A-LIST BODY ART

The world needs sites like Vanishing Tattoo. What other forum would bring you pictures of tattooed Peruvian mummies found in mud-brick pyramids and a discussion of the stigma attached to tattoos in Japan on the same page? Far more interesting in this celebrity-driven age is which stars have got what tattoos and where. Wouldn’t you like to know on which part of her much-filmed body Dame Helen Mirren (below) has put a South American symbol that means “equal and opposite”? Thousands of celebrity tattoos are similarly cited in the site’s sprawling A to Z section, with all-important and often slightly risqué pictures attached. And perhaps you will feel all the better for knowing that Bill Murray had “DAVE” tattooed on his right bicep as a gag on the David Letterman show.

www.vanishingtattoo.com/celebrity_tattoos.htm

SPARE ANY CHANGE?

Where would the web be without its off-beat art projects? Nowhere, perhaps. So we can welcome another into the fold in the form of The 700 Hoboes Project. It began when John Hodgman listed 700 of the homeless who filled American freight trains and boxcars during the Depression in his book The Areas of My Expertise. The blog BoingBoing then suggested that 700 cartoonists volunteer to draw them. At the last count, the project had 194 members and 574 amusing, imaginative and downright brilliant illustrations, so there is still time for you to join up and make your own contribution. www.e-hobo.com

VODCAST OF THE WEEK

While Channel 4 has been taking on podcasting with typical professionalism and canny subject choices via 4radio, it hasn’t been doing nearly as well with internet- only vodcasting. Instead, it has been letting slightly unhinged people, such as the makers of Thisisaknife, pump out broadcasts under their aegis. Named after the Crocodile Dundee quote that inspired not one but two loving references in The Simpsons, this vodcast looks like a weekly summary of the last seven days’ internet news, but is actually a launch pad for surreal skits, many of which are in the Adam and Joe vein. http://tinyurl.co.uk/3nhb

BLOG OF THE WEEK

New York is a big city bristling with so much artistic activity that the guiding hand of such distinguished fellows as Terry Teachout is a must. The acclaimed music biographer and Wall Street Journal drama critic blogs about the cultural life of the metropolis, as well as general arts subjects, and always keeps it simple and to the point. His weekly “So you want to see a show?” update is especially useful for visitors. Posts with just a quote — for instance, “a schedule broken at will becomes a mere procession of vagary” — make a refreshing change from arts- inclined bloggers who write reams of uninspired rubbish. www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight