“Hey, who does your ink?” Check out these animal hand tattoos by Héctor Serrano for some kid-friendly fun. Fab stocking stuffer. [A+R Store]

For anyone who has ever been freaked out by the idea of getting a tattoo, here’s a new invention that will really make you squirm: the Digital Tattoo, an implant which sits beneath a layer of your skin and shows up as a tattoo-like electronic interface. Here’s where things get really weird—this gadget can work as a phone or computer. So, yes, you could literally press a button on your skin and answer a call. Or, explains Geekologie, it can just look like a “traditional tattoo by downloading a picture of a unicorn from the internet.” Whaaaa??? What’s more is that it is powered by your very own blood. That can’t be good for you.

Is this for real? It seems like something out of a science-fiction movie, and we can’t quite wrap our heads around it. [Gizmodo via Geekologie]

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I have two mildly unfortunate tattoos. Annika just got a new tat, bringing her grand total to eight pieces of ink. The reasons for our ink could not be more different—I got mine when I was young and stupid and I totally regret them. If I could, I would go back in time and scream at myself, “Amelia, you are not Chinese! What’s with the characters?!” But Annika, on the other hand, is totally passionate about her body art and is very choosy and thoughtful in deciding what she wants to get inked on her body. Still, there are assumptions made by everyone—bosses, parents, and, yes, men—about women with tattoos. To find out what those assumptions are, I went to the guys on my IM.

“People bring in pics of Pam Anderson[‘s tattoo of] barbed wire, but I like to encourage individuality.”

—Kat Von D of “L.A. Ink” will talk you out of making poor life choices. Too bad she wasn’t around when Megan Fox got her Marilyn Monroe tattoo! [Fox News]

Pete Wentz got drunk last night, made a “gentleman’s bet” with his friend Gabriel Saporta (of Cobra Starship), lost, and then paid up, in the form of a TATTOO OF SAPORTA’S FACE on his arm leg. [DListed]

There are few things men complain about when ogling George Clooney‘s Italian girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, in a photo spread on Maxim.com. But what would life be without complainers? Several people posted comments saying Elisabetta, or Eli, as she is sometimes called, ruined the beautiful landscape of her body with tattoos. One commenter put it this way: “Tattoos can turn the most beautiful woman from ‘classy’ to ‘trashy.’” So what do you think on the subject? Would Elisabetta, and women in general, be prettier without the tattoos? Let us know in the comments.

In “Blood Script,” Washington, D.C. artist Mary Coble had 75 hateful epithets “tattooed” onto her body. No ink was involved, so the words looked as if they were written in blood. The ornate lettering Coble chose was intended to create “a dichotomy between the beautiful visual form of the words and the ugly meanings they convey semantically.” As the artist bled, pieces of paper were spread over each word, “printing” its mirror image in blood. The selected words were taken from a previous performance in which Coble invited viewers to write hateful words they had heard or used onto her body. The words include anti-female lingo: “bitch,” “slut,” and “c***.” [Mary Coble]

Marisa at Needles and Sins, who we interviewed yesterday, has a terrific post on the most horrid of Halloween costumes: bad tattoos. If this Lydia the Tattooed Lady getup doesn’t disturb you, perhaps this Tattooed Dog costume will. “[W]hat’s really bugging me here [isn’t] that companies are making a buck mocking our art,” says Marisa. “What it comes down to is this: the tattoos in these costumes suck.” Check out more bad tattoo costumes at NeedlesandSins.com.

There isn’t a lot Marisa Kakoulas hasn’t done. She’s a lawyer. She runs Needles and Sins, a popular blog focusing on tattoos and tattoo culture. She’s a journalist who’s written for Glamour, Salon, and Bust. Most recently, she’s published a book: Black Tattoo Art: Modern Expressions of the Tribal, a monumental exploration of black art tattooing from around the world, ranging from avant-garde “art brut” to neo-primitive inkings. I interviewed Marisa about her tattoos, her life as a “painted lady,” and why she decided to dedicate herself to the art of tattoo.

In fashion, it’s all about the details—from the choice of buttons to the hemline—and designer Karl Lagerfeld is a master of the little things. While much of the talk about the Chanel spring 2010 show has been about the barnyard setting and Lily Allen‘s live performance, we noticed an interesting-yet-subtle element: Some of the models sported Chanel bracelet and garter temporary tattoos. Layered on their wrists and upper thighs, the fake tattoos resembled chic chains, rather than tacky tribal bands. Wanna try out a similar look for a few bucks? Pick up a few temporary inks from a 25-cent vending machine at the grocery store. Keep reading for closeups and online purveyors that sell similar faux ink.

This feather seems to be the perfect blend of Ed’s real-life rocker image and his dandy “Gossip Girl” alter ego, Chuck Bass. See the second, somewhat NSFW tat, after the jump. Hint: “She’s A Pinup!” [via Oh No They Didn’t!]

A Swedish nightclub refused entry to two women because they had visible tattoos. The Swing Inn, which has a policy of turning away people with tattoos, allowed the women to enter on different occasions over the past few years, one of the women said. But on this particular night, they were showing too much ink. “They told us that they don’t let in women with visible tattoos. But if we put on a sweater it would be alright,” Jessica Brotherton said. Here’s what the club manager, Gabrielle Holst, had to say: “We want to have a well-groomed clientele with neat clothing. We think that tattoos look distasteful.” Whoa! I guess the Swing Inn doesn’t cater to celebrities because most of them have at least one tattoo. Rihanna would surely have a difficult time trying to hide all her tattoos. This story brings to mind the debate we had a couple of weeks ago: Are Tattoos On Women (Gasp!) Trashy? Some tattoos are and some aren’t, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to shame anyone for their tattoo. [UPI.com via Fashion Indie]

Indian dude Guinness Rishi is a perfect example of how not all goals are good ones. This guy, who had his first name changed to honor the Guinness Book of World Records, has decided to get a tattoo on his body of every flag of every country in the world in order to get his name in the book again. That’s 220 flag tattoos in all, and he’s starting the tattoos on his forehead. They’ll wrap around his head after that. And any flags that don’t fit on there will go, well, everywhere else. Including his peen. If Obsessive Record Breaking were a disorder, Rishi would have it. He’s broken four other records—including “World’s Oldest Adoptee,” “World’s Tallest Sugar Cube,” stuffed straws in his mouth to attain “Most Straws to Fit in a Person’s Mouth,” and guzzled a bottle of ketchup. All because ... who knows? I’d like to add “World’s Most Bored Man” to the list. Seriously, get a life. [Telegraph UK via Needles and Sins]

Kat Von D has launched a concealer with Sephora that promises to hide tattoos, imperfections, and dark circles. “If you wanna hide a tattoo just for one day, the proper concealer can make that happen!” says Kat. “No one has to see what you don’t want them to see!” She advises concealing your tattoos when going on job interviews, meeting your SO’s parents for the first time, and attending weddings. But if your skin is darker than, say Halle Berry‘s, you’ve got to find something else to cover your tattoos. The Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer only comes in light, medium, and tan—shades that sound as if they’re appropriate for everyone, but take a look, and you’ll see that they would only blend properly if you have light skin.

I heard that mixing clown makeup with your own foundation was the best way to completely cover a tattoo because clown makeup is thicker than most foundation. I’ve never tried it because I don’t believe in covering my tattoos. [Makeup artists often recommend Smart Cover, too; it works pretty well and comes in more shades.—Editor]

Katy Perry visited East Side Tattoo in the East Village late last night to get “Josh Grobin” (um, it’s “Groban,” Katy…) tattooed on her right breast. Thankfully, it’s only temporary. [NYC, 7/28/09]

Aubree O’Day is the latest celebrity to get a crappy tattoo in a dumb place on her body—she posted these photos on her Twitter which show her getting “Je ne sais quoi” inked on her middle finger. That means “I know not what” in French. I know not what to say about this other than WHATevs.

Tributes galore have popped up in honor of Michael Jackson since the pop icon’s passing. They’ve run the gamut from celebrity tweets to musical tributes and even full on dance performances by Madonna and Beyonce. But none are more wacky, tacky or umm…permanent than tattoos. And plenty of them. At first celebs like rapper, The Game and British reality TV star Jodie Marsh rushed to get MJ’s face inked on their body. Now floods of everyday fans are getting in on the tat action, too. We guess love is pain. But the question is, would you really want Jacko’s face on your body? I mean, seriously? [Buzzfeed