"Whatever! You're an animal, goodbye," the 'Toos trills at husband Ari after he says he thinks charging for celeb babypix is a perfectly OK practice. "I promise you we are not that hard up for cash!" she tells the camera.

[Huffington Post]

Consistency is the hobgoblin of Atoosa's small mind, however: "Chic boxes would be a great add-on to their wonderful offerings," she later says of Amazon.com's packaging. That didn't stop her from buying her husband a Kindle, however. One Kindle has been sold!

But the holiday season isn't just about buying friends and family completely useless luxuries wrapped in gaudy packaging from sites with some sort of "green component." "Drumroll please. ... The U.N. Refugee Agency is where I did 90% of my 'shopping.' As an immigrant, I realize how lucky I am to be in the United States and to be writing a column about 'luxury online shopping.' Giving this as my main gift is a way of showing my gratitude." Showing and showing and showing, yes.

The first incidence of the term "Alpha Kitty" we could find appeared in a 2000 article in the Cleveland Scene about Judas Priest singer Rob Halford's sexual orientation. Mentioned in passing was an upcoming show at the Beachland Ballroom where the bands "Lesbianmaker, Satan's Satellites, King Nixon, and Alpha Kitty" were to perform.

Hmm. No insight there.

The next usage of the phrase occurred in Life magazine in a 2005 review of a touring production of 'Little Women: The Musical.' "Jo (Kate Fisher) is the alpha kitty of the four Civil War-era sisters." Ah, like an "alpha dog," but female. Ok.

Atoosa's own first use of the phrase can be found in Jon Fine's BusinessWeek article from February 5th of this year, 'Say Hello To The Alpha Kitty." In it, we were introduced to the concept of Atoosa's "tribe": "This tribe is 13 to 30, female, thoroughly digital, and, in Rubenstein's view, lacking an 'alpha kitty' addressing their concerns and sensibility." This was also the article where she discussed launching "Psychic Kitty." a series of videos featuring her cat Thurston "spouting, in Rubenstein's electronically processed voice, brief inspirational tidbits."

Yikes.

Not everyone seems to have agreed with Jon Fine that Atoosa's ideas were "so bent as to be half-brilliant," and in her next assessment of what it means to be an AK, she was more measured. "Alpha kitties are girls that are powerful, but they're also fun, and they want to be cute, and they don't feel like in order to be powerful you have to be super serious," she told FishbowlNY at the Sassy book party.

For the real scoop on what it means to be an AK, though, we eventually had to turn to Atoosa's always enlightening MySpace blog.

I'm an Alpha Kitty: brave, intuitive, fierce, passionate and...well, yes, weird. Weird is the new normal, haven't you heard? After all, who wants to be cookie-cutter, anyway? B-O-R-I-N-G. "Le freak c'ést chic" is our motto in the world of Alpha Kitty. We are a celebration of being different...of being individuals...of self expression. To that point, we love fashion—but Alpha Kitties don't wear muzzles. (Not even when they're made of diamonds—that's so 20th century, dahling.) Alpha Kitties must be heard.