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.