Thanks to IAM:dragon for these suspension photos. Most suspension goes on in an urban environment, so I really like seeing these outdoor suspensions in really natural environments. Perhaps it’s my own prejudices speaking having grown up in the country, but I feel like the sense of peace that’s inherent in places that look like this must positively affect the suspension.
Tag Archives: suspension
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“Amigos Elevam Amigos”
Assorted short suspension videos
Here are six short suspension video clips of varying quality shot by people around the world. If you’re in the video, drop a comment in the attached forum if you want with the story!
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PS. If you have video clips you’d like me to post here, just email them to me at [email protected] and let me know that they’re for posting on ModBlog.
BME Travel Files
One of the coolest things about running BME is getting to meet people from all over the world… and one of the amazing things has been seeing how even though we come from different cultures and histories and speak different languages, we respond to body modification, body art, and body rituals in the same way, and it becomes a really obvious example of humans being the same all over the world.
Today let’s start with a photo via the West Coast of Canada where I’m originally from:
Next we’ll shoot over to Star Studio in Bali. These photos are of MrJaxon, Albar, the boss, the tattooist, and a mystery person… There’s more on his page if you’re interested.
Staying in Asai, we’ll move up to Qingdao, China. I’d be surprised if this is entirely legal there?
How about something closer to home like the shores of France?
Or maybe you prefer Brasil?
Speaking of travel, apparently Pingy travels by RyanAir, and has previously been to Pottstown, PA.
Becky on the other hand isn’t going anywhere:
Need your 15 minutes of fame?
I’ve gotten a number of media requests lately, so I’m posting them all here. If I hear back that they’re filled, I’ll update this entry, although I don’t always hear back so if more than a week or two has passed, there’s probably no point in writing these folks. Oh, and if you write them, tell them that Shannon from BME told you about it.
From: Sunny Foscue
Subject: Fear FactorI am a Casting Director with NBC's "Fear Factor" and was wondering if youknew anyone for our upcoming "Freaks vs. Geeks" episode. The "Revenge of theTattooed Nerds" article was great, and I would love to get some of thosepeople on the show.
We are looking for guy/girl "Nerd" Teams to compete against "Freak Teams". Iwould love to talk to you more about the show if you are interested inhelping me out. ... Anyone that you have I would love to interview. Theycan just send me their info along with a picture to my email and we will getthem set up. We are looking for super freaks!
Thanks,
Sunny Foscue
[email protected]
Twwly mentions she’s looking for a few guys to hook up with her enticing friends for this show as well. Here’s another one. It’s definitely a fun little gig, I can’t give you more details publicly but if you’re in the NYC area, drop them a line. This is for filming tomorrow night.
From: [email protected]
Subject: TV Show looking for one pierced personMajor cable network TV show is looking for a heavily pierced person (maleor female) who appears 18 to 22 for a new show taping in midtown NYC.
Individual must be available for the show taping on the evening ofWednesday, September 28. If this is you, please email a photo and contactinfo to: [email protected]
Participants will be compensated
Here’s an interesting project for a suspension group or suscon organizer…
From: Jamie Friddle
Subject: Other AmericansI am researching eccentric communities and events in America for a pictorial essay titled Other Americans: underground . overground . off the grid. I am the team writer. We are in the middle of assembling a prototype for the book, as well as a proposal. You can read more about the project on our web site: www.otheramericans.com.
I am writing you because I'm interested in profiling one of the suspension/ritual cons. We think the body modification community is unique and, though not solely American, it is worth investigating for inclusion in our book. The final project will have 12-15 groups ranging from "way of life" subcultures to extreme sports.
Can you recommend a couple of suscons that occur annually? One of the subtexts of the book is that while old-school forms of community are slowly disintegrating, other forms of community, largely based on passions, are emerging.
Best,
Jamie Friddle, Writer
[email protected]
Other Americans
www.otheramericans.com
And one last one:
From: [email protected]
Subject: NYTimes writer looking for college students who got tat soon after getting to school and really freaked their parents out at Thanksgiving
Hey. I’m a NYTimes reporter writing a story on the conflict that tends to ensue between parents and “children” at freshman Thanksgiving break. For what it’s worth, I’ve got three tats and I used to have a naval piercing until my kid was born a few years ago. I remember all too vividly the shit that happened when I came home with my first tattoo — a black dahlia on my shoulder — at 18. I figure some current students have got to have some Thanksgiving horror stories.
Thanks
N
Good luck, and if you end up doing one of these projects, drop me a line!
Not an official recommendation!
New Circus Mundus Absurdus trailer
Just got a message from Lassi that his Circus Mundus Absurdus just released a new promotional trailer. Lassi is a brilliant performer and is also featured in my movie Uvatiarru.
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On Ropes
Abunch of people attached to hooks. Cutegirls dangling upside down bytheir knees. Handsome photographersabounding. It looks cool, but is it a big deal?
Well, creating a suspension setting takes hard work; it’s a project.Accidents can happen even with the most experienced crews.
Two seasoned professionals wound up falling recently. Allen Falkner brokea six-gauge hook in Oslo, Norway (video here).
I asked him why, in his opinion, the hook broke.
That's a very good question and I'mstill not 100% positive. We have tested sea demon hooks and they seemto fail around 250 lbs per hook. With 2 hooks in my back, they shouldhave held my weight. The only thing I can think is that on the finalswing, the loading must have shifted and all the pressure was put onthe one hook. That and/or the hook itself was not as strong as theothers we have tested. From now on I'm just going to have tohang from Oliver's new locking hook design.
Meanwhile, half a world away in southern California, Ron Garza (iam:Sicklove) was suspendingJay (iam:NJWhiteTrash)and decided to hang from him. They thought they had purchased 550 rope,but they had instead gotten a rope with a 350 pound limit. They two ofthem together weighed 359 pounds. As Ron put weight on Jay, the ropesnapped. They did both survive, but Ron’s back bore the brunt of theweight of both of them in the fall.. Ron and Cere (iam:Cere) from Rites of Passage both sentme the following on rope strength:
There are plentyof alternatives. None are quite as cheap, but it's more in how you useit than what it actually costs per foot. I thought I had beat thishorse a few months ago, but here you go again: "550" is abreaking strength it's not a work load limit. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THEDIFFERENCE. When you hang from a parachute you have as many as 20 or 30lines close to evenly distributing the weight of the person. Using oneline that's got knots in it and taking turns around solid metal objectsand then hanging a person from it is just flat irresponsible. (yeah, Iuse the stuff, but not in anything resembling critical applications. IfI can't touch the ground, I'm not hanging from that stuff.) Every pieceof equipment rated to lift people has a breaking strength at least 5times the WILL and in most cases it's 10 times.
Now a lesson inphysics. when you swing several things happen. You create forces muchhigher than your actual weight. When you consider shock loading, youmay be introducing forces to the lines that are as much as five timesyour actual weight. So you have a line that should be rated at aconservative 55lbs and is being introduced to forces on the level ofhalf a ton and you guys wonder why it snaps? Like I said before, theonly single strand applications I have for the stuff are as improvisedshoelaces and for wrapping around knife handles.
There are awhole host of cords that would be much safer to hang people from.Collectively known as "tech" ropes and sold under the brand names ofspectra, technora, dyneema, and kevlar they almost all have breakingstrengths 4 times higher than 550 in the same 1/8 inch size and some asmuch as 8 times stronger. Depending on the construction some havealmost no stretch and others are more dynamic than 550 which stretches20% before it lets go. (Compared to dacron/polyester and I thinktechnora which stretch less than two percent before they let go.) Nothe best alternatives aren't cheap, but neither are hospital bills.
- Oliver Gilson (iam:Antagonist)
It does look cool…
BE (UK suspension team) has been playing with a new ultra-simple “hook/rig” design, with Wormy modeling it below. It looks super cool, but my take on it is that if you had any amount of motion (swinging around for example), it could shift out of place or perhaps even catastrophically slide entirely out as more weight is on one side than the other?
I suppose some kind of safety knobs could be put in place on each side of the flesh penetration, but at that point you’d lose the visual simplicity. Seeing this picture has me thinking about a photoshoot in which the suspendee is “skewered” on rebar sticking horizontally out of a concrete wall… Someone please shoot it, I need that poster!
Extreme Knitting
It’s always interesting to me what people choose to do while suspended (assuming they don’t just swing around or “do nothing” and zone out). I’ve seen a lot of people take out their cell phone and call friends, but many people choose to integrate things from their life — sing Opera, wear a beautiful dress, eat a great meal (seriously), play the saxaphone, and so on… Well, at the latest House of Wah suspensions in London (UK), IAM:namesofthedead tried extreme knitting:
Photos by Joker