An Uxorial Portrait
Posted on October 27, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 35 Comments
As long as I’m showing off my mad Photoshop skillz, yo, here’s a portrait of my wife I made all arty and such. She really likes it, which is an important thing when one is posting a picture of one’s spouse: She thinks it captures a certain essence of her personality. I agree entirely; also, and in other news, damn, my wife is hot.
Actually, that’s an embarrassingly glib assessment. I think my wife is striking, which is to say she visually arresting in a certain way that transcends mere physical attractiveness. This is why among other things I continually find myself staring at my own wife for long periods of time, especially when she doesn’t know I’m looking. She’s just interesting to look at. I don’t suspect that will be any less the case as we go along in life. Yes, I’m lucky. She’s less lucky in this regard, but at the very least I am good for an amusing chuckle or two. She seems to think this is a fair trade, and I intend to let her keep thinking that for as long as possible.
I should note that for the full effect, you should look at it full size; right click the picture and either view image or download it.
Damn.
I think you captured the essence of her dark side as well as the bright side. I can recall that she was involved in some bar fight so it is balanced with the motherly side she has shown before.
I was going to say: Striking and capable of striking with great determination.
But what’s with the thing that looks like a piece of gum hanging off the bottom of her chin?
It’s so not fair to post a picture of your hot wife, who is a) like, married and b) could kick the crap out of ALL of us, simultaneously, if we looked at her funny.
You are a lucky man, John.
I second that luck man motion.
Two things:
1. Aaagh! Teh hawtness! My eyes!!
(Seriously, I mean, just to *confront* your readers with that first thing in the morning . . .)
2. “She seems to think this is a fair trade, and I intend to let her keep thinking that for as long as possible.”
I’m into year 14 of a similar snow job with my own lovely wife. (She, unfortunately, does not have a Photoshop-savvy husband.) So you and I share a goal there. More power to you.
That is a very lovely elegant looking woman there. That she is the same as the bat-wielding deliverer of respect is astonishing. Lovely.
I too hoodwinked a goddess into descending from on high to live with me in mortal splendor. People see us, find out her age and say how wonderful she looks. She then says, “This is how 4_ looks!”
The saem people turn to me, look me up and down and with some pity at my mortality say, “You Look good for 52.”
The sad thing is I am 37.
Uxorial.
You like them $10 words, don’t you?
You’re not the only one with a hot wife.
Clicky goodness:
Here.
Is she Greek? She certainly has that Mediterranean beauty my Greek wife has….
Mark:
She’s of Mexican, German and Native American ancestry.
You set a good example. I hope I’ll love my wife (whoever she’ll be) as much as you do yours.
Um, yes I too had to look up Uxorial. One day I’ll obtain a vocab.
Ooooo “uxorial”. Good word. I’m always on the look out for a cool new word.
Very nice picture of the wife, too. I would be extremely jealous except that I happened to luck into my own striking spouse (of mostly Nordic descent), so instead I’ll just say welcome to the I Married Way Above My Station club. We have the happiest membership of any club around.
Steve:
“I’ll just say welcome to the I Married Way Above My Station club.”
Welcome? Hell, I’ve been a member since 1995.
I am extremely grateful for having taken Latin in high school, as it allows me comprehension (at least approximately) of some of the nifty words that John uses. Not all, though… I’ve had to consult m-w.com plenty…
Also, incidentally, that shot gives Krissy shades of Morena Baccarin, don’t you think? And thus, wasn’t it “coincidental” that she was sitting only a couple of rows away from the two of you at the Campbell/Hugo ceremonies? Eh? Eh?
John:
Welcome? Hell, I’ve been a member since 1995.
Got ya by two years. Member since 1993. Though, yeah, I’m a little late on the “welcome.”
She’s gorgeous and that’s a lovely shot. Did you use the Sponge filter in Photoshop? Paint Daubs?
Brian:
“that shot gives Krissy shades of Morena Baccarin, don’t you think?”
If Krissy were several inches shorter, maybe. I’m not seeing much of a resemblance, myself, but then I’m used to Krissy looking like Krissy.
Mary:
Neither of those. Film grain (without any grain) overlaid with a Layer with the Watercolor filter, plus the use of the Impressionistic brush. Before all of that, I had also used a Gaussian Blur layer, from which I erased the eyes and lips to let the unblurred versions through.
Shes damn beautiful…. put her up as my screensaver.
I can do that, she’s my sister-in-law!!!
Yeah, she’s kind of cute.
Ah! I had thought Watercolor was involved at first, but the effect was too heavy-handed on its own. Thanks for the guide.
Very seriously: you may not be a professional graphics artist, but you’re producing some really nice images with Photoshop and you can obviously write and explain things clearly. (I learned everything I know about American libel law from A Little Libel (aka “John Scalzi is crack-smoking cat sodomizer”). Have you considered putting up some of your work in one or more posts and sharing how you got there, or even running a separate graphics blog? In your copious spare time, of course.
But hey, there could be a book coming out of all this procrastination one day.
So for this IMWAMS club, are the jackets, hats, or polo shirts? And are we counting only marriage time clocked, or full-bore emotional involvement time?
Clearly, it’s for marriage time. If you want credit for the whole relationship, you’ll want the I’m in a Relationship With Someone Totally Out of My League club (IRWSTOML). The membership requirements are slightly less strenuous, but you still get all the swag.
If she’s out of your league, does that mean she’s married beneath her? That is, how does she feel about this characterization?
(This is why I dislike this form of compliment.)
Kate Nepveu:
“does that mean she’s married beneath her?”
Well, she is taller than I am.
“Striking” is exactly the right word. Great picture.
Buchheit scribbles: “I’ll just say welcome to the I Married Way Above My Station club.”
Member since 1996.
My father says marrying my wife is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.
And they like her more than me. Oh, well, at least I still get to go to holiday dinners.
Chang, *cough* “Steve” isn’t me *cough* so, uh, props should go to the miscellaneous “Steve”
Kate: I take your point, but I like to think that this kind of compliment really is complimentary because it highlights my wife’s many fair attributes, without implying that she made a mistake by hitching herself to me. Yes, I married out of my league in terms of elegance, class, looks, and so on, but it’s a fair(ish) trade for my wife because I can offer, for lack of a better word, Menschlichkeit. In other words, I ain’t perfect, but from all reports I *am* a stand-up guy. (I also do certain parlor tricks on command, which seems to amuse her.)
Anyway, brethren of the club, I made up a simple little seal for us. See it here, download it, adapt/improve it as you will, etc.
“Steve” isn’t me *cough* so, uh, props should go to the miscellaneous “Steve”
I’ve been thinking for a while I need to put something more than “Steve” in the Name field when I post. I like “Miscellaneous Steve.” Thanks Steve Buchheit for solving my nom de comment thread problem.
Kate: I tell my wife now and then that if she ever gets the prescription for her glasses updated, the marriage will be in immediate trouble. Which makes her laugh. Which is what I intend: a compliment and a chuckle. Things like this are never intended as backhanded compliments.
Tim: Very nice seal.
Hey Steve, no worries. At parties I often go by “Miscellaneous Steve B” when there is more than one of us in a crowd (even filling out name tags that way).
Learned the word “uxorial” the other day. Funny that the first non-dictionary definition search result on google is your blog post – from a blog I already read and follow.
I guess not many people other than writers are capable of using this word in a sentence (or a blog post title).