Tattoos

[mistersloane]

I'm getting really into tattoos. I've always liked tattoos but I like them more now everyone has them. They've kind've become shit and don't mean anything anymore, which makes me like them more.

Tell me about your tattoos everyone.

I've been looking at old tattoo books. I really like the hugely racist Chinese ones that people used to get. I think me and Zhao should get them. It would be so hardcore if I scored and stripped off and then turned and had a huge fucking tattoo of like Ching Chong Chinaman on my back. Carrying a wok. People would fucking run a mile. You'd be able to hear the screams in New Zealand.

 

[slowtrain]

I think that would be cool.

I would like to get some tattoos, but I think that you either have to get a lot of tattoos or none. People with just the one token one usually don't quite pull it off like the GG Allin style scawled junk everywhere only half finished load of rubbish and faded lines ones do.

 

[baboon2004]

yes to both posts.

more than one for sure (unless the one is arm's length, for example), but the difference in quality of people's tattoos is startling. for most, i'm like, why would you let that person mark your body forever, when they can't draw? I saw a few in Barcelona that I thought were brilliant, so detailed - maybe Spain/Catalonia is the place to have them done? Have always found them sexy on girls when they're not the 'apologetic' type (ie one mm across) or a fucking dolphin.

 

[Mr. Tea]

It's weird, I mean once upon a time tats were associated with bikers, jailbirds, sailors, punks/metallers/ravers, generally either hardmen (or -women) or people who were in some sense 'outsiders' to 'polite' society - now you see them on estate agents and bank managers. You see good ones occasionally but 99% of them are terrible. The worst ones I think are those in foreign languages with non-European scripts on people who clearly can't speak or read a word of that language. I really hope most of them say something like "ignorant round-eyed twat" while the chump proudly walking around wearing it thinks it says "peace" or somesuch.

The Daily Mash recently declared "Tattoos lose all sense of menace: not having tattoos now looks much more sinister, say experts."

Mistersloane's suggestion is excellent, however.

 

[Mr. Tea]

SEXAY!

 

[e/y]

The worst ones I think are those in foreign languages with non-European scripts on people who clearly can't speak or read a word of that language

I once saw a guy in Toronto who had stars tatted on his knees, the sort that relatively high-ranked Russian criminals have. he had absolutely no idea what they meant, got them b/c they looked 'cool'. a pretty stupid idea, especially when you take into account how many Russians / Ukrainians live in Toronto.

 

[alex]

yea cause high ranking russian criminals own the star design, completely forgot about that. So what if he has that? If it's a completely bastardised version of the criminal's version then fine, but he might, as you say, simply think it looks cool? If so, what's the problem?

 

[Mr. Tea]

If so, what's the problem?

I think the idea is that if for whatever reason he came into contact with some real Russian criminals, it might not be a great idea for him to be sporting tats that they might interpret as taking the piss - rather than an outraged "how dare he appropriate someone else's culture, blahblahblah".

 

[e/y]

yea cause high ranking russian criminals own the star design, completely forgot about that. So what if he has that? If it's a completely bastardised version of the criminal's version then fine, but he might, as you say, simply think it looks cool? If so, what's the problem?

based on this v. good doc, they seem to be quite touchy about people who haven't 'earned' their stars wearing them.

 

[slowtrain]

On the bad tattoo note, I recently came across this site:

http://tattoolit.com/

Some are OK, most are abominable. Please no more typewriter fonts.

That said, I think I might get a big tattoo of Woolf and Burroughs kissing on my back.

Also thought old-school botanical drawings would make cool tatt's.

 

[luka]

ive actually got a larger than life size rendition of my own face tatooed on my chest which is pretty cool. my chest hair stands in for real hair and i keep it cropped to a number 2 or 3 for added authenticity.

 

[IdleRich]

"based on this v. good doc, they seem to be quite touchy about people who haven't 'earned' their stars wearing them."

I seem to remember a lot of stories about unearned tattoos being removed forcibly and painfully.
Someone I used to know had a gigantic cup of tea covering the calf and side of his lower leg. I thought that was quite nice.

 

[baboon2004]

On the bad tattoo note, I recently came across this site:

http://tattoolit.com/

Some are OK, most are abominable. Please no more typewriter fonts.

The descriptions are fist-in-mouth too:

"From Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse V. One of my favorite quotes. It’s also a great way to weed people out at bars. If you can place the quote, we will talk. If you say “hey, I like Billy Joel, too!” then it may not work out."

I mean, maybe get a personalilty?

I quite like the one from the House of leaves.

 

[Ulala]

I can't think of anything I like enough or have sufficient conviction in to have printed on a t-shirt, let alone drilled into my flesh. 5 years of dating a diabetic (not any more, I should add) has given me a somewhat complicated relationship with needles, too.

Agreed with Slowtrain on typewriter fonts. Saw one the other day in comic sans though, which is super-wrong. I didn't stop to read it for fear of getting sucked into conversation with it's wearer.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Oh Christ on a bike, a Comic Sans tattoo...that really is scraping the barrel.

 

[baboon2004]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15060691

very funny (though some of the full arm ones at the top are quite well done, if not great).

also, watch the documentary 'Mark of Cain' on russian prison tattoos in preference to whatever you were going to do this evening. really required viewing.

 

[slowtrain]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15060691

very funny (though some of the full arm ones at the top are quite well done, if not great).

also, watch the documentary 'Mark of Cain' on russian prison tattoos in preference to whatever you were going to do this evening. really required viewing.

I actually think that Grim Reaper with pumpkin is the coolest one there.

The others are so boring. I couldn't stand to have a boring tatto, I'd rather have 'I hate every cop in this fucking town' tattooed half legibly across my chest than have some half-arsed japanese lady and a ship and a rose.

 

[muser]

I know someone with bruce forsyth tattoed on his arm, he hates it.

 

[baboon2004]

I actually think that Grim Reaper with pumpkin is the coolest one there.

The others are so boring. I couldn't stand to have a boring tatto, I'd rather have 'I hate every cop in this fucking town' tattooed half legibly across my chest than have some half-arsed japanese lady and a ship and a rose.

i dunno, if it's well done artistically (some of those are OK done, i guess) then I don't mind about the content so much, as long as it's not a dolphin. Is that true? I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I saw some faux-Chinese ones in Spain that were nonetheless good because the detail was excellent in comparison to most.

Mind you, I think the cop idea is good.

 

[slowtrain]

i dunno, if it's well done artistically (some of those are OK done, i guess) then I don't mind about the content so much, as long as it's not a dolphin. Is that true? I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I saw some faux-Chinese ones in Spain that were nonetheless good because the detail was excellent in comparison to most.

Mind you, I think the cop idea is good.

I dunno, I just think that tattoos are something that have to be about more than form alone. I'm not saying you should get something incredibly 'deep' that looks like shit, but getting a tattoo that looks like a tattoo seems kind of pointless to me.

I think it also depends on your culture though, so this is all just me talking from a middle-class white male vaguely 'alternative' culture though.