Sporting a newly shorn look and a “ridiculous” tattoo on his left wrist, Ryan Gosling lands at LAX airport on Thursday afternoon.

Ryan, 26, was accompanied at the airport by two friends — one male, one female. He hailed a cab and left the airport with his guitar and luggage.

Care to know about Ryan’s “ridiculous” tattoo? Here’s an excerpt from a recent interview Ryan gave UK’s Guardian newspaper:

At one point, glancing at his hand, I see what I think must be a fading ink stamp, and ask if he was at a club the night before. “Oh no,” he laughs, “that’s a homemade tattoo”. He has many, apparently, all of them “ridiculous”. “A tattoo should never be meaningful,” he explains, “because at a certain point you’re going to hate it, and it might as well make you laugh.”

And there you have it. Go out and get meaningless tattoos to make yourself laugh! Ha ha ha ha!

Here’s some great never-before-seen footage of Hollywood stars thanking the U.S. troops serving in Iraq right now. Leo DiCaprio winks at one of the female officers and Ryan Gosling high-fives her!

Stars thanking troops include: Will Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Ryan Gosling, Peter Sarsgaard, Clint Eastwood, and Robert Downey Jr.

Watch the Army Newswatch video clip below! Thanks, Allie!

Pictured with his mother, Donna, and sister, Mandi. On the red carpet, with his arms wrapped around his two women, Ryan said, “I wanted to do it Snoop style.”

Ryan Gosling arrives at the Independent Spirit Awards with his mother, Donna, and sister, Mandi. (They’ll also be accompanying him to the Oscars on Sunday.) Ryan, 26, picked up the award for best actor for Half Nelson.

Check out these great portraits from theNew York Times, their “photographic portfolio of the actors and actresses who defined excellence in the past year.” Celebrities featured include:

Christian Bale, The Prestige

Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

Ken Watanabe, Letters form Iwo Jima

Cate Blanchett, Babel & Notes on a Scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed & Blood Diamond

Brad Pitt, Babel

Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal

Annette Benning, Running with Scissors

Vin Diesel, Find Me Guilty

Eddie Murphy, Norbit

Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth

Maggie Cheung, Clean

Peter O’Toole, Venus

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Abbie Cornish, Somersault

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep

Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine

Penelope Cruz, Volver

You can check out the rest of the New York Times portraits here.