Yes, the new studio is officially open. Well, it’s the 21^st just because the clock went past midnight a couple of hours ago but, technically, I’ll have to wait for the morning to actually open it and receive my first clients at the new place ;)

I’ve spent most of the last two days finishing up all preparations and, once I figured everything was in place, I took a couple of pictures too; but I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to show them to you, so that’s what this post is about :).

The one above is taken from the entrance; that is what you see when you come in. In the foreground, the “reception desk” —I mean, my Mac :) — and in the background, the workspace —bed and everything. Behind that there’s another desk I set up for drawing.

The one below shows a view of the studio from the “waiting area”; a better view of the bed and the drawing table.

Everything has been moved around and arranged a little different from what I had planned first, especially the bed, in order to allow me to find the best, most comfortable position during work. I’ll probably rearrange them a little more along the way, once I figure what’s needed, but I’m going to have to spend a few days actually working, so I can get a feel. In any case, the whole thing will most likely stay like it is now, except for those few centimeters I’ll probably need if there’s not enough elbow-room.

Last one is a view from behind the drawing desk, showing the bed in the foreground and —in the background, to the right— the “waiting area”. The black door around the corner is the entrance (the one with the mirror is the toilet).

So what do you think? Pretty cool, isn’t it?

You’ll have to actually visit once —these photos don’t really do it justice— but I tell you: during those cool breeze days of the autumn, this is going to be one relaxing ambiance!

I’m sure you’ll like it ;)

Off to get some sleep now, tomorrow is the big day.

• new studio
• sneak peek
• preview

Today, Sunday, June 15^th was the last day at the shop in Nakameguro. As announced previously, from Monday, June 16^th until Friday, June 20^th, the tattoo studio will be closed, so I can move the remaining stuff to the new place and get everything ready for the opening, which will happen on Saturday, June 21^st.

Basically, most of it is already done; the new furniture is in place, the internet connection is set up —I haven’t configured the WiFi yet, but that’s piece of cake, tomorrow I’ll have it up and running— and most of my tools are already there.

What remains to be done —and which is what I’m working on right now— is updating the main website and making sure everybody knows about the move.

Getting in Touch

As I mentioned above, the internet connection is already set up, so there’ll be no downtime. I’ll continue to be reachable via e-mail as usual, but I won’t stay in one place for too long, so I probably won’t be able to take any phone calls.

This blog and the main site will stay online, naturally.

What’s Coming

• A major redesign of the main website. Not just a cosmetic thing, but a thorough renewal. Most noticeably, the whole site will be rewritten in plain old HTML 4 —which basically means that Mi¢ro$oft Int€rn€t €xp£oit€r users too will be able to access the site properly— and will, once again, be black (as in “black is the new black”) and as sexy as I can manage ;) But, about this, I’ll post a separate article once I’m done; there are still a few things I need to do so I don’t have the whole picture yet.
• A major redesign of this very blog. Same as the website, there’s going to be a lot more than just a facelift; I’ve been planning to rewrite this one too in HTML 4, but it’s going to be a very time consuming thing —because I’ll have to go through all the articles and get rid of the XHTML 1.1-specific tags— so the blog comes last. I hope I can get it done before the 21^th, but I can haz no promisez :)
• Another round of bulk mailing and cussing at the ISPs, until I hear back from everyone so I can relax and be assured everybody —or, at least, everybody having an appointment after the 21^st— knows where to find me.
• Lots of catching up, especially dealing with the obese inbox with which my mailer greets me every morning and clicking a shitload of (mouse) buttons so I can help making Clipothèque look pretty and cute;)
• Everything else I’ve been putting off until after the move.

That’s it for now. Thanks a lot for reading this!

I’ll be posting updates about the move progress as soon as I have anything consistent to say. Photos too, I promise :)

• Exit Nakameguro, Enter Ebisu
• closing the Nakameguro shop
• getting ready to move to Ebisu

Today, the new studio redecoration has been finished, so I went there to check it out and it looks good! Took a couple of pictures too, but I was in a rush to get back to Nakameguro before the next client arrived, so the shots didn’t come out really well, except for the one I’m posting below.

Still trying to decide whether I’m going to allow shoes on in the new place… The flooring looks really nice —and I’ve been reassured it’s pretty resistant and easy to clean too— so I really don’t know what to do. Shoes on in the waiting area (the one you can’t see in the above picture) and shoes off in the working area (the one visible in the photo) sounds like the best way to go, but I’m still thinking about it.

Next step, starting to bring in the furniture. I’ve got new, nice stuff, to match the interior; all black, naturally :D

The Rest

E-mails

This morning I sent out a few hundred e-mails too, announcing the move and all the details published in the previous article. Hugest Bcc list I’ve ever seen :)

Some of them bounched back as a result of overzealous ISPs trying to fight back spam with half-assed, ass-backwards methods and some of them returned with “User unknown” errors as a result of people changing their e-mail addresses and forgetting to let me know about it, in which case I can’t really do anything but hope they’ll visit the website and notice the location change.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t received yet any mail from me —but you think you should have— please contact me from your new address and I’ll send you all the details a.s.a.p. I have a template ready for mobile phones too, just in case. And while we’re talking about e-mails, I’d also suggest getting rid of those archaic AOL and Hotmail accounts and getting something more reliable ;)

Maps

So far, between the printer–friendly version and the interactive one I set up at GoogleMaps, I think I’ve got it pretty well covered, but —should you need any other format, such as PDF— please ask me and I’ll send you one in no time.

Again, About the Period of the Move

Just want to make sure there are no misunderstandings, so I repeat: the new place is going to be open on Saturday, June 21^st. If your appointment is anytime before Sunday, June 15^th, you should come to the old place, in Nakameguro.

And I guess this is it for now. Further updates —especially the one regarding the new phone and FAX numbers— as soon as I have’em.

Thanks a lot for reading this!

Update: I’ve got the new phone and FAX number: (03) 5422-9522 (from overseas, dial + 81-3-5422-9552).

• new studio
• redecoration
• sneak preview

I’ve already rented the new space and, starting tomorrow, we’ll proceed to redecorate the interior. The whole thing is supposed to last only one week so, before the end of this month, I’ll be able to go in and take a few photos and post them here.

Meanwhile, the important details:

Address

150-0013 Shibuya-ku, Ebisu 4-10-8, Ebisu Building 3^rd floor, room 302

The new place is really close to the east exit (towards Garden Place) of Ebisu Station (one stop from Shibuya and Nakameguro on Eidan Hibiya Line; one stop from Shibuya and Meguro on JR Yamanote Line). From the east exit, it’s a 7 minute walk along Route 305.

For a landmark, easiest to find —and most popular— is the Zest Cantina, which is right on the other side of Route 305.

Area Map

If the map below doesn’t display properly, please visit the GoogleMaps page or view the printer–friendly version.

When?

The new studio will be open on Saturday, June 21^st, 2008.

Until Sunday, June 15^th, I’ll be at the current place.

What Will Change?

Except for the location address and the phone/FAX number, nothing will change. I don’t know the new phone number yet, but The new phone and FAX number will be (03) 5422-9552 (from overseas, + 81-3-5422-9552) and I will also arrange to have the calls transferred from the old number so, for a few months, the old number will still be OK. In any case, as soon as I have the new number, I’ll update the contact information page and I will post it here too.

What Won’t Change

The website and e-mail addresses will be the same.

For the current year, the working hours and the days off won’t change either. I’m going to separate the workplace from my home, which means I probably won’t reply to e-mails in the middle of the night anymore, but don’t count on this ;)

My attitude toward the filthy governments, the big ass greedy corporations, monarchy, religion and generally, the meat puppets, will not change, I’m pretty sure of that :) I’ll probably grow a beard and click on a shitload of buttons [cheers, Rick!], but this too doesn’t have anything to do with this topic, does it? :D

I guess that’s about it for now. I’ll post updates when I have more details and I’ll definitely post some photos once the studio is redecorated. Soon, I will send out a bunch of e-mails to everybody, with the area map attached and all of the above info; if you’ve changed your e-mail address since the last time we corresponded, please let me know before the end of this month.

Thanks a lot for reading this!

• move
• new+studio
• moving to a new place

Done in less than an hour (the “5–minute” catchphrase is just that, a catchphrase; especially in my case, where I have a bunch of hacks spread all over the place) but it went smooth and without a glitch.

So WordPress 2.5 under-the-hood. Nice control panel, cleaner code and all that. Not bad.

The Bad

Upgrading is always a good thing, it keeps things running smoothly and it brings in all the security improvements those magicians write. So it’s all good.

Except for the fact that the very reason for doing this upgrade in such a haste —less than two weeks since it came out— is pretty stupid.

Or bad.

If you’ve read WordPress–related topics recently, you must’ve noticed all the talk about how Tehnorati and Google and what–not are going to “flag” WordPress blogs that run a version older than 2.3.something and frown upon them because they’re very likely to be hacked and turned into zombies (like most of the Windows computers out there) or used for spamming purposes by the scum of the Earth.

Anyway, be it true, be it just a rumor, that’s beside the point. The point is that it might actually be true and shit like that —being shot down from the search results for running an older version of a blog software— can actually happen… Something I can’t really afford.

Bottom line, although I think it to be a stupid reason to do a hasty upgrade, on the other hand I’m not tempted to take any risks so here I am, upgrading and hunting bugz :)

The upgrading being done, now I have to look around for broken links and all that weird shit that happens when I do something internety. So far no problem, so I guess I’m safe this time ;)

Tiny Tweak

Oh, I also got rid of the GoogleAds stuff.

It hasn’t made any real money for me —the amounts haven’t been worth the effort and the fees taken by the fucking Japanese banks are so high, I’d probably end up paying them money so they can receive the checks I got from Google. Yes, I didn’t really put any major effort in actually making these ads work efficiently, so it’s my fault too… But nevertheless, they were dirtying my web pages, so I’ve got no reason to keep them anymore.

Soon, I’ll remove them from all my websites, but that’s going to happen when I’ll be in a webmaster mood again… Probably next year or something, by the way my tattooing schedule looks :)

That should be it for now. Thanks for reading this!

• blog upgrade completed
• maintenance announcement
• WordPress 2.5

Yesterday, by accident, I came by this website, called TheTattooAlbum.com, who sells cheap tattoo flash (for people who want to be someone else’s clone). And —surprise!— there’s a page for Dali Rău too, complete with a profile photo, a tag line, a short description and some contact information, links to my website and no less than eight drawings on sale, for prices ranging from 4.90 to 14.90 American dollars.

The only thing is that it isn’t me and those shitty drawings are definitely not mine!

Well, the name is mine, the description is mine —a few paragraphs copied from my profile page—, the shop address is mine and the links do point to my domain, but the rest is fake. That creep in the photo isn’t me, the tag line is not a quote of something I ever said and those drawings aren’t fucking mine.

So what we got there is a charlatan using my name and my internet presence to pose as a real tattooist, so he or she can sell a few cheap drawings.

I’m sure the people at TheTattooAlbum.com had no idea about this sham —and, by reading their terms of use, I understand they never bother to verify the authenticity of the items before publishing them— so there wasn’t much they could do to prevent it. At least, I hope it was like this, otherwise they’d end up looking pretty stupid for promoting that kind of cheap stuff by allowing impostors to sell it through them…

So, What’s Gonna Happen?

Well, of course, I contacted them right away and told them about it. I chose to use their regular feedback channel and I chose to refer to this as a publishing error, because I’m not the kind who’d start spraying knee-jerk cease and desist threats —if I hate something more than tattoo flash, I hate this whole “legal” approach— and I hope the owners of the website will respond in a positive manner, saving us all the unnecessary trouble of having to go through lawyers and all that shit…

Haven’t gotten a reply so far —at the time I sent the e-mail it was too early for someone there to be at work— but, as I write this, I think I’ll be seeing one pretty soon.

I’d also like to meet the little piece of shit who used my name to sell their stuff, so I can attempt —in the most unpleasant way— to tear him or her a brand new shiny asshole… But I know that’s not gonna happen, so —for now— I’d be satisfied with a prompt and appropriate response from the owners of TheTattooAlbum.com.

I’ll probably put something on the website too, so that those who visit through those links know that the drawings aren’t mine and they were (about to be) sold some cheap fakes… But probably, as soon as the people at TheTattooAlbum.com get my message, there won’t be any need for this, so I’ll postpone it a day or two.

What’s Not Going to Happen

Assuming those drawings could be there on sale for some time now, I guess the little shit and TheTattooAlbum.com have made some money by selling those drawings (although those who paid money for that crap might deserve a new asshole too, just for being that stupid, but that’s another story) so I’d probably be entitled to ask for a reward or a settlement for abusing my trademark.

But that’s not going to happen. I’m not that kind of person and, sincerely, I don’t give a shit if they managed to make some money out of that fraud. I do work for the money I get and I have no intention to obtain some crappy cash for something like this.

All I want them to do is to remove this charlatan from their website. Period.

Conclusion

None :)

I mean, there’ll be one as soon as I get in touch with the owners of the website and that’s when I’m going to update this article too. But for now, the conclusion is not yet here…;)

And, since when this is over, the respective webpage —currently located at thetattooalbum.com/tattooartists/artist— will be taken offline and soon will die out in Google’s cache too, I thought it would be a shame not to record it for posterity… so I took a couple of screenshots, for your viewing pleasure :D

Enjoy :)

• Front Page (Artist Profile)
• Drawing 1
• Drawing 2
• Drawing 3
• Drawing 4
• Drawing 5
• Drawing 6
• Drawing 7
• Drawing 8

Update

Tuesday, April 8^th, 2008

I have received word from TheTattooAlbum.com and the matter has been resolved.

We have looked into the matter and taken appropriate actions against the artist. The user account is deemed to be in violation of your personal information. TheTattooAlbum.com maintains strict copyright and intellectual property policies. As such, the user has been suspended and the link http://www.thetattooalbum.com/tattooartists/artist/ will not be available.

For the record, we have tracked the IP of the user and withheld his payments. We will be glad to follow up or keep you posted on updates related to this issue.

Good enough for me. I will not pursue this matter any further so, basically, this is the conclusion I was looking for.

The owners of TheTattooAlbum.com have taken the appropriate course of action and I’m satisfied with it. The charlatan has been already torn a new asshole, so that too is good enough for me; I’m not gonna pursue the little shit any further.

My thanks to the staff at TheTattooAlbum.com for the prompt response.

Case closed ;)

• charlatans
• impostors
• sham
• trademark infringement
• TheTattooALbum.com

In a couple of days, this weblog, the main website and the photo archives will be offline for about 8 hours, due to some technical stuffthat is out of my hands (which makes it pretty much unavoidable).

The planned* downtime starts Saturday, February 9^th, 2008 at 15:00 JST (6:00 GMT/UTC) and is expected to end Saturday, February 9^th, 2008 at 23:00 JST (14:00 GMT/UTC).

During that period, none of the websites will be accessible, not even the photos on the Japanese website. My mail will be down as well, so I won’t be able to receive nor respond to any messages until the server is back online.

What Does it Mean?

Nothing, it’s just a maintenance operation and it’s done by my web host, not by me; it’s got nothing to do with my websites —apart from the fact that this server maintenance happens to take all my websites offline for about 8 hours— and there are no visible changes to be expected when the sites come back online.

It also has nothing to do with the shop move I said I was planning; it just happens to occur in the same period, but they’re different, unrelated events. Which means that no, this downtime will not be caused by the move of the shop to another location.

Speaking of which, at the moment, I’m not even sure I’ll move the shop anymore… It’s been almost a month since I started looking for a new place and, so far, I haven’t found anything. Therefore, the move might not happen after all but —about this— in a future article, when I have more details.

Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend and, on the 9^th of February, please cut a dude some slack about the “not found” errors you might encounter during those 8 hours ;)

It’ll be all taken care of.

* Actually not “planned” as in “I want to do this” but rather as in “I know about it in advance, so —at least— I can announce when it’s going to happen and for how long… :-\ ↑

• planned downtime
• websites offline
• downtime announcement

I’ll be taking phone calls as usual but, of course, e-mail is preferable.

Other than that, everything back to normal. I’ve just updated the calendar too, so —if you were waiting for an opening— please have a look.

Speaking of updates, I’ve also upgraded this weblog’ software to WordPress 2.3.2 and, as soon as I can find some spare time, I’m planning to redesign a little bit. Maybe bring back the black… not sure yet ;)

In any case, the latest Firefox beta supports alpha (i.e. semi-transparent) values for the colors and —to my surprise— the latest Opera alpha supports text-shadow, so I’m really looking forward to using the cool stuff in a new design! The version for Safari has had both semi-transparence and text shadows from day one, but now that the two other major players are catching up, I have no excuse for neglecting this blog anymore :)

Umm, that’s it for now, I’ll be back in a few days…

• back to work
• resuming regular schedule
• colophon

I hope you’ve had a great night!

And I hope the hangover won’t last past the first pee-pee :D

2008 has got to be a good year, we’ve got to expect it will! I know it’s going to be a good one for me and I definitely hope it’ll be a great one for you too! Whatever bad things happened last year, hopefully they’re all a thing of the past right now and the future holds only the good stuff for us.

I certainly hope so!

And, as good as it’s for greetings and best wishes, I guess this first of 2008 is also the perfect time for a promise —like a resolution— that I’ll continue giving 100% and I’ll spare no efforts to keep doing the best job I can possibly do!

I actually have a list, a “resolutions, resolutions” kind of list, but I guess it’s become such a trite thing to do around the new year’s, so I’m going to keep it for another time :)

• happy new year
• la mulţi ani
• あけおめことよろ

In a few hours here —and a few more hours there— 2007 will become “the past” and 2008 will become “the present”. Time to getting used to write “8” at the end of the current year, I guess :)

2007 has been a really good one, in many ways. Lots of stuff has happened, I’ve been able to accomplish a lot more than I expected I would so, looking back, I have a ton of reasons to be pleased about it and remember it as a good year.

Probably a thousand more tattoos, an equal number of drawings, hundreds of new photos, a handful of new friends…

The trip to România was a blast too and I hope the next one will be at least as good!

I couldn’t give up the smoking, the government still exists, Sony is still not bankrupt, Apple smells like Micro$oft, the Amerikan Reich is still at war and the meat puppets all over the world are as obedient as ever, the christian church is still around… meh, what can I say, it hasn’t been all peachy and good, but I can’t really blame myself for any of these fuck-ups… Except for my incapability to quit smoking, but I’m still working on it so I’m not beaten yet ;)

Working on the others too, but that’s a whole different story :D

Bottom line, 2007 has been as good as it could be, so I’m going to keep it in my mind as a pretty successful one.

Enter 2008

Really looking forward to it!

Right now —looking at all the plans I have through a prism of optimism I can only afford on the 31^st of every December— I’m expecting 2008 to be at least twice as good as 2007. I’m going to move the shop to a better place —yeah, I’m actually looking for something even better than the one I have now— and I’m going to become a master of efficient schedules :)

I’ll be traveling some more, I’ll be trying to give more time to my friends, I’ll definitely try to do all the stuff I haven’t been able to do so far.

I’ll be trying harder to give up smoking, I’ll keep fucking the government, I’ll keep boycotting Sony, I’ll keep hoping Apple fires Steve and become, once again, the rebels we all believed they were, I’ll keep hoping the American people will finally riot and bring the dictatorship to an end —for that matter, I hope every people will riot and put an end to the dictatorship, regardless of the country— and I’ll keep hoping at least my friends will open up their eyes and see right through the christian hypocrisy…

So you see, I’m pretty optimistic about the new year and I’m really looking forward to all the good stuff that’s going to happen!

To everyone for whom I had the opportunity to work this year, to my friends, to all who helped me out in a way or another and those who simply wrote to say “hello”, I want to thank you from my heart! And I want to wish you all success, maximum health and all the bestest for 2008!

A happy new year to you all!

• exit 2007, enter 2008
• a Happy New Year!
• last of 2007