Fishies follow where the food goes.....

My first GIF animation:

My first GIF animation:

Yellow Blaze Tattoo Studio, Yokohama, Japan

My tattoo artist friend Case-K recommended this website to me: The Yellow Blaze Tattoo Studio in Yokohama, Japan. You think you've seen all kinds of tattoos? Wanna see some jaw-dropping work in modern tattoo design? Finished works from this studio will guarantee to open your eyes .... again and again!

My Tattoo: Session 6: The Last Details

My tattoo session: Last Touch-Up
Date: July 11, 2009 (1 hr.)
My tattoo artist friend Case-K thickened some lines around the splashes, the outline of the fish and the chrysanthemum. This session was free of charge. Voila!! All done. Not bad at all. I like it.

It has been a small life-changing experience. I started to look at myself differently, or I started to pay more attention to the way I behave because I'm not as invisible as before. Still adjusting to being seen in public. Always feel like people are watching me and judging me, but on the other hand, it's teaching me to be vocal and face up to criticisms. It does toughen me up a little on the inside.

That's just one of the objectives of the experiment....

The other objective...where are the people with my kin-spirits hiding? I'm still waiting for you to come up and say hello!

But of course, this is just a test. I chose to have this tattoo at an easily hidden place. Maybe one day I'll make that dive into a deeper end and get another one....this time some where I cannot hide. But first.....um....the right shoulder is starting to look off-balanced, um....

"I'll still grow old, but I won't grow old and .... boring." .... SpyMonkey

Last night playing with Photoshop again....

Hundreds of Stories Haven't Been Told

I've always been interested in the history of Chinese immigrants in North America. We've all heard stories about how early Chinese immigrants came to North America to work on the railways, but rarely do we hear about their contribution to the American entertainment industry. I didn't realize that Chinese Americans performed in all Chinese vaudeville clubs as early as the 40s until I watched a PBS documentary about twenty years ago. That documentary stayed on my mind ever since.

Just today, my friend David Wells at softfilm.blogspot.com just posted a very interesting article about the Chinese American vaudeville duo Ming and Ling from the 1940s.

So here is my dream for the day: one day I'd love to see a film on the story of these early Chinese American entertainers. There's got to be many wonderful stories that haven't been told. Amy Tan, Wayne Wang, anybody interested?

Getting your first tattoo can be a spiritual kinda thing.....

My Tattoo: Session 5: Final Shading

Session 5: June 6, 2009 (2 hrs.)
Finally finshed!! Last session... to finish the Koi scales, fins, and tail. Took no time to heal. My skin reacted very well to the entire tattooing process. No scabs, skin just flaked off like a sun-burn. Three days later, all healed. Next month I'll go back to have a final touch up. Free of charge. It's part of the service. Very nice indeed! Later I'll take some pics of the back of my arm.

It's quite an experience to walk around downtown in a sleeveless shirt showing the tats. People looked but were afraid to stare. It's not that unusual to have tats these days. I noticed a lot of people, men and women, having whole arms tattooed. However, it's actually not that common to see traditional Japanese style tattoo. Most tats are either old-school of tribal style. I'm very happy with this design. The Koi means "courage" and is a good luck charm. You think my life with change this year? If it does...it will be for the better I hope!

My Tattoo: Session 4: Shading

Session 4: May 9, 2009 (4 hrs.)
Almost there! Intense 4 hrs. of shading done yesterday. Made much progress. Background all done. More than half of the Koi is done. Looks more and more like a Yakuza tats now. Just one more session next month to finish the fish and touch-ups..... in time for summer.

KEYHUNTER!

While I'm on my Japanese kick......this Japanese detective action TV series from the 60's stays on my mind for over thirty years! A little known TV series to North American viewers, Keyhunter was a hugely popular series that was on air from 1968-1973. Even my Japanese tattoo artist remembered the series fondly from his childhood days.

One of the reason for it's popularity was the cast, an ensemble of young talented actors led by the veteran Japanese movie screen legend Tamba Tetsuro ("You Only Live Twice").





And to round up the exciting cast ..... the one and only Sonny Chiba ("Kill Bill")!

The catchy Keyhunter theme song played in the closing credits every week was sung by the leading lady of the series Nogiwa Yoko, who also happened to be Sonny Chiba's wife from 1967-1994. (Click here to watch the action-packed series opening sequence on Youtube).

The Premise: Banded together by Japan's Kokusai Keisatsu (Universal Police i.e. INTERPOL) branch to tackle those crimes and cases that go beyond the scope of Japanese Law Enforcement, the Keyhunter are a group of former police officers and amateur sleuths. They are lead by the dapper, fedora wearing former Police Inspector Kuroki played by Tetsuro...how could I resist?

Unfortunately I have never seen this series released on DVD.