I don’t understand sports fans.  What’s up sports fans?  What is it about sports that makes you proud about doing nutty, crazy, pointless things?  All right, you’re not all into doing nutty, crazy, pointless things.  Fair enough.  But for those of you sports fans out there who are into doing nutty, crazy, pointless things, all for the love of your favourite team or player, I must repeat my initial question: what’s up sports fans??

A year ago I wrote about 25-year-old Kirk Bradley, a soccer fan with a tattoo that ended up wrongly predicting the winner of the 2011 Champions League.  That whole thing seemed pretty mental at the time, but now yet another soccer fan has gone and seriously one upped Kirk Bradley’s tattoo insanity.

Colombian Felipe Alvarez has created what I guess some would call the ultimate tribute to his idol, Andres Escobar.  Escobar was a defender for the Colombia international football team and was assassinated in 1994, after accidentally scoring on his own goal during a match against the USA at the World Cup.  To commerate Escobar’s name and legacy, Felipe Alvarez has had Escobar’s jersey tattooed on to his body.  Front and back.  Yes, I’m serious.

In all honesty, I don’t really have a problem with Alvarez getting this tattoo done.  After reading some of the comments beneath this article, it’s plain to see that a lot of people think Alvarez is a total moron for doing what he’s done.  I don’t know, I guess if it makes him happy, then so be it.  My real complaint about this is that it just doesn’t look right to me.  I mean, it doesn’t really look like a jersey, except for the back part.  No slight against the tattoo artists who did it – it’s just one of those things that just doesn’t come off looking realistic to me.  Maybe if they would have filled in the rest of his flesh with white, but that’s not all that practical of a procedure.  Then again, getting a jersey tattooed on to your body isn’t really all that practical, either.

Ah, Japan.  I know that I’ve written numerous times about Japan on this blog and I realise that I always end up apologising for my continuous disdain for Japanese society’s general conception of tattoos and the tattooed.  Yet once again I find myself back in this spot, ready to give Japan a cyber-tongue lashing/beatdown.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m picking on Japan and it’s not like there aren’t many people in Japan who have progressive and realistic views of tattoo culture.  Some of these tattoo positive Japanese citizens happen to be friends of mine, so yeah, I’m aware that not everyone in Japan has a negative view of tattoos.  I guess it’s exactly because I know Japanese people who are tattooed and who tattoo that I get even more irked at the small-mindedness that exists there.  The fact that people have to put up with the crap that they do in Japan makes all the tattoo stereotypes that exist over here in North America and in many other parts of the world seem kind of trivial in retrospect.

The most recent addition to the plight of the tattooed in Japan comes oddly enough, from an incident involving someone who isn’t Japanese.  Kelly Osbourne.  If you actually bother to pay any attention to what’s been going on with Kelly Osbourne recently, you’d know that she’s in the process of getting many of her tattoos removed because she no longer likes them and I guess they just don’t suit her new image.  Well after this weekend, I’m sure she’s more resolved than ever to get rid of those pesky tattoos.

Osbourne was in Japan over the weekend and went to work out at a local Tokyo health club.  Upon arriving at the gym she was promptly told that she would not be allowed in to work out if she didn’t cover up her tattoos with flesh coloured tape.

‘Kelly has inkings all over her body, including on her feet, arms and back, and was told they couldn’t be on display when she went for a workout.

“just went to the gym where i was told i was not allowed in unless i coverd my tattoos with flesh colored tape it was sooooo weird (sic)!”‘

No word if Osbourne actually complied with the request, but the simple fact that she was asked to cover up her tattoos while working out is more than a little idiotic.  Oh Japan, will you ever change your views on tattoos?  I sure hope so.

Colin Jones has the skills to make looking through his portfolio a bit of a treat.  I love it when I find a tattoo artist whose work increasingly excites me as I flip through tattoo after tattoo.  He’s only been tattooing since 2003, he’s entirely self-taught and oh yeah, I’m not just saying he’s good because we both share the same surname.  He’s very much a gifted artist.

Colin’s tattoo studio is called Stained Glass and is located in the town of Shrewsbury, England.  Judging from the information on the studio’s website, Stained Glass is a small, tightly knit spot for a tattoo, staffed with some very fine artists indeed.

Though Colin’s work is more recently becoming influenced by his interest in Asian and Japanese design, he also seems to be able to handle it all and maintains a particular passion for working on cover ups – something that not too many tattooists have a liking for.  If you take a look through his online portfolio, you can flip through Jones’ cover up work and see that he certainly does have a knack for it.  For sure, there’s some really nice transformations on there.

If you’re ever in the area, stop by Stained Glass and meet Colin and the lads.  There’s some good stuff going on.

One of the many things that I love about tattoos is the responsibility involved with the whole thing.  I’m big on personal responsibility and for that reason, a tattoo is one of those things in which you need to acknowledge the responsibility that goes along with it.  You want a portrait of your grandmother tattooed on your back?  Well then it’s your responsibility to be sure that it’s really the tattoo you want, just like it’s your responsibility to seek out an artist who has the skill level to pull off the tattoo to your liking.

So when I read about people like Elmwood Park, Illinois resident Eugenia Bebis, I tend to get a little irritated.  Back on June 5th, Eugenia entered the Mystic Tattoo Art & Body Piercing Corp. on Chicago’s Northwest side and asked for a Chicago White Sox logo on her thigh.  It wasn’t until after actually being tattooed that Eugenia realised the mistake – the White Sox logo on her thigh had been tattooed backwards.

As of this past Thursday, Eugenia Bebis has filed a lawsuit, seeking $100,000, plus the cost of her laser treatments necessary to have the backwards logo removed as well as the costs accrued from filing the lawsuit against the Mystic Tattoo shop and the tattoo artist responsible for the error, Micah St. John.

‘The suit claims Bebis suffered pain from the laser treatments and disfigurement from the backwards tattoo and the treatments.

The suit claims, among other things, Mystic Tattoo failed to notice the tattoo was being inked backwards and didn’t adequately train and supervise employees.’

Granted, tattooing something backwards on a client is a pretty stupid move, but I have to say that despite this bit of rookie idiocy, the real blame for this incident lies with Eugenia Bebis.  If you don’t take a look at what is about to be tattooed on to your flesh after the trace paper is removed or even if you do and you approve what you see, then you really have no one to blame but yourself if the final product turns out to be the complete opposite of what you wanted.

Let this be a lesson to everyone out there when they get tattooed – look at what you are going to have tattooed on to you when the artist gives you that final chance.  There’s a reason they do that, so don’t just assume that the artist has done everything perfectly.  Sure, the artist should have done it perfectly, but when all is said and done, do you really want someone else deciding whether or not what is about to be etched into your flesh for life is good enough?  Take the responsibility of getting a tattoo one step further and ensure everything is right.  It’s your tattoo, not theirs.  Right?

Texas is home to many extremely talented tattooists and a thriving tattoo scene.  With all that great tattooing going on, there’s bound to be some bad tattooing going on, or in this particular case, some just plain weird tattooing going on.

To be fair, this article isn’t exactly the best journalism around and it certainly isn’t overly informative so I guess we’ll just have to take it with a grain of salt.  That being said, from what the article says, this is some seriously messed up, freakish shit.

Apparently one Alexander Hill went to see Galveston, Texas tattooist James Pantalion Jr. for a tattoo last February.  Hill claims that he fell asleep while Pantalion was tattooing him and when he awoke, Pantalion Tasered him twice: once in the leg and once in the chest.  Unsurprisingly enough, Hill is now suing Pantalion for Tasering him because he didn’t actually want to be Tasered, he just wanted to be tattooed.  Hill filed his lawsuit this past September 24th.

What the hell?  Did I miss something?  I don’t know about you but it seems to me like somebody isn’t quite telling the whole story here.  Logic tells me that unless James Pantalion Jr. is a total psychopath, that Tasering a tattoo client for no apparent reason isn’t the best thing for business.  So I’m thinking that the clue to all this falls with Alexander Hill who just might have a couple of skeletons in his closet.

I eagerly await more news in the coming months.  I’ll keep you posted…

All apologies for not mentioning it sooner, but the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious London Tattoo Convention took place this past September 24th-26th at the Tobacco Dock in London, England.  Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, though in the future if anyone wants to pay my way to attend tattoo conventions so that I can report on them, I’m all for it. (No chance, I know.)

Any how, although the London Tattoo Convention isn’t exactly the cheapest tattoo convention around – £25 at the door for Saturday, which is basically $40 US, and £20 for Sunday – it is after all London, and nothing is cheap there so you just kind of have to suck it up because the convention looks like a whole lot of fun.

More than two hundred tattoo artists from around the world set up camp and tattooed, met new people and took in the entertainment, which ranged from live bands, to fire breathers to photography exhibits.  The convention itself attracts over 20,000 people.  Did you know that 20 percent of the British population is tattooed?  Now you do.

Check out these photos from the 2010 London Tattoo Convention.  All I can say is that I wish I’d been there.

Despite the fact that Abbott and Costello films and the odd History channel documentary make up the extent of my knowledge about mummies, I’ve always been intrigued by the very concept of mummification and all that it entails.  Yes, I’m far from an expert on the topic, but I am always willing to learn a little more about the burial processes of these ancient peoples.

Well, one thing that I’ve recently learned is that not all mummies came from Egypt.  Nope, mummies have been found in places like Russia, Italy, Denmark and Greenland, to name but a few.  At any rate, the mummies that recently caught my eye are those that were found in Peru, from the Chinchorros culture.  Yes, it’s amazing that these preserved bodies have been found and yes, it’s amazing that these mummies even exist at all, but something that I really find amazing are the tattoos found on a particular mummy that was excavated in the Chiribaya Alta in southern Peru.

The mummy itself is a female, and dates back 1,000 years.  The tattoos on the mummy are particularly diverse and shed more light on the concept of ancient tattoos while perhaps offering larger conclusions about what exactly the purpose of some of the tattoos could have been.

‘The female mummy in the study is much more recent, from about 1,000 B.C., and bore tattooed animals like “birds, apes, reptiles in addition to symbols.” Rings were tattooed on four of the fingers with soot.

Most intriguing to the researchers, 12 overlapping circles tattooed on the woman’s neck resemble “therapeutic” tattoo spots corresponding to acupuncture points used to relieve neck pain.’

Acupuncture points tattooed on the body 1,000 years ago?  Wow, I don’t care what anyone says – that’s more than a little advanced.  Today we all pat ourselves on the back because we can access the internet on our mobile phones, but hell, mummification, tattooing and knowledge of acupuncture points kind of indicates pretty educated and advanced cultures from long before any of us were ever around.  I’m sure that’s only the tip of the iceberg, too.  Actually,  I’m surprised that these cultures had time to tattoo and learn different acupuncture points.  After all, when you’re dealing with mummies, I can see it being really easy to get all “wrapped up” in your work!  Get it?  Wrapped up? Hahaha haha, oh man, that’s rich.

Anyway, I thought I’d drop some science on y’all today, along with your daily dose of tattoo info.  If you’re interested in learning more about these mummies and their crazy tattoos, then you should check out this article and this one as well.

COLOUR!

That is exactly the first thing that entered my mind when I first saw Bruce Kaplan’s work.  Sure, he also does black and grey work and sure, lots of tattooists use colour, but Kaplan’s use of colour provides such an impact that his work instantly strikes you.  It’s not as if Kaplan simply relies on reeling people in with a vibrant use of colour and not much else.  Oh no, my friends, Bruce has got it all goin’ on.  His art is tight – there’s no sloppy lines or sub-par renderings here.  Not even close.  Bruce Kaplan gets your attention and keeps it because his work is a treat to look at.  I can only imagine being lucky enough to actually wear it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of information about Bruce to pass on to you.  He’s the owner of Lark Tattoo in Albany, New York and that’s really all that I can tell you.  His bio is coming soon to his website and until then, I guess you’ll just have to wait to find out more about the mysterious Mr. Kaplan.  Really though, there are enough first rate photos of Bruce’s work at his website to keep anyone busy.  And if for some reason that isn’t enough for you, why not make an appointment to get tattooed by him?  That way you’ll get a sweet tattoo and plenty of time to ask the guy whatever you want.

As far as I’m concerned, Bruce Kaplan is one of the best tattooists that I’ve stumbled upon in a long time.  So Bruce, if you’re out there and happen to be reading this, don’t be shy!  Do whatever you can to get your work out there to the public because you deserve the recognition.  Then again, judging by the way that you tattoo, it won’t be long before you’re getting more attention than you can handle (if you aren’t already – which something tells me you probably are).

Who doesn’t love a good T-shirt?  Not me, that’s for sure.  Sure, in the past few years we’ve seen a lot of different tattooists put out their own brand of clothing and there are no small amount of tattooists whose designs currently grace the odd T-shirt. Well, how about a clothing line designed by two dudes who aren’t tattooists, but just appreciate tattoo art?  Legionnaire Army is a clothing line created by designer Joe Moxley and frontman of the pop punk band MxPx, Mike Herrera.  The clothing itself seems to take a lot of influence from old school flash and classic American tattoos, as well as Day of the Dead imagery.

In coming up with a line that he felt comfortable with, Joe Moxley has been quoted as saying that everything he was looking at just came off looking rather junky.  Instead of imitating what others were doing, Moxley and Co decided to head off in their own direction with Legionnaire Army.  The end result is a line of men’s and women’s apparel as well as hats and posters.  Though Legionnaire Army has been around since 2007, their clothing lines are still very small in size and restricted to T-shirts.  Still, the T-shirts are pretty cool.  I’m especially fond of the Tattoos Are Good For The Soul T-shirt because, hey, it’s just the plain truth.

Check out the rest of what Legionnaire Army has to offer here.

There are very few people in the tattoo world like Ed Hardy.  By that I mean that depending on who you’re talking to, the mere mention of the name Ed Hardy can invoke everything from respect to outright disdain.  Any tattooist worth their salt knows that there can be no debating on the legendary status of Hardy’s tattoo reputation.  At 65 years of age, he was in the game long before the vast majority of today’s tattoo artists.  He is something of a Don, which – no pun intended (okay, maybe a little bit of pun intended) – also happens to be his first name.  Don Ed Hardy is certainly to be respected as a tattoo pioneer and an artist who helped to transform tattooing toward what it currently is.

And that’s where the other camp, the one that sees Ed Hardy as nothing more than tacky sportswear and trendy garbage typically worn by aggressive mouth-breathers and their tacky entourages, pipe in with their two cents.  You see, for most people, Ed Hardy is not a name that is typically associated with respect and admiration as any sort of legend in his field.  For most people, the tattoo history linked to Don Ed Hardy is as foreign a concept to them as is the concept of becoming a Whirling Dervish.

The truth of the matter is that Ed Hardy actually doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the clothing that everyone seemingly loves to hate.  The thanks for that should all be attributed to French designer Christian Audigier, the same dude who made Ashton Kutcher’s life worth living several years back with the Von Dutch trucker hat trend.  In fact all that Ed Hardy actually has to do with his clothing line is the licensing of his designs to Audigier.  After that, Hardy just rakes in the cash.  No more, no less.

Perhaps more people will learn about Don Ed Hardy with the release of the documentary Ed Hardy Tattoo the World, which recently had its world premiere at the Honolulu International Film Festival.  The next screenings for it will be in October and you can check out a full listing here.  At any rate, the documentary examines the early years and life of this fascinating figure, a figure who if there were such a thing, would absolutely have his place secured in the Tattoo Hall of Fame.