rosesmusings replied to your post: Art Tablet advice?

I use a Wacom Bamboo - they’re quite nice and not terribly expensive!

amiraelizabeth reblogged this from the-fox-bandit and added:

Wacom tablets are…best. If doing drawing invest in at least an intuous

Thanks, Amira & Kayley. Wacom does seem like the way to go.

Amira, I will be drawing.

How do the Bamboo/Intuous compare in terms of my “precision/dexterity” goal?

It sounds like the Intuous is better for that than the Bamboo?

I was wondering if any of the fine individuals on my flist — artists such as @queenofthecute, @wecansexy, @pheonee, etc., etc. (I apologize if I forgot you/you’re not in that list!) — had any advice on selecting an art tablet for my PC desktop.

(1) I do have photoshop & illustrator, for whatever that’s worth.

(2) My interest in the art tablet is obviously the dexterity offered by using a digital pen rather than having to use the mouse. That precise control, you know.

I just feel sort of overwhelmed with all the options out there, and ANY input you  guys might have would be deeply appreciated.

discoverynews:

Spectacular Aurorae Erupt Over Norway

Over the weekend, the Earth’s magnetic field was struck by a coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME — a vast bubble of solar plasma that had erupted from the sun on Jan. 19 — took longer than expected to travel through interplanetary space, but on Sunday it made contact.

keep reading

(via rosesmusings)

allcreatures:

A six-year-old chimpanzee named Joya got bored waiting for her turn to eat and vented her frustration by hurling rocks at her family. She was soon put in her place by an adult chimp, who confiscated the stones and forced her to sit down. British photographers Anup Shah and Fiona Rogers captured the scene in the Republic of Guinea. Picture: Shah Rogers Photography/solent

theworldwelivein:

Kiruna Aurora | Kiruna, Norrbotten, Sweden
© antonyspencer

For those who wonder why some of the aurora is blue and some of it is green, the blue is created by nitrogen and the green by oxygen.

(via anygoddamnedcolleen)

(via evewithanapple)

Katara becoming a Waterbending master.

(via meatandsarcasm)

Anonymous asked: avatar

…is awesome? One of my favorite shows stories of all time?

What are you trying to ask me, anon??

HARDISON!!!!11

liveblogging leverage apparently

This panel is really funny to me.

Katara has brought Aang out of the Avatar State many times before.

The only difference here? It almost looks like she wants to do it with kissing.

Oh, Aang. Never change.

Opinions and stuff!! I confess I knew pretty much nothing about the lore prior to Skyrim, but here are my current feelings on it.

MAJOR DISCLAIMER: Obviously your individual character will have whatever opinions, and it’s not like your character has to be from [insert name of homeland here]. But in general, I think if you RP your character according to the storyline of [insert name of homeland here], different interesting stories emerge in relation to Skyrim’s plot.

Redguards: Although Nord is the “expected default” race, I personally think the historical background of the Great War actually makes the Redguards the most interesting one to play in this context. Here’s why in a sentence: they got screwed over the most by the Thalmor and the Imperials. If you read in-game books detailing the war (in particular The Great War; see the epilogue especially), you’ll see that the Redguards lost the most and were perhaps the most upset at the treaty. The Redguards believed that the Empire could have pressed on and won (avenging their incredible losses, for one thing). They also believed that the treaty (which also screwed them over) was wholly unnecessary. Okay so, getting back to what I was saying. The Thalmor-Imperial storyline is really the driving meta plot behind everything (at least, everything that happens on a mortal scale), and I think there are a lot of RP/story seeds for siding with either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks or neither. The Great War is just a lot more personal for the Redguards of Hammerfell than just about any of the other homelands. Is your character bitter against the Imperials and the treaty, and wants to side with the Stormcloaks? Or is your character desperate to hold the Empire together against the Thalmor? The second reason (hahahaha all of that to say my first reason) why I think they’re the most interesting race to RP is that they have an “outside perspective” to the Stormcloak storyline. I just personally think that’s more interesting than playing as a Nord.

Nords: Playing as Nord would be close second I think. It’s pretty obvious why: Skyrim is their homeland, and the storyline is about the Nords! I… don’t have as much to say about this. IT’S JUST SO OBVIOUS. And there are Nords on both sides of the Civil War, so that works well, too. In general, by the way, I’m fascinated by how well Skyrim portrays this empire from the perspective of historical realism (sorry Dragon Age, Skyrim does it better). You can see the effects of many years of colonialism (imperialism) very clearly on Nord culture, to the point where they are essentially staging a revolt against the Empire in a very Imperial-cultural language. And of course, the Imperials govern their provinces in a similar way to the early Roman Empire (mostly hands-off with a few cultural centers like Solitude). Anyway, I digress. The main point is that playing as a Nord is an interesting if obvious choice?

Imperial: Also an obvious choice, I think. Playing as a “Roman” in the “Roman Empire?” NO WAI!? Now, ancient Rome had a whole lot of issues (let’s not pretend they were the “good guys” by any stretch of the imagination), but their very origin myths portrayed them as a mosaic of multiple races & cultures. So while the Roman Empire was culturally imperialistic about a lot of things (and they had a lot of other problems too), they also were generally less racist per se. And wow, I probably shouldn’t say that without unpacking what I really mean, buuuut that’s a long topic and let’s get back to Skyrim. So here’s what I was building up to: the Empire in this game is similar to the ancient real-world empire in that it’s generally a lot less racist than the Stormcloaks are (though let’s be real, that’s not really saying much). For example, the Stormcloaks are into segregation (see: Windhelm) and kicking non-Nords out; the Imperials are into freely mixing. I hate the fact that siding with an empire is better than siding with the rebels, but I just can’t stomach the Stormcloak racism. (But see, this is where Skyrim’s nuanced politics are as complicated as the real world). One consolation is that in terms of stopping the Thalmor’s long-term genocide of humanity, the Empire seems like the better choice (the Thalmor even consider Ulfric an asset); siding with the Stormcloaks seems inevitably like exchanging one empire for a more oppressive one in the end. Anyway, while an Imperial would generally side with the empire, maybe your character is an extraordinarily devout Talos-worshipper?

High Elves: I’m torn on this. I… actually made my first character a high elf for non-RP reasons because (1) I knew I wanted to play as a mage, and (2) I thought I basically HAD to be a high elf to be a super powerful mage. As in, I thought I’d be gimped in my gameplay by picking another race. Little did I realize that your race mostly doesn’t matter! Hahaha, my lightning spells cost no mana… why would I need high elf mana bonuses? Oh well. I make it work, sort of. Maybe I’m missing some headcanon story possibilities for my character, but I just don’t think playing as an Aldmeri is actually that interesting. I feel sort of out of place (you’d expect more high elf-specific reactions from people, I’d think, given the current political climate). (There are a few minor exceptions — try playing the Diplomatic Immunity quest as a High Elf wearing Hooded Thalmor Robes). At any rate, your Dragonborn Aldmeri isn’t one of the Thalmor, and that’s kind of interesting. And no matter which side you pick, history will remember you very differently because of your race. In summary: picking Aldmeri has a lot of potential (due to the heavy background influence of the Aldmeri on the storyline) but I find it jarring to see how little you are recognized as such by NPCs.

Dark Elves: Chances are that you’re a refugee from Morrowind (from the volcano and the Argonians) trying to eke out a living in Skyrim. That has huge potential, and the story of Windhelm (the segregation of Dark Elves into the Gray Quarter) should give you some RP ideas. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the Dark Elves you find throughout Skyrim have some of the most interesting background stories.

I was going to go through the rest of the races, but I’m going over to a friend’s house to watch a movie and I don’t really feel like finishing it tonight. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 later if there’s enough interest?

ninthcircleofhelia:

All together now!

Adventure Time/Community crossover extravaganza~~

(Shirley was super hard to get right. I just went with cake because none of the princesses or anything worked out :I)

Troy x Britta just got even better somehow.

(via anygoddamnedcolleen)

Okay, so I FINALLY, finally got around to watching Thor for the first time. I don’t see very many movies, okay?!?! I watched it with my dad tonight, basically on a whim.

(1) As chance would have it, I had spent most of the day reading about astronomy/astrophysics, etc. (including wormholes, hahaha). And was particularly moved by a piece on scientific CURIOSITY. So when the cosmic/wormhole storm blew up at the beginning and Jane’s first instinct was to drive into it, I like YELLED AT THE SCREEN, “YES!!!1 THAT’S HOW IT GETS DONE!!! SCIENCE!!!!” And then beamed eyehearts at Jane forever and ever. Jane, ILU. No joke, this may have actually… been my favorite moment in the entire movie. (And I feel really proud of my girls I taught last year who are continuing on in science.)

(2) This movie was even more gorgeous than I expected.

(3) Okay, fine, fine. My verdict on Loki/Sif? CANNOT UNSEE. (Also, HOT. They should secretly make out behind the throne and in the rainbow chamber thingy and in the bathroom of that Earth diner and in their bedrooms and wait this is getting out of control.). (It’s not really a secret, though, is it? Frigg totally knows. *Smirk* Yeah, Frigg, I saw that pat on the arm and that look you gave her.)

(4) I am going to be sad for like at least two days. :( :( I rarely get… like… depressed/in a weird mood from stories, but Loki did it for me. I’m gonna be in a weird, sad mood now for a little while. WHY DIDN’T YOU GUYS WARN ME ABOUT THIS? Oh wait, you did.

(5) Speaking of things you warned me about, y’all said Odin was the worst dad ever, but… DANG, I DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS BASICALLY THE MAIN VILLAIN?