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i don't have a pic of my skull that cris cleen did but it's up on his blog. skull/butterfly morph... this one done by a local guy is freekin rad.

@Matt Lodder, This isn't the place for a detailed one-on-one discussion or critique so I'll try to keep it brief. I'm sure the opportunity will arise for us to chat in the future. As I said, I do enjoy most of your writing and I'm super happy that you can find a vocation writing about the things you enjoy and are passionate about. Also, If you (or any writer) were to apease my concerns or work to my tastes, you simply wouldn't have a large enough audience to make any money, not would it hold any interest to academia. But I do think tattooing needs an academic text as much as featherweight boxing does. I know you didn't set out to be a spokesperson, it's just that you are one of the few vocal tattoo enthusiasts that can write with any coherence or weight. That makes you one of tattooing's few online spokespeople who isn't an idiot. I didn't mean that you were a total outsider but that the source of your research is not from the real world. If there's one thing (other than hard work) that always commands my respect, it's first-hand experience or authenticity. For me, that's where your work is lacking. An academically sound project with an accurate and expansive bibliography sounds great, unless its mostly based on oral history. Much of tattooing's history may not be strictly oral, but it is just as personal and was passed on in a one-to-one or one-to-small-group fashion. If you plan to tackle a hefty tome that covers 'modern' tattooing's history (Captain Cook onwards), you better make sure that's it's better, more detailed, more accurate, comprehensive and interesting than anything Hanky Panky (Henk Schiffmacher for the google crowd), Sam Steward, Takahiro Kitamura, Ed Hardy, Mike McCabe or Chris Wroblewski have ever done combined, otherwise you are just another writer taking a paycheck from tattoo fans with an ephemeral publication. Unless your intention is to edit together existing difficult to find books into an accessible volume. That's an editors job and a copyright nightmare. Regarding historical books on the 'artistic' side of tattooing (I prefer 'visual' or 'craft' as 'artistic' brings up a whole other unwanted argument): There have recently been a few excellent books on localised (in time and geography) pockets of tattoo history, with great historical photos and flash. There are another one or two still to come in the next six months or so. Maybe the writing wasn't heavy on the academic side, but they were written for ease of communication not peer review. Regarding the source of modern tattooing's classic designs. It's widely known but maybe not often written that they stem from popular or military culture of the age. to examine their source is to examine the culture they were expressions of. A lifetime's work, to make anything more than a fluff piece or passing mention, I'm sure. There are already a book or two with illustrations by Cook's natural history illustrator, of islanders tattoos. Despite my general suspicion of exposing tattooing to 'outsiders' I'd love to see a well researched, accessible, interesting and knowledgeable book on tattooing's history, written with mostly first-hand or new information but I don't think academic books are much use to fringe or subcultures. Tattooing used to be exotic but now it's commonplace so at least you have a larger audience. I doubt I'm your audience anyway. I have a book on Japanese tattooing, written by an academic researcher. A few years ago it was a gold-mine of information, now, with cheaper world-travel for first-hand research and the ability of 'insiders' to publish their knowledge and sell it on Amazon.com, that book is now just a curiosity with cool old photos. Academics and journalists used to bring the exotic to us normals, now the exotic can bring themselves to us, or better yet, we can visit them, or at least watch them on tv or the internet. But I do wish you the best of luck. I'm sure my criticisms would have a small impact on your work anyway. I'm notoriously grumpy and negative regarding tattoo-related stuff. I am from The North after all. But I am pleased that your work is well-received and your passion and interests have become your career. Much of the information anybody needs regarding 20th century tattooing is readily available, it's just not published. Hours of interviews with key individuals and hours of foraging through dusty boxes in garages, attics and basements around the world will unearth the information to make a truly great book on tattooing's history. The effort needed to gain access to that information is another story. Good Luck.

Found this pic of my boss, you can really see the panther head done by Dan Higgs on his chest. I would say the tattoo was done in 1991-1992 and the photo was 1994, but it still looks pretty good to this day. Funny I was hoping to find a photo of his Freddy Corbin Rock of Ages on his ribs, but all you can see is a little water in this photo.

PART 2!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjcEhwAwpbc Freddy Corbin | Tattoo Age | VICE

Yeah honestly I can deal with trashy people, but I can't believe in this day and age people choose to eat such processed crap. On the other hand maybe all the preservatives will keep people alive. I am no hippy I just tend to worry about food that doesn't expire for years in the future. I will probably keel over one day due to my bacon and craft beer intake, but at least it will be fresh bacon and good beer that kills me. Really life is too short not to eat bacon and drink good beer.

Cool pictures, if you haven been tattooed by B. I highly recommend it. Great tattooer, even better dude. Inside the Studio of Bailey Hunter Robinson | A Continuous Lean.

Morph Traits: Daniel Higgs & Kyle Ranson. - my love for you is a stampede of horses.

I think this is my favorite so far-so much history.

that room mate one is the best out of all of them!

I think I may have room for a tent in the backyard though I gotta consult with the cats and squirrels out there before I hit him up...thanks for the lead

Freddy part 1 is up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIhjH57bZ4s Freddy Corbin: Part 1 | Tattoo Age | VICE Loved this, probably my favourite episode so far in the series

Hi, What quirks do Americans have? I saw this on The Daily Blog and thought it was pretty interesting. What are America's quirks? - americanculture emingrant immigrant | Ask MetaFilter There is a significant number of posters from Europe on here, so thought you all might have taken notice of interesting ones as well. For me: Bad: Ignorance deemed a virtue. Good: Second chances.

Click Go advanced if you are in quick reply and then click the paper clip icon and it will allow you to upload your images off your computer and post them as thumbnails.

Wow....I don't even know what to say....

Modern Warfare 3, the video game. I'm not a gamer, but my friends are; they understand me spending money to get tattooed about as well as I understand them locking themselves up for hours in front of monitor.

Freddy and Dans Back Pieces are amazing. Haven't see a lot of Ed Hardy tattoos but every time I do see one I know why he is considered one of the greats.

Nominated for the best post on the board.

Thought I would of course mention the gun thing. I had a customer come into my eatery, a dentist, and when he was paying, he started to empty his pockets looking for some change and happened to pull out a small semi-automatic handgun and casually laid it on the counter and kept on looking for a few cents. A couple of weeks later, same dentist, invited me out of my store to take a look at something in his trunk, which happened to be some kind of 'military-style' rifle. The handgun spooked me, but thought the rifle was pretty bad ass, actually. Did I mention the guy is a dentist?

Better pic of my ROA tattoo in my gallery now: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/newimages/8734-steve-byrne-rock-of-ages.html

the other day in our hood a mother yelled at her kids " shut your cu.t mouth " our neighbours are open like 7-11 to service the local crack crew ,used syringes and condoms are part of the flora and fauna ,best bit was when we found a pistol in a near-by hedge whilst walking the dog ! (albeit a replica ) .It's O.K. though cause if your having a bad hair day your still doing better than most.

Banned.

Im not sure how removed and mass produced food in the UK is, but out here thats all we have (for the most part) thus making it much cheaper. Thats my biggest issue with the states. This is much more serious than my Pantera post.

I'm going to guess the lady in front of me in line at the grocery store with her tweety bird pajama pants and shearling boots, three kids in tow buying twelve 2 liters of Soda, Lucky Charms, frozen pizza, and a tray of cupcakes on food stamps while yelling at her kids to behave so she can go get some smokes at the customer service desk has something to do with it. At least she has my vote.

Dan & Jason@ O?Reilly?s Tattoo 1108 Mission St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 831-425-7690 Stash did a nice ship on this guy's stomach.. Tattoo 13 Oakland

We are the greatest country in the world. Ya'll are jealous.

I think this video gives a good idea of horrible quirks or habits in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=noau8H6SfNs

I've been enjoying these two

Yea taking a long trip to the city today for moving related stuff. I will be swining by Saved and hopefully get a deposit down.

Anyone in SF need a roommate?? best of craigslist: Best. Roommate. Ever. best of craigslist: Just fucking fuck me, already. best of craigslist: guy with skid mark, bought gallon of whole milk, circle k - w4m best of craigslist: Lost your teeth? They're poolside

Thanks for the kind words, Stu. I definitely agree that the "not just for sailors" thing is old news - in fact, that's basically what my recent articles have been about, really. I hope you don't think I'm just completely retreading old ground - in fact, I've been trying to talk about just how trodden that ground is, and trying to examine why these myths persist. I'm less repeating the assertion than examining the perception of tattooing in the media, and how these strange misconceptions have been repeated again and again since the 1890s, at least. I've been trying to analyse these old tropes, and trace them back to try and uncover where they start, because I'm as bored by them as you are. As you say, for more eloquent and informed people than I, Ed Hardy probably chief amongst them, have been pointing out that tattooing has crossed the social strata since the day Joseph Banks got tattooed fresh off the Endeavour, so what interests and frustrates me is that that (as you rightly say) banal fact is so tenacious. I definitely don't want to be a spokesman for anything, and I really hope I don't come across that way. It would horrify me if that's the impression I give. I certainly wouldn't pretend or presume to be representative of anything except my own ideas. As you say, tattooing needs neither spokespeople nor justification, and I don't want my work to come across as doing either. If it does, I can only apologise, and promise to bear that in mind in future. I'm simply interested in and passionate about tattooing, its history and its culture, and I'm just trying to put together knowledge from a variety of sources and put it together in a way that's accessible, interesting and novel. I'm lucky to have found myself in a position where my abilities as a researcher and writer have been able to align themselves with my passion and my love for tattooing, and all I want to do is find out as much as I can about it and share that in a sensitive, respectful way (which so often doesn't happen!). As for coming solely from within academia, I hope that part of the strength of my writing is that I am passionate about tattooing and come, in some respects, from inside the tattoo community (whatever that might mean, of course). You've known me for a long time, so you know I'm a tattoo collector and fan before I'm an academic and historian. In fact, I became an academic because the information I went looking for about the art-form I love just wasn't there, really, and much of what I did find was so obviously wrong. Most, if not all, academic work on tattooing has been written by outsiders treating tattooing and tattooed people as just another research project, and that's why (it seems to me) that much of academic work on tattooing is so awful. I hope I can redress that balance, in my own small way. My current project is, I hope, going to be more novel. I'm currently working on a fairly straightforward book-length history of tattooing, but one which looks at the artistic practice of tattooing rather than treating it as an anthropological freakshow. There's not been anything written like that since the 1930s, so I hope you appreciate it and think it's worth doing. I'm focussing at the moment on the period immediately after Cook's voyages returned to Europe in the 1790s - the iconic images of Western traditional tattooing were embedded by even the early decades of the 19th century, and yet (to the best of my knowledge) no-one has ever examined where they came from, and how they relate to the visual culture contexts from which they emerged. Pieces of research like that are something I hope I can bring to the table. It seems to be that there's a lot more to be learned, and a lot more to be said, about tattooing's history. That said, I really appreciate your comments and concerns, Stu. I understand that as I'm not a tattooer, I'm always going to be on the periphery, to some extent, and I definitely understand the suspicion of and scepticism towards academics! I do want to write work and do research and conduct myself in a way that earns respect from people like yourself - serious, artistically-minded, talented, hard-working, knowledgeable and well-respected tattooers - and produce knowledge that is as of interest to those already well-versed in tattoo culture and history as those who might never have even thought about tattooing before. It's really important to me not to tread on any toes or rock any apple-carts! As the work on my book goes forward, I'd love to sit down and talk with you and anyone else about its direction. I know you'll have a lot of really interesting things to say which can only make the finished product better. On a final note: Mario Desa's definitely right! Anyway, looking forward to seeing you soon.

Well my back piece goes onto my ass but that's just for the ladies ;) :P