Not today; next Thursday is my next appointment. I really like going to get tattooed for a lot of reasons. One that might not be obvious is that I love seeing gay men together. Not because I feel a secret draw or anything like that, but because I believe homosexual love is a more pure form of love both because it has overcome immense adversity, and because it is less instinctual form of love. Now, that's not true of course — I'm using the wrong word, I can't think of the right one — most of us I think would agree that it's just as genetic and just as predetermined. I mean that on the same philosophical level that a penis is more of an instrument of love after it has been subincised because it is no longer a functional vessel for urine.
Yeah, I'm chock full of crazy ideas*.
I've been thinking about adding a new section to my IAM page… A daily “someone I admire/respect” post about people I know. I was thinking about trying to do it as a year, I thought I might learn a lot about the way I think about my relations with other people. I was just a little worried that people would be offended at being singled out (at least for 24 hours).
Anyway, I'm capturing video all day (RI SusCon footage mostly) for the movie.
*
The penis/subincision idea isn't mine; it belongs to “J”, one of the first (and one of the coolest and sanest) subincised men I met… His writings inspired hundreds if not thousands of men to do the same. I just extended the general reasoning farther out into Shannon's crazyland.
Who died on the day you were born? (W.H. Auden for me).
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
I'm sure you know about Punctuated Equilibrium, right? Basically if you look at the fossil record, nothing much changes for a really long time, but then — bang! bang! bang! — all of a sudden you've got a whole bunch species being upgraded to the next level on the evolutionary ladder (ie. genetic changes resulting in tons of new species — some successful, some failures).
Moving on, over the last few years our magnetic poles have been “faltering”, moving randomly and weakening — these are the symptoms that we're right on the edge of a pole flip… Now, this doesn't happen instantly. It's a thousand year process or something. During that period the Earth has dramatically less protection from the harsher elements of the sun's rays. The first thing that results in is all our satellites dying — a giant pain in the ass, given how much communication (and navigation) is satellite based these days.
The second factor is more disturbing — and more exciting. When these rays start hitting us, punctuated equilibrium moves into the “punctuated” phase. Or, to put it into one simple word:
MUTANTS
Yeah, you think I'm making this stuff up, but you can check the facts (
more) for yourself. This modern apocalypse that I've been describing even comes with mutants (call them zombies for the film adaptation of the future if you want). Remember, you have to shoot them in the head.
PS. While everything above actually is basically true, this entry is mostly about me really, really, really looking forward to Dawn of the Dead.
My black sleeves are finally complete. We started them on a dare — it was quite literally Shane saying to me “hey Shannon, I dare you to tattoo your arms black” and me showing up the next day with a design that started this whole thing. We finished the initial design within about six months I think, and then added the hand tattoos, which made me want to lengthen the arm part, which was filled much more slowly, with a couple multi-year gaps. But it really feels good to have it done.
Next we're going to finish my Frank (Jim Woodring) sleeve next (Jim's wife quite likes it, but Jim himself is rather freaked out at the notion of his creations living in tattoos I think)… One of my short term goals is to get that arm done this winter, and, if I can complete the other sleeve as well that would be amazing… But that's a lot of work so who knows. But definitely the one arm will be done.
All this is of course by Toronto's top outlaw tattoo artist, Shane Faulkner (of Church of the Redeemer fame) at King of Fools (very out-dated website). When I got there the place was chock full of rock stars, which was a good coincidence because I was able to ask a zillion real-world questions about licensing music rights to movies (they've all had tons of their work in films)… More on that next week.
Anyway, I'm off now to enjoy some of what British Columbia has to offer this world, eat a pineapple (I mean that literally, it's not a perverse colloquialism… I really like pineapple lately), and watch Mad Mad House. Reviewers are panning it, but I'm looking forward to at least checking it out. And then at 11PM I'll watch Survivor, which at least has the reality TV artform totally figured out at this point from a storytelling point of view.
And then I start prepping for tomorrow's image update. Something like 6,500 images are waiting in the queue, so I hope I can beat that down a little before morning.
And on that note, I'm off to get tattooed!
If tattoos are cool,
DIY tattoos are even cooler, right?
“All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.”
- H.L. Mencken
The media has been full of stories recently warning parents and teens about the dangers of home-made tattoos, but they fail to realize what’s going through the minds of teens when they see these stories. Instead of discouraging do-it-yourself tattoos, these articles make them even more desirable.
The man: Do-it-yourself tattoos are dangerous and look bad.
Teen: Tattoos? Cool!
The man: Maybe you didn’t hear me. They’re dangerous.
Teen: My middle name is danger. Bring it on!
The man: They look bad though. Look at this tattoo!
Teen: If by “bad”, you mean “BAD ASS!” See you later dad, I’m going to my room... to get a tattoo.
So basically these articles tell kids that tattoos, especially DIY tattoos, have an underground or outlaw status, and then top it off by showing the kids a super-cute skull and crossbones tatty as a “warning”. If I was still a teen, articles like these would make me head out to the garage and take file to coat hanger to make myself an impromptu tattoo torture device and then scrawl out some hip little icon on myself.
(more)
