Browsing For Web Design Inspiration

Just for some ideas, I like to browse around to see what other's have done with creating web sites for particular topics. I may start working on a new website with a musician and I am searching for inspiration. Fortunately, I follow a number of independent music acts on Twitter. So it was real easy for me to find good sites for examples. 

From what I could see right away, most of the artists use Bandcamp or Soundcloud as their main web presence for their music. I think that is good. Others just use Facebook which I don't like. You can upload videos and links but FB does not seem very well geared for music. Plus people get easily distracted on FB so your message or product will get lost.

Others use Wordpress or some other blogging platform. What is great about Wordpress is that you can incorporate themes and it seems pretty easy to use. Originally, I thought about using Wordpress to create my own blog but as you can see, I went with Blogger. Wordpress is good for those who are not web developers because you can update your content without having to contact someone such as myself for help, an another web developer, or having to learn web coding languages to update yourself. I think a Wordpress site would be a good way to go but I still need to research how Wordpress would treat audio files. Here are some examples of some musician's Wordpress sites I looked at:

http://benmyersonline.com/  <-- I don't like this site but it's functional.

http://www.evertheory.com/ <-- I like this one but I think you should see the music for listening to right away on the home page.

A few other artists use a good old fashioned website without the additional blogging interface. Here's some that I like:

http://www.empathytestmusic.com/ <-- I like this site because the music is right on the homepage. Plus it looks like the music is hosted on Bandcamp's server so that saves money with web hosting (which is usually pretty cheap anyways). However I have no clue how they coded it because all I see is a bunch of JavaScript and very little HTML and CSS. But I could do something similar.

http://seasonofghosts.com/ <-- This is a really nice website. Very well put together but it seems really big.

I am still waiting for feedback on this web design, so we shall see.

Metallica on Weeklong for Craig Ferguson's Last Stand

These days, I don’t care about Metallica or The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and the host's departure (well maybe I do a little). Back when I worked nights, I used to watch all late night talk shows. Nowadays I am in bed before the 11 o’clock news so I don’t watch The Late Show, The Tonight Show, much less The Late Late Show.

Come to think of it... I don't watch much TV in my spare time, seeing that I work in television I guess I am sick of it by the end of the day. However, when I read in The Hollywood Reporter that Metallica will be doing a weeklong stint to help send Craig Ferguson off, I quickly imagined what songs they would play for each of the five nights.

To start off with, I thought it would be badass if Metallica set the mood with the downright heavy as hell, “One.” Shit it’s a Monday night, we’re in the mood for something dark with a touch of speed metal.

 

"One" is a bit of a throwback so Tuesday night Metallica should play something the tweens in the audience are aware of. Maybe “Fuel” will do the trick. Plus “Fuel” is a slamming mosh pit track and who doesn’t like that?

Wednesday Night, I would go with “King Nothing.” The blood and cum CD cover for Load, from which “King Nothing” was released is fitting for the Humpday theme.

Thursday is the descent into the weekend and Craig Ferguson's last few episodes as host of the Late Late Show. For this night we go baaaaaccckkk. Way back. To say ….And Justice for All. “Harvester of Sarrow” fits in nice here and is under-appreciated in the Metallica catalog.

For the Friday, the final night of the weeklong Metallica stint, it’s a toss-up. A choice the band should make 5 minutes before they go on stage. But my toss-up vote would go to “And Nothing Else Matters” or “Unforgiven.”

Again it’s a toss-up. What tracks would you choose? We’ll see what the band actually plays, starting November 17th late night on CBS.

Another Update to My Website

Homepage with slideshow, crumpled-ripped paper.

Super Busy! Despite all that I have going on, I managed to update my website yet again. After the last update, I was not content with the homepage, footer, about page, and wanted a slideshow. So I did those things, go check it out: http://gabrielohhmedia.com/.

The homepage needed to show off my graphic art skills and I thought it would be really cool to have some crumpled/torn up paper with text on it. First, I tried making a graphic with regular HTML paragraphs superimposed on the graphic. I hard a hard time with that so I included the text on the graphic itself. I made the crumpled up torn paper in The GIMP. Love The GIMP! I used a tutorial you can find here.

In addition, the homepage needed a slideshow, because nowadays, every homepage has a slideshow. To accomplish this, I borrowed a bit of JavaScript from a class I had last May. I just replaced the pictures and tweaked some of the timing. Worked out great. I did find that the images where taking a long time to load so I had to resize the pictures in The GIMP. Again, love GIMP!

I felt that the footer was really boring. I see footers on websites that are cooler than the content of the main article. So I wanted to spruce up my footer. Fresh out of ideas I figured I could use my header graphic, which is just a picture of me, Warholized. I flipped in the image and added some gradient. Nice.

Unintentionally, I changed the font. I wanted a different font for the crumpled up paper on the homepage. Like typewriter style. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to superimpose my HTML text over the graphic, so I changed the article fonts to monospace. This changed the font to monospace on every page so I decided to stick with it. Plus monospace is available on every computer, making it easy on the download.

The about page, the page that explains me, is still needing some work. Maybe another picture of me somewhere. I added a gradient to the article content so as you read down to the bottom, the colors get darker. Well work on that later.

Updated Website

The New Web Page Showing My Web Work

Took some time today to update my website. I added a page to show off my web development and design work. Go take a look, then hire me :)

My plans for later include re-coding the graphics galleries in the graphics page, but I think I am OK with how it looks for now. By re-coding, I mean incorporating a picture gallery from jQuery. Something that can replace some of the CSS3 visibility and hovers that I am using.

Luckily, the most recent Firefox update seemed to fix some of the CSS3-related errors I was seeing in that browser only. The errors I was experiencing were coming from the visibility property and hover selector used in the stylesheet. The errors where making some of the images huge and popup off screen when the user hovered over the image. Again, this occurred in Firefox only. Now everything seems fine. However, I will have to try the graphics page in other browsers later.

Construction Update, Columbus Day, The Sopranos, and 9/11

Light at the end of the tunnel. Actually the rough opening to a gable vent in my new office/garage.

So I have been taking a break from the web development and graphic design game as well as GabrielOhhMedia.com while I continue my office construction project. August was  a very busy month! As you can see, I did not post anything on Blogger this past August. The good news is I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My goal is to have construction complete by October 13th, 2014 or Columbus Day. Speaking of, Columbus Day reminds me of one of my favorite episodes of The Sopranos, Christopher. This has to be among the most clumsy episodes out of The Soprano's six seasons. Check out a clip:


Here the crew is sitting in front of Satriale's when Bacala states, "Listen to this shit...", and begins reading a story out loud from the newspaper about a group of Native Americans planning to protest during the Columbus Day parade. Silvio proclaims, "it's Anti-Italian-American discrimination!" Which I thought was funny. In reference to the freshness of 9/11, Patsy Parisi exclaims, "Some fucking balls, bad-mouthing America, especially now." Takes you back to when 9/11 was still an open wound in American consciousness, especially on this day of the post. I think everyone was taking into question their own American-ness at the time and not willing to accept any kind of criticism.

Anyways, should everything go well I should be done with construction by Columbus Day. After that, maybe I can take some time to watch this episode somewhere in deeper reflection.

Using Inkscape to draw floor plans

When designing a space or trying to get a top view of a room or building, there are many ways to draw a floorplan. The easiest method is to simply draw the layout on paper. However, if you want to share the floor plan with someone else such as a contractor, prospective tenant, or property owner, you need to make a legible digital floor plan. Being fond of the open source way of life, Inkscape is an excellent tool to use for drawing a floor plan. If you are unfamiliar with Inkscape, it can take some time getting used to. However, within a few hours, any novice can have an intermediate grasp of it.

Recently I have begun a repair/remodel of a garage that I am turning into an office. See my previous blog post about the progress on the office. In preparation for the electrical work, I drew up a floor plan in Inkscape showing where I want the outlets and lights. This will help when I create the circuits because most of my measurements are already drawn out to scale. To draw to scale in Inkscape, you can change the units to feet. (or inches, meters, millimeters, centimeters, pixels) by selecting File, Document Properties.

Example of my office electrical plan. The blue lines are guide markers.

Should you need to print your drawing, you need to scale the drawing down to the size of the paper you plan to print to. First, select the area you would like to print using the Select and Transform Objects (or the mouse arrow on the left side in Inkscape's main interface). Then select File, Export Bitmap.

Change the export area to Selection. In Inkscape's main interface (the place where you draw), change the units to px (pixels). In an 8x11 piece of paper, at 300 ppi, there are 2400x3300 pixels. So after you make the selection to print, select the lock that is in the main toolbar (to lock the aspect ratio), and make your selection less than or equal to 2400x3300 pixels. Then select Export in Export Bitmap. After the export, the Export Bitmap window stays open. You can close this. Check your directory where you exported the image. Open it and print.

Work on the new office space continues

after

before

Work on my new office space is continuing. Take a look at the before and after shots showing some of the progress.  These shots are from the same general angle. We removed the garage door and put up a wall, using much of the same style cedar shiplap siding that was originally on the exterior walls.

We removed the ladder that went to the small attic space, removed some rotted wood at the bottom plate, replaced some rotted studs, and added pressure-treated lumber where the bottom plate meets the masonry. I also removed the traditional frame and sill from the windows. We have not bought the windows yet but I hope to begin working on the windows next week.

The project began back in early May. As you can see from the photo of the trailer full of junk, I had to clear out over 2 tons of garbage and random junk before I could even begin work. Originally, I had a "handyman" who had agreed to do most of the work. The only thing he was good for was hauling the garbage out, and for that, I am thankful. However, he bailed out on the job at the last minute so my brother and I have decided to handle this small repair/remodel job ourselves. Word to the wise, never get into business with an "handyman" masquerading as a contractor.

garage after wet scrape

This space is actually the garage behind my Mom's home. It has alleyway access and faces the Union Pacific railroad tracks that lead to a busy rail yard and roundhouse in Roseville, CA. Currently, I actually live by the roundhouse, a loud facility pumping out pullutants that I will not miss living down the street from. I plan on staying here awhile and working out of the new office until things shape up with my career.

I am happy that things are starting to come along now. After a major lead paint removal hurdle, I hope that most difficult tasks with the repair/remodel are behind us. Wet scraping lead paint, cleaning up the paint scrapings and chips, wearing full-body suits with respirators in Sacramento Valley 100 degree heat is not fun at all.

Hoping to get back into doing more web development work and taking more classes on web design and development for applications soon after this project is finished. Hopefully, if everything goes as scheduled, I should be done with this project by mid-August. Until then, stay cool.

New Website Published

Examples of free art from Pixabay.com used on my site

Finally found the time to put the finishing touches on the code for To Katch A Kitty.com. It's a website about trap, neuter, release for feral cats. My goal with the site was to make it as informative, easy to read, and engaging as I could. Most of my research came from the many well established feral cat and animal welfare organizations out there such as Alley Cat Allies, Neighborhood Cats, and the Humane Society of the United States. Other bits of information came courtesy of my local animal shelter, the Placer SPCA.

Other resources for elements such as graphics and pictures were used thanks to the various Creative Commons licensed material available on Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, and Pixabay. Although most of the site's content was produced by myself, I could not have rounded up all of the the elements needed without these free-licensed materials.

Mouseover the tabby to see what message he has for you.

The website employs some of the latest CSS3 :hover techniques that I have learned recently. I used the CSS transform and transition properties on several photos to not only engage the user but to provide attribution to photos used that were not my own.

For the overall design, I wanted the main article to appear as a sheet of transparent glass hovering over the background and I think I achieved that. The images in the background are sized in percents so they change size depending on the device screen width. I used the CSS background-attachment property to fix the images to the background so that they do not move. Also, I created two additional stylesheets for screen widths smaller than 900px and 700px. I found that at smaller screen widths, the cat face graphics get in the way of the background so I removed them at smaller widths. There is also a stylesheet for the printed page that removes certain elements that are not necessary to print.

There is a bit of JavaScript on the page. I used JavaScript to help iOS devices with the CSS :hover. I also used JavaScript to include a site search bar in the footer and add some sound effects.

Overall, I am glad the website is up. It has been about a two-three month project. The site could have been up sooner but I have had some personal issues arise that has made it difficult to find time to work on my projects.

Using Puppy Linux Quickpet to Support Dual-Head Displays

Lucid Puppy dual head display

These days, I use the lightweight and reliable Puppy Linux (Lucid and Precise) just about everywhere I go. Be it booting from USB or from re-writable DVD or CD-ROM. With the end of support for Windows XP, April 8th, 2014, Puppy Linux has become even more important to my day-to-day computing.

One problem I have encountered in the past was dual-head displays (dual monitor desktops) and Puppy’s seemingly lack of support. Well, after much frustration, I discovered that it is an easy fix. Providing you download the right driver for your video card.

My frustration began when trying to figure out the exact model of my card. Rather than open up the desktop case and locate the information on the card, it is easier to first try to enter a command in the terminal. You can find out more information about your hardware by running the Linux command:

lspci

So open your terminal and type:

lspci

Sample lspci return in ROXterm terminal, Lucid Puppy

This will display information about the pci buses on your system and the devices connected to them. lspci might return a lot of information. Look for something that looks like your video card such as ATI or Nvidia.

To expand your results, you can try:

lspci -v

The -v option stands for verbose. This command will return more details about your devices.

Quickpet comes with the base Lucid Puppy

I find searching for information about the GPU this way to be helpful but it lacks details. I am not sure how lspci treats ATI cards, but lspci will only show the general class series for Nvidia cards. According to my results from lspci, I needed to look for GeForce 6800 XT drivers for Linux. Thanks to Google, I found that there are numerous models of GPUs that fall under the 6800 XT, known as the 6-series. According to Nvidia, I needed driver version 185.18.36.

As is the norm for Nvidia, their website is not much help with finding the drivers for your Linux machine. I did not even find Nvidia-185 drivers anywhere.

Luckily for Lucid Puppy, there is a nifty utility called Quickpet. Inside Quickpet there is the option to lookup different drivers. Quickpet can even test your GPU to discover what model card you are using and suggest a recommended driver to download.

I suggest letting Quickpet test your card and following what it recommends. You can download the driver right from Quickpet. You may need to restart the x-server after the download and install is complete.

Screenshot of dual head display.

Once installed, if you have an Nvidia GPU, open the Nvidia X Server Settings Wizard, found under the Setup Menu in Lucid Puppy. Select X Server Display Configuration. Select your second monitor and hit Configure. You should set the configuration to TwinView. I set the monitor position to Absolute. Hit Apply and Quit.

Puppy Linux with dual head monitors.

Comcast-TWC Just Can't Take On Over-The-Top Alone

The world keeps getting smaller in the media industry. Thanks to an ongoing trend in the business characterized by acquisition, mergers, layoffs, and the all-around eating up of companies by some larger group in the supposed response to online competition. Yup the content on Netflix, Hulu (known as over-the-top or OTT programmers) is so compelling that it’s luring away precious viewers from the middle class realities and faux-real soap opera staples on the basic cable networks.

Hulu and Netflix don't F around, poor Comcast-TWC :'(

Today’s media industry merger business talk is dominated by the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal. At the moment, the two multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) are preparing to face-off in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on the proposed $45 billion dollar deal. 

Geez Netflix, you savvy OTT'ers, give the cable operators a break! The MVPDs have to make some vague promises about the open Internet and keeping broadcasting afloat to the politicians and judges who are going to green-light the deal after seeing the Comcast-TWC CEOs sweat.

But enough of all that. We’ll save the gory details for the next blogpost about the layoffs that are sure to come. Or maybe the DISH Network-DIRECT-TV deal? Hmm... The world keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Broadcast Engineering Finds New Home At TV Technology

This post has to do with a little known publication known as Broadcast Engineering. A free, ad-supported publication aimed a the broadcast television engineer and technicians, like myself. The magazine came monthly to my desk in the Master Control room. I once wrote for the magazine... well four articles, then I realized the demand and time crunch was too high to add to my full-time job. Feel free to read an article.

Maybe the last issue of Broadcast Engineering

It was not until today that I discovered that the magazine had been acquired by New Bay Media, the publisher of a competing publication, TV Technology. After digging through TV Technology’s archive, I found an article dated January 7th, 2014 that provides a brief note about the acquisition. This left me wondering as to the fate of my articles published on the Broadcast Engineering website. I searched and found that they are still alive, under the TV Technology branding.

It is sad and yet expected to note that the magazine was consumed without much notice. In a tweet dated October 25th, 2013, @BE_magazine announced that Broadcast Engineering will no longer be published. After 54 years of publication, the magazine ceased and it was announced in a tweet! 

It's with heavy hearts today that we announce Broadcast Engineering will no longer be published. Thanks for 54 great years!...
— BroadcastEngineering (@BE_magazine) October 25, 2013

Not a sign of the things to come in the media industry but more of a death nail. All those signs have been waving wildly since 2007 and those of us in the broadcast television industry who have stuck around despite such warnings are now witnessing the fatalities and counting the bodies. Probably not long until mine is piled up on the heap also.

In the face of such odds, we’ll keep marching on as always, making sure the signals reach the viewers, or at least until some other road opens up somewhere.

Sourceforge Bundles Malware with Legit Downloads

Last Sunday night I uploaded my professional/personal website, gabrielohhmedia.com to A Small Orange, my webhost. Go check it out. Of course uploading the site did not come without some hiccups. I wasn’t expecting that one of them would be finding a quality FTP client.

My friend Tecate Valentino is looking for a copy of Photoshop for his Mac. Being the advocate for free and open source software that I am, I suggested downloading and installing The GIMP. Well, today I decided to read up on the latest GIMP news and after nonchalantly browsing through the GIMP’s homepage news section, I  found a bit of news that disturbed me enough to type up a fresh blog post.

The GIMP reports in a blog post, GIMP Windows Installers Move From Sourceforge to FTP.GIMP.org, dated 11-05-13, details the latest horrors. Sourceforge was once a popular place to find and safely download FLOSS. I was really disappointed to find out that SourceForge now uses a special installer that bundles spyware, malware, and crimeware with your download. Shame shame shame.

Download here, download there.

Looking for an FTP client on my Windows 7 system, I immediately searched for FileZilla, a 5-star free and open-source FTP client. In a rush to install FileZilla and upload my site, I came across the bundles of crapware SourceForge was trying to push with my download. Thankfully I caught it and hopefully the unwanted wares did not install. I will have to double-check when I get home.

Thinking back on my most recent downloads from Sourceforge,  I downloaded and installed Miro Video Converter to encode some .webm and .mp4 video for HTML5 video on my website. The download link in Miro’s website took me to Sourceforge where I was able to find the Miro installer after bobbing and weaving the ads with green arrows indicating, “download here!” This time, the Sourceforge installer did not prompt me to install the third party malware such as PC Optimizer and Live Help. When the download finished, I noticed I had at least 4 unwanted applications on my desktop which I immediately and hopefully permanently uninstalled.

Making matters worse, the developers of FileZilla and Miro Video Converter are aware of Sourceforge’s installer changes because they are reported to be on the take. It is a shame when good software such as FileZilla is being used to push junk on the unsuspecting user. If you want my advice, be wary when downloading software, even once trusting locations such as Sourceforge. When forced to go to Sourceforge and the likes, watch the download options to prevent the dreaded Ask toolbar or PC Optimizer spyware.

New Career Moves and Trying Not to Go All-In

Viewfinder

For the past six months, I have been working hard on making some new moves. I had to put the whole graphic design and web development work to the side for the past two weeks because I have been preparing for an oral panel interview exam with a department under the State of California. Nearly three months after I was notified that my application had been accepted, I finally received the notice that my interview has been scheduled. It's set for next week.

My first edit station

The interview is an attempt to gauge my level of skills related to the particulate class for which I am applying for. Although the work I do directly relates to this class, I have been studying hard to cover every aspect of my career, which I have worked in for the past 7+ years. My goal is to have an answer for every question or scenario they pose. Which makes me wonder, why do I need to study so hard for a position related to a career which I have been working in for so many years?

Betacam SP

The fact is my current position does not offer the kinds of creative opportunities and chances to apply different creative skills that would allow for developing greater experience. Despite the lack of opportunities in this company, I still sought out skill developing jobs both with this company and elsewhere. I worked on various productions locally and even created local spots, PSAs, and paid programming for clients that aired on stations within the network I currently work for. As soon as my website is published, I will have some examples of my work available to watch.

Waveform monitor

Another problem is the fact that my current employer has been surviving quarter-to-quarter ever since I got on-board. The company was bankrupt just two years after I started my current position. Really, the first real job I get after college and the company goes bankrupt! The bankruptcy was not so surprising given the current state of the media economy. What was surprising was that the judge in the bankruptcy case allowed the company to dismiss over 1 billion in debt.

Setting the backfocus

It’s real discouraging to know that companies can squander billions and pay nothing in return. After emerging from bankruptcy, the CEO began to describe the company with terms such as, “a brand new company.” In reality, the company was the same-old just with less debt. If the judge in the bankruptcy case were smart, this person would have dismissed the debt with the stipulation that the current heads of the company step down. They already ran the ship aground the first time, why give them a chance to do it again?

Currently, I am looking at being laid-off in a few weeks or months or so, no one really knows for sure. Ever since hearing the news about the layoffs this past September, I have found a significant amount of irony in the whole thing… So much so that it is too much to mention here in the blog but maybe later I can put together some examples.

A new venture

This leads me to why I am studying so hard. If I can ace my interview and I am offered a position, does that mean I go all-in and drop the graphic design and web development work? Not a chance. I still think that my best opportunity for expanding my career and creating a livelihood is doing it myself, or in a team of like-minding folks. So, I am hoping to get on-board with the state, if only to buy some more time to continue fusing together my new skills.

Watch For Your Cable Bill to Increase, The Simpsons Come to FXX

Driving Home the Money on FXX

So The Simpsons are coming to FXX this Fall. According to Deadline, FXX acquired the broadcast rights to The Simpsons from parent company, 21^st Century Fox. The off-network acquisition must have been like the young teenage son asking the dad if he could drive the Mustang, or rather, the family sedan on Friday night. With the exception that this deal is expected to reap up to 1 billion for 21^st Century Fox, driving the family car never paid off so well.

The Simpsons and Always Sunny on FXX

The deal marks the first time the show will be featured on a cable network. Since the show’s inception and throughout its 20+ years on-air, the show has always been on broadcast. FXX has also acquired VOD rights to the show, so this will also become the first time viewers at home can watch The Simpsons online, VOD, and/or a mobile device. In addition, Deadline reports that FX Networks plans to launch FXNOW, an app where the network plans to feature on-demand episodes of The Simpsons. The broadcast and VOD rights makes The Simpsons a multi-pronged earner for FXX.

The deal brings relevance to FXX which currently airs movies and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Which up until now, may have been the only reason to tune-in. Increasingly, it seems that Fox Networks, like all the networks, is simply trying to build out its cache of cable nets in an effort to simply hike up the re-transmission fees from the cable and satellite companies.

In the end, this hurts the consumer because Comcast and the likes have no choice but to pass the buck. Seriously, they could not fit Always Sunny and The Simpsons on FX alone? They had to create an additional cable channel network? At least we have Ali G coming back or is that on FX?

CBS to Bring Thursday Night Football to Broadcast in 2014

CBS and Thursday Night Football, eight games in 2014

As a fan of NFL football and a thrifty consumer, I am glad to read the news today that CBS will be broadcasting eight Thursday Night Football games for the 2014 season. The games will be also air simultaneously on the NFL Network, as they have been  in the past, according to Fierce Cable.

This is a win-win both for the fan and the NFL because this means fans will not have to shell out the extra bucks just to pay for a bundle of cable channels just to watch Thursday Night Football (TNF) or go to the local sportsbar to watch their favorite team play on Thursday night. According to Zap2it, ABC also bid for the broadcast rights to eight TNF games. I think this is something that fans have been waiting for and demanding ever since the creation of TNF.

The NFL will see ratings increase for TNF which have been dismal for the NFL Network. Besides the games, I can’t imagine the casual fan tuning in to the network for much more so it is bizarre to even keep the network on-air. Its almost similar to Oprah starting the OWN network. Like football, she fairs better on broadcast.

Now if only we can get access to Monday Night Football on broadcast rather than ESPN. That is unlikely to happen due to the fact that ratings for Monday Night Football on ESPN seem to be doing very well. The highest rated TNF game was the Kansas City-Philadelphia game on September 19th, 2013 which averaged 9.4 million viewers, according to Zap2it. In comparison, the final Monday Night Football game of the 2013 regular season between the Atlanta Falcons-San Francisco 49ers on Decemeber 23rd averaged 14.1 million viewers, according to Zap2it.

According to Fierce Cable, CBS is contracted to produce eight TNF games for the 2014 season. This leaves the remainder of the games to broadcast elsewhere which will probably be the NFL Network. There were 14 TNF games during the most recent 2013 season, including the Chargers-Raiders game which aired late on the Sunday night of October, 6th, 2013. The upcoming 2014 season schedule will be announced in April.

How to Create a Retro Postcard Design in Gimp 2.8

An awesome tutorial on creating postcards with The GIMP. This one is from JosephsPlace at YouTube. When I first attempted this, I got lost in the middle of the tutorial and starting working on this postcard project on my own. Here is the result of my first attempt, a postcard from my hometown in Old Roseville, CA:

First attempt.

The author of the tutorial mentions Photoshop users have access to an easy wave making tool. In GIMP, we have to use the path tool to create a text along path or use the newer cage transform tool, which is what I did.

This tutorial is also beneficial due to the extra techniques the author mentions that can really change the way you do graphics. Little things such as changing the font size of the first letter so that is is roughly 10-15% larger then the rest of the proceeding text. Also the links to the font used was a good look by the author, I have used them now in many projects.

Second attempt.

I did find some flaws in my second go-around, while making the postcard for Locke, CA. During my first attempt, I painstakingly cleaned up the edges to remove the aliasing that occurs when you create the 3-D background. The second time around, I was able to follow the tutorial to the end and found that my edges showed bad aliasing which is hard to fix. You have to go around the entire edge with a small, maybe 1-pixel size eraser brush and remove the edges. Unless there is a better way that I am unaware of. Here is the result of my second go:

Some other useful techniques I found in my second go was the black radial gradient the author uses to bring out the text, along with the softlight radial gradient used to create a light source. Very cool. If you are interested, check out JosephsPlace tutorial on YouTube or the embedded video below:

GIMP Tutorial - Use Channel Mask & Threshold for Complex Selections by V...

GIMP Tutorial - Use Channel Mask & Threshold for Complex Selections by V...

Minnie the furry Lhasa Apso/Mix with simulated depth-of-field.

I use a lot of GIMP tutorials found all over the web for various projects. One of my go-to instructors is VscorpianC, be sure to check out her YouTube channel. I do a lot of graphic work as a volunteer at the local animal shelter, and often times I want to use a photo of a dog that has a crummy background, such as the one of Minnie, the 9-year old Lhasa Apso/Mix available for adoption, in the picture to the right.


To work with the photo I need to lasso the animal in GIMP and then either replace the background with a nice looking graphic or use a technique I learned from another tutorial found online called simulating depth-of-field (DOF), thanks to the GIMP Guru. This technique is easy enough to perform on a picture of a smooth-haired chihuahua or pitty, but on a Lhasa Apso... yeah all that fur makes lassoing the outline of the dog a real pain!

Using the color threshold and paintbrush to create a channel mask.

Luckily, I found VscorpianC's tutorial on using a channel mask threshold for complex selections. Using an image of a tiger with whiskers poking out against the background, VscorpianC clearly informs how to use GIMP's channels and color threshold to create a channel mask.

Layer mask.

After creating the channel mask, VscorpianC explains that you can add a layer mask and use the channel selection mask copy as a selection. From there you can replace the background if that is all you want to do. Or, create a simulated DOF, such as I did. Check out GIMP Guru's tutorial on simulated DOF.

Minnie in space. Photo by NASA, ESA. Acknowledgement: Josh Lake.

You Must Be Patient With True Detective and Branding Ideas

I haven't been very good at updating this whole blog thing as of late. With all the great TV shows on-air... True Detective has got to be the most interesting snooze on-air right now, and with Shameless back, well my Sunday nights are booked.

For the past several weeks, I have been working on marketing myself, coding my own website in CSS3 and HTML5. But I have been having some trouble branding myself. What do you think a good name for my business should be? I have it narrowed down to anything with my initials really. Here is a logo I built:

Logo with transparent initials.

The logo is transparent through the initials to show off anything in the background. Here is an example of the logo with a background image:

Kind of like the bat signal?

The good news is I finished my course at ed2go.com on Introduction to CSS3 and HTML5. I am looking forward to my next course, Intermediate CSS3 and HTML5 starting in mid-February.

As for my branding, I am having trouble coming up with a name. Here are some quick mockups I created in GIMP's logo creation feature. I have tried "gabriel ohh designs:"

Alien glow example.

Here is "g-ohh designs:"

Glowing hot example.

Here is "gohh designs:"

Neon example.

I am not really sold on either, just trying to throw ideas out until I find something that sticks.

Back to True Detective, the story moves at a snail's pace. Back when I was in Film Studies, I learned to call a slow movie, "patient." Well you have to be patient with True Detective. The next time I dress up for an interview, or court appearance, I am taking a cue from Rust's wardrobe. Gotta love the sleazy style, makes you want to read Nietzsche and Camus again. Also, the opening credits to the show have got to be the best I have seen on television. Check them out: