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One of the perks of having a membership to BMEzine.com is that you gain access to the Surgical and Hard galleries.  For those that have never had the opportunity to see these galleries, may not be aware that there are special bonus galleries that are dedicated to individual members.  No topic is taboo, and these individuals are continually pushing the boundaries of modifications and mod-related play.  Often you’ll get a glimpse of some of these sections in ModBlog’s regular “Guess What?” feature.  Today I opted for just sharing a simple picture with you.  Now while this is probably on the very tame side of what you can expect to see, it is still an interesting image to share.

To be on the safe side, I’m going to hide it behind a clickthrough just in case a co-worker happens to be walking by.

See, I told you it was tame.  But like I also said, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what you can see.

My only concern about this play piercing session is wouldn’t it be difficult to sit down with all those needles poking out?

Ok, fess up, what did you think was going to be behind the clickthrough based on the headline?

Be free all worthy spirits, and stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height.

–George Chapman

Today I’ve spent a bit of time focusing on the work of the artists that make up our community.  Specifically the works of one artist, but the idea is there.  What doesn’t get discussed a lot on ModBlog is the DIY aspect of the modification community.  Now the DIY modification enthusiasts range from the simplest of piercings, to some of the hardest modifications and play sessions that are covered by BME.  Due to the nature of the broad spectrum that DIY covers, it is impossible write a post about every aspect without getting complaints from people about writing the longest ModBlog post ever.  What I do hope to do is feature DIY stories more frequently as there are a tremendous amount of photos of  DIY modifications in pretty much every category of photo.

For today, I thought it would be nice to go with something simple.  Now the headline may be a bit misleading but it will make sense if you follow along.

So, what would you say is the most popular form of DIY modification?  In all honesty, I don’t have any numbers to back me up, but I think a safe bet would probably be lobe stretching.  I think it is safe to say that the majority of people with stretched lobes have at some point performed the stretching themselves, probably without even realizing that they were adding their names to the list of DIY modified people.

A lot of what makes the DIY movement so significant is that it is taking the next step in control over the body.  While everyone getting mods is doing it for their own personal reasons, they all are in essence changing their bodies to what they want, primarily through the help of practitioners.  What DIY means to many is the opportunity to make the changes that they want but by their own hands.  This means that by performing any mod by yourself, you are singlehandedly pushing the limits of control you have over your body, changing it to what you want it to be.

One person in particular who was kind enough to send in an image of a DIY modification is IAM: tiny.vertebrae.

From what I can tell, it appears she’s using a piece of wood to stretch out her own lobes.

So while lobe stretching is fairly common when it comes to DIY modifications, it is still a process that is being undertaken by those who are choosing to modify themselves under their own power.  I know someone is thinking it, and yes this isn’t the limit in which a lobe can or has been stretched, but in the moment captured in the image, the stretching is pushing the limits of what came before.

A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today’s standards.

The terms Renaissance man and, less commonly, Homo Universalis (Latin for “universal man” or “man of the world”) are related and used to describe a person who is well educated or who excels in a wide variety of subjects or fields. The idea developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): that “a man can do all things if he will.” It embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism, which considered humans empowered, limitless in their capacities for development, and led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. Thus the gifted people of the Renaissance sought to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social accomplishments, and in the arts.

Source

When I started writing today’s posts I had noticed that a few of the images I has selected were all from the same artist.  We’ve already seen Gabor Zagyvai’s scarification work, as well as one of the suspensions he performed recently.  Now for the final part of the trifecta, I present one of his tattoos.

This piece, entitled “Abstract Mistycism” (not my spelling), was part of the large image upload that Gabor sent in recently.  This leg piece is just breathtaking in it’s intricacies.  I love how you can get lost in the images, especially considering the monochromatic nature of blackwork.

I was to talk about the term “Renaissance Man”.  The wiki definition above gives us the classical definition, and for the most part that definition still works today.  I think that Gabor is a good representation of the Renaissance men and women that are so prevalent in the modification community today.  While classical artists tend to favor one medium over other others, what we are seeing now is a large percentage of the modification artists branching out from one particular form of modification.  Scar artists are also tattoo artists, piercers also suspend people, and even more, like Gabor, cover every aspect of the modification spectrum.

This then brings up the argument, is it now necessary in today’s world to become a master of multiple genres?  Is wearing just one hat enough these days to become successful, or should artists work towards perfecting their art in different mediums?  I guess the more important question is, have we as a community raised our expectations to the point that artists feel they must diversify to meet the needs of their clientele?

What do you guys and gals think?  Does the future of modification lie in artists becoming polymaths, or are there enough people out there that specialization is still the preferred way to go?

Often I get to see an image that just delights me.  Most people that know me know that I’m a big horror fan, zombies in particular.  When I’m scanning the tattoo galleries for new images I always notice the horror related ones first, but today, when looking at the suspension galleries I was pleasantly surprised.

I had to shrink the image down to fit it on ModBlog, but the full sized version can be seen here.  For those with keen eyes you can make out a couple of notable horror icons.  I believe that’s Michael Myers on the left, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula on the right, and of course the woman in the middle is Lianna Quigley from Return of the Living dead.  I think the reason I like this image so much is that you have all these horror movie related images blended together while blood is dripping down onto it.

While you may not be familiar with Return of the Living dead, it is the movie that you can thank for creating the famous zombie quote “Brainnnssssss”.

Now, if you were in this position, what image would you like to see your blood dripping down on to?  Which I realize is a somewhat morbid phrasing to a question, but hey, we are talking about the walking dead are we not?

Oh, one more thing, while not scarring people up like in the previous post, Gabor also spends some of his time rigging people up.  There are a few other happy Hungarians hanging from hooks over in the suicide suspension galleries.

Update:  Didn’t realize the meaning behind the original image that I used.  I’ve since replaced it with the current image.

So I’ve had a few Soundgarden songs stuck in my head ever since I’ve heard the band was getting back together.  It got me wondering how a song can be crafted that gives it a timeless quality, like how their songs from 20 years ago still sound fresh today.  While pondering this, I was browsing the scarification galleries, when I cam across this image by Gabor Zagyvai.

Which brings me back to Soundgarden.  While you may or may not be a fan of theirs, any songwriter will tell you how difficult it can be to craft a song, let alone one that an audience will enjoy.  So for the purpose of this discussion, just replace Soundgarden with your favorite musician/composer/band.  Like the process in creating a scar, time is meticulously spent over every aspect of the scar.  Width of the lines, depth, getting the design perfect, choosing the right blade, and then the placement on the body.  All of those factors are considered well before the first cut is made.  The same can be said about a piece of music.  The right notes, lyrics, tempo, instruments can make the difference between a horrible piece of music and a beautiful one.  Like scars, these pieces of music will live on well past the time they were created.

Of course this can be said about any form of art, which is exactly what Gabor has done here with this piece.  This piece is only one of several that were uploaded in the past day. Gabor’s own gallery has the entire collection, where many of them have healed images alongside the fresh ones.  So while this scar may not be your cup of tea, there are a lot of other beautiful scars you can check out.

Tomorrow night is the gala opening for The Known Gallery’s showing of Irezumi Bijin: Works by Kaname Ozuma and Horiyoshi III

Tattoo Hollywood and Known Gallery are also hosting a once in a lifetime opportunity to view works by Kaname Ozuma and Horiyoshi III, appropriately titled:  Irezumi Bijin.  If you were at the Tattoo Hollywood convention last week you had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at the works by these brilliant artists.  Tomorrow night the show begins and will be running until Sept. 18th.  I urge you to do whatever is in your power to get to Los Angeles and see this show before it is gone for good.

When:
Opening Reception: Thursday August 26th, 2010 | 8pm-11pm
Show Runs: August 26th – September 18th

Where:
Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

About the artists:

Kaname Ozuma

Born in Niigata, Japan in 1939, Ozuma Kaname began studying traditional Japanese painting under his uncle, artist Sakai Soushi, from a young age. Moving to Tokyo at the age of 18, he trained as an art dealer while working at a printing company. Afterwards, he moved on to the publishing industry where he illustrated tattoos. The majority of his work continues to be tattoo-related along with other traditional Japanese themes; and often serves as a source of inspiration for master tattooist Horiyoshi III, whose clients in turn, are often depicted in Ozuma’s paintings.

Horiyoshi III

Born Yoshihito Nakano in 1946, Horiyoshi III is the second tattooist to be bestowed the honorific title—the tattooist affixation “Hori” means engrave—in a line started by his master, the legendary tattoo artist Yoshitsugu Muramatsu, or Shodai Horiyoshi of Yokohama (Muramatsu went on to dub his son Horiyoshi II, and later Nakano was named Horiyoshi III).  His images are classical Japanese woodblock print motifs such as the phoenix, dragon, snakes, tigers, samurai warriors, Buddhist gods to name a few as well as background images of waves, clouds and various flowers. Among Horiyoshi III’s published works are 36 Ghosts, 108 Heroes of the Suikoden, 100 Demons, and The Namakubi (severed heads), 100 Dragons and 58 Warriors. Horiyoshi’s artistic genius and generosity of spirit have had a defining impact on the world of tattooing, taking it to new levels in this new century.

I’m definitely trying to put plans together to put myself on the road again sometime before the show ends just so I can check it out.  Who knows, maybe I’ll see you there.

There are some stories that as controversial as they may be, do need to be told.  Before I begin, it’s important that you know a few things about the subject matter of the post.  First off, the current Republic of Turkey wasn’t always a democratic nation.  The area known today as Turkey was home to one of the earliest human settlements.  Over the centuries many empires have risen and fallen, with the most notable being the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over 6 centuries until WWI.  Following the first world war, and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire a military commander named Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the country to become a democratic and secular nation.  The Ottoman Empire had previously ruled under Islamic law, and when Atatürk became the first president of Turkey he moved towards the western style of democracy with the separation of Church and State.  In the years following the foundation of the new Turkey, Atatürk pushed through a great many reforms to every aspect of life in Turkey.  Civic courts replaced Islamic courts, women were grated equal status, and the official language was changed from Arabic to Turkish.

In the decades following Atatürk’s death, he has been acclaimed time and time again for his contributions towards cultural reforms.  As for the Turkish government, it continued on following in the footsteps of it’s first leader.  Over time the parties in power have changed, and currently the party in power wishes to revert the changes that Atatürk made, and return Turkey to an Islamic republic.  The conservative Justice and Development (AKP) party has presently put forth a motion for a constitutional referendum that would allow them to alter the structure of the government.

As for which side in the debate is right, it is not my position to judge.

What I am here for is to share with you the reactions that of some of the Turkish people are having to these proposed changes.

More and more Turkish people, from all walks of life and socio-economic standings, are emblazoning their appendages with the signature of the controversial Turkish trailblazer Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who made Turkey the secular nation it is today. The tattoo reads simply enough “K.Ataturk” in a scripted text.  The history behind the specific Ataturk signature that is used for the tattoos is as politically charged as the man himself. According to popular belief, it was the same signage that Ataturk used when he signed legislation to annihilate the Ottoman alphabet, which was in classical Arabic, in favor of a Latin alphabet that was in line with secular European nations.

The resistance to the AKP is so fierce in Turkey, that many tattoo parlors offer discounted prices for the Ataturk tattoo and some offer it entirely for free. Apparently the price for government-supported religious freedom is a price that some people are willing to pay for in blood.

I think this is the first nation-wide protest that I’ve heard of that is being spread through tattoos.  Whether you agree with the position that the protesters have or not, the key thing to remember is that these people are showing to the world what their beliefs are, in the form of a permanent modification.  As someone who has attended protests in the past, I’ve seen varying levels of commitment to the causes.  From extremists who smash window and light cars on fire, to grandmothers holding up a sign on a lawn.  I honestly can say I don’t think many of the people I have met are so passionate about their causes to have them tattooed on their bodies.

The thing to remember is that these tattoos are not just being done in protest.  Many of the people getting them feel that Atatürk was the man that brought their country to the place it is now, and for them, their national identity is as much a part of them as their own skin.

Like I mentioned before, this subject isn’t one I can comment on, but what I can comment on is the level of commitment these people are displaying.  Would you be willing to get a tattoo for similar reasons as these people?

Tattoos can have many different meanings to the wearer.  Sometimes those meanings can even change over time.  For example a tattoo that was done with a friend present may one day become a memorial tattoo if the friend passes away.  Tattoos can mark significant events in a person’s life, the birth of a child, or journey taken.  They can be about something the wearer is passionate about, or has played a major role in that person’s life.

Whatever the reason a person has for getting a tattoo, most of the time there is a story to be told.  A while back I talked about modified members of the armed services.  Today I found a story about one serviceman that I thought would be nice to share.

Sergeant Matthew Jackson, a bomb disposal expert from the 1st EOD Company, likes to quote Charles Manson in relation to his job - “total paranoia is total awareness.”  It helps to keep his mind focused when he and his explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team are working on one of the countless IEDs they have come across during their deployment in southern Afghanistan.

Jackson, on first meeting, looks just a tad eccentric. An English major at college, he is a big Hemingway fan. He wears thick black-rimmed glasses, and along the length of his left arm are a series of tattoos of the molecular structures of different types of explosives. Some call it his crib sheet, but he regards it as a portrait gallery of close friends, whom he refers to fondly as he lists their explosive properties and relative levels of oxygen content. In the center of his forearm is TNT - “the base of all explosives,” by his wrist are blasting cap explosives, nitroglycerin is further up his arm, but his personal favorite, he says with the enthusiasm of a professional collector, is RDX - the main component of C4 - “it’s just neat, it’s sensitive, it’s powerful…”

While Sergeant Jackson goes on to describe how the life of an EOD tech isn’t anything like it is in the film “The Hurt Locker”, he still is responsible daily for the lives of his company, and everyone else serving in Afghanistan.  So while the sergeant’s tattoos are jokingly called a “crib sheet”, those chemical compounds are responsible every day for injuries and possibly death for any number of troops or civilians.

Sergeant Jackson’s arms tell a story.  The story of a man who puts his life on the line every day to make sure people get home safely.  I know that there are ModBlog readers who have served, and I can think of a specific IAM member that ended up coming home after being wounded by an IED.  The stories that Matthew has are his own to share.  So while we can see part of the story on the surface, it is what is underneath that carries the full tale.

This story is just like everyone else’s.  Not everyone with a tattoo has a story that is tied to life or death, but we all have a story to tell.  The ink is just the surface, the outer shell of the person inside.  The tattoos are the story from inside being reflected on the outside.  They are as much a part of ourselves as the stories that make up our life are.

Sometimes the daily grind can be overwhelming.  Work, family, friends, bills, kids, and more can all be a joy at times and a curse at others.  While we’re all flying through space on this spinning top we call home, sometimes it can feel great just to stop everything and be still.

To everyone the act of being still can mean many things.  To some it is a form of release, allowing the stresses of the world flow out of their bodies.  For others stillness can evoke feelings of anxiety, the calm before the storm as it were, the moment where everything just seems too good to be true.  Even in nature stillness can have many meanings.  Those early moments at dawn when a lake is perfectly still, just existing waiting for the world to begin again and reflect itself in its surface, the stillness of the night before still echoing across the glassy surface in the form of the mists.  Then there are the predator and prey.  The predator stalks its prey until it finds the perfect position to mount its attack, holding everything in and becoming a rock, immovable yet capable of motion.  The waiting, the thinking, becoming so still with focus that the rest of the world falls away.  While the predator waits, the prey becomes still as well, not with calm or focus, but with fear.  Knowing there is danger around and that the slightest movement will set in motion a cascade of events that could be the end of its existence.

The stillness of the world cannot exist without the movement.  The time after the world has stopped.  The first fish leaping from the water to eat an insect, causing the first waves to break the surface, waves that will continue to move until the next morning when the cycle begins again.  The moment where the stillness has fulfilled its purpose and the time to act is present, releasing all the energy locked within in one swift and sudden movement.  When the fear changes from the overwhelming power to be still, to the realization that by remaining still will be the end, and movement is what is necessary to survive.

Looking at this photo of IAM: Radical Kiba, you can see the stillness in her.  Lost within herself she is looking out on the world.  There’s no way to know how she is feeling, but you can feel the stillness.

What is stillness to you?  Is it the calm of the water at dawn, the anticipation of the predator waiting to strike, or is it the fear of the prey?  Or is it something else, something that only you can feel?

I’ve intentionally been avoiding writing a story about the Millennium Trilogy for a while now. While I haven’t read the books, I have seen the films which are believably good, but despite the title, the tattoo in question doesn’t really play a major role in the films. Sure the character of Lisbeth sports a massive back piece, but seeing as how you only see it a couple of times and the actress, Noomi Rapace, didn’t actually get it tattooed on herself I just assumed that the entire thing was a non-story.

Today I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Before we begin, here’s the trailer for the first film: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

I use Google news alerts to flag stories that have specific key words in them.  Tattoo of course being one of them.  So you can imagine that with these films gaining international acclaim, the books being bestsellers, and casting rumors flying around for the American adaptations, my inbox has been filled for the past few months of stories about the trilogy.  For the most part I just dismiss them, but since they finally got around to casting the role of Lisbeth in the American films, the e-mails have died down.

Yet here I am today, talking about the thing I promised not to discuss on ModBlog.  The reason I’m bringing it up now?  Well, I’ll let this article from The Mirror fill you in.

Winning a career-making role in the Dragon Tattoo films brought a strange mixture of pleasure and pain to rising star Noomi Rapace.  The 30-year-old actress knew she had to nail the part of androgynous anti-hero Lisbeth Salander - or risk offending the many fans of the creator, best-selling author Stieg Larsson.  So to really convince as the punky, chain-smoking, kick-ass computer hacker, Noomi embarked on a remarkable transformation.  She went on a strict diet, trained in kickboxing and Thai boxing and even took her motorcycle licence. A non-smoker, she began puffing her way through “thousands of cigarettes” both on-set and off it.  And she wouldn’t even consider faking all those piercings in Salander’s ears and nose because, as Noomi puts it, “I wanted to feel those piercings in myself.”

You’ll often hear of actors undergoing massive physical changes for a role.  De Niro gained a significant amount of weight for his role in Raging Bull, while Christian Bale lost a frightening amount of weight in a short period of time for his role in The Machinist, only to gain it all back plus more in a couple months to be ready for his role in Batman Begins.  Actors are required to change themselves to some degree for a role, sometimes it’s simply a costume, and others require a lot more commitment.  So for Noomi Rapace, in order to fully transform into the character of Lisbeth she drastically changed not only her physical appearance, but also her behaviour months before filming.

While the diet and smoking is one aspect of the transformation, this being ModBlog I wanted to focus on her mods.  You get a brief glimpse of them in the trailer but having seen the films it is obvious that she didn’t just opt for one or two piercings to personify the character.  I counted about 10-12 seperate piercings spread out over her lobes, cartilage, nostrils and septum.  While by ModBlog standards this isn’t anything too significant, to see an actress portray a character so well, and commit to that many mods is something significant.  While the character of Lisbeth is certainly troubled, and goes through several drastic events over the course of the series, what we’re seeing is essentially a mainstream film that doesn’t treat modifications as some form of joke or used as shock value.

I’m sure we’ve all seen films where a “punk” character appears on screen wielding a vast array of facial piercings simply to appear intimidating to the viewer, yet in these films the piercings appear to be just a natural extension of the character.  In fact, in the scenes where she isn’t wearing her piercings you get a sense of discomfort looking at her, as if something is missing.  Which of course there is.  I think an accurate analogy to this would be the NYC skyline post 9-11.  The image of the skyline had been etched into the minds of millions of people, and now, looking at it, there is something missing.  I’m not making any political statements or anything like that, but the idea that something is removed from an image that everyone was used to seeing makes one feel that sense of “not right”.  Of course the NYC skyline itself evokes a lot of feelings, but I think you get where I was going with this.  I really think that with Noomi Racpace’s commitment to the role, combined with a skilled filmmaker, that this may be the first portrayal of a modified person that actually captures the essence of the modified culture.  Where the focus is on the character, and not the mods, yet when the mods are removed you can tell something has changed not only on her physical exterior, but something inside her as well.

If you were to take a look in a mirror one day and all of your mods were gone, how would you feel?  What about those close to you, how do you think they would react if a modification you’ve had for years was suddenly gone without a trace?  Because we don’t treat our modifications as something other than what they are, an extension of our ideal selves, we can sense the incompleteness that occurs with a mod is removed.  Yes I realize people retire mods all the time, but even then, those first few days really can reveal how much our mods are a part of us.

Looking back at these films with the knowledge of the actor’s commitment to the part, it really shines a light on how a person who is modified isn’t defined by their mods, but by who they are as a person.  While this isn’t anything new to us, there still is a large portion of the population that doesn’t realize it.  Given that the titular dragon tattoo is the one modification in the film that isn’t a real mod, I thought I should close this post out with a real dragon tattoo from the BMEzine.com tattoo galleries.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has seen the films.  Can anyone else who has seen them weigh in?  Did Noomi Rapace actually getting the piercings done change your view of the films and her portrayal, or does her performance stand out on its own without the piercings being a factor?

  When Evan of Cool Hunting sent this video over to me, I thought it was a parody of "vajazzling." Alas, it seems it is not. *mind boggles*... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

Well it turns out that when Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on a talk show ranting about her vajazzle, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to get creative with paint instead of jewels.

A while back I brought you some interesting news on the fine art of Vajazzling, which as we all know now, is the act of adorning one’s vagina with little Swarovski crystals.  Enhancing the mons pubis has since been an explosive trend in 2010, and I’m happy to bring you the latest installment: vatooing (also spelled “vattooing!”).  Vatooing, is also known as “twatooing,” “vatuing,” or simply “vagina tattooing.”  Except these tats (vats?) aren’t painful because they’re applied painstakingly with an airbrush

So while this isn’t a permanent (or even semi-permanent) mod, it is always interesting to see what people will do to modify themselves when they know it has 0 chance of being permanent. The Completely Bare chain of spas in NYC are the ones trying to make this fad as popular as the gluing of crystals to your nether regions. Although after watching the video, I’m not completely sold on the “painstakingly applied” technique. As far as I can see they’re limited to using a pre-made stencil with an airbrush.

I know I’ve posted about body painting in the past, and in a lot of cases an argument can be made that it is a form of art.  Can the same be said for this procedure?  Or do you think that this is just a quick way to cash in on the fad of women who want to live on the wild side, but not have any real permanence to it?  This also begs the question, is this trend limited to women?  Essentially they’re only adding gems and paint to the area around the vagina, couldn’t men get something done down there as well?  There’s already a debate going on as to whether this should be called “Vattooing” or “Twatooing”, if we add men to the mix, should it be called something else?  Possibly “Dattooing”, no, that name is taken by the guys trying to create digital tattoos.  What about “Cockattooing”, I think it has a nice ring to it.

Now if this temporary tattoo/gemming business really isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always our genital tattoo galleries where you can go to see the real thing.

First, watch this video until the end.

This ad, designed by Zeitsprung Commercial in Germany got sent to me last night by ModBlog reader Broodje.  For those that can’t watch the video at work, allow me to sum it up for you.  A man dressed in a bear costume is walking around the streets to cheerful music giving out hugs to people as he strolls along.  Then, the lighting darkens as the man in the costume pulls off the bear’s head to reveal his heavily modified face.  The tagline of the ad appears as he roars at the camera and stalks away:  ”You can’t see H.I.V.  But you can prevent it”.

I’m not sure how you may react to this, but I’m on the same page as Broodje, in that we’re both more than a little upset by the implications that this PSA gives off.  While the message itself is a good one, the end result may be giving a lot of people a bad impression of the modded community.  To me this is saying that not only can you get H.I.V. from a hug, but that someone who is heavily modified is probably infected and it is best to stay away from them.

As for the actor in the bear costume, I have no idea if he knew what the PSA was for, or if it mattered to him how he would be portrayed in the final cut.  The fact remains that as much as we try to show the world that modded people aren’t any different from the rest of the world, things like this come along and tap into some base fear that people have of the unknown, setting any progress that has been made back in the process.

I think what troubles me most about this, is that this type of thing is exactly the reason that Jessie had such a huge media circus around his arrest.  The media is consistently associating heavily modified people with as many negative connotations as they can.  Now we’ve come to a point that not only are heavily modified people scary because they’re “all violent”, but they “all have H.I.V. and should be avoided at all costs”.

What do you think?  Am I reading too much into the ad, or is there really an undercurrent in the media that is directly attempting to demonize a group of people just because they choose to take control of their bodies.

UPDATE:  It turns out that this video was part of the 2009 HIVisible campaign, and is starring none other than BME’s own IAM:Sicko.  So it appears I was completely off base with my interpretation of the ad.  Thanks to Bastian for filling me in and clarifying the message.

Every few days I like to post an image that is just fun to look at.  Thanks to eLHATABorov, I have an image to share with you today.

There are some images that you just need to know the story behind.  Does this young man hate having his picture taken?  Is he just goofing around with some friends in the woods?  Does he normally wear a stick through his septum?

Taking a look through the big septum galleries you can find quite a few fun images.  I suppose that one of the perks in having a big septum is the ability to get a chance to play with a piercing that can easily be hidden from the world.  How many ModBlog readers out there have a retainer that they wear to work?  The septum piercing is one that has existed well before any kind of documented history, so it’s always interesting to see how people adapt their piercings to their own styles.  For some small and subtle is the way to go, for others the bigger the jewelry the better.  Clearly the man in the picture above favors the larger gauge septum piercing, yet does he hide it when he heads into work during the week?

Come to think about it, why isn’t the septum piercing “socially acceptable”?  It’s one of the oldest known piercings, and it is still widely used by indigenous people all around the world.  Yet in North America, many people have to play peek-a-boo with their septum jewelry in order to maintain their jobs.  It’s bad enough most modded people have to hide their modifications in the traditional job market, but when it comes to something like a septum piercing, you would think that after millions of years most people would get over their fear of a modified person.  Or am I just being too optimistic?

Last week I featured a facial tattoo that was not only large, but was also brightly colored.  Today I want to look at the other side of the coin.

Okvit uploaded this image of his facial tattoo, which I think is a good example of a smaller, subtle piece.

Before I talk about this specific tattoo, I want to take a step back to look at the art of facial tattoos and the significance they play in the wearer’s lives.  Now I obviously can’t speak from experience, and I would love to hear some stories from those of you who do have facial tattoos.  Now when it comes to visible modifications, the facial tattoo is probably one of the more drastic changes, at least to the unmodified world.  Our face, for the most part, is what people notice first about others.  When talking to someone, unless you’re a woman talking to a guy at a bar, chances are they’re looking at your face.  So when one chooses to modify their face, they are in essence changing the part of them that is seen the most.

The ramifications of this change differ from person to person, but the fact remains that any kind of facial tattoos are an intentional modification that will permanently alter the way you are seen by others.  But I’m saying things we already know.  What I want to focus on is what constitutes a subtle facial tattoo, or is any kind of facial tattoo significant enough to go beyond the realm of what most would deem “subtle”.

So looking at the lines above Okvit’s brow, would this fall into the same category as the girl who has the bright flowers covering half of her face?  Or does this qualify as a smaller piece that isn’t as significant?  Then again, I suppose it is all about context and who is viewing the tattoo vs. the wearer’s own feelings about the tattoo.  To the modified community, I think it’s safe to say that this piece is much more subtle than the other image, yet to those who are unmodified, does the same apply?

In the end, does it really matter?  I suppose the person sporting the tattoo cares about what it looks like to themselves, and the views of others are secondary.  Yet in a cultural sense, facial tattoos have always held a position of significance.  Be it the facial lines of the Ainu, or the masks of the Maori, over time many cultures have adopted facial tattoos as a means of transformation.  The tattoos can show familial and tribal ties, they can denote when a boy becomes a man, when a girl is ready to be married, or in many cases, as a form of intimidation towards their enemies.  So while today’s world is drastically different in many ways from the past, the facial tattoo has remained in a position of denoting a significant change in the wearer’s life.

I know that ModBlog has a lot of readers with facial tattoos and I would love to hear some of your stories about how things have changed for you, or if they haven’t at all.  Those without facial tattoos, what are your thoughts on them?  Are they something you would consider getting, is there a reason why or why not?

The urge to travel.  Some of us have it, some don’t.  Those that do can have it more than others.  To those that do, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

Read that again, only this time replace “travel” with “be modified”.  Of course it could be applied to a great many things, which is what happens when you talk in generalities.  But lets get back to the travel bug.  I’ll admit I enjoy getting away, be it a road trip, camping, or hopping on a plane.  No matter the destination, there’s this thrill involved in putting your life into a suitcase and leaving everything else behind.

Personally, I like to keep track of the places I’ve been.  Be it little mementos, photographs, or just dots on a map.  Whether the experience is good or bad, to me just being able to have the journey is enough to satisfy me.  So when I see a tattoo like this one, I can’t help but think to myself, where have I been, and where would I like to go.

Obviously this is still a fresh piece, and I don’t know if it is completed or not, but just looking at it makes me want to hop on a plane.  I traveled around the US this summer camping in a lot of national parks, so I think my next trip will either be spent visiting friends, or grabbing the first flight overseas and seeing where my travels take me.  Of course if I ever meet the anonymous submitter of this tattoo, I may ask if I can use a sharpie to mark off all the places I’ve been.

It’s interesting to think of the ritual of travel, and how it varies for each person.  Like I mentioned I try to keep some form of memento of the places I’ve been.  For others, just the experience is all they need.  To some, packing as much as possible is the only way to go, others pack as little as possible to allow for some freedom while going across a country.  Then there’s the technology question.  Which in this day and age is becoming more and more significant a question.  When you travel do you bring your electronic gadgets?  Obviously those travelling for work would, but what about the rest of the people?  Do you “need” your iPhone if you’re hiking through the rainforest? Is your laptop vital when you’re walking the streets of Prague?  These are all questions travelers are faced with now.  20-30 years ago, these weren’t even options available to those going on a journey.  Have things changed so much that we can’t live without them, or is it still possible to just disappear off the grid for a while and enjoy where life takes you?

Is there a special place you’ve been to recently?  Maybe one you’ve always wanted to go to?  Can you point it out on the map that’s tattooed on the person above?

Our Dr. Lodder reminded me to share this sweet snippet from the NY Times Freakonomics blog:David B. Wiseman, a psychologist, showed 128 undergraduate students photographs of tattooed and non-tattooed female models, described as "college instructors." He found that college students... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

Well, its been a while since I last posted a “Guess What?”.  I guess I was thrown off at how well people were able to guess that a stretched lobe wasn’t actually a set of genitals.  The question you’ve got to ask yourself now is, is today’s “Guess What?” genitals, or did Rob pick a picture that will just make me think it’s genitals?

I guess you’ll just have to click through to find out.

Think you know?  There’s only one way to find out…

Well, if you said genitals, you guessed right.

What you’re seeing here is an image from our hard gallery for nailing.  While some people just assume that ModBlog is only about the “mainstream” modifications, BME covers every facet of the modification and ritual communities.  While this image was uploaded anonymously, if you wish to take credit for it, please let me know.  Also if you’re interested in finding out more about nailing and our other hard galleries, head on over to BMEzine.com and check it out.

I’m sure most of us in North America have heard of the Travelling Gnome.  The idea is you steal someone’s garden gnome before you go on vacation, then take pictures of the gnome in places all over the world, which you send back to the person you stole the gnome from.  Then, when you return, you bring back the gnome and replace it as if it never left.  The result, you end up with a great story and experience, and the person who thought their gnome was gone for good gets a surprise in the mail (and their gnome back).  Of course over the years the gnome stories have spread all over becoming so popular that a travel booking website uses a gnome as its mascot.

Well it seems the gnome is still on the go, and it looks like his latest spot was in Italy, paying a visit to IAM: Lady_FlameThrower.  You may remember her from a ModBlog post a while back about her Watchmen scarification piece.  You can see in the photo below that the photographer Alex Hen is featuring not only the gnome, but also Lady_FlameThrower’s surface bar and dermal anchors.

So has the urge to steal a gnome ever crossed your mind?  The idea of stealing a gnome is only scratching the surface of what travelers do for fun with their photos.  I’ve seen collections of people holding up cardboard cutouts of friends, other keepsakes from houses, and more.  Well ModBlog readers, have you taken a gnome or something else on your travels to document the  journey?

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! –do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me –the sound would be heard by a neighbour!

– Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-Tale Heart

Normally I would hesitate to post two images that as so similar this close together, but given the material presented, I couldn’t help myself given the connection between the two images.

Below you’ll see a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe that Godsandmonsters uploaded.  Now because I was a lit major in university, tattoos tied to works of literature tend to catch my eye.  So when I saw Poe looking back at me, I knew I had to take a closer look.  One of the great things about Poe (aside from his writing) is that he always has a sort of haunted look about him.  Throughout his troubled life he was orphaned, served in the military, eventually started writing, married his 13 year old cousin who died still very young, became an alcoholic and eventually died in a bizarre manner.  You see, the night that Poe died, he was found on the street rambling about someone named “Reynolds”.  He was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that he was wearing someone else’s clothes.  The eventual cause of death was determined to be some sort of brain trauma, although all records have since been destroyed.  In the years following his death, a jealous rival came into control over Poe’s literary holdings, and worked hard to destroy Poe’s reputation.

But let’s take a step back.  While Poe was writing a good deal of his works dealt with death and loss.  These of course intensified after the loss of his wife.  Given his personal history, it was clear that his abandonment when he was a child, and the deaths of those around him contributed greatly to his works, but he also drew upon the works of others for inspiration.  In one specific instance, Keats’ poem “The Lamia” played a significant role in the inspiration of one of Poe’s sonnets.  ”To Science“, one of Poe’s earlier works, specifically refers to Keats’ poem (lines 229-238) in addition to using lines that echo lines from “The Lamia”.     The argument behind Poe’s sonnet is that as science is expanding it is taking away the mysteries of the world, and in doing so is ruining the world for poets as they look to the mysteries of the world for inspiration.

So now look to yourself.  Do you think Poe ended up being right?  Did science and the modern age ruin the mysteries of the world?  Or is it still there, waiting to be discovered again by poets and artists all over the world?

As for myself, I still think there is enough mystery out there, maybe not the same mysteries that Poe was searching for, but new ones for a new generation to discover.

While we’re on the subject of artists, do you happen to have any art on yourself that you want to share?  BME is always looking for new submissions, and if you’re not a member yet, head on over to the main page and sign up.  Those of you who are members can also check out Godsandmonsters‘ story of getting tattooed.  While ModBlog shows of some of the great pieces submitted every day, there are hundreds more submitted all the time that are just as good, if not better.