KnuckleRockers.com Plan of Action

I've actually be having a lot of fun thinking about this and getting ready to move into planning and design. First and foremost, I'm going to use this as a learning exercise to teach myself some new technology, so don't expect a very rapid turn around. I figure I'll either build the site using Ruby on Rails or Django, so that'll be cool. I think I have the option of using PostreSQL on the backend, so I might do that, as well. (Not that I expect this to be a big test of a database...)

As for features, I think we want the following for submissions: tagging, commenting, searching, ranking, and maybe a "favorites" pool (favorites could work as a binary ranking system... the more a submission is "favorited", the more popular it is...). Ideally there would be an RSS/Atom feed for the latest submissions.

Users need profiles with optional links to blogs, Flickr accounts, MySpace pages, etc.. They could also have some semi-social functionality like "buddies", and so forth.

Hopefully we can run out some t-shirts/stickers/whatev from the best submissions. There's some vague potential for some actual goods, but that's nowhere near reality at this point.

What else do we want/need?

Knuckle Rockers

I enjoy thinking up (mostly ironic) ideas for knuckle tattoos. It's fun, you should try it. Here are a few to get you started, ranging from the classic to the silly (some borrowed from McSweeney's):

  • HOLD FAST -- Sailors were apparently dumb and needed the reminder.
  • LOVE HATE
  • GOOD EVIL
  • ROCK ROLL -- I'm generally not a fan. It loses a lot without the "&".
  • DEAD SEXY
  • LONE WOLF -- For the Chuck Norris fans.
  • THUG LIFE -- Tupac lives.
  • ROCK HARD
  • IRON FIST -- For the martial artists out there.
  • CODE FAST -- For the baddest geek in the world.

I know my brother-in-law, Chris, keeps a running list of knuckle rocker ideas, so hopefully he'll share a few gems.

Anyone else?

Inked Sucks

Inked's Clark North Speaks Out

I'm very bummed with what they did with the first season, as were we all, and we would not work again with the same producers on site. That's why the second season was done with an entirely different group. I don't know what they'll do this time but I hope this filming will be more positive to the art form. If not, I think I'll give up and leave.

Nice to see at least some the artists on the show realize how bad the thing is. Not surprisingly, Clark was the only person I actually liked from the few episodes I watched.

Tattoo Tidbits

First, an ever-so-vaguely tattoo-related entertainment tidbit: Prison Break makes its comeback tonight!

The return of ''Prison Break" after almost four months is a welcome event, and the next three episodes are good enough, if not great. The hour due on April 3, which flashes back to the pre-prison life of a few of the convicts, is the best of the trio, as it provides a much-needed sense of history and breadth.

I watched a large portion of the FX marathon yesterday, so I'm all jazzed for it. Especially since it's now the lead-off hitter for 24, the best damned show on the tele right now.

For the juicy bits, Marisa has been giving us lots of good tattoo love at Needled lately...

  • First, two posts illustrate conflicting attitudes regarding inkwork in the workplace:
    • On one hand, we have Boston.com's "Visible Ink", which paints a fairly positive picture of acceptance in the white collar world.

      It is part of an ever-increasing openness toward ink that has exploded over the past 15 years. When Dr. Myrna Armstrong at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center began studying tattoos in the late 1980s, attitudes toward them were wound tightly around stereotypes of convicts, sailors, and carny folk. More recently, however, she's found that tattoos have crossed firmly into popular culture. The studies she has conducted have found that nearly 25 percent of subjects are sporting some kind of tattoo, and those numbers are not restricted to bike messengers and indie rockers.

    • But maybe that's just a coastal point of view. Closer to the Heartland, things seem slightly different, as the Daily Herald's "Tattoos in the modern workplace pose culture clash" article shows.

      In a 2001 study done by Vault.com, a research and employment information services company that profiles U.S. companies, almost 60 percent of employers said they would be less likely to hire someone with visible tattoos or piercings. Almost half of those surveyed said they would have a lower opinion of someone they work with or meet who has visible body art.

      The key word in the tattoo issue seems to be "visible." Forty-five percent of the same employers said they had a tattoo or piercing other than pierced ears. When body art is concealed, only 11 percent of employers said it would affect their decision to hire someone.

    This is something I've considered fairly carefully. Currently, the majority of my inkwork falls into the "visible" category -- I have large tattoos on both forearms, with only two others that generally get covered up by everyday clothing. When it first occurred to me to get ink below short-sleeve level (I'm kind of building my sleeves in the opposite direction of most people...) I took a moment to consider the impact it might have in the workplace. Ultimately I decided I'd be willing to wear long-sleeved shirts if I ended up working someplace that had an issue with it. At the same time though, I was making an implicit statement that I'd rather not work for that kind of employer. I've decided to make tattoos a significant part of my life and who I am. I'd much rather work for someone who understands that.

  • Marisa also points us to this article about the Sailor Jerry brand and the trend of tattoo imagery in fashion.

    Until now, Sailor Jerry has sold largely through word of mouth in the fashion community. But with the trend on the upsurge, Grasse says he has turned down licensing agreements with Nokia and a company that wanted to make Sailor Jerry temporary tattoos because, he says, those could never be authentic Sailor Jerry items.

    You all know I love me some Sailor Jerry schwag.

Whuzzup?

Just some randomness:

  • Man, it seems like Google has de-listed the BlahStuff (or at least ranked me down a ton). My traffic has dropped by more than half starting last Wednesday. If any of y'all that get regular Google hits felt like mentioning BS in a fresh post in the hopes to re-upping my Google-juice, I'd appreciate it.
  • Hey, look! It's Mars!
  • Monkey pictures are fun.
  • Started working on a new double desk set-up for our office on Saturday. Got some nice 3/4" maple veneer plywood and glued some half-inch MDF on the bottom to strengthen it up a bit. Got to use my flush-cutting router bit for the first time, but then it got all cold and snowy. Gonna treat the edges with some strips of this cool laminated oak I have, so it should give a cool effect. Photos when there's something to see.
  • My tattoo has a few spots that will require touch-up. I wonder if it's just me, in general, or the forearm location, specifically, or a combo that cause me such problems in healing my tattoos.
  • Saw Murderball on A&E. Good stuff (except for all the Dog the Bounty Hunter commercials). Zupan's the man.
  • The BU Terriers swept UMass and will meet UNH in the Hockey East semifinals.
  • My friends at the Exchange Tavern managed to shoehorn a dart board into their fine establishment. I'm excited. Now if only they'd update their web site.
  • What with Miracle Ed's visit and the fresh tattoos, we've been out of the hot box for over a month now. Time to get back on the horse real soon. Luckily I haven't slipped much (yet).
  • The biggest crawdaddy you'll ever see (thanks Brandon).

Anchors Aweigh

"So, Heather's worried her anchor is going to be too butch, so you need to gay it up a little for her.""Too butch? It's an anchor for crying out loud! It can't help but be butch." "I know. Throw some flowers or swallows on the thing or something."

That's a conversation I had with our family tattooist, Fish while Ed was getting his greenman. So, yeah, as you may have gathered, The Wife is getting a new tattoo today.

Sadly, I am unable to attend the inking, and will have to wait until I get off work to see the latest masterpiece to come off Fish's needles.

Pictures to follow...

In the meantime, here's a little history on anchor tattoos (courtesy of Sailor Jerry):

The anchor has become quite the staple in the tattoo world but was originally associated with young sailors first trip over the Atlantic. The anchor tattoo has become a symbol for stability and a strong foundation. It can also symbolize a lover and the stability that lover has brought to their lives. In ancient times the anchor was a symbol with ties to the early Christian church. An anchor tattoo can also be thought of as holding one steadfast, like an anchor holding a great sailing ship safe in harbour, against winds and currents that might carry it astray. How Romantic.

Damn right.

Update (12:28pm): Just heard from The Wife -- apparently the anchor goes through a heart and there will be a life preserver inside the arm. And there's a banner that will be left blank for the time being (Feel free to submit suggestions. My current favorite idea: SINK OR SWIM). She's super excited and says it's beautiful. She also says she needs to start working out so she can be as badass as her tattoos seem. ;) I also reminded her that her phone has a camera and should be able to post to my Flickr account, but we may have to depend on Miracle Ed to figure that crap out.

God Bless the Socialized North

Good news for inmates who aren't already tattooed

"The program has advantages in that we can take a practice that already occurs, and make it safer," said Holly Knowles, a spokeswoman for Correctional Services Canada. "We're trying to reduce the amount of make-shift needles."

Isn't that nice? Now the boys in the joint can get their prison tattoos without fear of infection. Yay!

I wonder if the authorities will try to censor content at all.

Oh, and since when are Canadian dollars almost neck and neck with US greenbacks?!

Prisoners are allowed a one-hour controlled session with an inmate tattoo artist for C$5 (US$4.25).

Wasn't it almost two-to-one a couple years ago? Looks like the Loonie has been on the rise as of late, while the green stuff has generally been sliding. So much for that "act like a millionaire gansta" vacation to Canada, eh?

Ink Feeds the Ego

Forget Botox, I Prefer My Tattoo

In the weeks since, I've thought about how it is that scars make us human. Far from thinking it a mistake, I am so proud of my new tattoo that I have been walking around sockless, even in the pouring rain and the freezing cold. I pull up my foot in restaurants to show it off and find myself talking to total strangers, to kids with holes in their noses and navels and pictures of writhing snakes and dragons all over their bodies.

When we chat, I like to think that what they see is not an often tired, wrinkled 53-year-old woman but a fabulous tattooed lady with an open book on her ankle, a woman with a story to tell. And that, to me, is a beautiful thing. It makes me feel alive.

Having a visible tattoo definitely opens you up to a lot of random human contact. I get at least a couple people every week (especially food service folks) talking to me about my set of family crests on my forearm. At first it freaked me out (I don't talk to strangers much), but since I've put two and two together and realized I signed myself up for this by getting the tattoos, I just go with it now.

It's actually kind of nice.

---

Totally unrelated: UV ink?! Needled has more info.

More Tattoo Stuff

Highlights from Needled (which anyone with any interest in skin+ink should read daily):

  • To Die For Clothing -- T-shirts and other fun kit with designs by actual tattoo artists.
  • BellaVendetta.com [NOT SAFE FOR WORK] -- BellaVendetta seems sort of like SuicideGirls, except with more of a fetish angle ("Every shoot I do is like an entire art project. Today, we will be exploring zombie clown porn. Every aspect of it is an art." - The italics are mine.), male models ("I want to get many more boys. It's funny because pornography is such a male dominated business, yet, I have the hardest time getting boys naked. They're all so self conscious."), and perhaps less drama.
  • The World of Tattoo -- An encyclopedic book on tattoo. Apparently filled with trivia like: Catherine The Great had incredibly obscene tattoos, which she believed increased her sexual attractiveness.
  • Inked Magazine -- A glossy tattoo magazine? I got my subscription. Did you?
  • Coast Guard tightens rules on tattoos -- One of the guys in my motorcycle class was an Air Force recruiter. He told me I could still get into officer training at my age with my Aerospace Engineering degree and technical career background. He said the ink would be a problem, though. I told him no worries. ;)

Katrina Tattoos

In Katrina's wake, a tattoo boom in New Orleans

Tattoo artists report a surge in demand for designs that celebrate New Orleans: fleur-de-lis patterns, "NOLA," after the city's widely known abbreviation, and even a symbol modeled after the weather-map depiction of hurricanes.

Between returning residents, construction workers pouring into the battered city and the National Guard troops preparing to pack up and head home, demand has been brisk.

It is interesting that tattoos have become mainstream enough for just about anyone who lives through a significant event (9-11, Katrina, etc.) will at some point think to themselves "I should get a tattoo to commemorate this." Heck, there are firefighters that have never set foot in New York who have gotten FDNY memorial/tribute ink just because of the "brotherhood" in the job.

I think that's great.

HOTTness

Amina Munster: Redefining Beauty

I like SG because it shows that you don't have to conform to the blond bombshell standard of perfection to be beautiful, and Amina Munster truly exemplifies this. Amina is a gorgeous, heavily tattooed amputee who lost her leg and the tips of her fingers due to lack of circulation and oxygen after nearly drowning as a child. You can read more about her experience in her BME interview. Since her debut on Suicide Girls in 2002, she has never shown her missing leg in any of her photos. That is, until today.

Some knockout content at Needled (compare with the standard promo at INKEDblog, which has been a pretty steady letdown since I found it).

Of course, I had to forward the article on to my tattooist, Fish, who has been known to have a bit of an amputee fetish... ;)