Geek Tattoos

Given the number of tattoo links I post, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought that I was a human mural. The fact of the matter, however, is that as much as I like the idea of getting a few tattoos, I don't have nearly enough confidence in my ability to choose something that I'd still be happy with five years from now to risk it.

Be that as it may, here's a nice collection of some very geeky tattoos.

Unstructured Elven

A long while back, Elijah Wood was doing an interview on the Daily Show to promote The Fellowship of the Ring. During the interview, he mentioned that he, and the other nine members of the fellowship cast, had all gone out and gotten tattoos of the numeral nine... in elvish. At the time I thought that was just a little bit strange but, in retrospect, I should have realized that there is a reasonably significant demand for Elvish tattoos.

Of course, if one is intent on demonstrating that they are way more geeky than those stupid Klingon poseurs, you can't just run out and get a bunch of random gibberish stamped on your tramp. On no, you must do it properly!

A good place to start would be to find out what your Evlish name is (in my case, that would be Suiadan), but that's only the first step. Once you have your name, you need to know how to write it in Elvish script, bearing in mind that there are several dialects of Elvish as well as numerous calligraphic scripts that you can choose from. (If this intimidates you, you could always cheat with a bit of software.)

This may seem like a lot of effort but if you are a True Tolkien Geek, this will absolutely and permanently establish your Elf Cred. Who knows, you might even meet someone who shares your passion which would mean that you'd eventually need to send out Elvish wedding invitations.

Unstructured Tattoos

I will confess that I've never much desired to have a tattoo. For me it isn't a matter of squemishness or thinking that tattoos look "gross" or anything like that. Rather, I've always worried that I've never been able to come up with anything that I'm sure I'd still want to have in another ten or fifty years.

Be that as it may, I saw something recently that is making me seriously reconsider the whole idea. Three little words: Black Light Tattoos.

The really nice thing about them is that you can get them so that they are only visible under a UV light so that, even if you get stuck with something that you ultimately don't like, it's not that big of a deal.

It should be noted, however, that many dermatologists, as well as various tattoo artists, have expressed concerns regarding the inks that are used, stating that some people could have allergic reactions from them.

As always, caveat emptor.