I just wanted to take a moment to wish Rob a very happy birthday! Rob has been a big help since he took over writing the bulk of the ModBlog posts and he’s handled the slings and arrows of the job with grace and class. Have a great day Rob and thanks for all the help!
It’s been a busy week in the world of modified news, with a lot of old stories getting followed up on, as well as people losing jobs the believe it or not, are tied to tattoos and piercings, but not in the ways you may think. Of course, the week wouldn’t be complete with some celebrity-type news, however, most of it isn’t just gossip about some celebutant’s new tattoo.
Well, lets get things started off with a little good clean fun.
You may have heard in the news that a police officer was fired for posting a picture on his facebook account of his patrol car being washed at a bikini car wash. Well it turns out, it wasn’t just any ordinary bikini car wash. The event was being put on by a South Carolina tattoo studio, which called the car wash, “Tits for Tats”. Classy, I know. The money was going to charity, so we can let the name slide. As the story goes, the male officer took a picture of four of the ladies washing the cruiser. When it was discovered online, the officer lost his job as it was against policy to allow a scantily clad woman to pose next to an official vehicle (even if the officer was off-duty). Now here’s where the story gets interesting.
A female Berkeley County, S.C., sheriff’s deputy was not disciplined, despite the fact that she was actually in a bikini participating in the scrubbing of cars. Apparently, police departments don’t have similar policies concerning their female employees moonlighting as the center of attention in bikini events.
So with that in mind, which of these young ladies do you think is the off-duty officer? If it helps, the event was co-hosted by a strip club, but only one of the dancers were participating. The rest were management and friends of the tattoo studio.
Keep on reading to find out who else had job problems, as well as some follow ups to past stories, and a picture that may make you think twice about ever having plastic surgery.
So while the officer in South Carolina was fired not as a direct result from anything modification related, a woman in England found out that people who are supposed to help others find jobs, can be exceedingly biased towards someone with piercings and tattoos.
Hayley O’Neil, 23, – who also has 20 body piercings – says was also advised to ”stand behind a wall” when she asked a job centre official what post she could apply for. She eventually left the Job centre plus centre in Blackburn Lancs in tear without any interviewers lined up after the advisor concluded: ”Who would hire you looking like that?”. Miss O’Neil, who got her first tattoo from her mother as an 18th birthday present said: ”I just felt so humiliated. I couldn’t believe what this guy was saying. ”I said I could take the the piercings out but they look a lot worse when they are out.”
“The guy said: ‘on first impressions do you think anyone would hire you?’ He said: ‘look at it this way if you were to stand behind a wall – or put a paper bag over your face do you think you would have a better chance?’
Well that’s a good piece of advice to follow. If there is the possibility that you may not get a job based on your personal appearance, it’s best to put a bag over your head. Seriously though, while some places of employment may not exactly be accepting of facial piercings, to tell someone to stick a bag on their head to get a job is a little harsh. Especially considering there are a lot of people out there who are much more heavily modified than her that are holding down jobs without issue.
Of course, not everyone has this difficulty when it comes to their workplace. In fact, in the case of Billy Gibby (now known as Hostgator Dotcom), he makes his living by getting tattooed.
Gibby’s face now features color tattoos for adult websites PornHub, Cam4, HotMovies, plus HipHopBling and several others. Three Anchorage companies have ponied up cash to advertise on Gibby—Liberty Tax Service, Chilkoot Charlie’s, and Gunrunners. And he’s been featured in magazines like Rebel Ink and Bizarre. (Gibby uses a sort of tattoo-covering makeup when he has to go to, say, parent-teacher conferences at his kids’ school.)
It didn’t end there though: About a month ago Billy Gibby legally changed his name to Hostgator Dotcom, for a fee of course. “The judge asked me if I was changing my name to avoid debts,” Hostgator says. “I said, no judge, I’m doing this to pay off my debts.”
To be fair Hostgator is also an amateur boxer, so he has that to fall back on when he runs out of room.
In other news, you might recall the story that circulated this summer about the group of boys that bullied a 14-year-old to get tattooed. Since this past summer the boys have been placed on trial, and the jury has rendered a verdict in the case of the ringleader of the group.
The ringleader of teens who bullied a 14-year-old boy into being tattooed on his butt was sentenced this morning to six months in jail.
Blake Vannest, 18, of 233 Garvins Falls Road, apologized to the victim’s family prior to being sentenced in Merrimack County Superior Court. The boy, who must undergo five laser treatments to remove the lewd tattoo, did not attend the sentencing. Vannest, dressed in orange jail wear and his brushed blond hair in need of a cut, pleaded guilty to simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child. A felony charge of criminal restraint was dropped.
The boy who got tattooed will still have to undergo a few more sessions of laser treatment to remove the tattoo, but it’s good to know that this type of thing didn’t go unpunished.
As a quick follow-up to last week’s story about the young girl being suspended for having her nostril pierced, it seems that the Church of Body Modification is still not being recognized by the principal. An offer was put forward to the girl, and I think you’ll probably understand why she refused it.
School policy says the rule can be waived for a student’s “sincerely held religious belief.” The compromise offered by school leaders this week said Ariana could return to Clayton High School if she covers the piercing with a bandage until she graduates four years from now, said Katy Parker, an attorney for the ACLU, which has taken on the case. ”We don’t think she has an obligation to do it,” Parker said. “We think it’s unreasonable to ask a student to wear a Band-Aid on her face for the next four years.”
I tend to agree with the ACLU on this one. Its interesting to think what would have happened if the girl belonged to another religion where nostril piercings are standard practice. But because the principal doesn’t believe she holds her religious beliefs seriously, the girl is now facing expulsion.
A similar story also popped up this week from Florida, where a girl was suspended from school and forced to change to an alternative learning center because an administrator thought that her tattoo was gang related, even though the girl claims the smiling/crying drama masks are representative of her twin sisters. The girl previously attended the school without hassle even while sporting tattoos dedicated to her parents.
In convention news, the International London Tattoo Convention started up today and will continue all weekend long. Taking place at The Tattoo Dock, ticket prices range from £20-25, and the convention is open from noon until 2am on Saturday, and noon to 7:30pm Sunday.
Before we get to the celebrity news, I found this interesting article from Helium.com that discusses the usage of tattoos and piercings in the bible, and how many people have taken some of the quotes out of context in order to discourage others from getting modified. It’s definitely worth a quick read, especially if you’ve ever been faced with someone who believes your choices will make you “spend an eternity in hell”. My favorite part was where the author points out that if you trim your beard, you’ll suffer worse than if you got a tattoo.
So, it’s finally time for the celebrity “news”. This week, we’ll start off with singer Lily Allen. It seems that after listening to the radio one day, she got infuriated with what she heard, and decided to tweet about it.
Lily, 25, tweeted: ‘Listening to lots of small minded people on radio 2 slagging off people with tattoos.
‘Get a life you silly curtain twitching snobs.’
Can someone please explain the proper usage of “silly curtain twitching snobs” as I’d love to be able to use it in an argument one day.
If you went out to see the new Ben Affleck directed film “The Town” you may notice that one of the tough guys in the film is sporting a distinct tattoo.
McLaughlin, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound, fourth-generation longshoreman from the square mile, plays Rusty, henchman to actor Pete Postlethwaite’s (“In the Name of the Father”) villain Fergus Colm. Intimidating stature aside, McLaughlin said it was his unique tattoo that caught Affleck’s eye.
An outline of the commonwealth of Massachusetts – filled in with the colors of the Irish flag and Charlestown’s zip code – covers McLaughlin’s right forearm. According to McLaughlin, Affleck loved the tat so much, the studio flew the Townie out to Los Angeles for a close-up of the ink job.
Well, this should give some hope to the woman from the earlier story. Mr.McLaughlin was able to get a good job because of his tattoo, so I’m sure she’ll be able to get a job without having to put a paper bag over her head.
I mentioned earlier about a story that will make you reconsider plastic surgery, well this is it. You may remember Pete Burns from the 80s band Dead or Alive, famous for the song You Spin Me Round (YouTube link here for the earworm). Well Pete recently won a settlement in a case against his plastic surgeon for a horribly botched procedure. Last week, Pete was out on the town showing off his newest modifications, a series of microdermals along his eyebrows and cheekbones. If you don’t remember what Pete looked like before, the article has a nice side-by-side comparison for you.
A year ago Pete won £450,000 in damages from his cosmetic surgeon Dr Maurizio Viel who the singer claimed left him ‘suicidal’ after several botched lip implants between 2000 and 2004. ‘As I looked in the mirror it felt like everything I had worked for was ruined due to the disabling injuries I suffered caused by Dr Maurizio Viel,’ Burns said in September last year. ’I am just glad the case is now over.’ ’It is a terrible experience living with the trauma and worry of injury and disability and to have to re-live and recount the details and circumstances of how your injuries happened for the purposes of evidence for the court.’ He added: ‘It has taken away my life and my career. I saw doctors in London who said the only option was to amputate my lips. I was suicidal.’
Thankfully Pete is still with us, and has a single coming out sometime soon. And it’s good to see that he’s moved forward with his life and is continuing to get modified (albeit in a much less drastic manner).
So that’s it for this week. I hope you all have a great weekend, and I’ll see everyone back here Monday.
Oh, and if you come across a news story you think should be in next week’s news round-up, just click here to submit the link.
IAM: Arseniy Andersson is at it again. Last time we saw him on ModBlog he was throwing hooks for a suicide suspension photoshoot with a chess board. This time around, he helped out Sanya Gordon with her first suspension. But of course, it wouldn’t be Arseniy if there wasn’t a dramatic element involved.
To see how the suspension itself went, keep on reading.
Now I’m not sure if this is Sanya’s normal attire, or something special for the suspension, but either way it looks pretty awesome. With the focus in the second picture focused on the hooks, it looks like Sanya has faded off into her own space, tethered to this world by the hooks and rope. It’s as if without those hooks, she would drift away. I was almost tempted to post this image upside down, just because of the dreamlike quality it evokes would make it appear she’s floating away.
Resurrection suspensions always seem to evoke this type of feeling. The rebirth that suspensions can evoke in a person’s spirit is truly encapsulated with the resurrection. Take a look for yourself in the resurrection gallery.
If you’re not familiar with Kabuki, or may have heard the term but never understood it, today is your lucky day. As a form of traditional Japanese theatre, Kabuki dramas are instantly recognizable by the distinct costumes and make-up the performers wear. Originally performed by all female casts, the practice was deemed too erotic, and women were banned from performing. Following the ban, the style continued on with all male casts, until further bans were placed on the actors as the young men playing the female parts were often used as prostitutes. Eventually both bans were rescinded, and the tradition carried on, and is still being practiced to this day.
With Kabuki theatre, the make-up the performers wear is called Kumadori, and is extremely important as it can instantly let the audience know what character is being portrayed. This sleeve that was sent in by IAM: MinusAll features a number of Kumadori make-up styles, including Dannosuke, Yakkodako, Modoibashi, Sukeroku, and Shoomaru.
The use of the make-up designs on what appears to be parchment, is a nice nod to the practice of having the designs posted backstage as a point of reference when actors are doing their own make-up.
You can get a better look at it in the oriental-style tattoo gallery.
The last time a lip corset was shown on ModBlog was back in 2007. There may have been one since then, and I’m sure if there has someone will find it, but it definitely seems to be a rare type of corsetry. BME user DivaPayyne sent in this image of her lip corset recently. Stylistically, the pink ribbon combined with the pink hair gives her an almost doll-like quality.
The different types of interpretations that a lip corset can bring about are interesting. Historically, the corset was used by women to force their bodies into a desired shape in order to satisfy the societal demands that were imposed on them. Nowadays corsets are used for a variety of different uses, some stylistically, some for fetishists, others for practical use, and so on. When it comes to corset piercings, the aesthetic of the corset is combined with the classical usage of a corset. The idea of binding. Now of course this doesn’t apply to all corset piercings, but there are some that do emphasize the constricting nature of a corset. When this is applied to the lips, you get a sense that the woman’s lips are binded in a way to prevent her from speaking out past what is expected of her.
One of the most important aspects of a corset piercings is the process, putting in the piercings, stringing them together, and the eventual release and removal of the corset. So while from an outsiders point of view we see the mid point of the process, the corset in place, for the people getting them it is much more than that. Looking back on this individual image, DivaPayyne’s lips are bound together, but at some point, with the tug of a string, she will be free of her bindings and able to speak again.
As always you can check out more corset piercings in the corset gallery, where in addition to this particular lip corset, there are a great deal more images that show just how creative people can be when it comes to creating a corset.
A couple of weeks ago, Jason and the rest of the ihung crew were in Columbus, Ohio to facilitate a number of suspensions. Among those who suspended was the beautiful Kelsie, who you may remember from her resurrection suspension earlier in the summer.
Jason wrote up about the day over at ihung.org, and here’s what he had to say about Kelsie’s suspension in particular.
Next up was Kelsie, who was super excited to hang from her knees again as it had been a while. She was also concerned with comfort and skin tearing, so to minimize the chances of tearing and maximize her comfort, we went with six hooks, three per knee. My usual placement for these is two alongside the kneecap in a V shape, and one horizontally above the kneecap. This distributes the person’s weight across all six points fairly well, although care must be taken to not overload the top hooks before they go up as the tension on that one will increase more than the others.
They used the same park as they did the last time she suspended, but only in a different location. Thankfully someone was on hand with a camera which allowed Kelsie to upload the pictures from her experience.
It’s images like these that capture the powerful feelings that arise from a suspension. In this particular case, the blur of the trees and how her body is positioned really show off how freeing the experience can be. The world has faded away and she’s free to fly wherever she wishes, releasing all the weight the world has on her. No matter what has come before or what will come after, in this moment, there is just her, being free.
The rest of the images from Kelsie’s suspension can be found in the ihung.org gallery, including a close-up of the positioning Jason talked about, as well as other images from when she was in the air.
This picture is fantastic for just so many reasons. First and foremost, at a quick glance you might just think it’s an arm. But no, it certainly isn’t. This is probably one of the only times you’ll see an image that it technically not safe for work not hidden behind a clickthrough. So not only do we have this image of a penis, that is cropped perfectly, we also have a really well healed circular beading implant. As for the euphemisms, it looking like an arm, brings up the baby holding an apple one. There’s also a bunch of cock ring ones that would have applied as well, as well as the usual “ribbed for her (or his) pleasure)”.
All jokes aside, this is a really well done beading job that appears to have healed up really well. Having never had beading done personally, I’m assuming that because of the ties to the genitals there’s a component of sexual gratification that comes with it. My question then, is the beading self-gratifying, or is it more for the partner, or both?
This genital beading comes from BME user Beardedcla. Obviously you can check out more beading images in the genital beading gallery.
Occasionally there are times where just one ModBlog post isn’t enough to share something remarkable. This is the first of two posts today that will be showing off the works from Joey Pang, and the rest of the artists at Tattoo Temple in Hong Kong.
Recently Joey uploaded a number of works to various galleries on BMEzine.com, and pretty much all of them are beautiful in their own way. Since 2006 Joey has owned and operated Tattoo Temple in Hong Kong, and has been putting out some fantastic work. This first post will be focusing on her color and black/grey work.
In a blog from two years ago, Joey had this to say about her philosophy when it comes to tattooing.
To me, tattoos are ‘new clothing’ for a naked body. Tattoos are not there to just cover your dull skin tone or trim your body’s contours with visual tricks. They can also express your personality, your thoughts and the world inside you. It is a presentation of the practical realm as well as the abstract mind. As the designer and tailor of this new ‘piece of clothing’ I have to thoroughly understand my models – so they are able to express themselves with the creation of perfectly fitting ‘new clothes’. Only the model and I truly understand these ‘new clothes’ as they are highly personal creations. However, if this ‘outfit’ can evoke emotion and admiration in other viewers – this in itself serves a higher purpose. Then these ‘new clothes’ may be categorized as a work of art. My happiest moment is being able to share this with the world.
Art facilitates the movement of abstract concepts in to reality. In most cases, the medium for art is simply inorganic matter. Only tattoos are exhibited on a living body – a permanent display to the world. Every medium allows for art to be portrayed in a unique way. Yet, the human body is perhaps the single most distinctive medium of all. This art can only be carried when someone is ready to go through pain and have their blood shed. The physical body underneath the tattooed skin continues with its daily functions – its mandatory life cycle. The person then carries this art-skin out and into the wider world. This person is a living, moving exhibition. The art-skin makes its way across the world, from country to country. This breathtaking interaction between ink and the dynamic human body gives life to this art. The art piece changes, grows, ages, dies and is eventually buried with the body. For someone who genuinely appreciates the power of this art, in death, the tattoo should not remain a subject of the mortal body. To separate this tattooed skin from the body allows the tattoo to then be seen in its original form – as a Work of Art – a collectible that could be held for auction.
Keep on reading if you’d like to see more works by Joey, which include some color and freehand work, as well as a large greyscale backpiece.
In the case of the last image, it was done entirely freehand, and extends across the woman’s back.
Normally I would direct you to a specific gallery, but with Tattoo Temple uploading so many images over the past few days, your best bet would just be to take a look at the newest additions to all of the tattoo galleries, as their work isn’t limited to just one category.
Well, for those of us on the top half of the planet, summer is officially over as of yesterday. To those down under, spring should be underway, with summer only a few short months ahead. With autumn having started, it’s nice to think back to just a few short weeks ago, when the days were long and weeks were spent looking forwards to weekends at the cottage, or some other relaxing spot. Of course summer always is thought of as the domain of the young, with school out it certainly can seem that way, but for adults summer is also a time for fun.
BME user CutieKimmi sent in this photo of her enjoying the summer sun. I had to shrink the image a little, but if you look close you can see that she has a series of microdermals down her spine. You can see the larger photo in the microdermal gallery.
Looking back on the past is a great way to look ahead to the future. So while summer may be gone for this year, we still have a lot to look forward to, well until 2012 if you believe the conspiracy theorists. So how was your summer? Did you do anything special this year, or did you just want to get it over with because you’re a huge fan of the fall or winter?
It seems the the closer we get to Halloween the more we take notice of those things that go bump in the night. Horror films seem to be on TV in greater frequency, the decor in stores shifts towards ghosts and goblins, and the occasional image will stand out just a little more than it normally would.
This tattoo, from the portrait gallery, was one such image that stood out amongst the other submissions this week. It was sent in by BME user Alexenglish, and was done by Elson Yeo from thINK Tattoo Singapore.
I want to say it looks like an image of a Yurei, but i’m not 100% it is. Regardless, it really stands out an a fantastic hand portrait, that appears to be part of a sleeve. What really stands out most is how the blood and the shading carry down in between the knuckles. Often with hand portraits they’re capped above the knuckles, but in this case the design not only goes past that point, it works the shape of the knuckles into the design.
Well, Halloween is just over a month away, any big costume plans picked out yet? Or are you the type that decides last minute?
