Rate My Wife, Please

"Two mice looking over the shoulder of a chef cooking a pot of peas."

That's an interpretation from my wife from yesterday's blot.  You would think I would be 'gentle' or 'reserved' about this, but truth be told, I am a little scared.  She (like a lot people, apparently) did this and the others below at work.  No provocation, no request.  This isn't some cutesy thing we are doing together.  If I can't put her up for Redemption, then what's the point?

I did mean to ask her why her mice look like rams, and while I assume the star on the chef's hat is some idle decoration, hopefully she will explain that too.  Let's look at some more from her:

That there is a hawk, who is also a conductor.  A dual-baton-wielding hawk conductor in a spiffy tux.  She didn't include what musical piece he was dealing with at the time, but I imagine it was something along the lines of this right here.




A few of you that watched Episode 11 (where she already received some ratings) might be familiar with this.  Yes, it is a turkey on top of some lingerie-clad androgynous individual.

It's all about using the negative space.  And a proper baster. 

Original Blot

So, what do you say?  How would you rate her on The Scale?  Here is a quick refresher: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is "mild" and 5 is "mild with a 99% chance of intense psychosis," what would you give her?  There are many Redemption chapters to look at to get an idea of how the scoring goes, and let's just revisit D4 for his take on the Turkey Head:

D4, what a nice guy!  Has your opinion changed with the additional interpretations?

Don't be shy!  Rate away!  I'm sure this is perfectly fine and WILL NOT, I repeat, WILL NOT come back to bite me in the ass!

Don't Forget: Be a part of the charity experience!  Go and vote for the inkblot interpretation for Session 2!

Inkblot Of The Day (Friday)

I can't tell if I used this one before.  It's not in my Picassa album.  Anyway, things are chaotic today, but I am always interested in what you see here.

Don't forget to vote on the Session 2 inkblots (vote widget is one the right) and thanks for the $5, anonymous!

Open To Interpretation: Session 2

A tie?  ARGH!  For now anyway.  Remember, it's all cumulative.  I've added a new page for reference and score keeping:  Charity/Contest.  Not a very glamorous name I admit, but it also has the accepted list of charities that the winner can select from.  Feel free to suggest more.

That page will also be listing the donors and the contents of the gift bag, and the manner in which you can enter the drawing (May 4th).  Bookmark it.

We are pleased by the amount of votes from Session 1.  We hope you enjoy and continue to show that voting enthusiasm for Session 2:
(NSFW)

Man, that YouTube sure picks a funny frame to put in the preview.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Bets?  How do you feel about Jack making such a silly mistake?  I think he should burn himself with a cigar.

Let's get these blots up here:

Original Blot (for 2 of us, anyway)

Fail's Puppet Master

My Mad Max/Frank Bunny w/Sickles

Jack is just drawing on
any blot he can find.

Jack's CSI: Blue Man Group Muder Scene

Original Blot for Submitted
Art Highlight

Anonymous

Yeah, that guy again.  If you can tear your eyes away from it, please go and vote now for which inkblot you can see the most, or which one you can agree with the the most (for whatever reasons.)

Also, if you have ANY inkblot interpretations (pick one from The Collection) you would like to share with the blog, or if you have any questions, statements, or hate mail, just send it all to st.inkblots@gmail.com!

(Did you know there is now a Back To Top button on the bottom right of the page?  Outside the box, in a manner of speaking.)

Inkblot Interpretations With Legs

While some of us saw people dancing or insects mucking about in yesterday's inkblot, others seemed to be WORSHIPING SATAN.  Ok, maybe not, but Nadia's demon-skull summoning picture might possibly scare off some of the more religious blog readers.  You know who you are.  Awesome work as usual, Nadia.

Elsewhere on the Oekaki board, other anonymous folk were kind enough to post their interpretations.  Some thought I had a purpose.

"Looks like you've drawn a squatting humanoid on purpose.

Those eyes are not a co-inkydink."  

This man (woman?) demonstrates his active horse stance.

Not true!   It's random.  Just ask my cat.  It's pareidolia.  Hmm, 'Pareidolia' would make a mediocre name for a cat.  Probably just end up calling him Pare.  Anyway, thank you sir or madam for taking a little time out to share.

I strongly feel the next interpretation should speak for itself.

No?  Ok, I guess I'll paste the description that came with it:

it's mainly 2 monks trying to dismantle a monster made of only legs. They each have only 1 arm and the other are spirit arms. The top set of legs has thigh-highs on and the bottom set has tights.
By the top legs there are 2 sperm swimming to the finish line
on the bottom there is a panda guy with a parasite on its head

If you were not at a loss for words then I would love to hear what you thought it was before reading the text.  Thanks to this Anon as well, obviously.

So uh, yeah I don't have any new inkblots just yet.  Got wrapped up in other pareidolia-related stuff.  Speaking of wrapping up, let's look at the final score for LoneIslander:

I've been known to accept a tenth or two.  And get the hell away from my car.

Rounding up, we have him at 2.1, which is just below the starting line.  "Too bad," or "congratulations!"  are in order.  It all depends on your perspective I guess.  I promise to make sure I update the chart after the future Redemption of my lovely troll wife (if you are reading this, then you should know that THREE inkblots is the average for a good Redemption).

Click To Enlarge, Just Like All The Images

Don't forget to thank LoneIslander for sharing, even though he was just avoiding work when he drew his interpretations.

Inkblot Of The Day (Monday)

?

Just trying to tidy up on a few things.  I would like to film more LP, and I have been in a little Q&A with an anonymous contributor that I would like to share after we are finished.

We recorded Session 2 of (official title) Open To Interpretation, and I am getting the prizes together, and the ChipIn widget appears to be working now (can't thank The Angry Lurker enough for kickstarting it) but we would still like some charity suggestions if you have them!

If you have not yet done so, please go back a day and help with the Redemption of LoneIslander!

Total Redemption (Chapter Eight)

Not sure which one is the less impressive one.

I like LoneIslander, not just because he sends in his interpretations with a picture-in-a-picture of the original blot he selected, but because I think we have mothers cut from the same cloth.  Fortunately, that sense of brotherhood won't make it difficult for me to put him up for Redemption.  I doubt he will have any psychological hang-ups should we rate him on the Scale, but before going there, take a look at more from him:

Reminds me of something out of Labyrinth.

Quite a few Kirbys for this blot.

and from an earlier email:

Original Blot

"I don't know what it is, but it's what I saw.  Only angrier." - LoneIslander

So let him know how much you appreciate him sharing with us, and let him know how you REALLY feel by rating him on a scale of 1 to 5, where one equals "Crazy enough to email an inkblot interpretation to a stranger" and five equals "Crazy enough to email an inkblot interpretation to a stranger while standing naked in a sea of discarded flesh from my victims."

Don't be shy!  Let's get some numbers!  Will he join the "4+" crowd which isn't a crowd at all but simply a room with Colin B in it?  Or do you think this is all quite normal and don't see him ranking too high on the ol' Insanity scale?

Quick side note: I am waiting until PayPal verifies the account before I can accept donations.  Kudos to The Angry Lurker for his as-of-yet-unregistered donation!

Inkblots For Good

I forgot to add this yesterday.

EDIT: Until the PayPal account gets verified, the donations will not show up.  Hopefully in the next 24-48 hours!  Thanks to The Angry Lurker for breaking our donation cherry with his generosity!

My troll wife said that she thought my wording yesterday was confusing.  I am not paying for votes.  The donations are a completely separate affair that will require the passing of a philandering philanthropist or two.  I should also point out that I really don't expect a lot in the donation department.  I'm not trying to be an ass, just realistic.

Nevertheless, some charity somewhere is going to get at least $10 via PayPal from me on Friday the 13th.  When I say "me" I mean "the winner of the contest" which will obviously be "me" because I am the Master Of Sane Interpretations and I totally expect to win.  So if you would be so kind as to suggest some charities?  While the winner will have the final say, it would be nice to have a small list of user-suggested places.  Preferably somewhere with easy electronic transfer software such as the Network For Good.

So if you have not done so yet, please vote for the interpretation (in the widget on the bar on the right) that you can bring yourself to agree with the most:

Original Blot

Did you see Jack's samurai?

Or perhaps an image of a skill with horns?

Or are you batshit insane and see something
like General Failure's Mantis Man?

Ok, so I can't harp on this forever.  Two days in a row isn't bad.  I think.  For the record:

Tomorrow we Redeem LoneIslander and his multiple submissions.  Why not look at the Scale and prepare yourself to pass judgement on him?

Open To Interpretation: Session 1

Please vote in the widget on the right after you see the interpretations!

I am determined to have some sort of parallel video blog going on here, so we are trying yet another format out to see what works.  This time though, why not drag some charity kicking and screaming in to it?  In the form of a contest?  A psychological contest...OF THE MIND.

For the next several weeks, myself and several others will be drawing out our interpretations to different blots.  They will be posted, and you will vote each time ("Sessions") on the interpretation that you see/agree with the most (or at least as much as possible under the circumstances.)

The person with the most overall cumulative votes by May, Friday the 13th (o0o0!) will be declared the winner, and the winner will select which charity* the money goes to, and select which reader/viewer gets the prizes.  By "prizes" I mean "random stuff," but it will include a copy of the Inkblot Coffee Table Book, and the promise of the Inkblot Coffee Table Book V2.
*The charity has to be reputable and fairly well recognized.  Also, no donations for Scientology or Westboro Baptist Church or any pointless shit like that.

It's very bare bones.  You will see.  It will be split in two sections: Submitted Art Highlights and Contest Interpretations.  And it's all under 5 minutes, because we know your time is short.

I'm relying on any feedback you can give; no input is too small or inconsequential.  Once we put this through the wringer, after the first donation goes out, the next time will integrate (somehow) any submissions from the readers to pit our sanity against theirs.

So the ChipIn widget should be up, and I am not sure I can submit a donation from the same PayPal/email that is linked to the ChipIn widget, but I am going to put a tenner in there if we don't see anything in a few days.  Don't leave us hanging!  Every dollar counts!

Now get to voting, it's under the ChipIn donation widget on the right, and suggesting charities, and maybe sucker a friend in to watching and voting too.  And because we know that only the smallest segment of people are watching the video, here are the blots to vote for.  Remember, vote for the one that you can see/agree with the most:

Original Blot

Jack's Samurai

My Skull (well, not literally)

General Failure's...thing.

And the submitted art highlight by Anonymous (via Oekaki forum):

Add caption?  See video.

I hope we wasted your time!  Don't forget to control the Servants of Hell population and get your demons spayed or neutered.

Liquid Pareidolia

EDIT: If you are reading this before the new post today (Thursday), just disregard all the charity stuff for now.  Still setting things up before posting.  Thanks.

I may have slightly possibly scanned this improperly.

Working on some new ways of tickling your imagination.  Pareidolia is everywhere.  The ink does not always have to go on paper.

Thought it looked pretty cool.  In case you couldn't tell, that was something Nadia whipped up from that one frame, and I always steal music from Dalek.
So if I make a few of these and get a few artists to draw over a few frames, we could end up with some nice eyecandy.  Obviously I will keep you posted.

Quick Question:

WHAT COULD IT BE?

Loose Ends

It occurred to me that when asking you to go back and Redeem Colin B in one post, I linked to a random picture that should not be construed as the C. B. himself.  I'm not entirely sure anyone noticed.  It was just some bad Ctrl-V'ing on my part.

He didn't get too many people in on his Redemption, but we must move on.  He got several scores in the comments, one from someone I harassed in Gmail (3.8), one from the Skype faction (4.5) and I even braved a sea of stroked penile flesh on Omegle to get one measly score (3) before I became despondent in the face (lap?) of mounting masturbaters.

So we have our first 4 on the charts:

To top it off, he sent in a submission from yesterday's inkblot:

I detect a theme.

So, thanks Colin B.  You have reached Secret Nugget Illuminati Level.

We'll also be seeing Redemption for LoneIslander, Angry Vegetarian, my wife, D4, and the re-Redemption of Rats (he got riped!) and other assorted motley freaks.  Possibly not in that order, though.

Am I forgetting someone?  Did you send something in and I did not respond?  Was it before or after Redemption was in effect?  My organazational skills are only now coming in to play, so please let me know at st.inkblots@gmail.com if I missed your submission or if you have a new one.

QUICK RESPONSE:

Sorry man, you're screwed.  Try not to look at the family dog too much.  Or your relatives.  Or the mirror!

Inkblot Of The Day (Monday)

Purple: It's What Color Gods Are

I have too much fun with the titles to be confined to "Inkblot Of The Day" for five days a week.  The blots will be there, just not the title.

I should of just let that inkblot be, but I didn't.  Oh well, say hello to "aqua."  Personally, I see a lot more when confronted with some sort of contrast.  I have received comments indicating the opposite, however.  Let's see if this still makes a difference.

Better?  Or Worse?

Holy shit, I just had an epiphany: OVERLAYS

Freakin' inkblot overlays.  Mix and match.  Spin and uh...invert.  I'll get back to you on that idea.  Not sure of the application.

There is a WOODLOUSE in the house and discovering new signs of life from Friday's inkblot.  Some of you may be skeeved out.  Please let us know so we can get a chuckle out of it at your expense.  (It's a new species of water beetle.)

Make sure you check out her (his?) stuff.  I do so enjoy watching artists' evolution of work.

Also, one last attempt at getting some Redemption for Colin B.

Carpe Inkblot

Someone once pointed out to me that (and I am paraphrasing here) they visited the blog less because they felt I was all over the place, and they just wanted to look at an inkblot for a little bit.  I certainly won't deny the "all over the place" part.  And I did try keeping things on certain days.  Let me tell you my thought process.  I started with

-Many lines of pointless text deleted.-

Instead I will just paste in this line from an email:

It's like a little window in to someone's imagination when you have more than one (inkblot interpretation) for that person.

If I were to really hammer down a goal for this blog, it would be for it to become a haven of temporary distraction. Get in to work a little groggy?  Miss the bus?  Forget your lunch?
Late for school?  The probation officer's corpse is starting to smell?
Then perhaps a quick look in to the window of someone else's imagination can dislodge your focus on the mundane long enough for you to get in to a different mindset.  I know, pretty ambitious, right?

Anonymous
Click To Enlarge

I figure that I should have an Inkblot Of The Day for Monday through Friday, regardless of what else I am spewing on about that day, whether it is a video, or a request for captions (thanks for the last batch) or whatever.

I figure if I do them more, I will get more repeat interpretations.  

I will become a collector of imaginations.

Yes. That is what I am going to do.
I apologize for this massive dose of irony in leaving you with no new inkblots today, but at least there is this video that someone made with tons of their extraordinary tribal-esq inkblots in 2008:

Hensler style you say?  I guess I am just going to have to check that out.

I still need help with the Redemption of Colin B!