When getting ready to head out for an evening of fun with some friends, there are a few things a person needs to do to get ready. Shower, pick out clothes, possibly put on makeup, get a corset piercing, make sure your accessories match, etc. While some people may not include one or two of these examples, it seems these ladies have made sure to include “get a corset” on their list of things to do.
For some reason, when I see this picture, all I can think about is what the reactions of my classmates would have been if my date showed up for prom with a corset. Granted back then, a lot of people would have had no clue what they were looking at. The same could be said for a lot of the newer styles of modifications. So while back then this would have been shocking, today it may only turn some heads. Does this mean that the mainstream world is becoming more accepting?
IAM:Candace posed this question on her blog today, “Do you think heavier mods (implants, removals, scarification, etc) will ever be accepted among society? Why?” If history is any indicator, there may come a day when what we consider heavy today, becomes something as normal as a stretched septum or lobe. What are your thoughts on this? Are we headed down the road towards the mainstream, or will the modified community continue to skirt the fringes of “normalcy”.
A big thank you to BME user ajulietgrey for sharing this picture with us. There are several more images of these corseted ladies up in the corset piercing gallery.
A friend of mine sent me these procedural pics of a subdermal implant he did. He prefers to remain anonymous, which for procedures of questionable legality, such as subdermal implants, I whole heartedly recommend.
These pictures do a great job of showing the procedure step by step, from the marking to the suturing and each step in between. Procedural pics are a great way to see the actual procedure that was done to you as well as to share the steps with people who may be interested in the same mod. So next time you are getting a mod, whether it be subdermal implants or a simple piercing ask the artist if he/she minds photos being taken and if they are cool with it have a friend document the experience. Of course, submitting these pics to BME to share with the community would be a great next step!
To see all six procedural pictures in order, keep on keeping on.
The “Dogs Playing Poker” series of images were originally a series of oil paintings designed to sell cigars. Somehow these images transcended their initial meaning and have turned into a staple of American kitsch. Pool halls and rec rooms all over North America have at least one of these famous paintings, or ones that have been inspired by them.
At the same time C. M. Coolidge sat down to paint these images, another American legacy was being formed in the tattoo studios of New York City. Fast forward almost 100 years later and the two have finally come together in this back piece by Jeff Houston from Under the Needle Tattoo in Seattle, WA.
A larger version of the picture can be found in the cartoon tattoo gallery, where you can see these dogs in all their poker playing glory.
For those curious, the actual title of this particular painting is “A friend in need”, referring to the ace being passed under the table. Now I’m not sure, but I think the English bulldog is passing a card to a pug. Which goes to show, pugs can the the sneakiest dogs around. So take care the next time you’re playing poker with a bunch of dogs, the ones with the crazy eyes tend to be the cheats.
In today’s final post, we’re going to look at one more piece done by Chriz from Boxe_Voll? Tattooz in Germany. This image, along with the rest of today’s images, and many more by Chriz can be found in the new skool tattoo gallery.
When Lewis Carroll first penned his tale of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland, I wonder if he knew he would be creating so many memorable characters. Since 1865 “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” has been delighting children and adults alike. With countless editions available, multiple film and television adaptations, and an innumerable amount of pop culture references littered across every medium, it’s no wonder that so many people are familiar with Alice.
Now of course, Alice is hardly the only character in the story, as it is these characters that breathe life into the story. The Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat, and the Caterpillar are just some of the characters that make up the landscape that is Wonderland. There is one character in particular that is the catalyst for the adventures, that being the White Rabbit. Going down the rabbit hole and chasing that rabbit was Carroll’s way of taking the reader into a world beyond their imagination.
When Carroll first published the book, he commissioned artist John Tenniel to provide the illustrations. It was these illustrations of the characters that eventually led them to became the cultural icons that they are today. So this white rabbit that Chriz brilliantly transferred to tattoo form (on a foot no less!), is now just one more example of just how much impact these books have had on people from all over the world.
Now the big question, which is better, the book or any one of the many films made about Alice? OK, that’s not fair, obviously it’s the book, but is there any adaptation or reference that sticks out in your mind whenever you think of the book? Oh, and why is a raven like a writing desk?
Now forgive me if I screw anything up here, as I never really studied art. As far as I can tell this shoulder piece done by Chriz (Buxe_Voll? Tattooz, Germany), is a nice example of abstract art. Me being uneducated as I am when it comes to modern art, I can’t tell you what any of it means, although I do see elements of avant-garde in it, but what I do know is that it looks really good.
This brings up the thought, does a lack of the intellectual knowledge of art mean that one is unable to appreciate it on the same level as a scholar? Or does just appreciating the aesthetics on a personal level mean more? Basically, is art considered “art” because of the thought put into it, or because people admire it? If you want to take a closer look at the details, you can get a better look in the new skool tattoo gallery.
If you can’t see the image in the gallery, make sure that you’re logged into your BME account. If you don’t have one, you can get your free subscription right here.
Relationships are always a tricky thing. Especially in the beginning. When you’re still feeling each other out (and up), getting to know each other on some kind of deeper level. For most people there will come a time when you want to take the relationship a step further, and bring the significant other home to meet the family. Of course in doing so you open yourself up to the possibility that your family won’t approve, or that your loved one despises your family. Of course there is the traditional Hollywood trope of the perfect girl that you can take home to mother, and you know she’ll be met with approval.
Chriz, aka Ta2head from Buxe_Voll? Tattoz in Germany sent in this image of what could be the perfect girl to bring home to your mom. A bigger version of the image can be found in the new skool tattoo gallery.
Now granted she might not be what you’re looking for in a girl, but hey, she’s got great teeth, luscious lips, and some good child birthing hips. Isn’t that what all moms look for? Someone their child can make grandkids with. Sure she may be a little malnourished, and her clothes probably could use some stitching, but what’s not to love?
So, have you ever been in the situation when you brought your partner home to meet the family and things went horribly wrong, or really well? What about when you went to meet their folks? Did your modifications raise some questions?
Now, I’m fairly certain that at some point every single ModBlog reader has either played Tetris, or at least is familiar enough with the game to know how it works. A long time ago, back when Nintendo wasn’t even available in North America, and the cold war was still raging on, a Russian game designer named Alexey Pajitnov invented a game that would revolutionize gaming as we knew it.
You see, this simple block dropping game ended up becoming one of the most popular games of all time. So it was only natural that something so popular would end up as a tattoo.
This image from the New Skool gallery was sent in by Chriz, also known as Ta2head from Buxe Voll? Tattooz in Germany. I couldn’t find out a lot about Chriz, but from what I understand he works out of Rostock and Neubrandenburg, as well as doing guest spots. According to his description, this piece was done also freehand.
This is going to be the first of a series of posts on Chriz as he recently uploaded a number of exceptional pieces to the galleries.
Back in July you may remember seeing the face of ModBlog regular IAM:Jessestar appearing in news alloverthe world. Well this past Friday Jesse popped up in the news again, with word that the charges against him have been dismissed.
TULSA, OKLAHOMA – A charge of assault with a dangerous weapon against 28-year-old Jesse Thornhill of Tulsa has been dismissed.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday. An entry in the court docket says the charge has been dismissed.
The charge stemmed from an incident on July 13, 2010, when Thornhill allegedly tried to run over his landlord with his car.
As Sean put it so nicely, “Is this the smile of a homicidal maniac?” Now we know the answer, no, it isn’t the smile of a homicidal maniac, it’s the smile of a man with some fantastic modifications that happens to be part of the BME community.
I just wanted to let everyone know that, as of this morning, our email servers have experienced an outage. The result of this outage means that we cannot send or receive any emails at either [email protected] or [email protected] The issue cannot be resolved until Rachel can get to the colo in person which will only be on Monday.
If you have an emergency issue relating to your BMEzine account please email [email protected]. If it’s not an emergency, please be patient, I will respond to your email as soon as I am able to do so.
Please don’t post any of your account details or questions related to your account in the comments section here. I will not answer support related questions on ModBlog. The site will continue to be updated daily, as usual, over the weekend. The outage only affects our email servers.
We hope to have this issue resolved as quickly as possible.
The headline of this post is the exact same message that is featured in a number of ads put forth by breathe.sg. I’d like you to first watch both videos, as they’re the focus of the rest of the post.
Keep on reading to find out where these ads came from and why they were made. I’ve broken the post up because it is a long one, and I know how much you guys hate massive stories on the front page.
The last time I posted an ad that featured a heavily modified person there was a healthy debate over the implications from the ad. This time though, the implications are pretty clear. These two people, who have great stories to tell about their modifications and the meanings behind them, should be looked at negatively as they’re on the same level as a binge drinker.
It took a little digging, but I discovered that the breathe.sg campaign began in 2008 as an initiative put forth by the Singapore government’s Heath Promotion Board (HPB). In a press release dated Oct 9th, 2008, the HPB announced the creation of the Breathe campaign.
NHLC 2008: “Breathe”
2 The theme for this year’s campaign is “Breathe”. It seeks to encourage youth to choose (breathe in) life, truth and self-expression and not succumb to (breathe out) insecurity, pessimism, pressure and judgement. “Breathe” will also brand health as exciting, vibrant and an asset youth should treasure to help them achieve their fullest potential and ambitions in life.
3 “Breathe” is targeted at youth aged 12 to 23 and will be launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Padang on 7 November 2008.
“Breathe – Game for Life” – Launch Event
4 The campaign’s launch event, “Breathe – Game for Life”, aims to showcase non-conventional, youth-centric activities to encourage the young to cultivate healthy habits for lifelong health. These include Human Bowling, Human Table Soccer and remote control speed racing. Conventional games such as Captain’s Ball will also be given a new twist to demonstrate how these activities can be made more exciting to engage our young in an active lifestyle.
5 Strong elements of music – a universal language among youth – will feature prominently at the launch event. In line with this, the event will feature an exhilarating new dance fitness routine, a hip-hop competition with a healthy lifestyle theme and a dance party under the stars. All these will encourage youth to keep active while grooving to their lively beats.
Launch of “Breathe” Portal
6 A new “Breathe” portal (www.breathe.sg) will be launched to engage youth on various health issues and provide them with information on events and activities held in conjunction with NHLC 2008.
In December of that year, todayonline.com wrote an article describing the efforts of the campaign, as well as it’s initial goals. The article has since been removed, but there there is a cached version of it available on a blog located here.
HE GOT drunk at a friend’s house and ended up taking off all his clothes in the bathroom. “The next thing I knew,” said :student Mervyn Lee, 19, “I woke up in my friend’s bed wearing a fresh pair of shorts.” Tales like this may raise a titter, but the dangers of excessive drinking are all too real. That is why the Health Promotion Board (HPB) will embark on its first nationwide campaign against binge drinkingnext year, aimed at 18- to 25-year-olds. Binge drinking — consuming five drinks or more for males, or four drinks or more for females, within two hours — is an “emerging issue in Singapore”, said HPB in a tender document posted on the GeBIZ website.
The HPB intends to create awareness through student-led projects and educational material targeted at tertiary students, among other things.
– Alicia Wong and Sufian Suderman, todayonline.com
Finally, as part of the 2008/2009 annual report, the chairman of the HPB, Lucas Chow, goes on to describe just how positive the campaign is meant to be. The entire report can be found here but it is a large .pdf file, so just be aware of that if you want to give it a read.
The annual National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign (NHLC) took on a youth focus for the first time, with the theme, “Breathe”. It encouraged young people to appreciate health as an asset for them to achieve their fullest potential and ambitions in life through an array of activities and events.
Now with the mandate of the campaign being intended to bring a positive outlook on their health and lifestyle, I find it interesting that their initial ad campaigns were so negative. To be fair, in addition to the ads, the Breathe campaign does sponsor a number of youth oriented events such as a hip-hop dance competition, as well as other youth themed events. But the question still remains, if the purpose of the campaign is “ to choose (breathe in) life, truth and self-expression and not succumb to not succumb to (breathe out) insecurity, pessimism, pressure and judgement”, aren’t these ads completely disingenuous? When I see the people in the videos I see two people who have chosen truth and self-expression, and aren’t showing any form of insecurity at all. The ads themselves even run counter to the notion of preventing pessimism, pressure, and especially judgement. If anything these commercials are huge examples of judgments being passed on young people in order to put them down and discourage them.
While the 2009 programs seem to be targeted towards reducing the number of teen smokers, the binge drinking campaign is still being promoted on the site’s YouTube channel.
Looking back at the ads, the question arises if the individuals in the ads knew exactly what the campaign was about. I find it hard to believe that two people with such high self-esteem would allow themselves to be used as a metaphor for an unhealthy activity. What I also find interesting is that the 2009 campaign against smoking had a fashion show event where you can obtain temporary tattoos that you’re encouraged to show off, as well as receive discounts at stores for wearing the tattoo. So while in 2008 having a lot of tattoos is equivelant to binge drinking, in 2009 suddenly it’s cool to show off a tattoo, even if it is temporary.
If the comments for the videos on YouTube are any indication, I’m not the only one who finds these ads offensive in they way they portray heavily modified people. It’s a shame that they took this approach because they may not receive the results they intended.
So ModBlog readers, what are your thoughts on this campaign? Is there a big enough cultural difference between how we see these ads, and the target audience would, that our perception of it is skewed? Or did the HPB completely miss the mark, and put out a campaign that will infuriate more people than it could help?
