RoryQ

Yes, cock punches all round. And I don't mean punches with cocks, I mean punches to the painful cock area.

Dan Sinnes, Luxembourg Electric Paul O'Rourke, All Star Limerick That's who are impressing me right now!

@Chap I really think your back and front fall into a different category to other parts of the body. 6 hours on your back is far, far tougher than the same duration on your arms or legs... As I'm sure you know. So, I wouldn't feel bad! Besides, there's always next time... You've got a personal record to beat :/

KOTOR was awesome! Going to look into the port.

Frank Carter, Frith St. He drew this on in quite an awkward space between two pieces on my leg. Super nice guy, had fun getting this one. First time in Frith Street! And I robbed this picture from Frank's Instagram btw

That's pretty good footage of the woman and the gunman, I'd be surprised if they aren't ID'd. Lousy incident.

I rate him highly. If you like the late, great, Iain M. Banks' space opera, then Peter F. Hamilton is a slightly more pulpy alternative. Hamilton is best known for big, big canvas space opera. He's done three series in that vein now (Night's Dawn, the Commonwealth and the Void series), all comprised of books big enough that if you dropped then down a staircase from a few floors up you'd probably kill someone. We're talking massive casts, lots of hard SF elements but all underpinned by plenty of almost military SF quantities of action. If you like that kind of thing then I don't see how Hamilton wouldn't appeal to you. There's also the Greg Mandel trilogy, which is pretty good noir cyberpunk police procedural. I think Hamilton's space opera is more signature in a way, but the Mandel novels were the first of his stuff I read, and what impressed me was the sense that it was a very UK-centric series, I could see how he arrived at the 'near future' dystopian Britain he presented. It's set after a fascist far-left regime has run Britain into the ground. Mandel is a P.I who is running his own business but also going around offing ex-regime war criminals when he finds them. He's done a few stand-alones that would be good introductions to his work if you don't want to get invested in the series. 'Fallen Dragon' is a good one, sort of military SF crossed with a bit of time travel. 'Great North Road' is more recent and is like a stand-alone version of the Commonwealth series in many ways.

I agree there is a 'room' issue with paper books, but I just bring batches back and sell them to a second-hand store. They'll even take books they know are used, as long as they're in ok condition. Then I buy more books... It's a beautiful circle :) Still on Simmons' 'The Terror'. It's much more accessible than I expected. Might finish Peter F. Hamilton's Void trilogy next. Got the last volume today.

Anansi Boys is great fun.

@daveborjes Jesus, I'm looking forward to reading my used books now... Bloody hell! One big advantage of a reader is you can hold it and "turn the page" with one hand. When I'm getting my front tattooed I can hold a kindle and read (try to read) without it being in the way.

Paul Aherne is a really good, young, Dublin tattooist (About the only one in the city I'd recommend to people actually). I would hazard a guess that he's been tattooing for a bit longer than 5 years, but I think he fits the brief for this thread all the same. He's a street shop tattooer in the sense that he seems to be able to have a stab at anything, from traditional to Japanese style to tattoo portrait. Instagram

There's a great ghost rising from the grave in the Shige book. I think he did it on a pro-wrestler...?

Fallout 3 is amazing. Funnily enough, though, I enjoyed the early stages where I was skulking around hiding from raiders with a half-empty .32 and a baton more than later in the game in some ways. Once you start levelling up and get the repeater, plasma rifle etc you start to feel over-powered. I never got around to buying New Vegas... I presume there'll be a new Fallout game on the new gen of consoles. When it comes out I might splash out then!

@Mark Bee Super work! Are you going to eventually fill in your whole front?

I think superstition is relevant only when you believe or partly believe. It's intellectually interesting to me to read about (for example) Asian superstition or religion in tattooing terms, but it doesn't worry my reptile brain or cause unease to me... Because I simply don't believe, on any level. I'm not even really too worried about Christian iconography... Devils even! Maybe reflective of the very a la carte Catholicism of my upbringing. What worries me would be jinxing myself in the sense of tattooing something that signals hubris, complacency etc. 'Counting my eggs before they hatch' and so on. To give an example, a lot of Martial artists / soldiers / cops seem to get warrior-themed tattoos or macho tattoos. My mentality is that I try to avoid something like that because on some level I think it almost dares the universe to come along and give you a crushing injury of some sort that puts paid to all that. The closest I have to a macho tattoo is my shin dagger, probably.

Some great pictures! But I second Graeme on the need to attribute pictures to the artist responsible... I thought it was practically an unwritten rule here, in fact (unless you're actually asking who did it).

Ended up booking in with Frank Carter this coming January at FST. Can't wait to get tattooed there, having heard and read so much about this shop over time. Hopefully just going to pick something out of flash or drawings.

I'm in London in the third week of January for a few days, so I think I might finally get something at Frith Street. Just spoke to my brother on the phone, and told him I wanted a shop voucher for Christmas (he lives in London anyway, not hard for him to nip in to get it), so that should make sure I get on top of it. I rang the shop and they said they could probably fit me in with someone over the course of the days I'm there, but if there's someone in particular I want to get tattooed by to get back on to them. I'm not too fussed - I'd get something from pretty much anyone working there now! Will have to think on it...

This time around when I had the back to back sessions on my front coming up I stopped drinking alcohol about 7-10 days out, with a view to being well rested and hydrated. Probably a bit OTT, I felt no major difference. I think steering clear of booze for the preceding 2 days or so is probably 90% of the benefit with less painful self denial involved. For a shorter session or one shot tattoo I wouldn't even bother.

@Duffa Looks good man! Really readable... If you like Jazz and want some hard liquor Thursday night you should check out Bar Quasimodo ( Bar Chez Quasimodo - Jazz Up Japan ). This guy set up a bar in his garage when he retired, and made it into a shrine to whiskey, wine and jazz. It's my favourite place in Kyoto. But you've probably got your own finds at this stage!

Yep, I'm starting to know my way around Yokohama. Some nice bars, friendly locals... feels easier to get your head around compared to Tokyo.

With long sessions, and back to back days in particular, I can say that (anecdotally) I have felt run down afterwards. Sometimes a few days later I get a mild cold or sore throat. I'm prepared to believe heavy tattooing puts your immune system under pressure. Incidentally I also feel like if you have a really heavy session on something like your back or front you can have a little touch of shock afterwards. This year when I got the first day of work done on my front I had the shivers big time that night, and I felt really cold. I think your body can react to it as a trauma even if in your head you know it's OK. Overall nothing to be too worried about though- nothing to be done about it, and I don't believe it really impacts on the end result. Being forewarned might help someone though.

Reading the last volume in 'The Dark Tower' series again. After this got a lot of stuff queued up. One is Dan Simmons' 'The Terror'. I'm adamant this looks like it needs to be read in Winter, with whisky, so I think it's next.

I was due to be in Dubai in January, but it doesn't look like that will happen now. Out of curiosity, how do the locals react to heavy tattoo coverage? I was planning on covering up, which rarely has a downside.

I agree it could be a hangover from the days when tattooing was a little more outlaw / biker / underground / punk rock than it is these days. As you know, there are plenty of heavily tattooed cops around, and although organisational guidelines put the breaks on from time to time (as with Mil guys) that's unlikely to change. The ACAB stuff strikes me as a little naive most of the time. I have a family, and I wouldn't want to live in a city without a police service and more than I'd live in a city without a fire service or sewage department. But that's a discussion out the scope of this forum.