Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.
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I am in deep, deep trouble if my piggy-back-ride-loving daughter walks into the room as I’m posting and sees this picture. As if it doesn’t already strain me enough lugging around a squirming 80 pound kid without having to also deal with flesh hooks as well. Of course, they do things a little differently down in Brazil, as Diabos Mutantes shows.
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Perhaps you have always wondered how burly masculine fellows can stomach getting an off-centre upper lip labret piercing, since all their proper names are girlie — “Monroe”, “Madonna”, or the largely archaic “Chrome Crawford”. Adam Richins of Warlock’s Tattoo and Body Piercing in North Carolina solved that problem when he did these on Brad Smith, starting nice and big and strong at lucky 7mm, and dubbing them MANROES. Works for me. But Adam, what were you thinking giving him PINK jewelry!?!? All that manly progress put at risk!
PS. If you’re especially sharp-eyed, you can see Brad’s original off-centre lower labrets, which were also large gauge.
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Here is a joy kids growing up in the West these days with our bod-mod-saturated media will never be able to experience (or at least remember, since it happens to them when they are babies) — seeing tattoos for the very first time! Tracy’s good friend Christopher just joined the Peace Corps and is teaching math for the next two years in Namibia. The kids reacted with complete amazement not to his white skin and blond hair like we stereotypically hear in old Victorian explorer stories, but to his colourful fully tattooed sleeves, something that just doesn’t exist in most of rural Africa, so it was a real treat for them. Rachel and I were in Windhoek, Namibia almost ten years ago, but since we never went into the rural areas other than to go on a (quite wonderful, but very touristy) safari, mostly we were being glared at by snooty wanna-be-aristocrat German expats. Christopher’s encounter is much more charming.
PS. If this entry gets you thinking, here’s a map of all the places you can go if you join the Peace Corps — peacecorps.gov/learn/wherepc/ — much better opportunities for international adventure than joining the Military War Corps, I would say, plus the odds of getting your limbs blown off are much lower, and you’ll be helping people, not killing and oppressing them. They’ll excitedly poke at your tattoos, rather than cowering in fear and shooting at you.
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Well, I know it’s barely even dark out, but I think today I’m going to call it an early night and go read and rest. I figure this suitably sleepy looking pictures of the remarkably black Stevie Banks of Exeter, Devon works very nicely for a day that’s featured some very interesting information on the possibilities of tattooing over black. Stevie’s extensive coverage and the tattooing over black meme of course both remind me of Lucky Diamond Rich, who was the first person I saw to experiment with this method. If you don’t remember him, be sure to click here for one of my first posts about him before you yourself call it a night.
Oh heck, if you’re feeling insomnia tonight, let me give you one more thing to amuse yourself with, this fascinating video called “Feeling Blue” (“Some People Are Born Freaks. Jim Hall Turned Himself Into One.”), about Jim “Bluecomma” Hall, a retired Baltimore civil servant who has tattooed himself with a full-body swirling mix of blue and black. Even though it sure does seem like it sucks most of the time, people like Jim remind me that the world is a wonderful place full of bright sparks of character that give it vibrant life.
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I am so jealous of Håvve Fjell and Wings of Desire for their amazing new suspension van, the ultimate guerrilla suspension vehicle. Those with keen memories may remember me planning on building something similar on top of my monster truck for bridge suspensions — just drive onto a bridge, swivel the arm over the side, and boom, you’re ready to go — back in the winter of 2003, but like so many of my projects, it never happened. Well, Håvve actually made it happen!!! So awesome. Here are some pictures of it being taken for a test flight, photos by Helene Fjell. Don’t forget to order their amazing new book of suspension photos, Learning To Fly — watch for details on how to get your copy at wingsofdesire.org.
That last photo is the view from inside the van by the way!
