Needled News by Marisa DiMattia
I've been obsessed with celebrity tattoos lately. They're inescapable. I've seen clients walk into tattoo studios brandishing CD covers, wrestling magazines, and Perez Hilton print-outs. Online tattoo forums flame over whether it's cool to get Bam Magera's body art. And the news headlines, well, they taunt me.
All I want to do is sit back and reflect upon the national repercussions of the Scooter Libby trial, but then Robbie Williams busts outta rehab with a new tattoo and I'm forced to take stock of this momentous event.
By getting love tattooed across his knuckles on his right hand, what is Robbie telling us? Did he find God's love in detox? Or was he lonely and relegated to self-love? I'd also like to know what it is about rehab that drives people to the tattoo studio. Not once, but twice, we witnessed America's train wreck begging for the needle after stays in luxury treatment centers.
It's not like these celebs are going Straight Edge. The booze-filled post-tattoo partying does not indicate a non-tox trend, and I don't see tattoos like these catching on in Hollywood.
Instead, many actors and musicians--you know, creative types--search the depths of their platinum souls for body art that speaks for them, illustrating their very essence. Here's what they come up with: the backside bow, the mini wings, the forearm dice, and of course, the scratcher portrait of your TrimSpa suga-mama.
Ok, I'll accept that last one. Being Anna Nicole's bitch was limited in its lucrativeness. However, there's no excuse for multi-platinum artists, even if they are straight outta Compton.
The Game, aka Jayceon Tylor, refuses to pay for his tattoos--and it shows. ContactMusic.com quotes the rapper on his body decoration decisions:
"My tattoos are always free, man. I can pretty much walk in anywhere I fancy and they'll do one for free. If they're not, I'm walking out. [...] "I don't know how many I've got. S**t, I stopped counting after, like, the first two. I don't plan them. I just wake up with the idea and I go in that day."
I wouldn't call it sage tattoo advice but, then again, I aint gangsta. I suppose it's a g-thang: Money. Cash. Hoes. Sub-par body art.
In other headlines, Nylon magazine's March issue featured the fabulous Christina Ricci on the cover with the tag "Tattooed Rebel or Girl Next Door?", which I thought was funny as most of Ricci's patchwork tattoos were covered in the photo except some small blur on her ankle. Now Ricci's got a number of tattoos and a kick-ass style but I wouldn't trumpet her as the tattoo rebel darling. This crown clearly goes to Saint Angelina, and who among us here is not on Team Jolie?
Finally, in this needled celeb round-up, I'd like to welcome my fave comedian/activist/rapper Margaret Cho into the loving arms of freakdom. She's just added another beautiful Japanese inspired tattoo to her fabulous collection, which includes an Ed Hardy piece that winds around her belly-dancing waist. Her latest work of art is by Andrew Moore of Shogun Tattoo in Pasadena, CA.
Photo by Ian Harvie.
I'm hoping more celebrities show the same tattoo intelligence and not treat ink as swag. Free does not necessarily equal good. If more beautiful artwork adorned the bodies of tabloid staples, perhaps tattooing as fine art would become a trend, not a post-rehab adventure.
Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.
Moan and Groan: Christina Ricci Says, "I'm a Prude"
Black Snake Moan star Christina Ricci claims she's totally prude and that the nakedness on the set of her latest film was terrifying. For those who haven't heard, Ricci's character, Rae, is a drug-addled nymphomaniac who gets chained to a radiator in her undies by a God-fearing, sweat-soaked-savior played by Samuel L. Jackson. For the film, Ricci overcame her frigidity by strutting around the set in next-to-nothing, even after director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) called "cut." Let's hear it for method acting!
Ricci says, "I'm a prude and I do not like walking around naked and I was in my bathroom about two months after the movie finished and I was brushing my teeth and I was in my underwear and I looked down and was like, 'Oh, God, put something on.' "Then I just stopped and thought, 'Oh my god, I was half naked for two months and my ass was on camera.' "I called my sister and I was like, 'Is it OK to wear nothing around the house? I'm freaking out.'"
Ricci was also quoted as saying that she was going to quit acting altogether if she hadn't landed the Moan role.
According to Wenn news, the 27-year-old actress said: "I told my therapist, if I didn't get the part I was going to quit."
"What I meant was that it so seemed like what I should be doing that, if I didn't get it, I would have no idea of what it was that people wanted me to be doing in this industry and what I was supposed to be doing," she explained.
Well then, Christina, it's settled. It seems people in the industry want you chained half-naked to a radiator...
Christina Ricci as Penelope: Stills from Fairytale Film Online
Stills from Christina Ricci's latest flickthe fairytale-esque Penelopehave been released, following the trailer which was made available earlier this month.
Penelope is the story of a young woman, Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci), born to wealthy socialites (Richard E. Grant and Catherine OHara). Penelope is afflicted by a secret family curse that can only be broken when she is loved by one of her own kind. Hidden away in the familys majestic home, she is subjected to meeting a string of blue-bloods through her parent's futile attempt to marry her off and break the curse. Each suitor is instantly enamored with Penelope (and her sizable dowry) until the curse is revealed.
The film was directed by hot newcomer Mark Palansky, who has been tagged as the next Tim Burton. Part of Palansky's 2001 short film The Same can be watched here. The Same, which starred Josh Hartnett and Jason Acuña, told the nightmarish story of one man's sad and poignant struggle to fulfill his own expectations.
Penelope is Palansky's first feature. The film will be released to theaters April 6.
Penelope Trailer:
Palansky's The Same: