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[rivendellrose]

Lots of interesting news stories today...

Another bright day for Cryptozoology... I hope they get the skeleton to someone good enough to figure out what it is. The picture looks like it's just a really weird dog. Still, interesting. Especially if there's weight to the claim that it attacked and killed a Rottweiler. Must be bigger than it looks.

Drippings beneath chocolate vat supposedly resemble Virgin Mary..." Personally, I thought it looked like a standing bird... Shows what I know, I guess.

And, last but not least, how was this guy not a major suspect in the Ramsey case from day one? Seriously, I feel squicky and ill just reading about him. Although the 'best' part of the story is still the "it was an accident" bit. Ugh. I'm as suspicious as anybody else about him randomly turning up out of nowhere with a confession (I mean, seriously, that's weird), but theories that he did it on hopes of getting extradited back to the US prison system seem fairly feasible. My biggest concern is all the people who are all "no, no, it couldn't be him." What part of his profile doesn't perfectly fit the kind of guy you really don't want around small children, people? Ah, delusion. I love how fecking clueless people are. :P

On the other hand, NPR quotes a number of sources as urging caution about the arrest and any possible conclusions. Nothing much of specific interest in that story... sounds more than anything like the Boulder Police trying to prevent a lynch mob, is my suspicion.

Update: Note to my Hotmail account: Please don't randomly throw things into my junk folder. Seriously, I have no idea how you are making these determinations, considering that obvious junk is getting into my inbox, while stuff from my own damned work account, or from my housemate, or otherwise obviously okay stuff, is getting into junk mail.

In other words, if you've sent something to me in the last few... in ever, and I haven't replied, I apologize. o_O Hotmail is dumb and evil.

Comments

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

That thing is definitely a bird.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yes! I mean... I kind of see the virgin thing, now, but... bird!

On the other hand, it seems like any irregular blob is either the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the devil, or, failing all of those, Elvis. :P

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

We have a Virgin Mary tree at one of the parks downtown, and every time I pass by, there are always ten old Catholic ladies and a hundred lit candles. I've never dared get close enough to form my own opinion.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Huh. I don't think we have anything like that around Seattle, but... I don't know. It's like Rorschak blots, or clouds, or the designs made in the branches of trees. If you want enough to see a particular thing, or if you're already predisposed to the idea of seeing that particular thing, that's what you'll see.

On the other hand, that from someone who has occasionally put herself in a trance-like state while stirring peas of all things... yeah. I'm maybe not the best judge...

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Hey, stirring peas can be a very spiritual experience!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I guess so? I think it's the swirling... and my tendency to space out if I look at a specific point for too long to begin with. Very weird, anyway.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Well, any repetitive thing that can be done with little to no higher thinking is pretty much just a bizarre type of meditation. I've felt similarly just by painting a room, for example.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Very true. I used to get it with doing calligraphy or embroidery, stuff like that. Although it was always dangerous with the calligraphy... usually ended with me skipping parts of words and having to either make a really creative fix or start the whole page over. :P

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was going to tell you -- I've started saving my layers file for my icons, so if you wanna know how to make any of them from here on out, just ask. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thank you! I hope it's not too much of a hassle for you, I'm just intrigued by how the light effects you use work. I've learned a lot from some of the tutorials on gimp_users, but I know there's a ton of possibilities I'm not aware of yet.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have, or even write a tutorial for a specific icon ... just let me know. Demand things of me. Anything you want to get out of the way first? :P

And remember, it wasn't all that long ago that I completely sucked ass at icon-making. It really doesn't take much to get better except someone who can explain things to you. Like curves! You'll love curves! That's where a good chunk of my coloring comes from.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I've been sloooowly getting the hang of curves - they're nifty, but it takes a while to figure out what area on the line does what, and all that. I've also been playing with using different colors in layers set to Multiply, Soft Light, etc, just trying to figure out what they do at different levels. One problem has been ambient light of a particular color (yellow is a big culprit on Firefly... the yellow shadows in this icon have been driving me nuts, but I can't seem to get rid of them).

So you've been doing overall coloring with curves? Hmm. I'd mostly been using them to fix light levels, but that's a really interesting thought... I'll have to play with that!

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Well, one way to help with those color-flooded caps is to duplicate your base and then desaturate it and set to screen/soft light/etc. Draws the color out of it a bit, so that you can replace it with other colors.

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=jayneaintagirl&keyword=tried%26true&filter=all
A bunch of tutorials that I've found helpful.

http://community.livejournal.com/paper_planes_/8243.html
A good coloring w/curves tutorial that works well on lighter caps

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, that makes sense - I've used that method to get a faded-out quality on things before, but it didn't occur to me to add richer tones back in.

Thanks for the tutorials, those'll be fun to play with! As you said in your second comment, they're a good starting point. I usually follow the instructions directly to see what they do, then mess around with the effects and other bits of the piece until I get something I really like.

Really I think what I'm lacking is practice. I need to spend more time on all of this, or I get lazy and what I know already slips out right along with any new things I might figure out on my own. Hopefully I'll have time to play at some point this weekend.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Of course, all tutorials require tweaking, since no two caps are created alike, and something that will work for one icon won't work for another, so it's just a matter of being able to see what will work on a cap before you start fiddling with it. Once you can do that, you'll be all set.

I'm very rarely able to follow a tutorial all the way through, but they're really more to show you different techniques. Try a couple of those in my memories, and pay close attention to each step -- what color was used, what layer setting, and what result was achieved.

/ramble

[scearley.livejournal.com]

My theory is that this guy was looking at jail time in Thailand, and realized just how much beter jail time in America would be, so he turned himself in. Whether or not he did it doesn't matter to him in those circumstances.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's the same theory I've been hearing from others, and it does definitely sound like a logical inference. I mean, the US prison system is pretty nice, compared to a lot of others...

[scearley.livejournal.com]

've been reconsidering. Already.

I can't believe I'm putting so much brain power in to this, really.

But the arguments that he didn't do it are based on people's memories of what the media reported. Not about what actually went down. 24 hour coverage of this story over the recent years has surely resulted in a lot of BS being floated by the media as truth.

I need to not care. Yeah a kid died, but it was 10 years ago, and LOTS of kids have died that nobody cares about.

The only good result of this would be to get rid of those kids beauty pageants. That's just a pedo dunk tank.

I'll shut up now.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on the desire to get rid of child beauty pageants - honestly, I'd love to see all beauty pageants gotten rid of, but I'm sure many people would say that's just because I sure as hell wouldn't win any. In any event, I think they're disturbing and degrading even for adults, and for children... so much more so. Yikes.

I have to admit a certain degree of fascination with true crime, though, fostered in large part by my psychology classes, where we read a lot of books about high profile cases and such. It's interesting, if disturbing, and I can't resist trying to wrap my brain around the events as they unravel.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

HIJACKING THREAD YAY.

I also think true crime's fascinating. I've always had this morbid obsession with it. When I took my psych class, I was the one who did the paper on serial killers (in a group of preppy high school kids. It was, um. Interesting.)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Have you read Mind Hunter? I can't remember the author's name at the moment, but it was an amazing book, if I remember right.

It's funny, really - I'm not sure whether our psych professor was just playing to her audience or what, but we had a lot of emphasis on true crime, especially when she could apply it to local stuff. Not exactly difficult in my area, I suppose... welcome to the stomping grounds of Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, etc. :P Creepiest thing reading about all those killers and realizing that I knew exactly what spots the cases were talking about. o_O

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

*gasp* No! *scribbles title down* :D

...Well, YEAH. The prof could've invited freaking Ann Rule in for a class and she could've been all "OMG HERE AND HERE AND HERE". If I remember right, Rule worked with Bundy?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yup, she was officemates with him. Which is a scary-ass thought, if you ask me - how about that, just getting to work one morning and finding out, lo and behold, the guy you chat with over coffee every day is a serial killer. o_O

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Dude. I know. I would freak the hell out, let me assure you.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

It's hard not to care, though. A kid died. I mean, yes, she was white-bread suburbanite American, so she got all the attention IN THE WORLD, but she was still an innocent little kid who got murdered brutally.

Although I agree with you on the beauty pageants.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Re: email. Would you like a gmail account? I love mine. The filter rocks my world, and I love the setup.

Also: wtf. It's so a bird. Stop saying that everything is Catholic/Christian symbolism or Elvis. ELVIS IS DEAD OKAY. *recently went on a rant about Elvis in K-Mart after seeing a beach towel, actually*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

That might not be a bad idea, honestly... much as I take perverse pride in maintaining the same email account that I've had as long as I've had email, hotmail is kind of obnoxious sometimes. If you don't mind, I'd love the invite.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who sees the bird. XD

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Email address is required then, dearheart! Y'know, considering I'm only a lowly LJ friend. :P

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Sent like a care package gets sent to college students.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

And I love my work account, because there was the notification, right ahead of the notification for this comment. :D

Thank you!

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Anytime!

You keep me amused by giving me the right amount of news, mixed with fandom and interesting stuff.

PLUS! You don't ignore me after my emo nights (see: last night). So it's appreciated!

Just so you know, I'll get your email address by default since I sent you that invite.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I amuse you. :D

Eee, I'm sorry you had a bad night - I'm usually not online much after I get home from work, so I haven't even seen the entry. *Hugs*

And I think I can live with you knowing my email. Shouldn't be too much of a trial. ;)

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Eh, it was basically "yay, let's have a drink to unwind, and then let's crash!" which was well and good, but then my best friend and coworker called to tell me about this stupid policy the boss put in place yesterday. Then I read an email that made me angsty, and I turned into the beginnings of an overemotional... thing. It was just timing more than anything. Alcohol + emotional overload = Not A Happy Nicki.

*hugs* I'm better today, though. The booze wore off, and the weird nightmare I had will be posted in a second for everyone to laugh at. Because it's seriously laughable, looking back at it, although I think maybe two people will understand why.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I know that feeling... once the alcohol sets in, it seems like the first thing that happens is that the universe conspires to bring up things one shouldn't think about while liquored. :P

Glad you're feeling better, in any case!