They were TINY. 100x100 pixels. That’s, like, digital scrimshaw. And people were obsessed with making good ones - and there were CONTESTS, super cutthroat ones, and trends would sweep the icon-making world every week or so and as soon as you mastered a technique it would be passé, and there were whole communities dedicated to tutorials and icon-making resources, and it was all its own WEIRD LITTLE WORLD.
Is there anything like that now? What do graphics-obsessed people make in the Tumblr era?
If there is one thing I miss about LJ it’s the shadow-conversations people used to have in comment threads solely with their icons. Icons had a vocabulary, and a grammar, and you had to learn it.
Gif sets: not quite used the same way.
Right! It was a whole different dynamic because you could choose which icon to post with. So it would be like “I’m wearing my Severus Snape with a Weird Al song quote mask to say this.”
FLASHBACK MAAAAAN.
For a year or two I had a paid LJ account and I remember being actively excited about the EXTRA ICON SLOTS. I would be able to express myself with a wider array of Thor and Batman reaction images!
a friend and i once had a conversation that went to, iirc, something like 6 pages of comments, just the two of us, only with out icons
100x100 pixels wasn’t scrimshaw on the monitors we were using. It was a totally reasonable percentage of screen space in the resolutions we had at the time.
Icons were your mood indicator, emoticon and gif rolled into one. I actually miss having multiple icons to choose from.
Speaking of… I think we’re missing an opportunity to discuss the CUSTOM MOOD ART. Especially the ones that used tiny screencaps or gifs for each mood. It took a looooot of ingenuity to make some of those moods fit a scene.
Like, shit, how do I find a picture of Agent Skully looking “quixotic.”
And then after all that work, nobody ever seems more than 10% of them because how often do you feel “exanimate” instead of just “tired” or lazy” really?
Hot take: LJ icons served a similar whisperspace function as tag commentary does on Tumblr.
highways in Massachusetts do this really cool thing where a lane will just abruptly disappear at inopportune times (right after highway entry ramps, in roundabouts, etc). half the time the sign warning you of this is placed basically where the lane ends anyways and the other half there just isnt a sign at all. there’s a part of my commute where the road goes from three lanes to one in 500 feet with no signs
this is what happens when you let horses from the 1800s do all of your city planning
god, kelly square is a fucking nightmare i swear everytime i go through it everyone decides to purposely ram into your car
one time i was driving through kelley square and someone fucking reversed at me. it is truly a godless patch of asphalt
I love watching Americans get angry about roads with more than two options
I don’t think you understand the horror that is Kelly Square, but I’d love to see a worse intersection if you know one
I think the most solid advice I was given about Kelly Square is “you just go if you don’t go that’s when you die”.
Massachusetts doesn’t believe in visibility, adequate lane width, or any form of predictability in roads. Five way intersections with no lights or clear right of way with bonus one of the spokes is at some absurd angle and is hiding behind a hedge - yeah that’s pretty average and thanks I hate it. You just drive and hope it all works out for the best, teeth grit and eyes steely as they gaze into traffic hell. Also they have a problem and that problem is their love of circles one after the other with traffic lights in the middle. What the fuck my dudes.
listen once you’ve been through it several dozen times you just gotta trust your gut instincts and take no shit from anyone else trying to muscle their way in
RURAL Massachusetts roads are just fine and have great visibility in all parts of the year without Enormous Piles of Snow, the rest of us can’t take responsibility for your decision to live in Worcester.
