Well, June is just around the corner but there’s just enough time for one last news post before the end of May.  I want to start by giving a big thank you to this week’s news submitters:  ArtieKGB, Botexty, piratevicious, and nexizydrate.  The more stories people submit in, the better a job I can do to bring these stories to our Modblog readers.

With last week being a banner week for negative stories in the news, I thought it would be good to take a week and focus on some of the less violent stories that made the news.

To start, we have a marine stationed in Afghanistan who decided to get a tattoo of “the hottest cougar in the Republican party“.

“On the way back, I decided I wanted to get a tattoo that reminded me of Alaska, because we really had a good time,” said Lepping, currently attached to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. “I decided, ‘What could be better than getting a tattoo of the hottest cougar in the Republican Party?’”

Tigers, taxes, tattoos and Texas are all still ahead, so keep reading!

I want to you think back to the last time you were in a tattoo studio.  Think of the decor, how did the studio look?  Were there pictures of flash on the wall?  Maybe paintings by the artists.  Possibly trophies on a shelf from conventions long past.  What about the four full grown tigers in cages?  No?  Well if you had visited a studio in Gary, Indiana recently you may have had the chance.

“Federal agents seized four tigers from a tattoo artist who kept the animals in pens at his business, saying the big cats were being mistreated.  Last month, though, inspectors said one tiger’s perimeter fence was in disrepair and three tigers were in poor health.  ‘One is excessively thin with hip bones showing,’ inspectors wrote. ‘The three tigers housed indoors all have hair loss and areas of irritation.’”

Now I don’t know if the tigers were being used as some form of business display, or whether the guy keeping them just wanted them close by, but what I do know is that he probably won’t be doing any PETA tattoos in the near future.

If those tigers were being used as some form of promotion, I wonder what the artist will do now that his source of advertising has been taken away.  If he is anything like Tasha Nilsen, the owner of Independent Tattoo in Ocean City, Maryland, a little thing like that won’t be a problem.

“The employees at the shop were discouraged when Ocean City refused to run their ad – featuring the company’s name and phone number, a pink flower and stylized swirls – because officials said they did not feel a tattoo shop was the right kind of company to promote in a family resort.  The Selbyville tattoo business has turned the ad they wished to run on the bus into large magnets that employees and supporters have stuck to their cars.”

So while the city buses might not have the ad, more and more people are getting the magnets and driving around.  In the end, I think not getting the bus ad may have helped them more.

This week was big week in Modblog news for Texas.  First, the government of Texas is looking to impose a sales tax on tattoo work done in-state.  While the story focuses on other aspects of the proposed changes, Texas Modblog readers may want to make their bookings for appointments soon if they want to get in before the new taxes take effect.  While the tax rules are being looked at, over in Arlington a mother of three was denied entry to Six Flags because her tattoos violated the park’s dress code.

“Samantha Osborn, a Texas girl through-and-through, has two six-shooters surrounded by yellow roses tattooed on her chest.  ‘We tried to enter, one employee grabbed me and said my chest tattoo was offensive and that I may not be allowed into the park,’ Osborn said.  ‘I was flabbergasted.’  ‘She said it was as offensive as a swastika and that she would sell me a $5 shirt to cover myself up and that they didn’t let people with swastikas into Six Flags, and that my tattoo condoned violence’.

They eventually were able to get into the park through a different entrance and Six Flags did e-mail them an apology, but with summer here we can probably expect to hear more stories like this as self-righteous theme park attendants try to impose their thoughts on modified people.

An interesting followup to this story is that several days later a professional body piercer went to the park, and with the assistance of the staff, set the Guinness record for the most hugs given out in one day.  I wonder if his modifications would have been considered as offensive as a swastika if he had tried to enter the park on a different day?

Now I normally end the week’s recap with a couple of fluff pieces about celebrities.  This week I thought I’d change things up and look at some stories that made it to the mainstream news this week about modified people and the positive things their modifications have brought about in their lives.

First we have Julia Gnuse, who many people know as the Guinness record holder for “Most Tattooed Woman”.  What many people don’t know about her is that she originally started getting tattooed because of a rare skin condition.

“The Californian woman started tattooing her legs after developing porphyria, a condition which causes her skin to blister when exposed to the sun.  The tattoos do not prevent her skin from blistering but they do prevent the scarring caused by the blisters from becoming visible.”

So when she was presented with the option to take medication that may leave her blind, or start getting ink, she opted for the colourful option. (Yes, like Jen, I too am Canadian).

This article from India poses some interesting questions with regards to both the younger generation getting tattooed with religious symbols, as well as the traditional ritual tattoos done by some of the remote cultures in the country.

An Oakland Tribune columnist got in hot water earlier in the month when he described tattoos as making a person look like a freak.  Well it turns out the photo attached to his editorial was of a husband tattooing the image of his daughter onto his wife’s back.  Sure enough, the couple wasn’t pleased with becoming his poster children for “tattooed freaks”.

When Tanya saw the column and photo, she broke down in tears, then e-mailed me, pointing out that ‘what’s on my skin does not make me a freak.’ ‘I try to do the right thing every day, to promote positives,’ said Tanya, 34. ‘I’m a mom, a wife, and a nurse at Nightingale Nursing, which sends me out to people’s homes, mostly elders, to take care of them.’

While they made not have changed the mind of the columnist, they did make enough of an impact for him to write out a second piece showing that just because someone is tattooed, it doesn’t make the a freak.

So that’s it for this week.  On a personal note, I’ll be leaving this week for a summer road trip across the US and Canada.  So while the news may not be up on the same day each week, it will get posted.  I’ll be visiting lots of BME folks, so I’m sure I’ll come across some great local stories to share while I’m on the road.

And remember, June is National LBGT Pride Month in the US, so I expect the next four weeks to be fabulous!

Tattoo violence, dreams possibly ruined, a wedding proposal, and a modded Playstation.  That’s what we have lined up in today’s “Better late than never” weekly news update.  I’ll admit the long weekend (Canada’s Victoria Day) got the better of me, but thanks to you, the Modblog readers, the stories are still coming in.

Let’s start off with the story that I’m sure everyone has heard of by now.  Four New Hampshire men have allegedly tattooed “Poop Dick” on the ass of a 14 year old boy.  Now I’m calling these guys “men” as they’re all over 18, but you need to keep in mind they all (save one) attend high school with the victim.

“Police say the classmates told the victim they’d stop picking on him if he let them tattoo the image on his rear end. Three of the suspects allegedly tattooed him with their own needles.  The charges include assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and indecent exposure. If convicted, the four suspects are looking at sentences ranging from three to 13 years.”

I think my favorite part of this story is the mother of one of the accused who claims “They told me about it. They were joking about it. They thought it was something funny. And I believe there wasn’t any animosity or hatred.”  In all honesty, I believe her.  I’m not at all saying what the kids did was right, but I’m fairly certain these guys did it for fun.  Gone are the days of a wedgie or a dumpster toss, as every generation seems to feel the need to one-up the prior generation.  Just think, it was only a few years ago the Star Wars kid was embarrassed publicly by his peers for fun.  I’m a little scared to think what’s going to be the at the extreme end of the scale in another 10 years.  (Thanks to BME member brie_co for sending this in).

More news after the break, and I promise it won’t be all bad!

Ok, so I promised it wouldn’t be all bad, but there were still a few other incidences of modification related violence this week.

In Huntington, WV a man was charged with forcibly tattooing a woman.  This pillar of society thought it would be a good idea to tattoo “King Shannon” (his name) into the back of a woman.  I use the term ‘into’ as he first carved the letters, and then rubbed ink into the wound.

Not limiting this week’s violence to North America, a father in South Africa has been charged with killing his daughter for getting a tongue piercing.

“Sphiwe Morgan Dlangisa, 38, is reported to have seen the stud on his 16-year-old daughter’s tongue the day before, he is said to have become very angry and beat her in front of her siblings.   The court heard that in the early hours of November the 1st, Dlangisa allegedly tied Nkululeko to an electric pole outside the house and electrocuted her.”

I think we have an early contender for the “Worst Father of the Year” award.  It would have already gone to the guy who tattooed that infant’s rear, but he was only the babysitter.  I’m guessing just taking the stud out would have been too much trouble.

I spoke last week about Scottish police officers not being allowed to have any visible tattoos.  This week a young man who had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force faced similar problems.  After enlisting, passing a medical check (where his tattoo was examined), and being sworn in, Marvin Goodman was turned away when he reported for basic training.

“The pictures were sent to the recruiter’s superior officer and on Tuesday, Goodman got word that his tattoo was too big.  The Air Force forbids tattoos that exceed 25 percent of an exposed body part.  Goodman’s tattoo runs from his elbow to his wrist.  The Air Force says it made a mistake. Goodman says that mistake destroyed his future plans.”

The upside to this story is while the USAF reviews Marvin’s case, the Army has stepped up and let him know that he’s welcome there, tattoo and all.  I do have a question for our modified troops (both current and former):  Did your modifications cause you any trouble while you served, or were you fortunate enough not to have the difficulties that Marvin is facing?

Speaking of regulations, were you aware that three Canadian provinces have zero regulations when it comes to tattoos?  It seems the Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick (home to BME rockstar Jen) don’t actually have any rules in place to keep studios in check.  This past weekend the Maritime Tattoo Festival hoped to bring awareness to this problem.

“Amber Thorpe, who started the festival, is originally from Alberta, where tattoo parlours are regulated and inspected by the government.   She said a key goal of the festival is to spread a message of cleanliness to fellow tattoo artists.  To be part of the Halifax show, artists are required to get certification through a private company that teaches tattoo and piercing cleanliness to the industry in an eight-hour seminar followed by an exam.”

Hopefully with the media coverage there will be enough public interest to have the provincial governments step up and put some rules in place.  As it stands now, all you need to do to open a studio is have working plumbing and a fire extinguisher.

South of the border, things are much different in Texas.  In Fort Worth the Bobby Jones Tattoo Studio has been shut down by the state for a number of violations.

“An investigator had reported finding that the sterilization process for equipment amounted to placing it in what appeared to be a food pressure cooker, according to his report. “

I wonder if there’s a crock pot recipe for blood borne pathogens?  Steamed needles in a hepatitis sauce sound good to you?

Here at Modblog we see countless images of creative ideas on a daily basis.  I think this image is my favorite for the day..

What you are looking at is a modified Playstation console, jury rigged to become a prison tattoo machine.  BME Member nexizydrate sent in the link to this story, where a prisoner in a UK immigration facility created the device.  According to the article “guards in US jails have found tattoo guns made from Nintendo consoles”.  I guess this means the US is now behind in the next gen console race.  Although it would be interesting to get a Mario tattoo done by a NES machine.

Something we’ve all heard about is wedding proposals.  Stories of grooms-to-be concocting elaborate schemes to pop the question to their significant others.  One story more outlandish than the last, as if it is some big competition to be able to have the Best. Proposal. Ever.  Well Joe Wittenberg of San Diego, you’re officially in the running.

“When it came time to ask the woman he loves, Rachel Streeter, to marry him, he put the machine to his own skin.  “I made a stencil and just followed it along,” says Wittenberg.”

From all us single modified guys out there Joe, I just want to say “screw you!”  How the hell are we supposed to top that?

For this week’s entertainment news we first turn to former Xena star Lucy Lawless.  It seems that while she loves her fans, she’s not too keen on them getting her autograph tattooed on their bodies.

In possibly my favorite story of the week, it seems the conspiracy nuts are going gaga over Gaga.

“There are rumours that the Illuminati cult which the author believes Lady Gaga to be a part of has among its members the political bigwigs like Barack Obama and members of the Bush family”

You can’t make this stuff up.  It’s fantastic.

Oh, and I have no idea what the hell a Justin Bieber is, but supposedly it got a tattoo done in Toronto.

So that’s a wrap for this week.  Remember it is hurricane preparedness week, so check your bunkers and watch out for cows.

Oh, and as always, if you see something in the news, send it my way.

It’s time again for the Modblog weekly news roundup.  Before we started I just wanted to thank those who have been submitting news stories.  While I can normally get a good chunk of the national and international stories, I’m always on the lookout for local stories.  So if something mod-related is going on in your neck of the woods, feel free to send it in.

To start things off this week, we’ve finally reached the end of a story we’ve probably all heard about by now.  Lee Dietrick was finally awarded his “Babysitter of the Year” award.  His prize?  Three years in prison.

“Deitrick tattooed the outline of the letter ‘A’ on the child’s buttock. The mark covers about one-half inch.  Deitrick pleaded guilty in Stark County Common Pleas Court to two felony child endangering charges as part of a plea deal with county prosecutors.

Ideally this will be the last we hear about this guy, but who knows, in three years he may still be just as stupid.

To save some space on the main page, you’ll find the rest of the news after the break.

Continuing on with tattoos and law enforcement, the long arm of the law in Scotland is about to get a lot less colorful.  It seems that while visible tattoos have been acceptable for a while on officers, as of now, that is no longer the case.

“Although ‘body’ art is acceptable for footballers and pop stars, police chiefs have ordered officers to hide their tattoos under full-length sleeves after reports of crime victims being alarmed by ‘thuggish-looking cops.’ … ‘they would also no longer recruit anyone with markings on their face or neck.’”

While I’m certain rules like this exist all over, this is the first case I’ve heard of where the officers were previously allowed to have visible ink, and subsequently losing the privilege.  So for all our Scottish Modblog readers, if you were ever planning on joining the police force, make sure you don’t have anything visible.

On the plus side, if you do end up losing your job as a Scottish police officer, you can take a trip down to Weston-super-Mare outside of Bristol where a cosmetic surgeon is giving out free tattoo removal to out of work Westonians.

“Barry Crake wants to give treatment at his clinic in Sunderland to people whose job hunt is being thwarted by unsightly ink designs.  Barry has carried out the 10-minute procedure on 57 unemployed people so far, nine of whom have found work post-treatment.”

Now I know tattoo removal isn’t for everyone, but it is nice to know there are people out there willing to help those in need.

So while Barry is in the business of removing tattoos, Ian Watson is in the business of giving them out.  Now I know that you’re thinking, “Rob, why the hell are you about to give us a story about some random tattoo artist”, the answer is simple.  He isn’t actually a tattoo artist.  Ian runs a company called HIS Hair Loss Clinic, which specializes in using tattoos to “cure” baldness.

“HIS has created a new cure for male baldness with a scalp pigmentation technique that fills in fellas’ sparse spots with tattoos that look like locks.  Men have their heads inked in the same shading style used at tattoo parlors, providing a permanent fix that beats all other methods of hiding bald spots.”

I’m thankfully a few years away from needing this, but I’m going to guess there are probably a few guys out there contemplating it.  It’s about time us guys got our own cosmetic tattoos, it’s no fair the girls got to have their eye and lip liners and we had nothing.

Now here’s a story that actually makes me mad.  Now I know Modblog writer Lexci is going to get mad at me for talking about this, but my family breeds dogs.  Part of a standard practice with registered litters is that the dogs are tattooed in their inner thigh as a means of identification.  Keeping that in mind, it seems the news just loves to blame the evils of the world on tattoos:

“The pit bull-type dog, which was tattooed on its inner thigh, was found unleashed, posing a serious risk to the public.”

Yep, you read that right.  The headline of the story itself even focuses on the tattoo, and not the dog (or the owners who made it violent).  The dog is tattooed, which makes it bad.  Sigh.

By now all the hangovers from APP should have cleared up, so I wanted to share with the piercing community this lovely story about “gauging”.  Yes, you read that right.  The article talks about “gauging”.

“One day when he was 19 years old, Colby Jennings stabbed his ear lobe with an ice pick.  That was the moment Jennings started gauging his ears. Gauging, also called stretching by some, is similar to a regular piercing, but the hole is made dramatically larger over time with rounded objects placed through the ear lobe.”

For all the good work that professional piercers do, along come stories like this.  All the education, training, information that is out there, and these kids go to Youtube to find out how to pierce.  Then, when things eventually go wrong, they run right for the doctors, which leads to sensationalized stories about kids getting their information off of Youtube, and the cycle continues.

Personally what upsets me most is studios like LA Body Art in Mobile, AB that has almost 1000 videos on Youtube all of which show some type of cross contamination, or horrible practice.  I spent some time looking through their videos this week and I watched people being pierced with no clean up between clients, bare-handed wiping of tattoos, and piercings done so quick the piercer didn’t even bother to look at the site, just clamp and stab.  So not only are kids looking at Youtube videos of other kids doing unsafe things, but there’s a “professional” filming her work to show how she thinks it should be done.  (A warning if you click the link, most of the videos have really loud music so turn your speakers down first).

Going through the links this week I stumbled across a couple of really interesting stories about traditional body modifications.  First up is a story about Tricia Allen and her new book about Polynesian tattoo history and art.  Now the second story isn’t as much a story as it is a collection of excellent images from India showing a procession in praise of the goddess Maha Mariamman (Sheetla Mata).  There is a separate article here that describes the rituals that take place during the procession.  Finally researchers in the middle east have found a connection between henna tattoos and an increased chance to contract leukemia.

As always, we wrap things up with the latest news/gossip out of Hollywood.  It appears that this year’s tattoo trend (at least according to this article) is typographical tattoos.  So ladies and gents, the “tattoo experts” agree that if you want to be trendy, it’s best to go out and get some form of script work.  Now if you did have the stomach to click the link, you may have noticed Amanda Seyfried’s new tattoo.  It turns out the Mean Girls actress has tattooed “Minge” on her foot.  She explains why in this story (with video goodness).

So that’s it for this week.  Thanks again to Botexty for submitting one of the stories this week, and I’m looking forward to reading what everyone else sends in next week.  And a quick reminder that this Friday is Bike to Work Day, so dig your old ten-speed out of the garage and pedal your way into work.

Hi everyone, Rob here with this week’s round up of news from around the world.  This is my first entry as the new “news guy” so be gentle.

The first story of the week was sent in by Botexty.  Over in Sioux City, IA. Inkfliction Tattoo has thrown their support behind today’s “Mother’s Day Race for the Cure“.

“For the month of April, Inkfliction Tattoo is raising money for Susan G. Komen, by tattooing cancer ribbons for $25 and donating all of the proceeds.”

So far Scott and his team at Inkfliction have raised well over $1000 from the tattoos, as well as another $2500 from staff members participating in the race.  So if you happen to be passing through town in the near future, stop by and give these guys a pat on the back.  They deserve it.

It seems that getting tattooed for cancer isn’t just an American idea.  Over in the UK, a company is rallying together to raise money for cancer by having it’s employees get tattooed with cancer ribbons.

“ID Customs Tattoo Studios, owned by Derek Young and Jeff Grimet, came up with the idea after a few people wanted tattoos of the cancer ribbon.

Derek said: ‘Everybody has been touched by cancer at some point whether it was themselves or a member of their family so we thought that this was a good way to do something.’

‘Members of my family have been doing the Race for Life and I thought that this would be something nice to do.’”

So not only are both these shops raising money for a great cause, but they’re also showing people that tattoos aren’t just for sailors, hookers, and fetish models who sleep with the husband of a famous actress.

Speaking of Michelle McGee, according to this article, she’s breaking the “rules” of female tattoos.   I’ll let the author explain…

“My first concern about tattoos is whether or not they look feminine. I think ladies should opt for tattoos that mean something to them but tattoos should be done with femininity in mind. Don’t take suggestions from Michelle “Bombshell” McGee, because she looks like a prison inmate, especially with the odd tattoo she has written on her forehead. That’s just weird.”

So there you have it ladies.  If your tattoos aren’t “feminine” then you look like a prison inmate.

So while prison tattoos on women may be out of fashion, there are still some who think the look can work for them.  With Iron Man 2 debuting this weekend (go see it, and stay after the credits), MTV sat down with Mickey Rourke to talk about his role in the film.

“Rourke had in mind the villains from old Sergio Leone Westerns played by the likes of Eli Wallach or Henry Fonda. He also wanted Vanko to have a mouthful of metallic dental work, a body covered in tattoos and a white cockatoo of whom he is quite fond.”

Rourke also credits director Jon Favreau, for backing his decision, and pushing the studio to let it in the film.  And while the tattoos aren’t given as much focus as they are in other films (see: Eastern Promises), they definitely do help define the character.

Now not all news is good news.  This recent Huffington Post article taps right into the fear mongering side of people who have no knowledge of the modification industry.

“70 percent of people with tongue piercings report complications, ranging from local infections, eroded gums, chipped teeth, and more serious systemic infections including hepatitis B and C.”

This 70 percent also includes a woman in Connecticut who removed her tongue stud 2 days after getting it done, and subsequently developed a severe brain infection.  Unsurprisingly the author writes an entire article on all piercings without mentioning safe practices, or aftercare.  Going through my list of links to post for the week, I came across quite a few of these stories.  While I won’t be posting them all, it seems that as far as the industry has come along in terms of codes of conduct, there are still studios out there willing to make a quick buck regardless of safety.

Back on the international front, the BME world tour gang can look forward to some company while in New Zealand in the form of shrunken heads.

“French lawmakers decided Tuesday to return 16 tattooed and mummified Maori heads to New Zealand, ending years of debate on what to do with the human remains acquired long ago by French museums seeking exotic curiosities.”

Although there is still some legal red tape to go through, it looks like these heads are going to be returned.  Although, museums world-wide are now a little nervous due to the number of mummies floating around.

Over to Bollywood, actress Bipasha Basu has caused quite a stir:

“Sources reveal that Bipasha has right now put on small diamond studs in her new piercing, but later, as the pain lessens, she will go for diamond earings. The sexy siren has been a real trendsetter of sorts, and for all one knows, multiple piercing is soon going to be the order of the day, in the fashion circuit.”

While it’s safe to assume she isn’t the first person to have multiple ear piercings in India, by the sounds of the article I’m assuming that it isn’t something you see in celebrities.  Hopefully some of our readers can enlighten me further.
Finally to wrap the week up, a couple of stories involving tattoos that the owners will probably end up regretting.

Avril Lavigne and her boyfriend, after a night of drinking, decided to get another set of matching tattoos.

And a Manchester City football fan got a little too eager with his support for his team.

So that’s it for this week.  I just want to take a moment to recognize that today is mother’s day, so pick up the phone and call your mom or a mom you know.  To all the modified mommies that visit modblog, I wish you a very happy mother’s day.

If you come across something you think is newsworthy, feel free to submit a link.