaking out of your ears yet? Mine is!

Anyway, my initial response to this mess of foolishness was that it was a hoax, because, come on: Nobody involved in this situation could be deranged/myopic enough for any of this to be real, right? Well, Toumaniantz is apparently a member over at BodyMod.org and posted this response, saying he did, in fact, tattoo this crazy person. Hooray.

Then, the girl said she felt asleep during the tattoo session. But :

1) Tattoo hurts,
2) Tattoo hurts more on face than on most other places,
3) Tattoo hurts even more on the nose than on the face,
4) Apart from the pain factor, the emotional impact of a first tattoo is huge, which makes it even less likely to sleep during such a session,
5) During this tattoo I had to ask Kimberley to change quite often her position, because the face isn’t flat and you need to always adjust the persons position and yours to be able to tattoo,
6) Kimberley did stand up many times during the session and did check up the work in a mirror,
7) We spoke during a part of the session,
8) The call log of her mobile phone and SMS activity could easily show that from the start of the session to its end she wasn’t sleeping,
9) And most importantly, a witness, being totally independent from both sides saw all the session from its start to the end, and confirms every word above. Kortrijk police made an inquiry, and both of us (me and the witness) were conducted shortly after Kimberley tattoo was finished to the police station, and both of us said exactly what did happen, and therefore gave exactly the same version of the events. Copies of minutes (in Flemish) we can provide.

So Kimberly was absolutely aware of what was happening during all the tattoo session and got what she asked, no more no less.

So that’s the end of it, right? Poor judgment on his part for tattooing an unstable teenager’s face, maybe, but she’s still a dirty rotten liar…right? Well, except for the fact that there is now some dumb Internet toy called The Kimberlizer, which allows people to decorate photos of themselves with the same star pattern as our young heroine, and…you see where this is going, don’t you? From Animal NY:

Among the few media outlets to interview the starlet is Belgian radio station MNM, who’s advertising agency, Famous, is behind the Kimberlizer. A French newspaper says the website, which allows visitors to digitally place 56 stars on their face via webcam, was opened in April, well before the story happened. Additionally, theorists point out that MNM’s logo is a star, just like the ones covering Kimberley Vlaeminck.

In conclusion, no matter what the truth ends up being, there will almost surely not be a more aggravating tattoo-related story all year. BME extends hearty congratulations to everybody involved. Let’s all take turns punching each other in the brains, forever.

[CBS 42] At last, our long national nightmare is over! Megan Fox, the most famous tattooed person since, I don’t know, the Memento guy, has decided to heed her mother’s advice and stop mucking up her body with the devil’s ink. Let us pray.

Fox recently announced plans to cover her entire right arm with ink – but she’s now backed out of the scheme insisting she won’t be heading to the tattoo parlor again any time soon.

She says, “They’re definitely addictive. I don’t have any that I truly regret yet, but I’m sure I will at some point.”

“I’m trying to refrain from going forward for that reason. I don’t want to be 40, looking at my arm in the mirror and going, ‘Oh my God – what did I do?’”

In exchange for this promise, Fox’s mom will now let her wear make-up to school and have sleepovers every Saturday night.

[Vancouver Sun] And finally, let’s finish this wretchedly awful news week with reports that yet another Canadian tattoo and piercing shop is giving all of its customers HIV and every type of hepatitis, except this time it’s not just a matter of lazy paperwork: The clown at the centre of this story is “Zipp,” the proprietor of Edmonton, Alberta’s Zipp’s Tattoo and Museum, who, well…

On a spur-of-the-moment whim and fuelled with a bit of liquid courage, Corinda got a tattoo of a Playboy bunny on her left hip two months ago.

Now, the 26-year-old is stepping forward to be tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C after the health authority closed Zipp’s Tattoo and Museum shop at Whyte Avenue and 100th Street because of unsanitary practices and sterilization concerns over reusable piercing and tattooing equipment.

The owner told health inspectors he had been recently tattooing animals in his studio, but denied tattooing people.

The health authority is now asking people to come forward for testing.

Hey, come on! The guy is just trying to run your average illegal animal-tattooing dungeon. What’s the big deal? Prudes.

Charges are being considered by the health authority since Zipp’s –in business at another Whyte Avenue location since 1978–was also closed in 2007 because of unsanitary conditions and infection control. At that time, the health inspector said the risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens was considered low because the proprietor used single-use, disposable needles.

[…]

Health inspectors closed the tattoo parlour June 5 after noting the owner didn’t wash his hands before performing procedures and didn’t wear gloves.

Dirty and unsterile instruments were being used on clients, and the ultrasonic cleaning device was not being operated in a sanitary way. Ink went unlabelled and instruments, including needles, were improperly stored and handled.

In all fairness, the child laborers Zipp had “hired” to oversee the cleanliness of the shop totally dropped the ball. “Wah, my fingers hurt, wah, I’m hungry,” they would cry, long into the night, while Zipp tattooed pig after pig, laughing his terrible laugh, the end.

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (June 16, 2009)

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[Toronto Star] Well, it was probably only a matter of time before the Moonshin Tattoo business found its way back into the news. To recap: Earlier this year, it was revealed that local health departments in Ontario, Canada, were neglecting their duties with regard to regularly inspecting tattoo shops and, as a result, some shops were found to have been neglecting their own record-keeping (and other) practices, throwing into question their sterility and safety. Mississauga’s Moonshin Tattoo in particular caught fire because of this, and both the shop and Peel Region found themselves the subjects of a $20 million class-action lawsuit by customers who may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis B and C. In light of this, the Toronto Star launched their own investigation, and the results are pretty hit-and-miss:

Every public health unit in the [Greater Toronto Area] has failed to enforce provincial standards that require tattoo and piercing studios to be inspected at least once a year, a Star investigation has found.

[…]

Peel, with the worst record of tattoo parlour inspections for both years in the Star study, checked on only seven of its 20 establishments in 2007 and only five in 2008.

[…]

Halton Region also fared poorly in the study, with only 47 per cent of its 15 establishments inspected both years. Toronto inspected only 65 per cent of its 23 parlours in ’07 but had a perfect year, in ’08, when there were 41 parlours.

The most diligent were Durham, which managed to inspect all tattoo parlours under its jurisdiction in one year and 95 per cent the next, and York, which inspected 84 per cent one year and 97 per cent the next.

A variety of reasons were offered for missed inspections, but most common was a lack of funding after the province made regional health authorities responsible for such inspections a decade ago.

Allison Stuart, Ontario’s assistant deputy minister of public health, doesn’t buy that excuse.

“We’re talking about guidelines that have been in place since 1997, so this is not something that’s been sprung upon the health units,” she said.

While it’s heartening to see a few regions taking their responsibilities seriously, there are some egregious stats mentioned there. The logical extension of this investigation, it seems, would be to determine if these inspectors are dropping the ball in all areas of their work—as the article mentions, at least as far as Peel is concerned, their inspectors are also responsible for “more than 5,000 food premises, 500 recreational water facilities and 150 child-care centres”—or if their neglect has been limited to premises offering body modification procedures? (It’s also addressed that inspectors failed to visit “ear-piercing establishments” with regularity.) It’s paranoid to assume there’s some insidious blueprint being followed here, but if these failures are largely occurring at the expense of body artists, that seems worthy of some attention, no?

(Of course, if Ontario artists want to keep on top of things without prompting from the government, they can always get their Health Educators certification when David Vidra comes to Toronto next week, here and here.)

[Daily Mail] Several thousand astute readers have sent in this article today, so, yeah, we figured it was worth some attention, as unbelievable as it is. Anyway, as the story goes, Kimberley Vlaminck, an 18-year-old living in lawless Courtrai, Belgium, went in to get three harmless stars tattooed on her face by Rouslan Toumaniantz at The Tattoo Box, but, uh, fell asleep? Or was drugged? And somehow woke up with 56 goddamned stars covering half her face? What?

She claims she fell asleep while he was doing his work… and awoke to ‘this nightmare’.

‘It is terrible for me,’ said Kimberley. ‘I cannot go out on to the street, I am so embarrassed. I just look horrible.’

‘I think he didn’t understand what I wanted. He spoke only fractured English and French.

‘But I explicitly said in my native tongue, French, and also in a little bit of English when he looked confused, that I wanted three little stars only near my left eye.’

Rouslan Toumaniantz, who runs the tattoo parlour called The Tattoo Box in Courtrai, denies her claim, saying she knew ‘exactly what she wanted’.

He added: ‘She was awake and looked into the mirror several times as the procedure was taking place. The trouble all started when she went home and her father and boyfriend threw a fit.

First things first: I have a hard time believing any of this is true. I don’t know what the game is, but I want to go on record as saying I won’t be surprised when and if this is exposed as a hoax. However, if any of it is true, I’ll gladly adjust my verdict to say that I think young Kimberley is full of it. Not to be too much of an armchair physician/psychologist/mind-reader/whatever, but falling asleep while someone drills 56 stars into your face? Come on now. I think we can all agree this is preposterous. The argument could potentially be made that the artists should have maybe not tattooed the hell out of an 18-year-old’s face, but her reaction seems downright pathological. If any of this is true. Which I don’t think it is.

[Craigslist] And finally, here is a HOT NEW TREND that will surely be hitting a city near you, soon! As the RECESSION continues and people can NO LONGER AFFORD TATTOOS, how will they manage to keep inking themselves into UNEMPLOYABILITY? The answer, of course, is PRESCRIPTION DRUGS:

Glorious.

This Week in BME

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Earlier in the week, we posted this tremendous Jesse Smith tattoo, and, for some reason, some people convinced themselves it was Photoshopped in some way. It was not. Here’s another piece—”The backlash of stealing the devil’s pitchfork is massive,” he says of it—and, honestly, if you’re still not convinced, go look at his web site. They’re real, and they’re spectacular. And I don’t break out supremely timely references like that for nothing, friends. Trust.

And that’s the week, folks. What might you have missed?

– Pictograms fell from the sky.

– Things went from bad to worse for Mississauga’s Moonshin Tattoo when a client revealed that he has been diagnosed with hepatitis B.

– The fake mustache came to town, and oh, the people rejoiced.

– Everybody was tattooed with misspelled names. Some people reacted more appropriately than others.

– Our esteemed roundtable convened to discuss the (potential) inevitably and (arguable) necessity of government regulation of body modification.

– Tattoos + Scars = Thumbs up.

Stick around over the weekend, all. We’ll be here as per usual, keeping the place warm until things turn over and begin anew on Monday. Stay safe, everyone, and, of course, thank you for your continued support of BME. Have a good weekend.

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (March 20, 2009)

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[Telegraph.co.uk] So here’s some good old fashioned Finnish ingenuity! Jerry Jalava, a software programmer from Helsinki, lost half a finger in a motorcycle accident almost a year ago, and the doctor, when told what Jalava did for a living, was a bit of a wise-ass and told Jalava he should get a USB drive installed in place of his missing digit. Jalava briefly snapped out of his blissful morphine sleep to slap this chuckling goon in the face, but then it occurred to him that maybe this wasn’t the worst idea!

Using a traditional prosthetic finger Jerry has been able embed a ‘USB key’ – like the ones used in traditional flash drives – giving him the world’s only two gigabyte finger.

The finger is not permanently attached to his hand meaning it can be removed when plugged into a computer.

“It is not attached permanently in to my body, it is a removable prosthetic which has USB memorystick inside it,” said Jerry.

“When I’m using the USB, I just leave my finger inside the slot and pick it up after I’m ready.”

Jerry said he is already thinking about upgrading his faux finger to include more storage and wireless technology.

“I’m planning to use anther prosthetic as a shell for the next version, which will have removable fingertip and an RFID tag,” he added.

Not that losing a segment of a finger is the worst thing in the world, but it’s still nice nonetheless to see people finding creative ways to deal with inconveniences (if not disabilities) beyond their control. The real hero in this story, however, is me, for making it the entire way without making a single “thumb-drive” joke. Oh, damn it.

(Photo: NEWSTREAM)

[Toronto Star] This story has been bubbling up for a little while now, and we’ve been meaning to get an “in the know” guest on the podcast to discuss it (hopefully that’ll happen in the next couple of days), but Moonshin Tattoo in Mississauge, Ontario, has come under fire for poor record-keeping of its sterilization practices over a four-year period. A mandatory alert was sent out to all clients of the shop who visited during the period in question, saying that they may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Now, a $20 million class-action lawsuit has been filed against both the owners of Moonshin and Peel Region itself, with the suit claiming the latter failed to inspect the shop over that period, thereby allowing Moonshin to go on with its irresponsible practices. As the article states, “(p)ublic health authorities are required to inspect at least once a year personal services shops, such as tattoo and piercing studios, barbershops and others where there is a risk of exposure to blood.”

Truth be told, the chances of anyone having contracted anything are slim, but this is a clusterfuck any way you look at it. There’s no excuse for not keeping sterilization paperwork in order at this point, and even though the government is supposed to be monitoring that activity, when it comes to public opinion, situations like these do nothing but reinforce shitty stereotypes about tattoo and piercing shops. Well done, Moonshin.

[First Amendment Center] Oh, great, here’s a situation with literally nary a sympathetic party! Martin Robles and his shit-demon accomplice were indicted for breaking into a home in 2002 and killing two men, crimes for which Robles was sentenced to death in Texas. He lost an appeal, then made a last-ditch effort to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming, among other things, that his First Amendment rights were violated during the trial. How so?

[He argued] that his religious-liberty rights were violated when the state placed into evidence his tattoo of a religious figure. As described in trial proceedings, the tattoo depicted “Jesus with a demon devouring his brains.”

Oh. That probably didn’t go over very well in Texas.

During the trial, the judge forced him to remove his jacket and show the tattoo, located on his shoulder, to jurors.

[…]

During the penalty phase of Robles’ trial, the prosecutor said:

“You have a demon eating the brains of Christ. … Now, I don’t know what that means, but to me it’s a bad thing. That to me is a philosophy. I don’t know if it’s satanic. I don’t know what in the Sam Hill it is, but if it tells you something about him as a person, that ought to tell you where his belief system is. His conduct shows you where his belief system is.”

Robles contended that the references to the religious nature of the tattoo and the “satanic” and “belief systems” comments by the prosecutor infringed on his First Amendment free-exercise-of-religion right.

Thank you, Texas judge, for forcing me to side with a double-murderer on something. I’m no lawyer (though I’m happy to dispense legal advice for a small fee), but offensive tattoos that don’t actually make direct political statements should probably be immaterial when deciding the fate of a man’s life, right? Unless the guy was killing priests—or worse, Jesus—I’m just not sure what role it should have played in the decision. There’s even a precedent set to that effect, which was consciously set in contrast in this case:

[U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack] distinguished Robles’ case from the 1992 case Dawson v. Delaware, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a defendant’s First Amendment associational rights were violated when prosecutors introduced into evidence his membership in a white supremacist group when such association had nothing to do with the underlying crime. […] However, the Court in Dawson pointed out that “elements of racial hatred were … not involved in the killing.”

But in Texas, a demon eating Jesus’s brain is, I guess, worse than being a white supremacist.

Applying Dawson, Jack determined that the question was whether Robles’ tattoo was relevant evidence to his underlying crime and violent nature. She concluded that the “tattoo constitutes evidence relevant to a material issue, i.e., Robles’s violent nature and the likelihood that he would commit future acts of criminal violence.”

What we should be taking away from this, in the end, is that Mike Beer will never get out of jail when he’s arrested.

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (March 6, 2009)

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[Whoa, Momma!] So this slutty sex doll, whatshername, Barbie, took a break from getting abortions and giving herself roofies to get some tattoos, just in time for her 50th birthday! This week’s overblown and self-important tattoo-related outrage comes from various people who are VERY OFFENDED that international drug cartel Mattel has released “Totally Stylin’ Tattoo Barbie,” a children’s toy that comes with 40 different temporary tattoos that will keep this bitch from ever getting a job, as well as a “tattoo gun” for the kids to give themselves their own temporary tattoos, which is completely inappropriate, apparently.

Yes, that’s right, a tattoo gun so instead of applying it with a wet wash cloth, 8 year-olds can simulate that milestone in every minor’s life experience of actual needles pumping permanent dye into their growing bodies.

Again, this has nothing to do with tattoos for consenting adults, but everything to do with age-appropriate toys. And in my humble opinion, the age 5 designated on the box is off by about 20 years and a hepatitis C shot.

This piece was squeezed from the mindgrapes of the Suburban Diva herself, Tracey Henry, who is positively aghast that CHILDREN will be using a FAKE TATTOO GUN, which is really just a stamp, essentially, but righteous indignation over stamps doesn’t get you featured on CNN, I guess.

There will be some who disagree, pointing out that Barbie is just keeping up with what’s in style right now and that this is merely a toy that kids can play make-believe like other adult activities.

I counter that bellbottoms and leg-warmers didn’t need to be removed with laser treatments and Barbie’s Dream Wedding gown didn’t come with bottles of Tequila for a pretend open-bar reception.

In conclusion, Tracey Henry was probably paid to write this.

[The Live Feed] Because there aren’t quite enough tattoo-related television shows, it was just announced that A&E will be airing Tattoo Highway, a reality program in which Thomas Pendleton, formerly of A&E’s Inked, will continue to tattoo people on camera, but there’s an important twist:

In “Tattoo Highway,” Pendelton and his wife and business partner, Monica (who also appeared on “Inked”), have transformed a 1970s tour bus into a mobile tattoo parlor. They will travel to cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Salt Lake City, inking customers.

Boom. Nailed it. The bus angle worked wonders for Bret Michaels and his skank-banging, so it should really come as no surprise that others are picking up on this as the next big thing. I see big, big things for the future of reality television—big, bus-related things. The network is clearly thrilled about the prospect:

Executive producer Bob Horowitz said the traveling element will differentiate the show from previous tattoo docusoaps.

“All the other series have been based in tattoo parlors,” he said. “Here the premise is this is the first tattoo parlor on wheels, and he goes where the stories are. Imagine all the things that can happen when you take something like this on the road and all the things that can happen.”

Never mind that Horowitz is shamelessly hyping what is by far the worst part of these tattoos shows—namely, that great tattoos must have some big and important story behind them—but man, how exciting does he think a husband and wife going on a road trip is going to be, vocation notwithstanding? Are they going to be chased by land pirates? Did Dennis Hopper plant a bomb on the bottom of the bus that’ll explode if the speed falls below 50 mph?

“From the creation of the art to the environment that I tattooed in, it has always been about my customers’ experience,” Pendelton said. “In a street shop, it was easy to forget just how personal that experience should be. Rolling up and parking the shop right in the middle of someone’s life, well, there is nothing more personal than that.”

AND THEN THE BUS EXPLODES! No? OK, fine, whatever.

(Hat-tip to Warming Glow, a new teevee blog venture by man’s man Matt Ufford. Go read it.)

[Needles and Sins] Speaking of new blog ventures, fiery redhead and friend of BME, Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia, has escaped the evil (not so evil?) clutches of Needled and has struck out on her own with Needles and Sins, which promises the same lurid, untamed filth we’ve come to expect from her. Today, she offers a thorough review of the iPhone’s new “Tattoo Shop” application, which lets users ruin their perfectly good photos with the demon’s ink. Some of her findings included:

– [T]he biggest problem: the choice of artwork or lack thereof — and I use “artwork” almost facetiously. SonicBoom partnered with flash peddlers TattooJohnny.com but instead of loading up on, say, the cool Bob Tyrrell and Tim Creed commercial designs, the app finds itself heavy on the old Cherry Creek-styled jammies — aka tribal armbands abound and pin-ups with big 80s hair.

[…]

– [T]he leafy panties on the female belly skin is just disturbing. It looks like lettuce is growing from her vulva to her waist. It did make me hungry for a nice Greek salad though. [Ed. note: Gotta say … that description had the opposite effect on me. Thanks, though.]

[…]

– The coolest thing about the app: using your own photos or being able to take one on the spot. I shot my non-tattooed sis to let her see what she’s look like with a Tyson tribal on her face. As the kids say, “Hawt!”

Listen lady, I know you think you’re all hip now that you’re back in New York, but the kids aren’t saying “Hawt!” The kids are riding buses, everywhere, into each others’ lives, and raping each other, with Barbies. Nice blog, though.

BME’s Big Question #6: Fameballin’

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Welcome to BME’s Big Question! In this feature, we’re going to ask a handful of the community’s best and brightest piercers, tattooists, heavy mod practitioners and shop owners for their opinion on one question or issue that’s affecting the body modification community. Many, many thanks to all of the contributors.

If you’d like to be a part of future editions, or if you have an idea for an issue or question you’d like to see addressed, please e-mail me.

This week’s topic comes from Allen Falkner:

“The media. We’ve all dealt them. How do you feel about the media? Have you had good or bad experiences? How do you decide who to talk to and who to avoid? Maybe name one of your most memorable media experiences.”

* * *


Meg Barber
I’ve had good experiences overall with it. In previous shops I’ve worked in, there have been the usual newspaper interviews, appearances on the news and radio, etc. I’ve done scarification for one local paper for their “Beat the Winter Blahs” issue; the cover was me cutting, so that was fun and pretty cool.

Here at Venus, media is our best friend. We love the media. We have had high level celebs in the store, with paparazzi lined up outside shooting in, and we use that footage to our advantage with our Press Kit that we use as a display piece in our lobby. Instead of having portfolios and stuff sitting around, we have our Press Kit, and it really gets people talking and excited to be pierced by the same studio and piercers who have worked on their favorite celebs, and we have the media to thank for that for sure! I mean, without the media, those people aren’t really all that special.

Of course, there is always the downside of overzealous reporters trying to trace a hepatitis outbreak to the rise of tattoos and piercings in the nation, who come snooping around and spreading bad press. But in my experience, that’s few and far between these days, and not really too much of a concern, really. When something like that pops up, you write your little letter to the editor, throw some facts at them, and forget about them.

I think, to an extent, this question ties in with the Internet question as well, and Internet media is becoming more prevalent. With sites like Digg occasionally putting up tattoo- or piercing-related stories or photos, there is more exposure to our work than ever, and as long as it looks good, that’s never really a bad thing.

Oh, here’s a story. I really should let Maria Tash tell this, but it’s too funny to pass up …

Years ago, she was interviewed over the phone by CBN. She didn’t realize at the time what it was — she was thinking in her head CBS or CNN. A few weeks later, a client comes in to tell her he saw her picture on TV … on The 700 Club. She was being referred to as one of the most evil women in America, and her quotes about the beauty of piercing were all turned into pro-satanic remarks, essentially. You can never be too careful.

Steve Truitt
I’ve had good and bad experiences with the media. I’ve worked with the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel several times, and they’ve always been really easy to deal with. They didn’t try to portray us in any particular way, more like, “This is what’s going on and you should make your own opinion about it,” which is nice for a change since a lot of the stuff we do is usually portrayed in a negative, or shock value type of way.

I’ve also worked with several big budget feature films and had fairly good experiences. Most recently we did suspensions in a scene in the movie Game, which should be released this summer or fall. The people making this movie were really interested in what we were doing, they did everything they could to provide us with anything we could possibly need and make sure we were safe and comfortable, and weren’t trying to portray us as freaks or negatively in anyway in the scene.

The only time I’ve had bad experiences have been when dealing with local media, like news stations. We were interviewed about suspension for a news segment several years back. They asked questions about the popularity of suspension, the safety issues, possible complications, why people did it, etc. When the piece aired on the news a few days later they had changed all the questions being asked to be about tongue splitting and surgical modifications, and chopped up our answers and rearranged things we said to fit their new questions that they never asked us. They did that to make it more shocking and to make us look really bad. After this and hearing similar stories from quite a few other people who have done interviews for the news (not just body modification related either), I stopped talking to news reporters at all and won’t deal with them again.


Tracy Baer
I’m not a tattoo artist, but I play one on TV …

Does that count as media experience?

Meg Barber
Oh whatever, you’ve been in the paper about a million times!

Tracy Baer
I have, and it’s been a double-edged sword for sure.

The news story that was filmed on Halloween, while I was dressed as a vampire, and then didn’t air until after Thanksgiving was probably the worst thing. I looked like a goth kid, and they took bits and pieces of what i said to make a paragraph that was to the editor’s liking.

It was horrible. The one thing that sticks in my mind is the question of why people get tattooed. My answer was long and drawn out — that, I believe, was my mistake. It was edited, and the only answer they played was, “People get tattoos for vanity’s sake.”

Seriously. I gave them at least 10 other reasons that I could think of. So, there I was, dressed up as a vampire on the evening news, talking about how people only get tattooed for vanity’s sake. I was mortified.

I think I’ve learned from my mistake on that one, though.

In more recent media coverage, I’ve had better luck. The last few were positive. The interviews have been upbeat, educational, and well rounded, as well as beneficial to my amount of business and new clients. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that body modification is more widely accepted, or that the person interviewing was more open to the idea of tattooing as a legitimate career.

Either way, I feel like the horror stories in the news are being overshadowed by the positive ones. That being said, there’s definitely a place for the horror stories. Individuals who take this industry for a place to make a quick buck need to be brought to everyone’s attention.

Meg Barber
I agree. The bad side is that the shows that go over the dangers never point the finger at the troublemakers directly. No investigative reporting happenin’, you know? And it should happen: send the undercover person in the shady shops with the bad reps to see what’s really up. It could really shed some light on those places, encouraging people to make smarter choices.

Allen Falkner
I think everyone agrees on the most important point. Depending on how the media wants to spin the story you can be presented as an articulate professional or you can be edited to sound like a fool and a hack.

It’s been my experience that the media that focuses on documentation pieces, National Geographic, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, etc. tend to tell the story in such a way that the subjects are shown in a positive light. Granted, there is normally some added sensationalism infused into the story, but that’s what sells, right? However, even if the story is given a commercial flair, these production companies know better than to make people look bad. These kinds of pieces are built on mutual respect and trust. If they violate that, then their chances of working with that culture might be virtually impossible in the future.

Now when it comes to other types of media that are simply doing a one-off piece, the person being interviewed must be more careful. I’ve been burned more than once by agreeing to something without having all the facts. Once I had a live debate on TV and it was obvious, about 30 seconds in, that the topic wasn’t about piercing. It was a witch-hunt and yours truly was the witch. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I guess my advice would be to do your research. Find out as much as possible about the person and/or company doing the interview. In general, writers and production companies stick to a specific style. If you can get your hands on some of their previous work, you should be able to get a sense of what direction they might take it, and ultimately how they could portray you.

The old saying is, “Any publicity is good publicity.” But, when you’ve had little to no exposure, bad publicity can really hurt you in the long run.

What do you think? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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