Ho, ho, ho! I'm feelin the holiday lovin' from my family today as I keep my new demon child tattooed on the back of my head under wraps to avoid Christmas coronaries and ensure my favorite gifts are not sent back to the dollar store.


Tattoo by Lenny Renken on Dave Tedder

I'm pleased to report that the past week's tattoo news is more jolly than my previous posts of flesh-eating bacteria and lip sewing "tattooers". In fact, the news was light and fruit cakey.

The fruitiest story of them all involved Britney Spears, naturally. After finally regaining my sight, which was brutally taken away from me via non-stop flashes of pantyless c-section scar/crotch shots, I was treated to a TMZ video of Brit Brit walking into Devil Doll Tattoo in LA with her 15-year-old sister and walking out with her very own "personal work of art" – a star tattooed on her hand. I swear she's doing all this to torment me. In my efforts to educate the masses on the artistry of tattoo, the most famous female in the world goes all country every time she gets needled.
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Let's recap Britney's numerous tattoo snafus: a butterfly and vine on her right foot, a pair of poorly inked pink dice on her left wrist, an even worse fairy on her lower back and a Japanese symbol on her bikini line. Money cannot buy taste.

Ok, I'm sounding like the tattoo Grinch but what better gift could I possibly give y'all than to feel morally and artfully superior to a so-called A-lister.

[There are also rumors that Brad Pitt just got needled with a Sanskrit blessing tattoo to protect his family but no photo or video evidence has been found. I'm guessing Sanskrit will be the new nonsense Kanji. You heard it here first.]

Beyond vapid celeb tattoo news, there is some light ahead for the upcoming new year -- from the realm of darkness no less. Paul Booth will be releasing a brilliant documentary on the Art Fusion Experiment in 2007, for which I saw a preview and will review for an upcoming Needled News. If you don't get off on mocking Britney and are feeling the holiday blues, a look at this six-minute preview for the film will inspire you. And that kind of inspiration is probably the best gift I could give.



Best wishes to you -- whether and whatever you celebrate.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.