From Malaysia, courtesy of El Tio Pincho.
Tag: News
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Germany ups the fight on Body Mod
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As you may know, even linking to BME in Germany is illegal, and the German government has already successfully taken legal action againt Google there to have BME removed from the German version of their search engine. I recently received this letter from a friend in Germany:
Bad news for Bodymod Freaks here in Germany. The government decided to redesign our health system. As a part of these changes so called “risk groups” like extreme sports fans or bodymod addicts have to pay any medical treatment they need by themselves, given the trouble is caused by these activities. No [standard] health insurance will cover any kind of problem you could have after a body piercing or a tattoo, not to speak about heavier mods.
So if you should be so unlucky to need very expensive treatment, a surgery maybe, because something went wrong when you got something pierced, you will have to pay thousands of euros (1 Euro is about 1.20 US Dollars) by yourself. If you can’t pay it you’ve got a serious problem. Because no Doctor will help you then.
And they talk about human rights. Yeah. But only rich people are humans to them. Be grateful you don’t live in a country which is ruled exclusively by money bags.
I asked for a little follow up information, but this is a brand new change so there is not much yet:
There is a way to get a health insurance which covers these special risks — but you have to pay 25 Euro (30 US$) extra per month, in addition to your regular health insurance. No matter how much you earn, these 25 will always remain the same. The extra insurance is volontary, but if you don’t have it, it is like I said: No doctor will help you if you get an infection from a piercing or something like that.It would have been a lot better if they offered an insurance you can buy when getting pierced, so a piercing will become more expensive, but you are safe if something goes wrong. Maybe some private insurance company will have this idea some time later, but this will surely take some time.And do-it-yourself piercers, self-modders or people who got an illegal modification done at an underground parlor would be unprotected in this case either.
So currently it looks as if you’ll have to join this extra insurance-fund, paying 25.- extra per moth, if should ever want to get a piercing or try yourself at a BMX offroad bike. All so-called “self-accountable risks” are to be covered in this expensive extra-insurance. If you refuse joining it, you should not risk to do anything dangerous. And a nostril or belly button piercing, as every second girl has it, would be considered dangerous in this context. I don’t know about how they include the standard ear lobe piercings there. 98% of the female population have pierced ears, including many women over 70 years. But as I know German bureaucrats they will make no difference there. Politics and reality are very different things.
So most people, but espeacially the younger ones, will have to pay this extra fee. Everything else would be too risky…
What do you think? Should body modification fans have to pay extra to have healthcare? And if anyone knows more about these changes, please do post them in the comment forum.
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Germany loves BME!
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I just got a wonderful letter from Cara, a fellow German (although she lives there, I don’t) who is affected by the ban on linking to BME in Germany (which keeps it out of the search engines there for example). She’s in front of the Brandenburger Tor of Berlin in the rain sticking her tongue out at the BPjS for banning BME with the explanation that it contained (and I love this), “highly condemnable and revolting scenarios of gruesome violence against humans”. That should be my new slogan.
What’s funny is that’s pretty much how people looked at me last time I was in Germany too.
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Magnetic Implants hit the media
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Since WIRED (whose story I found via boingboing) are talking about magnetic implants (click that link for my own experience with them), I thought I ought to re-mention them since BME has been covering them for the last few years. The article finishes by mentioning that a 70-shor silicone is being planned for future magnets, which I have to strongly disagree with. A thin silicone sheath, even if it’s a bit harder, is simply not going to protect the magnet in the long term and I do not consider it a viable option unfortunately.
I hope we figure something out so magnets can be implanted for the long term, because they really are a sixth sense (or at least an interface to the sixth), but I don’t believe the solution lies in silicone, and in fact, I think it’s actually in some ways a worse idea because the magnet lasts longer (probably) before it starts to break down, increasing the chances that there will be complications…
This one here is on Shawn O’Hare (who I’ve mentioned here before), who is experienced enough with a scalpel that I’m sure he can remove his own when the time comes.
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Oh, how far we have come…
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…when the Lizardman is cracking jokes in teen magazines.
I wonder if they paid him, or just stole the picture like many magazines do. Anyway, Julie was given this by a girl she babysits because “you have tattoos so you might know him.” Ah, good, we’re now a misunderstood size-underestimated pseudo-ethnic group. Heh.
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Abnormal? ABNORMAL?
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Thanks to Matte for sending in this textbook photo (I think via the APP convnetion). Let me quickly quote the text: “Is This Man Abnormal? Whether unusual individuals are labeled “abnormal” and perhaps given treatment for psychological disorder depends on a number of factors, including how abnormality is defined by the culture in which they live, who is most directly affected by their behavior, and how much distress they suffer or cause”
Whatever.
The statement above might have some validity on a small scale, like if the question is whether a person is mundane or average in relation to their peers and community. But to actually call someone “abnormal” and suggest they may need psychiatric treatment for being tattooed is ludicrous.
FACT: Almost every society in human history has used body modification as a significant part of the way they expressed themselves. It’s the core of our oldest forms of religion, art, and societal definition. Along with communication (which body modification is a form of), it made us “special” among all animals. I believe that the fact that modern Western society has largely lost this form of expression — and is pressuring the rest of the world to cut it out as well — suggests that our culture as a whole is sick, abnormal, and in need of a psyche assessment… and a whole lot more tattoos.
That said, I suppose you could use my basic logic here to support rape and cannibalism too. But hey, my great grandfather was a famous German cannibal, so maybe I ought to stop this line of thinking before genetics start kicking in.
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Upfront rips off BME/BMEshop content
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Let me introduce you to IAM:lost raevyn (more on this story on her page by the way). She picked up one of the BME slogan shirts — “if you’re staring at me, fuck off” — and sent me a picture, so it was added to the BME gallery. Ryan from BMEshop thought the picture would illustrate the product page well, so after OKing it with her and making some small changes, it was added there.
Linked screenshots below:
Without permission requested or granted, the photo appeared in the October’s Upfront Magazine, an indie local that just happens to come out in lost raevyn‘s area — and you can see that they’ve nabbed the picture straight from BMEshop. Because the magazine is from her area, people around town are approaching her assuming she wrote the piece, so on top of the issues of theft, it’s directly affecting her.
Her mother brought it up with their editor, who replied first with a bizarrely inaccurate interpretation of copyright law, and then a punchline that shows the staff of Upfront Magazine to be, well, kind of stupid.
"Additionally, the image of your daughter wearing the t-shirt was not stolen from the internet. My graphic designer has provided me with a digital image of your daughter that he snapped himself of his computer monitor."
Alright…
So it’s not stolen from the internet because the designer took a photo of his computer monitor while he was browsing the internet and then cut the BMEshop photo out of that photo? Well hell, if that’s how cause-and-effect works and relates to blame, let me just state for the record that I didn’t burn down the homes of the folks at Upfront — the matches and gasoline did it.
Upfront Magazine
Phone: 519.254.5268
Fax: 519.254.6110
Email: [email protected]
Address: 325 Chatham Street West, Windsor, ON. Canada N9A 5M8It’s important to include the full address in this entry, because then when people do a search for this newspaper on the Internet, they’ll get to hear the story about how Upfront magazine rips off other people’s content without asking and doesn’t even credit it. If Ryan or others choose to pursue legal action against Upfront (which they would be entitled to do), I’ll post more as is appropriate.
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Keep your laws OFF my body!
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JudgeLauri Blake (R) of the US 336th District Court in Grayson County, Texas
Judge Lauri Blakeruledthis week that the penalty for a teenaged drugoffender, on top of the requisite probation, is no sex as long as she(the offender, not the judge) is living in her parents’ home and goingto school. (State law allows judges to assign conditions theybelieve are fair and appropriate. Theage of sexual consent inTexas is 17 for both males and females, for heterosexual sexonly.) While I’m sure it’s not in the judge’s plans, I’d considerthat incentive to quit school and move in with my boyfriend if I werestill a teenager. (I’m not saying that that’s right; I’m speakingfrom the brain of a former teenager.)
What does this have to do with Modblog,you may ask? This same Judge Blake also prohibits tattoos, bodypiercings, earrings and clothing “associated with the drug culture” forthose who are on probation and free on bond. (In Texas, anartist may not tattoo a person younger than 18 years of age withoutmeeting the requirements of 25 Texas Administrative Code,§229.406(c), nor may an artist perform body piercing on a personyounger than 18 years of age ithout meeting the requirements of 25Texas Administrative Code, §229.406(d), without the consent of aparent, managing conservator, or guardian.)
Are tattoos a right, or a privilege? If they are a privilege,whohas the right to decide? Doesa judge have this right? With body modification more prevalent intoday’s newsthan even last year’s news, appellate courts may indeed decide whetherit’s an assignment of conditions following the breaking of the law, oran imposition of their personal morals upon us.
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Pop culture is a language
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I’d assumed everyone realized that Amina’s chestpiece (original article, first follow-up) was based on Pirates of the Caribbean artwork, but since it’s being insisted that I mention it, here’s some of the pictures movie that Tim Kern possibly worked from to create the custom tattoo:
A reader wrote Amina and CC’d me to say,
“Where is the outrage at stealing the [non-tattoo] artwork that someone created? Oh, wait… there is blood added, and the banner was changed because a ‘dead men…’ banner kept that low would have covered your nipples …are you going to continue to persecute this guy because you don’t have the balls to say, ‘Wait, I guess my chestpiece is actually a copy of someone else’s artwork!’ Not only a copy, but an exact duplicate of the swords from Pirates of the… and an exact duplicate of the skull from the other image. I’ll be waiting, probably til eternity, for you to post these two pictures in all of your ranting and raving about the theft of ‘original’ art. If your chestpiece is original because you added a couple things, then this guys is just as original, as he added a mace and the blood is different.”
Tattoos borrow from pop culture. They always have and they always will. For the heavily tattooed Maoris of New Zealand, their mokos — their facial tattoos — contained their family history and told a story of the bearer’s genealogy. For modern individuals, tattoos tell the story of their lives as well, so pop culture references are not only common but required due to the saturation of that imagery in our world. So in order to wear a tattoo that accurately captures a person, often they actually need to borrow from and tell their stories using imagery from movies, advertising, corporate logos, and so on. It’s not theft, it’s truth.
However, there is something fundamentally different between copying a piece of print artwork and copying someone’s tattoo. It’s like the difference between speaking the same language (using the same words) and literally saying the same thing. In terms of the damage done to the wearer, it’s identity theft. The Maoris, when they needed to enter into a contract with a Westerner that required a signature, would draw out a picture of their moko instead of writing their name — and even now, for many heavily tattooed individuals, their tattoos are as linked to their identity as their given name, if not more.
In terms of damage to the original tattoo artist, work has to be done to “translate” the image from something that works well on paper (or whatever the original medium is) to the skin, and an aesthetically pleasing combination for the desired body part has to be designed in order make it a successful tattoo. This is a far more time consuming than one might assume — and there are an infinite number of combinations, variations, and interpretations for any given reference — and it is the quality of this translation that gives the piece unique artistic value as a custom tattoo. Skipping this step and just using someone else’s tattoo takes advantage of the hard work someone else has put into the design, to say nothing of the personal violation.
If Amina’s “fan” had wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean chestpiece rather than Amina’s literal chestpiece, it is true that he would have walked away with a very similar tattoo because both artists would have been working from the same sources. However, it would have been a fundamentally different tattoo, and comparing the two “thefts” is not valid.
Update: In regards to telling the story of one’s life with pop culture, Amina talks about this chestpiece in an interview that will appear in the December issue of Skin&Ink magazine:
"Currently my favorite tattoo is my chest piece, which was designed and tattooed by Tim Kern at Last Rites in New York City. Many people believe that the piece was created after a Motorhead song, and even though I am a Motorhead fan, that song was not in mind during the design of the tattoo. The piece was actually designed after the talking pirate skull in the Anaheim Disneyland ride 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' Being an Anaheim native, I owned a Disneyland annual pass since I was a teenager, and many summers were spent making out in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' — "Dead Men Tell No Tales" had just become hauntingly familiar to me."
Pick up the magazine for full coverage.
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Followup: Tattoo Theft
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Recently we mentioned how Amina Munster had her tattoo ripped off by tattoo “artist” Brandon Swartz. She updates us on how he responded to being asked for an apology on her page:
"When I called Inflictions to speak civilly with Brandon Swartz concerning the matter I was mocked and laughed at by the employees of Inflictions who stated that I would just humiliate myself as the public would find my actions frivolous. Later in the night I received a call from a tattoo artist of mine concerning the welfare of his friend... Brandon personally requested that this man contact me concerning the matters. This was followed by a call from Brandon Swartz who indeed confirmed that he was aware the tattoo had previously been tattooed on flesh. The patron had brought in a photo of me wearing my tattoo, [and] the rip off was produced from it. Swartz acknowledged that he knew who [Tim Kern] had tattooed the original piece while trying to flatter me by stating that Tim is such a better artist than he — maybe because Tim is able to draw his own tattoos?"
"When I spoke with Brandon Swartz I ultimately decided that I would put the matters to rest if I received an email (not phone or address) contact of the man depicted in the photograph as well as a written apology from Swartz. Swartz then claimed that I was asking for TOO MUCH."
"Brandon Swartz threatened me stating that 'All artists would hate me'. This, though not true, would not bother me as all of my artists are good friends and men of respect, none of them are scratchers like Brandon Swartz."
"Swartz also claimed that Steve Potts (Owner of both Inflictions shops and Swartz's boss) is good friends with Paul Booth (Tim Kern's boss), and this matter could jeopardize Tim Kern's job. It is common knowledge that Paul Booth himself has had a tattoo of his own illegally reproduced on the skull of another man, I highly doubt that Paul Booth would ever side with the Artist who illegally reproduced the image. In fact I would think that Paul Booth would want to see some precedent set in these matters."
As a side note, it’s been pointed out that Brandon Swartz doesn’t understand cross contamination issues since he’s not using any barrier film on his machine or clip cord on the photos of him tattooing. So not only is he a thief, but he’s also potentially endangering the lives of his clients…
We also recently covered tattoo theft by King of Kings in the Europe, a shop with a bad reputation for stealing other artists work, claiming it as their own, and then stalling on even removing the photos from their website — as recently also noted in Needled. Anyway, ModBlog writer Rebekah drops Han a line to see what he had to say:
A lady in Canada is very distraught after having seen a photo of her tattoo on your web site. She is upset because you didn’t tattoo her; Cory Ferguson did. There is no doubt that the tattoos are identical. Cory’s art came first, which makes yours the copy… which you seem to be passing off as your own original work.
I’m curious as to your side… I’d love to know what your excuse is.
As I’m sure will come as no surprise, his reply contained only two words:
From: King of Kings Tattoo
DROP DEAD!!!!
Well, at least this is creating a useful list of shops to avoid.
