[Gizmodo] We’ve written previously about some gent who got a BlackBerry tattoo in exchange for one of the then-new Storm devices, which, hey—the economy’s in the shitter, so you do what you’ve gotta do to get your gadgets, I guess. Well, today my friend Adam over at Gizmodo checked in with a similar story (via PreCentral) of a man so desperate for a free Palm Pre that he got it tattooed on his shoulder. Success!

This isn’t some guy who’s covered in tattoos already, either. This is Lou’s very first and only tattoo, a bit ugly Palm Pre right on his shoulder. He will get his precious smartphone courtesy of PreCentral.net, but you’ve gotta wonder how long it’ll be before he starts trying to get a different website to pay for the laser removal. I mean, for chrissakes, the free phone is only worth $199! Come on, Lou, you could have gotten so much more for an equally embarrassing tattoo if you only knew how to market yourself.

Frucci makes a valid point. I’d be willing to bet a GM logo covering your back would net you an entire fleet of Pontiac vehicles that were otherwise destined to be melted down and used for, I don’t know, soup cans? Segways? Whatever.

[National Ledger] Megan Fox and her tattoos have found their way onto here before, and because she is in the news every day, several times a day, talking about all the WILD and CRAZY and REBELLIOUS stuff she constantly does (did you know she is a bisexual cage-fighting lion-taming astronaut? It’s probably true!), well, let’s just check in with her latest tattoo-related news, just because:

he sexy Transformers star already has seven tattoos – including one of movie icon Marilyn Monroe on her right arm.

Fox said: “I’m going to sleeve my arm.” Fox has previously told how she doesn’t care what other people think of her tattoos – and even threatened to quit Hollywood if they cost her a movie role. She said: “Every time I get a tattoo, it’s a little f***-you to anyone who tells me not to. I like the way getting a tattoo feels.”

I have to say, I’m a fan of the idea of one of the most popular young actors with a full sleeve, and getting it ostensibly because she really loves tattoos (as manufactured as much of her personality may very well be.) She then goes on to lie about going to work at Costco if she ever lost a movie role because of her tattoos, which, hey, that’s sweet.

[ABC Local] And hey, let’s finish up with a legitimately positive and heartwarming story. Chicago’s got a problem with gangs as bad as anywhere, and even once gang members try to get on with their lives, their tattoos may lead people to believe they’re still immersed in that sort of violent culture. Well, Eric Dean Spruth of South Side Tattoos in Chicago is the director of a program called Sacred Transformations, which will cover-up and modify any former gang member’s gang tattoos, free of charge.

“We allow people to empower themselves through identifying a new mark, a new horizon in their life, something they can be proud of,” said Spruth.

[…]

For [Luis] Corral, the new tattoos mean a new chance at life.

“Now I can go anywhere I want, and not worry about, hey, if I die today, it ain’t because of my tattoos, you know what I’m saying, it ain’t because I got gang tattoos on me,” said Corral.

Great stuff. Check out the video below.