Well, here we are the day after the end of the Write 31 Days challenge and I have to say I'm wiped out. Writing about a certain topic for a continual 31 days can be exhausting (not that I did it, read more below) but thinking that every day I had to try and coerce my uncooperative thoughts into a string of semi-coherent words was honestly pretty taxing. There is lots to share from my grey-matter container and to limit it to a certain topic day after day was certainly a struggle. Would I do it again? Maybe. Would I do the insanity that is the "write a novel in 30 days" challenge? Yeah, there's a pretty good chance I'd give it a shot.
Allow me to get serious for a minute: you may have noticed I bailed out of the last few days of the challenge. Without going into too much detail, our youngest child ended up in the ICU over the last weekend and to say we dropped everything like a hot rock is, well...entirely accurate. There is nothing that will rock your world like seeing a part of you in a position of extreme uncertainty when it comes to predicting their survival from hour to hour. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't wish on anyone. Ever. EVER.
For those of you who were in the loop in some way, we thank you with all our hearts for your prayers and support. She is physically doing well but will be dealing with the aftermath for quite some time.As you can understand dealing with this is job #1 for us, so a lot of stuff got dropped where it was and we will endeavor to pick them back up when real life allows. It is my full intention that the next post here will be about the exploration of the world of stringed instrument construction, repair, and restoration. Please be patient for that day to come. I appreciate your understanding and hope to "talk" to you soon.
V/r,
James
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Write 31 Days- Day 27 Yes, I ditched you
I'm not proud of it, but sometimes you do what you gotta' do.
Yesterday, I decided I had to make a tutorial video for a new feature that YouTube is rolling out called End Screens. These are the links and buttons (we call them annotations) that appear at the end of a video. I didn't want to make a simple "this does this, that does that" so I decided to show the steps on how I set up the last 20 seconds of each shoot to accommodate the YouTube features.
So I had to make a sample video segment which included using Adobe Photoshop for the graphic element, audio recording software to capture the voice-over, Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the video and the YouTube End Screen editor to test and plan the video capture to follow. I then used OBS software to capture the on-screen action and an audio recorder to get the narration of me doing what I had just tested but now to show and teach the process. Finally, I had to edit me doing all of that and finally add THAT video showing you how to do what I had just done.
It took most of the day and WELL into the night.
I was creative, I just didn't share it until the day after.
So here you go:
Yesterday, I decided I had to make a tutorial video for a new feature that YouTube is rolling out called End Screens. These are the links and buttons (we call them annotations) that appear at the end of a video. I didn't want to make a simple "this does this, that does that" so I decided to show the steps on how I set up the last 20 seconds of each shoot to accommodate the YouTube features.
So I had to make a sample video segment which included using Adobe Photoshop for the graphic element, audio recording software to capture the voice-over, Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the video and the YouTube End Screen editor to test and plan the video capture to follow. I then used OBS software to capture the on-screen action and an audio recorder to get the narration of me doing what I had just tested but now to show and teach the process. Finally, I had to edit me doing all of that and finally add THAT video showing you how to do what I had just done.
It took most of the day and WELL into the night.
I was creative, I just didn't share it until the day after.
So here you go:
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Write 31 Days- Day 25 Late Night Television
You know who was a creative guy? Doc Severinsen. I know that some of you have no idea who I'm talking about. Let me learn you something.
Once upon a time when televisions had to warm up and and they played the national anthem when they went off the air (yes, TV stations used to stop broadcasting when most of us were sleeping) there was a phenomenon known as late night talk shows. Not the craziness and variety there is now but only a couple of selections. I don't know what the "other" choices were because I was (am) a dyed-in-the-wool Tonight Show with Johnny Carson fan. And in those days TV shows not only had theme songs (not the dramatic A-minor chord pad of today's shows) but an honest-to God orchestra. Case in point was the one playing with Johnny Carson: the Tonight Show Orchestra headed up by Doc Severinsen.
Doc was a trumpet player. That's an understatement. Doc was an amazing trumpet player. And he was funny. He started playing with the Tonight Show Orchestra in 1954 BEFORE Johhny Carson was the host and was there until Johnny retired in 1992. Thirty-eight years.He release several albums, toured like crazy and was generally regarded as one of the nicest guys in the business.
And his clothes.....oh my goodness. This is where the creativity of Doc shined brightest. Or not, depending on your personal taste. I've seen him in metallic prints, be-dazzled to put a Vegas show girl to shame and feathers. FEATHERS I tell you. Johnny and Ed joked with him and he just laughed it off. He was making a living doing what he wanted to do...who cared?
Doc Severinsen being Doc
Be bold in what you do. Life is short an no one gets out alive, so have fun.
Be creative kids.
Once upon a time when televisions had to warm up and and they played the national anthem when they went off the air (yes, TV stations used to stop broadcasting when most of us were sleeping) there was a phenomenon known as late night talk shows. Not the craziness and variety there is now but only a couple of selections. I don't know what the "other" choices were because I was (am) a dyed-in-the-wool Tonight Show with Johnny Carson fan. And in those days TV shows not only had theme songs (not the dramatic A-minor chord pad of today's shows) but an honest-to God orchestra. Case in point was the one playing with Johnny Carson: the Tonight Show Orchestra headed up by Doc Severinsen.
Doc was a trumpet player. That's an understatement. Doc was an amazing trumpet player. And he was funny. He started playing with the Tonight Show Orchestra in 1954 BEFORE Johhny Carson was the host and was there until Johnny retired in 1992. Thirty-eight years.He release several albums, toured like crazy and was generally regarded as one of the nicest guys in the business.
And his clothes.....oh my goodness. This is where the creativity of Doc shined brightest. Or not, depending on your personal taste. I've seen him in metallic prints, be-dazzled to put a Vegas show girl to shame and feathers. FEATHERS I tell you. Johnny and Ed joked with him and he just laughed it off. He was making a living doing what he wanted to do...who cared?
Doc Severinsen being Doc
Be bold in what you do. Life is short an no one gets out alive, so have fun.
Be creative kids.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Write 31 Days- Day 24 James is a Slacker
But, in my defense, I was medicated for a combination of bad-knee-getting-worse and kick-butt-immune-response-to-pollen. So there.
Today I'm problem solving an issue with reports that some of my videos are "stuttering" and getting out of sync. They play fine on the Godzilla-sized system I edit on and I can replicate the problem when viewing them online (sometimes) on various devices(sometimes) so I blame the Interwebs and YouTube.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to not try to fix the problem on my end if I can. So, I'm doing a little experimenting with rendering settings and the like which is TERRIBLY exciting (said no one ever) and in the process I came across this little gem of a clip. I say gem for no particular reason other than it is one of my earliest attempts at shooting video with my Canon 7D digital camera. I've gone through as replaced the music (long story of a disagreement between my buyout music company (since taken over) YouTube, and myself. I tried to clean up the cuts as much as I could but the original files are long gone and this came out of a silly $20 editing program I bought and consequently hated.
So with that bit of dross out there in the open here's the video of a winter snow storm that hit Yokota Air Base, Japan in 2012 when we were blessed to live there. For me there's nothing better than winter weather and to experience it in a land that has you mesmerized is a bonus.
Be creative kids.
Today I'm problem solving an issue with reports that some of my videos are "stuttering" and getting out of sync. They play fine on the Godzilla-sized system I edit on and I can replicate the problem when viewing them online (sometimes) on various devices(sometimes) so I blame the Interwebs and YouTube.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to not try to fix the problem on my end if I can. So, I'm doing a little experimenting with rendering settings and the like which is TERRIBLY exciting (said no one ever) and in the process I came across this little gem of a clip. I say gem for no particular reason other than it is one of my earliest attempts at shooting video with my Canon 7D digital camera. I've gone through as replaced the music (long story of a disagreement between my buyout music company (since taken over) YouTube, and myself. I tried to clean up the cuts as much as I could but the original files are long gone and this came out of a silly $20 editing program I bought and consequently hated.
So with that bit of dross out there in the open here's the video of a winter snow storm that hit Yokota Air Base, Japan in 2012 when we were blessed to live there. For me there's nothing better than winter weather and to experience it in a land that has you mesmerized is a bonus.
 |
| a great day to be out and about |
Be creative kids.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Write 31 Days- Day 22 Creatively Uncreative...or the opposite
Today was one of those days that was necessary yet painful. They say the day you stop learning is the day you stop living (ok, I don't know if anyone really says that but it sounded good) and today I crammed in a bunch of learning from the YouTube Creator Academy.
In particular their pre-production boot camp series. It was a number of lessons about certain aspects of what happens before you record the first seconds of video in video, multiple choice and short answer questions. There were sections on story brainstorming, script writing, storyboarding as well as workflow and time management (and even some budgeting thrown in just for fun).
Now my video style doesn't lend itself to as much pre-planning as a traditional short film (the intended audience for this boot camp series) but I did learn quite a bit. And even topics that weren't directly relatable to me did trigger some thoughts as my mind wandered a rabbit trail or two and I ended up with a bunch of mad scratchings on the old Mk I mod I paper.
If you're a YT creator there's still time to sign up and plow through the material; it ends the 25th of this month (like in 2 days) so you'd better get on it.
Ya'll be creative 'n stuff.
In particular their pre-production boot camp series. It was a number of lessons about certain aspects of what happens before you record the first seconds of video in video, multiple choice and short answer questions. There were sections on story brainstorming, script writing, storyboarding as well as workflow and time management (and even some budgeting thrown in just for fun).
 |
| when my brain makes it onto paper |
If you're a YT creator there's still time to sign up and plow through the material; it ends the 25th of this month (like in 2 days) so you'd better get on it.
Ya'll be creative 'n stuff.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Write 31 Days- Day 21 Creativity and the Secret Squirrel
This is kind of an odd blog entry because I spent the majority of the day (minus an exciting trip to the legal office to update our wills) creating something I'm working on that's, well....a secret.
Like many creative people I have multiple outlets for my creativity: as a maker, a video series host, as well as a writer of the more technical side of that creativity. But I'm also a writer of the purely creative variety; a world filled with situations and people that are both fantastic as well as boringly ordinary. I don't write in a genre where "anything goes" as some have the luxury of doing, but in a world bound by the reality a person of similar upbringing would easily recognize. IF situation X were to happen, a large group of people would reasonably expect A, B, and C to follow.
The rub is trying to weave those expected reactions into a story line that makes you want to turn the page. The challenge is to have the situation evolving in a way that makes you NOT want to put the book down when it's time to get the kids from school. Creativity tasked to the max. Does it hook you or not? How hard (or easy) it is for a test reader to walk away from it when you tell them supper is ready?
Try it. Come up with a tale of some sort and get it on paper. It doesn't have to be terribly long but can you get it to a point where you think "This will get them!" and hand it to that person 5 minutes before supper. Tell them they have 5 minutes (make sure you don't give them something that takes 3 minutes to read) and then see if they're late. Or if they come and start asking you questions, looking for more info you didn't feed them in those pages.
Just a thought.
Be creative folks.
Like many creative people I have multiple outlets for my creativity: as a maker, a video series host, as well as a writer of the more technical side of that creativity. But I'm also a writer of the purely creative variety; a world filled with situations and people that are both fantastic as well as boringly ordinary. I don't write in a genre where "anything goes" as some have the luxury of doing, but in a world bound by the reality a person of similar upbringing would easily recognize. IF situation X were to happen, a large group of people would reasonably expect A, B, and C to follow.
The rub is trying to weave those expected reactions into a story line that makes you want to turn the page. The challenge is to have the situation evolving in a way that makes you NOT want to put the book down when it's time to get the kids from school. Creativity tasked to the max. Does it hook you or not? How hard (or easy) it is for a test reader to walk away from it when you tell them supper is ready?
Try it. Come up with a tale of some sort and get it on paper. It doesn't have to be terribly long but can you get it to a point where you think "This will get them!" and hand it to that person 5 minutes before supper. Tell them they have 5 minutes (make sure you don't give them something that takes 3 minutes to read) and then see if they're late. Or if they come and start asking you questions, looking for more info you didn't feed them in those pages.
Just a thought.
Be creative folks.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Write 32 Days- Day 19 Gibberish
It feels as if I've always been on this island. Fleeting thoughts of friends, loved ones...I catch them out of the corner of my eye. I hear voices I do not recognize, smell perfume that is familiar yet strange. I know this is what happens when you're alone, but knowing doesn't make it better. It only lets you know how bad it's going to get.
I've gotten myself into a pickle. I under-cooked something and spent the past two day laying in my shelter trying to dehydrate myself from either end. There's no wind, so the sweat stays where it wells up from inside. I stopped sweating. That's when I knew I had to get up. Months upon months here and I have sweated every moment. When you stop sweating, you die. I don't want to die. Not here. Not like this.
I would like to die in a bed laying on crisp cotton sheets, a down duvet folded neatly at my feet. Tickled by waves of air dropping in rhythm from the ceiling fan. Droplets of water running down a glass of ice water within easy reach. A Bible on my chest, making me feel my breaths become slow and shallow. Slower and shallower. Then gone. Happy.
But I'm here. Crusted from the havoc my body has wrought because of some invisible bug in my gut. Frazzled because I don't have a razor and my skin is raw and oozing under the damned beard. My feet are raw from wading in the cove trying to find a fish to eat then they're sliced by the thorns and shells and rocks. My gums bleed, my fingers bleed. My lips are split and chapped. It's hard to see at night and I have a headache. This ever-present headache that makes doing anything impossible and doing nothing unbearable.
I do not want to be like this. I am alive but not among the living. I have thought of a million ways to end it, to be done when I say I'm done. Not when the island beats me down to the last stinking breath.
I will not. For when I die, it will be on cool sheets, dusted by a breeze, water by my side and a Bible on my chest.
***********************
And that's what you do when you have to post on creativity and the day has been nothing but putting out fires caused by people other than yourself.
Be creative kids
I've gotten myself into a pickle. I under-cooked something and spent the past two day laying in my shelter trying to dehydrate myself from either end. There's no wind, so the sweat stays where it wells up from inside. I stopped sweating. That's when I knew I had to get up. Months upon months here and I have sweated every moment. When you stop sweating, you die. I don't want to die. Not here. Not like this.
I would like to die in a bed laying on crisp cotton sheets, a down duvet folded neatly at my feet. Tickled by waves of air dropping in rhythm from the ceiling fan. Droplets of water running down a glass of ice water within easy reach. A Bible on my chest, making me feel my breaths become slow and shallow. Slower and shallower. Then gone. Happy.
But I'm here. Crusted from the havoc my body has wrought because of some invisible bug in my gut. Frazzled because I don't have a razor and my skin is raw and oozing under the damned beard. My feet are raw from wading in the cove trying to find a fish to eat then they're sliced by the thorns and shells and rocks. My gums bleed, my fingers bleed. My lips are split and chapped. It's hard to see at night and I have a headache. This ever-present headache that makes doing anything impossible and doing nothing unbearable.
I do not want to be like this. I am alive but not among the living. I have thought of a million ways to end it, to be done when I say I'm done. Not when the island beats me down to the last stinking breath.
I will not. For when I die, it will be on cool sheets, dusted by a breeze, water by my side and a Bible on my chest.
***********************
And that's what you do when you have to post on creativity and the day has been nothing but putting out fires caused by people other than yourself.
Be creative kids
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)