We hope everyone did their part yesterday to keep the internet free. We thank you all for your efforts and keep up the good fight!

https://google.com/landing/takeaction

 

Check it out and be prepared to be pissed.

Meredith Jacobs

Queens Primetime TV Examiner

 

 

NY Ink returned to TLC, channel 52 in Queens, Thursday night with the second season premiere, "Kings of NY." The same faces from the first season were back, though Chris wasn't working at Wooster Social.

 

The artists

The shop has been really busy, meaning they've not only called in a B-team, but they also need their A-team fully in place. Ami gave Tim a call to get him back, but he said he had prior commitments he needed to take care of first. However, that didn't stop him from showing up early to help out his friend.

One theme that was prominent in the season premiere was the tattoo artists' families. Billy, who had turned down Chris' offer to be his apprentice because he couldn't leave Ami, wanted to tattoo to make more to support his, while Tommy and Ami lamented over being apart from theirs. Because of the busy shop, Ami couldn't make it down to Miami like he had planned for the weekend, and though his wife and daughter were going to come up to NY, those plans fell through. The episode did end with a touching scene of Ami talking to his daughter via video chat.

Billy did get a chance to tattoo, but there was still tension between Ami and his apprentice when he told Billy It could've been better and Billy asked for constructive criticism.

Megan and Chris broke up between seasons, but she was in contact with him and visited him at his shop to see how he was after a fight. His eye was pretty bad, and he did have to have surgery. Because of that, he couldn't get into a fight for a few months, and that wouldn't be easy for Chris. She did tell him people were calling Wooster Social for him and asked if he would talk to the guys. However, when he called the shop (and mentioned Jessica's request to be his apprentice), she told him she wouldn't give him his client list. Ami told her to let her know if he called again. Even in two different shops, the tension between the two is still there.

 

The tattoos

Sarah had Ami tattoo 69 butterflies on her back as a tribute piece to her father, who died at age 69. Whenever she saw a butterfly after he passed, she thought of him. It went across her back diagonally, and she loved it.

Alan Robert from the band Life of Agony had Megan tattoo the cover of his comic book, Crawl to Me, on his leg. It showed the main character, Ryan, of the comic, and the story revolved around him, whom Alan put a lot of himself into. Like Alan said, Megan "really brought it to life."

Billy tattooed "Baron" on Katie, and it was her first tattoo. She was very specific about what she wanted—for it to look like spray paint—since it was her husband's tag. He died three years ago from ALS. Billy did go to Tommy for some quick advice, and Tommy told him to trust himself. Katie did love how it turned out, looking just like a tag.

The most touching story of the episode had to be Sarah, who had Tim tattoo a pinup girl on her ribcage. She was getting it to celebrate a new beginning, as she recently had surgery to restore her hearing. Her husband had recorded the moment she had the devices turned on. Especially touching was the story of her hearing her daughters' voices. Sarah also had Tim tattoo a heart onto the scar behind her ear.

The final tattoo of the episode was Joe's. He had Tommy tattoo a mountain, bell, and river on his arm in memory of his younger brother, who was hiking and slipped off the side of a mountain. Though they looked for his body in the river below, it was never recovered. Joe was using the tattoo to make permanent an oath with his brother that he would attack each day.

NY Ink continues Thursdays at 9PM on TLC, channel 52 in Queens. What did you think of the season 2 premiere, "Kings of NY"?

 

We gave away 2 tatshirts T-Shirts so far. Many more to come you could be next. Like us, Like us, Like us! Check us out on Facebook to see if your the next winner.

VATICAN CITY — Tattooed mummies in ancient Egypt, Crusaders who branded their foreheads with crosses, and New Zealand’s inked Maori warriors were fodder for an unusual conference at a Vatican university Tuesday on the role of tattoos in shaping identity. “Into the Skin: identity, symbols and history of permanent body marks” was the brainchild of a Christian arts association and Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, an unlikely expert in the field given Judaism’s prohibition of tattooing and the painful role that tattooed serial numbers played in the Holocaust. Ambassador Mordechay Lewy acknowledged the paradox, saying the living memory of Auschwitz’s blue death stamps added another layer to Jewish aversion to tattooing, which many orthodox rabbis forbid because it alters the human body as a divine creation. Yet Lewy is a respected expert within the field — and a fierce critic of what he calls today’s “commercialization” of an important aspect of cultural history that stretches from Jerusalem to Japan. Tattoos “can symbolize a social rank, identify ethnic affiliation, indicate experience of religious pilgrimage or of a rite of passage,” he told the two-day conference that ended Tuesday. “They can also be a sign of rebellion or diversity.” The conference, held at the Vatican’s Pontifical Urbaniana University, just up the hill from St. Peter’s Square, marked the first of its kind and participants marveled that it came together at all given that the study of tattooing is a relatively new field of serious academic research. “I was gobsmacked,” said Oxford historian Jane Caplan, who wrote a seminal anthology on tattoos in U.S. and European history. “It seemed so unlikely,” particularly Levy’s guiding hand in helping organize a tattoo conference at the Vatican. The presentations gave an eye-opening look at the wide-ranging use of tattooing over time. Luc Renaut of the University of Poitiers spoke of the tattoos on mummies unearthed in Egypt, saying they had probably been married to Nubian chiefs or high-ranking officials and were “living trophies” that increased the chief’s prestige. Warriors of the 11th century First Crusade branded crosses on their foreheads or shoulders before going into battle to show divine support for their mission. Mystics over time have claimed the “stigmata” — the wounds that imitate Christ’s wounds from his crucifixion. And even today, many players of New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team sport the traditional tattoos of the country’s Maori indigenous peoples, said Sean Mallon, senior curator of Pacific culture at the Museum of New Zealand. “It’s a tangible way of expressing the past,” he said. “There are a lot of tattoos here,” he whispered pointing to conference participants and admitting his back was covered with them. “They’re just not visible.” Lewy, the Israeli ambassador, first became interested in the history of tattoos when he was posted in Sweden and began reading travel logs of Swedes who had gone to the Holy Land in the 17th century, returning with tattoos they had acquired in Jerusalem as a mark of their pilgrimage. He displayed textile blocks with images of saints engraved in them that he said were used to stamp the tattoo image onto the skin; the tattoo artist then traced the lines of the design with a needle, pricking the skin to draw blood; an ink-soaked cloth was then wrapped around the wound so that the pigmentation seeped into the cuts, leaving a permanent stain. Despite his painstaking research, Lewy acknowledged much remains unknown about early tattoos since they “disappear from historical memory once the skin is buried with its owner.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/vatican-u-hosts-unusual-tattoo-conference-israels-holy-see-ambassador-an-unlikely-expert/2011/12/06/gIQAI1nOaO_story.html

Tattoo event to host the world’s best in modern and traditional tattoo art

Auckland International Tattoo Convention - ASB Showgrounds - 26-27 November 2011

New Zealand’s premier tattoo event, Auckland International Tattoo Convention, once again plays host to more than 60 of the world’s biggest names in tattoo art and performance, including renowned Tatau masters from Samoa, the Suluape family, and tattoo artist, performer and world’s most tattooed man, Lucky Diamond Rich. The fifth Auckland International Tattoo Convention celebrates the intersection of global tattoo culture and the Pacific’s rich tradition of Ta Moko and Tatau.

Artists from England, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, USA and all over New Zealand will design and execute tattoos for the public at the convention, including traditional Ta Moko and Tatau by hand tools. The event also features a packed schedule of entertainment, including DJs, artwork, and Polynesian dance.

Event spokesperson Pip Russell said “New Zealand’s tattoo culture is unique. Like many other countries, we’ve seen a massive interest in western tattoo art and styles over the last 15 years and we’ve grown a thriving industry of studios and great artists. But New Zealand is also home to a rich tradition of Ta Moko and on the doorstep of Polynesian Tatau, which are both enjoying well deserved revivals. When it comes to tattoo art, New Zealand has best of all worlds and we want to celebrate that.”

Russell goes on to explain the role of the bi-annual the resurgence of Ta Moko and Tatau. “When we launched the convention in 1999, the customary Polynesian tattoo techniques were still underground. There were only a handful of Ta Moko and Tatau artists, scattered across the Pacific, who were holding onto their traditions.

“But we bought the best of those artists together, along with their counterparts in western tattooing, and we showed New Zealand what amazing traditional art was like. For most people, it was the first time they had seen Ta Moko and Tatau done properly. Ta Moko and Tatau have enjoyed a huge revival since then, and we’re really proud that the convention has helped with that”.

Entertainment at the event includes the Kalia dance troupe from Tonga, and some of Auckland’s finest DJs including Slave, Cian (Conch) and Bobby Brazuka (Conch). A pop-up salon by Teaser Hair Lounge will provide 1950’s style hair dos.

Also included in the event is New Zealand’s only display of tattoo art exhibition “Death” on its world tour from Canada. The exhibition shows a series of artwork from around the world, examining the death of 'traditional western tattoo design' and its rebirth as ‘fine art’.

The Auckland International Tattoo Convention is presented by Ta Moko Tatau Tattoo Trust.

When: Saturday 26 November 9am - 9pm, Sunday 27 November 9am - 8pm
Where: Pavilion 3, ASB Showgrounds
Restrictions: All ages
Ticket Information: $20 per person, per day or $30 two people, per day. Children under 12 years free.
Website: http://aucklandtattoocon.co.nz
Links: Lucky Diamond Rich, Roller Derby Team NZ, all tattoo artists on event website

ZANESVILLE -- Hankering for a new tattoo? One Ohio artist influenced by the recent exotic animal incident in Zanesville might have the perfect cause for you to roll up your sleeve.

Billy White, owner of Yellow Rose Tattoo, has donated more than $1,000 in proceeds from tattoos of lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs and wolves to the Columbus Zoo. He hopes the money can help the six survivors from the Muskingum County Animal Farm--One grizzly bear, 3 leopards and 2 monkeys--live comfortably in their new home.

"When I first heard about it, it was crazy," he told the Detroit Free Press. "I thought, 'What could I do to help in some way?' There's been so much negative attention, so I wanted to focus on something positive, like the rescued animals that were saved."

White inked 18 tattoos and raised about $1,300 by Saturday afternoon. But the idea really took off after posting his pledge on the Yellow Rose Tattoo's Facebook page.

"Everybody's come together for this, whether they're excited about getting a new tattoo or just donating money," he said.

The tattoo artists originally planned for the fundraiser to last only four days, but he told the Free Press he may continue the project indefinitely.

"A lot of benefit can come from this, and I hope it's driven in a positive way for awareness," he said. "I want to thank everybody who's helped and went the extra mile to do something selfless."

Police shot 48 animals to death during the escape, including 18 rare Bengal tigers, 17 lions and eight bears. While no one can say why 62-year-old Terry Thompson, owner of the exotic animal farm, decided to free his animals and commit suicide, his estranged sister told media outlets that his finances overwhelmed him to the point of no return.

http://www.northwestohio.com/news/story.aspx?id=678130