omg chi it's like you're PSYCHIC.

[cimorene]

because this is a totally different story but it does the exact same thing with music. i just know that SOMEWHERE out there is a calm, reasoned paragraph about how duncan or methos has enjoyed the evolution of the backstreet boys, or evanescence.

Searching through the ample collection, he stopped on a Nick Cave album. It had been years since he'd last heard Cave; possibly since the time he'd seen Wender's Wings of Desire. Now that wasn't a bad film at all. The image of the singer made him smile. Did the man have a Messiah complex or something? The title intrigued him. Let Love In.here

okay, well, late queen isn't all THAT different from evanescence; it's just consciously, not unconsciously cheesy. with better lyrics. oh queen. ♥ there is ... uh... not THAT much evanescence on my highlander playlist. okay, maybe there is. shut up.

but i really liked that story, a lot. watch me! i'm reccing it. see?

adagio amidst the ashes, by illuferret; d/m, nc-17, post-series. a leisurely, lovely, very peaceful novella from duncan's point of view--my personal favourite mood and flavour in a story, sun-drenched and contemplative, slow and confident and inevitable. solidly, deftly written with some few small weak spots. never overly mushy: incredibly tasteful.

Comments

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i don't say that it isn't bland, just that that wasn't the significant feature i was seeking to highlight. the lack of a focal point probably contributes to the blandness, but they're not mutually inclusive.

i think i'd change millenium. i just like the "hair" there so much. although i might make both the words a bit smaller, if they were both going to be large. otherwise, i'd make only one noticeably larger than the rest of the text, probably.

does "wrote the book" have a pretentious texture? i have failed to detect one, as yet.

[morningfine]

It has a fine-grain texture brush on 25% opacity. If it didn't, it'd look like this:


I actually opened the .psd file to check and get you a copy without the pretentious texture. Although when I say 'pretentious', I mean more like what some of my older icons have. This one is tame. I only used the brush to get it blurrier and lighter, not to add actual texture.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

there are so many ways to blur and lighten. it's odd that that effect's classified with the textures.

...i don't really use brushes.

[morningfine]

Well, if we look at the known effects on that icon... there's background copy on 100% screen, then there's the usual lighten and brighten and a dark blue fill set on exclusion. A gradient fill in orange-yellow. A curves adjustment layer. A hue/saturation layer I used to lessen the saturation in reds and yellows. Then the brush and the text plus the text effects. And the border. I've probably forgotten something (like, usually I do some airbrush work somewhere), because naturally I merge down as I go, but it still had 8 layers when I saved the final version.

Not that all this work necessarily shows in the end product. But I have fun while tweaking. Because I'm insane.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

i only do that sort of thing with the intent of acheiving a specific effect--like, usually, MORE contrast. but i think we both are crazy by normal standards. ;)