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PostSecret: Tattoos

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.

People send in all kinds of secrets, some funny, some heartbreakingly sad, yet most are relatable and allow readers to realise that they are not alone. The blog is updated every Sunday and Frank Warren, who started the project, has released books comprised of postcards. He also does live shows and works closely with suicide prevention and mental health charities.

Here are a few of the tattoo related secrets posted in anonymously from all over the world:

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sane1

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Film Review: Blue Ruin

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward. On th-ink.co.uk Harry will be writing a series of posts in which he will be sharing his opinions on things he has watched. 

Blue Ruin, 2013, Cert 15, Director Jeremy Saulnier

There’s a film I saw years ago called Shotgun Stories about a war between two American families. The prospect of some rural blood feud excited me, but by the end the message of the film was clearly peace. The surviving members talked it out and mourned their losses. As much as I admired this anti-revenge film masquerading as a revenge film, I felt let down by the anti-climax. I’m not saying I wanted violence over resolution. The plot just felt resolved far too easily.

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Blue Ruin is a revenge film that does keep the violence but also its brutality and emotional impact, and nothing is easily solved. Although the creators were influenced by pulp splatter films, they have crafted a stylish, haunting thriller that’s a world away from the superficial gore fests currently dominating the B-movie scene. Although the violence is graphic, it’s not designed to entertain but rather make us clench our seats.
Our vagrant protagonist Dwight, played by Macon Blair, is informed that his parents’ murderer has been released from prison. He sets off a chain of violence that charges beyond his control.

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Dwight is no action hero. He is played brilliantly by wide-eyed Blair as a nervous wreck who stumbles through the drastic situations he creates, surviving mostly by luck and his wits. This makes him a compelling and relatable character.
The style of the film is suspenseful and minimalist, with little action and dialogue, relying mostly on atmosphere and the actors’ expressions to build up sudden blasts of brutality. It’s refreshing compared to the constant barrage of noise and rapid editing most action films offer.

Blue Ruin is a gem of independent cinema that both upholds and smashes the conventions of a traditional genre. I dare you to find a better revenge movie this year.

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Wonderful Christmas Time

This interview called Wonderful Christmas Time was originally published in issue 5 The Celebration Issue of Things&Ink magazine (December 2013).

Samanatha Sorci, 38, works in social media and lives in Caerphilly with her husband, Brim (of Nu Rose Tattoos), and their little boy Loki. Here she tells us about her festive sleeve…

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‘My Christmas sleeve is a celebration of one of my favourite times of the year. Christmas has always been magical for me. When I was little, I’d go to bed on Christmas Eve after putting out a tray of ginger biscuits and a glass of milk for Santa and our house would look the same as always.

‘Then I’d wake up in the morning and there’d be a stocking at the end of my bed, a little white tree on my chest of drawers and the rest of the house had been decorated. The biscuits and milk would be gone, so the only logical answer is that Santa had brought Christmas with him, and that kinda magic definitely needs celebrating!

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‘When I had decided on the theme for my tattoo, I took my time to find the ideal artist and settled on Gary Weidenhof of Inkredible Kreations, Perth, Scotland. We started the sleeve around eight years ago at the Peterlee convention. That was a flippin’ awesome day. It was March 25th (my birthday!) and I turned up to find Gary’s booth all decorated with a Christmas tree, tinsel, and presents, and everyone was wearing Christmas hats. It was the best start to a sleeve ever.

‘Over the following months, I had sessions at other conventions as well as two consecutive days at Gary’s studio. I’m still not quite finished, I need a gingerbread man popped in at some point, but I’ll get there.

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‘I still totally love my sleeve and I think that’s because I chose a theme that’s so special to me– as well as an artist who is so good. Now I just need to make sure that all of my future Christmases are magical for my little man, Loki Ramone.’

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Music Review: The Vaccines

Our guest music blogger Verity Vincent stopped by Plymouth’s Pavillions earlier this month to check out The Vaccines. For those that haven’t seen The Vaccines perform live before we recommend you put it on your to do list for 2016.

Justin Hayward Young, Freddie Cowan, Árni Árnason and Pete Robertson took to the stage at Plymouth’s Pavillions and treated the crowd to 90 minutes of pure musical indie-rock goodness. The nice thing about watching The Vaccines is their ability to create a musical arc of their material, giving fans exactly what they want. Playing songs from their first two records, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? and Coming of Age, as well as their latest offering, English Graffiti.

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@thevaccines

The initial mild mood of the crowd quickly changed when the boys kicked off their set with ‘Handsome’, ‘Teenage Icon’ and ‘Ghost Town’. If we were talking in sandwich terms, the filling of the gig was a meaty concoction of hit after hit including ’20/20′, ‘I Always Knew’ and staple track, ‘If You Wanna’. Cue the flying beer cups, bodies being launched onto shoulders and the Pavillions, in general, coming alive. Justin’s vocals seemed to just effortlessly float out and fill the venue while he controlled the stage with honest, natural charisma. He has a way of not giving too much away with idle chit chat, but still connecting with the crowd.

A mid-set highlight was ‘Post Break-Up Sex’ which had every sweaty body in the building singing along to the lyrics that, if we’re honest, everyone can relate to.

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@thevaccines

Bring the set to an end with the outstanding anthem ‘All in White’, Justin then returned to the stage solo and softly launched into an acoustic version of ‘No Hope’ with the entire room hanging on his delicate notes.

Before fully closing off, Justin divulged that they’d actually forgotten, until now, to offer up a track choice to the crowd. It mattered not – the choice was unanimous and the band went out with a bang, with ‘Blow It Up’. Palma Violets front man Sam Fryer burst back onto the stage and darted around in quite possibly the most enthusiastic duet you could witness. High energy would be an understatement and it brought the night to a perfect end.