Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 7)
By Victor Farinelli
This is not gonna be a long post because, frankly, this show is just becoming sad… Just sad. I thought this show would give me some great ammunition to vent the fury in my head. But alas, no. I have to take that out on my last place Brewers who, as I write this, beat the first place Cards. So I can’t even take it out on them. Fuck! I guess there are always the Astros… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 6)
By Victor Farinelli
Let me start by reminding y’all that the views expressed in these here ramblings are my own and do not represent the views of TAM. With that out of the way, I wanted to touch on some action going on at the TAM Facebook page. There have been some posts that have criticized TAM for allowing me to even acknowledge that Best Ink, and other tattoo shows, even exist…
One: See the first sentence. Two: Face it folks; ever since MTV’s The Real World (maybe even The Dating Game), TV has become one “reality” show after another. COPS, Survivor, Idol, Top Chef; the list goes on and on. Tattoo shows are no different. I don’t think they are going to go away anytime soon, either. Look at how many seasons American Chopper has been on. Those goofballs still get huge ratings. True “outlaw bikers” probably hate that show, just like many passionate tattoo artists hate tattoo shows… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 5)
By Victor Farinelli
Howdy folks. It’s me again here to bring you yet another exciting and death-defying episode of Best Ink Season II. This episode demonstrates to me that I am absolutely no judge of what a decent tattoo should be. I thought that most of the work that came out of this episode was pretty good. However, walking heart-attack Joe Capobianco hated most of them. I never had good taste… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 4)
By Victor Farinelli
My fellow cynic “johndotcom” asked me the other day if this show is painful to watch. Yes it is. It makes me wish for the zombie apocalypse. I think it has to do with the real egotistical ass-hats that are on this show, including the host, Pete Wentz. I guess that is why they were picked in the first place. Some of the douchingtons are so egotistical that they don’t even realize that they are fucking up someone’s life with a shitty tattoo. Well, I guess that is why the laser removal industry is so big now… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 3)
By Victor Farinelli
Hello Folks. This is your resident dickhead back again to bring you a recap of this week’s episode from one of the most asinine shows on TV. Week three of Best Ink is pretty much like week two. For the flash challenge, the guest judges were Vanessa and Angela Simmons, founders of Pastry Brand fashionable footwear and apparel. The Simmons are daughters of Rev. Run from Run-DMC and nieces of Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam records. The flash challenge was all about branding. So now tattoo artists have to brand themselves? What the fuck is that all about? Oh, I forgot, the last challenge was all about branding too. Kids; don’t do tattoos at home. But if you’re going to, use my Easy Glow Tattoo Pigment and custom “Brickhouse” coil tattoo machine… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 2)
By Victor Farinelli
Hello, my name is Victor, and I am an asshole (Hi,Victor). I am officially in asshole relapse mode. I don’t know what has come over me. Everytime I try not to be an asshole, the compulsion takes over. So, I have accepted my assholism and will embrace it. Today is a new day. I feel like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon. I am going to spread my wings and fly! *grin*
*single tear* *sunbeam and rainbows* (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II (Episode 1)
By Victor Farinelli
Hello friends and neighbors! It’s me again, here to give you the scoop on this shitstorm called Best Ink. First off, during the show, these little pop-up windows come up giving “industry slang.” One was “Skin- Tattoo Client.” What the fuck. The only time I have heard a customer called skin is never. Great. Now all these white trash wannabe scratchers are going to be calling their customers and clients “skins.” (Screen fades into dream sequence like a ‘70′s sitcom…) (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Best Ink Season II Prologue
By Victor Farinelli So… I was sitting with remote control in hand, watching reruns of Cops, surfing the Internet, and thinking about how depressed I have been ever since Ink Master Season 2 ended. There has been nothing to fill my gawking freak show void left by Ink Master, since it ended. I tried watching Black Ink Crew, but it just didn’t catch my attention. It reminded me too much of all the scratcher shops in Austin. There was no real point behind it either… (more…)
Dave Waugh: It Ain’t Rocket Science
By Dave Waugh
Here is a commission piece I did for fellow tattooer named Chris Smith. He was interested in purchasing a piece of artwork from me that had a similar format and he let me pick the subject matter… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Finale)
By Victor Farinelli Well, the end is finally here. In the two-episode finale of this season of Ink Master, I have been left wondering the meaning of life. Well no, not really, but it has a good ring to it. Our contestants are finally whittled down to the last four. In the first of the two episodes, the contestants did not have to do a flash challenge. It was straight to the elimination challenge. They had to demonstrate all the different aspects of tattooing to see who gets to go to the live finale… (more…)
Dave Waugh: What, Are They Testing Missiles There?
What, Are They Testing Missiles There? (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 11)
By Victor Farinelli It is getting down to the wire. Just a few more episodes to go until one of the contestants gets a $100,000 paycheck they have to pay taxes on and a feature in Inked Magazine. “Inked.” I hate that term. It is just as bad as “human canvases.” Hey man, I am going to go down to the tat shop and get inked! YOLO! Then, I am going to go watch The Hobbit! FRODO! (more…)
Dave Waugh: How to Make a Juggalo in 3 Easy Steps
How to Make a Juggalo in 3 Easy Steps… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 10)
By Victor Farinelli
Just when I start to think that some of these cats are humble and are willing to learn, then they go say some arrogant stupid shit. The show starts off with Jesse fucking saying, “You know what coasting is? That is what I did for the Japanese challenge… I would rather lose for doing me than win for not doing me.” Then why the fuck did he want to be on the show? It’s not some fucking highfalutin serious goddamn art exposition. It is a fucking game show. Period. End of fucking explanation. I will take “Douche Bags” for $200 please, Alex. At the end of the season the winner gets a paycheck they have to pay taxes on. If you got into this for any other reason than the money, and being on TV, you are fucking fooling yourself. You do what you have to do to play the game because at the end of the day, that’s all this is… a game. If it was not on Spike, it would be on the Game Show Network… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 9)
By Victor Farinelli
This week’s episode opens with Sarah bitching about the judges not giving her a good honest critic. I call bullshit. The judges have actually done a pretty good job of telling this motley crew what they did wrong and what they need to improve on. I have been in a lot of shops in my years and have observed a lot of apprentices on their road to Tattooville, and I have seen some who have been torn new assholes for the tattoos they have attempted to do… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 8)
By Victor Farinelli
Ink Master is a train wreck and Sarah Miller is the engineer. As I said in my last post, she needs serious mood stabilizing medication. She is a shitstorm of manic depression. This episode is not different.
This episode was the black and gray challenge, and the special guest judge was Mr. Freddy Negrete. The twist this time around was that they had to work in teams. For the flash challenge, the contestants had to create an image on scratchboard. Since Tatu Baby was the winner of last week’s elimination challenge, she got to pick the teams for this flash challenge. She stuck Sarah with Mark “I got one foot out the door” Matthews. The other teams were Clint Cummings with Jamie Davis, Steve Tefft with Sebastian Murphy, and Tatu Baby with Jesse Smith… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 7)
By Victor Farinelli
A long time ago in, in a galaxy far, far away… a girl needed lithium. Sarah Miller needs some serious medication. One minute, she is bouncing off the walls she is so excited, the next she is about to kill herself. She displayed this so well in this episode: The Star Wars challenge… (more…)
Dave Waugh: Vintage Tattoo Flyers
Wow. I went digging through a box of old papers and drawings and found something long forgotten… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 6)
By Victor Farinelli
Let’s celebrate the land of the free, home of the brave with GUNS! Sorta like banjos, only different. Episode VI was “all about attention to detail,” Dave Navarro emphasized. For the flash challenge, the contestants had to carve an image into the stock of a gun. Guns owned by real, meat-eating, beer-bellied, heart-diseased ‘Mericans! Where’s my Rascal scooter? (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 5)
By Victor Farinelli
Before I get started on the recap, I want to rattle some cages. There is some gab on the inter-webs about the contestants on Ink Master “stealing” tattoos from other artists. Don’t know if it is true or not, but some interesting tidbit came to my awareness that is kinda funny. Not funny: “ha-ha,” I mean funny “hmmmm.”
On Episode IV, Trey “Big Daddy” Benham did a piston with flames on his client’s arm for the new school challenge. It was a decent tattoo, one of the better ones I have seen of that kind of idea. Well, buzz-buzz, the inter-webs start throwing around the suggestion that this was actually taken, almost exactly, from a tattoo that was done by one of last year’s contestants, Jeremy Miller. So like the old “You Make the Call” segment on Monday Night Football… well, yeah; you make the call… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 4)
By Victor Farinelli “Tattoo Her What?!” or “I am a Tattoo Artist That Leads a Sheltered Life.”
So the big hub-bub about this episode is that a gal wanted to get a phoenix coming out of her tunnel of love. It seems that all the artists thought this was over the top. They played this little segment on every preview. Come on folks. This is old hat. Dave Lum was thinking shit up like this all day in the late 80s/early 90s – and much better ideas I might add. Steve “throw the horns” Tefft asked, “Where do they get these people?” I think that they are in every town. One just hasn’t popped in your shop yet Mr. Tefft… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episode 3)
By Victor Farinelli
This week’s episode is titled “80-Year-Old Virgin” or “I Have No Respect for Traditional Tattoos.”
You don’t have to be part of the skinhead retirement program to have respect for traditional tattoos. The masonic temple that is Western tattooing is built on its foundation. It is our history. I was looking forward to this challenge to see if all these photo-realism/new school scamps could pull off something that a lot of middle of the road, i.e. this glum lot, take for granted. In short, do not get a traditional tattoo from any of these wenches and scalawags. It hurt my head to watch it. The only redeeming value of this episode is that Richard Stell was a guest judge, and Oliver looks like he could give two-shits-and-a-fuck about being there. Riddle me this: Why does Dave Navarro always have duckface? It is a peculiar look… (more…)
Big Gus Talks About Spike TV’s ‘Tattoo Nightmares’ Show
By Big Gus
Hey guys! What’s the deal with Spike TV’s Tattoo Nightmares? Yes, the name sounds scary and confusing at first…
I had the opportunity to be cast as one of the main artists on the show. Man, what an experience it was! I was pulling 16-hour workdays six days a week for a little over a month, which was not an easy task. You may think that it would be, but besides the filming, it also takes major focus to be tattooing while being filmed by over four cameras at a time, which adds to the already chaotic environment… (more…)
Victor Farinelli: Ink Master Review (Episodes 1 & 2)
By Victor Farinelli
Let the madness begin! The second season of Ink Masters is upon us. Spike TV aired two episodes this last week for our viewing pleasure.
Episode One: Tattooing the Dead
Let’s start off with the season premiere titled “Tattooing the Dead” or “How bad can I fuck up a snake and dagger tattoo.” They start off with what they call the “flash” challenge. It’s usually a non-tattoo related challenge where the winner of the contest gets an advantage in the actual tattoo challenge… (more…)
Thanks for your support!
