shouldnt people be canvass for tattoos not the other way around?? (Miami Ink)

Member Name: leeman-seed

Product:	Miami Ink
Date:	05/04/09 (346 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes people aware of the talant in tattooing

Disadvantages: not enough tattooing too many sob stories

------------------------------------------over view -----------------------------------------------

Miami Ink is a Hour long American reality TV Show following a tattoo parlour on the Miami south beach in its first year (this is the case as the of the first ) and moving through four other series.

The Tattoo parlour is a business venture between Ami James and Chris Nunez called 305 Ink, and they are joined originally 3 other tattoo artists:

Darren Brass- A graffiti style tattooist
Chris Garver- Veteran and Amis teacher
Yoji Harada - Apprentice to Ami James
and later Kat Von Dee (who was later fired)

The show contains various customers coming into the shop to get a tattoo normally with a back story for the reasons behind each individual piece. Some of these happy storys whilst some are genuinely heartbreaking. As well as normal members of the public coming into the shop the show has also enjoyed several celebrities including:

Bam Magera (star of jackass and pro skate boarder)
Randy Orton - (WWE Wrestler)
Lloyd Banks- (Rapper)
Reginald Fieldy Arvizu - (Rock star KORN)

Amongst others.

The show has spawned 2 spin off's. One being LA Ink which follows Kat Von Dee opening her very own studio after leaving the original crew of Miami ink and an English version called London ink which has no real links to Miami ink.

In England this can be watched on the DMAX channel (Virgin channel 172) at varying times but repeats are shown often. The new series are usually debut on Sundays at 9.00.

-INTERESTING FACT - after the fourth series the show stopped being produced. As Ami and Chris Nunez declined a new series The original site of the Miami ink Shop is now a retail clothes shop. And they have opened up a new shop in Miami.



--------------------My opinion on the show -----------------

I am a huge fan of tattoo art work and have quite a lot myself, so when I first started watching this show I was very interested, you saw how the everyday running of a tattoo parlour worked and you were given descriptions on what the various needles and inks could do, as well as the very impressive drawing skills

However after a very short period of time this concept seemed to be abandoned and rather than the people being canvass for the tattoos the tattoos became canvass for the people to tell there personal stories, now I am not heartless and I admit some of these peoples stories and situations were genuinely moving whether it be over coming cancer to loosing a loved one ... but more and more the art took a back seat to these stories .. and more and more the stories started to scrape the barrel, such as having a tattoo for the death of a pet, and I may be odd .. but seeing an American couple being interviewed in tears about the death of there favourite pet gold fish or something else ridicules is not my idea of entertainment especially if I want to watch a show and learn about the art of tattooing. I was literally waiting for some body to go into the shop and when asked 'why do you want this' them to just answer 'meh I just want one' or 'because it will look cool' but no ....

Then by the point of the second series the ratings must have increased with this tactic because there was even more crying, sob stories and relationship issues amongst the tattooists themselves sometime resulting in shouting and arguing, when this isn't happening we have to watch the cast attend parties or going to buy a new bike. And I am wondering 'where are the amazing tattoos?', don't get me wrong there is still a lot of tattooing (so long as it has an over blown story to back up its reason) but the tattoos they do are not what I would call amazing pieces of art, little butterfly, fairies and flowers are common place (often not actually having any relevance to the given back story). And seeing an amazing piece of art like full sleeves or back pieces. And maybe they should make a show about my tattooist if they want great drawings and art (hope he reads this and gives me discount)

All in all I think that if shouting crying American reality TV shows ala Hogan knows best, Osbournes etc are your thing you will enjoy this show. If you are a fan of tattoo art work I would stick to another show such as ink wars. as this show seems more focused on pulling heart strings, showcasing weirdos and name dropping for B Rate celebs

Summary: Mindless entertainment