"I love sucking ass"

"Dave" sent me a photo of his friend's tattoo about two weeks ago with:A couple of days ago a friend of mine got a tattoo, and upon asking him what it meant, he told me it was a "secret". I know my friend isn't the brightest of stars and I suspect that he had help translating it after he got tattooed and found out it meant "I love sucking ass" or...

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Answers to Questions.

And now to answer the back-log of questions and get on track - for the moment any way. I have answered these in no especial order, just as they came out. Before we go on might I let you know that there is a fairly comprehensive interview over at the BookClub - so head on over or read on: it is wall to wall MBT! Either way, let us get cracking. Steve...

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Help Wanted: Master's Thesis on Chinese Character Tattoos

Several days ago, Mariah Miller contacted me seeking help for her Master's thesis.I am looking for individuals with Chinese character tattoos to fill out a short questionnaire for my master's thesis. I am a student in the Global Studies Programme run jointly by the German University of Freiburg, the South African University of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the...

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A Blogful Butterfly

A brief line to gratefully acknowledge Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling's inclusion in the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list for 2007! Sincerest delighted thanks to the 'judges' and congratulations to all the other works who were nominated and/or selected.Also I just want to let folks know I am blogging over at Inside A Dog as their Writer in Residence for the month of February, so please, head...

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"Bugs?"

Professional English-Japanese translator Alan Siegrist writes:Hi Tian,OK, so I was looking over the kanji tattoos at Bmezine.com again (yes, it is getting addictive), and I found this picture:http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A70121/high/bmepb441572.jpgThe first thing I thought of when I saw all of these guys with the character 昆 on their shoulders was...

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La Presse

link & pdfIn Jan. 31 issue of La Presse, there was an article briefly mentioned Hanzi Smatter:"Et il y a bien pire. Tian, jeune blogueur chinois aujourd’hui installé en Arizona, s’amuse justement à répertorier les tatouages les plus ridicules. Et il n’en manque pas. Sur son site (www.hanzismatter.com), qu’il alimente depuis deux ans, il a collectionné...

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Aurealis Felicitas et Bonum

Well, first things: I have just returned from Brisbane where the 11th Annual Aurealis Awards were held. MBT had the great fortune to be nominated then short-listed in the ‘YA’ category for 2006. Thank you to the judges! So off we went, my wife and I, to Brisneyland (one of the many affectionate appellations we none Brisbane dwellers have for that – as it turns out – wonderful city) I have to confess...

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