I love science because...

Enjoy... This was a well spent 17 minutes. Seriously. I lolled.
M

What does my job compare to?

I get that question once in a while...
I get a lot of other questions a lot more frequently like, "How did you learn this?", "Do you also do your own tattoos?" or "Will colors really fade?"

I got a studied response to each one of those by now. They are all legitimate questions, some requiring a bit more patience than others.
But i rarely hear "What Job compares to what you do?"
Probably because an answer to this would require a certain degree of imagination to be useful. But perhaps also because there is just not anything in particular that is obviously comparable to what a Tattoo Artist does.
I would have to dissect this a little bit if i would want to be anal about giving a satisfying answer. Satisfying to me, of course. In other words, being anal about it is not an evadable matter.

i will try to not get into a rant this time... i am a stern mofo sometimes and of course rants write themselves without any help so
"i'll try, everybody!" I might fail in which case, do take my shit with a grain of salt...
Of course if you want to rant back at me and give a chance to dismantle your disbelief for my lack of respect, i can't wait. But since this is not gonna be a rant. everyone will love me after this, of course... Can't wait.

Now on to the main subject. What would I compare this job to? I had to think hard on most of these a few were very obvious. i will start in no particular order. They are all important.


The Pharmacist:
-you are in a trade that requires huge amounts of knowledge in a manifold of different subject matters. None of which is directly open or obvious to your client but has crucial effects on the quality of your performance.

-you are the go to person if people run into problems that the best friend or neighbor has no satisfying advice for or if any given advice by above subjects failed to deliver the goods.
You are very likely the one that has to be ready with a solution to problems that could be impeded by coming to you as a professional directly.
Which is a bit nerve wrecking but stupidly how all of us seem to roll: First trust those you know albeit their total lack of professional experience for the subject.
If this fails (and only fucking IF) will you look for advice by your much trusted (accusing eyebrow raise) tattoo artist or in worst case scenarios your most trusted medical doctor.
(whoops, no worries i am out of rant mode right away. Here we go)

-you are in a position that requires a responsibility of good advice towards your client BEFORE you have earned any money of those clients, who very likely will be unable to estimate the effect of the product you are selling.
Not only are you a trusted adviser but also will you, from time to time, have to give advice that could possibly harm your business and meanwhile improve the business of those that lack this same responsibility (which really hurts).

I.E.: a client comes in and has to wait for an hour until you are ready to talk. Turns out he/she wants a lettering tattoo on a very visible spot consistent of arabian letters (which are hyroglyphs for me) . My reference which he/she brings in is a PostIt with a horrible 2 second example of the most horrible clawfingered scribble i ever saw. All of which, in a language i can not read, understand speak or in any way comprehend. Me, struck with disbelief try to point out that i can not tattoo it as it is but also lack the means to repair it in a manner that would be tattoo worthy since i have no idea how you write arabian. The client, obviously confused and angry tells me that it is not of my business to judge his/her handwriting and tells me to do it anyways because she likes it as it is. I refuse and of the client wanders to find someone who will say yes...

another Example:
"Can you do bio-tattoos?"
"Sry, what?"
"you know those that fade after a few weeks."
"Nothing like that exists, i can assure you that"
"But i heard from all my friends that it could be done!"
"i am sorry to disappoint you, but there is no way to tattoo anything in your skin that wouldnt stay there. Anyone who tries to sell you a bio-tattoo is lying to you."
"Maybe you are lying!" takes off...
Me thinking: "I am not the one taking your money... why should i be the one who lies."

So you are in a position where you have to make decisions between good advice and good business by yourself. And this exactly is one of the main pointer that determine the professionalism and/or quality of a tattoo studio and/or Pharmacy.
There are pharmacies that will happily sell you any kind of feel good, homeopathic, herbal or plain mystical bullshit you could ever want and that doesn't do dick or is plain harmful.
Or there are the responsible one that will tell you that there is no known treatment for your disease or at least none without any unwanted side effects.
The cozy, no side effect, no inconvenient dosing schedule, no health authority, no animal testing, non chemical, non poisonous approach is just too nice sounding to dismiss... It's also too good to be true.
But that doesn't matter to most of us... We want, we get.

Always listen to the ones that don't tell you what you want to hear! The wants that will reject your money to save their professionalism.

(Whoops, did rant again or what?!)

I have to keep those a bit shorter so on the following i rely on you coming up with the connceting examples yourself which will also help me staying out of rant mode.
Okay, next


The Nurse
i know how gay it sounds but we actually do a lot of
-Cross contamination prevention
-Listen to whining and personal stories, nodding knowingly while sharing advice...
-Spend hours with people that we don't like and/or that don't like us while having to remain our highest standards of executing our job and without forgeting our responsebilities
-Trying to comfort where we can and/or want
-Vomit pouch providing in those rare cases needed (that's crossing into stewardess which is even gayer so i stick with the nurse which is a tad bit hotter, too. IMHO)


The Plastic Surgeon
pretty much another twist on the pharmacist.
-having to educate people about the decisions they make is tough if those decisions are for life. Something not many first-timers can wrap their mind around. Not to sound condescending.
-dealing with the human body as a medium for your creation is tough and challenging. It asks for a certain level of experience and can not be learned in theory. And there is always a level of risk involved that the client needs to know about and take into consideration. We are after all making changes on the appearance of out clients. Responsibility!


The Graphic Designer
no not the artist.
I don't feel that artists have the necessary distance to their work. which is required for doing good, solid work.
And by good, solid work i mean work that not only satisfies the tattooer and the "tattooee" but also has mainstream value of looking right, being readable by most people and aging well.

Design is something that is made to look good and appeals to most people.
It is tailor made for the object or purpose it is used for. Art is stiffly attached to the artist and a very egocentrical thing to toss into a tattoo.
If you are an artist that does things that have a big audience and is tattooable in a sense of longevity. Fine.
But art can be ugly and lame. Still an artist always likes what they are doing and there are always people that like the most ugly and twisted shit for personal reasons.
But something that is specifically attached to a certain taste is automatically fragile when it comes to accepting it as a body part for the rest of ones life... Time changes opinions.

This is very generalizing and i understand that there are exceptions but it's the way i feel about it. The way I define art (a personal way of execution of imagery that is directly connected to an Artist and wont conform without sacrifice to a medium it is not intended for), is has no place in tattooing as such.
Changing art into proper design without loosing it's appeal and/or style is an art form in itself so this most controversial.


The Scientist
this certainly does not appeal to everyone in this trade but i think it is something that can make one a fast learner and better tattooer. Most of the best Tattoo Artists out there (that i know) use the scientific method (consciously or not) to determine how to improve their work step by step, the safest way possible with the biggest feedback of valid information.

-Ask the right questions
-Gather knowledge
-Find a problem
-Work out a solution with the foundation of the gathered knowledge
-Experiment (if that fails, don't get attached to your brainchild but swallow your pride and move on!)
-Execute
-Implement
-Move on to higher ground
-Repeat

Good stuff.


The Musician
-knowing your instrument by heart is what this one is all about. A good tattooer hears and feels when he does it right. It requires a well trained ear, hand-eye-ear coordination, dexterity and experience. Tuning and using a tattoo machine right is like tuning and playing an instrument. It is very intricate and asks for a lot of practice and endurance. Working with the ever changing medium of skin and the ever changing setup of a tattoo machine/needle/grip/color makes this probably one of the hardest and unpredictable instruments that you could find. So in a way a tattooer not only has to have the abilities of a good musician but has to be able to improvise in a jam session with a new band every day.


So far for the parallels to other professions...

Now, i realize that these cut into each other as most of them are comparable to one another.
A good question that remains is, what is the difference between a good solid tattooer and a good solid tattoo artist? Both of which deserve the same amount of respect. Well, maybe not the same but both have their place and are vital to this industry. and of course the field here is also all shades of gray between the two.
In order to not be totally wishy-washy though, i have to generalize while totally being aware of the unique ways everybody handles their job. That's the scientist in me, the statistician, the bit of geek if you will.

I understand that all this makes it sound like we tattoo artists/tattooers are some kind of übermensch, super entity that can do pretty much everything. Remember, i am trying to convey the most perfect scenario, the way this should be taught to a student. Not the way it actually is. Only the way it should be.

So what is the difference between a tattoo artist and a tattooer anyways?
Why always the distinction and is it really that important to think of the difference?
No it is not that important. However a lot of us do like to make that distinction. And there are certainly people that do not deserve to be called artist in any way just as there are artists that are not to be called tattooer out of reasons you might understand after reading the following.


The tattooer:
will happily accept that he/she is not an artist at all but knows what looks well on a body and will pridelessly turn any proudly signed, eagerly and egocentrically self drawn piece of crap into a valid and well applied tattoo that deserves to be on a body.
He/she is also able to tattoo stuff he/she has tattooed a thousand times over as long as it is well applied and looks good and is what the client wants/deserves. Tattooing right from flash is no problem as long as the flash is looking good and is tattooable,
80% of the tattoo clientele is theirs and in good hands, too.
a few drawbacks are:
-Less artistic freedom
-More younger clients
-More clients with money problems
-More discussion time on bad ideas
-More repair work on bad tattoos or bad drawings
-More chance to have inexperienced clients
-More repetition of the same old
-Can easily turn into a time stamp job like any other

The tattoo artist:
Has to understand all the qualities of the tattooer. Remember, designer, not artist. eventhough we call it tattoo "artist" a good "tattoo artist" is also giving up a substantial amount of freedom to suit a customer and their skin without loosing what makes his/her work unique. This in itself is a leap that takes long for most to understand and/or accept.
Tattoo artists are in somewhat of a more luxurious position than the tattooer, one might think. But there is a flipside to it.
They normaly receive more respect and trust while being handed more controle over their subject matter which is a freedom many people dream of in their jobs. What a dandy live. Depending on how well they do, they can choose the pieces they want to do and might even reach a point where every piece they start is total fun for them.
While mostly doing custom work and getting to lay his/her own ideas on the bodies of others, doing bigger scale work and probably earning a lot more attention than the tattooer, there is also a few drawbacks:
-Smaller clientele
-Longer waitinglists
-More pressure
-Less tattoo time, more drawing time = less free time and less money
-Less pieces that will take longer
-More public awareness resulting in
-More critique which can be good depending on how one deals with it. resulting in
-More pressure to not fuck up, which can be good depending on how one deals with it
-More required self controle and self awareness, which can be good for ones character but also backfires a lot. All those extremes can lead to a
-Bigger chance of burn out
-not a lot of room for other non work related problems


And those two examples are only the absolute best case scenarios IMHO. Probably none of the above exist in real life without or without leaking into each other. Those are the prototypes.

This is a bit of a weird blog, and you might ask where i am going with this...

It's for those of us that get tired of what they do from time to time,
Those that feel on the edge of a burn out,
Those that have lost the fascination for the best job in the world and esp.
Those who think this job is something they can learn from the kitchen or like to try for a hobby because it looks easy on the TV.
Hey, fuck, it might just be the way to get rich and happy without that degree in school or that totally over rated talent in anything! You don't need to be smart to draw a little!
Jump right from the building side or the housekeeping into the fabulous future life of the rich and famous tattoos artist who has two cock addicted, hot girls, dry humping each of his legs at all times while talking in the coolest and funniest catch phrases the entire day without ever breaking into sweat or looking anything less than cool even if totally out of any physical shape... Holy crap! I can finally look like a total social misfit, and it will be my work outfit!! Look at those badasses leaving their lifelong mark on rock stars, touching half naked girls on a daily basis while listening to their favorite (also socialy unaccepted) music, swearing, farting, burping, being fucking rich rich rich and famous and defining the word c o o l.
You only need to draw a bit... and my neighbor loves my drawings and mom also always said i am a big artist! So lets go! This is so easy!!

whoa... i am not deleting this... it was too much fun to go to that parallel universe.

[Reality check]
If you don't plan to get really fucking good and put in what it takes, you are in the wrong business and should look for something where your premediated negligence is not harming the future of other people. Good luck with that. Anyways, you are in for a wakeup call sometime soon.
Agrivatingly, some can do their job with an attitude like that and sicceed grately while living of of the ignorance of our beloved but uneducated clientele...
If you are really into this and want to go all the way, always listen to advice, be humble and leave out the ego until you established your own stuff to a level that is accepted by other peers.
Always raise your bar just out of reach.
Never should a tattooer raise their bar to satisfy the taste of friends family AND customers. Or to just be a bit better than the guy next door. never be too lazy or irresposible to forget the hygiene and never think you know enough about any subject. Accepting critisicm is a virtue having faith in the own abilities is a crux.
And of course, always be the most skeptical of your own ideas before you distrust the experience of others. No matter what you think of them. These are the most important things to take on board when going on the long journey that is becoming a good, solid tattooer/tattoo artist.
just try to add to the industry. If you don't have anything to add. Keep doing what your doing because after a few years of struglle tattooing will feel the exact same to you as the shit you do now, only that you harm the business of those that do work hard on themselves while underperforming with possibly lifelong consequences on people that trust you.[/Reality check]

thats it for today. no imagery to make this easier to read.
ranting again towards the end there...

sincerely,
stern motherfucker,
over and out...


;)

Well, damn!

... just stumbled upon this...
this is just fucked up (exaggeratedly weird and great)

Fish With Transparent Head Filmed


It has a fucking transparent dome as a head! With frickin, green swiveling lenses mounted inside it!



if this shit doesn't leave anti evolutionists holding onto their knees and rocking back and forth while mumbling their mantra of choice, i don't know what will.

Evolution is bad ass... If shit like this can happen, given enough time and stability, imagine what else could be out there in environments that we have always thought to be absolutely uninhabitable... granted, most worlds would have never been able to kick start any life into existence, but like mars, some worlds might have been "life-friendly" in the past and very gradually, over millions of years degraded into the icy, irradiated deserts that they are... If that change took long enough, life could have adjusted to it though... why not?
Last thing i heard was that they find unusual amounts of methane in Mars' atmosphere. Way higher as they would expect to be caused by vulcanism (which doesn't really happen anymore on mars) or comet impacts (which should be traceable. For the amount of methane that we see, can't hang out for as long as it would take for erosion, to erase all the signs of a big enough comet impact...)
So... who is doing all the farting on mars?



Shit like this is more inspiring to me than any Science Fiction novel or movie or the most bizarre creature designs i have ever seen... because reality always trumps fantasy... always.

I can't believe (after seeing weird/awesome shit like this that some people prefer their self conceived fantasy world over the surprising fascination that is waiting out there... (and on our televisions and Computer screens for lazy fuckers like myself.)

In that same sense i cwant to list a few documetaries and movies every human being must have seen in his/her life.

Planet Earth
Earth a biography
Blue Planet
Life in the Undergrowth
Baraka
Carl Sagans Cosmos

to name just a few of my all time favorites.

have a week.
M

The Greys are fucking with us!

aw damn...
I am on a role again. i just started thinking about aliens... That can happen.
I wanted to flesh out the thought i had in my last movie review.

To start off.
Here are a few types of civilizations in easy frames. Those civ types were established in 1964 by Nikolai Kardashev. i put it really briefly here. But go ahead and read up on it on Wikipedia its a fun entry.

Type I
this civilization harnesses the energy output of an entire planet.

Type II
this civilization harnesses the energy output of a star, and generates about 10 billion times the energy output of a Type I civilization.

Type III
this civilization harnesses the energy output of a galaxy, or about 10 billion time the energy output of a Type II civilization.

Dammit,
where are we?
right?! RIGHT!
we s u c k.

Lets get this straight!
Now, a type 2 civilization on their way to become type 3 would be the right candidate to be visiting us here on earth right? They would very likely be on their way to become a type 3.
I would if i would be a type 2 civilization (maybe i am... but thats pseudo philosophical banter), i would like to get to type 3 status or at least I would work on that...
Which means they want our resources... I am not talking about our oil or money or women (like in so many movies).
I am talking about our whole biosphere and sun.
They would not go and chat with us... we are not going to the forest to chat with monkeys about turning the place into a parking lot. Some of them might try just for kicks or as a hobby or to take a few samples to some kind of interstellar zoo project. But i think if they would want our planet they would simply take it.
If we would not comply with this they would make very (very) short process with us.
Oh, they might be allergic to the earth makeup of bacteria, microbes and viruses, like in war of the worlds. They would surely not have been able to write very smart software that can control killing-machines.
No no! They like to come here and do the shoot em'up by themselves. They are into sports.

fine.

What do we do before we set foot on a planet? we send probes... and more probes.
Heck even looking at a planet a 1000 light years away we (remember not even type 1 civ... we are still type "tard" civ.) can very precisely tell what it's atmospheric makeup is by using spectroscopy. Really easy actually.


Those guys might look at our little world and run a computer prediction program based on our atmosphere and climate to determine what kind of lifeforms they might encounter. They certainly wont touchdown and bring a bad cough back home... We (tardians) are not even that stupid.

So in a nutshell.
Aliens will not talk to us or negotiate with us about anything.
They kill us and thats that.
Or they leave us alone. Which is unlikely.
They would not be stupid enough to wait until we become a nameable threat. But they might be smart enough to wait until we are extinct. Which i far more likely to happen a lot sooner than us becoming a threat to a type 2 civ... We have yet to become a proper type 1 ourselves... type 2 is a huge (!) leap.
type 3 civ is certainly not going to fuck around negotiating anything... no way. the simply switch our sun off or wait... a race that can travel around the galaxy has lots of patience... takes time to get around.

plus, think about this:
what spurs technological advancement more than anything else?

WAR

(play Manowar's "Kill with Power" for the rest of this paragraph)

The first Cro Magnon that hit his opponent over the head with a thighbone was very likely to have more offspring than his dumb and dead opponent. The army with missiles will beat the one that only has canons. I think that the thought that no warlike race would hold their act together long enough to advance into a space faring race is not entirely logical at all.
It is more likely that the one most aggressive and intelligent race will be likely to overrun others and feast on they booty.
If i would be that advanced i would likely be very xenophobic or at least very bored by other less advanced species and make it a habit to annihilate any semi-intelligent race on its way to space i come across. If you are that advanced there is not a lot of point in studying them. You might not see anything very new or exciting. This is a very bleak view, i know. But a very likely one, too.

I find his argument very convincing when also a tad bit narrow minded. Alien Logic would not be alien if we could predict it this easily.
But the logic is there. I like logic. I am human i gotta work with what is given to me. And i like fantasizing about cool aliens. Killing all of humanity wont make them any less cool btw.
A purely scientific and friendly race that harvests all energy of a galaxy or is on it's way to do so(would not be all that fucking friendly now would it?!!!!) would need a lot more logic and thought to be explained coherently.
Using occams razor i arrive at a warlike, xenophobic killer race that will most likely not even make the step and visit personally but send self-assembling drones across the whole galaxy to eradicate any sign of intelligent life. Well i didn't arrive at that conclusion, Phil Plait did. And i ate it up and walk away with it. I totally think this would be the case.

Somber right?

The good news if there would be a type 3 in our galaxy, we would know by now. they would have wiped us out or made their presence very obvious by now. The fact that we see no unexplainable events in the sky at all times with Dyson Spheres and life teeming in the galaxy is a pretty good sign that we are safe for now.
We might never make it to be even a type1 civilization (yes i am getting very bleak now, sry). Let alone a type 2. That's just ridiculously far away. Even when considering a scientific singularity (look it up it's fun!) happening.
Which in my mind is also pretty far out yet. But what do i know... really, i am not nearly educated enough to have a proper opinion about those things.

(oh to hell, here i go...)

But i think i am doing a lot better than any of those that believe that we are visited by aliens...
Give me one proper reason why they should do it!
Now, give me another reason why they would make any blatant mistakes in not being discovered!
Why would they not want to be discovered? A race that can come here for observation in a ship that we can not see, will not make stupid mistakes and end up on blurry photos or in corny campfire stories.
They will be seen if they want to be seen... or not.
"I saw weird lights in the sky and i can not explain them, therefore it must be aliens."

-sigh-

No, therefore you are a suggestible dreamer and build all your conclusions on your own personal treasure of wisdom...
Dragons aren't real, too. Not to try and make anyone cry now.
But really,
no dragons.
I mean, damn, in a few years not even our cars will necessarily need headlights anymore. Why on earth would they want to have fancy lights on their spacecraft?!
Did they get pimped by some alien UFO pimp shop? Oh yes those are the engines right?
Get this: Atmospheric flight does not need engines that emit any light.
Nor does Space travel... Aliens know that.
I would be a lot more alarmed by a very weird sound traveling across my head at night and not seeing anything. That would freak me out good. Fancy bobbing lights without any sound, not so much. There is so much ways to explain lights in the sky. I wouldn't even know where to start. Almost everyone that has an issue with his/her "need attention chromosome" has a very riveting UFO story, ready to go... And it's always really watertight, too... Nobody to confirm aroundand nothing can ever scratch the story one bit. Because you can always explain away any explanation by simply being creative with your "memory" of what happened on you personal D-Day.

And another thing:

imagine a type 3 civ (try!). And now imagine these (to us) godlike entities to be interested into our assholes. (yes i am really going there...) Enough so to be willing to beam us up into their spaceships to analize us with dildo'esque probes and to shove shit under our skin... The dirty rulers of the galaxy like to stick it up puny mammals butts...
They are making the most perverted porn possible. Fuck something that is not even sharing the same molecular makeup.
That was their motivation to explore space. To travel bazillions of light years and very likely spend thousands of years between the stars. Traveling. Observing. No chance to know where to look. (No chance to see our signs of life early enough to already be here, but that aside... light travel at a finite speed at last). All this vast and stupefying technology and awe inspiring patience... (it makes too much sense not to be true)
To find mammal type aliens on a little blue planet and rape them, infiltrate their governments to play extremely stupid human politician, provide them with nightly light shows, scratch art into cornfields and toss mutilated cattle through the sky... and of course, thee pr0n. Now that really sounds like very significant work to be done by a race that is able to spend thousands of years on a spaceship traveling through the galaxy. Even "the Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy" was not that ridiculous.

But who knows... they are aliens after all... they might be into weird shit.

Well, i am really happy i was able to turn this post into something having to do with porn.
Deep thoughts, deep thoughts.
Whatever keeps you folks looking at the night sky (or porno). It is never a waste of time. Thats for sure.

have a good night.
M


stuff to read

Death from the Skies -Phillip Plait (nonfiction... awesome read i am gonna review this soon. really.)

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds (trilogy. Includes a robotic alien controlmind called the "inhibitors" that kill off all intelligent life they come across... one of my all time favorite books)

House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds (Humanity as a type 2 - 3 civilization... omfg so good)

There is so much more but i am not going to overwhelm you guys.

Yes please! the day the earth stood still

So, i just watched this movie. i came into the theater with my usual skeptisicm for Science Fiction movies. This one took of really nicely and i gotta say i liked it a lot. For those who have not seen it yet. Spoiler alarm. Go watch it. It's worth you money. Don't expect independence day or war of the worlds effects or action, though.

The basic idea behind this remake of a 1951 movie under the same name inspired by Harry Bates' short story "Farewell to the Master"



The idea is that aliens land on the earth (in Manhattan [ sigh #1]) and the first alien to make contact gets shot by a fellow, puny human.
Luckily the aliens are kinda trained in making contact with civilizations that are 4th kind contact virgins and don't destroy the earth because of a stray bullet. Which i find very believable. actually the whole nature of the aliens, the American government and humanity is pretty believable.
So Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) is that poor bastard that got shot and is subsequently helped and held prisoner by the american government. He wants to talk to the world but they don't let him and think, you invaded OUR airspace, therefore you are our alien.
Not so.
All goes pretty bad from here as to be expected. Klaatu goes through with his plan and proceeds to cleanse the earth of all human traces. The nanocaust starts. Awesome effects on that but i would have hoped to see a little more death and destruction and some more alien-human interaction. i would have loved to see what they looked like and how they're civilisation is running. That was a bit of a bummer. Nothing.
However the superiority of the aliens is pretty convincing.
Just one point.
Klaatu gets convinced by Professor Barnhardt who had a nobelprice for biological altroism but a blackboard full of physics ecuations... doesn't really connect... quite a genius and what a gem to show to an alien in order to show that we humans can change and do wonderful things?! Oh well... he was played by John Cleese so i will wave that through... i liked that scene a lot actually. Again very convincing dialogue.
But, and here is that point i want to make.
Klaatus species had to evolve into those higher beings because of a looming catastrophe of an aging star in their star system. But people have to die because we destroy our planet and earth is too precious. Live supporting planets are rare so humans have to be exterminated to save it. Professor Barnhardt has to convince Klaatu of the pretty obvious fact that mankind might grow into the same suit Klaatus people did.
And this is where i part.
I do not buy that the aliens did not take this point into consideration. No way. They came on a mission. And than one guy tells them that we will all change if they let us go on with killing the planet a little more...

And that is also a little weird isn't it?
We are not killing the planet. earth will be fine because we pretty much only help it to kill us. And a bazillion species will suffer from that subsequently of course... but earth is not gonna be uninhabitable. with humans gone, earth will stabilize withing a few thousand years and within a million or two there will be a rich and thriving ecosystem, ready for the aliens to decsent onto without having the burdon of killing an intelligent (oh well...) civilisation on their minds.

I do not think that aliens that are willing to travel thousands of lightyears (which takes at least a little more than thousands of years) can not wait and see if we can make it by ourselves. i think they will wether kill us without asking any questions or offering any kind of dialogue. Or they are of Klaatus kind and will watch and see what happens. A spacefaring race that far evolved would have patience and reasoning for that kind of an approach. If they do not want to kill us they are interested. if they are interested, we are of value to them. I would expect this value to be a lot more worth than a few thousand years that they would have to spend anyways in order to get to us anyways...

But again, i will rest my case because if one of those two scenarious would be true for this movie if would be either called "independence day","war of the worlds" (or any other generic "bad aliens come to kill every human being" kinda movie) OR it would be called "sex in the city, Rainman, Brazzers Vol. 66 or any other movie where nothing significantly "outer space alien" like happens...
In other words. this movie is very enhjoyable as a science fiction movie. The science is good, and the fiction is good too. I had a great time. I actually just came back from the theater and went straight to my computer to get this outta my system. Not that i want to exagurate anything. there is not a lot of storie to get into, some of the characters where weakly developed and some stuff was just straight up badly done. but there were moments in this movie that made me shiver with excitement. They actually were brave enough to keep the huge Gort robot from the first 1951 movie in there and left it very close to the original which i think was quite a leap to get to work. But i liked it. And it had Jennifer Connely in it...
So there was no way i could hate that movie anyways! I mean... she made me watch Hulk for, like, 5 times. Hulk 1!


crickets



Anyways.
I guess i am a bad critic if it comes to just go about what makes a movie good or bad, because i don't care as long as the aliens are cool and science and/or the viewers intelligence is not insulted by ridiculous physics or plots. This movie looked like the guy's that made it where smart people with the right intensions. Not like the embarassing overtanned, overpayed idiots that made "Sunshine" or "Armageddon"... ramble attack, argh.
No, wont go there...
The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Best Science fiction movie i have seen in a long, long time. Not best action or special effects movie, not best fiction movie either. But certainly great great SF! I hope this will set a standart across this genre. That science is not boring and that superstition, faith based desicion making and other superfluous human bullshit gets us killed in the long run. We need to grow up. Stop making more and more babies without a chance to feed them find energy that is sustainable and cost effective. Save the planet and leave it while we can.

Otherwise Klaatu will be pissed off and kill us with his nano. I do not want to get randomized by tiny robots just because i left the heating on while i went shopping.

Good night
M

New sketch i somehow ended up drawing out... that can happen...

it might end up as a t-shirt but then with the full sword... i gotta look into it. If anyone is interested in wearing something like this, let me know. Might need a few requests to end up doing this. This would only be a small run so shirts wont be cheap but rare...

So what do you know!? An actually work related blogpost!
And big news, too!

I can announce that my apprentice of the last 2,5 years and i are finally joined under one roof again. Rob is going to start tattooing in my studio in late october and will be all setup and running early november. We are very excited about this and want to let everyone know that we can't wait for interested people to check out his stuff and get tattooed!!
He can be reached under rob@luxaltera.com

Also check out his Myspace profile! If you don't have a myspace account yourself, get one! I am posting most of my fresh stuff there too. So go make an account and add both of us and whoever else you like. You will find all big names in tattooing on myspace and most likely a lot of their works that you have never seen before.

Robs profile
http://www.myspace. com/tattoo_spiral

Markus' profile
http://www.myspace.com/luxaltera

Of course i wouldn't let anyone work with me that i do not fully support. Robs work is very nice, detailed and technically sound so lets cake him in appointments people!
I cant wait to have company here, let's make it work!

here a few samples of his work



M