Seriously, fuck off.

There's nothing I hate more than junk jewelry (well, that's probably not entirely true, but as a general statement I'm sticking by it). $52 for a hundred and twenty externally threaded barbells? Yeah, I'm sure that lots of time has been spent making sure they're well finished and in a good material. Hell, there are countries where this crap is illegal to sell because of the harm it's doing to customers (to say nothing of the secondary damage done by setting into motion market forces that put out of business high-end piercers and suppliers).

Anyway, I constantly get spammed by these people and their shit.


From: Emily Schuett/***** ***** <emily@**********.com>
Subject: ***** *****

Good Morning!

I am writing to you to send a press kit and hopefully get some editorial coverage. I noticed the email contact on your website.

***** ***** is a body jewelry company dedicated to doing the job right every time. As a small business, the company was started only one year ago and has worked with several large retailers such as Spencers, Hot Topic, and PacSun. In addition to body jewelry ***** ***** also sells bracelets, necklaces, and rings for men and women.

I would love to tell you more about the company, how we do all of our designing inhouse, etc, but I feel it would be much better to send you a press kit and a copy of the latest catalog so you can see for yourself.

If you could let me know where to send it and how to contact you in the future I would appreciate it. Also, if you have any upcoming stories about accessories or startup companies making an impression, let me know and I can email a press release over, as well as samples.

Thanks for taking a minute to read this and I look forward to hearing from you. Have a good day!

Emily Schuett
Account Executive
***** *****
** ***** **th Street
Brooklyn, Ny 11211

Yeah, hope you and your Shih Tzu puppy Chloe are having a real good time in the Big Apple after moving there from Missouri. Sorry if my return email doesn't brighten your day, but really, you're barking up the wrong tree.


From: Shannon Larratt <media@bmezine.com>
Subject: Re: ***** *****

Actually, we print shirts telling people not to buy jewelry like the junk you make.

Companies like yours are what's wrong with the industry right now. To be blunt, I hope you are sued for the damage you are doing to people and are forced into bankruptcy.

Don't spam me again.

Scorched Earth Politics

Every once in a while I get tired of being a primarily anti-war blogger and snap. Today is one of those days. If you're going to snap, do it right, so today's entry is on…

These days America's international stature is but a shadow of what it was in the past. Not only has a massive fraud-ridden ground war in Iraq decimated its economy, but its inability to find victory even against a rag-tag poorly armed group of insurgents has made other enemy nations like Iran perceive the US as weak, pathetic, and crumbling, and they act with impunity building up a nuclear WMD arsenal that could eventually threaten the US with massive strikes on its own soil.

If the current trend continues, within a decade America will find itself bankrupt and at the mercy of foreign debtors, its citizens working in poverty as it becomes a crime heavy sweat shop nation of illiterates. However, there is another path… So Americans need to ask themselves: what's better than “weak, pathetic, and crumbling” that the US can achieve with simply the push of a button? My answer?

“Strong but crazy!”

The fact is that the US can not win a ground war against Iran. It's got a massive and well organized military that would be difficult to beat on its own territory even without lagging troop levels, funding, and morale. The only way that the US can beat any nation is through its monstrous nuclear arsenal. If the decision was made, Iran could be reduced to rubble that'll glow in the dark for the next 50,000 years border to border inside 24 hours. Sixty million people — not a single one of them an American soldier — would die instantly, with millions more dying not long after.

What would the after effects of this be?

Oil prices would go through the roof. This would destroy the economies of European nations that are threatening the US financially, driving many of the current power nations like Germany and France into poverty. The US still has enough domestic supplies, especially with the help of Canada and Mexico (who you can bet would capitulate with “strong crazy America” even though they currently thumb their nose at “weak pathetic and crumbling America”), and the US still has enough internal know-how to fully convert to solar, hydrogen, and nuclear within a five year window.

The end result would be that the world environmental crisis would be solved, America would become a rich and prosperous nation, and would again lead the world both by force and by being the most advanced and liberty drenched nation on the face of the Earth — ten thousand years of paradise would follow as humanity sets its sights on the stars and finally goes out and colonizes the universe.

I don't believe that any nation would step forward to stop America. No European nation has the firepower to do a damn thing to stop it, and with their economies smashed by an oil crisis, they'd have bigger problems anyway. Russia might make some noise, but secretly they'll be thrilled because it will make them the largest non-American oil supplier in the world, allowing them to totally drain Europe dry of money… and really, there's no one else out there that has the power to do anything to stop the US.

And if anyone doesn't like that, they can get nuked too.

PS. All of the above is wholly idiotic! If even a small part of you is thinking “hey, maybe he's on to something,” seek help now, preferably in the form of marijuana.

I'm sure the cat deserved it

If rabbit feet are lucky, what are cat feet? How about if they still have most of the leg attached? Yesterday the flat cat was totally exposed so I was going take a picture this morning a la pressed faeries. However, someone apparently couldn't handle the smell so there was again a little burial mound over it and I didn't feel like digging. So you're going to have to make due with a leg.


The cruel streets of La Paz

A life worth celebrating

The article we wish we never had to publish. I asked Jordan to write it, in part because Keith recommended him and got him the job here at BME (not to imply he's not fully qualified, but Keith's recommendation was a deeply trusted one!), and I suppose in part because I feared I simply didn't have the strength to write it myself.


I woke up a few short hours later and, as I’m prone to do, headed straight for my computer. I hopped on IAM, checked my messages, and saw one that read simply, “Sad day.”

With the London terror attack fresh in my mind, I jump over to CNN, expecting to see the end of the world — but nothing. Then it occurs to me, Of course, BME is under attack again — we’re being shut down for good this time. I go right for Shannon’s page, and that’s where I see it.

Kind of like stepping out of bed and into a bus.

It doesn’t seem real because it can’t be.

PS. Seriously Keith, could you have picked a less morbid avatar?
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*

I'd like to mirror my note in the article here.


Keith and I (Shannon) in Toronto right before he went on stage with Dee Snider's SMF Keith Alexander is the very first person that was ever interviewed on BME. Not just because he was one of the best piercers and scarification artists around, running a new studio that deserved coverage, but because I trusted him and knew I needed his help to have BME take this step in its evolution. Later Keith would play a key role in BME/radio, helping develop and refine the IAM software’s feature set, and nearly every other step in BME’s growth as well.

Rachel — who was just as close to Keith — and I were in Belgium when we heard the terrible news, finding out after seeing the friend we were staying with looking at her morning email and then suddenly starting to sob. It didn’t feel real at all… Was it some sick joke? The site had crashed the day before and instead of being online, Keith decided to go out for a ride, and one of those random twists of fate suddenly ended his life. If I was a better programmer and the crash hadn’t happened would it have been averted? If Rachel had chosen a more responsive host and we could have rebooted more quickly might he have stayed at home chatting with friends? It just seemed impossible that something so random and meaningless could kill someone as larger-than-life as Keith, but somehow, it happened.

He was a friend and mentor for my entire adult life, and like Jordan, I have trouble finding the words to say how I feel without it sounding desperately incomplete and shallow. For those that didn’t know Keith Alexander, know that his contributions to this community went a long way to making piercing and scarification — and BME — what it is today (to say nothing of his accomplishments in other fields). But more than anything, take his advice and live. There are a thousand ways that Keith supported me and a thousand things he tried to teach me, but I don’t think I ever met a man that lived life with more heart, and if I learned anything from him, I hope it’s that.

Shannon Larratt

Shannon the Alien

Ha ha ha… just got this picture from a friend of mine in Russia. Does this mean that I'm an alien, or that there's an alien out there getting a copy of my facial tattoo?

Other than that:

Do you want your mods reviewed?

If you're brave and thick-skinned, send Rachel a message giving her permission to “review” your tattoos, piercings, or mods for modblog and she'll give you an honest review of your mods and a little writeup. It might be good, it might be bad… but it will be honest and it'll come from someone that knows their shit. Are you confident enough to take the challenge?

By sending the message you agree that you're not going to freak out if you're told your tattoo sucks and you should go get it covered up, ok!?