Tattoos.

[Lady Day]

I guess what a lot of people get hung up on is the relative nature of permanence.

"I can never make a decision that permanent for myself."

Well, Id rather have a bit of ink than like I have seen so many of my friends who took a life they didnt really want, are now getting divorced, and have kids, so said spouse is now a 'permeant' part of their lives.

"Youll regret it when your 80."

Im hoping if Im 80, and my only regret is a tatt, then Ive done pretty good for myself

Sorry to get off topic Scott, please post images of your design.

Good luck with it!

LD

 

[MudInYerEye]

I knew a guy with a tattoo. He got drunk and joined the navy. Now he is in jail. I ask: was that dirty smudge on his arm worth all the trouble? My answer: NO! What a disgrace. Pathetic.

 

[pretty faythe]

I knew a guy with a tattoo. He got drunk and joined the navy. Now he is in jail. I ask: was that dirty smudge on his arm worth all the trouble? My answer: NO! What a disgrace. Pathetic.

Funny, I know people with no tatts who have gotten drunk, joined no military service and have done time in jail. Sooooo, then what got them there. [huh]

 

[MudInYerEye]

Funny, I know people with no tatts who have gotten drunk, joined no military service and have done time in jail. Sooooo, then what got them there. [huh]

Simple. Lack of breast-feeding as infants. Scientific fact.

 

[pretty faythe]

Simple. Lack of breast-feeding as infants. Scientific fact.

lol

 

[Dr Doran]

Wow, I only now am reading this thread although Lady Day told me about it a month ago. The level of politeness is, as almost always on this lounge, very high and I like that. Some strong opinions, though! I live in the Bay Area of Northern California, which is a pretty tattooed place. Getting a tattoo is not considered a big deal here, nor is it considered a mark of poor education, poverty, meanness, toughness, jailness, maleness, or fail-ness. At the moment. That could always change, though. It seems to me that tattoo removal would be a good business to go into. Tattoos are extremely common in many many cultures, western and non-western. They are a very basic way of marking oneself and certainly did not start in the late 19th century or anything like that. Plenty of tattoos in the ancient world.

Myself, I'm fairly well-tattooed: I think 7 plus various little crappy things I did myself at 16. No "sleeves" (that is, neither of my arms is entirely covered).I hope no one thinks I am an uneducated lowlife for getting tattooed ... my education would not be considered very poor by most people although I am never satisfied.

If anyone wants to understand the philophical underpinnings of the current tattoo craze, that is, the tattoo craze outside of the underworld, the book Modern Primitives by re/search publishing is essential. It more or less kicked off the phenomenon in the late 1980s. I remember it well and still have a copy. Interviews, quotations, pictures of tattoos and piercings and it will explain a great deal.

In grad school, nobody knows I am tattooed since I wear a suit and tie every day without fail. Friends of mine have seen them, and occasionally professors get a glimpse, but I like to think that, to intelligent people, it adds mystery to me rather than making seem a bad person. One particularly disgusting fellow grad student, an ultra-PC little twit whose very presence makes my skin crawl, saw me once with just a t-shirt (and pants and shoes) on and I am very pleased to report that he thereafter got scared and never gave me a hard time ... tattoos do have their uses. My favorite is my right forearm: solid black, no picture, design, or symbol, about 8 inches from wrist almost to elbow. Having said all that, though, yes, I would be displeased if my Dominika got one. I suspect there will be a new and much more annoying way for children to bug their parents by the time she is 18, though: temporary reversible cosmetic surgery to make you look like a fish, for example?

(I am thinking of Brian D'Amato's book Beauty, very very freaky.)

In regard to the people who think tattoos cannot look good on a woman: untrue. I'll tell you what looks elegant: symmetrical simple tattoos. My friend Michaela has violin F-holes tattooed on her back, symmetrically over her kidneys. It looks like the girl in the famous Man Ray photo and it is incredibly sexy and elegant and oh so feminine.

 

[ilcatex]

My thoughts exactly!

I've had that same conversation several times myself...

That's interesting, since there are many people (include some in my own family) that regard tattoos as sinful. They always cite Leviticus 19:28 to back up that assertion. Of course, the previous verse holds trimming beards in the same regard.

 

[Lady Day]

I suspect there will be a new and much more annoying way for children to bug their parents by the time she is 18, though: temporary reversible cosmetic surgery to make you look like a fish, for example?

In the cartoon Batman Beyond, they called that 'Splicing'

LD

 

[Dr Doran]

I just can't stop thinking of the fish people Lovecraft's masterpiece "The Shadow Out Of Innsmouth" lurking in the eponymous New England town, having ... altered ... the local churches to worship the sea god (adapted, mutatis mutandis, to coastal Spain's nonexistent town Imboca in the fine film Dagon).

 

[jamespowers]

I just can't stop thinking of the fish people Lovecraft's masterpiece "The Shadow Out Of Innsmouth" lurking in the eponymous New England town, having ... altered ... the local churches to worship the sea god (adapted, mutatis mutandis, to coastal Spain's nonexistent town Imboca in the fine film Dagon).

Oh geez, I saw that movie. Cute girl in the wheelchair strange legs though. :eusa_doh:

 

[J. M. Stovall]

In the cartoon Batman Beyond, they called that 'Splicing'

LD

fftopic: Animation Nerds Rule!

 

[Dr Doran]

fftopic: Animation Nerds Rule!

I never knew that ... thanks

 

[Undertow]

I'm not a huge fan of tattoos but I'm a pro-choice sort of guy.

Most of my friends have at least one, while a dozen friends (all women) have sleeves and 1/2 sleeves. It's almost as if tattoos are a right of passage. I disagree, IMHO.

I've lived with this quote to keep me from even considering a tattoo:

"A permanant expression of a temporary feeling."

I change from day to day, month to month and year to year. There is nothing about me that should go unchanged. Even water stagnates unless it changes.

 

[MrPumpernickel]

I don't really agree with a tattoo being a permanent expression of a temporary feeling. For many people it is a reminder of things they never want to forget, such as dead relatives, or in the case of 9/11 dead workmates. The permanency definitely isn't for anyone, and I wouldn't mock anyone for not getting a tattoo, whatever the reason. Though, generalizing it like that is like generalizing everyone with a tattoo and putting them all in a neat little box...when in reality no such box exist. It's a bit like saying that all police is corrupt, all people living in Utah are rednecks or all Japanese have large teeth. Nothing good ever came from generalizing.

I sure change from day to day too, but there are also things to me that stay the same. Not to mention, just because you get tattooed doesn't mean that tattoo has to stay the same forever either, you can tattoo over it or if push comes to shove you can remove it (though with limited to great results depending on method, age of tattoo, type of ink used and so forth).

[edit] Oh, and Doran, if you enjoyed the Modern Primitives you really should look into Fakir Musafar who's pretty much the father of the modern primitives movement: http://www.bodyplay.com/

While I don't agree with everything he has to say he does have some pretty interesting things to say about the whole movement and performance of various rituals. I'm into the whole suspension movement myself and Fakir is considered like one of three people who really brought that movement back among people in the western world (the other two are Stelarc and Allen Falkner).

 

[Fatdutchman]

Besides my Christian scruples against them, I find tattoos and body piercings most unattractive, on males, and especially on females. I would just as soon that women didn't even have earrings!

There is also the Fad factor. Never having been a faddish person, I have never cared to run with the pack.

I also have this innate sense that it is indicative of savagery. Something that civilized persons should not do. I see it as a sign of the times.

(I'm tryin' real hard to give my opinion without being considered "offensive"!)

"Be a rebel, get your lips pierced. Get tattoos on your face in a Maori tribal pattern, and tattoos on your arms of some Chinese characters that you probably don't know what they mean....just like every other "rebel" out there."

You really want to be a rebel? Get a haircut, dress neatly, and speak clearly in proper English. You'll definitely be bucking the trend then.

 

[MrPumpernickel]

Because something people have done for tousands upon tousands of years, even in modern times (there's been waves where tattoos has come and gone over the last few hundred years in industrialized countries) can be considered a fad?

Don't take this as too argumentative, but seeing this as a sign of the times means you haven't really looked at the history.

...and there are many other reasons of getting tattoos and piercings (and other kinds of body modifications) than being a "rebel" or trying to be any kind of a subversive person. I surely don't feel especially rebellish despite of my piercings and tattoos, and despite that I like to do other things along those lines as well. I'm just being me, regardless if that's considered rebellish by others or not.

 

[Fatdutchman]

I am utterly unable to answer your comments, nor explain mine further, without being considered "argumentative" myself (to say the least), so I'll leave it where it lays.

 

[Mike1939]

lol lol lol

To each his own

 

[Miss Neecerie]

lol lol lol

To each his own

Well until the next new lounger finds this and the whole discussion goes around again.....

 

[warbird]

Yeah, like some lounger could come in and say if you want to remember what a dead relative looked like, you can always keep a picture of them. Novel concept. Or a lounger could come in and say a statement like this 'nothing good ever came from generalizing' is a patently false statement. I could probably list a hundred things off the top of my head which are generalizations and completely true.

A lounger could come in and start it all up again by saying things like that.