Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.
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Hey, remember that really funny comedian who did that great bit about tattoos? Neither do we! A valiant effort, nonetheless, from Prescott Montgomery:
Sadly, based on the fact that this video was posted on Funny or Die, I can only surmise that Mr. Montgomery has shuffled off this mortal coil. That Will Ferrell is such a bastard. Godspeed, hero.
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Hey, folks. So, as some of you may have noticed over the weekend, we’ve got a new blog over on the main news page! If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s the BME News Blog (very catchy, unique name, we know — suggestions are welcome). Rather than focusing on the BME community (as ModBlog tends to), the News Blog will catch the stories in the rest of the media that affect and are related to body modification. It’s not unlike the old newsfeed, but in this format, we’ll be able to explore some of these stories more deeply when necessary, and hopefully keep you all in the loop with regard to stories you may have missed.
Soon, we’ll have a proper tip form set up again, but until then, feel free to send any news tips to [email protected], and check the News Blog! (Updated several times daily, god willing.)
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It seems strange, at first blush, to be ashamed of a disease, especially a hereditary condition to which you may be genetically predisposed. Sure, if you eat like crap or are a furious chain-smoker, there may be parts of your life on which to look back and regret (not to say a person should feel shame about the resulting illness, of course), but to harbor those sorts of feelings because of an affliction caused by little more than dumb luck? Seems a little harsh.
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| Photo credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times |
But consider the imposition rather than the disease itself — to have your life and livelihood restricted by a force out of your control, and to be inadvertently singled out among your peers as a result. So was the case for Joshua Sandoval, who was diagnosed with diabetes as a 12-year-old.
Says Sandoval:
Some kids pretend they don’t have diabetes, giving in to the temptation of sugar and refusing to exercise regularly or monitor their glucose levels. Some go to the other extreme, constantly checking glucose levels, exercising every day and openly discussing their disease.
I fell somewhere in the middle. I was obsessive when it came to checking glucose levels, and I stayed active in sports like baseball and basketball, but I was unwilling to discuss my illness.
His parents struggled to get him to embrace the imperfect part of himself, though, and, when he was 16, his mother gave him the idea of getting a tattoo as a way to own the disease and the rituals of a careful diet and daily injections that came along with it. Permanence in any respect can be daunting; it’s hard to fault someone for wavering when faced with the terms of a lifelong commitment, especially one that’s been decided for you. It’s not uncommon to see people get tattoos to commemorate challenging events — events some people would rather just forget — and Sandoval’s decision seems to follow that line of thinking: Combatting permanence with permanence, and turning a purveyor of shame into a source of pride.
Two weeks after the tattoo healed, I was in line at the post office when the pen tip crept out from a short-sleeved shirt. A woman standing in line with no visible artwork of her own asked to see the rest of the tattoo.
After she took a picture with her camera phone and commented about the detail in the feather, she asked about the tattoo’s significance.
For the first time in 10 years, my head didn’t slump between my shoulders.
A diabetic turns to the tattoo as medical I.D. [Los Angeles Times]
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In the least-reported story of the last five and a half years, apparently Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Out of wedlock! Good news, though: The young man who slipped one past the hockey mom’s kid’s goalie, Levi Johnson, is allegedly going to marry her, and totally made that decision all by himself and was not intimidated by the McCain campaign in the least. After all, if he weren’t entirely devoted, would he have done this?
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| Photo credit: Huffington Post |
Yes, that’s Levi’s hand, and yes, it’s Bristol’s name. Huh. Better than biting it off, I guess.
Levi Johnson’s Tattoo: “Bristol” On Ring Finger [Huffington Post]
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| Photo credit: Chinanews.com |
Look familiar? That’d be Alice, hanging in … a Lush window? Whaaa? Oh, it’s part of a demonstration to protest “the barbaric practise of shark finning, where fins are hacked off live sharks and they are thrown back in the ocean to die. As well as being a horribly cruel fishing practise, the killing of sharks on the huge scale that is happening at the moment is also threatening the entire fragile ecosystem of our oceans,” says Alice. Neat! It’s actually a co-protest that sees Lush teaming up with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Alice goes on to describe the scene:
I suspended in the window of Lush on London’s Regent Street dressed as a mermaid for 15 minutes, hanging from two debarbed shark hooks (which, interestingly enough, are the hooks the suspension community uses as standard), while members of Sea Shepherd and Lush staff members handed out flyers and talked to the press about the campaign. Later in the day, the Lush staff headed to Chinatown to protest about restaurants selling shark products.
Noble cause? Check. Innovative technique? Yep. Good press for the suspension community? Indeed! Surely the erudite and gifted denizens of the Internets would agree. Right?
“This is again the horrible idea that shocking people helps. It’s like thinking that a public display of the most terrible experiments on animals can increase people love for them. I think this is just sick. Love brings love, disgusting stuff can only bring horror and fuel maniacs.”
“Horrible display of a female, when I saw the photo I said to me, somebody is sick.”
“Sad when our world has to resort to such tactics in order to draw attention to something. Every person has his/her own motive for doing the things they do. What’s happening to this world? Is it Money? Attention? Care-less hearts? Calloused hearts? I wonder if anyone walked away thinking about the sharks or applause for a masochistic girl? … Sad.”
Ohh … right.
Shark’s Fin Scoop [CNN]
