My Newest Wallpaper: It Goes With One of My Newest Fandoms

I've had a Stargate Atlantis wallpaper on my desktop for a couple weeks now and in all honesty, it was terrible. The picture wasn't good enough quality to be a wallpaper on it's own. I found a tutorial tonight (the text version is here and the video version is here). I did the tutorial once with the picture the tutorial maker used, then decided to use it to make a wallpaper with. The result is definitely not what I was planning, and that is a good thing. I love how it turned out.

I'm using the one with text for my wallpaper, but I wanted a copy without text. This took me about two hours to make. And I've had Erin come out a few times and look at it with a fresh set of eyes. I'm really proud of the fonts I chose and how well they work together. I've been reading a bunch (like two books and hundreds of websites) about typography, so it's really nice to actually do something with all the stuff that I've read.

For anyone who cares here some random information about the pieces of this wallpaper.

Fonts used:
For the big script-y "Mulder" and "Scully": One Fell Swoop, size 60pt (color: white, opacity: 100%).
For the big script-y "&": Mutlu, size 200pt (color: black, opacity: 50%).
For the quote text: Mongolian Baiti, size 16pt (color: black, opacity: 50%).
For the "Mulder" and "Scully" to mark who said what in the quotes: Impact, size 18pt (color: white, opacity: 100%, space between letters: 200).

Smoke brushes: The smoke brushes were made by falln-brushes and downloaded from http://www.falln-brushes.deviantart.com/. The link to the smoke brushes is in the text version of the tutorial listed above.

The original picture: Located here. I'd post the full address, but it is a long and disgusting URL.

Three New Tags

I realized in my last post that I did have tags for design (or web design, WHAT?), color, or typography. It's possible that this is because those we're things I was really looking into much. Now I am. A lot. So I thought I'd share some of the things I've been looking at.

My Delicious links under design are here.

My Delicious links under web design are here.

My Delicious links under color are here.

My Delicious links under typography are here.

A lot of the links will be in all of the catagories or most of them because I've been looking mostly at how color and typography are used in good web design or in good design.

Delicious Links

I've bumped up the number of my newest Delicious links display from 7 to 17 (yeah, I like the number 7). I've been reading so much about design, typography, color, and basically anything web design related that I can find and I link to the things that I find interesting or don't have time to read. I've been reading and linking so much that I wanted to have more displayed for the reader(s)of this blog.

EDITED ON APRIL 1, 2010: It has been bumped back to 7 links. It was taking up too much space on the side, and I haven't been using it as much, so there haven't been as many new links.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir: They Rock!

I maanaged to stumble across the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the interwebz. Yes,I have heard of them before and I've heard them sing (not in person). Tonight I flipped through some YouTube vids, and came across this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYLNvhF79OM. I would embed it so you could wath it without going to YouTube, but embedding is disabled and I'm to lazy and tired to do it anyway. The song they are singing in that video is "Battle of Jericho." I searched for that song specifically because Chamber Singers at my high school sang it when I was a freshman and it was amazing. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir does it better, but Chambers didn't slaughter it.

Way to Go!

I just watched the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, and I am so proud that I voted and I'm excited for the future of our country.

More David Duchovny: The Marathon Expands and Continues

I've given up on finishing the X-Files before moving onto other things with David Duchovny in it. Here's what I've watched since my last post.

The X-Files
6.12 "One Son"
6.13 "Agua Mala"
6.14 "Monday"
6.15 "Arcadia"
6.16 "Alpha"
6.17 "Trevor"
6.18 "Milagro"
6.19 "The Unnatural"
6.20 "Three of a Kind"
6.21 "Field Trip"
6.22 "Biogenesis"
7.01 "The Sixth Extinction"
7.02 "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati"
7.03 "Hungry"
7.04 "Millenium"
7.05 "Rush"
7.06 "The Goldberg Variation"
7.07 "Orison"
7.08 "The Amazing Maleeni"
7.09 "Signs & Wonders"

Californication
1.01 "Pilot"
1.02 "Hell-A Woman"
1.03 "The Whore of Babylon"
1.04 "Fear and Loathing at the Fundraiser"
1.05 "LOL"

Marathon Progress

Even before typing this I know that this list of episodes is either going to mae it look like I'm awesome, or like the really have no life (most likely the no life one).

The X-Files
4.06 "Sanguinarium" - SO, SOOOOOO GROSS!
4.07 "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man" - I accidentally wathed most of the second half of this episode before the first half, but I totally loved it anyway. Cancer man is a very cool and complex character.
4.08 "Tunguska"
4.09 "Terma"
4.10 "Paper Hearts" - Great concept, really well done. One of my favorites.
4.11 "El Mundo Gira" - Very much like a telanovella and I don't like soap operas. Not a favorite of mine.
4.12 "Leonard Betts" - I loved this episode until he had to be the bad guy. It would have been so cool if he'd ended up just a guy who could regenerate (regrow parts of his body even his head) and could tell when someone had cancer, and not been a monster.
4.13 "Never Again" - Really cool concept. Loved it.
4.14 "Memento Mori"
4.15 "Kaddish" - I enjoyed this episode. One of David Duchovny's best performances that I've seen.
4.16 "Unrequited" - Very cool.
4.17 "Tempus Fugit" - Pretty great episode.
4.18 "Max" - Good conclusion to the episode before it.
4.19 "Synchrony" - Odd. The time travel in this is a bit of a reach.
4.20 "Small Potatoes" - Great episode. Another great performance by David Duchovny.
4.21 "Zero Sum" - I don't like bugs.
4.22 "Elegy" - Cool plot. Well done.
4.23 "Demons" - Loved it.
4.24 "Gethsemane"
5.01 "Redux"
5.02 "Redux II"
5.03 "Unusual Suspects" - Awesome! The Lone Gunmen are great.
5.04 "Detour" - This is the episode that got me into this show. Even watchng a second time with more backstory I loved it.
5.05 "The Post-Modern Prometheus" - Loved it.
5.06 "Christmas Carol"
5.07 "Emily"
5.08 "Kitsunegari" - Sequel to "Pusher." Very well done.
5.09 "Schizogeny" - Ava and Ash from Supernatural!! Not a favorite of mine, despite the guest stars.
5.10 "Chinga" - As much as I love Maine the only saving grace of this episode was the interaction between Scully and Mulder. The pencil gag at the end was priceless and woth rewatching. And as a side note: not all Mainers say "ayuh". It's a lie. We don't all fish, or die in fishing accidents either.
5.11 "Kill Switch" - Pretty cool.
5.12 "Bad Blood" - A lot like the episode "Tall Tales" from Supernatural, but this came first and was (it's hard to say this) even better than "Tall Tales". Great acting and Luke Wilson had a cool guest starring role.
5.13 "Patient X"
5.14 "The Red and the Black"
5.15 "Travelers" - I really liked this episode. Young Mulder is so cute, playing with his hair all the time. I like seeing Fredric Lane in things. I loved him on Supernatural as the demons and I loved him in this.
5.16 "Mind's Eye" - Great concept. I liked this episode a lot.
5.17 "All Souls" -I liked this episode a lot. The format and organization was really good.
5.18 "The Pine Bluff Variant" - Lots of twists and turns.
5.19 "Folie a Deux" - I liked this episode a lot.
5.20 "The End" - The kid in this is very cool.
6.01 "The Beginning" - I don't remember this episode at all.
I didn't rewatch 6.02 "Drive" because I'd watched it before and loved. I will rewatch it later, because it was very good.
6.03 "Triangle" - Loved it. I need to rewatch this episode and pay more attention because there was a lot of time stuff that I missed while I was watching the first time and playing WoW.
6.04 "Dreamland" - Love it!!
6.05 "Dreamland II" - Scully should know by now that if MUlder invites her over and attempts to seduce her, then it's not really him it's an imposter. I loved the end with Mulder checking that it was actually his apartment he'd walked into.
6.06 "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" - I love this episode. SRSLY!! Very well done.
6.07 "Terms of Endearment" - Very weird.
6.08 "The Rain King" - Kinda cool. Cool concept.
6.09 "S.R. 819"
6.10 "Tithonus"
6.11 "Two Fathers" - I wasn't really paying attention, so I should probably rewatch this episode.

Chuck - No notes on these episodes because they kind of run together in my head and I love them all.
1.01 "Pilot"
1.02 "Chuck Versus the Helicopter"
1.03 "Chuck Versus the Tango"
1.04 "Chuck Versus the Wookie"
1.05 "Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp"
1.06 "Chuck Versus the Sandworm"
1.07 "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater"
1.08 "Chuck Versus the Truth"
1.09 "Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami"
1.10 "Chuck Versus the Nemesis"
1.11 "Chuck Versus the Crown Vic"
1.12 "Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover"
1.13 "Chuck Versus the Marlin"
2.01 "Chuck Versus the First Date"
2.02 "Chuck Versus the Seduction"
2.03 "Chuck Versus the Break-Up"
2.04 "Chuck Versus the Cougars"
2.05 "Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer"
2.06 "Chuck Versus the Ex"
2.07 "Chuck Versus the Fat Lady"
2.08 "Chuck Versus the Gravitron"
2.09 "Chuck Versus the Sensei"
2.10 "Chuck Versus the DeLorean"
2.11 "Chuck Versus Santa Claus"

Stargate Atlantis
5.19 "Vegas" - I loved this episode. It took me a couple minutes to deal with the fact that we were ripping off CSI completely, but once I got over that I loved it. There were many reasons to love this episode: John Sheppard in civilian clothes, John Sheppard the civilian, the badass wraith dressing up as human, Shep whump. I loved it. I can even deal with the end.
5.20 "Enemy at the Gate" - I watched this episode last night and it got me several times. WAY TO GO SHOW!! This episode only worked as well as it did because it was the last episode of the series. Where I would usually be like "Oh but it's okay because Sheppard's gotta be back next week." This time I was freaked out. I yelled at the screen a few times that I would not be accepting heroic deaths.

Firefly - I wanted to continue the Adam Baldwin marathon.
"Serenity Parts 1 & 2"
"The Train Job"
"Bushwacked"
"Shindig"
"Safe"
"Our Mrs. Reynolds"
"Jaynestown"
"Out of Gas"
"Ariel"
"War Stories"
"Trash"

I also got my Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog DVD in the mail and watched both the commentaries and all the special features.

I also watched Mamma Mia and Hancock with mah Jennie. Mamma Mia was good, but I like Across the Universe better. Oh right! We watched that too.

When do I do anything but watch television and movies?? I did work though. Like 12 hours this week. And I've got a couple more than that next week. No work tomorrow though. I plan to sleep in.

Wow, I fail!

So, I've been kinda busy, but not really. I started back at work and I'm in season six of The X-Files now. I also watched all of the first season of Chuck and I'm almost caught up with the episodes of season two that have aired. It's such a cute show.

I've spent the better part of today watching Chuck and The X-Files (I switch back and forth) while working on the redesign of my portfolio. Once a year or so, I completely redo the site and then I ignore it until I redesign it the next year. It's just how it works. I finished the design and I'm working on putting the content in now. I'll post again tonight (if I remember) with all the episodes of show I've watched and how I've felt about them.

Erin and I watched the Christmas episode of Doctor Who. I liked it. I'm glad that guy's not the new Doctor. I've seen the guy they've chosen for Eleven and I'll give him a chance. He's really young, but he's still like eight years older than me (so still out of my age range).