ok ok fine. The story of Issei Sagawa

>twenty plates of lady partsSo many people have emailed me now saying that they want to know more about the image in this post, of the suitcase with the leg in it, that I feel obligated to tell a story now. This is a true story, and I will include links to more information for you, so you can find out more if you like.

If you don’t want to read anything too gory or blunt, skip this post, but if you’re interested in the whole story just read more…

(more…)

dear gay friends

from t-shirt hell's website

from t-shirt hell's website

Dear gay friends,

You know, I’ve been proposed to three times in my life. Twice it was very bad timing, or not someone I wanted to marry. The third time I … I just don’t think I was ready for it. But at any rate now, in retrospect, even if the timing had been perfect and the love of my life had been asking, I should have said no anyway, because you guys can’t get hitched yet either, and I don’t think that’s fair.

Personally I am not big on the idea of marriage (although I’m not opposed to it) and I really don’t think anyone should be in the military to begin with- but I also think that there is no reason that some people should be prevented from doing what others freely can.

In short, I’m on your team, for the duration.

Love,
Me

mornings in the world of skin

skull and anchor tattootree tattooI’ve worked a few opening shifts in my time, not for the last few years but I’ve done it before. The first few hours at the tattoo shop are pretty quiet, usually. It’s always only that slow trickle, starting out with people who have early appointments, a few random guys trying to sell something, maybe someone coming in to look at the books.

It’s nothing like closing shifts at the tattoo shop. I prefer the night crowd. People in packs, flipping through the flash racks. Some guy showing me a pile of scribbles he got in his cousin’s basement and asking to get it fixed. A couple arguing while they ask about getting their names tattooed on each other. People rambling, weirdos coming in and asking to use the phone, and always the last minute rush of people right before closing time asking to get party dots, tiny tattoos, something that “will only take a minute”.

(more…)

classy

sharpdsc_1049I was on the road once and stopped to visit Gil Montie. He’s a very helpful guy to younger artists; I really liked him once I spoke to him a few times. I stopped at his awesome shop (Tattoo Mania) in Texas, just to say hello, after seeing him and hanging out with him at a convention. He took a look at me- in road gear, dirty shirt, busted up cowboy hat, tired, bedraggled. and he told me that I had to make myself look better.

That I should respect the work I do enough to be professional about my appearance, and that I was better than that. That tattooers are important people, that we do useful work, and we should care about ourselves, each other, and the work we do. That what we do, who we are, means something. And that it should be taken seriously by us (if not by the world at large)

It kind of stunned me because I’d never thought of it before. I’d been a crusty like punker when I was younger and went through years of politically-charged poor hygiene…but now I was a professional.

He was right. Ever since then I’ve tried to maintain at least some semblance of good hygiene. I usually dress down for work but I wash my face before I go in. Anyone that’s worked with me will tell you that I have good days and bad days…I tend to the smelly side, always have, even when I’m clean. But some days I can manage to do it right. I’m not usually in a three piece suit, but it’s not unheard of. So here are some pictures from work yesterday…that sum it up well.

some things you can do

  1. take your old blankets and towels and any pet toys or things to the local no-kill shelter. If you have time, volunteer to walk the dogs, or play with the cats.
  2. take all your canned food that you didn’t eat or use down to food for lane county. especially if it’s good stuff.
  3. take all your books that you’ve already read, to the local literacy center. in eugene there’s one downtown that teaches people to read.
  4. take your old clothes, wash em, and give them to goodwill.
  5. volunteer to go to a nursing home and visit people who don’t have relatives that visit. You can offer to record memoirs (often single people without kids have led very interesting lives)
  6. let someone who looks more tired than you have your seat.

casflagbg Everyone can do something. Seriously.

I don’t have a lot of time but I do what I can, and my politics have nothing to do with it.

the flu haze


a bad wild pony
a wild pony that is covered with burrs and has never been ridden is a bad bet. you will clean it up, you will spend years treating it with love and brushing its tangly hair, convincing it that you mean well, and

then one day a rustler will come and steal it, once it’s tame and pretty, and never realize how much work it took to shine it up and how many carrots it ate…

fucking ponies.

(more…)

help the local animals!!!

I will be working at our corvallis studio on saturday. If you come in to get tattooed, I will donate 20% of the cost of your tattoo to the animals! So if you’ve been putting off your tattoo, waiting for a good time, saturday at corvallis is IT.

Be brave and help the animals!

(in other words, if you get tattooed by me on saturday, 20% of what you paid me gets donated to the save the pets charity. It’s not a discount, it’s a donation.)

the oregon advisory council on permanent color technicians

l_75f20eb646e5a97491db8bb21ef67f3c3Today was quite an interesting experience. There are almost a thousand tattoo artists and facilities licensed in Oregon. There are about 150 electrologists. The board that oversees both consists of:

A legislator-type,three electrologists,one permanent cosmetics worker

there are no tattoo artists on this council, even though there are nearly ten times as many licenses issued, and revenue from us makes up the vast majority of funds brought in by that council.

Maybe we can change that at some point. Today I got a sense for how the council works, and what their responsibilties actually are. What they can and cannot accomplish. They seemed like nice enough people. Our inspection/regulations director here, Tim Molloy, was interesting to listen to. He seems to try very hard, but sadly his hands are tied with many things and there’s only so much they’re able to do. It was good to hear that we now have four inspectors rather than just the one.

At any rate, it was a very informative day. I’m exhausted now and I’m going to relax. I may edit up in here later to add more detail once I’ve had some time to digest it all and go back over my notes.

about stray dogs

this is not the dog that got hit, but it's a dog I knew

So while I was in AZ a stray dog got hit. we stopped, and it was all these hispanic dudes in a car parts junkyard with like five stray dogs roaming around…I say stray because they were running in and out of traffic and shit, and the guys acted like the dog getting hit was no big deal (it got hit HARD). In retrospect they were pretty drunk, leaning on the broken cars, coronas in hand, the old guy seemed to be the one in charge of all the dogs. He just kept patting the dog and saying “is no problem, see, he ok!”

more after the jump

(more…)

arizona october!

I went to phoenix for a few days. hit up the state fair. had to call animal control when I got home to report dogs ROAMING IN THE STREET AND GETTING MUSHED BY CARS AND GUYS THAT OWNED THEM ACTING LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL. what the hell?!

gallery after the jump

(more…)

« Newer -- Older »

This is a unique website which will require a more modern browser to work!

Please upgrade today!