Nothing Shall Turn Me


My my, how cultured we are this evening! First Dali, and now this poem by Edgar Allen Poe, “From Childhood’s Hour,” as worn by SeamlessKameleon. I think in big text pieces like this, the letters should either be identical or look like neat, natural writing; this falls nicely in the latter category for me.

(Tattoo by Cherri at Lovedog in Santa Cruz, California.)

See more in Lettering Tattoos (Tattoos)

The Tongue Through the Tooth


The last time we featured a tattoo involving Dali on ModBlog, it got picked up by such varied places as Boing Boing, the official Star Wars site, and the personal blog of a Playboy magazine editor. I only mention this because, as excellent as toserveman‘s Dali portrait tattoo is, a precedent has been set, and I will not be satisfied unless it is linked to by NASA, the official web site of the Italian federal legislature and a talking gorilla’s Tumblr page. You’re all on notice.

(Tattoo by Zac Adkins in Orlando, Florida.)

See more in Portrait Tattoos (Tattoos)

Time For Sneeper


Well, here is some grotesque violence for your afternoon. Joe Grimace submitted this torture porn in which he just straight-up hangs a defenseless, what, stuffed rabbit? Right from his earlobe! Sickening.

(Ed. note: I’m sure Joe is very nice and would never use his 1 3/4″ lobes to torture an animal, stuffed or otherwise.)

See more in Ear Stretching (past 1/2″) (Ear Piercing)

More Fun From An Evening With Horiyoshi III


Hey, remember this past weekend, when we showed you some pictures from Canvas LA‘s sexy swingers party, An Evening with Horiyoshi III? Well, there are plenty more fun photos where those came from! Like that one up there, with teevee starRachel from BME” hanging out with Benji Madden!

After the jump, Benji finds himself in a compromising position (!) and other goodies.

Rachel, ever the enterprising businessperson, told Madden there was a strict “no shirt” policy at the gallery. Some guys fall for anything.

Alright, Benji, now you’re just showing off.

And here we have Bob Roberts of the world-famous Spotlight Tattoo, lookin’ sharp! He was not so easily swindled into disrobing.

Hey, Bruce Buffer was there too! He and his brother Michael have a blood-pact to never remove any article of clothing in public, so it is impossible to confirm or deny whether or not he’s all tattooed underneath. I can also neither confirm nor deny reports that he brings a microphone with him wherever he goes and prompts random pairings of people to fight to the death. (Oh…we can confirm he doesn’t do that? Well, good.)

D.C.’s Grant Cobb was most surprised indeed to learn that the allegedly “free” Sapporo came with a complimentary goosing.

Oh, and here is L.A. Ink‘s Kim Saigh with the multi-talented Shawn Barber, both of whom have been the subjects of profiles on BME! (Saigh here, Barber here.) Now, hmm, wouldn’t want to make any wild assumptions here, but is it possible they found love, you know…because of BME? (No.)

Photos by Thaddeus Brown.

Guess What? Shark Week Edition


You know what? Let’s turn this into an impromptu Guess What? Just try to guess how the person whose tattoo this is described it. Whoever guesses correctly wins whatever remains of Rajon Rondo‘s soul.

Says D8withthenight:

To clarify, she is a drag-queen sock-shark eating her own tampon.

If you say you got it bang-on…you are a dirty, rotten liar.

(Tattoo by Ricket Sjovengen at Cold Steel America in San Francisco, California.)

See more in Miscellaneous Tattoos (Tattoos)

The Track of Truth


AHH PHOTOSHOPPED THIS IS PHOTOSHOPPED AHHH-

Ahem. Actually, it’s Sy, hanging out in Holbury, waiting for summer to come, and dealing quite stoically with those flowers blooming out of his nose, I must say. Probably not as uncomfortable as a tree growing in your lung, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

See more in Nostril piercing (Nose Piercing)

He Done Blind Me


Hey now, here’s a fine-looking piece being sported by Azreal. It’s not always easy to take traditional elements like flowers, banners and script and make them look truly fresh, but I think this really works. The coloring on the lilies is great, and, my Latin is a little rusty, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe those are the lyrics to Witchy Woman, which, hey, nice touch.

(Tattoo by Jimmy G. at Five Cents Tattoo in Ottawa, Ontario. And those are obviously not Eagles lyrics. I am just an idiot.)

See more in Floral Tattoos (Tattoos)

Beat the Ground


Hi, folks! And now, for today’s lesson in symbols. If you see a person waving a white flag, approach and capture them. However, if you see a person waving a self-knitted skull cozy from a sewing needle in their septum, you run. You turn your head and you run and you don’t look back.

(Says MrsRayRay, “Four gauge—the needle fits, so why not?” No argument here.)

See more in Septum piercing (Nose Piercing)

Tenderized


I would be remiss if I didn’t take a second to mention all the phenomenal animal-related tattoos and scarification projects we’ve been getting lately. I know there can be a little push-back on here when it seems like we’re too thematically static for extended periods of time, but you’ll have to forgive us, because really, we’re just getting inundated (in a good way) with so much great stuff. Like, for example, this phoenix cutting by Brooklyn dandy Brian out of Williamsburg’s Pure Body Arts, which looks positively ground-beefy fresh as it is in this shot, but if anyone can make a piece like this work, it’s probably him. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the results.

See more in Brian Decker (Scarification)