Baaaa. Got this from , whom I solicited to ask me about a handful of my userpics. The meme text says:
If you comment here, I’ll choose five of your icons to ask you about. (Or, if you have fewer than five icons, I’ll just choose one.) Then you do might a post explaining the significance of those icons.

But you can also comment here if you just want to ask about another of my icons but don’t want to do the meme. I’ll add it to the list below.

I use this map of Belgium when mere expletives are inadequate. This is based entirely on part of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series.

This image is taken from Joe Versus The Volcano, where it appears in several different forms, most purely as the corporate logo of the soul-crushing company that Joe works for. It’s a symbol of struggle and (on the flipside) adaptation. I use it whenever I describe or refer to an onerous task, or to one of those unforseen problems that life drops in your path. But it’s not always epic in scale, it works just as well for trivial or tedious stuff too.

The chat acronym ROFLMAO always brought to mind Emperor Mao, and that famous solemn portrait of him. I don’t use this one very often, but when I do, it’s as a sarcastic kind of anti-laughter about something I don’t find funny, inspired by the juxtaposition of the colloquialism with his facial expression. I’ve never used it with a political message (e.g. “omg communism lol”) nor do I plan to in the future, but I’m forced to admit that it would also work in such a context. In fact, the ease with which this could be misunderstood makes me a bit hesitant even to use it as I do.

That’s me, in one of the very few photos of myself that I can stand. Unfortunately, I’m a bit tired of it at this point, but I don’t really have a better one to replace it. It was taken at my grandpa’s in, let’s see, it must’ve been the summer of ’02. I use this one for stuff about my person or my family, or other times when a real smile is called for.

Colin was always my favorite on Whose Line. Even more than the rest of them, he jumped into anything, completely fearless of looking silly no matter what it was. Everybody else had their rare moments when their dignity made them flinch, but I never once saw Colin have one of those. Anyway, I looked at his official website one day, and the puzzled look of this photo struck me. The quote, which is from The King and I, expresses the level of “WTF?” I’m shooting for, while also sneaking a bald joke in there. (I imagine Ryan would be proud of the effort, but tell me it’s far too subtle.)

6 thoughts on “Userpic meme

    • NARRATOR:
      In today’s modern Galaxy there is, of course, very little still held to be unspeakable. Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so distastefully explicit that were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and, in extreme cases, shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed, and totally unf [bleep!] ked-up personality. So, for instance, when in a recent national speech, the financial minister of the Royal World Estate of Qualvista actually dared to say that due to one thing and another, and the fact that no one had made any food for awhile and the king seemed to have died, and that most of the population had been on holiday now for over three years, the economy had now arrived at what he called, “One whole juju-flop situation,” everyone was so pleased he felt able to come out and say it, that they quite failed to notice that their five-thousand-year-old civilisation had just collapsed overnight. But though even words like “juju-flop,” “swut,” and “turlingdrome” are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one – where they don’t know what it means. That word is “Belgium” and it is only ever used by loose-tongued people like Zaphod Beeblebrox in situations of dire provocation. Such as…

      Scene 5. Int. Cave

      FORD:
      … and I’ll tell you another interesting thing.

      ZAPHOD:
      I don’t want to be interested! I don’t want to be stimulated or relaxed, or have my horizon’s broadened, I just want to be rescued Ford! I just want to be swodding-well rescued!

      FORD:
      Well I’m sorry, I’ve told you: no way.

      ZAPHOD:
      Oh, Belgium man, Belgium!

    • Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms in ¡Three Amigos! Watch the scene if you’re not familiar with it already. I was typing up a description but failed to do it justice. And now I really wanna watch the whole movie again.

      I use this icon when:

      • someone has missed the point rather badly (especially if it’s me)
      • I want to offer some comfort but feel ineffective at it
      • I want to emphasize the lack of some needed thing, or especially an inadequate substitute
      • I’m stepping innocently into some drama
      • I mention the Old West, since this my only userpic that’s even marginally related

      I’m not sure if you wanted me to choose any of yours to explain, but I find them pretty straightforward. The only question I would have is what makes “elsewhere” elsewhere?

      • yah, mine are pretty obvious. what’s sad, however, is the fact that while i know in my head that i use the elsewhere one for specific reasons, i had to go back and see what i’ve used it for in the past. apparently it’s hard to string together talky words for something that has pretty much always been thinky words in my brains.

        *shrug*

        what i’ve concluded is that i pretty much use that icon for situations where i feel a profound sense of “christ, let me be anywhere but here”ness. so, it’s used for some of my more hurt moments, my more busy moments, stuff like that. because it’s more often than not a situation where i’d like to be somewhere else, i use this icon a lot for posts in regard to work.

        hey, the logic stands.

        it’s “elsewhere” because that picture was taken at a different time of my life, during a quiet moment while on one of the few adventures i’ve ever taken. that moment will never come back and remembering it now, it’s like i’m watching someone else live it.