IT'S A TRAP

purplejamish picked these ones:

BFF, OTP, MFEO, [acronyms!]
Oh PhilandSteve! I adore this photo beyond all reason. They both look so overwhelmingly happy and you can just tell they don't care about anything beyond My Best Friend Is Here, Look At Him. Phil is a goof and Steve is just hanging all over him and they ADORE EACH OTHER, YOU CANNOT DENY THEIR LOVE. *tinhat* I use this icon for all kinds of things - when I am being a giant doofus, which is often, or when I am feeling especially BFF-ish.


Brothers in rock.
Two of my very favourite people in the whole world, together and delighted about it. (Gee, could there be a theme here?) Joe and Bri have a mutual admiration thing that defies description. Thus, the opportunities to talk about Def Leppard and Queen together are more numerous than the casual observer might suspect. And plus, look at them, they're so HAPPY. <3


Hey, did you rock 'n' roll?
Just in case anyone doubts me when I say Joe, pushing 50, is still hot. I edited the fuck out of this screencap because it seems like every Lep fan has one (it's like the Phil/Steve kiss, for similar HOW DO YOU NOT-type reasons), so it's tweaked colour-wise. I love his eyes and the way his hands are so artlessly folded around the mic. I think it looks like he's telling a secret.


It ain't love without teeth.
Jeph and Quinn! I have an animated .gif of this, I can't remember what it's from, but the two of them are all huggy and Quinn just leans in and bites Jeph. Jeph is one of those people with ridiculously stretchy skin, so Quinn gets a striking amount. It's weird, it wouldn't be tender except for the looks on their faces. Jeph's glowing. And as a confirmed love-biter myself, I understand Quinn's side of the equation. Again, it's like the Phil/Steve up there - it's a moment that just illustrates how deep their friendship goes. I use it on my friends when I'm being playful but I mean what I'm saying anyway. Real love? Sometimes does have teeth.


It's a quarter rest, but take a whole.
Perttu and his cello. An incredibly striking original - one tired heavy metal cellist, in his blonde days, slumped over - dizzy? exhausted? waiting for the pickup? Who knows. All I know is I needed an icon for those days when I feel as tired as he looks, when it doesn't matter what I'm in the middle of, I just have to stop. And of course, for the non-musicians, I should add that the white character is a pun - it's a rest. (A quarter rest, one full beat of silence in a standard meter.) I used a quarter rest because I liked the wisp-of-smoke shape of it, like a visible sigh of exhaustion, and it looked pretty on top of the cello.

nomaidenfair wanted these ones:

When the sun shines, we'll shine together.
PhilandSteve. This picture is another one of my tinhat-polishing ones. I didn't like the text placement but I've just fixed it. I don't think I've ever even heard Rihanna's "Umbrella", but I knew enough of the lyrics to think of it as soon as I saw the pic, and googled them and really thought they were perfect.


Everyone loves a good medical drama...
Jon and Ryan. I don't know how or when a children's book found its way onto the Panic bus, or why Ryan decided to stage a dramatic reading, but the idea of him and his monotone voice reading ANYTHING out loud is funny. Also, Jon looks so rapt. And I love the "my fandom" visual irony jokes, when done right.


Happiness doesn't grow on trees...
Often when I write a big serial fic, I'll make an icon specifically to use when I post it. Sometimes I can adopt one I already have, but in this case, I needed one for Silver Roses, my Cinderella-AU Panic fic. So I made this one. It's also harmlessly pretty, and sometimes I need an icon that carries no subtext beyond "hey look, a flower".


It starts eyes closed and fingers crossed.
William Beckett is impossibly pretty. And I have a huge thing for pretty mouths, and an even huger thing for pretty hands - hands are actually a dealbreaker in whether I can take my lust for someone to the stage of actually wanting to take them to bed. It's horrid and shallow but it's totally true. I think it comes from having been a string player and thus utterly fixated on taking care of my hands and paying attention to other people's. So, two biggest physical attractions, one very pretty icon, one word. Simple. :D


Headfirst into the flames.
Jeph, during his ridiculous-coloured hair phase. I'm not totally a fan of the blaze, but in this shot it looked amazing against his blue hoodie, so I amped the orange way up. The words are actually misheard lyrics from The Used's "Take It Away" - I don't even remember what the right ones are, isn't that sad? It was more meaningful the way I heard it, so I kept it. The Used are one of those bands that give me this exact feeling - I don't want to watch as someone self-destructs, but somehow they make it attractive. I don't like to think I could be lured into admiring or emulating it. But they do make it look so pretty.

prettyflamingo asked about these:

Quiet dark places.
Joe. This is out of the promo shots that they did for the Adrenalize liner notes. Joe has such a striking, classic profile, and this lighting makes the most of it. He looks very introspective - it's good on him. I use it either as an introspective but not necessarily depressed icon, or a "hey look, Joe's gorgeous!" icon. :D


When you get down here, you're already on your knees.
Steve. Cameras don't lie, and Ross Halfin's lies less than most; I had a hard time with his giant archive sometimes because there were so many pictures of Steve, and so many of them showed the exact same thing - a look in his eyes that's all too familiar to me. Not exactly fear, but worry, all the time, and as the years went on it wore into him. This picture struck me because although you can still see the wearmarks on his face, he's quiet - there's nothing to worry about right at that moment, and he can just focus on the guitar, and block out everything else. Also, the colour composition is gorgeous, with the brightness of his shirt and the dark background offsetting the rich gold of his hair and the rosy pinks of his mouth and skin. He looks healthy, at least, if not necessarily happy. It's a good icon for when I am slightly depressed, or talking about him being depressed.


Come on, people.
HE'S ALL ALOOOOOOOOONE. Poor ickle lost Sav, haha. "Where is the audience? There was meant to be one, I'd swear I saw them here just a minute ago." Yes, I know what's going on, I know he does this all the time, it's ridiculous and it's cute and it's silly and it needed a silly caption. Also good for when I want to know if people agree with me. :D


Don Juan - er, José.
Joe the charmer. I should hope nobody's going to try to argue with me when I say that he really is quite charming - more than charming enough for me to want a flirtatious, fun icon for all the times I talk about that. I boosted the colours on the original like crazy, to make it vivid and a little bit tropical and very much alive.


The only label that always fits is "beautiful".
Phil, illustrating why I have gender issues. :D I love him in drag - I have the hugest and most ridiculously bulletproof kink for guys in drag, and Phil is really, really beautiful like that. There's a whole post behind this icon - explaining why I fell so hard, so fast, for Phil, and how it has a lot to do with how few hangups he has about his own sexuality - but for now, I'm just going to say that given the opportunity, I would kneel and kiss the toes of his high heels, I'm that grateful.

forevernew wants to know about these:

Baby's first icon.
Merry. I am pretty sure this was the first LJ icon I ever made. It was my default for a really long time. I made the font by hand, pixel by pixel in Paint; the icon was done in Paint too. How times have changed. :D I still get the giggles from it though.


Well, it is.
Mr. Stewart. One of my wiser friends once commented that every functional relationship should have a Jon Stewart clause. I subscribe to this notion. Not only is he really handsome in a dapper, old-fashioned way, he's a snappy dresser, and he's so CLEVER. If I ever actually met him I would probably trip over my tongue. :D


Not a happy camper.
Billy. I don't use this icon a lot - it is rare that I am reduced to abject rage, as I don't enjoy it, but it happens. I do really love the phrase "this is not good for my zen" - it's the sort of circumscription that I find funniest. "Fuck off" is too blunt, "you are making me angry" is too confrontational, but "this is not good for my zen" is exactly the kind of despairingly furious thing I would, and do, say.


Editrix at work.
A Very Useful Icon. I don't do as much pro editing or beta work as I used to, but there is no substitute for an icon that so succinctly says "I'm here to fix that busted clause you called about."


So many "Animal" puns, so little time.
Rick, being a Muppet. I should hope most if not all of you are familiar with Animal, the drummer for the Electric Mayhem? (Best band name EVER, by the way.) Animal has difficulty differentiating between "beat" and "eat", with predictably splintery results. When I saw this shot of Rick chomping on his 24" Paiste ride cymbal, I laughed for about an hour - there was nothing for it, he had to be iconed. Especially as they did, after all, have a GIANT HIT with a song called "Animal". (Though ironically, that was after this was taken... so he's psychic!)

harmyjo asked for these:

Fuckin' aye.
Billy. Or more accurately, his kilt. Because I flaunt my Scottish roots proudly and obviously, and also because dudes in kilts are Teh Sex. Trufax: I look up tartans for people all the time so I can imagine them in hereditarily correct kilts. I am such a tartan snob. :D


Certified cult member and Slave to the Bean.
I have in recent months forced myself to quit drinking coffee, as I was getting to such a high baseline that a double espresso didn't do anything anymore. That should tell you how hardcore I was. But I was a Sbux barista for a year, and still love the company - any current or former baristas out there should know what I mean by "cult", the new-employee cultural indoctrination is very impressive and I definitely dived in headfirst. If they'd been better about scheduling and hours, I'd probably still be working for them. They're good people and I never hesitate to recommend the job to those who aren't seriously overqualified (or even sometimes those who are).


Body as canvas.
Jeph. I think people like Jeph Howard exist so that people like me can live vicariously through them - I'd never ever get as many tats as he has, nor would I ever even think about getting most of the wacky designs he has, but I do love to look at them. He gets good artists and they do well with his ridiculous requests. And if you're going to have a tattoo-related icon, you might as well have a really striking one, I think. (Plus, I have to admire a man willing to tattoo "Choke Me" on his neck.)


And lunge, one two.
William. This was one where the pun, once thought of, demanded an icon, and La Beckett is really rather bendy and I have many pictures of him exploiting that talent, and I enjoy it, though I don't use the icon as often as I could.


No such thing as too many buttons.
Patrick. I am one of those people who collects tiny snarky buttons. I don't wear them more than one at a time, but during hat season there is always one to be found on my cap, so an icon for talking about acquiring more is fun to have. And the pic was so cute - the button says "be positive!" He's totally taking that to heart, look at that smile. *squishes him*

frikatilhi liked the look of these:

You don't want a translation.
Criss Angel and his kitty. There were a number of reasons this needed to exist: 1) Criss is really, really pretty. Or at least, he was at the time; he's gotten a bit greasy since then, but for a year or two he was just mouthwateringly good-looking. And yes, that is pretty much the entire reason for watching his show, Mindfreak, although I admit he is ridiculously good at taking magic tricks I know how to do just that one step further that leaves your jaw on the floor. So I needed a Criss icon. 2) KITTY! I am such a cat person, it would be unthinkable for me not to have at least one cat-related icon. 3) I am constantly in the habit of picking up languages, because they make awesome toys. 4) I wish I could speak Cat, but I think a lot of the time I wouldn't want to know what they were saying about me behind my back. :D


See Spot. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run.
The tag on the icon is the exact translation; the dog is the original Spot from the Fun With Dick And Jane primer series that achieved lasting notoriety by being inflicted upon hundreds of thousands of children in the days before Dr. Seuss. (In fact Seuss was a direct response to that, because they were SO BORING and he wanted to give kids something just as simple, but much more entertaining.) I made this to use when I am muddling my way through someone else's language, especially Finnish - I have no illusions, I'm really not beyond the level of "katso Pilkkua". :D


Look, but don't...
William Beckett. I love it when dudes onstage do things that I would gladly do for them, if given half a chance... stroking their own hips is a particular favourite.


Ass/bass/hands = OT3.
Dom, out of a production still from the Lost episode where we first meet Charlie's band. It pretty much IS the holy trinity of things I like best in a man - pretty hands, cute butt, and a shiny bass guitar. It's also really strikingly coloured - Lost has great colour values most of the time, I love a saturated palette. It's become... not exactly my default, but the closest thing to, since my default always changes to match my layout and I don't think I'll ever get tired of this icon. I often use it as an avatar.


Merry Christmas, in my own little ramshackle way.
The Charlie Brown Christmas tree! Complete with one red ball. Perhaps not as universal outside North America, but I think most kids raised here would know the cartoon it's from. Essentially, Charlie Brown is one of those kids who can't do anything right, and this is the Christmas tree he gets for the school pageant because it's the only one left on the lot. I do need a holiday-specific icon, and this is simple and visually inoffensive. I like it because I don't do much in the way of celebration, but I generally mean well. :D


Make me make you talk about yours! Or make me talk about some more of mine! Fun for the whole family.

Pip

Tags: meme me
how I feel: exhausted
what I hear: Clock - To Be Alive