NEEDLED TATTOO BLOG'S YEAR IN REVIEW

From Needled Tattoo Blog:

Let’s begin the wackiness with something dumber than my own silly give-aways: the Bacon Tattoo Contest.

Moving on, it was an ugly Christmas for one Florida inmate, as two others beat him and forcibly tattooed a penis on his back because he wouldn’t join their club. Will the “dick back” replace the indelible Kanji as the new prison tattoo chic?

Speaking of criminal tattoos, the Putin portrait on skin tops Russian holiday wishlists.

Back in the US, a mohawked, tattooed baby reported abducted topped the list of bizarre new items, especially when it was found the mom lied to lure back her ex. The tattoo was a fake as well.

Scarlet Johansson’s fake tattoo made the Huffington Post’s Top 8 Celebrity Tattoos of 2008. Arianna, let this Greek sister help you out here. Your guest bloggers never get tattoo topics right.

Not on that list is the hotness of David Beckham whose new Hebrew lettering by Louis Molloy had robo-wife showing emotion. Here’s a close-up of the tattoo.

In another tattoo snafu, the NY Examiner fashion editor says Ed Hardy must be “rolling in his grave” over the use of his designs for Audigier’s clothing line, but alas, Ed is alive, well and creating amazing art. In fact, his work is currently on view at the Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco until January 10th.

But many news outlets did cover artful tattooing right and righteously.

Temple Art Tattoo, shown in this NBC news video, which is bringing tattoo and fine art in their Hagerstown, MD studio was featured as trying to change the perception of tattoo studios towards the more highbrow.

Here’s another NBC video report – also quite positive — of The Inked Monkey in south Anchorage, where artists are booked months in advance and the Big Dipper from the Alaska State Flag is the more popular design — not the Sarah Palin portrait.

But tattoo stereotypes die hard as shown here: In Papillion, NE, Dr. Jack’s tattoo studio has to fight, not zoning laws, but public opinion.

Fighting repressive anti-tattoos laws, Freedom Tattoo worked to overturn an old Santa Cruz, CA law that required doctor supervision for anyone to get tattooed. They won, thanks to owner Geoff Well’s mom, civil rights attorney Kate Wells, and this week they opened up shop. Congrats!

Read the full article here.