Avatars: Why did you choose yours?

reply to post by kevinunknown



Oliver the Ape that almost looks human

Originally posted by reeferman

Originally posted by LightFantastic

I have had the wife and collegues asking if I am on a forum with children because of some them.

um.. Why do they think your lurking on a kids site? Do certain people need to be notified when you move? /Bazinga

Anyways.. I made mine in Photoshop..

Lol, thanks for casting aspersions. What they actually said was a bit more derogatory than simply 'children' but I didn't want to upset anyone. I just laugh along with them. We Brits are known for Michael extraction.

ATS contains a really wide range of knowledgable people. I learn something new every day.

My avatar is basically me in a huddy, no explanation why but i thought it was kind of a moment in time

Peace.

Originally posted by SmokeJaguar67
You wife sounds funny though, please send her my regards

I have learned to channel this errant psychological behaviour down at the local gymnasium, so every cloud has a silver lining as far as I see it and it thus allows me to train hard and actually zone out and become one with another place in my mind.

The wife is a Scot - I think the humour is genetic

One of my friends has done the same after Iraq and some pretty nasty PTSD.

Contributing for posterity. Included is a picture relevant to the discussion at hand.

I make a point of choosing clothes devoid of any advertising, brand names, images etc. I just dont get why people choose to advertise for others using themselves as the medium. So an avatar choice for me is a two-fold thing. Firstly, I choose to only use images I have created. My avatar is a star-trail photo I took myself from my backyard. Secondly, it makes it easier to find my posts.

Originally posted by Qumulys
I make a point of choosing clothes devoid of any advertising, brand names, images etc. I just dont get why people choose to advertise for others using themselves as the medium.

I must agree. I am short and pudgy and amplify my less than ideal physique by wearing a big Nike swish or $100.00 logo sneakers. Like somehow that is going to make me fat yet hip. It is hard to find shirts I like without some big honking logo. Polo, Hilfiger, Addidas et al.

I like your Avatar and background story. I usually just pluck mine off the web. Another testament to my laziness.

[edit on 24-6-2010 by kinda kurious]

I love cartoons, especially The Simpsons! I chose (the need) to have an avatar to take advantage of the fact to tell all I like The Simpsons and to show off my art. It is kind of like a accent to my screen name too. Since I like to draw, It is drawn and colored by me. It is me simpsonized and the art conveys that I dress in hip-hop style with flat billed hats, baggy t-shirts, and pants that have a sporty flare. I like to use my own art and drawings as avatars across many different sites, but here the avatar does not say or convey anything about my duties of "denying ignorance" heheh!

Maybe for fun, I'll whip up a "deny ignorance" logo'd avatar in the future. I.E.: Put the ATS logo with "Deny ignorance" graphic on my shirt!

Peace!

i took the photo myself, and i like it.
thats all.

He he!

I adjusted mine slightly with the help of this thread;

www.abovetopsecret.com...

My flag is an appeal to heaven flag.

When my neighbors in our trailer park have exhausted all courses to seek justice on my behalf, all that can be done remains an appeal to heaven.

en.wikipedia.org...

The Pine Tree Flag was one of the flags used during the American Revolution. The flag, featuring a pine tree flag with the motto "An Appeal to God," or, more usually, "An Appeal to Heaven." was used originally by a squadron of six cruisers commissioned under George Washington's authority as commander in chief of the Continental Army in October 1775. It was also used by Massachusetts' state navy vessels in addition to privateers sailing from Massachusetts.[1]

The Massachusetts General Court established the flag of the state navy on July 26, 1776: "that the Colours be a white Flag, with a green Pine Tree, and an Inscription, "Appeal to Heaven.'"

The phrase "Appeal to Heaven" is used multiple times by John Locke in his work, Two Treatises of Government. The phrase connotes that after all other alternatives of seeking justice have been exhausted, only an "appeal to heaven" remains:

“What is my Remedy against a Robber, that so broke into my House? Appeal to the Law for Justice. But perhaps Justice is denied, or I am crippled and cannot stir, robbed and have not the means to do it. If God has taken away all means of seeking remedy, there is nothing left but patience. But my Son, when able, may seek the Relief of the Law, which I am denied: He or his Son may renew his Appeal, till he recover his Right. But the Conquered, or their Children, have no Court, no Arbitrator on Earth to appeal to. Then they may appeal, as Jephtha did, to Heaven, and repeat their Appeal, till they have recovered the native Right of their Ancestors, which was to have such a Legislative over them, as the Majority should approve, and freely acquiesce in.”[2]

I have always liked avatars. I suppose they just make a forum look more interesting, aesthetically; they give you a break from the text. Plus, some of them are just fun.

Anyways, mine is William James. He was a late 19th, early 20th century psychologist and philosopher. He founded the USA's first experimental psychology lab, at Harvard. Why did I pick a pic of him? Well, one, he just looks cool! Two, I'm a big fan of his philosophy; I'm a pragmatist, a rare breed among anglophone academic philosophers today.

Oh, and speaking of philosophers, I'm a big fan of John Locke as well, though more for his epistemological works (e.g. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding) than his political ones.

reply to post by loveguy


[edit on 24-6-2010 by FrostyPhilosopher]

Sometimes my avatar represents an experience important to me, sometimes my avatar is something dear to me, and sometimes my avatar is simply an interesting photo I've taken. I change avatars frequently.

en.wikipedia.org...

It's an icon on one of my favorite shows.

The Laughing Man logo was designed by Paul Nicholson, a designer for the UK-based fashion house, Terratag.[3] Nicholson was asked to read a short story by J.D. Salinger, The Laughing Man, and to base the logo on that. The story centers around a boys' after school organization called the Commanche Club. The Commanche Club's Chief often brings the boys to Central Park for baseball games, and these games are the source of the baseball cap featured in the logo. The text given to Nicholson by Production I.G. read: "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes". The phrase is an excerpt from The Catcher in the Rye, also by Salinger. In the book the text continues to read: "That way I wouldn't have to have any goddamn stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life". Nicholson said of the latter, "At first this text made no sense but now, having seen the whole series, I can understand the relevance to the character.

If my charming demeanor and non-hostile rhetoric isn't evident to you, it mostly has to do with my attitude towards peoples inability to think and their complacency in being stupid.

Ghost in the Shell is a great series for anyone interested...well if you're on ATS, you'll likely like the series. Conspiracies, cyber punk, lots of symbolism, philosophical discussion, political discussions; it's a great anime movie series and television series.

I just love to show of my gorgeous red hair and beard!

It's ALL NATURAL...

And my nametag is nice too

Well mine states my what I have experienced in life to be true. I'm not very good at making avatars and this was my best work, so....

Okay, since y'all inspired me to, vie updated my avatar! After a loons selection process, there was a runner-up that came a very close second, this one picked me!

I love the symbol of the wolf. It's a she-wolf in my avatar, haha! And, to me she symbolizes what's still wild, free, and powerful in the world. She's also nocturnal, at least in my avatar, like me. I also picture her to be a searcher, like I am for the truths in the world. So, she fits me well.

In my banner, although its very small is a picture of the Pleiades star cluster. Since I was a child, and didn't even know it's name, I've been drawn to it. I used to point up at the cluster and tell my dad "Those are my stars!" Then, later upon finding out heir name, and significance, they grew even more special to me.

As for the quote, Its a take on the quote "It's always darkest before the dawn" In mine though it means when it gets really bad, yeah, it can get worse. But, I found a cool page in which to make banners, so I'll be changing my quote often. I favor Dorothy
Parker's, Einstein, and Wilde's quotes, so you may see some of those!

Oh, and the color for the background, and for the banner is "one" lighter than the darkest black on the hexadecimal color chart. I forgot to tell you that I was being clever there! Lol



Thanks for spurring a little blast of creativity in me!

xxxx
Prax

[edit on 25-6-2010 by Praxilla]

reply to post by SpectreDC


I've only seen one of the "Ghost in the Shell" movies, I'll have to look up the rest.

I loved "The Catcher in the Rye", its one of my favorite books, and I'll pull it out to re-read it every now and then.

That's cool what your avatar means, vie always wanted to ask you about it!

xxxx
Prax

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


I love your new avatar, what does this one symbolize? The one you had just previous was very pretty, it was one of you.

This one would look really cool if you made it an animated pic, with the clouds becoming brighter, and also the heart. I was thinking of trying to do that with my new one, and see if I could get the stars to twinkle.

xxxx
Prax

reply to post by Praxilla


Well chosen Your new avatar is beautiful.
I am also always looking up to the sky. Most often toward Orion.

Mine is the patch of the submarine I served on during the Cold War. USS Stonewall Jackson. The motto is "Strength....Mobility"....something I live by in my daily life.