Rogue Rouge

On Red and Love

 (excerpts)

 

 "Only a few months into our marriage, we started marking off areas in the apartment as 'Nothing Places', in which one could be assured of complete privacy, we agreed that we would never look at the marked-off zones, that they would be nonexistent territories in the apartment in which one could temporarily cease to exist, the first was in the bedroom, by the foot of the bed, we marked it off in red tape on the carpet, and it was just large enough to stand in, it was a good place to disappear … it was a rule that you never would look at that rectangle of space, it didn't exist, and while you were in it, neither did you ..."
 — Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

"When I was your age, my grandfather bought me a ruby bracelet. It was too big for me and would slide up and down my arm. It was almost a necklace. He later told me that he had asked the jeweler to make it that way. Its size was supposed to be a symbol of his love. More rubies, more love. But I could not wear it comfortably. I could not wear it at all. So here is the point of everything I have been trying to say. If I were to give a bracelet to you, now, I would measure your wrist twice"
— Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

(And on a related note: )

"If there is no love in the world, we will make a new world, and we will give it walls, and we will furnish it with soft, red interiors, from the inside out, and give it a knocker that resonates like a diamond falling to a jeweller's felt so that we should never hear it. Love me, because love doesn't exist, and I have tried everything that does."
— Jonathan Safran Foer (Everything is Illuminated: A Novel)

INKlination

When it comes to tattoos, there are usually two common and opposing viewpoints: The 'it's body art and therefore a form of self expression' view and the 'your-body-is-a-temple therefore it's a form of self-mutilation' perspective. As someone who has one tattoo (and two more in mind), I for the most part share the former opinion.
Of course, that's just my general opinion.
I actually tend to be somewhat conservative when it comes to skin ink. I prefer small, discrete or subtle designs on myself. I don't mind large or highly visible pieces on others as long as they are somewhat in sync with my core belief.  I believe that if you are going to get a tattoo then it should be a well thought out decision (I'm not an advocate of 'drunk' tattoos). It is a permanent alteration (ok, barring laser removal) to your body and it should at least have enduring value since you will bear it (or them) for a lifetime (again, unless of course you decide to zap it off).
Though I consider some tattoos works of art and/or forms of self expression one only has to google 'ugly' or 'stupid' tattoos to understand the arguments being made by those in the anti-tattoo camp (and also to find themselves cringing, face-palming and occasionally exclaiming 'wtf?!'). I hope I'm not coming across as judgmental for I do realize that like anything of a personal nature, tattoos are subjective. This means that maybe I will never be able to really grasp the true depth and extreme significance of someone's favourite beer logo emblazoned across their chest. But  at the end of the day,  my or anyone else's opinion aside, it is still their body and choice.

Anyway that was my introduction to this feature on my blog. As the (really bad) title implies, it deals with tattoos. I'll feature images of them in pairs sometimes with objects which catch my fancy. It usually will be fashion related (i.e. jewellery or clothes) but don't neglect to expect random objects now and again or even solely tattoo posts. Regardless, it will all add up somehow, never fear.

                           That's all for now and don't forget to shine on, you crazy diamonds.

ph 1-4: via various tumblrs (which I unfortunately forgot to source) on  www.tumblr.com