So last night Synthesis designer www.RyanWheaton.co.uk hit me up and sent me a link to Cockeyed.com, which is a pretty cool site containing articles of wonderful randomness (Pranks? Naughty food items? 1,000 photos of some grrl named Amber? You got it!). The piece in question was a blog about removable tattoos available at Toys R Us. But not the lovable ladybug / smiley-sun / rainbows-and-pot-of-gold icons I remember from my removable tattoo days. No. Removable Lower back Tattoos. Fucking Tramp Stamps for Kiddies.

Now, I’m no prude. I appreciate it when girls give you a target to aim at and everything, but back tattoos aren’t necessarily the classiest thing. Nothing to get kicked out of bed for, but still… HOWEVER, removable back tattoos for CHILDREN is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard (and this is coming from the guy who references amputee porn in a blog about the Miss Landmine Survivor Pageant…). Fucking pop that butterfly pattern over your 3rd grade honor student’s ass, get her ready to spread it around town by Jr. High. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck…CLASSY!

What really fucks me up a little is that the Cockeyed article uses pictures from the Toys R Us at Arden fair Mall in Sacramento - the same place my mom bought my Legos, Nintendo games and GI Joes. The really sad thing is I’m pretty sure my half-sister would squeal “HOW CUTE! GIMME” and immediately plaster it on her 2 year old’s rumpback. Eghad, babies making babies making bad decisions. Thanks Toys R Us, just…thanks.

Mexican emo kids apparently have something to cry about, as they have been victimized by a bizarre wave of emo-bashings, inspired in part by a popular TV personality’s on-air anti-emo tirade. From LA Weekly blogger Daniel Hernandez:

In Mexico, emo culture is a butt of many jokes. It is either despised intensely or generally ignored. But it’s only the despising sentiment that lately has been getting wide airply. In the above clip, a Televisa on-air personality named Kristoff expresses a serious dose of anti-emo rhetoric and switches to English to say, on network television, “Fucking bullshit” to the emo movement. Some emos I’ve interviewed point to the Kristoff clip as a defining provocation of the current wave of anti-emo violence.

The aggressors responsible for emo attacks in Mexico City, Queretaro and elsewhere come from different subcultures, with differing reasons for their shared hate:

Anger against the emos has come from many quarters: punks and goths who think emos are ripping off their culture, homophobes who don’t find emos masculine enough, and those who simply seem threatened by a group that is so different than the mainstream.

But Mexican emos aren’t taking this shit lying down. They’ve organized marches and protests to bring attention to their plight:

Emos have begun to fight back, organizing marches in Guadalajara and Mexico City. And voices have begun appearing warning of a creeping intolerance in Mexican society. Gilberto Rincan Gallardo, a columnist for the El Porvenir newspaper, argued this week that tolerance is the foundation of any healthy democracy. “If a group of young people like (emos) decides to get together and live life in a certain manner, and doesn’t hurt others, it’s the obligation of the Democratic state to protect them…It’s easy for an eccentric and easily identified minority group to be stigmatized and discriminated against…It’s the responsibility of the authorities to make sure the threats aren’t carried out and the aggressions are punished.”

All I have to say is:

Dear Mexico,

If you don’t want your emos, please send them here. Especially the girls.

Thanks,

America

Luanda, Angola — The 27-year-long Angola civil war has been over for six years but the number of civilian victims continues to rise. Tens of thousands have been injured or maimed by landmine explosions, leaving the population shattered and ravaged by a war whose fallout has yet to meet its half-life.

In an effort to restore dignity and confidence to its civilian population, the de-mining commission of Angola is hosting a Miss Landmine Survivor Pageant, with eight women, one from each province, each maimed by a landmine, competing and simultaneously becoming the public faces for their own cause. Its intent is to boost the self-esteem of landmine survivors, and to show the beauty in strength and determination, and truly, the “beauty in all people.” The pageant will be held on April 2nd in Luanda, Angola.

Following the pageant, the First International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action will be held on April 4th. For further information on the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, please right-click here.

Millions of un-detonated mines litter the southwestern African nation. While it costs roughly $5 to manufacture a landmine, it takes nearly $1,000 to safely dismantle one.

Voting for the Miss Landmine Survivor Pageant is to be held online. You can VOTE for who you would like to see win. Me, I’m voting for Miss Cubango. Right now she’s in 2nd place. Check out her stats:

Miss Cuando Cubango
Generosa Cassinda

Age: 30
City: Menongue
Mine accident: 1989
Kids: 2 (10,8)
Occupation: Street vendor
Dream job: Economist
Favourite color: White

Clothes: American Apparel, € 36
Jewellery: Myffdesign, € 15
Location: Fortaleza São Miguel, Luanda

Mine: NO-4 anti-personnel
Release: pressure
Explosive: 188 g TNT
Produced by: Israel

Daaaamn….

This blog is nice and heartfelt. Here’s where I fuck things up.

I’m sorry, I know that it’s wrong to reference things like amputee porn in a blog about such a moving, good-hearted and humanitarian event like the Miss Landmine Survivor Pageant. But really, there are few rewarding job opportunities for people missing their limbs, and life is tough as it is. I’m pretty sure that in America, you can’t even get a meatpacking job if you’ve lost your hand (unless you lost your hand at a prior meatpacking job, then I think they’ll “hook you up.” Ouch.). And let’s face it, these women are gorgeous and legless, and I am pretty sure there’s a market for that. Actually, I’ve seen the aisle at the ‘specialty video store,” I’m sure there’s a market for it. Oh please one-leggy lady, won’t you ampu-tease me.

Yes, I know you think I’m going to hell.

Just when you thought Vice was mixing it up by hiding a BMW ad on the front cover, VOGUE steps into the ring with this:

I initially thought, “What’s the big deal? It’s LeBron and Gisele, two celebs fitter than fiddles. ‘Cept Gisele’s dress is kinda lame.” But then I read what the more critical eyes saw: “Others, however, see it as the embodiment of racial and sexual stereotypes, that it’s a depiction of an aggressive, black man in a King Kong-like pose, embracing a white woman, a Fay Wray-like ‘damsel in distress.’” Source

Oh. I guess I can see that now, too. But riddle me this: is it better to see the racial connotations and object, or to not see them at all?

Before Rockstardom:

After Rockstardom:

Officially licensed by Courtney Love, three different Kurt Cobain Signature Converse shoes will be released this summer:

Several different designs are coming, including at least one Converse One Star model and a series of Chuck Taylor high tops. The design elements for each of the shoes are taken from Cobain’s own drawings and writings that were published in the 2002 book Journals.

Moar pics of a few of the shoes can be seen after the jump…

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