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"LA Ink" reality star Kat Von D's partying ways have been catching up with her, and according to her MySpace page, she's decided to quit drinking. It's great, she says, not to be hung-over every morning, and to have more energy during the day. On the down side, hanging out in bars was her only way to spend time with friends... so now she's staying in and drawing more. Hey, that works. Click through to her MySpace page if you want to see the art she's been working on.
Sherri Shepherd of "The View" is still the most ignorant woman on TV. Her latest gaffe isn't as enormous as the rest, but it's still pretty stupid. (NY Post)
Kat Von D is a good tattoo artist, but "LA Ink" is revealing her to be terrible boss. It just goes to show you that you should never hire anyone who has tattoos, because they're totally irresponsible. (ONTD)
Christian from "Project Runway" is so arrogant I don't even know where to begin. He says the dress he made for tonight's challenge is incredibly good. Drop by TV With MeeVee later tonight and find out... in the meantime, here's a podcast interview. (Feast Of Fools)
Seems like the entire world is consumed by pregnancy rumors these days. The latest is "LA Ink" star Kat Von D, with ONTD posting this photo of Kat and her pooched-out belly. I don't believe it.
For one thing, it just looks like she's sticking her tummy out as a joke. More importantly,Kat's got to be up there in my personal list of celebrities who just aren't the child-having type.
Of course, I would have said the same thing about Nicole Richie, Lily Allen, and Jamie Lynn Spears, and they're all in the family way.
So, who knows?
There are two major television-related tattoo events happening in the next seven days. The first one, which we mentioned the other day, is Kat Von D's attempt for a world record at doing the most tattoos in 24 hours. She begins at noon Pacific time today and will be inking a specially designed (and Guiness book approved) 2x2-inch Los Angeles logo on anyone who shells out twenty bucks. No reservations: Just show up at High Voltage Tattoo any time today and be part of someone else's grab at fame with a cheap, ugly tattoo.
It'll be a story you can tell your grandkids: Back in aught-seven, your grandmother and I stood in line for four hours to pay good money for a bad tattoo from someone who was briefly famous! Twenty dollars was real money back then, you know.
Kat seems determined to return tattooing to the bad, bad-ass old days of cheap flash, drunk clients, and drunk artists. Mostly, her show "LA Ink," along with its siblings "London Ink" and "Miami Ink," has been a showcase for carefully thought-out, expensive custom work. So now Kat comes along with a contest designed to leave her exhausted and shaky and unlikely to do a good job on the hundredth version of the same thing? I guess I don't really see the appeal of holding a record for doing something which is basically unprofessional.
Maybe she wants people to see the fun of having a blurry memento of stupid crap you did on impulse.
Anyway, following that, on Tuesday the 18th, TLC will have a three-hour "Battle Of The Inks" special, featuring back-to-back episodes of "LA Ink," "London Ink," and "Miami Ink," and fans can vote on which one they like more at the TLC website.
Kat Von D is going for a Guinness world record for the most tattoos done in 24 hours, so if you've ever wanted a tattoo from her, now's the time to do it. She's charging only $20 each, so they're affordable. Of course, there's a catch: It's just the one design, and it's a 2x2 inch logo for the city of Los Angeles. Stop by the store starting at noon on December 14th if you want in. First come, first inked.
As you all know, Hollywood's writers are on strike. For the avid television watcher this is probably more stressful than a MLB fan during a baseball lockout. But just think of it this way people. It's like having summer in November (except for the fact that in most places T-shirts and shorts are out and you'll freeze your ass off at the beach!). Now you catch all your favorite reruns, just like in the summer. Stay strong and remember, writers are a neurotic and finicky bunch. They need the money way more than the TV execs do meaning the writers will only strike for so long.
This week Video Top 5 is saying forget the writers!! We'll just give praise to the shows where the hardworking, writing-less, reality shows create all the revenue. On Kid Nation, you can watch the little whiny bastards battle for the gold stars on the two-minute drill. Look at the many sides of Pixie on LA Ink. She makes us want to get a tramp stamp right now! Watch as a blood oath goes sour on I Love New York 2. You'll just have to check it out to find out what it's all about. View "Sneek Peeks" and "Diaries of the Departed" on The Bachelor. Such a nice euphemism, but we like to call these ladies the losers! Also, we have the Project Runway Memory Match game.
For our YouTube Clip of the Week, see which presidential hopeful is pulling a campaign "move" that's almost as reckless as Howard Dean's infamous "whoohoo"!! Doesn't he have campaign advisers so stuff like this doesn't happen on the campaign trail?!
Bastardly is thrilled (NSFW) to get a tiny glimpse of "LA Ink" star Kat Von D's crotch. This is from when she was getting that tattoo of Pixie's face on her outer thigh a few weeks ago:
Let me remind readers that it is unwise to drink while getting tattooed, because it makes you bleed more and your tattoo will end up blurry. Also, that's a TERRIBLE way to spring a fun surprise on a friend.
To be honest, it really irks me that Kat breaks all the reasonable people's tattooing rules like "never drink and ink" and "never get a lover's name tattooed on you" and "never get tattooed by Steve-O." Yeah, she's in the biz and knows what she's doing, but it's still a terrible example.
Today, a commenter on an earlier post about "LA Ink" wanted to know "How do I get a tattoo from Hannah Aitchison?" After all, a shop that busy probably has a long waiting list. In fact, High Voltage asks that customers not call them, because their phone lines are jammed constantly. So how do you get a tattoo from a tattoo star?
It's not entirely easy, but it comes down to "sign up online and wait for them to call you back." Hannah's personal website notes that she is booked completely solid and not taking any new clients right now, but that you can sign up for the waiting list. If you want to get inked in LA, use the online appointment request form for High Voltage, and if you want to visit her at Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago, use her personal waiting-list form. In both cases, you'll need to include a JPG of the art you want and notes about the tattoo you want to get as well as your contact info.
If you do get an appointment, it's seriously unlikely that you'll be on the show. Televised or not, your tattoo will not come cheap: Hannah and her sisters-in-ink now charge $200 per hour, with a minimum charge of $600.
Don't be discouraged, though. It might be hard to get an appointment with a tattoo artist from TV, but it's far easier to find someone equally talented who isn't swamped with fame. You might even have a better experience, since they won't be so busy and will be able to spend a little extra time on you. High Voltage has added some great new artists to their lineup, and Hannah Aitchison's non-televised co-workers at Deluxe are worthy of your consideration as well.
Kat Von D's new boyfriend is Alexander Orbison, who's the drummer for Whitestarr, the band on the VH1 show "The Rock Life." Yes, even across networks, reality show stars find each other. Here's a video from his band:
After dating for just a month, Kat and Alexander broke the cardinal rule of love and tattoos, and got their names tattooed on each other. Of course, Kat's got a whole leg devoted to impulsive stupid tattoos, and she's in the biz, so she gets to break all the rules. Still, it sounds like a mistake to me. Not just the tattoo, either: The boyfriend attached to it doesn't seem like a real winner, either. Just look at the lead singer of his band, Cisco Adler, who's famous for palling around naked with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Would you want your friends dating that guy's drummer?
Kat's impulsive tattooing and poor personal choices might be one of the reasons that, while I like her better than any of the dudes from "Miami Ink," I still like her co-workers at "LA Ink" better. Kim Saigh, for example. Read the BuddyTV article about her and tell me that you don't think she's got to be one of the smartest tattoo artists going.
Our favorite tat artist/TV star, Kat von D of "LA Ink" has got herself some new inkage, but it may have been a hasty decision. Dating a heavy metal drummer is a high-risk occupation anyway. Getting your names tattooed on each other after just a few weeks of togetherness seems downright foolish, in a Billy-Bob-and-Angelina kinda way. (TMZ.com)
Last week on "LA Ink," Kat Von D gave a tattoo to Anthrax rocker Scott Ian, and next week will further cement her reputation as the ink-slinger to the rock stars by tattooing My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero. Here's a clip:
If you could put one rock star on "LA Ink" and pick their tattoo, who would it be, and what tattoo would you have them get? I'm thinking Morrissey getting a portrait of himself would be hilarious.
Last night, on "LA Ink," Pixie got sick and needed to have her tonsils out. But she was pretty broke and didn't have health insurance, so everyone donated goodies and they held an auction.
I think my favorite part of the episode was Pixie completely misunderstanding the concept of insurance. Once she realizes she's going to need expensive surgery, she calls around to various insurance companies and tries to sign up with them. Obviously, they all reject her. She seems genuinely shocked that nobody wants to give her a four thousand dollar surgery in exchange for a hundred-dollar signup fee.
Duh, you don't sign up for fire insurance once your house is on fire, and you don't sign up for health insurance once you're sick. You get insurance before things go wrong. Pixie probably could have bought insurance if she'd thought ahead. Seems like she's got some nice furniture in her apartment (was that a Corbu chaise in the background?), she's definitely got a steady job, and she could probably make insurance payments if she cut back on clubbing one night a week. And, while a new small business like High Voltage Tattoo isn't likely to have a workplace plan, it seems strange that a collaboration with a corporate behemoth like TLC wouldn't include that benefit.
Lucky for Pixie, she's got friends who can raise four grand in one evening by throwing a party, and a boss that won't fire her for missing a week of work. For the rest of the uninsured, the options are stay healthy or lose everything. Thanks, TLC, for bringing the terrors of health insurance to the attention of reality TV watchers and tattoo fans.
Bonus: ONTD has a whole bunch of Kat Von D pictures.
OK, I may have been wrong about Kat Von D's romantic life in the past. Very wrong. But I swear, this is legit.
She's posted on her own blog that she's now dating a drummer from Malibu named Orbi.
Like her ex, Oliver Peck, he's got nasty hair and a funny mustache. Kat's sure got weird taste in men.
I still think she'd be better off dating Pixie.
A couple weeks ago, "LA Ink" fans saw Kat consider breast implants. Last night, Corey considered a vasectomy. There was only one brief mention of the similarities between tattoos and elective surgery, but I'm really glad they've brought the issue up.
Vasectomies, for example, are sometimes reversible, but only sometimes. Similarly, you can get a tattoo lasered off, but it doesn't work as well for some colors, it hurts, it's expensive, and it takes a long time. Breast implants can also be taken out (Pam Anderson, for example), but it's a big procedure and may require additional surgery afterwards, because the skin has stretched. In all cases, if you're not willing to have it be permanent, then you probably shouldn't get it.
One of the great things about this show is that it encourages people to take tattoos and other elective body modifications seriously. None of the customers on "LA Ink" (or "Miami Ink," for that matter) come in and say "I want a tattoo because I'm drunk!" None of them come in and get tattoos on a whim. Sure, people still get tattoos that don't have some kind of deep meaning, and some of those are still really good. A friend of mine, for example, has a great tattoo of a robot done for the sole reason that, as she says, "robots are freakin' awesome."
But that's not the kind of attitude they show on "LA Ink," and I'm glad for it. Even in today's world, where tattoos are widely acceptable, they're still seen as something irresponsible, ill-advised, or foolish. But the only person on the show who really gets impulsive tattoos is Kat, and it's not like having a lot of tattoos is going to hurt her career. Besides, she made the decision quite some time ago to honor her whims by reserving a whole leg for them. Let Steve-O do a tattoo on her thigh? Yeah, why not? So what if he can't draw, it'll be fun!
On a completely unrelated note, do you think Kat is now dating Pixie? They flirt all the time, and she just got a portrait of Pixie inked onto her hip. Are they just very good friends, or what?
Everybody loves to speculate about Kat Von D's romantic life, to the point that the Official Kat Von D Fan Club has a firm policy against it. No guessing! No insinuating! Well, that won't stop me, so here goes:
It seems that Kat Von D is divorced, or at least Wikipedia says she is. "LA Ink" hasn't mentioned any divorce, but they haven't mentioned anything at all about husband Oliver Peck, who was such a presence on "Miami Ink."
Now, her MySpace profile says she's "in a relationship," while his says he's "single." Has she moved on to someone new, or has she just not kept her MySpace profile up to date with her love life? It's even possible he just changed the profile as a prank, although I have to admit that I'd file for divorce if I was married to a dude who looked like that.
Then there's this: ONTD pointed out a recent post on Peck's MySpace blog that readers seem to think refers to her. It reads as follows:
3 SIMPLE STEPS ON HOW NOT TO BE A LYING CHEATING DRUGGIE
STEP 1... DON'T LIE
STEP 2... DON'T CHEAT
STEP 3... DON'T DO DRUGS
SIMPLE !
Anyone going through a divorce knows it's easy to say horrible things that can't be unsaid, and if that's about Kat it's a terribly cruel thing to say, and it could easily be attributed to breakup anger. On the other hand, he doesn't name any names. For all we know, he could be giving some frank advice to Lindsay Lohan. Still, there's the fact that Kat recently lost a bunch of weight, which suggests some kind of change in her life, for better or for worse.
I guess we'll find out the truth sooner or later. In the mean time, have fun guessing!
In last night's episode of "LA Ink," Kat Von D considered adjusting her body to fit her bathing suit, while Hannah Aitchison tattoos Jesse Metcalfe from "Desperate Housewives," and Kim Saigh has a client with a great story and a simple design. What does it all have in common?
In a word, boobs.
In more words, the whole episode (except for Corey Miller's segments) is about women's bodies, but not in any sort of coherent way.
"LA Ink" usually shows a lot of skin, but this episode in particular shows us more of Kat and Pixie than we've seen before. Seriously, I learned some new things about Pixie's pubic grooming habits. And when Kat discovers that her recent weight loss has shrunk her breasts, her best pal immediately suggests new ones. (Some friend, huh?) Kat asks the other co-workers their opinions. Hannah and Kim don't really approve, and Corey raises his eyebrows and looks embarrassed. That's about how I feel at this point.
Apparently, being on a TLC reality show doesn't get you any health insurance. Pixie, the "LA Ink" shop manager, needs emergency surgery, and the High Voltage tattoo gang is holding an auction to raise money for it.
Day-Old News has copied the MySpace bulletin for those of you who aren't already Kat's friends on MySpace. They're auctioning off tattoos, art prints, clothing, and even a gold tooth cap made for Kat by Miami's Dr. Bling.
That's happening tonight at 7:30 in the High Voltage Tattoo studio (where "LA Ink" is filmed). It's $40 to get in, but that includes an open bar for those over 21, and besides, everything goes to Pixie's surgery.
Wikipedia and TLC have a variety of fun trivia about Kat: Born in Mexico to Argentinian parents, she moved to the US when she was a child. She speaks Spanish. She's left-handed. She's been doing tattoos since she was 14. She loves heavy metal and Beethoven. She plays piano. She has a spare house in Dallas. She owns two hairless Sphynx cats (no, wait, it's three: Hollywood, Lebowski, and Ludwig).
Yeah, I'm getting on towards obsessed. But I'm not alone: Splash News says the first episode of "LA Ink" pulled in about 2.9 million viewers, making it the best debut for TLC since 2003, when "What Not To Wear" opened.
Pictures: Oh yes, you want to see pictures, don't you. You can find an awful lot of pictures of her in the gallery at her official fan club web page. My favorite photo there is the fan-club president's tattoo: it's not just a portrait by Kat, it's a portrait OF Kat. That's even better than the Shawn Barber oil painting. F-Listed has some pics they scanned from Maxim, where she poses as a pin-up girl. If you're not satisfied with looking at her online, you can always get a poster for your wall. Of course, there's an extensive portfolio of her tattoo work and additional photos of her over at Katvond.net.
Finally, after the jump, four "LA Ink" pics I haven't seen anywhere else. I don't think they're exclusive - we got them from TLC publicity - but I just haven't seen them elsewhere, so I thought I'd share.
Continue reading "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Kat Von D" »
The show is "LA Ink," but the business name is "High Voltage Tattoo," and yes, there really is a skate ramp in the studio. If you want to be on the show, it's not too late to send in your details to LA Ink casting - although you still have to pay for the ink.
In last night's premiere, Kat assembled her team and tussled with contractors, but we already know things turn out well, because the shop's open for business and very popular. The various team members are certainly enjoying the exposure as well: Kim Saigh is getting interviews about tattoo care, for example.
Will Ami James regret pushing Kat to the door? Maybe, but I doubt he'd ever admit it. Frankly, Kat seems much happier in Los Angeles than she did in Miami, and Ami's abrasive personality can't have been the only reason.
Tonight, Yahoo! Buzz has a chart about searches for info on the feud between Kat Von D. of "LA Ink" and Ami James of "Miami Ink."
My opinion: The argument will blow over, but the controversy will be good for both shows and both tattoo parlors.
My real opinion: Ami James is not the most talented artist on "Miami Ink" (that would be Kat Von D and Chris Garver) and he was also a terrible boss for everyone in the shop. The boys managed to ignore it, and Kat got pushed out because she wouldn't put up with his crap.
David Allen, a tattoo artist and blogger, has been getting a lot of questions about the upcoming series "LA Ink," starring Kat Von D. He's familiar with all the artists, and admires their work. He also talks a little about sexism in the tattoo world: most tattoo artists are men, and so women artists, even (especially?) on TV, are regarded as an anomaly.
Allen says he's glad to see some great tattoo artists on TV, but he probably won't be watching the show: it's too much like being at work.
