It’s time again for the news, but before I start I just want to wish a happy thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians.  This week’s news is back to the normal size thanks mostly to the many links that were sent my way.  As always, if you come across a story you think should be included, just send me the link in an e-mail.

To get things started is a pretty significant story out of Delaware County, PA.  Within the next 2 week, if a law is passed, it will become illegal for anyone other than a doctor to perform anything they consider an extreme modification.  This includes everything ranging from scarification and branding to full penectomies.  It also includes all types of suspension, which will force any suspension teams in Delaware County to stop completely, move out of state, or break the law.

Delaware County residents planning to have extreme body modification — including tongue-splitting, castration or penectomy — done at a lo cal tattoo parlor had better have it done in the next two weeks.  The Delaware County commissioners on Monday approved the first reading of a new, tougher tattoo and body piercing ordinance that included procedures that local health officials maintain are more suited for a medical office than a tattoo parlor.  A final vote on the ordinance — proposed by the county health department — could come as early as the commissioners’ Oct. 17 meeting.

Noting that the county’s 1998 tattoo and body piercing ordinance was one of the first in the state, heath department administrator Joshua Williams said the revised ordinance adds “prohibited” acts that are actually surgical and medical procedures.  They include branding and skin peeling as well as other forms of scarification, tongue splitting, suspension piercing — in which a person is suspended by hooks — and nullification, which includes the voluntary removal of body parts. “Most commonly, this means castration (and sometimes penectomy) amputation of fingers or toes or, in extreme cases, removal of full limbs,” according to the ordinance.  “It’s trending farther from tattoo and heading to medical procedures,” Williams told the commissioners.

County Attorney Jack Quirk questioned how often nullification, for example, was requested. Health department inspector Christiana Mann replied that the actions covered in the ordinance are offered and “happening” in Delaware County.The commissioners approved the first reading of the ordinance.Sean Gillespie, manager of Dragon Slayer Tattoo and Body Modification, said extreme body modification sometimes happens but is not a big part of his shop’s business.  “As far as the ordinance that’s in effect right now, we like it and don’t have a problem with it,” Gillespie said.

At Collins Classic Ink, Miniear said he had “heard through the grapevine” that the county was considering a new ordinance.  “I’ve been practicing scarification for five years,” he said. “It’s not a high market. I don’t understand why it’s become a problem.”  Miniear said he has done suspension piercing performances in the past. “It’s more of a spiritual thing for me and a lot of people I know,” he said. “It’s not just a shock value thing.”

So Delaware ModBlog readers, let those around you know that this is being considered by the county.  In order for this to be stopped the state needs to be aware of how this will negatively impact the Delaware modified and suspension communities.

More news to come including a celebrity story that had me laughing so hard I had to break my own rule about posting celebrity crap.

Before we get to the celebrity news I just mentioned, there’s a lot of real news to cover first.

This week brings us yet another member of the “Don’t commit a crime if you have a distinctive facial tattoo” club.  This past week, convicted sex offender Michael Campbell was picked up for violating his parole by getting within 500 feet of a public swimming pool.  The reason he got caught?  He’s pretty easy to spot in a crowd.

Greene County, Missouri, deputies arrested a very unusual looking suspect over the weekend.  They arrested Michael Campbell, 36, a Colorado native and convicted sex offender. Deputies say he was busted for coming within 500 feet of a playground or public pool. Campbell was booked into the county lockup Sunday and later released.

Campbell’s face and neck are completely covered in tattoos. The art includes tattoos of Frankenstein, a spider and a bow tie. Previous mugshots from 2003 show only a couple of tattoos on his face.

Of course just because someone has facial tattoos it doesn’t make them a bad person.  But to this day people are discriminated against.  Even in New Zealand, where having a Ta Moko is part of the cultural history of the country, people still get discriminated against.  Just last week a bar in Christchurch asked a man to leave because of his facial tattoos.

On Saturday, Tunahau Kohu went to the Inwoods Rd bar with his partner.

He said he was approached by a staff member as he sat down to watch Australia play Russia in a Rugby World Cup match at 3.30pm and told to leave because the business did not allow people with facial and neck tattoos in the bar.  Ta moko is a traditional Maori tattoo – a visual language that connects the wearers to their whakapapa (genealogy).

Kohu said he had bought a drink and played the gaming machines before the game.  ”They said it is their policy that they don’t allow people with facial tattoos. I tried to explain that my moko isn’t a facial tattoo. Every line and circle has a meaning to it,” he said.  ”They said if I didn’t leave they would ring the police. They weren’t interested in my explanation of what it meant.”

Claims of racial discrimination were soon posted on the bar’s Facebook page.  Forsdick told The Press the after the bar’s recent refurbishment, he and owner Louis Vieceli had tightened the dress code, meaning nobody with facial or neck tattoos would be allowed in the premises. “Two or three people with facial tattoos were also asked to leave” the premises on Saturday, he said.  ”This is not a racial issue.  This is about making our premises and our environment be one that is welcoming for all clientele.”  Forsdick said the incident prompted some regular customers to leave, and Kohu did not explain the significance of his moko.  Had Kohu made that clear ”we would have taken that into consideration”, Forsdick said.

This afternoon, before watching media, Forsdick shook Kohu’s hand and said he was welcome back though the bar’s policy on tattoos remained.

However, Kohu later said that despite accepting the apology, “I don’t think he deserved my handshake”.  “I wish I didn’t give it now.” NZ Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said bars were entitled to eject “anyone they wish” as long as their decision was not based on ethnicity, gender or disability. This would breach the Human Rights Act.  Asked if mokos should be treated in the same way as other facial tattoos, Robertson said it depended on the moko.  “It depends on the nature of the moko, its authenticity and whether there were other issues involved.” He added he did not know enough about this incident to comment specifically.  The Human Rights Commission confirmed it had received a complaint about the incident.

I’m sorry, I’m not from New Zealand but even I know that a Moko isn’t just a random facial tattoo.  Unless there’s some element I’m missing out I would assume that most New Zealanders would know that.

Moving on, the Android app marketplace came under fire earlier this week for selling an app entitled “Is my son gay?“  The app asked a series of 20 questions, one of which was “Does he piercings in his tongue, nose or ears?”.  Because you know, if you have piercings, that must mean you’re gay.  After a number of complaints were made, the app was removed from the store.

When it comes to sports there isn’t normally a lot of body modification related stories, well this week 2 different articles focused on athletes that are visibly modified, and both were very positive.  In the first article pitcher Ryan Roberts from the Arizona Diamondbacks was interviewed by Yahoo Sports.

Ryan Roberts of the Arizona Diamondbacks said he appreciates when people ask him about his many, many tattoos. The subject never gets boring to him — which is fortunate, because he is covered from neck to toe in ink, his nickname is “Tatman” and he fields lots of questions about all of it.

“I can’t say they shouldn’t [ask],” Roberts told Big League Stew. “When I first started getting tattoos, I never expected to get a lot. Over the course of my life, everything started happening for a reason. If people want to know why, I’ll definitely explain the reasons behind them. If someone’s interested, I’m honored to tell them.”

Roberts, who turned 31 in September, said he gets tattoos in order to show what inspires him: his Christian religion, as it relates to family and his other life experiences, including baseball. The first tats others probably notice are the Japanese characters for “family” on the left side of his neck. And there’s a whole lot more where that came from.

If you check out some of the other photos in the article one of them looks like he may have a scarification piece on his ribs, although it could just be white ink.

The second story is from ESPN and features roller derby star Suzy Hotrod.  She was one of a number of athletes chosen for 2011′s “Bodies We Want” feature.  Tara e-mailed me the link to this story and had this to say:

ESPN’s “Bodies We Want” issue came out today. The idea behind the gallery is to showcase the human athletic form, not nakedness, but the two seem to come hand in hand. In the middle of the gallery there’s a photo of Roller Derby’s own Suzy Hotrod – full colour, with ink.  Being a derby player myself, I wanted to share the story – but I also think it’s amazing that with 20ish naked people in a row, she was the only one with immediately visible modifications.

Unfortunately ESPN uses flash so in order to see the photos and read what they had to write you’ll have to head on over to the site.Alright, it’s time to bring back (hopefully just for this week) the celebrity round-up.  My apologies in advance, but this was too funny not to share.

Pop star Ke$ha has apologized to rocker pal Andrew W.K. after her attempt to tattoo him resulted in an infection.

The rocker recently invited Ke$ha to try out her skin art skills on him, but he was left requiring medical attention when the ink effort turned bad.  He told Spinner.com, “It got infected. It’s an unfortunate aftermath and my body ended up rejecting the ink and I had to go to the doctor. But it actually left a nice scar which was, in fact, cooler than the tattoo that’s in the exact shape of the tattoo.”

Now Ke$ha has offered up an apology of sorts on Twitter.com – although she insists it wasn’t her fault.  Addressing the tattoo mishap in a tweet on Wednesday, she writes, “Not my fault. His safety pin. His pen. But at least it looks cool. Party.

So you see, it wasn’t her fault he got an infection from her because she used his pen and safety pin when she tattooed him.  To be fair, it was his fault he asked a pop singer with an unpronounceable name to jab him with a pin when they were both drunk after a show.

Well that’s it for this week’s news.  I am going to leave you with a couple of things to enjoy over the weekend.  First is a photo gallery from this year’s vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand.

And finally here is the first in a series of three videos by Dabe Alan and Tony Touch.  The videos are all stop motion of the sleeve that Tony is tattooing on Dabe.  Watch the related videos for the other parts.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks to some ISP issues this week will be a “better late than never” edition.

Thanks to the wonders of social media, my inbox and facebook wall have been slammed with links about this first story.  Justifiably so, as it has the potential to affect not only the community, but also anyone interested in getting tattooed in the future.  I honestly wish I was using hyperbole there, but in reality, this actually can have a big impact on the tattooing industry.  I’m sure by now you know what I’m talking about, but if you haven’t heard yet, TLC is planning on airing a new series starting next week called “Tattoo School”.  The show’s description reads:

Award-winning Tattoo Artist Lisa Fasulo runs a hands-on and unconventional tattoo school in upstate NY where students from all walks of life learn how to tattoo in just two weeks. These rookie students are seeking to change their lives through tattooing. With just two intense weeks under Lisa’s instruction, they will get the experience tattooing on body after body with artwork of varying levels of difficulty.  Rookie students, models risking their skin to first time body artists, a rebellious instructor and unconventional training…who will bear the drama of competition and survive?

So according to them anyone can pick up a machine and learn to tattoo in 2 weeks.  It also looks like they’re stepping up the “drama” to make good TV by adding some kind of competition factor.  Who can last the full 2 weeks?  As if 2 weeks is somehow a long time to learn to tattoo.  It’s this point here that most people have a problem with.  TLC’s programming has been consistently portraying the tattoo industry as a drama filled joke where legitimate artists are used as pawns in a scripted soap opera, with the work taking a back seat.  On top of that this new show will give viewers the impression that anyone can learn to tattoo in a couple of weeks.

This isn’t about having to “pay your dues” or doing bitch work at a shop in order to earn your apprenticeship, this is about taking a legitimate trade/artform and misinforming people about it.  Learning to tattoo takes a long time, months to years.  Learning to tattoo well takes a lot longer.

Putting that aside for the moment, lets take a look at the larger ramifications of this television series and the school it is promoting.  A large number of studios won’t take an artist who only has 2 weeks of experience, this means that the graduates from this program will be forced to find other ways to continue to tattoo, which inevitably will lead to tattooing out of their home.  I don’t think I need to explain anything beyond that.  As for the show, it will give people the idea that all it takes is a machine and a few hours of practice to know what to do.  With the availability of machines on e-bay, as well as those “tattoo starter kits”, there could be an increase of the number of people who think “well if they can learn everything in 2 weeks, it must be easy”.  They then go out, get a kit, and start working from home.  Taking a look at the school’s website, here is what students will be receiving for their almost 5 thousand dollar tuition:

What does the tuition include?

* A professional tattoo machine.
* 80 Hours of tattoo instruction with certified, experienced, award winning, tattoo instructors.
* FREE lodging for 2 weeks.
* Dozens of willing, prescreened human models for you to learn and practice on.
* Use of all our equipment at our State of the Art tattoo training facilities.
* Informational binder with all the important contacts and sources for all things “tattoo related”.
* DVD of machine tuning produced by the TLC staff.
* Tattoo techniques textbook
* Tattoo License permit (as per county)
* Certificate of Completion upon course graduation.
* Tattoo Learning Center T-Shirt.
* Transportation to and from the student housing daily.
* DVD with digital pictures of all the tattoos you completed while at school (enough for a beginning portfolio).
*** LOTS and LOTS of nurturing and emotional support that makes us the finest tattoo school!

You’d think that if they wanted to be a responsible school, they’d include an autoclave with tuition.  Reading through her blog post on hate mail, it seems that Lisa believes that people find this to be a bad idea simply because you need to “pay your dues”.  While that may have been the case in the past, nowadays apprentices focus mainly on the art and technique.  Sure there are a lot of people who stick to the old school methods, but that isn’t why people are opposed to this type of “school”.  What she doesn’t seem to understand is that tattooing is an artform, one that takes years to master, and to convince people that it only takes 2 weeks to teach someone is doing a disservice to the students and the profession.  It’s also highly irresponsible, and only serves to create more and more scratchers, giving legitimate artists a bad name.  With tattooing as popular as it is now, local governments are starting to pay more attention to studios, which isn’t a bad thing as most studios welcome strict health code regulations, but when the politicians hear about artists in basements spreading diseases, then you end up with studios being forced to close down because of new zoning laws preventing studios from operating.

Of course, this has caught the attention of a number of different people.  A quick google search reveals a number of studios and publications getting on board, encouraging people not to watch the program.  There is a facebook event page, a boycott page, as well as an online petition (feel free to skip the donate page).  A number of people have also taken to using this image as their facebook profile photo:

While not watching the program is a good start, Alie K (IAM: alouicious) had this to say with regards to the program:

Been seeing a lot of people changing their avatars to the ‘boycott tlc logo’. Hey, it’s great that you are unhappy about a network’s decision to produce a show that won’t do much except give people false hopes about being the ‘next Kat Von D’, but complaining about it won’t do much except make you look like a whiner.

Instead of having a black cloud looming over your head, do something PROACTIVE about it. Unhappy with TLC’s decision? CONTACT THEM! They have an ethics hotline where you can actually phone them and give them what for (though you may want to have something pre-written to follow so that you don’t fly off the handle and sound like an jabbering idiot – which of course, you are not). They also have a viewer relations link where you can type them a letter and let them know your displeasure.

Instead of typing things like, “YOUR NEW SHOW IS STUPID AND IS TAKING BUSINESS AWAY FROM ME! YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE FOR PRODUCING IT!”, which won’t do that much except maybe make someone on the other end say, “Heh heh – looks like we pissed off another one”, consider writing about what makes the tattoo industry what it is and why you feel that advertising about a school will give an individual a false sense of “yeah I can do that! Look how easy it is! A real apprenticeship takes too much time. I can’t be bothered with that”. We all know that tattooing isn’t easy in the least.

We’ve all seen tattoos done by ‘some dude in his basement’. Some of us have been asked to cover them up with a ‘real’ tattoo. Sending a ‘newly schooled’ person out into the wild with their ‘new gun so they can start tattin’ people up’ will only result in people tattooing out of their homes (because they aren’t talented enough to get into a real shop) and potentially  causing outbreaks of staph infections and worse, because these individuals are unable or unwilling to get the proper supplies to protect themselves and their clients (a dental bib is about the same as a paper towel, right?).

Perhaps we should focus our emails on health and safety issues as well as terrible tattoos that people will be complaining about the cost to cover up or laser off a few years down the line. In the mean time, REAL artists should focus on self-promotion and marketing to make themselves stand out above the sub-par, lazy, tattoo school artists. Either that, or get REALLY GOOD at doing coverups.

Courtesy of Lorin Hay:

If anyone would like to call and leave Lisa Fasulo a message of support in her new TLC Tattoo School project, her number is **1-800-466-4117 **. Show her some love!! Especially since she has blocked her Facebook account from receiving any friends request or messages, and has removed her Twitter account. Another number you can use is 518-428-4271. The listed email addresses for her are [email protected] and [email protected] and The address of the school is 1301 CURRY ROAD ROTTERDAM NY 12306

Sample emails:

Courtesy of Chris Collins:

Please do not air the Tattoo School show. It is irresponsible to let people think that just because some states have lacking heath code enforcement and education requirements that it is okay to do something as potentially dangerous as tattoo the public as an amateur. That show is a time bomb waiting for lawsuit and further more just dangerous to let the public think it’s as simple as a few hours “education” and then you are okay to to practice a somewhat invasive procedure. Please pull the plug on this.

To get in contact with TLC directly, you can find their phone contact information here:  http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/ethics-hotline/ it has the contact phone number for all the countries that air TLC programming.  The US and Canada number is 1-800-398-6395.  You can also send in a written complaint via this page: http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/viewer-relations/.

As I said earlier, this program is angering a large portion of the community.  While complaining on facebook is one thing, if you feel this does affect you negatively in some way, or you think that it is irresponsible programming, get in touch with TLC directly and let them know.  Contacting advertisers is also a way to send a message to TLC, for without advertising a program can’t stay on the air.

I’ve dedicated a big chunk of today’s news to one story already, but there is more news this week.  Keep on reading to see the rest of this week’s news.

Now in another story that ties into the today’s lead story, police in Newport, RI have issued a citation against an 18 year old tattoo artist.  It turns out that you need a license to tattoo in Newport.  Oh and that you shouldn’t set up shop in the middle of a park.

Julian Rodrigo, 18, of 195 Admiral Kalbfus Road, Newport, was issued a court summons on Saturday for illegally tattooing minors and not having a tattoo parlor license.

As part of a follow-up, police met with a the mother of a 16-year-old who Rodrigo tattooed. According to reports, she was upset because her son was able to get tattoos without her consent. She said Rodrigo was giving tattoos to juveniles in the Rolling Green area and was not licensed or trained.

Police spoke with Rodrigo, who said he did not know he needed a license, and that he had bought the equipment online. Officers came to an agreement with the reporting party that since Rodrigo had no prior criminal history and was unaware of the law that required him to have a license, to only issue him a citation.

Maybe Julian should have taken a 2 week course after buying his kit online.  Then again, not too many studios would hire an artist with 2 weeks experience and a machine bought online, so he probably would have ended up in the park anyway.

Another story that’s been hitting the social media feeds is an “interactive tattoo“.  Originally this was streamed online, but thanks to the wonders of video editing, there’s a shortened version available.  The idea behind it, is that with a QR code, an iPhone, a design company, and a corporate sponsor, you can get a tattoo that when viewed using a specific app, will animate the tattoo.

As part of whisky brand Ballantine’s “Leave an Impression” campaign, Paris-based tattoo artist Karl Marc seared a QR code onto his friend Marco’s chest.  Marc says the whisky company approached him and asked if he would be interested in executing the tattoo — a QR code that unlocked an animation when scanned — via a live stream on the brand’s Facebook Page. The brand is doing similar events with other artists, from ice sculptors to graffiti artists.  “The video was made during four hours, all live, with no breaks or interruptions,” Marc says. “I had a camera strapped to my head as well as microphones and battery packs. We didn’t know if the Matrix code would actually work right up to the very end. It worked on paper, but would it work as a tattoo?”

You’re probably wondering if the tat is fake — after all, that Facebook friend tattoo turned out to be an advertising campaign, as did the Ray-Ban tattoo. But Marc says that the ink is the real deal. And it does seems likely. There’s no hidden viral agenda here: Ballantine’s hosted the live stream of the process on its brand page.  Marc says he’s been getting a lot of requests lately for QR code tats, and he told us that he will be working with a company called MIYU productions on more ink of this ilk.  Marc provided us with Marco’s design. You can scan it to check out the animation that currently graces Marco’s body. Use ScanLife to access the video.

As cool as this is.  All I could think about at the end of the video was that he just put his phone on top of a fresh tattoo barehanded, and that he was typing on the keyboard without changing gloves from the machine.

Just a couple more quick tattoo related stories this week.  The first is from San Francisco where a high school teacher had to make good on a bet he made with his students.

Stanley Richards, a teacher at San Francisco’s City Arts and Technology High School, promised students he would get a tattoo of the school’s vice principal if they could raise the school’s score on the California Academic Performance Index by 50 points.  The school was expected to raise the score by 7 points at the time.  “I was 99 percent sure that it wouldn’t happen” Richards said.  He now has a large tattoo of Vice Principal Paul Koh on his calf.  In the portrait, Koh is dressed in samurai clothing and slaying a dragon that represents standardized tests.

Over in the UK a bride-to-be was kicked out of a club for the serious crime of having a bachelorette party while tattooed.

Miss Trigg and four friends went in to the venue to begin their big night out, but it wasn’t long before bouncers told her to go.  The mum-of-two of said: “They let us in and we went straight to the ladies.  “Then as soon as we came out they told us to leave as it was the club policy not to let tattooed people in.  “I am not exactly the type who would make trouble. I’m just a mum who wanted to enjoy herself on her hen night.  “I think it is very discriminatory, because there are so many people with tattoos these days.  “Mine are quite pretty too, with flowers and fairies, so I don’t know why they would ask me to leave. It really spoiled my evening.”

Previously, club owner Dick de Vigne has stated the club did not encourage heavily-tattooed customers.  He said: “We have always said we don’t have rules, just very high standards. We look at each case on its merits.”  Mr de Vigne said when people became regulars at the club, they were encouraged to cover tattoos.

The sad thing is, this happens at restaurants in the US as well.  Those of you with a good memory will recall that Rachel was kicked out of a restaurant a few years back because she was sporting “gang tattoos”.

Today’s last story comes from Australia where doctors are urging the government to crack down on heavy surgical modification.  While the story is heavily biased towards the side of the doctors, they did interview the lovely miss Zephyr*Elf about her own experiences with surgical modifications.

Medical professionals are dealing with a surge of backyard “body-modification” surgeries gone wrong, with two people needing intensive care for infections. Many of the modification procedures carried out in South Australia are performed by international professional “skin artists” during fly-in visits.  RAH staff said they were alarmed at a “surge” in cases at its emergency department from extreme modifications.  Police were called to investigate one incident involving the hospitalisation of a young woman at the RAH this month.

Extreme modification techniques include tongue-splitting, scarification, branding and having implants put under the skin.  RAH emergency department nurse practitioner Melissa Curtis said she had treated two people with complications from silicon implants this year. The RAH’s plastic surgery unit also had treated several other cases in the past 12 months.

There are no laws in South Australia outlawing body modification for adults.  The Sunday Mail does not know where the surgeries were performed. City-based Modify Body Piercings has hosted a Canadian professional body modification practitioner for three week-long stints since opening in 2009. Modify employee Harmony Capper said he was always booked out for the duration of his stay. “It’s important that bookings are made in advance because if it’s a permanent body modification you really need to think about it and be sure,” she said.  Professional Tattooing Association of Australia SA spokeswoman Morag Draper said the surgeries were legal for adults.  “It is important that these places are providing post-modification support,” she said.  AMA state president Dr Peter Sharley said: “These are unnecessary and dangerous procedures with risks of haemorrhaging, infection and disfigurement. Surgeons are highly trained and would not be involved in this sort of destructive surgery.”

Zephyr Elf – aka Kasey Hilder – scars and cuts her body for art’s sake. “Art, self-expression – for me, having a malleable appearance is really integral to my cultural identity,” she said. “Being a chameleon is a lot of fun.” The Adelaide student and alternative model began modifying her body with a nose piercing at 16.  Since then, Zephyr, now 21, has had her tongue split, her ears surgically pointed, undergone 90 piercings, acquired 14 tattoos and is currently planning a scarification design for her leg.

Evidently a sterile room at a professional studio is now considered a “backyard”.  I think what upsets me the most is that they’re lumping together highly respected modification artists with people who are ill informed and performing modifications on themselves.  Knowing who this mysterious Canadian is, I know for certain that he takes all possible precautions and stays in touch with his clients even while not in the country.  A far cry from cutting someone open and leaving them to fend for themselves.  Of course, making wild accusations and using biased language is a sign of good reporting right?

Well, that’s it for the news this week.  As always, if you find a story you think should be included in the news updates, feel free to send them to me via this link, or by e-mail:  [email protected].

One last thing.  If you are as opposed to this “tattoo school” as we are, get involved.  Contact TLC and let them know just how bad an idea this is.  http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/viewer-relations/ & http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/ethics-hotline/.

I’m beginning to hate that every week there is a new disaster to report.  By now you’ve heard about the earthquakes that have been rocking Japan since last night, as well as the devastation that the tsunami’s have been doing to the coastal cities.  The worst news is that the quakes still haven’t ceased.  Following the 8.9 last night, there have been a number of aftershocks as well as 2 new earthquakes that occurred this afternoon.  While it is still to early to know the extent of the damage, if you have friends or family in the affected areas, or you yourself are in Japan right now, our thoughts are with you.  Google’s appspot has set up a person finder for Japan, which should hopefully help those who haven’t been able to get in touch with their loved ones.  As always, the Red Cross is on scene and providing aid as they can.

It’s in times like these that people can come together from all walks of life to help others.  A number of years ago artist Shelley Jackson put out a call to the world for people who would be willing to get a tattoo of a word on their body in order to form a story.  Since that time people all over the world have come together, bound by the power of words and skin, to contribute to her project.  While it isn’t finished, Shelley recently put together a sub-story, using videos submitted by the owners of the tattoos.

“Shelley Jackson’s story ‘Skin’ exists only in the flesh — the flesh of about 2,000 volunteers. In 2003, when she wrote the story, she called for participants to each be tattooed with a single word (some also get a bit of punctuation, like ‘ankles,’ with the comma included). The story has never been published in any other form…[For] the Berkeley Art Museum, Jackson has cut together video footage from a small set of participants to tell a new sub-’Skin’ story. Recently Jackson e-mailed them to ask that they record a video of their word tattoo, and to say the word. From those words recorded by participants, she’s edited and assembled a new story.”

This week is pretty light on the real news, but ridiculously heavy on the celebrity news.  So strap yourself in for a wild ride that includes Julia Roberts, Pee-Wee Herman, and some tiger’s blood.

To kick things off this week is an announcement about an upcoming seminar in NYC.  For one weekend in March, you can have the opportunity to attend classes and witness performances by a trio of body modification artists.

It is our great pleasure to present to you an opportunity to be a part of something paramount! For the first time in a decade, the most innovative minds of the body modification community have come together to form a collective consciousness: C-Y-B.ORG. Its goal: to educate, demonstrate and liberate our community. Body modification pioneer Steve Haworth has rejoined forces with two of the top practitioners of today and the future, Lukas Zpira and Samppa Von Cyborg. Together they are C-Y-B.org. This event will give the opportunity for those yearning to learn the art of body modification. Through seminars, workshops and live performance, including but not limited to magnetic implants, branding, scarification, tongue splitting, flesh stapling, and suspension.

If you’ve got an event coming up, feel free to drop me a line and let me know about it.

We’ve seen in the news countless stories of schools banning facial piercings.  Well some kids thought they found a loophole by using rare earth magnets to fake a tongue stud.  While great in theory, it turns out that if you accidentally ingest several magnets it will end up doing some major damage.

The tiny ball bearings – known as ‘buckyballs’ – are sold as an executive desk toy which can be moulded into any shape.  But some teenagers are using them as fake tongue rings to make it look as though they have a piercing.  If swallowed, the balls can cause serious damage, burrowing through the small intestine. The packaging warns of the danger, and says they are not suitable for children.

Lauren, who lives in Wheat Ridge, rung her mother last week in tears, complaining she couldn’t walk because of an intense pain in her side.  She said: ‘They bounced off my tooth and went down my throat, and I couldn’t stop it.’  Lauren is now in hospital recovering after an operation to remove the magnets.  Her surgeon, Dr Saundra Kay, told the channel: ‘You have one strong magnet in one loop of intestine, another magnet in another loop of intestine, and those magnets are so strong that they will bring those intestines close together and the two loops joined.

So just to review, magnetic implants: good, swallowing magnets: bad.

One of the most often questions modified people hear is “did it hurt?”.  Well it turns out that when you get a tattoo removed, it also hurts.  No big shock there, but what is surprising is that tattoo removal can come with some pretty nasty side-effects beyond pain.  Because of this, the FDA is holding a “webinar” next Tuesday to educate people about the dangers of tattoo removal.

The inks and pigments applied in tattoos can cause allergic reactions, infections and scarring, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Also, tattoo removal process is not as great as it seems.  FDA will be holding a 30-minute tattoo safety webinar at 1 p.m. CT on March 15.  Bhakti Petigara Harp, a specialist from the agency’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors, will discuss potential problems, along with the misrepresentation of the inks and pigments as “FDA approved.”

What a lot of people don’t know when they get tattoos is how painful they are to remove, Shamontiel Vaughn. Some say laser removal feels like the snapping of a rubber band against the skin. Vaughn, who spent about hundreds of dollars getting one tattoo and three cover-ups removed, called the process of laser tattoo removal “insane.”  “Each time I got laser surgery, there were a bunch of small bumps that resembled keloids, rock hard skin and a little bit of bleeding,” said Vaughn.  “I made the mistake of falling asleep on that arm the day after surgery, and I woke up and thought something was crawling on me. It turned out that my arm went completely numb. I woke up screaming and jumping around trying to get my own arm off of me because it’d turned into dead weight. After I turned on the light (while still jumping around), the feeling slowly came back into my fingers,” concluded Vaughn.

It seems as though tattoo removal is not as fantastic as it is often portrayed.  It is not only pricey but also very painful.  The FDA’s 30-minute tattoo webinar will be held Tuesday, March 15 at 1 p.m. (CT). You’ll have a chance to ask questions at the end.

In case you weren’t aware, spring break is happening next week.  This also coincides with the annual “go get drunk and tattooed/pierced” week.  I’m sure it’s just a strange coincidence.  In any case, universities are starting to pay attention and are putting forth efforts to educate students about safe practices, so that when they’re completely smashed they won’t get pierced with the same needle that the 10 people before them were pierced with.

The last thing on a college student’s mind during spring break is contracting HIV, Hepatitis C or Tetanus.  Who would have thought that getting a spur-of-the-moment tattoo or piercing could leave not just a mark but a life-long disease?

On March 8, the Office of Counseling and Student Development and Student Health Services passed out information to students about body art safety and how to protect one’s self over the break.  ”Stamped and Stabbed” offered the soon-to-be spring breakers pamphlets and brochures on the harm that coincides with tattoos and body art.  ”They [students] tend to rush into things during spring break. We’re here to get students aware of what consequences they can face as they jump into getting a tattoo or piercing,” says Joy Wunderlich of the Office of Counseling and Student Development.

“Students meet a girl or guy, get their name tattooed and then realize the next day that they’ll have to explain to their future spouse whose name is tattooed on them,” said Williams.  As students departed with information on body art safety, they were given a temporary tattoo as a reminder to make appropriate decisions during spring break.

And with that, we’re on to the celebrity round-up.

To kick things off Ke(dollar sign)ha, has expanded her clientele of tattoo customers beyond her band to include fans.

A big fan gets a Ke$ha tattoo. A SUPER fan gets a tattoo from Ke$ha. Well, a SUPER fan who is okay with having a subpar tattoo gets one from Ke$ha, anyway.  The singer posted this video to her Facebook profile of herself marking up a dedicated fan with her safety pin, giving her dollar sign to the emotional, fawning fan.

Last week we saw rapper Yung LA get a duck tattooed on his face in honor of his new record contract.  Well it seems he jumped the gun, as the record label never actually offered him a contract.  The quick thinking Mr. LA rushed out to a studio and covered up his already fresh duck with an LA Dodgers logo.

Not to be outdone by the boys, “femcee” (their word, not mine) Diamond also joined the facial tattoo club with a tattoo of a bullet.

The rapper debuted some new ink on Tuesday (March 8), via Twitter (@DiamondATL), posting a pic of her new face tattoo of a bullet with the accompanying message: “IN LIFE: You only get ONE SHOT!!!!!! Remember dat!”

In happy news this week, Avril Lavigne has promised to not get any more tattoos for a while.  So for the next little while the celebrity round-up will be Avril free!

In other bad pop singer news, Britney Spears has gotten in shape and did a photo shoot.  Supposedly the fact that she’s showing off 10 year old tattoos is a shock to some people.

Pee-Wee Herman made an appearance on Lopez Tonight earlier this week and was stunned to find out a woman in the audience had a Pee-Wee tattoo.  I think the real news here is that Pee-Wee was actually shocked to see little Pee-Wee sticking out in the audience.  You’d think he’d learn his lesson by now.

Someone sent Charlie Sheen a bottle of tiger’s blood.  To celebrate he got “Winning” tattooed on his wrist.  I can’t make fun of this at all.  I truly believe that Charlie Sheen is winning.  What he is winning has yet to be determined, but he’s definitely winning something.

And now the story you’ve all been waiting for, because including Julia Roberts in a ModBlog news post is something of a special event, a man has come forward to show off his love and devotion to Julia.  By getting her portrait tattooed on his body 82 times.

Film buff Miljenko Parserisas Bukovic enjoyed one of the actress’ films so much he got 82 tattoos of her FACE permanently etched all over his body.

Miljenko – a newspaper vendor in Mexico – has covered himself from head-to-toe with the pictures.  He splashed out HUNDREDS of pounds on the tattoos after seeing Roberts in her film Erin Brockovich.

So what was that you were saying about the woman with a bunch of Robert Pattinson tattoos?

That’s it for this week everybody.  Remember to keep sending in those links to news stories the world over.

Have a safe spring break, to those in college, and for those affected by the disaster in Japan, please drop someone a line to let them know you’re alright.