Tattoo trade is the ‘Wild West’ with few rules

Thursday November 12, 2009 8:59 PM By Pete Catapano

When Tony Ritter got a tattoo at 20, he didn’t realize that the little bulldog emblazoned on his right shoulder blade would come back to bite him 15 years later.

What should have been a 90-minute procedure stretched into three hours of agony. It felt like the Nevada tattoo artist was grinding the needle into his bone, he recalled.

“I almost cried because it hurt so bad,” said Ritter, now 35. “When it was healing, it oozed a lot of the ink.”

Even though the tattoo looks normal, it’s essentially raised scar tissue that still gets inflamed, said Ritter, who lives in Colorado. He doesn’t know if the artist was licensed, but stories such as his are a reminder that people should make sure the person inking them is certified and safe.

Little oversight

Rodrigo Melo, artist/owner of North Star Tattoo in the East Village, pays $100 a year for his license, but he said: “The health department doesn’t do any regulation on us at all. … I’ve been working in the city for 10 years and I’ve never seen one person come in to check.”

The city health department — which licenses artists, not shops — refused repeated requests to comment or to provide the number of violations it has issued. As of Sept. 23, however, there were 25 complaints about tattoo artists to the city’s 311 hotline, bringing the five-year total to 80.

While that doesn’t seem like a large number, some in the industry said many wronged patrons aren’t likely to complain. And Dr. Roy Geronemus, director of the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York, noted that there has been a spike in the number of people getting bad tattoos removed.

“[There’s] more and more botched jobs. Basically it’s the Wild West, there’s no control or enforcement of regulations,” he said.

Overall, he said, more people have been getting tattoos the last few years — and getting them removed.

“Unfortunately there are a lot more (unlicensed artists) than we would like to think. Most of them are underground and don’t show up in the headlines unless they actually do get busted,” said Karen Hudson, author of “Living Canvas. A Guide To Tattoos, Piercings And Body Modifications.”

But with so many legit places, why would anyone go to someone else?

“Usually it’s because they are looking for a loophole or looking for someone that’s OK with tattooing them because they are underage or they are high,” she said.

Also, it’s easy to get tattooing equipment, said Jason Buhrmester, editor in chief of Inked magazine.

“Anyone can buy a tattoo machine. You can pick up a magazine, or a catalogue or go to a convention, Web site,” he said. “There are tattoo suppliers out there. … you can also make your own machine.”

According to a 2006 study published by the American Academy of Dermatology, 24 percent of those surveyed had tattoos. In 1936, about 6% percent of Americans were tattooed according to Life Magazine.

In New York, odds are many clients for unlicensed tattoo artists are kids, as the legal age to get inked is 18.

‘Badge of trust’

Dr. Ariel Ostad, of NYU Medical Center, said unlicensed artists might share needles and not sterilize equipment, which can result in clients contracting hepatitis C, HIV or bacterial infections.

“The license is a badge of trust,” said Maia Ramnath, 36, a tattooed East Villager. “If it’s there, you can trust things are clean and sanitary.”

But Mark Haraela, an artist at East Side Ink, which was fined last July for allowing pop singer Rihanna to tattoo other artists in the East Village shop, disagreed. “A lot of places don’t have licenses, so I wouldn’t want to make people paranoid about a little piece of paper just to make sure they’re an OK tattoo artist,” he said.

Jen, a co-owner of East Side Ink who declined to give her last name, offered this advice: “Trust your instincts when you go into the shop. If it feels clean, looks clean, and you get a good vibe from the artist and the people who work there, then it’s good. If it looks dirty and seems off, it probably is.”

Phoebe Kingsak contributed
to this story.

Dear Hollywood, please think of new ideas

Wednesday November 11, 2009 4:09 PM By Emily Hulme

And if you can't, hire me! I have plenty of ideas that I'd let someone pay me millions of dollars for to make into a movie.

Compare.

I really think it was unnecessary to remake "Clash of the Titans" into a big-pimpin', ROAR-soundtracked action film. The original is kick-ass already, on the strength of its cheesey charm.

But no one asked me. Clearly.

New Lost Promo

Sunday November 1, 2009 6:14 PM By Emily Hulme

I missed this very first promo for the last season of "Lost" which ran during Thursday's "FlashForward." That's what you get for watching your television time-shifted.

It doesn't say much ... though it looks like we're going to revisit the infamous cage-incident, which should please everyone.

Far more satisfying is Pop Candy's q&a with Damon Lindelof, if you're looking for a preview fix.

Elvira, Mistress of the merchandising

Wednesday October 28, 2009 3:08 PM By Emily Hulme

The AV Club is really on a roll these days. If you haven't read their Bronson Pinchot interview yet (the one where he talks about Tom Cruise), do it. It's all-around fascinating.

And now in time for Halloween, they talk to Elvira. The interview is far more interesting than it has any right to be. I had no idea that Cassandra Peterson (that's her real name) had so much to say. I'm pretty anti-autobiography (I think they're boring, generally), but if she wrote one, I'd definitely read it.

Anyway, she comes across as very intelligent and very self-aware, two traits I admire in people. A sample quote:

As a perfume, Evil:
AVC: What did Evil smell like?
CP: It actually smelled really good. The guys that did it for me worked on the really high-end perfume at the time, which I think was Black Diamond by Elizabeth Taylor? [White Diamonds.—ed.] Initially they wanted us to release it in high-end department stores, but I said, “No way. My audience is trailer-park trash. We need to put this in drugstores for five bucks a bottle.” It’s like, I got approached to do a wine one time. And I was like, “Mm-mm. Elvira’s not a wine-drinking gal. She drinks beer.” I know my audience, and it’s not that high-class. [Laughs.] If you like me, you’re either white trash or gay. Just kidding! Nope, not kidding

I would totally drink a beer with Elvira.

'V': Are we excited?

Tuesday October 27, 2009 5:45 PM By Emily Hulme

Grrr ... I just wrote this entry and it disappeared completely, because our blogging program is terrible. (I know ... typical luser whining, but in this case it happens to be true.)

Anyway, "V" is coming to TVs near us next week, and while everyone was excited when the remake was first announced, that seems to have cooled off recently. Though ABC wants to get you pumped.

You can watch a 9 minute clip from the premiere episode on Hulu.

I like Elizabeth Mitchell (the blond FBI agent), but I think that's mostly down to the redemptive arc they gave her character Juliet on "Lost" this last season. I'm not really sure she's that great an actor. I guess we'll have to see.

Also, I also don't think your first move in an earthquake-type event should be to try and hold up your bookshelves, but that's neither here nor there.

In other promotional news, ABC is airing this clip/music video (because that's something they like to do) set to Muse's "Uprising." It does make the miniseries seem very exciting. Also, in this context, "Uprising" sounds very "Dr Who."

Movie review: 'Amelia'

Thursday October 22, 2009 6:03 PM By Mina Hochberg

Amelia
2 stars
Directed by Mira Nair
Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor

Directed by Mira Nair, “Amelia” tracks the life of Amelia Earhart from one headline-making accomplishment to the next. With a smile and a swagger, Hilary Swank plays the celebrity aviator as she enamors the nation with her record-breaking missions across this body of water and that distance of Earth. She also enamors the heart of book publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere), who’s instrumental in helping her fund her pricey adventures.

Nair tries to present her characters fairly, but in doing so she creates a film that’s oddly neutered of emotion: Everyone is so darn equanimous. Conversations wax lyrical, with lines of artificial dialogue that seem to have been plucked straight from a love letter or diary. The otherwise excellent cast is further hobbled by the film’s fidelity to chronology at the expense of character depth. Countless moments are devoted to proving how much Earhart cherished her freedom, but little else is revealed about her inner life. Instead, the film ploddingly charts milestones with the diligent flair of a Wikipedia entry.

Where the film does soar is in the sky. The aerial scenes are gorgeous, showing you, in a wordless instant, why Earhart loved being in the cockpit. Also striking is Swank’s resemblance to Earhart, which is possibly what enabled her to fill the role with such effortless charm, even if she does sound distractingly like Katharine Hepburn at times.

“Amelia” conveys nothing but good intentions. Unfortunately, though, it succumbs to the challenge of revitalizing a story that’s become the stuff of legend.
 

Movie review: 'Antichrist'

Thursday October 22, 2009 6:01 PM By Mina Hochberg

2 stars
Written and directed by Lars von Trier
Starring Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg

“Antichrist” features one genital mutilation (not to be confused with the scene of genital battering), one stone wheel-and-axel bored into a man’s shin, several scissor stabbings, one toddler death, and one talking fox. It’s like David Lynch meets Michael Haneke (“Funny Games”).

Lars von Trier’s horrific new film opens with a sex scene between an unnamed couple played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It’s shot in slow motion to the tune of an operatic aria. What you take away from their love-making is not so much the graphic details (of which there are plenty), but the danger that the couple is oblivious to. They knock over and shatter a glass, and then another, but the alarm bells really go off when the camera rack-focuses to the crescendoing audio bars on a baby monitor. Next thing you know, you’re watching in horror as their toddler boy suffers a fatal accident.

That virtuosic aria is the last shred of harmony you’ll get for most of the next 100 minutes. As grief descends on the childless couple, cacophonous and ambient sounds firmly cast the story into a nightmarish realm. The mother is more stricken than the father, who is a therapist and maintains a stoic appearance. Crazed with grief, she remains in a hospital, on medication, until her husband overrules her doctor’s orders and decides to treat her with his own therapy techniques, sans meds.

The couple retreats to their cabin in the forest, a place they call Eden. At times she seems grateful for his attentiveness. Other times, though, her emotions turn bitter and accusatory: You think you’re always right, you’re always so distant, you weren’t there for me and the baby. He tunes out her indictments, determined to prod her through the stages of grief by getting her to confront her fears.

Eden is an awful place that only a warped couple would consider a getaway. It attracts dying animals, acorns continually pelt the cabin roof, ticks feast on your skin, fog hovers with a preternatural opacity. As the therapist trespasses into his wife’s psyche, their relationship unravels. He does seem genuinely concerned, but even so, something about Dafoe’s sinewy body and square jaw makes him seem more sinister than solicitous. Gradually, you sense flickers of uncertitude in his behavior as his wife begins to behave in startling ways. Her disturbing rants and eerie actions cause him to take pause and wonder if taking his mentally unstable wife into the deep, deep woods was maybe not such a good idea after all.

“Antichrist” is a haunting exploration of power between a man who’s perhaps wielded too much of it and a woman who’s tired of dealing with his cocky brand of sovereignty. He doesn’t deserve the deranged things that she does to him, but that’s not the point — this is her big F-you for having to endure his arrogance.

In the end, “Antichrist” is not really a movie that challenges mind or morality. It’s more of a visceral experience, which I’m not convinced is reason enough for a film to exist, at least in this case. If you’re remotely squeamish, bring smelling salts. Or skip it entirely.
 

Starbuck on 'The Big Bang Theory'

Thursday October 22, 2009 2:02 PM By Emily Hulme

Well, almost. Katee Sackhoff, who is in real life way girlier than her "Battlestar" character, will be guest starring on an upcoming episode of "The Big Bang Theory" (which I keep typing as "The Big Band Theory" — someone make me that show!). Unlike Summer Glau when she appeared, Sackhoff will not be playing herself. Chicago Trib's Watcher has more details, if you want to know them.

Also, according to Watcher, another "Battlestar" related episode will feature this Cylon toaster, which I think is hysterical:

(It's funny because cylons are slangily called "toasters" on the show. Though chances are you either already know why its funny, or you still don't think it's funny aprés-explanation. But I explained it anyway.)

IE stages grocery store musical

Wednesday October 21, 2009 3:36 PM By Emily Hulme

Here's Improv Everywhere at a grocery store in Astoria. I love that the old man at the end supposes that this is just a regular thing.

According to the behind-the-scenes write up, the group did have the cooperation of the store. You can also check out their LA food court musical here.