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I really enjoy photographs capturing a moment in time that almost can’t be described in words.  This image is one of those.  Sure you can describe the situation as a woman is getting the final checks on the rigging before a suicide suspension, but it’s what’s going on between the two of them that really speaks the loudest.

This is that moment, just before she is to be lifted off the ground.  The quiet intensity of both the suspender and suspendee.  The final preparations right before some goes through a potentially life defining moment.

The image was submitted anonymously, but I really would like to know the story behind it.  Was it her first suspension?  What was going through her mind at that moment?

Then again, part of the allure of the image is in not knowing.  So I’ll just leave it here for you to enjoy.

To see the rest of the images in this series and others like it, check out the suspension galleries.

Well if you do, then cancel them.  The Tattoo Hollywood Convention is that weekend!

The convention runs all weekend long, and kicks off with an opening party Thursday night at Known Gallery (441 N. Fairfax Ave Los Angeles, CA 90036)

Conventions Dates & Hours
Friday August 20th: 5pm- 12am
Saturday August 21st: 12pm-12am
Sunday August 22nd: 12pm-8pm

Closing Party August 22nd 8PM-11pm (Artists, their guests and VIP passholders ONLY)

Ticket Prices: $20 a day, $40 weekend pass, $100 VIP weekend pass. Tickets are available at the door. VIP passes are extremely limited and include special event/artist access.

Hotel Information:

The Grand Ballroom
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
1755 N. Highland Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028

For more information, including a full list of tattoo artists appearing, seminar listings, and contests; head on over to www.tattoohollywood.com

Do you have an event coming up?  A tattoo convention?  Art exhibit?  Let me know about it!  Just send me an e-mail and your event could be featured on ModBlog.

Well, this is my first “Guess what?” post, so I’m hoping Sean approves of it.  I’ll give you 3 guesses as to what it is, and the first 2 won’t count.

So?  Think you know what it is?  Click to find out if you were right!

Did you say penis?  If you did, collect your prize!

This image was submitted anonymously to BME’s hard galleries.  If you’re not a member, and are thinking about getting a membership to our Hard/Surgical sections, you can sign up right here.

Several months ago we featured a story of art thievery that happened to include a backpiece that included a very well done Mucha tattoo.

While browsing through the galleries last night I stumbled upon this image submitted by md373…

I’d have to say, given the placement on the body, the artist did a great job manipulating a wide Mucha piece to fit on the recipient’s ribs.

You can see this image, as well as the step-by-step photos of the art being created in our tattoo galleries.

Also, if you have a story, image, or just something you think would be great to see on ModBlog, feel free to send an e-mail my way.

Shawn Porter is one of my oldest and dearest friends in this community. Aside from that, he has been an integral  part of the body modification world for longer than a lot of you guys have been alive. The BME Wiki entry on him has the basics on his contributions to this community, but really it doesn’t even begin to do him justice.

SPC , BME Extreme, the Modcon events and Scarwars are just a few of the bigger impacts he has made on this community. Aside from these and countless other contributions, he has also helped many people along in there body modification journeys, myself included.  Not bad for a guy who doesn’t work in the industry (or “hobby” as he often refers to it).

I won’t go on any longer about Shawn, as I am sure there will be plenty of other stuff shared in the comments section, but please take a moment to wish him a happy birthday, thank him for his contributions, buy him a gift or send him some well worn white cotton panties.

One of my favorite styles of tattooing is the feverish abstract art movement that has its greatest popularity in France, Belgium and even Montreal but is created by top artists around the world. One of those artists is Loic... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

As I posted earlier four members of our community were in a bad car wreck. Well if there is one thing our community is particularly good at it is helping other members of our community in their times of need. Some friends of ours in CORE have put together a benefit for  them  at the Next Door Bar that will take place  Saturday August 7th.

If you cannot make it out, please help spread the word.  Also if you would like to donate directly.  Please visit the main page of suspension.org and follow the paypal link.

Thank you in advance and we hope to see yall there.

Sorry for the delay! I was having some trouble with the email account where all of these lovely ladies pictures were stored, but all is resolved now and BME Girls are back!

For those of you interested in seeing this batch of girls who submitted their pictures for  possible use in the upcoming BME Girls Calendar, keep on reading. If this isn’t your thing, come back later for other types of modblog post.

REMEMBER: Absolutely zero negative comments will be tolerated!!!!!!

Lucy

Kelly Renae

Breanne

About being a featured girl: This event is open to all BME Girls age 18 and over. Girls of all shapes, sizes and race are encouraged to submit pictures. Contestants can be dressed or nude, but nothing too pornographic will be featured. Pictures need to be of decent quality, lest the readers condemn me to hell for posting webcam shots. Agreeing to be involved is consenting to be featured in the calendar, if you are selected for it. If you want to suggest someone, feel free to do so. I will contact them and see if they are interested, but no one will be featured without their explicit approval. To submit pictures, please email them to sean@bmezine.com. Make sure to include your IAM: name (or real name) in your email.

About voting: Votes will be tallied by emailing sean@bmezine.com, just make the subject “Vote (insert name of girl you choose)” and your vote will be tallied. Voting last 7 days (168 hours) from the time the girl was posted.  Votes will be anonymous, there is no reason for anyone to know who voted for whom and how many votes each girl got.  Voting for one week ends when the following weeks post goes up. Please note, this isn’t about competition, it’s about a fun, interactive way to get the readers involved in the selection process.

About Commenting: I am enforcing a strict ZERO TOLERANCE policy for negative comments about the girls. They are being kind enough to share themselves with us and to help BME make a calendar, they should not have to fear public ridicule. Negative comments will be deleted, if we have a repeat offender, all of their future modblog comments will be sent to moderation. This isn’t about censorship, it’s about common courtesy and respect.

Last night, I was looking around on the internet while thinking about a Hebrew tattoo I have wanted for a few years now. I happened upon a forum on a certain site where some poor soul had asked for the correct Hebrew spelling of a saying. He was then thoroughly raked over the coals by a few members who felt he had no business getting a tattoo in a language he could not speak and had no ties to.

It seems that this is forever a hot topic, particularly when you see so many celebrities getting misspelled tattoos (I’m looking at you David Beckham) because they really don’t understand the language. Our friend Tian over at Hanzi Smatter has a blog devoted to those hapless individuals who have attempted to get Kanji tattoos to represent certain ideas and wound up with a whole other meaning altogether.

While I feel my connections to both Hebrew and my Latin tattoo (”carpe diem” - I’m an English major, shush) are fairly solid, I’m also not sure where I stand on the argument that a person should have actual ties to the language if they’re going to permanently ink it into their flesh.

So, I turn to you dear reader and ask the following, should people only get tattoos in a language that they have a personal connection with and understanding of, or is it simply enough to enjoy the way it looks or what it represents (particularly in the case of Kanji)? Remember, there are no right or wrong answers so let’s play nice while we debate this!

This “memento mori” piece was sent to us by Chad who was inked by Timpac over at Forever Tattoo in Sacramento.

Memento Mori - Remember your mortality

In my next tattoo book, I won't just be featuring champion tattoo artists but also a number of exciting photographers. With this image featuring one of Americana's finest, Myke Chambers, photographed by Jaime Ibarra, it's a perfect union of... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

Currently modblog regular, Penguin Boy, his partner Baron Von Geiger (amazing earlobe weight lifter) and the rest of The Squidling Bros. are on tour with the Coney Island Cockabilly Roadshow.

I don’t make it out to shows too much anymore, but this may be worthy of making an exception for. Hell, they are even performing with Hick’ry Hawkins, a cat I used to watch at local South Carolina venues a bunch back in the nineties.

For tour dates, keep on keeping on.

Legos. Tattooed. One "badass" ad campaign. [The "badass" was theirs, not mine. I told ya I'm weening myself off the word.]The intricate and detailed tattoo designs were created to illustrate just how fine Pilot Extra-Fine ball-pens are. I think they... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

Next week, Solid State Publishing--an enterprise of Solid State Tattoo in Milwaukee--is releasing These Old Blue Arms: The Life and Work of Amund Dietzel. The preview page they've got up looks fantastic and at over 200 pages and a mere... Patrick Sullivan http://www.needlesandsins.com/patrick_sullivan.html

…and using that same reasoning, I should have known better than to search for modblog material on an empty stomach. Because now, thanks to Shannon, all I want is a big juicy hamburger. Oh well, it could be worse, I could have been looking through the subincisions and decided I wanted an overcooked hot dog.

Tattoo by Shannon Walsh of  Phoenix Ink Tattoo in Connecticut.

Could it be a penis? Of course it could. I know, I know, not another “Guess What ?” wang. The way I figure,  since I try and keep these types of pictures behind a click through, I may as well make a game out of them.

Submissions, courtesy of IAM: glowball.

In case you don’t quite get what’s going on, it’s a stretched halfadravya, that is intended to be the start of an inversion project.

When I got back to Brooklyn from the Traditional Tattoo & World Culture Fest in Ireland, I found the latest issue of the wonderful Swallows & Daggers tattoo zine waiting for me. Considering it's published in the place I'd... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

After 3 days of suspension and monday’s BBQ night party with (hopefully some nice branding action like last year) this years Oslo SusCon is over. Alexander Trowell (body piercer and student nurse from Southport, U.K.) wrote a great review I want to share with you here:

The ninth incarnation of Oslo Suscon has been up to its usual awesome standard, if not better. In practical terms there has been some tweaks and alterations to codes of practice, and the highly professional level of it all is impressive. It’s incredibly nice to see how it affects newcomers from other suspension teams, and I think it’s safe to say that the Wings of Desire crew are one of the most respected, competent and professional teams in the world at what they do.

Oslo SusCon Day 3

This time around there has been a BME-sponsored guest talk from the charismatic Emrys Yetz who gave us the lowdown on his group Rites of Passage, and Allan Falkner (TSD) did a really educational crew teaching-session on rigging. Ben and Alice (Constant Elevation) have shared stories on their London based suspension adventures, and we have seen Lucky Hell perform beautifully last night.

As has become tradition, there are participants and crew from a large number of countries here, fourteen to be precise. Norway, UK, US, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria and Australia, are all represented – not to be scoffed at, soon “we” will take on the Olympics! ;)

The Con kicked off properly for crew on Thursday, when the venue was set up, although the first suspension didn’t take place until Friday, when the first nine people hung. Saturday was busy busy busy, with a total of thirty-six suspensions.
It seems quite typical that some type of suspension becomes the mark of the Con, and at this one, the spinning beam has seen a lot of energetic action.

Jussi - Snake Oil Siedeshow at Oslo SusCon 2010

Sunday Jussi (Snake oil) performed for us (and the general walk-in public), as the end of the convention was drawing closer. At the time of writing, the final three suspendees are being pierced, and since we are ahead of schedule, it looks like round 2 may be possible for a few hopefuls.

As a factual follow-up to this, a total of 86 suspensions took place over the weekend, with around ten of these being people doing their second suspension for the weekend.

I would like to say, I’m sure on behalf of everyone who has been lucky enough to spend the weekend here, a massive thank you to Håvve, Christiane, and the rest of the Wings of Desire crew! Big thanks and respect also, to everyone who has volunteered, everyone who has pierced, rigged, and looked after myself and everyone else here. And finally, for those of you out there contemplating on coming next year, I can only say two words. Do it.

Peace. Alex

Hopefully this was not too much suspension on ModBlog this weekend - for everybody who can’t get enough I recommend sunday’s WingsOfDesire gallery

For my LA homies, this Saturday July 31st, Known Gallery will present Bob Roberts & Bert Krak's Ladies Welcome show, which will run until August 21st.What's particularly exciting about the show, in addition to the art on view of... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html

Lot’s of modblog readers are not members of IAM, but that’s no reason not to check out the events page and see what kind of BME BBQ’s and other social events may be going on in your area. For instance, coming up soon within a few hours of me are both the ROP BBQ and Bowling With Weirdos, two awesome annual events to see old friends and make new ones.

However, I don’t think it is fair for me to suggest to the readers that they should check out a BME BBQ without issuing the following warning:

Please come with an open mind. Some events can and will promote a potentially awkward homoerotic experience.

Left to right: Some Dude in a hat, Craig and Phil.

Photographic evidence by Alie.

It's not easy setting up an interview with a tattoo legend who doesn't need any press and has no time for your shit. [Or at least my shit.] Thankfully, the Godfather of Black & Grey tattoo, Jack 'From Way... Marisa Kakoulas DiMattia http://www.needlesandsins.com/marisa.html