About herbalcell

Hello, I'm Rachel Bell, and this is my website. Herbalcell is actually just an anagram of my name. My site is a place for me to share my hobbies and some articles on various topics.

I love to play video games. My favorites are the Legend of Zelda series, and point-and-click adventure games like Myst.

I also love to listen to my favorite video game music (particularly that composed by Koji Kondo), as well as making video game sheet music for piano. I also learn to play some of it, but I don't consider myself a pianist because I can't sight-read sheet music.

I also enjoy teaching myself 3D modeling and animation. I've been using Blender, a powerful free and open source program, for a few years. I also like to work on my high-res texture pack for Majora's Mask.

I like to draw and paint digitally with my Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. I also use Photoshop to restore old photographs. I like looking at other people's art as well. I tend toward the dark, mysterious, eerie, fantasy types that evoke strong feelings, whether it be a painting or photograph. I love seeing cloudy skies and shadowy forests.

I have a bachelor's degree in computer science and love to write code. Most of my experience is in web development. I designed, coded, and maintain this website. My favorite language is Python, and I like to use the Django web framework. I have pretty extensive HTML and CSS experience, and a bit of Java experience as well. I also have the future goal of creating indie video games with my husband who is also a developer.

I'm an atheist, a rationalist, a scientist, a skeptic, a geek / nerd, a minimalist, a feminist, and at the moment also a libertarian.

My intellectual heroes are Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sam Harris, and Noam Chomsky, among others. Listening to them talk makes me want to give each of them a speechless hug.

I'm originally from Texas; my husband and I moved to Maine in September of 2011. We like trying new things, and the change from Texas to Maine is definitely a new experience! We saw more snow in the first 2 weeks of living here than we had in our previous lifetimes. We were really eager to leave Texas for a change of pace but now we do miss it from time to time.

I'm a big fan of Japan and Japanese culture. I like anime and Japanese films. My husband and I dream of taking trips to Japan and possibly living there for a while someday.

I also like photography. We have a Canon Rebel XS. I put some of my best photos on flickr.

Favorite Movies:

Clue, Haunted Honeymoon, Lord of the Rings, Home Alone, Twilight, Star Wars, Napoleon Dynamite, Train Man

Favorite Shows:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development, Frasier, King of the Hill, Futurama, Veronica Mars, Nova Science Now, Witch Hunter Robin, Samurai Champloo

Favorite Music:

In short: I like music that can make me cry. It doesn't need to be sad for that — in fact I prefer music that makes me happy. It just needs to be evocative. Something that I can forget about the injustices of the world for a moment and experience something beautiful. I don't listen to music all the time or even that often, but when I do I like to make it worth my time. I also prefer to listen with my Sennheisers for the same reason.

I have favorite songs but I don't like an artist with any kind of loyalty. Many artists release something awesome that gets them famous and then coast downward on the wave of fame. The groups that I probably like most consistently are Green Day, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Incubus, in that there are multiple songs from them that I like a lot. I also enjoy Animal Collective, The Postal Service, and Fleet Foxes. I use rateyourmusic.com to find highly rated (not highly purchased) singles when I am in the mood for something new. I've found most of my favorite songs this way. I'm slowly building a favorite songs list on YouTube.

Contact me

Feel free to contact me about anything at all — herbalcell@gmail.com.