Older and Better


Greetings, ModBloggers! Let’s begin our Wednesday smorgasbord with this shot of “Mr. Lees Boat,” if that is his real name, featuring some brand new circular facial scarification work by the great Iestyn (lots more). As always, we’ll be very curious to see how these suckers heal, but between his jewelry and new scars, ’tis a fine theme emerging.

(Cutting by Iestyn at Diamond Jack’s in London, England.)

See more in Absolute Scarification By Iestyn (Scarification)

A Big Blue Watery Road


Well folks, let’s wrap things up today with a request: A few astute readers very politely wondered in my general direction, hey, where all the handsome fellas at? They’re right here, friends—and by “here” I mean “up there,” like the excellently named Adam “Danger” Chitwood, who just hangs out all day, shirtless, letting his hair blow in the mild breeze. Must be nice. Must be nice.

Until tomorrow, fair ModBloggers.

See more in Septum piercing (Nose Piercing)

You Are Evolution


As you’re all likely aware, whenever we come across modified professionals, we like to give them a little spotlight—it’s important for both members of the community as well as the “mainstream” to know that visible piercings, tattoos or anything else need not keep a skilled person from forging a particular career path. Well, up top there is Kasha, who, as you can see, has all manner of facial piercings, but hasn’t let that stop her from reaching her goal of being some sort of zombie-killing death merchant. As for the chunk of meat in that undead bastard’s mouth…merely a flesh wound, I’m sure. She’ll be fine.

See more in Cheeks (Lip Piercing)

And That’s Why You Don’t Teach Lessons


Well folks, that’ll do it for this fine weekend, and what better way to wrap up The Lord’s Day than with this hilarious (and thoroughly bizarre) old school-ish piece from Max Brain in Varese, Italy, of, hmm, Satan molesting a futuristic Boy Scout? Elroy Jetson, maybe? Either way, there’s a valuable lesson to gleaned here, and that is…huh. No matter the kind of virtuous life you try to lead, the devil will find a way to lick your forehead? Works for me. Until tomorrow, ModBloggers.

See more in Old School (and Old) Tattoos (Tattoos)

Decay or Explosion


Good afternoon, ModBloggers! Hope you’re enjoying your Sunday, be it lazy or otherwise. This hieroglyph skin-removal piece cutting comes to us from “Kick” Keek in Moscow, the photo having been taken at the 2009 Moscow Tattoo Festival. This right here? That’s a fine use of back real estate, my friend.

See more in Skin Removal Scarification (Scarification)

Endless Elsewhere


Ahoy-hoy, ModBloggers! Hope the weekend finds you well. Sorry for the late post today—Internet at the manor has been a real kick in the dick all day. Anyway! Here’s some fine portraiture work by Josh Reynolds from Cannibal Graphics in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. What can I say? I’m a sucker from Day of the Dead/pinup/Virgin Mary iconography. (Which we see all the time, believe me.)

Oh, and one more thing…

If you’re in Toronto, the Seven Crowns gents, George and Matt (above) are hosting a gallery showing of tattoo art at Rocky Raccoon’s! I’ll be there along with resident BME photo magician Phil Barbosa, so come on out and say hello, etc. Here’s the info:

On Saturday, May 30th we’ll be holding the “Monsters, Martyrs and May-sterpieces” show at Rocky Raccoon’s, 2579 Yonge St. in Toronto, a study in fantastically terrifying and disturbingly cheerful art pieces from the tattoo world. We will be displaying our own art as well as that of local tattoo artists, and would love for everyone to come and check it out. The event will start around 8pm, and there will be cheap drinks and free food, along with music by Sarah B. and other features that promise to tantalize and…you get the idea. Come out and celebrate art with us.

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (May 29, 2009)


[Comics.com] Oh hey look, up there, it’s our old friend Burnaby Q. Horatio Marcus Longfellow “Crump-Daddy” Orbax, immortalized in comic-form, courtesy of the good folks at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! The comic is all about how Orbax, when not munching glass or whatever he does in his spare time, is actually some kind of sell-out nerd professor of “physics,” whatever the hell that is. Hey freak, make with the laughs! (Click the Comics.com link to see it in all its full-sized glory.)

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution] Well, no laughs here. A few days ago, some idiot drunken goblin named Eugene Ashley decided it’d be a grand idea to tattoo his three-year-old son’s shoulder with the initials “DB,” allegedly standing for “Daddy’s Boy.” Hey, that’s fun bonding experience, right? No? Yeah, not so much.

The tattoo was discovered after an unidentified person complained to the Department of Family and Children Services about the conditions at the Ashley home. The Ashleys have three or four children, Davis said.

“You keep thinking you’ve seen it all, and then voila,” Davis said.

The children remain with their mother; Eugene Ashley was arrested May 21 and faces charges of child cruelty and tattooing a person younger than 18 years old, the latter being a misdemeanor, Davis said.

Interestingly, Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, a columnist for the Journal-Constitution, when discussing this shit-bird in a subsequent column, raised a point not uncommon to the likes of BME and its community, but one particularly foreign to the average AJC reader: Is this really much worse than piercing a baby’s ears or circumcising a newborn?

I get that there’s a law about not tattooing someone under 18, but why is that more worthy of a law than the other two? Is it simply because the other two are done more frequently so they have become socially acceptable?

[…]

Piercings (at least in ears) can close back up, but circumcision can hardly be reversed. I have heard of a method of stretching the foreskin back over the head of the penis using weights but that doesn’t sound easy. Laser surgery to remove tattoos seems preferable to trying to “re-grow” your foreskin.

Are tattoos more painful than piercing or circumcision? Not sure that’s true.

I’m not promoting tattoos for toddler and babies, I’m just wondering if there is a double standard of what is acceptable to do to a child?

Somebody get this lady a wheelbarrow in which to carry her massive balls! Whether you agree with her or not (and I don’t think she even really indicated whether or not she necessarily believes the argument she’s put forth), this isn’t a conversation that occurs among the general public very often, and it’s one that should probably be had. So, Theresa Walsh Giarrusso, we salute you for opening up the dialogue about a tricky subject at a difficult time. What say your commenters?

“Wow, trying to stoke some fires and save your job at the AJC with crap like this? Why not talk about Mike Vick too?

TATOO= PERMANENT AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION (for adults)
PIERCED EARS= GHETTO TRASH
CIRCUMCISION= HEALTH BENEFITS, and doesn’t give your son a odd looking member.”

[…]

“My granddaughter got her ears pierced at 9 months old and she didn’t cry. How can you compare THAT to a tattoo. You people are nuts! lol”

[…]

“Are you seriously comparing tattoos to circumcision? Need I say more? Thought not, I rest my case.”

(In all fairness, there are a surprising amount of reasonable and rational discussions going on in the comments there.)

[YouTube] Astute reader “Cassie” sends in this charming YouTube clip on everybody’s favorite egg-laying water mammal, the platypus! Why are we posting it here? Because, in addition to being suckers for weird and/or cute animals, it also features several segments with Stephen Kolomyjec from James Cook University, who is all pierced and tattooed and whatnot, and is working on genetic research for platypuses. And hey, we like to show off modified professionals whenever we can. (See: Orbaxy up top.) Stephen pops up around the 1:14 mark.

One in a Million, Doc


Well, this seems like as good a time as any for a good old-fashioned caption contest! I’ll try to kick things off:

“Coming soon to BME Shop: Chasstity Bars.”

You can do better than that, ModBloggers. And just to sweeten the deal, the best caption wins YOUR VERY OWN CAR MANUFACTURING PLANT! Get crackin’!

(“Just for fun” piercings by Joshua Becraft at Blue Horseshoe Tattoo in Virginia Beach.)

See more in Body Surface Piercing: Body (Surface & Unusual Piercing)

Your Love Was a Lie


Happy Friday, everyone! Just in case you haven’t all skipped out early on work to go see Drag Me To Hell or Up or another of the fine horror films being released today, here’s an actual hell-demon on John‘s leg, fighting to make its way into the earthly realm to eat your souls, etc. Yeesh. Look at those dead eyes, anguished face, hellish screaming…reminds me of my prom night! Ha ha, just kidding. I didn’t go to prom.

(Tattoo by Joshua Carlton at Great American Tattoo Company in Shelbyville, Indiana.)

See more in Sci-Fi Tattoos (Tattoos)