Mostly Tattoos

A new Barbie has been released with tattoos and some parents are reportedly outraged. I don’t understand it myself. Children see tattooed people in the street every day. Is that a problem? This doll has been described as “over sexualised”. Are tattoos about sex? Matel are claiming that the product is targeted at adult collectors rather than children. But they don’t care who buys the product, and from their point of view, all the free publicity is a gift. I’m almost interested enough to go and buy one myself. The trick of course as a parent is, don’t buy the thing for your 10-year-old daughter if you think it’s not appropriate!

Zombie Boy, Rick Genest, has been recruited to promote a tattoo concealer product. Genest is covered from head to foot in skeleton tattoos. It’s very odd to watch the video. Part of me sort of likes tattoos, though I don’t have any. I probably would if they weren’t so common. Everyone seems to have them now. I’m too old now to get my first tattoo anyway.

This has turned into a tattoo entry. I wonder how Rick Genest will feel about his tattoos when he is an old man. I imagine he likes being a zombie boy now. He may not feel the same way in his 50s. Tattoos have exploded in popularity in the last 20 years. It means that there are a huge number of tattooed people aged 18-40, and far fewer tattooed people aged over 40. But they’re difficult to remove and I suppose we are going to see a huge number of 60-year-olds in the coming years with Chinese characters etched on their bodies. Incidentally, I really don’t understand Chinese character tattoos, or Celtic symbols on people who have no Chinese or Celtic connection. Most people with Chinese characters can’t even read them. How odd is that?

Megan Fox apparently regrets the Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her forearm and is having it lasered off. I’m not sure people should have tattoos removed. Each tattoo tells a story. Each represents a point in someone’s life. You can take the ink away, but the story remains. I speak as someone who has no tattoos however. What do I know??

I suppose I should at least mention that Colonel Gadaffi is dead. There are conflicting reports about what happened, ranging from caught in the cross-fire, to executed. He’s dead anyway, and world leaders seem to be unanimous in celebrating the event. The UK seems to have forgotten that we supplied him with military aid and that he regarded Tony Blair as “a brother”. There are some gruesome pictures around this morning. He was a bad man. He supplied arms to the IRA, and he was behind the Lockerbie bombing and the Libyan Embassy siege. I suppose that makes him a megalomaniac nutter. He had some talent as a dictator though. It’s not just anyone that can hold on to power like that for 40 years.