BME Finalists Round Two

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Rachel

I feel like a teacher handing out extra credit assignments but I need help to pick the winners for the BME World Tour. I’ve just narrowed it down to 10 finalists who will all need to complete an assignment. If you want to know who the finalists have been narrowed down to, you’ll have to watch the video!

More information on the assignement after the jump!

The assignment really isn’t “extra credit” because if you don’t do it, you’ll be automatically disqualified from the contest. Since I know that everyone is working, I’m going to give this round of finalists until Thursday at Midnight PST to turn in their assignments. They will then be posted on the following Friday for votes by Modblog readers!

Send the following to [email protected].

Since we will be taking photos, writing blog posts and posting videos of our travels, I want the 10 finalists that I have selected to do the same. We will be posting these on a daily basis but since I know that everyone has other full time jobs on their plate, I am giving you until Thursday to turn this in. You’ll need to be able to do this on a daily basis when we’re on the tour.

Make a video, take some photos and write up a blog post about your day. You can do whatever you’d like with it. If you’re a student in school, just make a video about your day. If you’ve got time and you want to pretend we’re out on the road and you want to go interview a shop, do that. Are you going to a concert or some touristy spot during the week? Take photos and videos and write a post about that. There is a ton of flexibility. It doesn’t necessarily need to be “modification based” since the tour will include a lot of BME related stuff but also a lot of stuff about the people that we meet and the tour interns themselves.

Remember to have fun with it. This is your chance to show me what you’ll be able to come up with while we’re out on the road.

You’ve also got a lot of options for how you can record the video. Use your point and shoot camera, a flip cam, an ipod, an iphone, your laptop, or a real video camera! You’ve got tons of options, just remember to get everything in to me by Thursday or you’ll get disqualified!

Thanks again to all of the applicants. I’m sorry that I couldn’t take everyone but I felt it was best to try to narrow it down to my top 10 favorites so that I didn’t waste everyone’s time by making them do the assignment if it wasn’t likely that they’d get picked. My top 10 definitely changed after the last post and I’m glad that I put the finalist up and got to see how people carried themselves under criticism since BME is has a very large and vocal audience. You have to be able to take the good compliments with the bad comments.

To the finalists who did not make it on to this round, all of you are incredibly talented and there are several of you that I would like to offer opportunities to write on Modblog and as well as for BME. I’ll be contacting you as soon as things quiet down!

Thanks again to everyone who applied!

The real FINALISTS are..

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Rachel

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First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has sent in applications throughout February for theBME World Tour Intern Contest. I appreciate the effort that all of the applicants put into their videos and for taking the time to help me get to know each and every one of them as best as I could through their videos! Some were really fun to watch and others were a bit painful!

With Jen’s help, I’ve compiled a list of the finalists. I’d like you to watch their videos and then vote at the bottom of the videos. Vote for your FAVORITE 4 applicants! You’re only allowed to vote once. This will help me to figure out who the readers of BME want to see out there on the road with me. The winners of the poll won’t automatically be the winners of the contest but it will definitely help to show who the BME community wants as well as who can get the most people over to BME and voting for them!

I have been working on the logistics and may possibly end up choosing two teams to go out with me because it’s been too hard to narrow down just to four interns! These are the cream of the crop. They’ve either got great talents as writers, photographers or video editors or they just have some supremely awesome quality about them that came through in their applications or video. I really wish I could take them all! Help me to narrow it down because lord knows I can’t fit 18 of us in one suitcase!

Voting closes March 1st at 12:01am PST. I’m hoping to announce the winners on March 1st so we’ve only got a couple days to get those votes in! This will get reposted daily until then!

Thaddeus

Megan

Chez

Richard

Darah

Kaelahbee

Alberto

RobW

Timothy

Ari Oh

Kristen

Ferg

Adrian

Stewart

DeseRae

Jens

Nae

Now that you’ve watched the videos, VOTE for your favorite 4 applicants. Pick the 4 people you’d want to see out on the road together! Help them get out there by casting your vote! Remember, voting closes March 1st at 12:01am PST so get your friends voting for you!

Hey BME! Take me!

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Rachel

I made a really bad video to say thank you to everyone who has sent in their own videos!

BME World Tour Update

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Rachel

If you missed the initial post about BME’s world tour, you can check it out here. The short version of the contest is that BME is sponsoring a trip around the world. We’ve got 4 positions open for a writer, photographer and someone who can edit video plus a tour manager to help keep us organized while we’re out on the road. The tour manager still has to be able to blog, take photos and hold a video camera. We’ll be traveling all over Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and hopefully parts of Africa and Central/South America. Everyone needs to be able to write well enough to blog about our adventures, take photos to go along with those blogs and hold a camera steady enough to record video. Each official role means that the person assigned that role can do it “the best” out of the group. If you want to apply, please read the entire rules in the original post.

I’ve had some people comment saying that it “wasn’t fair” to require that applicants submit a video audition but I wanted to show you how easy it is to apply. All you need is a camera and a couple minutes of time to talk about yourself. I’m going to post a couple of auditions now to show you that you don’t need to do anything too complicated in your auditions. I just want to see who you are and get to know a little more about you than I could in a simple text based application. The only exception would be if you’re applying for the video editor role, since you need to have more than a basic ability to edit video. So far I’ve received over 20 completed applications. I’ve got a ton of other applications but they didn’t include a video so they’re not going to be considered until they send me their application with a video!

First, check out Darah’s video:

Then we’ve got Rob’s video which is a two part video:

See how easy that was? You don’t have to do anything crazy, they can be simple and to the point. Remember, applications are due by midnight on February 20th, 2010!

When I get it narrowed down to the finalists after February 20th, I’ll post the videos from those applicants. If it’s a close call between a couple of people then I’ll need your help to narrow it down to the winner!

If you’re interested in helping us organize the tour, I’ve started a forum on my page. Send me an IM for access and let me know how you think you can help!

It’s time for a contest!

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Rachel

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BME Internship 2.0

It’s been almost 5 years since BME last had interns. I’ve decided that I’d like to do something similar to the internship contest that we had. You can read more about it here. This is a much shorter version of the intern ship and instead of relocating to beautiful La Paz, Mexico, we’ll be traveling around the world.

I’m currently planning a worldwide BME tour. This will probably mean being on the road for 2-3 months. My goal is to start the tour in time to be home for the middle of June. This means we’d be hitting the road in the beginning of April. I have approximately 6 weeks to plan the trip, get sponsors, figure out the winners and then buy everyone’s tickets and book accommodations. I will also be booking the interviews that we will have scheduled. We will have at least one day off each week. This trip is all business though so if you want to do it, be prepared to take photos, talk to people and video tape interviews while we work our way around the world.

The goal of the tour is to interview as many individuals from as many different cultures and locations as possible. In each city that we stop in, I want to interview at least 5 shops and collect copies of their portfolios to add to BME. In addition to interviewing Tattoo Artists, Piercers and Body Modification Artists, I want to talk to and photograph clients as well as random people that we meet on the streets. I want to see the sites that the various places we go to have to offer (yes this means playing tourist!) as well as compile video interviews along the way. I’d like to bring 4 people besides myself. That means our group will consist of 5 people total. We can get away with 4, including me but we may go to 6 if I can’t make a decision between a couple great candidates.

Depending how the planning process goes, the trip may end up getting split into continents, obviously it’s always fun to think big but to make it so this really happens, we may need to scale it back and make it more affordable in terms of money, time and logistics. While I’m working on the contest and putting together the team, I’ll also be working on getting sponsorships as that will help make the tour that much more viable. I may also end up having a couple openings on the trip for multiple people to fill the various roles due to the length of the trip. I feel though that you should be able to commit at least two weeks. If you can only come out for a week, it’s not enough time to get into the groove with the rest of us. I will, however, make exceptions so please send in your audition and let me know that you’re the exception that I should make!

Click through for more information!

In order to make this trip possible, I’m looking for people who are talented in a couple different areas. I’m looking to fill the following roles:

Writer
Photographer
Videographer/Video Editor

In the dream scenario, each person would be capable of filling all of the roles but I understand that is a dream and not likely to happen. The main thing though is that everyone will have to be able to write. That is a requirement. I’m not saying that everyone needs to be an accomplished author but they have to have an inquisitive mind and be able to express their thoughts in writing so that we can share our travels with the readers of BME. I’m know that I am not the world’s best writer but I am capable of recounting an event or conducting an interview so if you think that you can write as least at the level that I can, then you qualify! I can also take decent photographs and keep a video camera steady. I am however really lacking in the video editing skills. I’ve been trying to get better at it but unfortunately it’s really not something that I’m good at.

If you’ve got more than one talent and can do the same, then it makes it more likely that you will be chosen to accompany me on the trip. Seeing as there are 3 roles that need to be filled and 4 spots available, this means that between the 5 of us, we should be able to fill these three rolls. When we’re in a city, we may need to split up to tackle two different locations at the same time depending on the schedule, which is why people need to be able to fill multiple roles. Being able to write relatively well, understanding lighting and Photography and also being able to properly handle a video camera (even if you can’t edit) means that we should be able to regroup at the end of the day and put our work together with ease.

Besides being able to fit a minimum of one of the above roles, there are a set of requirements that need to be met.

You must meet all of the following:

Active Interest in Body Modification – You should be knowledgeable about and actively involved in body modification. You should be open to all of what BME covers. If you have a problem with with anything in the BME/Extreme or BME/Hard areas then you should not apply. You don’t have to have heavy mods but you need to be okay with others having the right to modify their bodies as they see fit.

21+ years old preferred, 18+ Required – I’m asking for proof of a passport so I will be verifying your age. There are places outside of the USA that require you to be 21 to gain access so I don’t want to leave anyone in the hotel room because we’re going to an event at a 21+ location. Having everyone above 21 makes this a non issue. If you are under 21, apply anyway. I may make an exception for the right applicant BUT keep in mind that preference goes to those that are 21+

Valid Passport – You must hold or be able to acquire and provide proof of a valid passport two weeks prior to the time that I purchase our airline tickets. If you do not have one by this time, you will lose your spot. I cannot risk putting out the money for our non refundable travel arrangements and then find out that you can’t get a passport. There are no citizenship requirements. As long as you meet the other requirements, you are welcome to apply!

No Felony Convictions/No Arrest Record/Anything that prevents you from traveling freely – This is a requirement because, like the passport issue, I do not want to have the tour ruined by someone who gets blocked access from entering a country. Some countries will not allow convicted felons or someone who has even been arrested to gain entry to the country. It could potentially ruin the tour all together if someone in our group was denied entry and that made it so the rest of us were denied entry. Anything that prevents you from freely traveling, entering various countries or getting back into your own country will prevent you from being selected. I have decided that if you can get clearance to travel by filling out the appropriate paperwork and going to the required consulates and get yourself authorized to travel (with a criminal record) I will waive this requirement for the right applicant!

No Drug/Alcohol Abuse Issues – As we will be traveling in foreign countries, I do not want to deal with any issues relating to drug problems. We may visit countries that have serious penalties with foreigners that are caught with illegal substances. If you break this rule and are caught, there is little that we will be able to do to help you.

Good Health – I will get Medical Travel Insurance for all of us in case of emergency but if you are not in good health and cannot carry your own luggage or backpack, this is not the tour for you. We are going to have to schlep our own bags. We’re not rock stars, we’re people out to do something cool on a limited budget. We’re basically seeing the world on a shoestring budget (unless I score major sponsorship) and we need to make sure we meet out goals. If you are on medication that you take daily, that’s fine but it cannot interfere with our abilities to get from point A to B and do what we need to do while we are there. I am hoping to make it so that I am the only one with a chronic illness on the trip. In addition to doing our interviews, going to events and working almost every day of the trip, we will be site seeing. Depending on the country, this could include a lot of hiking.

Drivers License – You should have a valid drivers license, but it’s not required. Preference does go to someone with a license in the event of a close call. It does not need to be a full license if you’re in a country with a rated system like Canada. I don’t want to end up being the only one who can drive though!

Availability – You must be able to commit to staying on the tour for at least TWO WEEKS. Any less than that and it will disrupt the tour. It will take a lot of time to get into a grove and figure out how everything works and to streamline our entire process. If people come and go too often, the harder it will be to become an efficient touring machine! Preference will be given to those who are able to commit more time.

Computer Experience– This is a no brainer. You need to be able to write and post photos on the web. If you only have a desktop computer and you are selected, I should be able to provide you with a laptop. This will need to be returned back to me at the end of the trip. You must have a working knowledge of wordpress, basic photo editing capabilities (ie color correcting, watermarking, resizing photographs), as well as basic HTML skills. Extended knowledge is always a plus and as always, preference will be given to those with the most variety of talents and skills.

A Positive Attitude – Sometimes shit happens, especially when you travel. Are you going to be able to keep a smile on your face when we get to a hotel and it’s oversold and they gave away our rooms because we didn’t get there until 1am due to our flight being stuck on the runway for 3 hours? Are you going to be okay with sleeping at the airport when our flights are canceled and we can’t get a hotel until morning? Or are you going to be a diva and whine and cry about it? If so, this isn’t for you!

Be Social/Outgoing – You don’t need to be a party animal but you have to be willing to talk to strangers. We are going to interview, photograph and film people that we don’t know. You have to want to get to know them, or at least do a damn good job faking it, which is what makes a good interview. You also have to be willing to have your photo taken and appear on CAMERA. Obviously some people will want to spend more time in front of the camera and that’s fine with me. I hate having my picture taken or being on video but I know that it needs to be done. You should know this too and be willing to get over your fears.

These things are major bonuses:

Travel Experience is a plus – Do you know what I mean when I say we’re going LAX-LHR? Do you determine your travel route based on the amount of air miles you’re going to accrue? Do you know what to do when you’re in line at airport security? Do you pack everything into a tiny carry on bag so you don’t have to check it and in that bag are things sorted so you can pull out your liquids so you don’t get a secondary screening? If you’re a travel pro, that’s a big bonus. If my 6 year old knows more about travel procedures than you do, chances are we might not get along! If you have airline/hotel/rental car elite status, that is also a HUGE bonus because I will be booking flights based on AA/OneWorld Alliances and hotels based on Priority Club alliances. I have EVIP’s which need to be used by the end of February or they expire. If you know what this means, make sure you include it in your application. If you’re adept at public transportation, include this on your application as well. We don’t want to get lost and we don’t want to kill our budget on taxis! Obviously safety first but we’ll be in a group so we will be fine.

Multi-Lingual – Do you speak more than one language? Great! Do you understand other cultures because you have experience with them? Awesome! Do you know people who can put up the 5 of us for the night? Even better!

Hotel/Airline/Sponsors Connections – That’s a no brainer. Do you have any hook ups and you want to help us out? Please contact me!

What’s covered and what isn’t?

Now that you’ve been selected, what do you get? Unless I find a couple other sponsors, we’re going to pull this off on a limited budget. It means that we’ll likely be flying economy (this is where having travel experience and frequent flyer status comes in handy! You can upgrade, I won’t hold it against you!), staying in low end Hotels/Hostels/Friends Couches where we can and taking full advantage of Continental Breakfasts offered at the hotels/hostels that we stay in. We’ll try and take public transportation to keep costs down as taxis can be very expensive. I will be covering the basics. Unfortunately this isn’t a paid tour but all of the costs will be taken care of so you’ll be able to take a trip you may otherwise not be able to afford. This is a great opportunity to see the world as well as build up a huge archive of content for your resume. Not to mention it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Plane tickets/Ground Transportation – You will need to get yourself to our starting point, if you happen to be closer to our first destination, you can meet us there. Due to the nature of our tour, it makes sense that we all travel together. The only exception is if it doesn’t make sense for you to go to the start point if you’re closer to the first destination. For example, if we’re all starting off in Los Angeles and our first destination is Londan, England and you live in Paris, it makes more sense to have you meet up with us in London. In that scenario, I’ll cover getting you to London from Paris but I can’t cover getting you from Podunk, IA to Los Angeles.

Accommodations – We will be staying in hotels/hostels or friends couches (this will be a very rare occurrence and most likely won’t happen, mostly due to the fact that most people don’t have room to accommodate 5 people). We will be sharing hotel rooms. Since there are 5 of us, we will be splitting two rooms (taking turns with who gets the cot!). In the event we take on an additional person, we will be splitting 3 rooms. 2 persons to a room.

Meals – 3 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. This does not include alcohol or tobacco.

Medical/Travel Insurance – I will make sure that each of us has medical/travel insurance for the duration of the tour.

The Application Process!

Now that you know what the tour is about, who I’m looking for, what the requirements are and what you get out of it, it’s time to apply! As I’ve described at the beginning, I’m looking for “Jack-of-all-trades”. If you can write, take photos and hold a video camera, then this is definitely an opportunity that you qualify for. I’ve also got a position open for someone who doesn’t really excel at any one skill out of all three. Everyone needs to submit the same application, however, if you’re looking to be assigned one role specifically above the others, then you’ll need to submit additional material to support that request.

Please submit the following:

Send an email to [email protected]. Please make sure to include the following in your email:
Name:
Bio:
Birthday & Age:
IAM Page Name:
Location:
Role you’re applying for:
Passport:
Drivers License:
Criminal Record Y/N, if Y, what?:
How long can you commit to the tour? Please note priority may be given to those who can commit more time to the tour:
Are there any time periods where you will need to briefly leave the tour?:
Email addresses used for any BME submissions. If there are contributions to BME or this community you’ve made that won’t show up under those email addresses, please include details about them.
Link to Audition Video (You must create a video audition and include it with your application – see below for hints!):
Links to writing:
Links to Photography:
Links to Videos:

I’ve explained the application specifics for the Audition video and the links to your writing, photos and videos below! If you don’t submit these things your application won’t be considered!

A Video Audition – Make sure to state your name, your age, where you live and which role you’re applying for. Since I’m potentially spending weeks on end with you, I want to get to know you as well as possible through your audition tape. I wasn’t sure what to ask for in the audition video so I googled “how to make an audition tape” and got tons of answers. Check out those sites as well as this one to see how to make the best audition tape possible. If you’re saying “I don’t have a video camera, how can I make a video?!” Don’t forget that most digital point and shoot cameras have a video mode. You can also use the webcam built into your computer to record an audition tape. Most things that you audition for put 3 minute limits on the audition tapes. I’m giving you 10 minutes to work with. You don’t need to use all of it but I’m giving you a lot of time to let me get to know you. Tell me who you are. Tell me why you think you’d be good for this. Tell me why you want to do it. Be honest. Tell me your deepest darkest secrets and everything else you want me to know. Are you afraid of the dark? Let me know. Give me a look into your life and what it would be like living together on the road for 6 weeks to 3 months! Upload your video to youtube and send the link along with your application email.

Examples of your writing – As I said, everyone must be able to write at LEAST at the same level as myself. This means you can express yourself clearly and intelligently via the internet. You need have a basic grasp of proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. Your examples of writing can be anything from a link to your IAM page, another blog and articles or interviews you’ve written. If you’re interested in being selected as “The Writer” then make sure you submit more examples of these.

Photography – Everyone needs to be able to take photos. Please send a link to examples of the photos you’ve taken. A link to your BME submissions, IAM page, online photo hosting page or something similar is fine. We will all have pocket size digital cameras. If you’re interested in being “The Photographer” please send links to your portfolio to back your selection for this role. You will need to know how to light the shops that we are shooting in.

Videos you’ve Edited – Everybody needs to be able to use a video camera. Please send links to videos you’ve uploaded to youtube etc. It’s okay if you don’t have any if you’re applying for one of the other roles. Your application video will suffice. If you’re applying for the “Videographer/Video Editor” role, please send a link to your portfolio of films/videos that you’ve edited. To snag this role, you’ll need to prove that you can edit video!

I haven’t decided if I’ll be posting the video auditions on Modblog so that I can get BME readers to help me choose the winners. Submit your videos under the impression that I will be. This is going to be a kick ass trip and I think we’re all going to have an awesome time! Get those applications in asap! The application process will be closed on February 20th and winners announced on the 1st of March. We should be able to have a finalist round where I’ll post the video auditions that made it to the finals and we’ll do a group vote. I want to see who can really market themselves and get people to BME to vote for them, since that’s kind of what a part of this tour is about! I will have the final vote on who goes on the trip though. If everything goes according to plan, we will be leaving in the first week of April. Good Luck!

Big Island Volcanos

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Rachel

Norm and I took a day trip to the Big Island of Hawaii to take a helicopter tour of th active volcano areas. There wasn’t as much active lava flow as we thought there would be but during the tour there were spots that would break open and expose the molten lava but by the time we’d swing around to take another photo, it would get hit with rain and cool down an turn black in seconds. It was amazing.

Click through for more photos!

This is where the lava flows like waterfalls into the ocean. You could feel the heat from the helicopter. We flew in a helicopter with the doors off. It was insane. The pilot said that they claim the water can be as hot as a thousand degrees. The color changes in the water was amazing. It was like a rainbow of blue and green due to the varying temperature differences.

This is a plume of steam from the lava hitting the ocean.

Toxic sulfur fumes leak through cracks in the surface of the cooled lava.

This is the only house left in a subdivision that wasn’t hit during the eruption in the 80′s which destroyed every home. The same person still lives there. He hikes out 2 hours to the nearest road and hitch hikes into town to get supplies. He has no running water, electricity or anything else. He doesn’t even cook on propane because he can’t get the propane back to his house. 2 hours of hiking just to get to a main road. It’s insane. The house is surrounded by lava flow. There is a black line of lava on the other side but this was the best photo I had of the house. We saw another area where they’d tried to rebuild. One house got rebuilt only to be destroyed completely 3 weeks ago. The other one only got the foundation finished which all you could see was six posts coming out of the lava. I’m not sure but I don’t think I’d go rebuilding in an active lava flow zone!

This is a waterfall just east of Hilo that we saw on the way back to the airport. All of the islands that we have been to are full of beautiful waterfalls like this. It’s definitely an amazing state. I don’t have any photos of us to stick in here as “mod content” but I thought they were cool enough to share anyway! Have a great weekend!

On the road to Hana

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Rachel

I don’t remember exactly what day it was this week but Norm and I decided to drive from Kehei to Paia. Once we got there we thought we’d drive to the first roadside waterfall that we could find. At each waterfall we decided to go to the next one until we were finally in Hana. One blink and you could have missed the town entirely. We refilled the gas tank and decided to be adventurous and take the road that the maps said were dangerous. It ended up being an amazing one lane unpaved road heading the opposite way back around the island that we’d come from. I’ve been to Maui several times and had not taken the drive out to Hana. The scenery alone was worth the 3-4 hour drive. If you have a reason to come out to Hawaii, I suggest you do!

Norm was surprised to find that his septum was still at least a 00ga. Click through to see more photos from our trip and the rest of this amazing tree.

The tree Norm used to check the gauge of his septum piercing.

Our route driving around Maui where we saw all of these amazing waterfalls that you’ll see photos of below!

This was one of the few waterfalls that had a large pool below it that you could swim it. Due to it being water from the mountains it was way too cold to actually go swimming in though we tried!

Norm is a bit of a rule breaker. On the other side of where I took the picture was a huge sign that said “Do not stand on this wall”. It was probably there because of the 60 foot drop down into a raging river on the left side of him.

Over looking the cliffs at the Garden of Eden Botanical Gardens.

Below is a photo from the beach in Wailea at the hotel where we stayed.

And another shot from in the pool. It’s a fresh water pool for those asking how I was able to open my eyes. Even with your eyes open though you can’t really see into the viewfinder to take photos so it was very hit or miss!

The internet here has been pretty hard to stay connected to. I’ve spent the past few hours trying to upload some photos to get posts going for tomorrow. I’m also in the process of uploading a video to post on Monday but it may not make it up at this speed until Tuesday. It’s an interview with Mike Rubendall and I hope you guys like it! We’re off to Tim Hendricks wedding tomorrow, which is why we’re here in Hawaii to begin with, I’m glad he’s getting married to an amazing girl both because he’s a rad guy and an amazing tattooer as well as it gave us a reason to get out to the island that is the farthest from any continents in the world!

Aloha and Mahalo for supporting BME!

Greetings from under water!

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Rachel

I’m still in beautiful Hawai’i for another couple of days. Some of you may have noticed that our billing is down. Someone has been successful in getting all of BME’s merchant accounts deactivated and I’m working to resolve the situation. While this happened on Wednesday, it’s now the weekend so it most likely won’t be resolved until after the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m not going to let anyone’s accounts expire. If your IAM page comes up for renewal, please email Jen at [email protected] and she will add more time. BME accounts will not expire so enjoy the free time you’ll be getting with your account until we get the billing issues resolved. BMEshop won’t be able to accept any orders during this time either. I was planning on having a huge Black Friday sale so hopefully we’ll be back up and running by then so you can enjoy the holiday savings and stock up for Christmas.

I’ll be getting a couple posts up over the weekend but don’t forget to take a look at this weeks video interview with Henning Jorgensen which is the third episode in BME’s new video interview series. I can’t wait to get back home and work on the rest of the videos we have in the queue. There should be a ton of photos from my trip with my traveling companion and tattooer extraordinaire Norm which I’ll post over the weekend once I’ve got them all prepped. For now, here’s a quick shot from in the pool. I blow pretty sweet bubbles out of my nose.

It’s only a 30 gauge needle!

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Rachel

I took the post from my IAM page and I’ve made some changes to it so it would be relevant to post here so that more people could see it. As an update, I’m experiencing fairly heavy side effects from them but I’m hoping that the good outweighs the bad. Most people assume that since we’re heavily modified that it’s easy to give ourselves shots. The other thing that I am interested in finding out is if my injection site reactions will differ in the 6 areas that I have to inject myself that are tattooed. Does anyone else have experience with interferon injections and tattoos? I know that my healing abilities are nonexistant so I have slowed my tattooing down to once every 3-4 months because it usually takes about that long for new tattoo work to properly heal as well as I don’t want trigger my body into having a relapse. Please let me know your experiences with injection therapies (MS related or not). I’d appreciate hearing from you!

“I made this video just few weeks ago to help explain the process of giving myself an interferon injection. I did the prep and injection part in under approximately 3 minutes, while talking through it. This is only the third injection I had taken and the FIRST ONE that I’ve done myself.

I have been diagnosed with MS since the summer of 2007. I first noticed paralysis in my right side during an endurance race when I used to drive race cars pro-am. It spiraled from there into what doctors think was my second major relapse. The first was when I lived in Mexico about 2 years prior and went misdiagnosed as a brain infection.

I have then suffered about 5-6 relapses a year lasting around 3-6 weeks each time. They ranged from partial paralysis to blurry vision to electric shock feelings when I moved my head, as well as a constant pins and needles sensation in my skin. The symptoms in each relapse don’t tend to go away with my type of MS. They just keep hopping on the pile though sometimes they lighten up.

I have been in a state of denial until recently when I lost my vision for 2 months. I had gone from a fully independent woman to needing someone to help me do household chores, drive places, pick my daughter up from the bus stop and all sorts of things one would think a 29 year old should be able to do.

As I say in the video, my doctor said by this time next year I will be severely handicapped at the rate I’m going. After some time waiting I was finally sent my prescriptions and again it sat around in the house for a couple weeks before I mustered up the courage to ask my husband to do the injections. We watched the DVD that came with my kit. We both heckled and mocked the people in the videos because they don’t seem real. They didn’t have a sense of fear or worry or dread, which is why they just didn’t seem real to me. They’re probably very experienced with the treatment, but I’m not.

I decided to make this clip, hoping that maybe someone who was recently diagnosed would see it and it would help them to start their treatment immediately instead of being like me and allowing more and more lesions to form across their brain and spinal cord.

I don’t want to go blind. I don’t want to be in a wheel chair. I don’t want to lose my independence. I don’t want that for you either and I hope that this helps in some way.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.”

Art Theft

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Rachel

Canvas Los Angeles, the boutique and gallery of the tattooer arts, was robbed on December 12th. Thankfully, none of the gallery’s staff were injured, but sadly, two pieces of artwork were stolen. The two pieces stolen were by Alex Garcia and Guy Aitchison.

This was a truly despicable act. It’s a violation, pure and simple, without any justification whatsoever, and it’s an insult to both the art and tattoo communities. Theft of any sort is inexcusable, but when you steal work from an artist, you steal the thing they produce, and you rob them of their livelihood.

What we want more than anything else is simply for these pieces to be returned. If those responsible for this theft bring the paintings back, or if they are otherwise returned unharmed, Canvas LA will not press charges. All we want is for the pieces to be returned to the gallery — this is really just a matter of supporting our community, plain and simple.

“Minty Fresh Death” is oil on masonite while “AutoMech #2″ is acrylic on canvas. Both paintings are approximately 8×10 and were framed at the time they were stolen. Please keep an eye out on eBay and anywhere else you may see art for sale or displayed, and report anything you see to [email protected]. Thank you all for your help and support.