Icon meme

[raven]

Gacked from dougs, flickgc, gamesiplay or scarlatti.


How many icons do you have in regular rotation, for your livejournal posts or for other similar fannish activities?
I have ten icons, the limit for a paid user, and I do use them all, although I've been thinking of changing them recently.

How did you choose them?
Either they made me laugh - the stupid republicans and the Sam's thoughts ones did - or they were pretty, or they're associated with me in some way.

Do you associate different icons with different moods? Different fandoms? Different post topics? Something else altogether? Or do you just rotate them at random?
If I'm pissed off, the stupid republicans. If it's late at night, the "sleep" one. If the post is related to M*A*S*H, LotR, or Stargate - there's an icon for each. If I want to make a slashy statement, the "Pretty toys" one. Punk Rock Princess for when I'm happy. The default one is just a pretty one I use when I can't be bothered to actually pick one.

What are your icons images of?
There's one M*A*S*H one, that flashes between various slashy Hawk/Trap bits, then there's a simple "Stupid Republicans" one, another one with a picture of Sam Carter with her thoughts forming the animation, a rather nice picture of Nirvana with Kurt Cobain smiling(!) that someone made me, the "Pretty toys" one that is my current favourite, flashing between Frodo/Sam, Hawk/Trap and Louis/Lestat, the simple girl-with-roses default one, the one with screencaps from Punk Rock Princess, a pretty starry-red-pill one, an image of a galaxy of stars, and finally, a picture of Frodo and his ring, looking rather edible.

If you've chosen landscapes or inanimate objects to iconify, what, if anything, do they represent for you?
I guess the pills are inanimate objects. They represent my need for sleep.

If you've chosen text, what's the source? Is it something you're fannish about?
The Sam's thoughts one was made by geekgirlofdoom, and I love it. It is very fannish, but she made it up herself. The "Pretty boys... make pretty toys" one is just a phrase I liked, and the Stupid Republicans one is from LotR. It might be from the VSD but I'm not sure...
The words on the galaxy one are from an Enya song called Fallen Embers, which I don't like much, but I do like the icon.

If you've chosen images or manips of yourself, are they images that might enable a stranger to recognize you if she saw you on the street? As a corollary, do you post under a persona (fannish or otherwise) or under your real name?
No images of myself. Whenever I've done that in the past, I invariably don't use the icon. The default icon does look a bit like me, but I highly doubt anyone could recognise me from it. In fandom, I post under a persona - Raven - but anyone reading my journal will have picked up on my other nickname. I don't have a "real name."


If you've chosen actors/singers/media characters, are you iconizing the character or the actor, or do you regard that as a spurious distinction?
With the exception of Kurt Cobain, they are characters - Hawk, Trapper, Frodo, Sam (Gamgee), Sam (Carter) Louis and Lestat.

Do you identify with actor or character images in your icons? If so, do you identify more with images of actors, or images of fictional characters?
Fictional characters are always more fun! Seriously, I guess I don't really identify with them per se, but I do like Sam Carter's feminism as displayed in that icon!

If you identify with actor/character images in your icons, does it make a difference whether the actor/character in question shares your race or gender?
No difference at all. Unless I started using Lagaan icons again, I don't this would ever come up.

Do you have multiple fandoms? If so, do you have icons for each fandom?
I sort of have multiple fandoms. I do have icons for three of them - M*A*S*H, Stargate and LotR.

Do you make your own icons? If not, how do you get them?
I make some of them. I made the Pretty Toys one, and the M*A*S*H one, and the Punk Rock Princess one. geekgirlofdoom made the one with Sam's thoughts, and I think I took the rest from gothicons.


Do you notice "icon families," like the range of "Zen Fen" icons on livejournal these days? If so, do you have reactions to them? Do they make you feel included, excluded, or neither?
I'm echoing everyone else. Huh?

Do you think icons or icon families show fannish status? If so, how?
I don't really understand this, either.

Are there celebrated/popular icon-makers, as there are celebrated/popular fanwriters and vidders? If so, how is their popularity measured?
There are. A good deal of my darker icons come from engel_x, who really is a star.

Do you recognize friends or acquaintances by their icons? Do you associate certain images with certain people?
Oh, definitely. Anything involving Alyson Hannigan/Willow has to be purplerainbow, and anything Hawk/BJ is gamesiplay. Darren Hayes will be chanandlerbong, and Mulcahy will be scarlatti. Mulder/Scully tends to be snowdrop24, and the Eye of Ra is osiris13. Pin-up girls are flickgc, and no icon at all - that's niqaeli.

Do you use icons to comment on the state of your fandom or your fannish obsessions?
Sometimes. Not at the moment, though.

Anything else you want to mention about your iconage?
I wish there was an easy way to get to someone's icons page. Right now, going through the userinfo bugs me. captain_kruger has created a style with an easy link to userpics, but I don't have the know-how to do that. Also, I really wish you could choose your icon when replying to comments through email!
But those aren't comments about my iconage, are they? Nevermind.

This was pointless, this meme. But they all are.

Comments

[jessindistress.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, I'm replying here because you turned off the comments on your latest entry.

Please look after yourself. I don't know you really well, but I am aware that you're a cool person, and no matter WHAT the deal is with your Mum, you deserve to be happy for you. An if your heart's not in it, you're not going to wind up getting those initials after your name anyway. You have to be doing something you feel passionate about.

Unfortunately, parents often don't get this.

Can I offer one thing? It gets better once you're out of school, doing shit for yourself, working, or being a uni student or whatever. So much of what you said sounded like stuff I was saying at 15... I was thoroughly miserable and thought, "Great... this is it?" But trust me... it does get better. Really better.

((hugs))

Please look after yourself. You are seriously worth it, girl.

~Jess

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I could have said stuff here, but Jess just said it.

[scarlatti.livejournal.com]

What Jess and Douglas said. Seriously.

I let my parents discourage me from going to art school (you'll be poor... you'll never make it... it's so competitive... etc.). Financially, they had the final say, so instead I ended up getting a law degree I haven't used and am still paying for. I'm scared that you *will* be miserable if you end up studying medicine when it's not what you truly want to do with your life.

And, like Jess and Douglas and *all* your friends, I don't want you to be miserable.... It goes against every tenet of the KRHI. :)