First thing’s first.  Happy Canada Day to all our Canadian readers.

Now the biggest story this week is pretty easy to guess..  BMEFest 2011!!  It’s this weekend.  From Saturday to Monday everyone is welcome to come on down to BMEHQ and get together with the whole BME gang.  It’s been a few years since the last BMEFest, so we’re treating this one like a family reunion.  The event page has all the details, so be sure to check it out and sign up! You’ll get to see friends you may not have seen in a while, and also make a whole lot of new friends.  Just don’t forget your bathing suit, with the weather as hot as it is, we’ll be spending most of the time poolside, or on the slip’n’slides.

Now on to the news from the rest of the world.  Making headlines in the UK is Jeremy Castle, an NHS nurse who has been doing a little freelance work in his spare time.

Jeremy Luke Castle offers the £120 surgery from a dingy flat where his three cats run about.  Health experts last night admitted the practice is NOT illegal, despite being potentially lethal if jabs are not properly administered.  The Sun found Castle carrying out the “surgery” in Elephant and Castle, South London – where his pets roam nearby as he uses the grouting gun on men’s genitals.

Castle, who advertises online and admits he has had no formal training, said: “It’s not rocket science.  “The scrotum is very easy and it’s just a case of hitting the best place.  “There’s no law that says you can’t do it.  “It’s medical grade silicone. The equipment I use is sterilised with copious amounts of disinfectant. It’s not really dangerous.”  But he admitted: “If it’s done incorrectly you could inject silicone into the blood vessel and that would result in the patient being, well, dead.”

Castle, who claimed he banned the cats from the room when he was injecting the filler, added: “I’m a trained nurse specialist.”

I just..  wow.  Well, as long as he dipped the end of the caulking gun in disinfectant, it’s not a problem right?  But hey, it’s not dangerous, the worst thing that could happen is you die.  Wait, is that serious?

More news to come, including a couple of Aussies who have found an ingenious way to raise money for their Olympic team.

This week’s installment of “don’t commit a crime if you have an easily identifiable facial tattoo” is brought to you by the letters M and J.

If you’ll look closely, you’ll notice that the tattoo itself is actually terrible. The Jumpman logo is, of course, of a silhouetted Jordan skying through the air for a dunk. This looks more like a man delivering a pizza while wearing clown shoes.

See to me it looks like a guy running while holding a frying pan.

A few more crime related stories this week.  The first of which is a quick tale from Columbus, OH.

A man is stabbed during an argument over unpaid tattoo work Tuesday evening.  Corey Norris, 20, was with some friends in front of a house on Filco Drive at about 6:26 p.m. Tuesday.  A person Norris did some tattoo work for walked up to Norris. Apparently, the male didn’t pay Norris for the tattoos.  Norris demanded payment for his work.

Norris’ group and the other person’s group became involved in a physical fight.  The groups and the fight moved to the Walgreens drug store at the corner of South High Street and Williams Road.  Someone pulled out a knife and stabbed Norris twice.

The tattooed male and his group left the area.

So Columbus people, be on the lookout for a tattooed male.  It’s a shame that saying a suspect is tattooed is enough to qualify as a newsworthy identifier.

This next story unfortunately is much worse.  Not in terms of how tattoos are being represented, but what the tattoos in the story represent.

On Thursday night, a 16 year-old boy from Malwani reportedly raped a seven-year-old girl. Following questioning it was revealed that this was the eighth girl that he had  raped.  The incident occurred when the girl went to a grocery shop, where the boy started molesting her. The girl reportedly yelled at the boy, which is when he hoisted her on his shoulders and raped her twice behind the Malwani church.  After raping her, the boy tried to escape from the crime scene, but the girl followed him crying. They reached Rathodi village in Malwani, where they both live, the girl’s mother saw the boy running and her daughter following him crying and confronted him.   Locals caught the boy and handed him to the police. After the police questioning, both were sent to the Nagpada Police hospital for a check up. The boy later confessed to his crime.

During the interrogation, the boy was asked about a series of tattoos on his arms.  In what came as a horrifying revelation to the police, he revealed that the names tattooed on his arm was a list of the girls he had raped. Following the confession the police sent the boy to the Children Remand Home in Dongri.

Due to local laws the boy will be charged as a minor, and given a lesser sentence than if he were an adult.

Our last crime-related story is a follow-up to one from earlier in the year.  If you recall, a young man was kidnapped, beaten, tazed, and finally left with a tattoo that said “rapest” across his forehead.  This week the courts issued a sentence to those found guilty.

Four people charged with kidnapping a man, tattooing “RAPEST” on his forehead and shocking his genitals with a stun gun before beating him unconscious with a baseball bat have pleaded guilty to kidnapping and maiming charges.  Three of the defendants also pleaded guilty to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in a plea agreement with prosecutors while the fourth pleaded no contest to the charge during a hearing in Oklahoma County District Court.  A no contest plea has the same effect as a guilty plea but is not an admission of guilt.

Richard Dellert, Zachary Provence, Kimberly Kirchler Vergara and Lorena Hodges were accused of attacking 18-year-old Stetson Johnson on April 17.  Special Judge Stephen Alcorn sentenced Dellert, 25, and Provence, 21, to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation. Vergara, 24, who clutched a Bible during the hearing, and Hodges, 33, were each sentenced to five years in prison and five years of probation in the attack a prosecutor characterised as “a brutal case of bullying”.  “I think a mob mentality took over,” First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said.  Johnson told authorities he was restrained with duct tape while “RAPEST”, apparently a misspelling of “rapist”, was tattooed across his forehead and a phrase that resembles “I like little boys” was tattooed on his chest.  The forehead tattoo has since been covered with another tattoo that looks like a bar code, and members of his family said he is working to have it removed.

Finally our last story of the day takes us down under to the magical land of Oz.  When it comes to competing in the Olympics most countries fund athletic programs.  But even with this funding, for a lot of athletes it just isn’t enough money.  Such is the case for Australia’s volleyball team.  A couple of members of the team have come up with an interesting way to ensure a trip to the Olympics for their team.

Some people would do anything for a buck. When you’re an Olympic hopeful who spends most of the time practicing and trying to fulfill a lifelong dream, the bucks can be tough to come by.  Luckily there are people like Australian volleyball player Claire Kelly who know how to think outside the box.

According to MyFoxDC via Fanattic Network, Kelly has petitioned companies to place permanent tattoos on her body to be seen during competition.  Packages are being offered directly to companies and sold on eBay for around $10,000 for a 0.8 inch x 0.8 inch on the left limb and roughly $50,000 for a 1.9 inch x 1.9 inch tat on the right arm or shoulder.  She said she hopes the money will help give her and her partner, Carla Kleverlaan, the financial backing they need for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

“It’s taken me months to get the courage to do this and now I’m going through with it,” Kelly explained. “I was thinking, ‘Tattoo my body with a business logo just so I can have a chance to play for my country at the Olympics? I’m crazy’!

If I recall, the Olympic rules are pretty strict on the amount of advertising on attire.  I wonder if the same rules apply to tattoos.

Oh, there is one more thing before I get going.  Toronto tattoo studio Seven Crowns is hosting their annual fall art auction in support of Art City-St. James, a charity that provides free and accessible art programs to underprivileged children in an urban setting.  The reason I’m posting about this so early is that Canadian artists who want to get involved know that they have until September 1st to submit their work.  More information can be found on the Seven Crowns website, or you can e-mail the boys at [email protected].

As far as I know this is for Canadian artists only, but feel free to get in contact with them for all the details.

And that’s all the news for this week.  Remember, BMEFest is this weekend, so sign up now, and I’ll see you in Virginia!

It’s time again for the weekly news round up, and as always I’ve got a nice little variety of stories this week.  Before I get to those, I wanted to give a quick update on Ran Maclurkin, who as you may know was injured in an accident a few weeks ago.

Here is a picture of Ran up and about on day release from the rehab hospital. An amazing result considering only 2 weeks ago he endured an 8 hour surgery on his spine. The best news is that they are sending him home permanently mid this week. He does need to wear a back brace and neck brace for the next 2-3 months. On behalf of Ran I would like to thank everyone that was so nice as to donate him a few dollars to help him while he recovers.  -Pete Sheringham

BME would also like to thank everyone who was able to send some support Ran’s way, and we all wish him the best on his road to recovery.

On a somewhat unrelated note, Pete had this story to share about an experience he had with a client recently:

Just had the most amazing phone call, 12 months ago today a lady came to get her nipples pierced at The Piercing Urge, while marking out her nipples I noticed a large lump in her breast, I thought that this should be looked at by a GP so I stopped the procedure and advised her of the lump and to see a GP, I felt a little strange doing this as I did not want to panic her in case it was nothing but felt she should at least get it checked out. She went to the doctors and after some testing was told it was aggressive breast cancer and she had 2 months to live. After almost a year of chemo and a mastectomy she is now cancer free.

She called to tell me I had saved her life and told me that she would call each year on the anniversary of her being clear of cancer.

I could be wrong, but I think it may have been a little dusty in the shop when he received that call.  I know I had something in my eye when I read it.

There’s not a lot of news this week, but there are a couple of stories to get you through the weekend.  Keep on reading to see what’s in store for you.

Well, it’s finally over.  The long and publicly drawn out battle between Warner Brothers and Victor Whitmill over the use of Mike Tyson’s facial tattoo ended in the way pretty much everyone expected it to, an out of court settlement.

A Missouri tattooist who claimed Warner Bros. infringed his copyrighted tattoo in The Hangover: Part II settled his lawsuit with the studio Wednesday.  Terms of the settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry in Missouri, are being kept confidential as part of the deal.  The settlement comes two weeks after Warner Bros. acknowledged it might be liable for infringement, and announced it would remove the tattoo from the December DVD release if a deal was not reached.  The lawsuit, brought by tattooist Victor Whitmill, asserted the comedy features a “virtually exact reproduction” of a copyrighted tattoo he inked on former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson in 2003. The tattoo appears on the Stu Price character played by actor Ed Helms.

The Whitmill lawsuit focused on the esoteric debate about whether a work first rendered on the human body can be copyright protected. Whitmill testified he created the image directly on Tyson’s skin.  There has never been a court verdict about whether a copyright on a tattoo could be enforced.

As you can tell, I’m not surprised at all by this turn of events.  Although I know a couple of armchair lawyers who will be disappointed to know that there still has yet to be a definitive court ruling one way or the other.

In sports news, an Australian footballer was given a red card the other day for having his penis pierced.  I know, I had to read the article twice just to be sure that was the actual reason.  Luckily there’s video of the event!

Macclesfield-born Aaron Eccleston, of Melbourne side Old Hill Wanderers reserves, was red-carded at the weekend for having his penis pierced.  Little Aaron’s bling was deemed so offensive that the referee decided to send him off.

The player can be heard to comment: “I’m making a complaint, ref. It’s not right looking at my c*ck.”  We’re inclined to agree with you, Aaron. And yet you went to dressing room of your own accord and got your tackle out for him!  If you are anything like OTP you are probably thinking ‘how did the ref know about it in the first place?’. The answer, it seems, is that Eccleston took a blow to his privates as he jumped for a header and pulled his shorts down to check he hadn’t lost anything, anatomically or piercing-wise.  He’s no doubt now thinking that check could have waiting until half-time, in which case he would have saved himself from YouTube humiliation.

I wonder if there is a specific rule on the books against that, or whether it’s just a general “no piercings” rule.

Every once in a while we feature amputation photos and stories on ModBlog.  The ones we feature are mostly DIY, and would be considered “successful”.  By successful I mean that the person doing the amputation achieved their goal of removing a part of their body.  Sadly this next story is about someone who wasn’t successful.

A DEPRESSED former property consultant bled to death in his London home after trying to amputate his own legs with a hacksaw, an inquest heard. Barrie Hepburn, 65, was confined to a wheelchair after being shot in the legs during an argument with a neighbor at the couple’s holiday home in France in 2000, the London Evening Standard reported.  He tried to commit suicide twice following the incident, and researched self-surgery on the internet.  Last August he almost completely severed his right leg with a hacksaw in the kitchen of the couple’s residence in London’s exclusive Mayfair neighborhood, the inquest was told.  Hepburn called paramedics and said he was suffering from heavy bleeding, but died before an ambulance could reach him.

His wife Susan – who runs a high-profile hypnotherapy clinic and counts British singer Lily Allen among her clients – told the Westminster coroner’s court that Hepburn’s depression lifted in recent years.  The coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure, noting, “I think it is quite clear he had no intention of taking his own life. This was a tragic turn of events.”

This is one of the main reasons we tend to post warnings with amputation posts and other heavy modifications.  While Barrie may have done research on the internet, the activity was extremely high risk (especially considering it was an entire limb), and sadly he didn’t survive.

As I said, this is a really slow news week, so we’re already at the last story of the day.

Vice Magazine, the publication that is always on top of the newest trends, reported on the new Japanese “bagelhead” phenomenon that is sweeping the nation.  Oh, wait, did I say new?  What I meant was they wanted to seem like it was a new practice, when in reality it was something was picked up 2 years ago by mainstream news, and it features Ryoichi talking about the forehead saline injections he’s been doing for many years prior to that initial news report.

Obviously, it’s now huge there. Saying that, even though it’s exactly what you’d expect from the country of loo-roll dispenser hats, apparently body modification is still somewhat of a taboo out there, with journalists who choose to cover it usually doing so at the risk of their own careers. I had a chat with Ryoichi to try to help me understand why people are choosing to inject themselves with fluids in order to temporarily change their appearance.

When did saline infusions start to get popular?
Well, actually, I happened to meet Jerome, who was the person who pioneered saline infusions, at Modcon in 1999. Modcon is an extreme body modification convention and it just happened to come to Japan that year so I went to cover it for Burst. I got talking to Jerome and we stayed in contact, then eventually I experienced saline with him in 2003 and he gave me permission to bring it to Japan, so I set up a team in Tokyo to administer infusions for other people. That’s been going since 2007.

I figure in another 2 years we’ll see a story in the NYPost about how this is a breaking new trend first featured in Vice.

And that’s it for the news this week.  Remember, if you find an article you think should be included in the weekly news post, just click here to send it in.

Oh, and remember, next weekend is BMEFest!!!  Sign up today!