October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hebrew Inked Celebs: David Beckham

David Beckham, the celebrity football player and bearer of several multi-language tattoos, got a Hebrew tattoo to display his love of his wife Victoria. Or did he?

This tattoo is a correct rendition of a bible verse Song of Solomon 6:3, it says "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies".

Does something seems amiss? You bet. This tattoo speaks of a girl's love to her male beloved. It unmistakeably refers to a man. The bad Hebrew tattoo strikes again.

Guys (the straight ones), do keep away from this verse!

Halloween Bonus: Zombie Pinup

Back in September I posted Little Dead Riding Hood, courtesy of Amy, who I met in Penn Station.

Amy has a new tattoo, which she generously shared:

It's a zombie pin-up girl, and appropriate for the holiday today.

Like the previous piece, this was created by T.J. Mcinnis at Mcinnis Tattoo Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Thanks again to Amy for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Have a safe and ghoulishly fun Halloween!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Choose the Right Tattoo

Matt has twenty-three (23) tattoos and he offered up this simple trio of letters:

The CTR represents the expression "Choose the Right," a common thread in the ideology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly referred to as the Mormon church.

In essence, Matt explained, it means "follow the right path". Its akin to a mantra eschewing sinful activities frowned upon by the church like drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and, yup, you guessed it: getting tattooed.

Matt finds great power in this tattoo because it represents an oxymoron: the letters CTR stand for a way of life that is contradicted by the fact that they have been tattooed on flesh. It would be like a Jewish person having the phrase, in Hebrew, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or imprint markings upon you: I am the Lord" tattooed on them. As a tattooed Mormon, this is Matt's way of addressing,and coming to terms with, the disparity between faith and his love of tattoos.

This was tattooed by a friend of his in Ogden, Utah.

Thanks to Matt for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

Hoot The Road Jack

Tattooist submission from Gina Casaleggio of Fat Cat tattoo ,Sutter Creek. Ca.

Fedor Emilianenkhoot

Reader submission from Justin, by another Justin...Weatherholtz of Kings Avenue Tattoo, NYC.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Abstract Art of Hebrew Tattoo

Today we have something... different:

Where is the bad Hebrew tattoo, you ask? What's the deal with this piece of abstract expressionism, you say?

This is our Hebrew tattoo. Yes really!

In fact, this tattoo that was supposed to say "Love" in Hebrew. It seems that the artist got somewhat carried away with tweaking the script, rendering the letters totally irrecognizable. Ugly, too.

Unless you really know what you're looking for, this tattoo is for all intents and purposes just a random collection of lines.

Now, this is how a sane person writes "Love" (pronounced "Ahava" in Hebrew):

Do you see the resemblance now? No? Here's a visual aid.

Take a few minutes, squint, turn your head this way and that way, it'll come to you eventually. Maybe.

By the way, in Hebrew, you're not supposed to cut a word in half either!

How to Make a Meat Hand for Halloween

The folks at Not Martha have provided you with a step-by-step recipe to create a memorable Halloween menu item - the Meat Hand. As the blogger there says, "Since August, I've had a post-it over my desk that simply said 'meat hand'." I'm sure co-workers were a bit concerned to see the phrase "meat hand" hovering over your desk.

From the onion fingernails to the wrist-bone, and melted cheese and ketchup, I have to say that a meat hand lying in a mashed potato bed would likely be an attention-getter for your holiday gatherings.

Shiri's Logos

"Excuse me," I called, loudly, on the 34th Street train platform, "Can I ask you about your tattoo?"

Anyone reading this who has been featured here may recognize this as my opening salvo. Most people are open to my questions. Very few dismiss me. For this I am thankful.

Shira was the woman to whom I was speaking, and she was very welcoming to my inquiries.

Here is the best of the many tattoos I saw she had:

It's a fairly intricate (and extremely well-done) replica for one of the album designs for a band named Sponge. Shiri had a matching t-shirt, but taking a picture of that would have been borderline creepy, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the only image online I could find was small:

On her left arm she had two other band designs:

The one on the right is from the group Gogol Bordello, which surprised me as I had seen a similar tattoo several weeks before (and recounted here).

The logo on the left was from a group called Spookey Ruben.

Obviously, Shiri is a big fan of all these groups. The tattoos were all inked by her brother Ron.

You can see other band-related tattoos by clicking on the appropriate tag at the bottom of the post.

Thanks to Shiri for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!