I've uploaded some NBL footage to YouTube. The video is from the NBL game between the Adelaide 36ers and the Cairns Taipans, which took place at the Distinctive Homes "Dome" in Adelaide on 9 February 2008.
This was Lanard Copeland's last home game in the NBL, and it was good to see a veteran, and a two-time champion, going out on a high note. Not that the Sixers made the playoffs, but you can't have everything.
This was an experiment for me, and I discovered a few things. Firstly, my digital camera's video function works about as well as could be expected. I may one day shell out for a camcorder, but I'm a long way from doing that. Secondly, YouTube handles widescreen videos properly, with postbox bars rather than cropping or distortion. Thirdly, I've learnt a bit about iMovie '08, which I may use in the future to prepare rough cuts before putting things in Final Cut Express.
Enjoy...
02 March 2008
Video: How To Torment Your Cat - starring Cleo
I have uploaded a new video to YouTube: How To Torment Your Cat - starring Cleo.
Cleo belongs to my friend Penny, who lives near Canberra. When she's not complaining bitterly about wanting to go outside, Cleo has learnt to shake hands, which is very cute.
I shot some video of Penny and Cleo in December and wanted to include that in my all-encompassing Christmas videos. However, given the reaction I got to Cleo shaking hands, I decided to make a video just of Penny and Cleo, to put onto YouTube.
Enjoy...
Cleo belongs to my friend Penny, who lives near Canberra. When she's not complaining bitterly about wanting to go outside, Cleo has learnt to shake hands, which is very cute.
I shot some video of Penny and Cleo in December and wanted to include that in my all-encompassing Christmas videos. However, given the reaction I got to Cleo shaking hands, I decided to make a video just of Penny and Cleo, to put onto YouTube.
Enjoy...
Next
I have finally finished my project. We handed it over on Thursday morning and I think it went over reasonably well.
Personally, I'm still in the same lucid state I've been in for the past couple of weeks, the sense of relief not yet compensating for the sense of fatigue. The weekend is nigh, though, and with any luck, things will return to normal within the next few days. Until I start thinking about the next project, I've been doing a bit of housekeeping on my work computer in the meantime.
How To Torment Your Cat - starring Cleo is up. I'll post a separate entry for that. Apparently, you can set it up so that new YouTube videos are linked straight to your blog. I'll try that out for next time.
I will have another video to upload very soon. I shot some video clips of the Adelaide 36ers' last game of the season - which was, coincidentally, Lanard Copeland's last home game in the NBL. Really, it was just an excuse to play with my digital camera and to learn the new version of iMovie, which I've only just installed. I can't say I'm unimpressed: it's really quick and easy to make a rough-cut film sequence, which can then be imported into Final Cut if you want something with a bit more grunt. (It's not actually documented anywhere, it would seem, that Final Cut Express 3.5.1 supports the Final Cut XML format, but you can drag-and-drop said XML files into your project and they will just appear as a sequence.) This Sixers footage will be entirely in iMovie, though.
I rang the club to see what would be required to publish the footage that I took. It seems that you need permission from the holder of the broadcast rights, and even then, you can't publish more than a couple of minutes of video. That's fine for me - this little project is more an experiment than anything else - but I thought I'd share that with anyone who had considered publishing footage of NBL games on YouTube, particularly of games broadcast by Fox Sports or (half your luck) one of the free-to-air networks.
The search for a new iPod continues. It seems that the microphone attachments almost work with the current generation of iPods, although not all settings are available. I haven't found any news about whether a microphone will ever appear for the iPod Touch - and I mean officially, since the homebrewers seem to be on the cusp of just such a thing. I suspect that the idea of turning the Touch into a wireless internet phone might just annoy a few of Apple's strategic partners.
To be frank, though, this likely won't be an issue for me until at least the start of the next NBL season. I don't have any projects lined up that would require me to carry a roving microphone, and I'm not likely to start one. Besides, I could always buy myself a separate voice recorder for less than $100. Then again, perhaps that's just what I want to tell myself, as an excuse to consider the 32-gigabyte Touch. Yum.
It seems like a lot of money to outlay for what it is, since my current iPod would still be perfectly fine if it played video. I suppose that the idea of selling the old one will make up for that. I can add it to the list of things I want to sell. My old Toshiba laptop is ready to sell. I've got a leaflet to put up at the local university campus, in case anyone's looking for something on the cheap. I've got a bunch of old games that I don't play any more as well.
I guess it's just a question of letting go. It was hard enough coming to terms to being finished with work that has been so much of a hassle for the past two months. That probably explains why I haven't done more, and sooner, to sell the things that I have actually liked. Still, the time is right to move on.
Personally, I'm still in the same lucid state I've been in for the past couple of weeks, the sense of relief not yet compensating for the sense of fatigue. The weekend is nigh, though, and with any luck, things will return to normal within the next few days. Until I start thinking about the next project, I've been doing a bit of housekeeping on my work computer in the meantime.
* * * * * *
How To Torment Your Cat - starring Cleo is up. I'll post a separate entry for that. Apparently, you can set it up so that new YouTube videos are linked straight to your blog. I'll try that out for next time.
I will have another video to upload very soon. I shot some video clips of the Adelaide 36ers' last game of the season - which was, coincidentally, Lanard Copeland's last home game in the NBL. Really, it was just an excuse to play with my digital camera and to learn the new version of iMovie, which I've only just installed. I can't say I'm unimpressed: it's really quick and easy to make a rough-cut film sequence, which can then be imported into Final Cut if you want something with a bit more grunt. (It's not actually documented anywhere, it would seem, that Final Cut Express 3.5.1 supports the Final Cut XML format, but you can drag-and-drop said XML files into your project and they will just appear as a sequence.) This Sixers footage will be entirely in iMovie, though.
I rang the club to see what would be required to publish the footage that I took. It seems that you need permission from the holder of the broadcast rights, and even then, you can't publish more than a couple of minutes of video. That's fine for me - this little project is more an experiment than anything else - but I thought I'd share that with anyone who had considered publishing footage of NBL games on YouTube, particularly of games broadcast by Fox Sports or (half your luck) one of the free-to-air networks.
* * * * * *
The search for a new iPod continues. It seems that the microphone attachments almost work with the current generation of iPods, although not all settings are available. I haven't found any news about whether a microphone will ever appear for the iPod Touch - and I mean officially, since the homebrewers seem to be on the cusp of just such a thing. I suspect that the idea of turning the Touch into a wireless internet phone might just annoy a few of Apple's strategic partners.
To be frank, though, this likely won't be an issue for me until at least the start of the next NBL season. I don't have any projects lined up that would require me to carry a roving microphone, and I'm not likely to start one. Besides, I could always buy myself a separate voice recorder for less than $100. Then again, perhaps that's just what I want to tell myself, as an excuse to consider the 32-gigabyte Touch. Yum.
It seems like a lot of money to outlay for what it is, since my current iPod would still be perfectly fine if it played video. I suppose that the idea of selling the old one will make up for that. I can add it to the list of things I want to sell. My old Toshiba laptop is ready to sell. I've got a leaflet to put up at the local university campus, in case anyone's looking for something on the cheap. I've got a bunch of old games that I don't play any more as well.
I guess it's just a question of letting go. It was hard enough coming to terms to being finished with work that has been so much of a hassle for the past two months. That probably explains why I haven't done more, and sooner, to sell the things that I have actually liked. Still, the time is right to move on.
10 February 2008
Catching up
I didn't have time to write an entry last week. In fact, there are so many things happening, I've barely got time to write one today. I've still managed to find time for some Oxfam fair trade chocolate, though.
I went to the Mawson Lakes Environmental Expo last Thursday. I was hoping to make contact with a few like-minded individuals and organisations, and it's amazing how much it gets you thinking when you do. I caught up with a fellow "peaknik" (that is, someone concerned enough about peak oil that they are actually doing something about it) and had a chat with him, since I didn't arrive early enough to attend his lecture. He and I are both a bit worried that these sorts of lectures tend to preach to the choir, which has gotten me thinking about how to reach people who are a bit more cynical - such as just about everyone I know.
Work has gone from being OK to disastrous to excellent in the space of 24 hours. I had long since hit a wall, which I finally got over on Thursday afternoon, only to hit another far more minor one - but it was too late in the day not to get aggravated about it. My boss spent some time with me on Friday morning, which couldn't have been timed any better, and things are moving in the right direction again.
What else have I done? I've sent what I hope to be a final draft of the video I shot of my friend's cat, but I haven't heard back. (It needs my signature anyway, and I haven't fired up LiveType for it yet.) I went to a pan-Asian restaurant called Vietnam to celebrate Chinese New Year with some friends. I've been to see Cloverfield, although I didn't see what has been alleged to happen at the end, and none of the videos I've seen on YouTube have helped me spot it. I'm still chipping away at Super Mario Galaxy, I'm still shopping for a new iPod, and I'm still waiting for the Adelaide 36ers season to end.
The iPod thing is weird. I'm thinking about replacing the old Photo with a more modern one that can play video. The problem is that I also use it to take notes when I'm writing basketball match reports, and it seems that none of the voice recorder attachments work with the current generation of iPods, particularly the iPod Touch. Of course, if there aren't any more matches here this season, this won't be an issue for seven or eight months. Personally, I'm leaning towards the models with flash memory rather than a hard disk, to keep the weight down, just in case I actually pull my finger out and stop driving to work.
I have three goals for this week. Firstly, I have a steadily-increasing queue of movies and documentaries to diminish. Secondly, I want to get my old laptop ready to sell and have a flier ready to put up next weekend. (I talked to a friend of mine today about putting one up at the local university campus.) Thirdly, I have a few things to post, but I'm not likely to get to a post office before Saturday morning. Given that I have a deadline at work this same Friday, for which I'm really going to be racing, I'm going to be completely spent by the end of it, I reckon.
I went to the Mawson Lakes Environmental Expo last Thursday. I was hoping to make contact with a few like-minded individuals and organisations, and it's amazing how much it gets you thinking when you do. I caught up with a fellow "peaknik" (that is, someone concerned enough about peak oil that they are actually doing something about it) and had a chat with him, since I didn't arrive early enough to attend his lecture. He and I are both a bit worried that these sorts of lectures tend to preach to the choir, which has gotten me thinking about how to reach people who are a bit more cynical - such as just about everyone I know.
Work has gone from being OK to disastrous to excellent in the space of 24 hours. I had long since hit a wall, which I finally got over on Thursday afternoon, only to hit another far more minor one - but it was too late in the day not to get aggravated about it. My boss spent some time with me on Friday morning, which couldn't have been timed any better, and things are moving in the right direction again.
What else have I done? I've sent what I hope to be a final draft of the video I shot of my friend's cat, but I haven't heard back. (It needs my signature anyway, and I haven't fired up LiveType for it yet.) I went to a pan-Asian restaurant called Vietnam to celebrate Chinese New Year with some friends. I've been to see Cloverfield, although I didn't see what has been alleged to happen at the end, and none of the videos I've seen on YouTube have helped me spot it. I'm still chipping away at Super Mario Galaxy, I'm still shopping for a new iPod, and I'm still waiting for the Adelaide 36ers season to end.
The iPod thing is weird. I'm thinking about replacing the old Photo with a more modern one that can play video. The problem is that I also use it to take notes when I'm writing basketball match reports, and it seems that none of the voice recorder attachments work with the current generation of iPods, particularly the iPod Touch. Of course, if there aren't any more matches here this season, this won't be an issue for seven or eight months. Personally, I'm leaning towards the models with flash memory rather than a hard disk, to keep the weight down, just in case I actually pull my finger out and stop driving to work.
I have three goals for this week. Firstly, I have a steadily-increasing queue of movies and documentaries to diminish. Secondly, I want to get my old laptop ready to sell and have a flier ready to put up next weekend. (I talked to a friend of mine today about putting one up at the local university campus.) Thirdly, I have a few things to post, but I'm not likely to get to a post office before Saturday morning. Given that I have a deadline at work this same Friday, for which I'm really going to be racing, I'm going to be completely spent by the end of it, I reckon.
28 January 2008
A weekend too long is never long enough
Well, the Australia Day long weekend has been and gone. Our broadband connection at home was shaped back to dial-up speed for two of those three days, because somebody who will remain anonymous blew the last of our download cap just in time for the end of the week. I certainly take no responsibility for it whatsoever. Much.
I didn't vote in the Triple J Hottest 100 for the first time in years, having spent so little time with the radio on that I couldn't find ten songs that I recognised by name. That said, I have caught up on a few episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Réport from the week, and I've written to a few people who haven't heard from me in far too long. Oh, and I got started on Super Mario Galaxy.
It's come to that time of the year again where I'm looking for things to get rid of. Okay, perhaps this is a reaction to the spending I did after I got my first pay, I don't really feel as though I'm getting rid of old junk to make room for new junk. (Besides, as per last week's entry, I'm hardly having money problems.) Clothes I don't wear, video games I don't play, movies I'll never watch again, and so on: all, hopefully, to be given away or sold over the next couple of months. I'll have more detail here about the items for sale when I put them up on eBay beforehand.
One thing that won't be on eBay is my old laptop. It's a little Toshiba that coming up to its fourth birthday. Everything's been superseded, of course, but everything still works; it served me well for three years, until I got my Mac. I'm thinking I might head to the uni and put some ads up there. In any case, it's worth a bit too much just to ship to some anonymous would-be-scammer.
Lastly, I'm working on a video that is very near to completion. When I was in Canberra in December visiting a friend of mine, I took some video of her cat. I had a go at cutting that footage together for her, and I emailed her a preview. I think she's happy enough with it. I'll put a bit more polish on it, before I put it on YouTube. She'll be even happier when the royalty cheques come in - although they will be in the cat's name.
Back to work tomorrow, bright and early. Well, early, anyway.
I didn't vote in the Triple J Hottest 100 for the first time in years, having spent so little time with the radio on that I couldn't find ten songs that I recognised by name. That said, I have caught up on a few episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Réport from the week, and I've written to a few people who haven't heard from me in far too long. Oh, and I got started on Super Mario Galaxy.
It's come to that time of the year again where I'm looking for things to get rid of. Okay, perhaps this is a reaction to the spending I did after I got my first pay, I don't really feel as though I'm getting rid of old junk to make room for new junk. (Besides, as per last week's entry, I'm hardly having money problems.) Clothes I don't wear, video games I don't play, movies I'll never watch again, and so on: all, hopefully, to be given away or sold over the next couple of months. I'll have more detail here about the items for sale when I put them up on eBay beforehand.
One thing that won't be on eBay is my old laptop. It's a little Toshiba that coming up to its fourth birthday. Everything's been superseded, of course, but everything still works; it served me well for three years, until I got my Mac. I'm thinking I might head to the uni and put some ads up there. In any case, it's worth a bit too much just to ship to some anonymous would-be-scammer.
Lastly, I'm working on a video that is very near to completion. When I was in Canberra in December visiting a friend of mine, I took some video of her cat. I had a go at cutting that footage together for her, and I emailed her a preview. I think she's happy enough with it. I'll put a bit more polish on it, before I put it on YouTube. She'll be even happier when the royalty cheques come in - although they will be in the cat's name.
Back to work tomorrow, bright and early. Well, early, anyway.
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