It’s almost impossible to post work coming out the Swastika Freakshop without some readers getting up in arms about their use of swastika iconography, an argument that typically devolves into one side claiming that the symbol is offensive and should be abolished, with the other naming historical precedents of the swastika being used as a sign of peace, and that this current usage is indeed a means of reclaiming a valuable piece of history from the tyranny of the Nazis.
Truthfully, both sides have valid points. To some, regardless of the swastika’s pre-WWII history, it has been forever tarnished by its abuse at the hands of the Nazis, and it may be unrealistic to expect people to study and accept an image that, to them, has only ever symbolized a very particular and ugly moment in human history. At the same time, reclamation of the swastika is a valid and noble project, and one that, should it be successful, would have only positive results. Sometimes, though, it seems that some on the reclamation side are maybe not as patient as they should be with those people who oppose the swastika’s use, which is understandable to an extent; when one spends so much time working toward a specific goal, to have one’s work disparaged just by dint of its existence can be extremely demoralizing. But patience, in this instance, may be the difference between educating someone and turning them off for good.
We’re not going to reach any verdicts here today, but if there’s one thing we can all agree on, I think it’s that Marc’s Super Mario-themed tattoo on Rauschkind fucking rules. Two more shots, after the jump.
It’s always nice when lanileegarver sends in photos. Why? Because they’re so stunning that people usually don’t even read my caption and catch on to what a doofus I am. Phew!
[The Sporting Blog] Spencer Hall over at the TSB checked in this morning with a tale of intrigue and deceit (and poor decision-making) that could only have occurred within the confines of collegiate sports. Kirby Freeman signed with the Miami Hurricanes a little while back and, in an attempt to assert his devotion to the team, got the team’s “U” logo tattooed on his back. Well, as Hall writes, sometimes these things aren’t meant to be. Things were going well …
Until now! (DUH-DUH-DAAAAAAHHH.) Freeman transferred to Baylor after losing his starting QB job, and has had the tattoo changed to either a zero or an “O” for “Ohmigod, that is one lopsized zero. Did you play for Oregon?”
[…]
This reminder that a scholarship is four years, but a tattoo is for life comes from The Sporting Blog.
Sound advice!
[Intelligencer] Ha ha, so apparently all the children in Belleville, Ontario, have taken up the time-honored tradition of good old-fashioned cigarette smoking, and some of the elders are displeased. A youth activism group, Unfiltered, has taken up the task of weaning these kids off smoking by handing out temporary tattoos, apparently? At this point, this article takes a delightful turn wherein the townspeople become very concerned that this trickery could actually lead to the young’ns wanting real tattoos, which would be at least as bad as them smoking a pack a day, probably.
“People have been smoking forever, but we just found out that it’s not healthy,” Dolan said. “People have had tattoos forever, maybe it’s going to take us a longer term to find out it’s not healthy.”
Dolan told the board he has been told permanent tattoos put a strain on the body because some of the ink enters the individual’s bloodstream and is then filtered through the body. This, he said, puts an extra strain on some organs.
Dr. Richard Schabas, medical officer of health, said he was not aware of any medical problems linked to tattoos. The only concerns, he said, would be with the needles used to inject the ink. If those needles are not properly sanitized there can be infection problems.
Schabas said the health unit does carry out routine inspections of tattoo parlours in the area. However, he told Dolan there may be some validity to his concern.
“As a matter of policy, I’m not sure we should be encouraging tattoos,” he said.
Schabas said using temporary tattoos to appeal to children is an understandable tactic but may need to be re-examined.
“You walk a fine line here, Bob. You want to relate to kids but, on the other hand, we want to ask ourselves if we want to normalize a behaviour that, maybe, we don’t want to,” he said.
First of all, yes, we “just found out” cigarettes aren’t healthy, what, yesterday? Sixty years ago? Whatever. Anyway, this whole thing makes my brain collapse in on itself. How old are these kids that are smoking? If they’re over the age of 10, I don’t think the temporary tattoo offensive is going to have much success, sadly. But at least the Belleville town council is doing its part to combat the “normalizing” of Pagan dick-choppery like tattoos and such. Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world where people thought it was OK to get tattoos? Terrifying.
[NY Post] Continuing this election season’s trend of all candidates (and their families) engaging in ritualistic anti-American ink-jamming, as they call it, Caroline Kennedy, one of the front-runners to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat, apparently has a miniscule tattoo on her forearm that nobody had ever noticed until the New York Post realized they were short a column the other day. It is apparently a butterfly but it may as well be a birthmark or a bruise — it is seriously barely there. Naturally, though, because she is a Kennedy, and there is always some sort of sordid tale behind everything those freaks do, this is not just some innocuous splotch of ink:
Kennedy got the tattoo while vacationing with her family in Asia during the late 1980s.
During a night out in Hong Kong, Caroline, her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., and her cousins Edward “Teddy” Kennedy Jr., 47, and Kara Anne Kennedy, 48, challenged one another with a mischievous dare, a source said, noting that the group had consumed a few drinks.
The boys challenged the girls to get a late-night “tat” at a nearby parlor.
Caroline and Kara went first and emerged “bruised and bloodied,” emblazoned with butterflies on their arms.
But when it came time for Teddy and John Jr. to reciprocate, the men “chickened out,” refusing to go through with the dare, the source said.
When reached for comment, Kennedy corrected the horrible newspaper, and said she actually got the tattoo on a dare from Governor David Paterson, thereby securing Clinton’s Senate seat. Ha ha, timely references.
[Twitter] Hey, did you know BME has its own Twitter feed? True story! If you like BME, but don’t feel like it’s quite pithy enough for you, add us! And while you’re at it, head on over to BME Shop! The holidays are fast approaching, and there’s no better present for grandma than one o’ them split cock T-shirts. And keep on sending in your photos of you decked out in BME gear and jewelry!
[YouTube] This one’s a little on the esoteric side, but do you know BME mainstay and perpetual image-leaderboard contender Perk900? (Of course you do.) Well, some time ago, he apparently worked at Blockbuster Video and was the subject of a short film, which you can see below. Did someone say Cable Ace Award?
As far as Phil and I can reckon, that yellow mass is indeed a bruise covering that fellow’s chest. I guess that’s what you get when you let a baby rhinoceros charge you at full speed. Or when you let Quentin from Kalima in Worthing, U.K., give you a set of subdermal implants, I guess. Hey, I’m not a doctor.
Is it just me, or have the internets been interminably slow today? I’ve been online at a few different locations, and across the board, things have just been crawling all day. Makes it difficult to make with the sexy pictures, you know? On behalf of the series of tubes, I apologize. Anyway, says the gentleman pictured above of his tattoo:
It’s from an old Sid Tattoo poster and [tattooist] Justun [Wanted, of In the Blood Tattoo in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] thought it would be a funny tattoo, and I said, “I’ll get it right above my junk!” I was joking at first, but little did i know …
Long story short, the next day we decided to actually go through with it, and here it is! Haha.
(Photo of Damien and new-to-the-world Harley Jade by AngelinPayn.)
Three points of interest:
1. BME SHOP. Hey, have you heard? BME Shop is back up and running, with all the apparel, jewelry and other supplies you would expect from BME. But you know what would really lift our spirits? Pictures of you lovely people wearing or using the gear. Just get your hands on a new shirt? Or a kick-ass set of plugs? Send us a picture! It warms our hearts to know that they’re not being used to even out the legs of wonky tables and such.
2. DAVID VIDRA. The original plans for this ran into some delays, but we are now ready to announce a brand new advice column coming to BME, fielded by none other than David Vidra of Health Educators fame! (And also for having been in the body modification community since, well … forever, pretty much.) He’ll be answering your questions about body modification, aseptic technique and all that good stuff, but really, feel free to ask him anything you want. About anything. There’s really not much about which he can’t (and won’t) go off on a tangent (in a good way!), so get your questions in. (Think of him as BME’s own Dan Savage.) For now, send them over to me (and include “David Vidra” in the title), and the sooner we get some in, the sooner you’ll get your first helping of “Big Mama” Vidra.
3. BME NEWS ARTICLE ARCHIVES. You may have noticed some articles aren’t where they used to be on the main BME page, but fear not! We’re slowly but surely transferring things to WordPress, just for the sake of cohesion. This will all be done more neatly soon, but for the time being, here are direct links to some of your old favorite column archives:
Picture 1: Helping a friend with some portfoliowork. Credit goes to Ylva Holm Torsteinson!! I got my septum in San Francisco… Some place. Cute piercer. Rawr. Lobes 12mm. Way too small ):
Picture 2 (click through): Eating “lunch” in France at a huge photojournalist festival. Gah. Amazing. The same septum as in picture 1… Still got it in San Francisco (Mom’s Body Shop). The piercer was hot. GRRRR!
Javier Jade at Arte Sagrado in Lima, Peru, went on an absolute rampage at this year’s International Bodyart and Tattoo Convention in Lima, picking up a handful of awards for his work. Somehow not for the one above, mind you, but check after the jump for a couple of winners.
The old man’s face won “Best of the Day,” while the child’s face won “Best Realistic.” Deservedly so!
