Tattooed Part Too

I got a bit sidetracked yesterday from my original thoughts...

We went to Kalamunda Wet n Wild on the weekend and coz its shirts off everywhere you tend to see a lot of body art going on. Now in the kiddies wading pool lay a big blokey bloke (about 40) with full on beard and performance car cap on. His back was a giant tattoo of two flaming skulls wearing those pointy speared german war helmets with a swastika in the flames and in between the skulls was a giant swastika and embedded within that was that other german cross symbol.

now he was laughing and chatting with his other half whilst his baby was in the pool, now its fairly obvious what this guy's agenda is but was this tattoo something he did when he was "young and stupid" and now he doesnt have much choice in the matter or is he still a neo-nazi and will be teaching his kids those ideals?

Its a pretty powerful image to flaunt around the place and frankly I didn't care much to see it but the funny thing is if he was wearing a rashy I never would have known or even thought of it.

Weekly WTF: Mario Sweater Vest

Open Your Ears Wk 2

welcome to my new segment on squidy, I have been rather slacko with my postings so I am gonna force myself to make a guaranteed weekly contribution

basically I want to introduce everyone to a band or artist that most people don't know so that there is opportunity to expand your musical horizons. I will add a new blurb each monday and by the end of the year you will have 50 new listening experiences*

I missed last week so we start today!

OWL CITY - Fireflies

ok so I am playing nice and safe for this week, an ease into something new... Owl City is the artistic name of Adam Young from somewhere in the USA. No doubt you would have actually come across this song on the radio as its starting to get the flog-o-matic.

He describes himself as "Dream Pop" but I have heard him described as "Electro-pop" and "a rip off of 'The Postal Service'!" basically its sickly sweet keyboard based pop music for all your girly teenage dreams. Unfortunately for all of us who aren't teenage girls he will probably have to be a guilty pleasure behind closed doors.

This song is great, catchy as hell and even better it translates beautifully to acoustic guitar (so I can enjoy it on another level). I have been singing it in my head and playing it on guitar for the last week or so, even considered doing a recorded version. I'll see if I have the time....

OWL CITY MYSPAZ : www.myspace.com/owlcity
FIREFLIES YOUTUBE VID
A GREAT ACOUSTIC COVER

and if you like Owl City.. check out
THE POSTAL SERVICE : www.myspace.com/thepostalservice

Tattooed everything...

I went to my kids daycare Christmas party and made an interesting observation, the majority of man and a significant number of women had visible tattoos. Now I'm not suggesting this is a good or bad thing just a thing.

So I came to the basic conclusion that I live in a middle/low income area and there is probably a correlation between the two but I don't understand why that is.
Wiki says
Insofar as this cultural or subcultural use of tattoos predates the widespread popularity of tattoos in the general population, tattoos are still associated with criminality. Although the general acceptance of tattoos is on the rise in Western society, they still carry a heavy stigma among certain social groups.

So whats the pay-off? what inspires the ever increasing number of people getting tattoos to do it? I mean how many people would get a hair cut that they could never change for the rest of their life or wear the same shirt everyday?

From my ignorant perspective I see tattoos as advertising, whatever it is that you are choosing to say. Now what does it all mean to everyone? Does a tat remind the person of this that or the other or is it tell everyone else this that or the other?

Here are someones guess at the top 50 tats clickity click

so the answer lies basically in a couple of catagories
1. i wear this proudly because i belong to or am a fan of....
- religion : crosses, symbols, swastikas etc
- gang : clan symbols, markings etc
- band/artist : band names/logos
- sports team : logos, player names, team colours
- product : motorcycle brand, musical instrument brand
2. I gain strength or belief from
- religion
- tribal symbols/art
- animal attributes
3. I want to alter my body image toward
- strength
- power
- beauty
4. I want to honour those I love
- family members
- deceased

I have never really thought about getting a tattoo, I am a giant scaredy cat #1, I don't see the point #2 and I'm so weedy it probably wouldn't look good anyway. However I would almost guarantee that if one of my children died at a young age I would get a tattoo to have that permanent reminder (not that anyone would forget). For some reason this makes sense to me.

So i guess my question is... does your opinion of somebody change if they have visible tattoos? do you have a negative instinct? do you have more respect for them? do you admire them? do you run away from them? and for our readers who do have tatts, how long did it take you to choose a permanent body image?

Happy 75th Birthday Mr P Rez

Elvis you've done it again - your birthday has come around like some sort of annual occurrence and people STILL think you're somewhere celebrating it! In light of this momentous day on the celebrity birthday calender, I decided to head to eGraceland and check out www.elvis.com.

Heavens to Betsy!

Is there anything this site doesn't offer? Apart from the obvious like Bios, Graceland info and Music/Movie repertoire they have links like 'Elvis Kids'. Elvis Kids contains colouring-in templates, an interactive Elvis surfing game and even a basic 'Find Elvis' game which is basically Where's Wally so the tiddly-winks get hooked on the undead phenomenon early in life.

Need a GracelandCAM? Done. An appropriate Elvis e-Card for all occasions? Done. Panoramic Galleries, Stats, Family + Friend links, an official impersonator database with full tour dates/times and of course Sightings.

'Sightings' seems simple enough but is full of "I saw him in a picture on the wall at Burger King" and other general rubbish like that. Elvis spotting has blossomed into the 21st century though because you can download the official Elvis Sightings iPhone App to immediately log sightings when you're out and about. I've done a quick search on the App Store but sadly I can't find it :(

Happy Birthday Elvis - It's awesome that your legacy lives on brother!!

Soundtrack Of The Day: Elvis - Greatest Hits

P.S. Yes I am very concerned about the odd shape in this mans crotch.

Mediche Life One

Mediche Ltd have released a new organiser for diarising diabetes health readings and unlike the usual gadgetry on squidring.com, this one seems useful.

The package contains a glucose reader, injector pen and mobile device. In the picture, the device looks an awful lot like an iPhone though they assure that it's only the prototype and it will look alot different when it actually comes to market.

The pen contains an inbuilt memory chip which records date, time and dose. When the pen is returned to its position in the folder, all the data is automatically uploaded to the mobile device which then transmits it to the Mediche secure server. The data is then collated and viewable on their website via the users personalised login. While I can see some good in this day to day, the value might be in the longer term. Being able to generate an accurate on-the-fly report of the last year has got to be helpful.

Here's an official benefits blurb from Mediche.com:

With clearer and more information regarding their condition the person with diabetes is better enabled to manage themselves which can help reduce the consequences of mismanagement of diabetes which include loss of sight, amputations and heart problems.

Within the UK alone, in 2008 the NHS spent £1.3 billion (5% of the total budget) on diabetes and diabetes-related care. With better management this can be reduced, saving the NHS and other health organisations millions per year.
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Impulse Buy

Just when you thought there wasn't anything more useless than a Cuddlee...... ("WOW, a blanket with sleeves!!!" or perhaps just a reverse dressing gown - dumbasses) I present the Wrap-Around-Towel.

Its a towel that wraps around you...... ooooooooooooooooo. It's claim to fame is that it doesn't have any fasteners but all I'm thinking is what they've created is a useless towel tube you can stroll around in, looking like a twat.

I think they have failed to see that while wrapping a towel around yourself IS one of the things we do with towels, it isn't EVERYTHING we do with them. What about Sunbathing? What about when you run out of home towels and you grab a beach one when you get out of the shower instead? What if a little kid wants to use the towel and it doesn't fit?!? What if your Mrs grabs yours on her way out instead of hers, only to have a public beach wardrobe malfunction of toga proportions? What about when you throw it in the wash and it gets all caught up with the other clothes cos its a bloody tube!

They call it the Wrap 'A' Round Towel but I reckon its just so people don't call it the WAT. Cos when you say WAT, it's only a short jump to WAT.T.F - spose you can see why they were worried.

Unless you want to go to a fancy dress party as someone from Asterix or if you want to see yourself as a human Fajita, I'd let this one go through to the keeper.
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Las Ketchup

Finally my efforts of growing edible produce is starting to pay off.

The little tomato champ pictured (isn't it cute) was hand reared and plucked from the plant with all the love you should expect from home grown fruit. It was then carefully washed and eaten within 25 seconds!

Well, what do you expect! I only had 1 so its hardly a salad starter and at 15mm diameter it didn't spoil dinner. Actually I shared it with DJ so it barely even touched the sides........ somewhat like dropping a marble into a bucket........ there's the mental image! Cmon, get the image of it in your head, its ok I'll wait. The bucket in my head is blue, what colour is yours?

It's the first of many many tomatoes, chillis and capsicums which are growing very nicely. The weight of the fruit is now dragging the plant downward while its trying to grow up toward the sun. Day by day you can see the stem get a little stronger only to compete with the food getting bigger too! *insert fist shake*

Hope the new year is serving you only the finest of life.

Ciao bello's + bella's
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The Mistakenly Neutered Thirtysomethings

I'm proud to admit I was all about Turtle-power in the late 80s and this year marks the 25th anniversary.

How do I know this? No, I'm not THAT much of a turtle-maniac - I was strolling through the toy aisle wasting time while Kylie looked at clothes and I was very shocked to see TMNT figurines for sale once again. I've seen with every new movie, they change the packaging and re-release the same stuff to the next wave of wannabe ninjas so I just assumed there must be a new movie coming out........nup, not this time.

The look and feel of the packaging is permanently embedded in my brain so I quickly noticed that they are the same as the original figures released in the 80s. The Figure, Weapons, Accessories, Cardboard and even all the pictures on the back of the packet are identical. Apart from a little 25th Anniv. sticker they ARE the original ones.

I have a few mint 80s cartoon figurines in original packaging scattered around my house (no not Turtles!) so this made me think - "What if someone had a mint collection of TMNT figures from the 80s hoping they were worth cash 25 year later?". I can give you their answer too, they'd be completely pissed off! Usually manufacturers change something on the figure or re-date the packets but not so this time. Anyone can just walk into Target with $15 and get one - bend over collectors and take that one up the Splinter.

As with all of my toys from childhood, I've still got them......... somewhere. I remember that I had almost the whole set including the blimp, sidecar and skateboard. I think i just need Shredder, Splinter and April to complete it so maybe I'll keep an eye out on the shelves for the final few and finally complete the collection : P. Lucky for me tho, I ripped those packets apart like they were yesterdays trash!

I'll try and recap on the figures I do have to spark some reminisce juice in all of you: Leonardo, Donotello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, Foot Soldier, Leatherhead, Casey Jones, Usagi Yojimbo and Rat King..... ah the memories.
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Weekly WTF: CoughPee Table