July 31st is always the most bittersweet day of the year for me; it marks the end of my favorite month of the year and the countdown to autumn begins in earnest. True, fall does have it's redeeming virtues, like cooler days and nights, foliage, Halloween, and of course football. But I'm like most people....I live for summer. And it's always a little sad when you get that first inkling that summer is slipping away. Those feelings become more marked and poignant with each passing year.
But it's still summer, and there is a lot of time to celebrate it. Today I made my midsummer pilgrimage to Rutgers Gardens in North Brunswick, NJ (near the Cook College Campus) for their summer open house. It was crowded, but a warm and pleasant 80 degree day, with wine tasting, vendors, and Jersey Fresh produce for sale (can't beat a half dozen large ears of corn for four bucks).
And there were the sights of the Gardens, which like all gardens this summer took a bit of a beating from the extreme heat and mini-drought we'd been experiencing in the region. Some flowers were past peak prematurely, probably because of the stress they were under. But some displays weathered the conditions extremely well.
I took my camera and tripod, and here's a few of the sights from today's open house.
The 34th Street Platform for the A Train has been very kind to us here at Tattoosday, even more so this summer than in years' past.
Take Kristen, for example. She generously offered up this small portion of her corporeal canvas:
Estimating that she is at least a quarter covered by ink, this "trilogy of knots" was the artist's response to Kristen's request to attach the cobwebs on her elbow to the end of her wrist.
The artist, identified only as "Batman" near Canal and Broadway, was also asked to incorporate a Celtic pattern, as well.
The final result was to Kristen's liking and we here at Tattoosday thank her for sharing the tattoo with all of our readers!
On July 31, 2007, I put up a post on BillyBlog, featuring a tattoo on a co-worker named Sephora.
The idea was to post a weekly tattoo on Tuesday, and use this is a vehicle to expand my horizons a bit; meet interesting people and learn about tattoos.
There was one problem. I enjoyed it too much. There weren't enough Tuesdays in the week. I was impatient and wanted to post right away, not wait until Tuesday. And so, as Kurt Vonnegut would say, it goes....
So a month later I threw the previous months post up on the stand-alone blog, Tattoosday. And BillyBlog faded.
It's still there, but Tattoosday is my passion and I couldn't have even imagined, back in 2007, how easy it would become for me to talk to strangers about their ink.
The once-a-week project produced forty-five separate interactions in July, we have a 30-day backlog of material, and this past week we registered our 650,000th hit. Not too shabby.
Go see the original post here to see how far we've come.
And a hearty thanks to all our contributors, all our fans, and all the tattooists out there creating wonderful, interesting, portable art. Without all of you, Tattoosday would have been a blip of an idea, and nothing more.
Anthony Weiner, Democratic Congressman from New York's Ninth District, went on a tirade on the House floor after a bill that would have set aside a multi billion dollar fund for 9/11 responders and others affected failed to proceed through the House.
Much of his wrath was directed against his co-sponsor on the bill, Long Island Republican Peter King. In this interview with NBC's Chuck Todd, sitting in for Chris Matthews on HARDBALL, Weiner admits that his once cordial working relationship with King has, to say the least, reached a snag.
And he calls out the GOP as "The Party of No!"......only 12 Republicans voted in support of the bill. Twelve Republicans, that's all, voted to help fund the medical expenses of those who responded to a city's and a nation's cry for help on that tragic day, September 11, 2001. Remember, these responders were not only from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut....they came from all over the country. The "no" votes from Red State Republicans probably affected some of that Congressperson's very own constituents.
Weiner makes a point about the Democratic approach in legislating ...."Sometimes we as Democrats bring library books to a knife fight".
The ghost of Lyndon Johnson is probably smiling because of this guy, telling it like it is.
Many people feel an attraction to tattooed girls which make them have an image of being "Wicked" but lets keep in mind this is not an accurate description of the personality of each of them. Each girl who enjoys the art of tattooing has its reason other than to enjoy art in order to make the decision to have multiple designs in much of the body in addition to enjoying the attention and attraction they cause.
It is good to be able to enjoy a very ancient art in all its facets and styles. Each tattoo is unique and each person has a different meaning. Every day we see people with one or two in various parts of the body and many tend to be small in great majority of cases.
If we realize we will see that apart from being just a symbol, it is an example of freedom of expression and also expresses independence (these days), we can also realize that many tattoos are based on the kind of environment and culture of the wearer and although it is an art practiced around the globe can be seen in detail and also know a lot about the person who has it.
Tattoos can be seen in many different ways, which describe the person as they live or the things they enjoy. Not necessarily have to be an involvement or an obligation in one race or culture as there are people who tend to have tattoos from other cultures without living in certain parts of the world but nevertheless tend to have some knowledge about this foreign culture which is caused by the admiration for the lifestyle, including religious culture which is admired and respected.
Today it is almost impossible to see someone without a tattoo and surprised to find a person without one which sometimes impresses as the acceptance by the art is more than in ancient times. Tattoos on girls are more common these days thanks to this acceptance.
My first tattoo was modified from a piece of flash at Body Art Studios by an artist who goes by the moniker "Siki". Shortly thereafter, Siki left the shop and went on his way.
My friend Pete knows who he is but, until recently, I hadn't met anyone with ink from Siki, other than myself.
Then, I met Nick on the R train one day after work and, while discussing his many tattoos (he "lost count after 45," they've all connected) , I heard him talking about Siki.
So today's tattoo is by Siki and was, like my lynx, modified from an old piece of flash. Although he adapted it a lot more fully and developed a more unique tattoo.
Siki and Nick had a mutual friend named Billy, who Nick would often go with to get tattooed. When he passed away, they added Billy's name to the bottom of the tattoo as a tribute to their departed friend.
Thanks to Nick for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
The 44th President of the United States became the first sitting chief executive to visit a daytime talk show....and the only controversy to arise when Barack Obama visited the ladies of The View was when the POTUS responded to a question regarding Jersey Shore's Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi with ""I've got to admit, I don't know who Snooki is."
This should give Fox News something to talk about for most of August...but more on that later.
Barbara Walters returned from recent heart surgery to co-host the show, which was taped yesterday, along with cohorts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In recent weeks the President did receive criticism in certain circles because his appearance was seen as frivolous while the situation in the Gulf slogs on, the nation claws it's way out of a recession, and we are engaged in two wars in the Middle East.
But I couldn't disagree more. This was a brilliant move on his part. Mr. Obama was able to sit down and answer questions at length and in a relaxed atmosphere about those situations, in a small unscripted forum. He touched on the crisis in the Gulf, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the state of the economy, and he spoke of his faith in the resiliency of the American people to bounce back after the financial collapse of 2008.
The President was asked about his decision in early life to embrace his African heritage instead of calling himself bi-racial....and he referred to talking about this choice extensively in his writings. He sparred gently with resident conservative Hasselbeck about the slow progress in job creation in the post recession economy, and said that we're doing better but must do more. Obmama also talked about creating a $30 billion fund for smaller lending institutions to help America's small businesses. Today Senate Republicans blocked the bill. And, he quipped at the beginning of his sitdown, he wanted to appear on The View because it's one show that wife Michelle watches.
Obama talked about the Shirley Sherrod controversy, and admitted that his administration didn't do a good job in handling it. He also talked about the role media plays in creation of controversy, and how the stories of co-operation between the parties never makes the news....Obama said it's because conflict sells, and co-operation doesn't.
The conversation got a bit lighter when the ladies went into a "Lightning Round" style line of questioning. Check out the video below.
Now we know that the President will not be attending Chelsea Clinton's wedding, that his own daughters are not interested in boys yet, that he knows Lindsay Lohan in in jail, that the thought of Mel Gibson makes him stammer....and that he has a new IPhone and uses his IPod. His playlist includes Jay Z, Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra....but no Justin Bieber. Obama did say he was a nice young man who did appear in Washington some months ago, and he enjoyed Justin's performance.
But.....when Joy Behar asked the President if Snooki should run for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, following the footsteps of a certain half term governor of that state, the President said he didn't know who Snooki (left) was.
And now we have a brewing controversy- because Mr. Obama told a joke earlier this year, and Snooki was one of the punchlines.
At the White House Correspondents Dinner this past winter was wowing the crowd. This is what he said about the star of JERSEY SHORE.
“This next provision is called the Jersey Shore-Up. It reads, ‘The following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax within this bill: Snooki, JWOWW, The Situation and House minority leader John Boehner".
What do you think? Will Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh be yelling "Flip-flop"?
Does anybody really care?
You mean Snooki's 15 minutes aren't up yet?
NEWSFLASH!!!!!Dateline 6:15PM July 30 2010 Seaside Heights, NJ..........This just in.... Snooki Arrested!!!!! As a nation prays and waits.
I met Jessica on the express platform at 34th Street earlier this month.
She shared this gorgeous peacock feather tattooed on the upper right section of her back:
The piece is an homage to her mother, who loves everything peacock, and has countless items, like bracelets and other jewelery, that emulate the vivid colors of these beautiful birds.
She credits this tattoo to an artist known only as Allison.
Thanks to Jessica for sharing this wonderful tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
I'll be right up front...I think Elisabeth Hasselbeck is a very beautiful young woman. All politics aside.
But the more she talks, the more I ask; is she possibly the most vapid woman living in "the lower 48"?
Elisabeth has a theory as to why there is an increase in women trying a lesbian lifestyle late in life, even after many years of marriage.
"Older men are going with younger women, leaving the women with no one.”
Hey, I didn't say it. Check the video below; here's Elisabeth with Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Sherri Shepherd on Tuesday's (July 28) episode of the The View.
Let's extend this logic out a bit further. Rather than taking up ceramics, joining a book club, or going to over 50 events, these women just wake up one day and decide, "Gee....that's it. I'll become a lesbian!"
And I guess because of the diminishing supply of young women, young guys have only two alternatives; discover the wonderful world of Cougardom, or else start "walking the other side of the street.
Michelle has a lot of ink, twenty-one tattoos, all told, but when I stopped her in Penn Station, she chose to share this one with us:
Boldly planted on her upper right arm, Michelle explained that she paraphrased and pared down a longer quotation to read, more simply, "Live for the moments that take your breath away". I believe she was referring to the saying, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
The flowers in the photo are cherry blossoms that were done in blue, rather than the traditional pink because, as Michelle tells it, she's "not really a pink kind of girl".
Episode One, Season Four of Mad Men did what we've come to expect- they did the unexpected. Season Three ended in December 1963 and Season Four's opener found us at Thanksgiving, 1964, and Episode Two leads to Christmastime 1964.
To make a long story short, the obvious thing to have done to start this season would be showing the new Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertising firm post JFK, and in the early stages of Beatlemania and the British Invasion....but the writers zagged when we thought they would zig. They avoided the obvious; and that's why they're writers of great teleplays and I'm a lonely ole blogger.
While checking out the queries to this blog about the show there were many searches involving the music on MADMEN, and that of the mid 1960's. So I thought, just for fun, I'd put some songs from 1964-65 on Playlist.com as a sampler of the direction music was going in that era. Previously I've said that dozens of new careers were launched with the arrival of the Beatles in 1964 (some even lasting to this day), but many, many more of the older American acts were killed off by the British Invasion. In this sampler I've included some of the acts that came over from the UK, some of the American survivors, and some Americans who initially copied the look and/or sound of the British acts. There was one notable exception, and there was one act that could not be included on the playlist....and they were the biggest act of them all.
The owners of the Beatles catalog haven't granted permission for use on Playlist.com. So Included above is video footage from one of the most significant events in the history of rock....the Beatles play Shea Stadium in New York, on August 15, 1965. This was the first stadium rock show....ever. And if it looks primitive by today's standards....well, it was. They were trying to invent the wheel. And for the youngin's who may not know; the old guy introducing John, George, Paul, and Ringo was the legendary TV showman and newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan.
On the the playlist you'll find survivors The Beach Boys and Roy Orbison, and one of the last mega-acts to be produced by Phil Spector, The Righteous Brothers. Motown stars The Supremes, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye started to have their greatest crossover hits in the mid 1960's. The era also saw the arrival of the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Kinks, who are either still together or have members still actively recording. Bob Dylan shocked the folkies and went electric, feeling their wrath initially, but his change of musical direction was a bellweather for those who followed, among them the Byrds.
Some British groups had staying power, others didn't. The Searchers had a sound that can be heard in bands like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Wallflowers, and REM, and The Nashville Teens were one hit wonders who popularized John Loudermilk's TOBACCO ROAD.....which became the title to Episode One, Season Four of MADMEN.
Also on the list.....The Yardbirds with ace guitarist Jeff Beck; John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (featuring ex Yardbird guitarist Eric Clapton and future Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie); from Belfast, THEM with the young lead singer Van Morrison; Dusty Springfield, the beautiful soulful blonde from across the pond; also from the UK, the Animals and the first lineup of The Moody Blues, who's lead singer Denny Laine became a longtime member of Paul McCartney's WINGS; The talented one hit wonder (and precursor to Aretha Franklin) Fontella Bass; and the "Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
This playlist will probably be modified and switched around a bit....but I think I'll leave it up for the duration of the series.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. What a time it was!
Late Edition Just a few words to the one or two of you who still may think I'm just a crazy left wing blogger who hates all things Republican....not true!
Leading off the Playlist in The Searcher's version of song first recorded by Jackie DeShannon, Needles and Pins.
The song was co-written by legendary music producer Jack Nitsche and a man who later served as a Republican Congressman from California's 44th District from January 3, 1995 until his untimely death in a skiing accident on January 5, 1998.
His name.....Salvatore Phillip Bono, aka "Sonny".
So put THAT in your Tea Bag...and drink it, ice it, put lemon on it, I really don't care.
Update! October 23 The playlist has been changed! To see or listen to the playlist described in this entry, please click here.
You may love President Barack Obama....or maybe you don't. But you'll have to admit one thing....he can really pick a good sub shop.
Tomorrow the President of the United States visits my backyard on a trip to the Tastee Sub Shop on Plainfield Avenue in Edison, NJ, just around the corner from Route 27....the former senator from Illinois will be yards away from what used to be called "The Lincoln Highway". The President will meet Tastee co-owner Dave Thornton, and three other New Jersey small business owners; Theo Mastorakos of Rochelle Park, Catherine Horsburgh of Wayne, and Brian Bovia of Sicklerville.
I first went to Tastee Sub Shop when I was a kid, a whole lot of subs and many pounds ago. Now, the President won't have to worry about having to wait very long to get served....its one of his job perks. And parking won't be a problem either (it can be pretty tough at lunchtime). Just be careful...it's bad corner, and sometimes Jersey drivers get an attitude (not me......I haven't given anybody an obscene gesture in at least a week).
A few suggestions, Mr. President.....with all due respect. Get a whole #2, with extra oil and vinegar, everything on it....but NIX on the hot peppers, you still have to meet the ladies on The View....and if the counter guy asks you what kind of cheese you want ask for PROVOLONE!!!!! No Swiss, cheddar, American, Cheese Whiz....only PROVOLONE for a REAL Jersey sub.
Remember John Kerry campaigning in South Philly in 2004, and he went for a cheesesteak....and PUT SWISS CHEESE ON IT?
In my opinion, that Swiss cheese gave George Bush a second term.
Designs are about protecting manufactured products, right? Well, up to a point. “Virtual Design Theft – Can it be stopped?” will be the topic of a panel discussion on Thursday, September 9, at the FICPI 12th Open Forum in Munich, Germany, September 8-11, featuring Robert Katz of Banner & Witcoff and David Musker (your humble correspondent). Rob addresses aspects of the topic in his paper (with Daniel Cardy) "Virtual Design Theft: Is It Legal? Can You Stop It?", Innovation magazine, winter 2009, online here. Fascinating stuff, but those who would like to learn more would do well to come along to the FICPI session. Venturing somewhat further into the future, Simon Bradshaw, Adrian Bowyer and Patrick Haufe consider the IP ramifications of a world where everyone has their own 3D printer and can make anything they want directly, rather than having to buy it. That might sound like Star Trek, but the technology is closer than you'd think. Their thought-provoking paper, "The Intellectual Property Implications of Low-Cost 3D Printing", (2010) 7:1 SCRIPTed 5, DOI: 10.2966/scrip.070110.5, is available here. They conclude that the effect of "private and non-commercial" and other exclusions from design infringement would likely take home-printers out of the scope of design laws - quite a contrast to the position of home-tapers and downloaders of music and film. The likely corollary would be "design-sharing" sites, where instruction files for the 3D printer were uploaded, so that home users could download and reproduce the design. In other words, just as with music and (increasingly) film, a market has moved from sale of products in the real world to sale of the designs of those products in cyberspace, where (Bradshaw et al argue) it is far from clear that the rights-owner has effective redress.
Earlier this month, Melanie and I took advantage of having my sister's car while she was out of the country and we made an unusual shopping trip to the Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.
There was a gentleman in the produce section with a lot of tattoos, and Melanie pointed out one to me that she thought was cool, this owl on his calf:
Turns out that the guy was Timmy from Timmy Tattoo, an artist whose name rang a distant bell. Work by Timmy appeared in one of Tattoosday's earliest posts, when I met Jackie,an FIT student whose tattoos appeared here.
Are you one of those readers who love anything to do with designs in Europe and cherish an unfulfilled wish to discover, well, what they actually do about registered Community designs in Slovakia? If so, you need wait no longer to gratify your curiosity. OHIM's Alicante Newsletter makes the little landlocked state the focus of its attentions (here). According to this most official of sources on the subject,
"With just under 700 registrations since 2003, the registered Community design has proved to be popular with Slovakian undertakings. Last year there was a record 167 RCD filings with classes 8, 25 and 6 in highest demand.
The majority of Slovakian filers prefer the online route, with over 90% now using e-filing and the remaining applications coming by mail".
Top 10 Slovakia-based owners, by number of RCDs filed, are as follows:
It lies directly across from Manhattan, with Brooklyn in the distance, Staten Island to the right, and the Statue of Liberty is straight ahead. And the question is this; if a 100 foot tall monument to 3,000 slain people is built and there isn't anyone there to see it, is it still a monument?
There was a family emergency in the past week, and my cousin Rich came up from Georgia. After things began to fall in to place we started to talk about the usual stuff relatives do when we haven't seen each other in awhile.
Over a beer or two Rich asked if we had ever been to the "Teardrop Monument" in Bayonne. We had no idea what he was talking about. Then Rich explained to us that there was a monument to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks at the World Trade Center in Bayonne, about 20 miles north of here, facing the the spot where the Twin Towers once stood.
Sorry....never heard of it. Where did you hear this?
Rich explained that the monument was a gift from the people of Russia to the United States, and it was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of the attacks in 2006,
Sorry Rich....this ain't ringin' any bells. Are you sure this isn't some Urban Legend?
So, on Saturday July 24, 2010, in near 100 degree heat we set out on our expedition to find the rumored but seldom seen "Tear Drop 9/11 Monument".
We headed north on the Jersey Turnpike and got off at Bayonne, and we got lost in the harbor area for about an hour.... but we could see a large tower in the distance, but couldn't find the road we wanted (no, we had no address, so GPS was out). After asking three different people for the same directions three times we finally got some that made sense; he directed us to Harbor View Park, the former Military Ocean Terminal, or 51 Port Terminal Boulevard, off of Route 440.
And there it was....100 feet high, a magnificent sculpture, the work of Russian sculpture Zurab Tsereteli. Moved to tears after the attacks, Tsereteli wanted produce a monument to the victims of 9/11. He went to work almost immediately, and chose the site on the Bayonne waterfront that faced directly where the Twin Towers once stood. The monument would be of a tower being split in half, with a single four ton nickel tear drop suspended from the center. The Russian government got into the act, and President Vladimir Putin was present for the groundbreaking of this gift to the American people from Russia on September 16, 2005.
Tsereteli was at the dedication of the monument on September 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the attacks. Former President Bill Clinton was a keynote speaker, New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, Governor Jon Corzine, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and Mayor Joe Doria were among those present at the dedication, as were many Russian notables. LeAnn Rimes was on hand to sing AMAZING GRACE. The dedication was captured on video and posted at the website. But there was one large problem with the ceremony....most of the media wasn't there.
The media, for the most part, was concentrated on the ceremonies at Ground Zero where President George W. Bush was to be part of the agenda. The news cycle that day was dominated by the New York ceremonies, and by rebroadcasts and discussion of the events of September 11, 2001.
Consequently, the "Tear Drop 9/11 Monument" in New Jersey was praised, dedicated, sanctified....and then more or less forgotten about by just about everyone.
Below, some pictures we took at the site. The story continues below.
So....we have a one hundred foot tall monument (featuring a four ton tear drop) given to the United States by the people of Russia (with their president at the groundbreaking) to memorialize the senseless deaths of 3,000 people across the harbor; a former President of the United States and a couple of senators, and a cabinet member....AND LeAnn Rimes....dedicated the memorial on the fifth anniversary of 9/11; but nobody knows about it.
My cousin, a guy from Georgia, told me about it. We live in the most populous area of the United States and the media center of the world.....and I'll guarantee that if you asked one hundred people on the street within a 50 mile radius of Bayonne "Where can I find The Tear Drop 9/11 Memorial" at least 90 would have no idea of what you were talking about.....and nine of the remaining would make something up to keep from looking too stupid.
The question is....how did the existence of this monument erroneously fall into the realm of "Urban Legend"? A monument that almost no one knows about....on the day we visited, we were the only ones there; it was a Saturday afternoon in July.
I think there are several reasons for this monument being under publicized. Part of it was timing. On on September 11, 2006 most of the nation (and the world) focused on the ceremonies taking place at Ground Zero. President George W. Bush was at that event, as well as the one at Shanksville, PA for a wreath laying where United Flight 93 went down. At the Pentagon Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld were the guests of honor in that ceremony. And most of the day the news media concentrated on discussion of the events in 2001, plus replays, and doing the things talking heads do on the 24/7 news stations; giving opinions.
From a GOOGLE search I did on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I can find no mention of a ceremony in Bayonne, NJ. CNN, for example, offered no coverage at all. And it appears the dedication of the "Tear Drop Memorial" received no mention by anyone else in the electronic media, not even locally.
A GOOGLE search for "Bayonne NJ 911 Memorial" turns up less. It's mainly reports from bloggers and includes amateur photos and home videos, and a brief report from The New York Times that the memorial might include 40 names too many of the victims of the attacks because an outdated list was used.
And one conservative blogger suggests (and some of his readers agree) that the "main stream media" deliberately chose not to cover the story. The only problem with that theory is that few (if any) conservative and Far Right talkers and bloggers have said anything about this memorial either; no Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, or O'Reilly....no FOX NEWS. Nada.
A search for videos of the "Tear Drop Memorial" turns up less than two full pages on GOOGLE. "The Tear Drop Monument's" only reference by a local TV station is included in a list of the many others found in New Jersey.
Now....let me introduceChester Burger to our story. Mr. Burger was the very first television reporter with CBS back in 1946, and has had a long and distinguished career in media and in public relations. In his series Unexpected New York Mr. Burger tells the story of the monument, and why it is such a secret to even those within its shadow.
At that's his bottomline....New York was still haggling about what kind of memorial to put up and Ground Zero; Jersey City found the monument to be a political football; and Bayonne couldn't raise the cash. The Russians, led by Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent, got it funded and built as a gift to the United States. And, if you can accept Mr. Burger's story, that's the reason the monument has been under the radar....to avoid public embarrassment at several different levels as to who, what, and how it was built.
Sounds good to me. Maybe the circumstances became such an embarrassment that State of New Jersey decided to not even change the signs as to who the current governor is at the park; it reads "Jon Corzine" instead of "Chris Christie". I know New Jersey is in an austerity program because of it's fiscal mess, but at least change the sign..and fix the darn access roads, for goodness sake.
My closing thoughts....the monument is pretty hard to find, but the most direct way is to get on Highway 440 in Bayonne, and watch the signs for Harbor View Park.
Better yet.....make sure your GPS is fully functional.
Last week I was down in Chelsea when I spotted Niki from a distance. She appeared to have a colorful Madonna-like tattoo on her right shoulder, so I changed course and caught up to her only to discover this lovely tattoo instead:
This lovely photo was supplied to me by Niki, as my own camera's battery had run out of power and my BlackBerry photo seemed inadequate:
Niki explained that, after her beloved cat Elizabeth passed away, she wanted a memorial tattoo to honor the friend she had for fourteen years.
She went to artist John Reardon, then at Saved Tattoo, and told him she wanted a memorial in the style of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the look of Mexican shrines and altars.
One can see Reardon hit the ball out of the park, as proven by my mistaking the piece from a distance as a religious icon.
John Reardon is no stranger to Tattoosday. His work has appeared previously here and here.He now works out of his private studio in Brooklyn.
Thanks to Niki for sharing her beautiful tattoo with us on Tattoosday!
"Design for conference unit held to lack individual character" is the title of this notefor World Trademark Review by Franck Soutoul and Jean-Philippe Bresson (INLEX IP EXPERTISE, France). Published last week, it picks up the story in Shenzhen Taiden Industrial Co Ltd v Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Case T-153/08, 22June 2010, mentioned at an earlier stage on Class 99 here), in which the General Court held that a registered Community design for "units for conference systems" was invalid. In support of its challenge, Bosch pointed to an earlier international design, also for "units for conference systems", as well as documentary evidence in the form of a brochure, press cuttings and advertisements and showing the design of a conference unit which, said Bosch, was identical to the Community design at issue.
The Invalidity Division rejected Bosch's challenge, but the company had better luck with OHIM's Third Board of Appeal. While the Board held that Shenzhen Taiden's Community design was new, since it was not actually identical to the earlier international design, the challenged design lacked individual character, the differences between the two designs being insufficiently noticeable to produce a different overall impression on the informed user.
On appeal, the General Court first established that the informed user was "anyone who regularly attends conferences or formal meetings at which the various participants have a conference unit with a microphone on the table in front of them". After agreeing with the Board that the degree of freedom of a designer of conference units was relatively wide, the court found that the speaker, microphone, buttons, screen and card slot did not have a significant impact on the general appearance of a conference unit. Further, Taiden had produced no evidence that technical or functional requirements restricted the degree of freedom of the designer, or that there was a trend favouring small, flat, rectangular devices on the market at issue. Accordingly the court concluded that the Community design and the earlier design produced the same overall impression on the informed user: the sole difference between them related to the lid of the hinged speaker, the importance of which being reduced because of the limited visibility of the conference unit’s cover when the device is in use.
What I find interesting here is the identification of the informed user with "anyone who regularly attends conferences or formal meetings at which the various participants have a conference unit with a microphone on the table in front of them". Such people are certainly users, since it is they who press the buttons and speak into the mike. But is there then any meaningful difference between an "informed user" and a "user"? The person who is informed is probably a person employed by a conference organiser or conference venue provider, who will be concerned with the appearance, functionality and technical specifications of such systems -- but who doesn't "use" them in the generally accepted colloquial sense of the word.
I mentioned yesterday that I had gone up to Woodstock on the 4th of July weekend, where I spotted some upstate ink.
At a flea market, I met Jim, who had this amazing tattoo on the back of his calf:
And a wider, three-paneled view:
Jim had gone on vacation to Greece for thirty days with his brothers and he wanted to commemorate the experience.
They had stayed on the island of Ios, and Jim took several photos he had into Jake Parrington at Lowell Ink in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The end result was this amazing tattoo that captures the scene of their vacation. One of Jim's other brothers got the same tattoo. Note the three figures hiking are meant to represent Jim and his two brothers.
Thanks to Jim for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
According to Maori mythology, tattooing commenced with a love affair between a young man by the name of Mataora (which means "Face of Vitality") and a young princess of the underworld by the name of Niwareka. One day however, Mataora beat Niwareka, and she left Mataroa, running back to her father's realm which was named "Uetonga". Mataora, filled with guilt and heartbreak followed after his princess Niwareka. After many trials, and after overcoming numerous obstacles, Mataora eventually arrived at the realm of "Uetonga", but with his face paint messed and dirty after his voyage. Niwareka's family taunted and mocked Mataora for his bedraggled appearance. In his very humbled state, Mataora begged Niwareka for forgiveness, which she eventually accepted. Niwareka's father then offered to teach Mataora the art of tattooing, and at the same time Mataora also leant the art of Taniko - the plaiting of cloak borders in many colours. Mataora and Niwareka thus returned together to the human world, bringing with them the arts of ta moko and taniko.
2) Archaeological evidence.
According to archaeological evidence, tattooing came to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesian culture. The bone chisels used for tattooing can be found in archaeological sites of various ages in New Zealand, as well as in some early Eastern Polynesian sites. Although the Maori practised tattooing, there is no evidence that the Moriori people did. In New Zealand, It is in the early sites that the widest chisel blades are found, and this lends evidence to the theory that there was possibly a preference towards rectilinear tattoo patterns in earlier times. The head was considered the most sacred part of the body, and because tattooing caused blood to run the tattoo craftsmen, or "tohunga-ta-oko", were very tapu persons. All high-ranking Maori were tattooed, and those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of no social status. Tattooing commenced at puberty, accompanied by many rites and rituals. In addition to making a warrior attractive to women, the tattoo practice marked both rites of passage and important events in a person's life. There were certain prohibitions during the tattooing process, and for the facial tattoo in particular sexual intimacy and the eating of solid foods were prohibited. In order to overcome this, liquid food and water was drained into a wooden funnel, to ensure that no contaminating product came into contact with the swollen skin. This was also the only way the tattooed person could eat until his or her wounds healed. The full faced tattoo was very time consuming, and a good tattoo craftsman would carefully study a person's bone structure before commencing his art.
3) The Moko (tattoo) generally has the following significance :
Upper forehead = rank a) The left and right areas, above the eyes = position b) The left and right areas, just beneath the eyes = genealogy c) The far left and right areas, leading to the ear = marriage(s) d) Left and right areas, between the nose and lips = signature e) The left and right areas, just under the ear = profession f) The left and right areas of the chin = power and standing g) The left and right areas leading onto the neck = position at birth
The tattoo instrument was a bone chisel, either with a serrated or an extremely sharp straight edge. The first stage of the tattoo commenced with the graving of deep cuts into the skin. Next, a chisel was dipped into a sooty type pigment such as burnt Kauri gum or burnt vegetable caterpillars, and then tapped into the skin. It was an extremely painful and long process, and often leaves from the native Karaka tree were placed over the swollen tattoo cuts to hasten the healing process. Wars were frequent, and the warriors had little time for recuperation. During the tattooing process, flute music and chant poems were performed to help soothe the pain. Although the tattoos were mainly facial, the North Auckland warriors included swirling double spirals on both buttocks, often leading down their legs until the knee. The women were not as extensively tattooed as the men. Their upper lips were outlined, usually in dark blue. The nostrils were also very finely incised. The chin moko was always the most popular, and continued to be practised even into the 1970s.
The native people of New Zealand (Maori) are world famous for their tattooing. Though they do not cover as much of the body as many of the South Pacific people, the Maori developed an unusual style of tattooing. Working mostly on the face (Moko) and buttocks, the Maori took their wood carving technique and applied it to tattooing. With this they achieved a unique chiseled design that ink was then rubbed into. After the Europeans arrived in the 1700s, they brought metal to these islands and the Maori began a more conventional style of puncture tattooing. Amazingly enough this tattooing can still be seen in many museums around the world, not just in drawings or photographs, but actually in the skin. The Maori had an unusual custom of removing and preserving the heads of their tattooed chiefs after death. These heads would stay with the family and be an honored possession. Until Europeans began to visit New Zealand and to settle there, heads were of sentimental interest only and had no commercial value. The museums' and collectors' desire to possess them as curiosities for caused a great demand to spring up. Although reluctant to part with the heads, the Maori were eager to obtain firearms, ammunition and iron implements. So a brisk traffic ensued and the demand began to exceed the supply. The Maori were known to fight one another in disputes over land and property. The heads of these war victims became part of the trade supply. This considerably reduced the population of New Zealand while stocking the museums of Europe with specimens of barbaric face-culture. As a commercial enterprise this traffic was not without monetary profit as well. The first dried head ever possessed by a European was acquired on January 20, 1770. It was brought by Mr. (later Sir Joseph) Banks, who was with Captain Cook's expedition as a naturalist, and it was one of four brought on board the Endeavour for inspection. It was the head of a youth of fourteen or fifteen, who had been killed by a blow that fractured his skull. The three other heads, not for sale, seemed to have false eyes and ornaments in the ears. The first head taken to Sydney, for which there is any record, was brought from Fouveaux Straits in 1811. It was obtained by theft, and the boat crew's heads were nearly cut off for "utu" (revenge.) In 1814 heads were certainly not yet an ordinary article to trade at Sydney, but by 1829 it appears that preserved heads were not uncommon. The arrival of the first Europeans were to bring about dramatic changes to their environment. Stone impliments, greenstone adze and similar tools became quickly cast aside when the advantages of metal, steel and iron, became known to them.
The Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, 'found' New Zealand on the 13th December, 1642. Sailing aboard the war-yacht Zeehaven accompanied by the Dutch flute Heemskerck he wrote: "Towards noon we saw a large, high lying land bearing southeastward to us at about 20 leagues distance; (the Hokitika area) we saw no human beings; no smoke; nor can the people here have any boats, since we did not see any sign of them." Sailing on to Golden Bay, Tasman saw smoke from fires along the coast lit by the maori. He anchored in the bay and in the evening two canoes came out to the ship. They made no attempt to come aboard. Early next morning another canoe came out with thirteen people aboard. They were double canoes, two prows side by side. Eleven more canoes followed, completely surrounding his ship. Suddenly and without warning there was trouble. Tasman sent a small boat out to greet the local canoes. One of the maori canoes deliberately rammed the boat and swung alongside, when three of his crew members were cut down by the maori and killed, another mortally wounded. Seeing the cannon aboard Zeehaven being run out through the portals, the Maori canoes made for the shore, while the guns hit and killed the Maori warriors in the rear canoe. Tasman now considered the Maori as hostile and his enemy and set sail northwards towards the Three Kings Islands to replenish his fresh water supplies. Heavy seas were running in the area and he could not get ashore through the surf with the boats and casks. He decided to weigh anchor and set sail from New Zealand February, 1643. His journal and charts of the southern oceans made a note to warn all mariners to regard the natives of this land as 'hostile'.
Occasionally, but not too often, I do venture out of the city to places far, and not so far, away.
Fourth of July weekend, I was up visiting friends in Woodstock, New York.
On July 3, we found ourselves at an outdoor flea market and I met a couple of inked folk, including Larry who has "a lot" of tattoos.
When asked to choose one, he offered up this piece on his forearm:
The image, of a candle burning at both ends, reminds him that life goes by quickly. The "No Tomorrow" is a spin on the carpe diem, or "seize the day" philosophy.
The tattoo was done by JR Maloney at Vanguard Tattoo in Nyack, New York.
Thanks to Larry for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
