Fridays on ModBlog mean a couple of things.  It’s the day for the scarification follow-ups, there often is a BME Girl post, Sean posts the latest entry in his Cliff Cadaver series, and the day ends with the news.  With last week’s news being celebrity heavy, this week it’s back to business with some real news, although those damn attention seekers just couldn’t stay out of the news for just one week.

First up is an interesting story out of China.  A Belgian tattoo artist has set up shop at an Art Farm, and is using live pigs to display his art.

He decorates them with smiling faces, Louis Vuitton logos and various words. Art collectors can buy the pigs and pay for their upkeep or purchase their tattooed skins after the pigs pass away, paying up to a few thousand dollars.

Forty-six year old win said the pigs are a nice allegory that makes us think about what art means to us, and where the line exists between what art is and what art isn’t.

Now this story appears to be a couple years old, but looking back through the archives it seems that it was never featured in the news before.  As you can imagine, at the time a large number of animal rights groups were opposed to this type of art.  The main issue I see is the one about consent, in that animals can’t give it.  Judging by the video the pig being tattooed may have been sedated, as it reacted to the needle negatively, but only needed one hand to hold him down.

There’s more news to come, including a young man getting a skull tattooed over his face, and an implant that wasn’t wanted.

Much to my surprise, it seems that England has it’s own version of the Jerry Springer show.  Or possibly Montel.  Anyway, earlier in the week “Mad Dog” Deon appeared on the Jeremy Kyle show because his girlfriend wasn’t too happy with his recent facial tattoo.

His girlfriend Catherine, 31, also appeared on the ITV1 programme titled “How Could My Boyfriend Destroy His Own Face?”, during which she complained about his decision.  Kyle said: “I’m slightly struggling as to why anyone would have a skull tattooed on their face.”

Layabout Deon told the ITV1 show that he wasn’t finished with his “artwork” yet – saying he was planning to have even more tattoos on his neck.

Ignoring the biases in the article (the author referred to him as a Layabout, workshy, and a waster), it does appear that young Deon is relishing the attention being given to him as of late.

While Deon’s facial tattoos are affecting his family life, it seems that all over the world tattoos are becoming the new family scrapbook.  Gone are the days when a crafty type would come out of a shop with an armload of decoupage.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, tattoos were historically, “permanent designs—sometimes plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment.”  This has been going on for thousands of years. Not too far removed from where we are today.

I’m starting to understand that there must be a great emotional tie to this behavior. A memory of a loved one, a stand for independence or even an expression of deep seeded emotion.  The process goes way beyond the pain, the color and the permanency.

The author goes on to describe how her husband and son have strengthened their bond by getting tattooed together.  It’s sappy, but it’s always nice to see a story where people who get modified aren’t portrayed as lazy or criminal.

In fact, the myth that modified people can’t get a job is slowly disappearing.  The Vancouver Sun stopped by the Canadian offices of Google and discovered that business are starting to look at people for their skills, and not their appearance.

At Google’s Canadian headquarters, a strict dress code is enforced: employees must wear clothes.

There was a time when tattoos and piercings would mean difficulty getting onto an organization’s staff; today, eliminating employees with tattoos and piercings would make it difficult for many organizations to even have staff.

So while people may be more accepting of piercings and tattoos in the workplace, it seems that the idea of the Queen of England having a tattoo isn’t something everyone is ready for.

The cartoon-style image hangs outside the newly-refurbished Queen’s Arms pub in Acomb, near Hexham.  Acomb Parish Council chairman Major Charles Enderby described the sign as “most distasteful and inappropriate”.  But owner David Crawford-Emery claimed the image was based on his mother, who he said “looked like the Queen”.  The sign shows a woman resembling the Queen smiling, with what appears to be Buckingham Palace in the background, her arms folded with a tattoo of the name Phil on one of them.

Buckingham Palace said it would not comment.

While we’re on the subject of acceptance, the Arizona Daily Wildcat has an interesting piece on Jewish law and how it applies to tattoos.

While Jewish law explicitly prohibits having a tattoo, there is no basis for restricting burial rites for Jews who violate this rule, contrary to popular myth.

The Torah, or written Jewish law, states “you shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.”  This, as well as the Jewish concept that Jews are created b’tzelem Elokim or “in the image of God,” is sometimes interpreted to mean Jewish people are banned from getting tattoos, according to information provided by the Hillel Foundation. While, in Judaism, voluntary tattooing shows disrespect for the gift that is the body, it is no worse then violating any other “halacha,” or Jewish laws.

Max Rusinov, Hillel’s Israel fellow, said that tattoos are a symbol of slavery. For example, during the Holocaust, the Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners received number tattoos as a form of identification. This helped propel the myth that Jews cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery if they have a tattoo because it disrespects Holocaust victims.

Moving over to medical news, researchers at MIT have found a way to implant microscopic medical sensors into a person without having the body reject them.

MIT is exploring embedded microworm biomedical sensors that detect medical conditions. And reading them could be as simple as shining a light on the skin and seeing the microworm tattoos glow.

A number of research effortsare underway to exploit micro-particle technology to sense medical conditions, but though there are significant benefits to the technology the actual design of the system is problematic–nanoparticle and microparticle sensors can be swept away from where they’re supposed to be by normal body processes. Enter MIT and Northeastern University with a new variety of microparticle sensor that’s shaped like a long narrow tube–hence microworm–that is better at staying put in tissue and provides a greater surface area for chemical reactions. They’re also so small that the body is effectively unaware of  their presence, and there are fewer of the rejection issues that can occur with larger embedded sensing devices.

While the author of the article calls them fluorescent tattoos, they are much closer to an implant than a tattoo.

Speaking of implants, imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and discover that you have a piece of metal embedded in your flesh.

After a woman, Anne, in Lyon, France, complained of postsurgery abdominal pains, an X-ray revealed a pair of 4-inch-long surgical scissors that somehow had been forgotten and left inside her for five months.

Anne realized something was wrong after a coughing fit when she discovered that the point of the scissors had suddenly pierced her navel. The scissors were finally removed and she’s reportedly planning to sue the surgeon.

Ok, so it might not have been an implant in the traditional sense, but it does have a great gallery of other medical instruments found in people.

On a completely unrelated note, some people really love their iced coffee.

But Kieran Hollis of Stuart Park loves Paul’s Iced Coffee so much he had a carton of the stuff tattooed on to his shoulder.  Mr Hollis, 26, hasn’t even told the iced coffee manufacturer, Parmalat Australia, about the tattoo, because the thoughtful fellow feared it might be upset about copyright issues.

The tattoo was inked in “one of the better” parlours in Thailand, where his parents work, after a Darwin tattoo shop refused him. “They wouldn’t do it, they said it would look stupid,” he said.  At the airport on the way to Thailand, Mr Hollis downed a carton of the tasty milk drink before flattening it into his baggage, so the tattooist could recreate the image about six months ago.

He said that the tattoo cost about $100, and took about 7 1/2 hours.

I think the most newsworthy item in this story is that he got 7 1/2 hours of work done for $100.  I wonder if I can get that price from my artist.

To wrap things up with the real news, we have a story that isn’t actually news at all.  Heck it’s not even an article.  Irena Werning is a photographer working on a project that has adults recreate a photo of themselves when they were a child.    One of the subjects of her work is someone longtime ModBlog readers will recognize, La Negra.

I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today… A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future.

And now it’s time for the part of the news that really shouldn’t be called news at all… The Celebrity Round-up!

According to news reports, if you put two moderately tattooed celebrities near each other, they become the best of friends.  Because of their tattoos.  No other reason whatsoever.

Kelly Rowland, who you may remember as the one who wasn’t Beyonce in Destiny’s Child, got her first tattoo.  There isn’t much else to say other than it’s a masterpiece.

When she’s not taking naked pictures of herself to be “accidentally” leaked on the internet in an effort to bring back 70s bush, Vanessa Hudgens got her first tattoo as well.

Vanessa Hudgen got her first tattoo, a butterfly on her neck, at Bang Bang Tattoos in NYC on Wednesday. Vanessa’s friend/MTV Australia VJ, Ruby Rose, tweeted, “Please don’t blame me… But i may have convincedVanessa hudgens to get a tattoo.. Now. Her first… ” Apparently, the choice was between her neck or her ribs

So while Vanessa had her friend tweeting about her new tattoo, some “celebrities” like to do their own tweeting.  Like this pearl of wisdom from Teen Mom 2 “star” Jenelle Evans.

“Getting tatted up 🙂 straight chillin. singleeeeee :P,”

And that’s a wrap.  For this week anyway.  Enjoy your weekend everyone, and to my fellow Canadians, enjoy the long weekend.

As always, if you find a story you think should be included in the weekly news, just send me the link through this handy webform.

Another week has come and gone, which means it’s time to check in with the rest of the world and take a look at what modification related stories have been making the headlines.  To start things off, we’ve got another story about the artist who had a camera implanted into the back of his head.

An artist who had a camera implanted into the back of his head has been forced to remove it after his body rejected part of the device.  After doctors refused his initial request to have the camera inserted into his head last year, the artist had the procedure done at a body-piercing studio in Los Angeles.  The camera was mounted on three posts attached to a titanium base inserted between Bilal’s skin and skull.  The set-up had been causing him pain despite treatment with antibiotics and steroids.

“Such a reaction is common with piercings and implants,” Bilal, a photography professor from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, said on his website.  ”I’m hopeful the wound will heal quickly and I will be able to reattach the camera on the remaining two posts or on a reworked base.”

So if you had 6 weeks picked in the “when will the piercings reject” pool, step up to claim your prize.

There’s more news to come, including a doctor that is using a tattoo gun to remove scars, and a celebrity round-up that for the first time will be longer than the actual news.

Cosmetic tattooing has been around for a while now, but only recently has a doctor discovered a way to use cosmetic tattooing as a way to cover up scars.

While doctors stateside are using tattoo techniques to help people out, the government of Australia is putting forth measures that could possibly make things difficult for tattoo artists.

The Professional Tattooing Association of Australia says changes to legislation proposed by Attorney-General John Rau will be harmful to consumers by providing police “special powers” that they say appear to target the industry for its supposed links to bikies.  The proposed changes require traders to keep proof of age records and hand them over to police on request.

Association and piercing industry spokeswoman Morag Draper said while some components of the legislation were welcomed, others were seen as a step back in good business practice, moral responsibility to clients and the protection of their personal information.   ”The Health Department have total power to retrieve client data and investigate with or without police attendance if need be, so we don’t understand why the State Government deems this component of the legislation necessary.

Mrs Draper said the industry was always willing to work with the Government and SA Health to ensure consumers’ health was protected, but these proposed changes failed to address that.

I do have a slight problem with the way the article is written, as it makes it sound like the Tattooing Association has a problem with increased fines for tattooing minors and opposes the ban on tattooing drunk people.  From what I can gather the main issue is that the bill is only looking at things from a policing standpoint, and does nothing to address health regulations, which is what the association has been pushing for.

Which isn’t to say that the police shouldn’t be checking into violations.  Take this story out of New Zealand.  A man claiming to only tattoo people out of his garden shed as a hobby has been fined for refusing to get a license.

Judge John Strettell said the Timaru District Council had bent over backwards to assist Kamahl Ross (aka Barribal) to obtain a licence.  ”They weren’t particularly willing to prosecute – that’s not a criticism [of the council] – they were prepared to give you the opportunity [to get a licence],” Judge Strettell said.  Craig O’Connor, appearing for the council, said Ross told the council he was doing it as a hobby, not a business.  After a further complaint in November 2009, the council visited the property and told him what would be required to obtain a licence, including installing a sink or wash basin.

A covert police operation was set up last year after a poster advertising “Solid Ink” was discovered in August.  An officer who visited a Cain St property found a wooden sign for Solid Ink, the garden shed with equipment and furniture, and tattoo designs on the walls.  Four women – one of whom was receiving a tattoo – were at the shed, and the undercover officer was asked if she had a design for a tattoo, and where and what size she wanted it. A contract was agreed upon for a $60 tattoo and the officer arranged to return later.

Here’s a tip:  if you want to maintain a business without a license, don’t put up flyers advertising yourself or set prices for tattoos with someone you’ve never met before.

And now it’s time for this week’s massive celebrity news round-up.  As I mentioned earlier, this week the press was all over celebrity modifications, resulting in more stories about them than actual news.

For starters, PETA announced a new campaign featuring tattooed celebrities.  It will feature Pink, Steve-o, and others using the slogan “Ink, not mink”.  While the story doesn’t have a lot of information, you really should check it out simply because of the photo used.  I’m sure PETA will have no problems with a photo of a hot dog stand being used alongside their campaign.

Now two weeks ago we saw Gucci Mane‘s new facial tattoo, an ice cream cone with lightning bolts.  Well it seems that one of his fans liked it so much, she got the same tattoo on her face as well.  Maybe the ice cream cone with lightning bolts will be this year’s tattoo trend.

We’ve all heard about misspelled script tattoos.  So when a story comes up about a celebrity getting a script tattoo, you can probably guess the headline already.  It turns out that isn’t always the case.  It seems that when professional footballer John Carew got himself a script tattoo, it was actually spelled correctly.  The problem is that while the words were spelled correctly, the accents over some of the letters were facing the wrong way.

The former Aston Villa forward’s latest inking, which appears as ‘Ma Vie, Mes Régles’ on the left side of his neck, was apparently supposed to read ‘My life, My rules’.

However, the version daubed on the 6ft 5in hitman appears as ‘régles’ – a direct translation of the word for ‘period’ or ‘menstruation’.  ’Ma Vie, Mes Régles’ means ‘My life, My menstruation’

When it comes to role-models for kids, who better to look at than some of today’s youngest pop singers.  Miley Cyrus just got her fifth tattoo, Demi Lovato got her first, and Kesha had her foot tattooed by a crackhead.  In case you were keeping track, that’s a girl known for pole dancing on a children’s show, another known for dancing on Justin Bieber’s pole, and a girl who has hit her head against a pole so many times she spells her name with a dollar sign.

Finally, when it comes to smart parenting, Mark Whalberg of all people is the one trying to set a good example for his kids.

The star first went under the needle when he was just 11, but the one-time bad boy has since transformed himself into a family man and wants to remove his skin art in a bid to set a good example to his four kids.

“”When I started removing them, they said it’d take five to seven visits. I’d been 20-something times and I took my two oldest to watch because it’s like getting burnt with hot baking grease, there’s blood coming up, it looks like somebody welded your skin, there’s these welts that come up like a quarter of an inch. Hopefully that will deter them from getting (tattoos).””

Now hopefully he meant to deter them from getting tattooed at 11, but when it comes to decision making Mark isn’t the best role model.  Those kids may idolize their dad now, but once they find out he used to be Marky Mark, his stock might plummet.

And that’s it for the news this week.  Remember to send in any links to news stories you come across that you think should be featured in the news of the week.

Oh, and Monday is Valentine’s day, so to all you lovebirds out there, enjoy your weekend while the rest of us get nauseated watching you faun all over each other.  Also, if you’ve got any photos of modifications that might be somewhat related to Valentines day, send them in over the weekend as Monday will be a special “hearts and flowers” day on ModBlog.

Well it’s been an interesting week in the news, with the cyclone in Australia and protests in Egypt, so news on the modified world has been a little sparse.  The big news this week is that the Philadelphia tattoo convention is underway.

February 4th – 6th 2011
Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention
at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel

Show Times
Friday 2 PM – 12 AM
Saturday 12 PM – 12 AM
Sunday 12 PM – 8 PM

Tickets Prices
$20 per day $40 for the weekend
Tickets are only sold at the show
Children under 12 are free

Rachel and I are here at the show filming interviews for BMEtv, so if you see either of us around, stop by and say hi.  You never know, you could end up being interviewed for BMEtv.

There’s more news on the way, so keep on reading to check it out.

A woman in New Zealand has come forward and is suing the Christchurch police department based on the actions of one of the officers.

A Christchurch woman is suing the police after she says they took to her with bolt cutters to remove her body piercings.  Her case has sparked others to come forward with similar stories – she says there could be dozens more.  Twenty-year-old Ben Hack’s lip piercing was cut from his face with pliers when he was arrested for disorderly behaviour in Christchurch.  “They just got pliers and then hailed off the ball and pulled it off. And it hurt, and they just pulled it all out,” he says.

The practice emerged when a woman sued Christchurch police for $150,000 for allegedly cutting piercings from her body when she was taken into custody.  A female officer used bolt cutters to remove about five piercings from her, including one from her groin area.

I’m not sure what police procedure is exactly in my neck of the woods, but taking a bolt cutter seems a little excessive.

A while back I posted a story about a young woman in the US who was kicked out of school for having a nose ring.  Well it seems that case has made the media pay more attention to these types of stories, as an Ontario girl was also removed from class for having a piercing.

Mikaela Gunning-Pereira, a Grade 9 student at Notre Dame High School in the upper-Beach area, learned on Monday that she was no longer welcome in her math class, or the halls of the school by a vice-principal.  “We just started second semester, I want to learn, I want to do well,” complained Gunning-Pereira.  The Toronto District Catholic School Board’s (TCDSB) dress code bans lip studs but permits nose piercing.  However, Gunning-Pereira insisted many other students have facial piercings.

And her mother, Paula Gunning, said she had no idea her daughter’s facial jewelry violated the school’s dress code.  “If I knew that was the case I certainly wouldn’t have paid $75 for her to have this,” said the girl’s mom. “Piercings aren’t okay, but those short skirts are?”

In this case the girl is attending one of the Ontario Catholic schools which are separate from the public school system in that they have their own guidelines, but they still have to teach the same curriculum as every other school.

In stupid criminal news, sometimes tattooing “Genius” on your forehead doesn’t always mean you are.

A man has been arrested for hitting a pregnant woman in the head with a hand gun.  Jerome Smith, 27, was arrested February 1st, however, the attack happened on January 29th. happened on the 29th.  The police report states a man with “Genius” tattooed on his forehead attacked Tiera Bryant, who is eight months pregnant.

Finally, in much more positive news, a tattoo studio owning couple in the UK are holding a fundraiser for the Oxford Children’s Hospital.

Paul and Carly Humphreys have invited body artists to their Evolution Tattoo parlour in Banbury Road, Kidlington, to raise cash for Oxford Children’s Hospital.  The John Radcliffe Hospital last month treated newborn Presley-Ray Humphreys after he was born with a twisted bowel.  He was delivered on December 12 weighing a healthy 9lb 2oz, but two days later started vomiting and was rushed back to hospital.  The twisted bowel had cut off the blood flow to his intestine and could have proved fatal.

Just 20 minutes into the three-hour operation, the couple got the news that Presley-Ray would be okay.

The proud dad has pledged to get a tattoo of Presley-Ray when he is two.  And Mrs Humphreys added: “I don’t think he knows anything about what he has been through. He’s got a scar on his belly, and I’m sure he’ll ask about it as he gets older.”  The February 27 event will include tattooing, an auction, music and children’s activities.

Just because it’s a slow news week, doesn’t mean that the famous people of the world have gone and done something modification related.

To start with, Pauley Perrette from the show NCIS, which I’m told is like CSI but with an added “N”, went on Letterman and talked about her tattoos.

On Tuesday night during an interview with Late Night with David Letterman, Pauley showed off some of her secret tattoos. Almost all of her tattoos are number based. Unique and definitely one of a kind, she designs the images herself and has them all over her body. Showing off a tattoo between her finger that wouldn’t be noticeable to the naked eye and even her arms, she had David Lettermen engrossed in her body art as she explained each piece.  ”Well most of mine are number based. I love math.,” said Pauley Perrette. “I have little secret number tattoos everywhere. I design them.”

And to conclude this abbreviated celebrity round-up, the girls who are auditioning for future reality TV shows on The Bachelor went and got rose tattoos while they were in Vegas.  I suppose that will help them become future stars of shows like “The Bachelorette”, “Rock of Love”, and “Reality show rehab”.

And thus concludes this week’s broadcasting cycle.  As always, if you come across a story you think should be included in the weekly news post, you can submit it right here.

Another week has come and gone, which means it’s time to check in with the rest of the world to see what their take on modified culture has been like.

To kick things off, we’ve got a story out of Broward County Florida.  Like many other police units, the higher-ups have made a ruling that bans officers from having visible tattoos.  Now their focus is mostly on officers with sleeves, but they’re also cracking down on officers with gold teeth.  The tooth thing is probably an easy fix, although never having my grill done in gold I can’t say for certain, but the the officers with sleeves?  Well, they’re facing a slight problem.  You can see the problem in the photo below that shows off the standard Brower County uniform.

Gold or platinum veneers for decorative reasons are strictly not allowed under the new rules, but officers who can prove they have caps or fillings for dental purposes will be permitted to keep them.   Deputies with large tattoos on their arms will struggle to keep them hidden since the standard issue uniform involves a short sleeve shirt.  Small tattoos on the forearm, however, have been given the OK.

I guess those tattoo armor sleeves will be a big seller for some of the officers.

There’s lots more news to come today, including a celebrity tattoo story you might just “LIKE”.

A tattoo artist in British Columbia has gotten fed up with the lack of regulations on the industry by the province and is making a plea for stricter controls and more education before someone gets sick or injured.

Elwood Reid is calling for tighter regulation of his profession, saying lax regulations and inexperienced health inspectors are a potentially deadly combination.  ”We’re in a situation where anyone and their dog can get into this industry and have no formal training doing it,” said Reid, who specializes in body modification in Maple Ridge.  That’s a catch-all term that includes tattoos, piercings, implanted head spikes, branding and scarification, the latter of which involves cutting skin to produce a pattern or image.  The call comes just as the provincial government launches a review of its 16-year-old guidelines for Personal Services Establishments (PSE), which govern everything from piercing to manicures and mud baths.  ”My fear is that the industry will get to the point of doing more and more extreme things until someone gets hurt or killed,” Reid added. “If the government is forced to step in and respond by outlawing it, it’s going to go underground.”  Reid is hoping he can help legitimize an industry that relies on apprenticeships instead of formal training, and is regulated solely by health inspectors unfamiliar with the safety requirements of a modern piercing and tattoo shop.

It seems this type of story is popping up more often in the news, which is good for a few reasons.  It first lets the public know that there are artists out there who do care about their client’s safety, and it also calls attention to the lack of regulations which is key for getting the public behind a push for tighter controls.

Of course, not every artist speaking with the news is as educated about their craft as Elwood is, which can result in stories like the following interview with an artist from New Zealand.

It is Torture Tuesdays at Gizmos in Nelson, and the store’s retail assistant is trying to make a point – it doesn’t hurt a bit, but he’s not as chipper as 10 minutes earlier.  ”I’m really nervous right now,” he admits, as Mr Dalrymple explains that any facial piercing on the right is a sign that a person is gay.  ”That’s the word on the street.”

The most popular body piercing was lip piercing, Mr Kelly says. The most unusual, and not something Mr Dalrymple does, is penis piercings.  ”Some guys when they’re older become impotent and apparently this helps.”

It’s one thing for a journalist to make claims like these without knowing anything about the industry or culture, but it’s an entirely different thing when an artist is telling their clients not to get something done because it will make them appear “gay” (which in and of itself is offensive as it implies that being gay is somehow a bad thing).

When it comes to health concerns, there sadly are stories of practitioners unintentionally causing problems.  Recently in Switzerland a cosmetic tattoo artist was found to be the source of a bacterial infection that had affected a number of women.

When the physicians looked for what connected the women, they discovered that they had gotten their tattoos in different studios, but all from the same artist, who freelanced around the area. When they tracked her down, they found that she was following all the correct infection-prevention procedures, though she no longer had the equipment she had used when the women’s infections developed. When they tested her inks, though, they found DNA from M. haemophilum in some of them. Because that bacterium tends to live in water, they hypothesized she had diluted her inks with tap water that was locally contaminated.

Only a few women so far have been diagnosed with the bacterial infection, although the woman claims there may be several hundred people walking around with the potential for an infection.

On to some much lighter news, a German man recently won himself a Mini Cooper.  Given that this is being reposted on ModBlog, you can probably guess how he won the car.

A German man won a brand new $32,000 Mini Cooper by having the word “MINI” tattooed on his penis during a broadcast.  Organizers said Andreas Muller, 39, of Saxony-Anhalt, won the radio station contest by coming up with the wildest Mini-related stunt to earn the vehicle, The Austrian Times reported Wednesday.

Finally, a tattoo studio in Richmond, VA is giving away “free” tattoos for a donation to Richmond’s cultural community.  The tattoo design is one found on the mummified remains of an ancient human, known to have the oldest tattoo in recorded history.

The tattoo design, three vertical lines each about an inch long, is copied from the earliest known tattoos ON EARTH (don’t worry the design is totally in the public domain).

Now, I don’t know about you, but a tattoo of three black bars seems awfully familiar.  I wonder if they know they’re giving out a tattoo symbol that in today’s world is symbolic of the Church of Body Modification?

Of course, the week wouldn’t be complete without the celebrity news round-up, and thankfully the celebrities haven’t disappointed us this week, and there are a few stories to share.

Starting with UK celebrities, Cheryl Cole was spotted showing off her new tattoo that supposedly was done in one marathon 11 hour session.

Of course, taking a look at the photo they supplied I don’t think we’re seeing the entire design.  Unless of course that faded and blown out butterfly is the new tattoo.

Also in the UK, Port Vale footballer Sean Rigg is using his spare time to pursue a profession for when his football career is over.  Unlike other players, he’s not looking to get into broadcasting or coaching, Sean instead is working on a tattoo apprenticeship.  I honestly can’t find anything to make fun of about this story, so let’s move on.

For those of you who remember Brandy (the singer, not the liquor), it turns out she wasn’t too pleased with her Ganesh tattoo.  You can see in the photo below why she wisely got it touched up.

Oh the hidden penis trick.  You have to admit that pulling off that stunt on someone who at one point in time was sort of famous is pretty ballsy.

Speaking of balls, pro ball player DeShawn Stevenson recently added an addition to his throat tattoo, a small sparkly microdermal.  Of course the press thinks he jabbed something right through his throat, but who are we to tell them differently.

In an effort to continue the myth that all she is good for is looking at her, Megan Fox did a photoshoot with Armani that shows off some of her tattoo collection.

The tattoo on her shoulder blade reads, “We will all laugh at gilded butterflies” – an approximation of a Shakespeare quote.

Megan got the wordy Nietzsche quote inked down her side in honor of Mickey Rourke, her costar in ‘Passion Play.’ It says, “Those who danced were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

And finally in today’s last story, T-Pain has found a way to get a tattoo artist to autotune a facebook tattoo on to him.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen.  Unequivocal evidence that facebook needs a “DISLIKE” button.

So that’s the news for this week.  Next Friday I’ll be in Philly for the Philly Convention so I’ll be writing up the news a bit earlier in the week, although it’ll still be published Friday.  That means I’m going to need a bit of help getting enough stories for the news, so if you come across anything, just submit the link to it right here.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week’s news round-up should be a bit interesting as I’m fighting off a fever and having 20 tabs open in my browser is starting to blur my vision.

Granted it appears I’m not the only person with a fever out there.  Take this California man who has an extreme case of Bieber fever.

Now with the recent announcement that the zodiac signs are all changing quite a number of people were scared their zodiac tattoos will need to be covered up or removed.  Well it turns out the good people at CNN have found out that your sign actually isn’t changing at all.  (Thanks to Chez for the link).

But before astrology fans scrape the ink from their arms because they think they’re now a Virgo instead of a Libra, they should consider this: If they adhered to the tropical zodiac – which, if they’re a Westerner, they probably did – absolutely nothing has changed for them.  That’s worth rephrasing: If you considered yourself a Cancer under the tropical zodiac last week, you’re still a Cancer under the same zodiac this week.

That’s because the tropical zodiac – which is fixed to seasons, and which Western astrology adheres to – differs from the sidereal zodiac – which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East, and is the type of zodiac to which the Star Tribune article ultimately refers.

Lots more news to come, including an old ModBlog regular making the jump into the limelight, and a publishing company offering free books to their fans.

Say you love a book so much you get a tattoo that is inspired by it.  This happens all the time.  Heck even I’m guilty of hiding a literary reference in my skin.  Well it turns out that if you’re a fan of the publications of Black Ocean, and you have a tattoo referencing one of their works, you’ll get a lifetime subscription for free!

Of course not everyone is as die hard a fan of poetry as others.  To some, loving their favorite football team is all the inspiration they need.

Not a sports fan?  That’s ok, you can show your dedication to something else you love.  Like your cell phone provider.  Wait, what?

The big question, of course, is why is he doing this? Carrion told IntoMobile that he’s “just a really, really big fan of Verizon Wireless,” and that the idea to put Big Red’s logo on his body (for life) came to him “while [he] was paying his monthly bill.” We gotta hand it to the guy for putting ideas into action so quickly.

When asked if he was looking to get publicity in some way or looking for any kind of compensation from Verizon by putting a the corporate logo tattoo on his hand and forehead, Carrion replied that “Verizon probably spends millions in advertising and marketing every year, I’m not doing this to get money, but sponsoring my tattoo would be a relatively cheap way to increase brand exposure, and I wouldn’t turn down any compensation.” He continued to explain that the forehead placement would ensure that “the logo will be in front of all my friends and anyone I run into on a daily basis.” It’s clear that this Big Red customer is seriously dedicated to the Verizon network.

Moving on, we’ve got news out of Atlanta about a tattoo artist who was arrested last week for not only tattooing underage children in his home, but also for creating a fake tattoo license.  While he is being charged for tattooing the minors, it seems the courts are pushing hard for a conviction on the forgery charges.

Heading north to Oshawa, ON, a number of people are being advised to contact the Durham region health department.  Basically anyone who visited a mobile tattoo and piercing studio may have been exposed to various diseases after the operation was found to be using non-sterilized equipment.

While the Oshawa health department is out inspecting studios, it seems that down in Wyoming a number of studios are pushing for state-wide regulations.

But in Wyoming, where Edwards now runs his business, customers aren’t likely to find that certificate of assurance saying the business has passed a public health inspection, or even met sterile practices considered paramount in the industry.  Wyoming’s lack of tattoo regulations places customers at risk, Edwards said, especially when they turn to so-called “scratch artists” working from their garages.  ”If there were regulations, those people would have to be certified,” Edwards said. “They would have to keep to the same standards as the artists who have worked their whole lives in the business.”  Edwards has an unlikely ally in Charles Jamieson, the Park County public health officer who’s pushing the state to regulate Wyoming’s tattoo industry.

The only problem I have with this article is the thought that a tattoo artist and a public health officer are unlikely allies.  I’m fairly certain the majority of clean studios are happy to meet regulations as they not only protect the clients, but also the artists.

Now, this next article is probably going to generate some discussion, and I went to multiple sites to confirm that this was a legitimate study before posting it.  According to researchers, stainless steel tongue studs are more likely to cause infections than any other type of jewelry, including plastic.

Physician Ines Kapferer of the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria and colleagues identified 68 women and 12 men, average age 23, who had tongue piercings with studs inserted. The researchers examined tooth and gum health in each volunteer and removed the studs. The volunteers were then randomly assigned to get a new stud made of stainless steel, titanium, polypropylene (a plastic polymer) or polytetrafluorethylene (Teflon). After two weeks, the scientists removed those studs and took swabs of the tongue, the piercing canal and each stud itself.

Tests for 80 bacteria linked to illness or infection showed that 67 of the 80 species had accumulated substantially more on the stainless steel studs than on the polymers, and 28 of the bacteria showed up more on titanium than on the polymers.

Now the problem I have with this study is that while in the limited scope of the testing the stainless steel posts accumulated more bacteria, they don’t mention sterility issues when the piercing actually occurs.  This of course could lead to a slew of shops being able to claim that acrylic jewelry is safer to piece with than sterilized stainless surgical steel.  Any thoughts from the piercers that read ModBlog on how this study could impact their business?

Moving on, there is some sad news to report this week.  Jack Dracula, former Coney Island tattoo artist and circus performer passed away at the age of 75.

His name was Jack Dracula or Jack Martin or Barcelona Jack, the Marked Man but he was born on Christmas day, 1935 as Jack Baker. After a short stint in the Navy, Jack got his start tattooing after he entered a shop on Coney Island owned by Brooklyn Blackie, when he was tossed a gun and told to do it himself. Jack did a piece on his thigh and never stopped. Over time he did work and received work in various shops, tattooing his his face, cheeks, chin. forehead and all around his eyes. Most prominent were the images of Bella Lugosi/Dracula and Boris Karloff/Frankenstein on his stomach. All in total the Marked Man had over 400 tattoos.

Jack spent the last of his days in West Philadelphia’s Park Pleasant Nursing Home his legs amputated from the knees down due to complications with diabetes developed in the 90′s.  At the age of 75, our beloved Jack Dracula died today at 5:30pm, after a meal of chocolate ice cream and a long, interesting life, reportedly due to a heart attack.

Rest in Peace Jack.

–Kevin Dalton

Down under things are still looking tough for the people affected by the massive flooding that has affected a large portion of the population.  For some Queensland tattoo studios, the flooding has washed away almost everything.

“I am covered for a sonic boom, can you believe that? But not a flood, a sonic boom,” said the 35-year-old business owner and mum to three boys.  She’s been knee-deep in mud in the clean-up of her flood-affected salon called Body Bare in the main street of Ipswich.  ”I was scouring my insurance policy’s PDS (product disclosure document) on Monday night and they won’t be paying anything out for a flood,” said Ms Hill, who has owned the business for five years.

Around the corner on Brisbane Street, Janelle Roberts, owner of the Ultimate Image Tattooing, wants to move out.  ”I can’t stay here. I want to get to a higher location but I have three years left on my lease,” she said.  ”Do I have to keep paying rent if my shop is ruined? We’ve easily lost $50,000 just in art work and equipment and will be shut for who know’s how long. My building’s just not safe right now. It’s old and the wiring is shot.”

On a much lighter note, the international press is buzzing due to the revelation that Germany’s first lady has a tattoo.  Not just any tattoo mind you, a decently sized tribal piece on her shoulder.

Ever since we heard that Germany’s First Lady Bettina Wulff has a tribal tattoo on her right shoulder, we’ve been waiting for her to wear a sleeveless gown and show off her ink. So far, no dice!  But last Friday night, she stepped out to the Semper Opera Ball in Dresden wearing a lacy, black dress and we can totally make out her tat. While we think it’s a pretty cool accessory, we can also see how it might be considered un-First-Ladylike.

I’m just waiting for the day the US has a president with full sleeves.  I can only imagine the poutrage at that.

Of course, the week wouldn’t be complete without a look at the people we all love to hate.

Jesse James and Kat Von D are still in the news this week with rumors floating about that they’re now engaged.  The article has a fantastic photo of what a happy couple may look like.

Now when rapper Gucci Mane was finally released from a mental institution recently, he did what any newly certified sane person would do:  get an ice cream cone tattooed on his face.

Rapper Gucci Mane has had a large tattoo of a triple-scoop ice cream cone inked onto his face just days after he was released from a mental health facility.  Mane, real name Radric Davis, appeared in court on January 3 claiming mental incompetence and saying he was unable to ‘intelligently participate in the probation revocation hearing’.  The 30-year-old was sent to a mental health facility to be evaluated.

It is unclear why he has since been released and how it affects his probation status.  When he was released he got the ice cream facial tattoo complete with the word, ‘Brrr’ on the cone and red lightning strikes coming out of it.

Now, I’m not posting this to mock his tattoo, because frankly, it’s his skin and he can choose to do whatever he wants to do with it.  However, when a person walks out of a mental institution, especially one with an entourage and handlers, you’d think it’d be a good idea to steer them clear of a tattoo studio, just in case their judgement is still impaired.  But given that he already has neck and facial tattoos, who’s to say he wasn’t planning it for a while.

A few months back I posted a story describing how Rooney Mara, the actress to take on the role of Lisbeth Salandar in the American adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, had undergone a pretty radical transformation, including multiple piercings.  This week the studio released a few photos of Rooney, and you can see that she really has given herself over to the role.

From what I can see the list of piercings include multiple ear piercings, a lip ring, a single nostril, and according to other news sources, both of her nipples.  Who knows, maybe the remake won’t be a complete waste of time.

In today’s final story, we’ve got someone who should look pretty familiar to ModBlog readers.  Zombie Boy, aka Rick Genest first popped up on ModBlog back in 2006.  Since then, this young man has appeared several times on ModBlog, as well as in other publications all around the world.  Well this week he’s been thrust into the media spotlight thanks to Nicola Formichetti, stylist to Lady Gaga and Thierry Mulger’s new creative director.

This week, Nicola Formichetti was in Montreal photographing a young man named Rick Genest, whom he found on Facebook and is known as Rico. Mr. Genest had his body tattooed to resemble a skeleton, with blackened eye sockets and ghoulishly large dentiture on his lips. “Rico is my muse,” Mr. Formichetti, who styles Lady Gaga, wrote in an e-mail.

Of course, with Mulger introducing a new clothing line, and Gaga about to release a new album, the time was right for Formichetti to unleash his muse upon the world via this video that Lady Gaga released yesterday.

So I guess all those people who said he’d never amount to anything with tattoos like that should be eating their words right now.

So that’s it for this week’s news.  If you come across a story that you think should be included in the round up, just send it in.

Welcome to the first newsfeed post of the year, and this week is any indication, 2011 will be full of stories of epic proportions!

To kick things off, we have a story out of the UK about a fan going the extra mile for her passion.

For most people, a first tattoo is usually a small marking, perhaps a Chinese symbol no more a few inches wide. But Cathy Ward, 49, is such a die-hard fan of the Twilight Saga series of books and movies that she wanted something a bit more special… her entire back covered in artwork from the vampire films.  The supermarket worker, from Reading, braved 22 hours in the tattoo artist’s chair after months saving £2,000 to put permanent reminders of stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner on her skin.

She was desperate to get almost the whole cast of blood-sucking characters on her back because she claims they helped her lose five stone.  ”I love Robert Pattinson. I want to tone up so I can get his character Edward Cullen on my stomach.”

Now my gut instinct is to snark, because well, it’s Twilight, but when you think about it, what’s the difference between this tattoo and a giant Star Wars backpiece?  Well, aside from quality of the source material.  Fans will do some crazy things, and from reading the article it seems she took her obsession and used it to get herself healthy.

Lots more news to come, including a police blotter, tattoos in the military, and a possible health risk.

For anyone who reads a local paper, you may be familiar with a police blotter.  It’s basically a run down of some of the smaller crimes that have occurred that don’t warrant a full story.  A prime example of one comes from the Kings County Advertiser/Register from up in Nova Scotia.

1. A North Kentville woman reported a theft. She said her landlord had smoked all her cigarettes while she was in the hospital.

2. A tattoo parlour owner contacted police after a former customer threatened him. The man and his girlfriend had had their names tattooed on each other; then, the man was unfaithful. The woman was attempting to have her tattoo obliterated. The owner found himself threatened with being pushed under a truck in traffic if he removed the man’s name from her body.

3. A woman driving through Gospel Woods Rd. at 2 a.m. went to answer her cell phone and had a collision.

4. A guest at a New Minas hostelry received a ticket after he called 911 at 11:30 p.m. to protest staff would not change his shower gel.

5. A very nude couple visible due to open curtains was reported in Wolfville about 7 p.m. Police requested they close the blinds.

6. A clerk at a Wolfville store observed a woman wearing a stolen dress on Main St. Police were called and the woman claimed the dress was a gift. She was transported home and officers seized the garment.

7. A woman in Canning called police about a suspicious blue tarp lying on a trail. She said she was afraid to look under it. Police found nothing when they lifted the tarp.

8. An 89-year-old man was reported for asking a passerby to pay a bill for him at a New Minas business. He stated he could drive, but he couldn’t walk.

9. A woman reported a man for blowing kisses and winking at her in a parking lot over the lunch hour.

10. A woman left a five-month-old baby for three hours with a friend working at a mall in New Minas.

I am curious as to what the difference between “nude” and “very nude” is.  Oh, and obviously, if you’re going to be covering up a tattoo of someone’s name, make sure they’re not there with you.  For some reason that may cause them to get upset.

Back across the pond in Warwick, a tattoo shop that had originally been denied a permit to open, was finally granted one after the owner proved to the council that not only are tattoo studios not a source of crime, but they can also help prevent the spread of scratchers in-town as there is no legal studio open.

Of course when studios are licensed it also means the government gets to impose licensing fees.  For studios in Missouri, those fees are set to triple, which is causing some studios to fear customers will no longer come in and go to illegal operations.

The Missouri Division of Professional Registration’s Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding is accepting public comments through Jan. 14 on proposed fee increases. The new fees are expected to go into effect in late April or May, said Travis Ford, spokesman for the Division of Professional Registration.

Individual tattoo licenses will jump from $30 to $100, and tattoo establishment licenses will go from $100 to $200. Additional fees are charged for combination licenses, like tattooing and body piercing. The licenses are good for two years.

Of course, the counter argument to this is that the increase in fees should have no bearing whatsoever on the costs to the customer, and if the studios suddenly jack up their rates based off the increase of the annual license, they’re probably just trying to make more money off the publicity.

Moving towards the health aspects of modifications, health experts in Australia are asking for laws to be put in place to prevent “extreme piercings” in children as young as 11.

Children as young as 11 are nudging towards body modification practices once reserved for hardcore punks, reports the Courier Mail.  There are no laws in Queensland outlawing the piercing of young children, except in genitals. Yet, tattooing, on anyone under the age of 18 is illegal.

The Australian Medical Association Queensland president Gino Pecoraro supported the campaign and said the laws for piercing should be the same as tattooing.  ”Parents should be taking these people up on assault charges,” he said.  He said microdermal anchors amounted to surgical procedures and “should not be carried out by anyone not fully qualified and certainly should never ever be carried out on a minor”.  ”If they become infected … and left untreated, an infection runs the risk of bacteria getting into the blood and can be very dangerous to the heart,” Pecoraro said.

While the risks of microdermals are the same for anyone regardless of age, it is interesting they’ve singled them out as the “extreme” piercing that kids want these days.

In another story from down under (thanks as always to Botexty for sending in the news stories from Australia), doctors are warning people to avoid getting tattooed.  The reason?  They can possibly mask skin diseases such as cancer.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) said the increasing popularity of tattoos, particularly among young people, is becoming an emerging medical concern.  Summer is a popular time of year for people to get tattoos … however, few people are aware that tattoos may hinder the diagnosis of a range of skin conditions, including skin cancer, by masking the tell-tale signs,” AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce said.

Nickolas Dennis is just one of many Orange residents with tattoos, and said he can understand how they could increase the risk of skin cancer.  He has had tattoos since the late 1980s, but has only just noticed a suspicious looking mole in the ink on his upper right arm.  “I didn’t take notice of it until six months ago,” he said.  “I hadn’t noticed it because of my tattoo.”  “Because it’s coloured in I didn’t really look.”  Mr Dennis said the effects of the sun’s strong UV rays could be seen in his tattoos that have faded to the point of being unreadable due to sunburn and sun damage.

Now the article doesn’t explicitly state that tattoos will lead to skin cancer, but it does gloss over the fact that this guy probably spends all summer outdoors without a shirt or sunblock on.  Sure the coloring may have obscured the blemish, but I get the impression he’s someone who doesn’t really check his skin over all the time anyway.

An Australian teacher is still in the classroom after making some pretty inappropriate comments towards his students.

The VIT disciplinary panel, chaired by Jane O’Shannessy, was told the man then commented on another student having got a nose piercing. The student claimed he followed her into the classroom and said words to the effect: “Oh, so you are a rebel. Have any of the other teachers ticked you off yet?”  He allegedly went on to say: “If any other teachers comment on it then tell them that is your good piercing and your other piercing can’t be seen as it is in a place where only your partner can see.  ”No, even better. Tell them that your Brazilian waxer has to take care not to damage the piercing when she is waxing you.”  The panel heard the student testified repeatedly that this exchange took place but the teacher denied it. He admitted only to the first part of the conversation, saying “he had in mind belly-button not genitalia piercing”.  ”The teacher said he realised his remarks were definitely inappropriate but he had not intended them to convey sexual connotations or be unpleasant,” the panel found.

I’m sorry.  As someone who has never had a Brazilian wax before (shocking I know), I’m fairly certain the navel isn’t exactly one of the places the waxer will concern themselves with.  Well, I suppose in my case they might, but for others probably not.

In much more positive news, tattooed Philadelphia-area veterans are invited to take part in a photo shoot for a project involving tattooed military personnel.

World renowned photographer, Kyle Cassidy, will be at American Legion Post 615 in Tinley Park on Friday January 7th from 7pm until 11 pm and Saturday January 8th from 6 pm until midnight, to speak with and photograph veterans with tattoos for his latest project “War Paint: Tattoo Culture & the Armed Forces”. War Paint is being published by Schiffer Books.

Anyone interested in sharing their story and tattoo(s) with Mr. Cassidy is urged to come up to American Legion Post and talk with him. You do not need to be a member of the American Legion, only a veteran with a tattoo and a story. He is looking for former and current service members to participate in this photo project. The requirements are simply that you served in the military (during war or peace time) and that you have a tattoo which is related to that military service. This is a great opportunity to preserve pieces of our history.

For more information on this project you can go to:
http://www.kylecassidy.com/warpaint/index.html

It looks like an interesting book, so if you’re in the area, follow the link above to get details for the shoot this weekend.

What would the newsfeed post be without the celebrity round-up?  This year is starting off light, but I’m sure hollywood won’t disappoint this year.

To start with, evidently it’s shocking that a musician got a tattoo.  I only know of the band from their songs on RockBand so I don’t know if they’re any good or not, but hey, new tattoo!

In completely unrelated news, another musician has tattoos.  The Maroon 5 guy did a spread for Cosmo where his Maroons were held by a nice lady with nail polish.  It’s supposed to create awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, but really I think it’s just an excuse for Cosmo to post a naked dude.

And finally, in what is probably the most important news story I will ever post, LeAnn (I’m still relevant) Rimes and Kate (I have no problems exploiting my children) Gosselin may have a tattoo in the same location that when viewed from a telephoto lens 10 miles away makes a similar blurry shape.  I honestly weep for humanity if this passes as news.

Well that’s it for this week.  Have a great weekend everyone and remember to send in any news stories you come across for next week’s news.

Welcome to the almost last newsfeed post of 2010.  After last week’s scarcity of stories, we’re back on track with stories ranging from identifying the body of a French king, to an attack on a mall body piercer by some angry parents.  So let’s get started.

Last week researchers announced that the mummified head that was discovered a few months back was indeed the head of France’s Henri IV, who was assassinated back in 1610.  One of the main contributing factors to the skull being identified as Henri IV, was that he had a pierced ear.

Months of tests have led to the conclusion that the body part belonged to Henri IV, who was stabbed to death in 1610.  Giveaway signs were a cut near the nose, a pierced ear and a healed facial wound from an earlier murder attempt.  The head was chopped off and stolen in 1793 when revolutionaries raided the grave of Henri. Private collectors then bought and sold the body part over hundreds of years.

We’ve got lots more news ahead just behind the clickthrough.

While we’re on the subject of ear piercings, a woman was brutally attacked due to a dispute over a child’s ear piercing.

Alana Denhard said customers were always stressed at this time of year, but she had never experienced anything like Tuesday’s incident. The Rainbow Bay resident was helping customers in Kaos Hair Salon who were not happy with their six-month-old daughter’s ear piercing on Monday.  “The ear was bleeding so I took the earring out, cleaned the ear and apologised,” Miss Denhard, 23, said.  “I did everything I could, but they kept coming back and yelling at me.”

The parents returned the following day with more family members, Miss Denhard said.  The customers followed Miss Denhard to the food court where security tried to calm the woman down.  “The mother was mouthing off and she broke away from the security guard. I was walking away and she came running at me and just bashed me onto the tiles.”  Witnesses told Miss Denhard the woman punched into her until security was able to pull her off.

Now I can understand being mad at someone for piercing the child’s ear with what I’m assuming was a gun, but to come back the next day to give her a beat down just seems a bit excessive.  Even with holiday shopping in full swing, that kind of behaviour is reserved for line-ups in Walmart for the newest “tickle-me” doll.

So while it may be the season for people to lose their minds over material possessions, some people are able to maintain some degree of sanity and are able to think of others.  Take Dynasty Tattoo and Body Piercing from NJ.  The shop is sponsoring a family in need this holiday season, and are asking people to come in and donate clothing, toys and cash.  Any donation over $20 will get you a gift certificate worth $25-$300 at the shop.

Then there is Barbie, a tattoo artist who attempted to break the world record for most tattoos done in a 24 hour time period.

Barbie is confident that she will set a new record, hoping to surpass 850, possibly closing in on the 1000 mark.  Barbie planned to tattoo an outlined 3” by 3” cancer ribbon, with shading in a choice of colours to reflect the cancer being recognized.  With each tattoo, a $20 donation was required with all money raised going to support the Canadian Cancer Society.

While she didn’t achieve her goal of 1000 tattoos, and suffered from some severe hand cramps, she was able to raise $6000 for the cancer society.

The holidays are also a time to celebrate family, both those with you, and ones that are no longer there.  Earlier in the year I posted a story about a women who got a tattoo using the ashes of her deceased son.  Now a Tasmanian artist is offering the same type of thing to any of his customers.

Shane Dyson believes he is the only tattooist in the state who offers memorial tattoos created using cremation ashes.  Since opening his business, Angelic Ink, a year ago in Wynyard in the state’s North-West, Mr Dyson has used his skills to help five grieving families.  ”I love all my tattooing work but the memorial tattoos are particularly special because it really does help people to be able to have a piece of their loved one with them at all times,” he said.

“The most beautiful occasion was when an entire family came in to get memorial tattoos for their lost daughter and sister,” he said.  ”I closed the studio for them for a day and the lady’s mother, father, brother and sister all came in to get tattoos of her name.  ”At the beginning it was really sad and everyone was crying but as the day went on they put on special music and were singing away.  ”There was a real sense of celebration and it is a pleasure to be part of such a personal experience.”

Now while some people wish to have their family members tattooed into their skin, others get tattoos for things that are significant to them.  Music tattoos are often seen on individuals, and can range from lyrics to a song, to a band’s logo.  California band Strung Out knows just how popular a band tattoo can be, and are asking their fans to send them photos of their art for an upcoming greatest hits album.

Strung Out are beginning to assemble a retrospective album and need some help from their loyally inked fans. The music portion of the album is already in the works, and will include a number of surprises, both new and old. But in order to create a truly unique collection, the band is asking that all fans with Strung Out tattoos send the band high-quality photos of their tattoos along with their full name, city, state, and country of residence, to be included in a massive gallery in the album’s packaging. Please e-mail all submissions to [email protected] The deadline is January 31, 2011.

It’s not just bands who are looking to obtain photos of tattoos.  Boston restaurant Tremont 647 is undergoing a remodel and is asking people to send in photographs of their food related tattoos.

Now in other tattoo related news, you may have heard of the murder trial going on in Florida where the state has been paying a make-up artist daily to cover up an accused murderer’s tattoos so that he can get a fair trial.  Earlier this week he was found guilty, and the sentencing was scheduled for today.  When he arrived to find out if he would be getting the death penalty or not, he chose not to have the make-up applied.

Neo-Nazi John Ditullio walked into court Thursday with his tattoos in plain sight: the large swastika and the words “f— you” on his neck, the barbed wire running down the side of his face.  Ditullio, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. In early 2006, he was living with a group of American Nazis near Hudson who hated Patricia Wells, their next-door neighbor, for having an African-American friend and a gay son.  One night, authorities said, Ditullio put on a gas mask and broke into Wells’ house, attacking her with a knife. She escaped with injuries to her face and hands, but her son’s friend, 17-year-old Kristofer King, died from stab wounds to his skull.

Over on the other side of the planet, The Fatwa Centre in Abu Dhabi states that tattoos are haraam.

However, in a report carried by Al Khaleej, the fatwa clarifies that only permanent tattoos are haram, but those using gold or paint to create a superficial drawing on the skin are allowed.    The fatwa issued by the centre, which is affiliated to the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, states: “We should differentiate between two things, tattoos and graphic drawing on body. Tattooing means to prick the skin with a needle and inject kohl or some other substance to change the skin color to blue or green. This is haram according to the consensus of scholars.”

Keep in mind that strict adherents to both Christianity and Judaism forbid tattoos as well, so it’s interesting to see that this is only being brought up now.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a story warning vegans that some tattoo inks are still not vegan friendly.  This week ThisDishIsVegetarian.com has an in-depth interview with James Spooner, a vegan tattoo artist.

I use inks made with vegetable glycerine as opposed to the animal based variety. Most of the popular brands use veggie stuff so there isn’t a lot of compromise in quality there. The main thing with ink is blacks. A lot of companies use Shellac in there ink, which is some kind of bug excrement. I’m not sure which orifice it comes out of, but either way I cool without it. Some crazy companies still use bone char in their black so that is also something to look out for.

The other things to think about are all the ointments, soaps, and aftercare used. I’ve read that the industry standard green soap uses an animal based glycerine. I use Dr. Bronners, which is making waves in the industry, I hear they are even showing up to tattoo conventions now. I also am phasing out all petroleum products, which contain all kinds of lanolin and junk like that. I’m currently trying a few different products to see which I like best, but I’ve got a couple of options I am digging right now. There is also stuff like the gelatin strip on the razor or the stencil paper. When you’re trying to make it vegan you might as well think of everything right?

Just a couple more stories before we head into the celebrity round-up.

Professional wrestler “The Perfect Creation” has been keeping a photo collection of what people are calling “The Ultimate Gaming Tattoo”.  I was going to include a couple of photos to give you the general idea, but it’s probably better you just go to the page.  He’s managed to squeeze in games from every platform, genre, and era into both of his arms.  I have serious geek envy after looking through the pictures.

Wired.co.uk recently did some number crunching to determine that water is wet.  Wait, wrong article.  They crunched numbers to determine if people will do something just because it is free.  To gather their data, they went to a nightclub that was offering free tattoos to anyone who wanted them.

A large room in an industrial building housed three picnic tables, lined end to end, in the centre. The tattoo station comprised a portable table with two folding chairs and a cheap floor lamp. Our assistant, with her clipboard, was by far the cleanest and most official-looking person around. And when she offered to help the tattooist by taking names, he was delighted. In the five hours she was there (from 9pm to 2am), a total of 76 people signed up for the free tattoos.

As the assistant was collecting the data, another tattoo artist stopped by to give us her opinion. This petite brunette, with a medallion tattoo on her sternum, felt that she had to tell us about all the unhygienic and potentially health-hazardous practices she had witnessed that night. Apparently, a contaminated paper towel had been passed around and an obvious necessity missing from the set-up was disinfectant. She said these practices could cause people to contract a blood disease, such as hepatitis or HIV. So perhaps the real cost of tattoos are not their price, but the odds of infections and even long-term illness.

Who needs proper hygiene when it’s free right?

Advice columnists for the most part are always clueless when it comes to tattoos.  So imagine my shock when I read this exchange.

Dear Christy,

My boyfriend just got a freaking horse tattoo on his back. It is so stupid and cheesy. He’s obsessed with Charlie from that stupid “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” show, and that’s why he got it.  What do I do?

–Hates Charlie

Jerk:  

Lovely “Charlie”… The boyfriend. Not you. “Jerk” is your worthy moniker… It is imperative that you dump this broad.

Now.

She’s an insult to your brilliance.  

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a top gem on the tube.

If you desire my genius guidance, retract your statement immediately. Speak up. I have seven pounds of hair encasing each ear.  

The tattoo is funny. Sure, I wouldn’t do it, but I would totally date your boyfriend — and be better at it than you — because of the horse.

Looks like princess is embarrassed.

The only solution is to grasp those preying talons on a tranquilizer gun, gather a couple thousand bucks and drag him to a laser-removal joint.

Note: You’ll probably break a nail during the escapade. Abort mission. Plus, “Gossip Girl” is almost on.

Just embrace his ink. He embraces those damn Uggs.

I’ll give you a moment to finish your golf clap before we move on to the celebrities.

Finished?  Great.  So here were are with another collection of the rich and famous and all their crazy antics.

Take Ke$ha (Seriously?  That’s her name?), for kicks she likes to tattoo her friends with a safety pin.

“She told Radio 1: “It’s not bad. I’ll practise on my bandmates . I’ve given tattoos with a safety pin and an ink pen.”

I really shouldn’t be shocked by anything like this anymore.

Hillary Duff was stalked on the way to the gym by papprazzi, who couldn’t find anyone actually famous to stalk that day.  On the plus side they took pictures of her tattooed feet to sell to fetish websites.

Of course the week wouldn’t be complete without checking in with one of everyone’s favorite orange colored “reality” TV “stars”.

Well that’s it for the week.  Remember to send in any news stories you stumble across just by clicking this link.

Oh, and because it’s been sent to me a few times over the past few weeks, here’s a little video someone came up with.  You’ll have to watch it to the end for the full effect.  When you’re done, remember to go and hug your tattoo artist, as they have to deal with this all the time.

It’s that time of the week again.  Where you get to sit back, and unfurl the digital newspaper that is the ModBlog News of the week.  This week was surprisingly light on news, so this will probably be one of the shortest news posts that we’ve done in a long time.

To kick things off is a story out of Australia that is probably one of the most brutal tattoo related crimes I’ve read about.

At the time of the attack, Jason Tattersall wasn’t long out of prison, where he found out that 18-year-old Steven Jiminez had slept with his ex-girlfriend.  The 35-year-old father of two rang the teenager and threatened him before setting upon him at a house in New South Wales, Australia.   During the seven-hour attack, he kicked and punched Jiminez on the kitchen floor, hit him with the baseball bat and used a tattoo gun to ink ‘DOG’ on his forehead in green ink, telling him: ‘Have you learnt your lesson, c***? I’m gonna overdose you on heroin and leave you to die. That’s what a dirty c*** gets.’

‘The tattoo has left me unemployable… I cannot get a job… the shock on people’s faces just doesn’t describe it,’ he continued.  Tattersall, who also forced his victim to sign over ownership of his car, pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnap before receiving his jail sentence.

Thankfully the attacker is back in jail for at least the next 11 years.

Now, a number of people have sent me links about the man arrested at an airport as a result of his piercings.  The story describes a man who after being x-rayed, is pulled aside because of his ample genital piercings.  In the process of the pat down, the man gets so aroused he ejaculates onto the TSA agent.  He is then arrested for sexual assault, the pierced man, not the TSA agent.

The reason I haven’t published this story is because it is a hoax.  Snopes.com, which is known for busting internet myths, recently busted this myth, by linking to the original source, a satirical website, that admits the story was created as a joke.

Now then, there are still a couple more stories to cover, so keep on reading.

Thanks to a tattoo, a woman was able to identify her rapist.  Unfortunately it was also the tattoo that made her realize she was being raped in the first place.  You see, the woman thought she was having sex with her boyfriend when she noticed his tattoo was missing.  It was then that she realized it wasn’t him, rather it was his twin brother.

A woman told police she thought she was having sex with Rohrig’s brother in July 2009, but realized it was Jared Rohrig when she saw he didn’t have his brother’s tattoo. She alleges Rohrig continued the sex against her will.

In a ranking of dick moves to pull on your twin brother’s girl, I’d say that’s probably tops on the list.

Moving slightly away from the criminal activities, we have a story about a community coming together after the murder of a young man.

Their inch-long, rocket-shaped Polynesian tattoos mark them as a sort of tribe.  The tribe of Sean M. Stennett.

Stennett, 25, became Saginaw’s fourth homicide victim early on Dec. 2, when an unknown shooter or shooters opened fire on him from outside a door at 1501 Hancock in Saginaw.  Since Sunday, Byron Cronkright, co-owner of Drunken Monkey Tattoo, 312 S. Hamilton in Saginaw, said he’s tattooed a section from a tribal wristband tattoo that encircled Stennett’s left forearm onto the backs, chests, hands, necks, ankles and arms of about 50 of Stennett’s friends, for free.  Drunken Monkey Tattoo plans to ink the design onto anyone who wants it — at no charge — beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday. Any tips will be donated to Stennett’s family.

Now in something completely unrelated, and certainly not as sad as the previous story, we have Patrick Vaillancourt from Montreal who is looking to set a new Guinness world record, and raise money for charity in the process.

Over the next year, the 29-year-old from Montreal will have over 100,000 Internet addresses tattooed on his body.  ”I want to break a Guinness World Record, but more importantly, I want to help others. And this is my way of doing so,” he said.  Twitter and Facebook page profiles are also eligible to be included on Vaillancourt’s body and they will also be cross-listed on his campaign’s website, Back2thelight.com.  To meet the world record requirements, he must have completed the 100,000 tattoos by summer.

I’ll give him some credit, at least he’s not getting a gambling site’s address tattooed across his forehead.

Finally, in what is always a treat, we have an advice columnist giving advice on what to do if your potential lover has his penis pierced.

My roommate hooked up with a guy with a penis piercing last week, and she said it was weird on many different levels. Any experience with that? And if so, how did you like it?— Veronica, 26

I have not had any experience with that, and to be quite honest, I’m glad! I just don’t think I’d know what to do with it. (Then again, I’m not even sure if there’s anything to do . . .)  I just don’t see the appeal of having a metal something attached to your bits to feel good. I mean, what if you got it caught on something? With my luck, that would happen!  I’ve heard it supposedly feels best for the person with the piercing, but what about their partner? Aren’t they worried it might be a turn-off? It is to me! I give your friend a lot of credit, because I’d probably react poorly to seeing a piercing down there. The first thing I’d think about is whether he disinfects it and how often, which would certainly kill the mood.  I’d tell for anyone considering it . . . get a tattoo instead.

It’s a good thing the close-minded folk of the world have no problems sharing their opinions and “advice” with others.

Sadly the celebrity news round-up is also pretty light this week.

Scary Spice went out with her new husband to get a tattoo, although only he got one by the looks of it.  I wonder if she’s waiting before getting her next one, just in case she has another shot with Eddie Murphy, whose name she already has tattooed on herself.

Lastly, the hottest woman over 60 on the planet sat down to talk about playing a female Prospero, and about getting a tattoo when ”only Hell’s Angels and sailors were tattooed”.

And that’s it folks!  Have a great weekend, and remember to send in any links to news stories you come across.

Holy crap it’s December already.  Why didn’t anyone tell me?  With only a couple more weeks until the end of the year, there isn’t a lot of time left for any type of holiday shopping that might need to get done.  Not to mention getting travel plans finalized for the BME New Year’s Eve Party.

Thankfully the news is a little light this week so you’ll still have a few hours to get to the stores before they close.

The first story of the day is one of sadness.  Back on November 19th the Pike River coal mine in New Zealand was rocked by an explosion which resulted in the deaths of 29 miners.  One way that members of the community are handling their grief is through memorial tattoos.

West Coasters are paying a permanent tribute to victims of the Pike River mine disaster.  Greymouth tattooist Nick Reedy said he had done tattoos for about 20 people, marking the deaths of the 29 miners.  ”It’s something people naturally do in remembrance of others and have done for hundreds, if not thousands, of years,” he said.  ”With this latest tragedy … people are doing the same.”  Reedy said he had done some tattoos for free, while other customers had made a donation.  Designs had included mining tools and the yellow ribbon, which had become a symbol of solidarity with the miners and their families.

For the rest of this week’s news, keep on reading…

Last week I posted a story about a professor who was having a camera implanted into the back of his head.  At the time the procedure hadn’t been done, but this week we have video not only of the implant, but also parts of the procedure as well.

New York University photography professor Wafa Bilal had a titanium plate implanted about a week. It was done by someone who normally does body piercings. They used a local anesthetic. A small surveillance camera connects to the base magnetically.

I wasn’t able to find out who did the implant, or even if they want to be publicly acknowledged for the work or not.  It does look like they did a good job though, of course that will be determined on how it holds up with the weight of the camera over long periods of time.

Speaking of using implants in unconventional ways, it seems doctors have found a way to use a piercing that resembles a dermal anchor to assist people who have lost the ability to swallow.

Surgeon Peter Belafsky had been tinkering with ways to treat oropharyngeal dysphagia–a swallowing disorder that when severe can prevent people from being able to swallow at all–for years.  But it wasn’t until he took his two daughters to get their ears pierced–and noticed the woman behind the counter with piercings in her nose, eyebrow, and even cleavage–that he realized how to do it, and a device to manually open and close the esophagus was born.  Described as one of the world’s first medicinal body piercings, the experimental device works by pulling on a tiny metal pin extending out of the skin of the patient’s neck to move the larynx forward and open the esophagus.

“By attaching a tiny titanium rod to a postage stamp-sized plate that we’ve sewn into the neck cartilage, we’ve enabled our patient to safely and without pain pull on the device to move his larynx forward and open the esophagus to allow food and liquid to pass,” Belafsky says. “It’s the first time a person has been able to manually control the entryway to the esophagus.”

Looking closely at the implant you can see they’ve externally threaded the top so the gold colored cap will screw onto it.  It also looks like the cap has a loop on the top, which I’d assume is for a string to assist in pulling open the esophagus.

When it comes to charity drives, we’ve seen quite a few when it comes to tattoo/piercing drives.  This week we have one that is pretty much in line with all the others, and one that is taking things a step further.

Artists working at 281 Tattoo Studio in Edinburg, TX are hoping a toy drive will be able to help out a children’s charity.  Bring in a toy valued at over $25 and you’ll get a free tattoo.

Over in England, Fay Walker is trying something different when it comes to a tattoo charity drive.

“TATTOO Girl” Fay Walker has been inundated with donations after her plan to ink names on the soles of her feet was revealed.  The 27-year-old has been stopped in the street and was given £200 just hours after the Leader reported on her plans to permanently tattoo 50 names on to her size-three feet for charity.

There are still places up for grab on the soles of Faye’s ticklish feet and she is hoping for more bids – as long as they are not rude words.  She said: “I have decided I am going to wait until after Christmas to have the tattoos done and let people get it out of the way and I’m going to have it done in mid-January.  “I have already sold a foot’s worth, 25 names.”

There are still spots up for sale, and Fay’s contact information is posted in the article if you want to have her get your name (or something else) tattooed on her feet.

I normally only cut+paste a small portion of an article just to you the highlights, but this article from December 3rd, 1899 is just too good to trim down.

The present rage among Eastern girls is to have their arms tattooed. A girl at Newport last summer appeared on the bathing beach with bare arms, of course, and on the dimpled flesh was a dainty tattooed design. Since then scores have followed her example.

The girls say when in evening dress they can wear long gloves, and even if the glove is removed a pretty tattooed mark is rather an addition than otherwise. A dainty blue anchor, a shamrock leaf, a heart or arrow, or even a copy of one’s pet dog is a favorite design.

The Hindu used to be the master hand at tattoo work, but his methods were rather harsh. He jabbed the needle in a quarter of an inch with no compunction, and after five minutes most people had to give up and rest. At present in New York there are several girls who make a good living tattooing. They sponge the spot on the arm with cocaine and then, when all feeling has departed, they rapidly use the little needle, and the patient does not suffer in the least.

At present the shamrock done in green is the favorite design, but the American flag is also a popular mark.

Over 100 years later, and I’m still coming across stories written almost exactly like this.

A good example, this article talking about the latest trend:  stretching your earlobes.  Since it’s Friday and almost the end of the work day, why don’t you grab a drink before reading this article.  Then, take a sip every time the author uses the term “gauge” in place of “stretch”.   (Warning: If you’re drinking alcohol you may end up drunk by the end of it)  Here’s a small sample.

People stretch their earlobes for a variety of reasons, Burnidge said. Some like the aesthetics of gauges and the ability for self-expression, while others like the primitive look of them.Western junior Canaan Folk-Reinke has been gauging her earlobes since she was a sophomore in high school. She currently wears 00g, or 10 millimeter gauges.

My apologies if you get alcohol poisoning.

When it comes to discussing the risks involved in getting a tattoo, most articles focus on cross-contamination and unsterilized equipment.  What is often neglected is the risks inherent in some types of inks.  The interesting part of this story is that it is coming from a vegetarian news site, which focuses on the fact that some tattoo inks are not vegan friendly.

Black pigments, derived from kerosene soot and burned animal bones, are considered to pose minimal health risks…that isif you don’t mind walking around with charred critter remains under your skin for an indefinite period of time. While you can even try your hand at making your own DIY black pigment using India ink from an art store, be forewarned that while many modern versions are made with burned wood and/or resin, some are still made with bones…so read the label.

Now I’m not saying that all inks are bad, so don’t shoot me if you think the writer of the article is in the wrong about any of their claims.

Finally, it’s time for the celebrity round-up.  This week there is actually a somewhat interesting story buried within the madness that is celebrity news.

British singer Kerry Katona has opened up in an interview as to why she got her children’s names tattooed on her wrists.  It seems that she’s continually struggled with self-harm and cutting problems so she got the tattoos to remind herself that she has to take care of her children.

Of course with every thoughtful story about a celebrity, there are 100 ones about useless crap.

While Kerry’s wrist tattoo is a coping mechanism to help with her issues, The Jersey Shore “star” Angelina’s wrist tattoo is because she felt that the editing on the show made her look bad.  I’ve seen Jersey Shore.  If the editing was intended to make her look bad, then why wasn’t there any editing to make the others look good?

While I’ll admit to having seen Jersey Shore, I can honestly say I’ve never heard of this next person before in my entire life.  Supposedly there’s a show called Teen Mom, and one of the moms on the show recently had her kid taken away by child services.  She has since gotten her child back, but not before getting a portrait of her daughter on her stomach.

Fans of Inception will likely recognize Tom Hardy from his role in the film.  Do yourself a favor and check out Bronson, Hardy is brilliant in it.  Hardy himself is no stranger to getting tattooed and this week he went out while on the set of his latest film and got himself a new one.

The 33-year-old actor recently added a Union Jack tattoo on his upper left chest when he popped into the shop, one of his favorite local hangouts while he’s been filming This Means War.

In the final story of the day, while it isn’t really celebrity news, thefrisky.com has put together a collection of the ten best Golden Girls tattoos.  I’d have to say #6 and #9 are my favorites.

And thus concludes our broadcasting day here at ModBlog.  Remember to send in any links you find to news stories from around the world.

Have a great weekend everyone, and good luck getting everything on your shopping lists.