Somebody to Love Accapella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA5IocI93V0

Amazing accapella group. Love this song. I wanted to embed the video, but it wasn't the new full screen or as awesome quality as on youtube.

Happy New Year

Just stoppin' by to say Happy New Year to everyone!!

I'm at a New Year's party with friends, but everyone should have a great night.

Today's X-Files Marathon

I've been pretty successful in my X-Files marathon today.

3.21 "Avatar"
3.22 "Quagmire" - Poor dog.
3.23 "Wetwired"
3.24 "Talitha Cumi"
4.01 "Herrenvolk" - I haven't finished this episode, because it's not playing right.
4.02 "Home" - This episode was gross.
4.03 "Teliko"
4.04 "Unruhe"
4.05 "The Field Where I Died" - I'm watching this episode right now, and Mulder is very pretty and full of angst.

Wow, nine episodes. I need a life. After this episode I'm going to do some design stuff and not watch many more episodes.

The Result of Yesterday's Marathon

I was out most of yesterday, but I managed to get the following episodes of the X-Files in.

3.17 "Pusher" - This episode was great. The villain was awesome.
3.18 "Teso Dos Bichos" - This is apparently widely regarded as the worst episode of X-Files ever, but I didn't hate it. I enjoyed it as an episode, though it's not one that I would watch again.
3.19 "Hell Money" - Good, but not a favorite of mine.
3.20 "Jose Chungs 'From Outer Space'" - Great concept, wicked funny, done really well. Reminds me of the Supernatural episode "Tall Tales."

X-Files Marathon Continues, Christmas and More

Christmas was great. We spent the morning opening gifts, then went over to visit our uncle and cousin in the afternoon. I got some pretty awesome toys this year. Of them: a web cam, a headset (for playing games, like WoW specifically), a set of speaker, a CD player/mp3 player audio system, a set of bowls that can cook in the oven (for making soup), and more.

My X-Files marathon is continuing. Below is a list of the episodes I have watched since the beginning of this marathon a week ago.

1.01 "Deep Throat"
1.02 "Squeeze"
1.03 "Conduit" - A very important episode in learning about the character of Mulder.
1.04 "The Jersey Devil"
1.05 "Shadows"
1.06 "Ghost in the Machine" - The machine taking over is an old concept, but this is done very well.
1.07 "Ice" - I truly enjoy this episode. All the suspicion is well-written and played.
1.08 "Space"
1.09 "Fallen Angel"
1.10 "Eve"
1.11 "Fire" - It's nice to see that Mulder has some fears and some information into his past.
1.12 "Beyond the Sea" - The main guest star in this episode is amazing and definitely carries the episode well.
1.13 "Gender Bender"
1.14 "Lazarus"
1.15 "Young at Heart" - Some cool back story for Mulder.
1.16 "E.B.E"
1.17 "Miracle Man"
1.18 "Shapes"
1.20 "Tooms"
1.21 "Born Again" - A good story, though not a great wrap up at the end.
1.22 "Roland" - Very cool story.
1.23 "The Erlenmeyer Flask"
2.01 "Little Green Men"
2.02 "The Host"
2.03 "Blood" - This episode is very creepy and cool. A great concept done well.
2.04 "Sleepless"
2.05 "Duane Barry" - Great episode. I liked the actor that played Duane Barry when he was in Supernatural and I liked him better in this.
2.06 "Ascension"
2.07 "3"
2.08 "One Breath"
2.09 "Firewalker"
2.10 "Red Museum"
2.11 "Excelsis Dei"
2.12 "Aubrey"
2.13 "Irresistible"
2.14 "Die Hand die verletzt"
2.15 "Fresh Bones"
2.16 "Colony" - This is a great Mulder episode.
2.17 "End Game"
2.18 "Fearful Symmetry"
2.19 "Død Kalm"
2.20 "Humbug" - "This episode is out there, even for the X-Files. But I kinda love it. It's radically different and original.
2.21 "The Calusari"
2.22 "F. Emasculata"
2.23 "Soft Light" - Awesome concept and execution. I love this episode.
2.24 "Our Town"
2.25 "Anasazi"
3.01 "The Blessing Way"
3.02 "Paper Clip"
3.03 "D.P.O." - This episode was just odd. The "hick" feel of the main character seemed a little bit over played. It was cool to see Jack Black in something serious.
3.04 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" - I love the way this show presents psychics. It's a funny, cynical view of psychics, but I love it. Of course, one of my other favorite shows is Psych, so I'm used to psychics being lots of fun.
3.05 "The List"
3.06 "2Shy" - Truly creepy and gross.
3.07 "The Walk"
3.08 "Oubliette" - I love the connection between Mulder and Lucy, the waitress, in this episode.
3.09 "Nisei"
3.10 "731"
3.11 "Revelations"
3.12 "War of the Coprophages" - I love love LOVE this episode. I absolutely HATE bugs, but this episode was brilliant. I love that most of the episode is Scully and Mulder calling each other and talking over the phone.
3.13 "Syzygy" - I truly enjoyed this episode. Mulder and Scully snarking at each other was funny and a completely different way of seeing their dynamic.
3.14 "Grotesque" - I didn't like the pacing of this episode. It was hard to understand and the plot was iffy.
3.15 "Piper Maru"
3.16 "Apocrypha"

Yes, I've been a busy little fangirl. Now that I've gone through and remarked on some of my favorite episodes, I'm realizing that my favorites are the Mulder ones. This really shouldn't be a surprise for me (that I like learning more about my favorite character, who happens to be a tall male who's funny and handsome), but for some reason it still is. Oh well.

I played a lot of WoW today. Like, a lot. Not as much as yesterday, but still a significant amount. I played with Erin and her boyfriend, so it was a social experience.

On another note, I think I'm getting sick. My cousin was sick and maybe that's how I got it, but I'v been coughing and just feeling generally ick.

The Best and Worst of 2008: My Favorite TV Shows

This series of posts is dedicated to my favorite and least favorite things of 2008. Television, movies, games, classes, everything. If I loved it or hated it, I'll make mention of it in these posts.

This post is dedicated to my favorite television shows.

Favorite TV Shows

Bones
In the past, I've had trouble keeping up with this show, but this year I've made a point to watch every episode. Even though I haven't been able to watch the episodes when they air I do watch them on FOX Online on Thursday. I love Booth and Brennan and this is a show that all of my friends watch (us girls at least). We all agree that Booth and Brennan need to get together and make beautiful children really fast, and also that Angela and Hodgins should be together. I can't wait to see more of this show.

Criminal Minds
I try my best to keep up with this show, but it's hard because I had some scheduling conflictions between life and my tv schedule. It doesn't help matters that CBS seems to hate this show and doesn't post the episodes on their site. I still love Reid and I'd like to catch up with what's been going on. This may be my next marathon.

Doctor Who
Oh Doctor Who. I've only known this show and fandom for a very short time, but I am enamored. I love the Doctor and the TARDIS and Martha and Donna and Rose and EVERYTHING. I just wish there were some better fanfictions out there for this fandom. I can't wait to see what happens in the season 5 specials. I sure am going to miss David Tennant like crazy.

Fringe
I'm pretty sure I've stayed caught up with this show. I really enjoy the characters and how out there the plot lines are. It helps that FOX has the best video player out of all the main networks websites. I'm able to catch up on episodes legally without wanting to rip my hair out waiting for the thing to load (CBS, I'm looking at you).

How I Met Your Mother
I watched this show only for Neil Patrick Harris. I started watching just after watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I marathoned all the episodes that had aired in a very short spae of time. Since then I've watched episodes as they've come out. Not on the television because I work from 8 pm on Monday's but online after work. I'm come to love the cast and I've been sucked into the plot and the relationship twists.

Merlin
I started watching this show just after it started. Maybe around the third episode. Since catching up I've managed to watch the episodes as they air. I live in the US so I've been watching these episodes online, but I love them. Even though this show is a terrible smudge of history and just fiction I think it's adorable. I love both Bradley James and Colin Morgan. I enjoy every second of this show, and not only because the boys are cute (though that is definitely a factor).

NCIS
I've been staying caught up with this as best as possible. Like every other show, I not able to watch this on the television screen when it airs. I struggle through watching this show CBS.com every week, and it is a struggle. The video player that CBS has sucks ass hardcore. Despite the crappy player, I still love NCIS. All the characters and the plot lives are amazing. I'm not big into the fandom for this, but I do get excited to watch new episodes every week.

Psych
I was introduced to this show last year, but I really started keeping track of new episodes this year. I'm addicted. I watch new episodes as soon as I can get my hands on them. This is one of the only shows that I will buy on iTunes instead of finding on some obscure website online. I love Shawn. He's such an odd character and I love him. Gus is the perfect balance to Shawn's oddities. He's not nearly normal either, but he does his best to stay in touch with the real world. Whereas Shawn just really likes to be a kid even though he's in his mid twenties or so.

Stargate Atlantis
This season has been my least favorite, but despite how disappointed I've been about the episodes and sad about this being the end of Stargate Atlantis I still make a point to try to watch this show when it airs. This show still registers as a favorite because I still keep up with it in the fandom and I'm still in love with all of the characters.

Supernatural
I need to review this newest season, because I haven't watched the episodes over again as I have in the past. I just haven't had the time. I love the introduction of Castiel because he's just as awesome as the Winchester boys, but he doesn't try to steal the scenes. He's able to be awesome in tandem with the Winchesters instead of trying to be in competition with them. This show is great because it's very interactive for me. I like watching Supernatural with Melissa and Carissa and we like to comment on the episodes. I love that this show makes me yell at the screen and attempt to speak to the characters.

Torchwood
I had to watch this show after watching Doctor Who. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it because I wasn't a huge fan of Jack Harkness in Doctor Who. However, Jack takes on a whole new depth in Torchwood and I love his team. Especially Ianto. I love the relationship between Jack and Ianto. I never knew that my life was missing epic amounts of boy-kissing before I watched Torchwood, but I definitely was. I can't wait to see what happens next, especially with half of the team gone.

The X-Files
This is, without a doubt, my most recent obsession. I've been watching this show for no more than a week. I knew afteer watching only a couple episodes, that this time it was going to be for real. I've watched the X-Files before. Last year I used to watch episodes when they aired late at night, and that was how I was reintroduced to the show this year. Melissa and I caught an episode on the television late at night, and it had all the things I love in the tv show: a pretty boy (or more than one) Mulder, scifi (duh!), great chemistry between the main characters (Mulder and Scully are the classic example of great chemistry). It even had hurt AND comfort. Scully had Mulder rest his head in her lap. IEEEEEEEEE!!! I'm not nearly finished watching this show, but with the rate I'm going it won't take me long. I'm more than midway through season two right now and I haven't skipped an episode yet (and I don't plan to).

Bedtimes Nao

Well, I've finished the pilot episode of the X-Files so now I'm going to bed. Probably with some lights on. The X-Files scares me in a way that Supernatural never has. Supernatural might get me for a minute, make me jump, but the X-Files makes me turn on lights and look around the corner while holding a weapon. I kinda love it. I may have to confine my marathoning of the X-Files to the daylight hours.

The X-Files

I watched some episodes of The X-Files last year when I would stumble across the episodes on tv late at night. Tonight I watched a really good episode with Melissa and it inspired me to watch another (the episode we watched was 5.04 "Detour"). The episode I just finished is called "Drive" (6.02). I love this show. Why have I not watched all of these before? I've just started watching the first episode "Pilot" and I'm adding an X-Files tag, because I'm pretty sure that I'm going to spend the next few weeks racing through the nine seasons and two (?) movies.

YAY for marathons.

I Want To Do This

I'm working on my PERL final assignment, but once I'm not really really busy and half asleep I would like to participate in this: http://anteka.livejournal.com/626024.html. Because it looks like a lot of fun. I wouldn't be able to do it through LiveJournal though, because I can't do voice posting, but I can record it and put it on YouTube.

Made It!

I am physically awake and sitting in the classroom of my exam. It's officially 8am and our teacher has just walked in. One of my group members is here, but not both of them and that worries me a little.

All-Nighter

I'm planning on taking some power naps, but I'm staying up until and through my 8am exam tomorrow. It's not actually any exam, it's a presentation (that I'm not all that worried about) so I think I'll be able to do it. My biggest worry about tomorrow is that if I go to bed I'll sleep through the exam, or wake up late and get there late. But I'm also tired, so I'll see if I can take naps and get enough sleep to survive tomorrow. I have the exam and work at 5pm that I have to go to, but there's an end of the year library party around 12:30 that I'd love to go to.

This all-night is brought to you (most likely literally because I may just post all night long) by Shaw's brand Orange Soda, Bones and the essay I'll be writing tonight (may as well be productive while I don't sleep).

Flock and Facebook

So, I'm checking my Facebook in Flock (the browser) and I just found this picture.

My sister posted it. Erin's the one holding Laura. I''m the one leaning over. And the girls are our cousins Sarah and Laura. I love this picture!

Finished, Colors Here I Come

My flash project is finished. I'm just loading it onto a flash drive so that I can turn it in. So now I have time to eat my lunch and work on colors for this blog. And also to post pictures. I didn't take a new picture of Got Nothin' before I started messing with things, so I've just stolen the finish picture from my first redesign.

So that's how it looked before. Two columns, a lovely picture of Jensen Ackles for everyone to stare at. I do love that picture, but after more than a year I needed a change. I may put a background picture into this layout, but I'm not sure. For now I'm just going to mess around with colors because I like how simple this template is. Simple and clean, it's a good thing.

Once I've decided on colors for good (most likely tomorrow or the day after) I'll post another "after the redesign" picture.

Ha HA! Success!!

So, my blog is now three columns wide and all about 900 pixels wide. Here's the site I used to change the amount of columns here: http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/02/three-columns-blogger-template.html. For the time being it's also boring to the max. I'd like to spend the next hour playing around with colors, but I need to finish my flash project because I have an exam at 3:30 and then my flash exam is just after that on at 6pm.

So, in the near future I will change the colors and fonts and such on this, but for now it's enough that my posts are as long as my extensive navigation. I was getting annoyed that the page was so long and it was all because of the nav bar and never because of the content.

In Flux

If you are viewing this blog as white with the Prop 8 video over lapping the sidebar, then I am sorry. I'm working on changing my blog to a three-column design and I need to copy down all my widgets so that I don't lose them forever. They are the reason why I need three columns. This will all be resolved eventually. Don't worry.

Love, Me

No Motivation

So, it's exam week. I have no motivation. At all. Just today though. I'd been doing well up to today. Tomorrow I need to finish my flash project (just add in the content) and make some progress on my commission for Aesthetic Expressions. It's not due tomorrow, but I had wanted to have it finished by tomorrow and I need to at least have some progress to speak about in the exam period. But for tonight I am done with thinking. I'm going to not get anything accomplished for the rest of the time I'm at work and when I get back to my dorm I'm going to eat some of my chili (with cheese!) and watch the newest episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Also, the internet is so ridiculously slow tonight that I want to nap while I wait for pages to load (or play Solitaire, I think I may do that).

Prop 8: The Musical

I thought I was done saying things tonight, but once I get typing I just keep thinking up more things to say. I saw my Neil Patrick Harris tag on the side and had to post a link to Prop 8: The Musical.

Instead of that I've found some embed code.

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

We watched this in Scientific Revolutions, because my teacher is awesome.

I believe that the "between the lines" message of this video is "Neil Patrick Harris should always be center stage in everything."

The Twilight Movie

The following post is spoilery for the Twilight movie and is partially written by the eleven-year-old-Meg living in a corner of your brain (she's the one that like the High School Musical movies and the Disney Channel, not me). You have been warned.

I liked the Twilight movie. Shut up, yes for real. I've seen it twice. Once on November 21 at 12:05 am with Melissa and once with Mom, Erin, Dad, Monique and Bailey. I loved everything about it the first time I saw it (for the most part). I was really surprised too, because I didn't like the Harry Potter movies (I watch the fourth movie when I want to see Robert Pattinson or David Tennant). When I saw the movie a second time, I'd read other people's opinions of the movies and started noticing the things that had annoyed them. Also, Erin was sitting next to me laughing hilariously at it. I still stand firm that I love Robert Pattinson as Edward. The first half of the movie is slow, but once it picks up it's very good. I love the baseball scene (especially Jasper throwing the bat around and looking all smexy). I love Alice and Jasper. To me they were PERFECT. Also, Charlie. The guy that played him was AMAZING. I loved every scene he was in, whether it was true to the book or not. I thought that sparkly-Edward could have been done so much worse and I loved the prom scene. Way to make me want you even more Edward! Shut up eleven year old!

I think that everyone should read this: http://oxymoronassoc.livejournal.com/462027.html. It's two girls discussing what Edward was doing while everyone else in the house was having crazy sex. It's hilarious. Even if you only know the basic premise of the story it's funny. If you've read the books it's even better.

What else to say? I loved the Cullen house and I kind of want to be Alice because she's awesome. Jackson Rathbone (the actor that played Jasper) looks like Johnny Depp to me (and also like my friend Bryan). I enjoyed him thoroughly in the movie.

In conclusion, I love how the Blogger spellchek makes me look like a good person, even at 2 in the morning. The end.

My Non-NaNo Post of Recent Going Ons

I have a new desktop picture, and really, when do I not have a new desktop picture?

The picture used in this wallpaper is from Stargate Atlantis and the quote is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I love the Doctor (very much), but I needed a new wallpaper. I actually still want another new one, but it's exam week and I don't have time to play around in Photoshop for fun (but I do have time to update my blog more than I have in the past month, good call me).

As said already, it's exam week. I have a debate tomorrow where I'll be debating whether or not we (human beings) have freewill or not. I'm debating that we do. My partner/opponent is debating that we don't have free will. We're supposed to use scientific evidence to support our claims, but there is no scientific evidence to support the idea that humans have free will. It's supports Steve position that there is no free will, decision making is a process in the brain that we don't have control over. Also, I hate debating and we have to do it in front of the class. I'm screwed.

After that it shouldn't be that bad though. I have two exams on Tuesday. In the first one I have to talk about a paper I'm writing and a work of art I'm making. In the other I have to present the flash web site I've been working on. I'm not worried about either of those. I'm doing pretty well on the paper (haven't actually started writing it, but I'm working on the artwork) and I've been spending a lot of time on the flash project. It will be way better than the other two flash projects I've done for the class. Wednesday I have my PERL exam. That one worries me. We (my group and I) have to give a presentation, not only to the class, but also to some people in charge of a website. Our big project for the year was to make a PERL application of some kind that could go on this web site. So the group will the best/most impressive application will actually go up on the site. Our's is a time management quiz. The user answers a bunch of questions and the quiz tells if the player is sucking at time management (always choosing homework over friends), doing okay with time management (school over friends/family) or if they are really good at time management (balancing family, friends, school, work, etc.). My PERL exam is at 8am, so I'm staying up all night and going to the exam, then going to bed after it's over. I'm going to take naps so that I'm rested, but if I actually go to bed, I won't be able to get up and ready and to campus on time. My exam on Thursday is for my Algebra class. I'm getting a 96.5 in the class, so I could tank the exam and still get a better grade in the class than some of my classmates.

On a completely different note, I bought season 3 of Bones over Thanksgiving Break (and watched all of it). I brought seasons 1 and 2 back to school with me, so I've been going through and watching episodes here and there when I have free time. I really love that show. Friday night I watched an episode that I'd seen many times, but I watched it with a commentary by Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. It's was hilarious. They are so funny and adorable together in the show. I kinda want to rewatch all of Torchwood because I kind of miss the boy-kissing, but I left my external hard drive home with Erin, and since I watched the show for the first time in like HD, I'm too picky to wait for it to load and watch crappy quality online.

Over Thanksgiving Break Dad and Erin introduced me to World of Warcraft. It is a terribly addictive game, but I am managing to play it and still appear to classes and shower every day. My friends are worried that I'll become a shut in that never showers, but I feel really dirty when I don't shower, and that's not going to change and I'm already kind of shut in, so that's not going to change much. I do my best to not talk about all the creatures and zombies I've killed when I'm around them, but it really is an addicting game.

I have more to say, but I'm going to continue it in another post because my tags are too long when I add on the next two I need and I feel that I need all of them.

I Did It Again

Before explaining the title of this post, let me start by telling a story.

On Sunday November 30, 2008 (this year), I was sitting in my friend Monique's car. She was driving us from Maine back to Vermont after Thanksgiving Break. I was working on my NaNoNovel. At some point during the ride she said something to the effect of "if you hit 50k, I'll buy you the ten year shirt."

A little more back story now. This year was the tenth year that NaNoWriMo has been held, and the Office of Letters and Light has a shirt that they are selling that commemorates the ten year anniversary of the writing challenge. Both Monique and I had seen the shirt and thought it was very cool. As of Sunday November 30th, the last day of NaNoWriMo, I was around 38,500 words. Approximately 11.5k away from the 50k word goal.

At around 7pm, I passed 50k and validated my word count for the month. So, for the second year in a row, I have won NaNoWriMo. I just uploaded the winner badge to the sidebar, and I love my shirt.

Goal Completion: 11. Read something at a PoJazz event (on stage to the audience, not a book in the back corner of the room to myself).

On Thursday night I went to PoJazz at Parima's in Burlington, and I read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph. I was drawn to the poem by the first two lines: "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me." A few of my friends came with me to see me read and also make sure that I did it. I was really nervous, but glad that I did it because I don't want to be held back by my stage fright. I want to continue to rage against it and do things even though I'm scared silly of doing them.

See the updated list here.