[stmercy2020]

What does the ink look like on the arm of a 65 yr old woman?

Depends on a number of things (I'm going to pretend that you were asking a serious question and not just being hostile to an alternative viewpoint)- the quality of the work, how well the 65-year old woman has maintained her body, and what the tattoo actually was in the first place.  As with everything, you get what you pay for; if you get a jailhouse tatt, done with ballpoint pens and crude equipment, chances are it will (a) bleed like crazy and (b) scar and be pretty hideous no matter how old the person wearing it is.  On the other hand, a quality artist can make a tattoo that remains clean 10, 20 or even more years after the original art is done.

As for the issue of taking care of the body- well, if you let your body go to pot, it's really not going to make a difference if you wear a tribal tattoo, a butterfly, or just naked skin- it's still going to look like liver-spotted cottage cheese.  On the other hand, if you take care of yourself, your skin will retain enough of its elasticity to make the tattoo look reasonably clean.  And before you decide I'm talking from my butt, I'll point out that I've seen tattoos that looked like crap on girls and boys who were still in college and tattoos that still looked fine on men and women in their 60s and 70s- including the tattoo artist who did my ex's wheel-of-fortune card on her back.

The last issue of the triumvirate is simply what the tattoo is of.  This is where I think most people screw up- a tattoo of Taz (the most popular bit of flash when I was getting my tats) or of your boy/girlfriend's name is both trite and a really bad idea.  Especially in the case of getting a name put on your skin- it's rare for love to last forever anymore, despite what children all seem to think, and it's a stone cold b—h to get coverup work done because you're no longer with Biff or Buffy or whoever your flavor-of-the-month happens to be.  On the other hand, I have seen grandparents who got the names of their kids and grandparents tattooed onto themselves.  I never quite got the fascination with scribing names- it's not like you're ever going to need a reminder- but at least it's unlikely that they'll ever need to have them covered or lased off…

EDIT:  I would point out one other thing that most people have overlooked- tattoos look best if the skin they're on isn't subjected to a great deal of shrinking or expansion; bodybuilders skin tends to undergo quite a bit of stretching which can make the tattoo distort entirely out of proportion.  Most tattoos simply can't be designed to look attractive on an arm that is 13 inches one week, 17 inches the next week, and 15.5 inches even later; the skin gets stretch marks and the tattoo simply magnifies them.  That's a technical issue having to do with the nature of the artform, though, and really has nothing to do with how I feel about a well executed piece of body art.  Given the mutable nature of the bodybuilder's physique, though, henna might be a much more acceptable alternative for those that like the design but are concerned about the long-term appearance of their designs…

[stmercy2020]

The woman who did my tattoos made an interesting insight to me once- the difference between people with tattoos and people without tattoos is, largely, people with tattoos don't care if you have one or not.  Obviously that's kind of an oversimplification, but I'm inclined to think that it's really none of my business if a woman wants to put ink on their body.  Similarly, if they want piercings, that's cool too.  There are some kinds of ink and some kinds of piercing that don't thrill me, but they aren't going to distract me from what I do like- strong, independent, powerful women.

Unfortunately there's no way to realistically cover all the different shades of opinion on this issue- I could mention, for instance, that I tend to find those ear-piercings that are the size of a nickel and make the shape of the ear horribly distorted really hard to ignore- and they are kind of a turn-off for me- but most regular earrings- studs, loops, even big dangly things- are cool by me.  Same thing for most every other form of body modification.  As has been stated, a lot of it is really in how the woman carries it off.

[stmercy2020]

Then again, there's also what appears to be a beer mug in the background- whether it actually contains beer or not is debatable, but the whole collage of different items suggests college dorm or apartment to me…

[stmercy2020]

An alternative (although I quite like TC2's idea about getting a thrill out of seeing the transformation of other women, too) might be that she suffered some form of trauma that her powers were unable to fully protect her from; possibly she is drugged and assaulted; the drugs keep her from effectively using her powers and the assault leaves her feeling victimized.  Desiring to never be a victim again and wanting to save other women from the same fate, she goes about her plan the transform the female population.  Probably without fully considering the consequences…

[stmercy2020]

Tonus, me lad, you've hit the nail on the head.  DRM has had both good and bad points to it.  In general, I actually support it; I just wish there were some way to make it a bit more user friendly.  I've had similar problems with DRM because of upgrading my computer after a system crash.  When the system crashes, sometimes you lose all your DRM data.  Not the files themselves, which I keep on external hard drives, just the key that allows your computer to open them and play them.  The first time that happened to me, several years ago, I contacted the distributor (actually Awefilms, in this case) and they worked very graciously with me to get it all sorted out.  Since my most recent crash, I haven't even bothered.  Not because Awefilms' staff wouldn't help (in my experience, they've never been anything but professional and helpful); really just because it was such a royal pain in the keister.

Apple removing the DRM is a step towards making the material more accesible, but I'm not convinced it's a step in the right direction.  Better would be to get Microsoft to come up with a way for users to renew licenses when they lose their data or change devices…

[stmercy2020]

[LONG RESPONSE]
This is kind of a difficult topic to address because there are any number of reasons why participation has dropped.  Some of it is seasonal- if you look at trends, the FM community (if it really is a community) seems to be most active during the summer months and, at least a bit, right around New Years.  Why?  because a lot of the FM community draws from students- both in high school and university/college, and that's when students have the most time and the least stress.  Right now, we're about in the middle of the Spring semester, so naturally students are focusing on their academic work and some of their extracurricular interests may be taking a bit of a backseat.

Another factor may be the economy- sad as it is, a lot of people have been feeling the pinch.  It's hard to find the motivation to work on things when you're honestly more concerned about how you're going to keep your bosses happy and satisfied, how you're going to present yourself as a desirable employee or potential employee, or how you can keep from rocking the boat and making yourself seem expendable.  When you're spending so much time and energy just keeping yourself above water and trying to blend in, it may be a little difficult to break the cycle in relation to even just one aspect of your life.

And, yes, there are other factors too numerous to mention.  Doldrums, more exciting or newer prospects in other venues, loss of interest… the list goes on.

That said, it's also not really an excuse- or at least, not entirely.  One of the things that I think has hobbled us as a forum has been the trend towards consensus.  It's odd that I, in particular, should feel that way, especially given how much I dislike strife and discord, but there has been a marked shift towards the middle both when stating opinions and when responding to the odd right- and left- wingnut postitions that have come up.  For the record: yes, I do have political views.  No, they probably are not the same as yours, regardless of what yours are.  The same is true about religion and education and science.  Feeling unsafe in expressing (possibly dissenting) views may be another reason why people have tended to shy away from this forum.

Ironically, one of the things that might make us more active would not be to shift away from the center, but for the various wingnuts to be a little more open to the reality that people on the other side of the aisle (and even most people in the middle) are unlikely to be swayed particularly by impassioned zealotry and are more likely to give attention to DISpassionate argument.  Just a thought.

Also, it's not a wise idea, I think, to belittle, discourage or downplay the contributions of people who don't have the skills or time (or time to learn the skills) necessary to contribute in a graphic medium.  Yes, obviously, it would be nice if everyone could provide visual art.  Personally, I've already made some fledgling attempts at drawing (pencil & pen & paper stuff, very little amazonian at all, and really nothing noteworthy), and I can say from experience that it takes work and commitment.  That said, it takes at least as much time and effort and commitment to turn out a quality story (although the majority of FM consumers are unlikely to take the time to actually read through it,) and it's extremely rare to see more that a couple of comments of any sort on any given author's work lately, let alone constructive criticism.

Yes.  It would be nice if people could and would take the time to learn skills that could and would then be put to effective use within the Amaz0ns community.  At the same time, I think it's also worth mentioning and praising people who regularly contribute- even if it isn't through picture, video or even story.
[/LONG RESPONSE]

[stmercy2020]

…

…

Speaking of ending in tears, anybody read the latest at her blogspot, yet?

In addition to the bad news, there is a photo attached-

not my favorite, but hey- eye candy is eye-candy, no?

[stmercy2020]

Well, I'll probably have to put my two cents for Seldom's The Facility- I don't know what it is, exactly; maybe it's the love story intermixed with the insane violence?  I'm not normally a big fan of really gruesome violence, but I do appreciate it when it's well done, I guess.  I confess, I always wanted to see these stories drawn up by a talented artist (I always thought someone like Tigersan might do a nice job, but I got no problems with any of AC's stable of artists, either…)

[stmercy2020]

Begging forgiveness for the doublepost…

DCM pointed out to me that the link I'd been posting for Satsurou's original drawinf of Sylph is no longer active.  The link I usually use, over at dA (I just haven't updated it in the form I use for my blurb text) is: http://satsurou.deviantart.com/art/Sylph-fanart-EXTREME-muscle-63056683

[stmercy2020]

Not unless you want to, sir- but events in this story have lasting repercussions on future events that I have planned for Sylph.  Mind you, If you wanted the events in this story to be canon for the Tet-verse, I would be immensely flattered. 😀

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