12.22.07
Elaine Davidson - Worlds most pierced woman
The most pierced woman in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. Elaine is from Brazil but now lives in Edinburgh. She claims to have over 4200 piercings.
The Piercing Truth
One of the benefits of reaching middle age is that it provides me with a believable excuse for avoiding certain lifestyle decisions that challenge younger men. The choice I am especially happy to pass up is whether or not my physical appearance would be improved by wearing an earring.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no objections to guys sporting jewelry wherever and whenever they desire. But we all grow up within a particular set of behavioral boundary lines, and being well past the 5-decade mark, I know which boundaries in my own life cannot be straddled gracefully.
The rules on this subject were clear and specific when I was a kid. In those days, men who wore earrings were classified as dangerous outlaws (motorcycle gang members/pirates), social rebels (beatniks/musicians/artists), or commercial icons (Mr. Clean). Responsible, middle class adult males didn’t even consider the possibility.
My dad was part of the generation that fought and won World War II. For him, the notion of wearing an earring to work would have been as incomprehensible as wearing a toga, and I have inherited his no-frills approach to personal attire.
But during the past couple of decades, lifestyles and cultural attitudes have inexorably changed. Earrings for men are now part of the daily wardrobe. But I have no plans to revise my current dress code. Displaying ears unencumbered by foreign objects suits my personality. I feel the same way about my neck, which is probably why I never started wearing gold chains back in the ’70s.
Clint Eastwood spoke an unforgettable line in Magnum Force, and it applies perfectly to this situation: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” I don’t possess the aesthetic judgment to decide which ear to use, or whether a ring is more impressive than a simple stud.
I am, however, curious as to how far the trend will spread, especially in the political arena. At what point along the campaign trail are we going to see a male candidate for president step onto a podium and proudly display ears enhanced by fine jewelry?
Come on Mitt, Barack, Rudy, Dennis, Fred, all you guys in both parties who want the Oval Office — a rendezvous with destiny is looming. Who among you is bold enough to pierce the ear barrier and set a new political standard? If not now, when?? America waits, and wonders.
link
Sternum Piercing
First piercing to make me laugh uncontrollably then almost faint.
12.12.07
City’s health department investigates body-piercing salon
Toronto - The city’s health department has been investigating a piercing salon for improper sterilization.
The Modern Beauty and Slim Fit Inc. on Eglinton Avenue East is under the microscope, but officials said they don’t believe the risk of infection is high.
“When un-sterilized equipment is used, we do know there is a risk of infections being spread, particularly hepatitis B and C,” a city’s health official said.
Toronto Public Health told City News that the equipment used to pierce ears was cleared.
However, anyone who received a body-piercing from the shop has been asked to call the health department at 416-338-7600.
Lip service or defiance? THS student suspended for refusal to remove lip ring
In wake of the recent suspension of a Tehachapi High School student for allegedly violating the school’s dress code, the Tehachapi News went directly to Principal Cary Johnson for his input on the situation.
Because of student privacy restrictions, Principal Johnson was unable to confirm the identity of the student, although the student’s name had been released in a television segment on Channel 29 News.
Johnson was able to say that the student was “not suspended for dress code violation but actually for defiance.”
Repeated attempts to locate and contact either the student or the parents for comment were unsuccessful.
“We had spoken to the student on other occasions about the lip ring,” Johnson said. “And, in this particular instance, the student was given two choices,” he continued. “One: remove the lip ring and go back to class. Or two: Leave the lip ring in place and go home. The student opted to leave the lip ring in place and be sent home.”
According to television coverage of the incident, the student and parents indicated that the student planned to return to school at the end of the suspension period with the lip ring in place. When asked if the student was re-suspended, Principal Johnson was unable to comment specifically.
“Of course, the school staff would much prefer to have students in class and not on suspension. But if the student returned to school wearing the lip ring, he or she would be given the opportunity to remove it and go to class. If the student again refused, typically the student would be re-suspended,” Johnson said.
Johnson took over as principal at THS this school year. He came to THS from Highland High School in Palmdale where he served as Vice Principal in charge of special education for three years. He was in the Palmdale school district for a total of six years and was a teacher for six years before that, so he’s not new to dealing with students or school issues.
“I tend to take a tough stand when even seemingly small issues arise that potentially could create a safety issue for my students,” he said. “And I believe it’s much better to address them while they’re still small issues and before they have the chance to become big issues.”
The dress code serves other purposes as well, Johnson explained. He stressed that one of the primary concerns of the school and his staff is to keep students safe.
“With a strictly enforced dress code, it’s easy to identify non-THS students by their non-compliance to our dress code and thereby potentially avoid unsafe circumstances for THS students,” he said.
With the exception of pierced ears, facial and tongue piercing are clear violations of the current dress code. However, small nose stud jewelry is often overlooked, if not overtly allowed. Johnson said he would like to completely eliminate nose piercing as well, but since the dress code was in effect when he came on board, he doesn’t plan to make any changes in its enforcement for the current school year. Any changes to the dress code requires approval by the school board and other administrators and is not something he would have the final say about, he added.
When asked what they thought about the current dress code, students interviewed were mostly split between feeling the dress code was “livable” as-is, and that it “shouldn’t be so restrictive about facial piercings.”
Rosita, age 16, is a junior and she said she thinks the code is “Okay just as it is.”
James, 16 and a sophomore, thinks “all piercing is cool and an expression of the individual.”
Jessica, 15, a freshman, doesn’t “have a problem with small nose studs,” but said she thinks “other facial piercing shouldn’t be allowed at school.”
Dakota, 17, is a senior, “If nose piercing is allowed, then all facial piercing, as long as it’s tastefully done, should be allowed. Small lip rings and tongue rings should be okay,” he said.
He also thinks that sleeveless shirts should not be a violation.
William, 18, another senior, agreed with Dakota.
“If nose piercing is okay, then small lip rings and tongue rings should be okay as well.”
He also supported Dakota’s stand that sleeveless shirts should be allowed at school.
A hole in rules for body piercing?
Call it the cartilage wars. In one corner, Claire’s Stores and other piercers of adolescent ears. In the other, hard-core body piercing shops.
The battle: Can retail piercing shops like Claire’s use piercing guns on the upper ear, not just the earlobes? Santa Clara County supervisors are being urged today to say yes by amending rules laid down in 2006.
Currently, stores that pierce only earlobes don’t have to follow some rules that began last year for body piercing and tattoo shops. They include getting permission from parents if a client is under age 18.
Nicole Pullman, a county environmental health manager, said her department has been persuaded by Claire’s employees that their use of guns is safe on upper ears, so extra precautions aren’t required.
But at least one local body piercing shop is calling the proposed change a loophole, no pun intended.
“I’m outraged,” said Bil Brierley, owner of Body Exotic in San Jose. He said using guns that work by forcing earrings through the skin invites infection and other nastiness, so they should not be allowed on the cartilage-filled upper ear.
Pullman said Claire’s employees have told her there’s “a minimum of cartilage” in that part of the ear.
A Claire’s spokeswoman in New York said she was unable to reach executives to respond Monday afternoon.
12.07.07
Your Jewelry Shop - Best Fashion Jewelry Collection
Familiarity with the different types of jewelry at Your Jewelry Shop will make you more confident on your purchase and will help you compare and choose the best product. The variety of our Collection of Jewelry gives you a choice to purchase a classy, Rings, Bracelets, Earrings, Chains, Watches and more made with different types of metals.
Ohio Village Bans Tattoo Parlors, Body Piercing Shops
WEST MILTON, Ohio — Tattoo parlors and body piercing shops have been banned in this western Ohio village because officials say contaminated needles pose a risk to public health.
Last month’s 4-2 decision by the village council is being branded by some residents as anti-business, and others say it goes outside the bounds governments should respect.
“I just don’t see how a small town can say, ‘No, you can’t do that here,”‘ said Candy Curry, owner of Curry’s Video Plus. “I just think they crossed a line there.”
Village officials say the new ordinance is within Ohio law.
“It’s not anti-tattoo and it’s not anti-business,” said Municipal Manager Tony Howard. “It’s a health issue. It’s just an open invitation to infection.”
In Ohio, tattoo parlors and piercing businesses must receive approval from local health departments to operate.
West Milton is about 15 miles north of Dayton.
‘Savages’ takes piercing look at caring for declining parent
Estranged brother and sister Jon and Wendy Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney) are screwed-up and self-absorbed, but they certainly seem realistic. Sometimes they’re shrill, sometimes they’re scared, often they’re incredibly thoughtless and have no qualms about lying to each other.
But as they come together to deal with one of the trickier aspects of growing into middle age — caring for an elderly parent who can no longer care for himself — they make plenty of mistakes. And that’s realistic, too.
Writer-director Tamara Jenkins, in her first film since the 1998 comedy “Slums of Beverly Hills,” recognizes the difficulty of having to function as a mother or father to the person who raised you, and she depicts it with brutal honesty and absurd humor in “The Savages.” (Her script was inspired partially by her own father’s dementia, and it features one of the loveliest, most perfect endings you’ll ever see.)
It certainly helps a great deal that Jenkins has consistently nuanced performers in Hoffman and Linney to play the lead roles. When you think about the varied, complex choices both actors have made throughout their careers, it’s a wonder they’ve never worked together before, and it’s a joy to see them share the screen now. And Tony Award winner Philip Bosco is unpredictable and frequently heartbreaking as their irascible father.
Working with cinematographer Mott Hupfel, Jenkins begins by presenting patriarch Lenny Savage’s existence in Sun City, Ariz., as a surreal, candy-coated wonderland of golf carts and aqua aerobics. Then one day he reaches into the toilet and calmly writes on the wall with his own feces — an early warning of where Jenkins plans on going in terms of tone.
Jon and Wendy reluctantly arrive to handle the problem of their aging father’s worsening state just as dad’s longtime lady friend dies. Now they have to figure out what to do with him — or, more pertinently, where to put him.
Wendy, a high-strung, would-be playwright who barely earns a living as a temp, lives with her cat in a cramped Manhattan apartment, desperately applies for grants she never receives and is having an unhappy affair with her married, balding neighbor, Larry (Peter Friedman, an inspired casting choice). She can barely manage her own life, much less someone else’s; nevertheless, she approaches the prospect of finding her father a home with thorough Type-A vigor.
Jon is doing only slightly better. Rumpled and blasé, he’s a college professor who lives in a rambling home in Buffalo, where he’s forged a successful career writing books about subjects few people care about (his latest is on German playwright Bertolt Brecht). He’s on deadline, he’s in denial that his Polish girlfriend (Cara Seymour) is leaving because her visa has run out, and he’d rather deal with his dad as quickly and painlessly as possible.
So maybe it’s a bit obvious that the Savage siblings are opposites in temperament — a yin and a yang, if you will, who are unwilling to acknowledge that they need each other. Although they rarely talk anymore, they’re still competitive, albeit in a passive-aggressive way. One thing they can agree on, though, is that whatever sort of housing they find for their father, they’ll be taking better care of him than he ever did of them, and that knowledge fortifies them.
Despite its dark humor — and there’s plenty to be found at the bleak Buffalo nursing home Jon arranges for Lenny to stay in — “The Savages” tackles the tough topics of aging, frailty, humiliation and death. All depressing stuff, to be sure, but Jenkins handles it with a delicate, relatable touch, and without being maudlin.
“You don’t think it’s self-important and bourgeois?” Wendy asks of Jon when she finally gets her semi-autobiographical play produced. Maybe just a little — but that doesn’t mean it can’t be moving, too.
links
