Marcin Gortat, of the Orlando Magic, has been asked by Reebok to cover up his Jordan tattoo with either makeup or by wearing high sox. Gortat’s response to there request, he said “They called and said I had to do something about it, but that ain’t going to happen. I’ve been wearing it 4-5 years now, and it helped me get to the NBA. They didn’t say anything about it when I signed the contract, so it’s not going anywhere. I don’t think they are paying me enough to take it off.”

If Reebok didn’t make a big deal out of this nobody would be talking about Gortat’s Michael Jordan Tattoo, he’s a decent player who barely plays ten minutes a game. It’s just refreshing for a player to stand up for his principals, as the only player in the whole league from Poland his journey has certainly been a tough one and if he draws inspiration from his tattoo let him be. Also it sounds like his deal isn’t very big where his principals can be bought.

Oh the mere word free, is there any word better than that?  Well…yeah, there are probably a couple…but, uh, what about when you take the word free and add on the word tattoos?  I bet that makes you give a squeal of glee doesn’t it?  Hells yeah, free tattoos!  I’m not messing with you either, I’m serious: there are indeed free tattoos to be had this weekend, if you happen to live in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Why?  What’s gotten into the tap water in Philadelphia that has made people actually want to give tattoos away for free?  I’m not 100% certain, but it has something to do with music and advertising.

Philadelphia tattoo related “accessory” shop Sailor Jerry has announced that this Sunday, June 14th, they will be hosting an event in which people are tattooed for free.  The catch?  Well, the free tattoo is the logo of relatively uninspiring Philadelphia band, The AKA’s.

Oh.

Yeah, okay, so it’s not really that great to get a free tattoo of a band that no one listens to.  But uh…it’s free, right?  Is that exciting you at all?  I didn’t think so.  Well, incase you actually are a fan of The AKA’s and you live in Philadelphia and you want a free tattoo of their band logo, then you should probably get some more information about all this from here.

If you’re none of those aforementioned things, then you’ll just have to pay for your tattoos like everybody else, ya cheap bastard.

Tampa Bay, Florida tattoo artist Benny Perez is one unlucky and at the same time, lucky guy. This past Saturday, Perez was working at K&B Tattooing, on Tampa’s Busch Boulevard, when three men: Antonio Madden, Dominic Baldwin and Melvin Monroe-Wilson came in for a tattoo estimate.  Perez helped them out and they left, only to return several minutes later with a gun.

The three men then proceeded to rob the place blind: jewelery, cash and a rifle were all taken.  They tied up Perez and his girlfriend, Erica Grulke, who happens to be three months pregnant. When the men left the tattoo shop, Grulke managed to wriggle free from the rope and then untie Perez.  Perez in turn, grabbed his piece and took off after the robbers.  When he caught up with the three men, Perez fired a shot at them.  One of the men returned fire from roughly six-feet away and caught Perez in the head.

Miraculously, the robbers were apprehended and Perez survived.  He spent a remarkably modest four hours at the hospital before being released.  Perez then went on to say:

“Thank god I’m alive. I got a kid to take care of.”

Yes, very true.  You do have a kid to take care of, Benny.  Which makes me wonder why the hell you went after the three dudes in the first place.  Bad call, Benny Perez.  I know the guy risked his life and all, and that this is no joking matter, but I sure as hell hope that he tattoos better than he deals with potentially life threatening situations.  However much money those three guys got away with it, it isn’t worth risking your life over, especially when as Perez says, he has a kid to take care of.  Not to mention that I don’t even think Perez owns K&B tattoo shop – at least I can’t find anything that says he owned the shop rather than simply worked at it.

Well…regardless of what I think of the efforts that Perez made, it’s good that everything ended okay.  Antonio Madden, Dominic Baldwin and Melvin Monroe-Wilson are all currently sitting in jail, awaiting sentencing.  Don’t mess with tattoo artists, chumps.

Sometimes the mixed signals of our economy baffles me, but I guess it’s all in how any particular person looks at things. We here at Tattoo Blog have published numerous posts about the recession proof ability of tattooing recently, so I guess it was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped, at least in New Mexico.

According to a recent article on KOB Eyewitness News in NM there is a rapidly increasing trend in tattoo removal. Because of the limited job market, and the fear it generates, I would not be surprised to find that the trend is quickly engulfing the rest of the good ‘ol US of A.

I am, of course talking about the increasing interest in tattoo removal. I, myself, have noticed the alarming increase in the snake oil, do it yourself, charlatans. Not only on the web, but also in various radio commercials for their useless crap. Considering that laser removal takes anywhere from six to ten sessions at $200.00 a pop, it’s not surprising that people look for a cheaper alternative. However, the hidden part of that equation is that if there were not a demand, there would not be a product.

The reason being given for the new trend in tattoo removal is, of course, the job market. According to the article, some employers are even offering to pay for the removal. With a “pay me back from your future earnings” clause I’ll bet. Still, the objections seem to be centered on visible tattoos, as in neck, hands, and facial tattoos.

Now even as hardcore as I am about my own ink, I have never tattooed any of those places on myself. I just never thought them to be a cool place to have my art. Not that I’m about to put anyone down for doing so. It is your body, your art, and I’m not about to tell anyone what to do with either. I would like to offer a small piece of advice, though.

If you do love your ink, then why not limit your tattoos to areas of your body that can be easily hidden? I understand the human need to express oneself as an individual, but what good is that if you are just going to have to pay out the ass to have it removed? Or worse, pay big bucks for some con artist’s crap cream and risk your health by trying to get off cheap?

My own ink stays, but if I want to I can hide it from a prospective employer with nothing more than a long sleeved shirt. Especially if that employer happens to be a tattoo hater. It’s either that, or limiting your prospects to jobs that don’t give a crap whether you are un-tattooed, or the second coming of the Enigma. Not a whole lot open in that field, I’m afraid.

As for the art of tattooing, it isn’t going to matter anyway. Tattooing always has, and always will be a part of the human condition to a large part of society. It may ebb and flow like the tide, but like the ocean it will always be there.

Peace out, Gang, and think before you ink. 😉

You know, it sometimes amazes me the length that tattoo haters will go to when attempting to show their disgust for one of humankind’s oldest art forms. Case in point the memorial tattoo that Aussie supermodel Lara Bingle had put on her wrist in memory of her father Graham Bingle’s passing away due to liver and pancreatic cancer last May.

Now, I’m not the most sensitive person in the world, and I can get downright nasty with certain things that I personally dislike, but kicking someone who got a tattoo in memory of a lost loved one is crossing the line. Just barely under defacing the deceased’s grave, and I place the anonymous author of this piece piece of literary crap right along side of people who would trip a blind man just for kicks.

Not only does he show his complete ignorance of the tattoo world by misidentifying the tattoo as a tramp stamp, (it’s on her wrist, by the way), but the insensitive reject from a prison rape has the miniscule balls to call it the worst tattoo he has ever seen. I’m sure he has seen enough to make himself an expert on the subject of what makes a good tattoo. Probably stayed a Holiday Inn, so he can comment on the proper way to conduct brain surgery as well.

Dude, if your not smart enough to even use spell check before posting your garbage, I’m fairly confident your not smart enough to be an expert of anything. Other than a lack of humanity and how to look like a complete ass while feeding your ego. As in; “Looky at me! I is an intelegent riter!”

Makes me wonder where some sites get the contributors to provide their content from?

Back to our heroine, though. Lara states that she is not much into tattoos, but she felt the grief of losing her father so suddenly should have some permanence in her life, thus the tattoo. Her fiancée, Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke, has her initials emblazoned on his bicep, just above a huge guardian angel.

Lara promised her father to raise awareness of bowel cancer in Oz for the rest of her life and has accepted a position as a leading ambassador for a cancer support group. She is now urging people to get regular check-ups after her father went undiagnosed for five years. About 90 per cent of cancer sufferers who are diagnosed early survive the disease.

Good for you, Love. And personally, I think your tattoo is aces!

Know a great tattoo artist who is good at skull tattoo pictures and designs? Leave a link to there skeleton tattoos in the comments and we’ll add them to Tattoo Blog!

Once again I have to plead ignorance.  Until a few days ago, I had no idea who Megan Fox was.  Then I heard that she turned down Angelina Jolie’s role as Lara Croft for a third Tomb Raider movie.  THEN I read this blurb about her where she announced that she is going to go for the full sleeve on one of her arms and I have to say, that surprised me.

Unfortunately, tattoos are not always so popular with Hollywood, and an actor has the number of roles they are able to play significantly cut as a result of being tattooed.  That still doesn’t seem to bother Megan, as she mentions that:

I’m not kidding when I say that if I ever lose a role because of my tattoos, I’ll quit Hollywood and go to work at Costco.”

KA-BOOM!  Smoke on, that Hollywood.  Megan Fox would rather work at Costco that play by your shitty rules.  Your rules cramp her wildcat style.

Hollywood might just have the final word on it, though, as it is Hollywood.  No further explanation needed on that one, I don’t think. 

What’s that?  Quitting Hollywood and working at Costco sucks?  Yeah, yeah that actually does.  You might want to rethink that one, Megan.  Still, I commend her for her determination to do her own thing.  I also commend her for loving tattoo work so much that she’s willing to give up her career over it. 

Believe it or not, some people really like kids.  They are called parents.  In some cases, these “parents” even admit to loving kids.  Now let’s see here, what could I do if I had a child and wanted to remember them on a very personal level? Hmmm…what about a…tattoo?!  Excellent idea, yes.  

Some people are doing just that and getting tattoos of their children, or their children’s favourite toys, or in some cases, even getting their own children’s artwork tattooed on to them. Which incidentally, I like very much, Mr. The Portrait of Kid’s Self Portraits.  I’m not so sure about the connect the dots one, though.  The last thing I want to do is give a bored kid a marker and my flesh as a canvas.  Meh…whatever.

Maybe it’s just me (and it quite possibly could be), but isn’t there a little bit of a competitive vibe here with the different parents getting all the different baby or child tattoos?  It’s sort of like who can get a more original representation of their child tattooed first.  That’s cool and all, because who doesn’t like a little bit of competition now and again?  But let’s just keep this civil alright?  No, My kid is better than your kid nonsense, all right?  No soccer mom fist fight in some church parking lot somewhere, if you please.

Let’s keep it civil, folks.

Considering all the hype and hullabaloo about tattoo removal out there now days I have been thinking. What makes the difference between a collector and someone who is just getting tattooed to be “cool”?

Recently even Playboy Playmate, reality television star and Hugh Hefner’s “number one girl”, Holly Madison, had her infamous Bunny Tramp Stamp removed, and my esteemed partner in crime, Mjones already outed Pharrell Williams’ attempts to remove his tattoos. Add to that the countless “do it at home” vultures out there with their tattoo regret quick fix’s. (Or, as I happily call them: Bullshit Artists.). I have to wonder what makes the difference between them and a true tattoo collector?

Simple, a tattoo collector is serious about their ink. First, and foremost, they will think before they ink. Second, and here’s the tale of the tape, if a serious collector does happen to end up with a tattoo they regret, (Which isn’t often.), The first thought on their mind is not how to remove the tattoo, but what can I cover this up with?

That is the difference.

Naturally, I am biased. My own tattoos are not fads, they are not flavors of the month, and I certainly am not about to regret them. I didn’t get my tattoos to be cool. I got them because I wanted them. Even if I had not gotten the chance to be a tattoo artist, I would still have them. My ink is part of who I am.

So, if the only reason you want a tattoo is to be cool, or part of the current “in” crowd. Stick with the temporary shit. One, it will save you heaps of money, and pain. Two, a real tattoo won’t make you any less a poser. You’ll just have it lasered off anyway.

Me? I’ll be showing off my ink in the nursing home while trying to cop a feel off the cute nurses. It’s amazing how much of a distraction a good tattoo can be. 😉

Love your ink. Ink what you love.

(Hmmmm? Do you think a couple “nakid nursey” tats would tip my hand too much?)

You know, speaking of misspellings in tattoos, I had to wonder about what the consequences would be if there were a misspelling in, (arguably), the ultimate science geek tattoo.

The tattoo is made up of three physics equations, and that comes out as so much Greek to me, but basicly the first is the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. A way for physicists to calculate two different parts of a molecule. It’s energy, and it’s wave function.

The second eye bender is the same thing, but expressed as a 3-Dimensional Schroedinger Equation instead, according to Joe, the owner of the tattoo.

The last line is the solution of either equation in the form of a Schroedinger Equation.

Joe, I’ll take your word for it.

Considering the tattoo has it’s roots in Quantum physics though, I have to wonder. If the artist got any part of the equations wrong……does that mean reality as we know it is gonna collapse, or would he accidentally find the correct equation for creating wormholes?

Either way, congrats on getting one hell of a tattoo, and honestly earning the title of “The Ultimate Science Geek Tattoo”. Our fellow science tattoo fiends are going to be hard pressed to top that one!

Unless it’s a tattoo that proves the String Theory. 😉

(via Discover)