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A Nemo blog. Dealing with uncommon cents.

Picture courtesy of the NY Times

Over the last few weeks, many Beijing residents, tourists and athletes have been flocking to tattoo parlors across the city to get reminders of the Olympics imprinted onto their skin.

The growing popularity of tattoos is a recent phenomenon in Beijing. As recently as 10 years ago, it was very rare to come across a parlor and since there is almost no regulation by the government, most tattoo artists in China are self-taught.

In Chinese history, tattoos were considered improper and avoided at all costs. Criminal’s faces were tattooed before they were thrown in jail and even into the 1940s, tattoos were usually only seen marking members of crime rings.

There are now hundreds of parlors scattered across the city and the China Association of Tattoo Artists is pushing for increased regulation through a yearly convention. It’s only a matter of time now before the stigmas held by older generations evaporate and tattoos become the norm in China.

Nemo CD Mark Lewman is out in Beijing checking out the BMX events, a big first for these riders – BMX, China, Olympics no way! They are all stoked check out the NYT piece. Meanwhile there was a crazy pile up that laid Kyle Bennett low – here’s pics of the action leading up to the crash.

Kyle Bennett, a team USA athlete racing for a slot in the finals, gets tangled up in the first turn. This was the gnarliest crash of the day.

The berms are asphalt and riders carve through the corners held in place by G-forces. Their bikes are almost level against the wall of the berm. So rad.

But one fuck up at this speed and it all goes to hell in a hurry.

The Dutch guy leading the pack buckles under the G-forces and he goes down, starting a chain reaction of bad stuff…

…Which ends with Kyle Bennett on the ground, completely jacked.

More at StudioNemo.

Related Posts: Nike 6.0 Lightning Bolts AKA Nemo in China, Freestylin’ Launch Party, Li Wei China’s Stunt Artist

Using the Beijing Olympics as a showcase, the big names in the sneaker world including Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics and Reebok have developed dozens of new designs to debut with the hopes of hooking the rapidly expanding Chinese middle class (along with legions of ’sneaker freaks’ worldwide) on their offerings.

Strategy-wise, these leading brands are focusing on creating shoes for sports that are popular in Asia like badminton, rowing, fencing and a style of martial arts known as washu. Extra style points are being dished out to Nike’s new equestrian boot that’s bound to leap from the world of horseback riding and onto the street:

Nike’s new basketball shoe (above) is crafted in the trademark Chinese red and yellow and uses a system called flywire to replace thick materials while creating a sort of bridge suspension to hold the foot in place.

The technology in these newly developed offerings are truly groundbreaking and though the stylings are a bit futuristic at first glance, they’re sure to resonate with a wide variety of Olymics sports fans.