Preparing for increased output

Well, I have been looking at different options that are available in order to increase my music and music video output.

Increasing video output is relatively easy. I had been comsidering the old "get a Mac" solution that everyone else has been suggesting. Since I don't have a Mac I figured I'd look into it (since that would mean that I'd have all systems - Windows, Linux and Mac).

But computers aren't like Pokemon.

The cheapest option would be a Mac Mini (which is just a box) and use the old keyboard, monitor, etc. However, even this "cheap" option is still $1,500.

On the other hand, I already have a reasonably powerful computer that is getting under-used. I could get Windows 7 (currently running Vista - yuk!), Adobe Premiere Elements 8 for video editing, Acid Pro for music and keep using a slab of software that I already have and have enough change left over to buy an entry level high-def camera.

Looks like Apple is going to lose out on this one. I've used Final Cut Pro on a G tower and it is indeed awesome, but I can buy a car for the same price.

However, the point is moot if I don't step up my music production. So I should probably get on top of that first!

New video Up!

Well, slowly getting things done.

My song Svelte now has a video on YouTube! That makes my second video clip, this time from my second album, Jump.

This one is more of an experiment than the first one was. For this one I was trying out a video camera that I picked up off eBay. It's one of those low-profile "sports" type cameras that you mount on the side of your helmet or motorbike or skateboard or w/ever to catch all your "extreme" sports moments.

The camera itself isn't too bad for a $30 camera - but the annoying thing is that it comes with a time/date stamp feature. The really annoying part is that not only was this feature not advertised, you can't turn it off either! Dang!!!

Oh well, guess if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. :(

It'll still come in useful for some specific shots, but I doubt I'll be using it much.

Letting the blood run ... free

I've been on the hunt for a while now for an old Australian TV series called  Let the Blood run Free. It was on in the 90's or so and I have very little memory of it - other than finding it funny. The one thing that I can clearly remember is that it was a spoof show set in a hospital and the perpetual "patient" was shown as a man lying on the operating table except that his chest was just a ribcage. No skin, no organs - nothing. The man was clearly dead.

(Note that this was a low budget comedy show - they didn't have an actual cadaver, it was just intended to look that way.)

At any rate, it isn't available (EzyDVD sell it but are out of stock) but I was able to find someone selling copies on eBay. I've ordered one and will see if it was worth the $20 I dropped for it.

Getting back on the bike

Not that anybody really cares, but I've started to get back into the old exercise routine.

As usual, I've added a page on my site to publicly track my progress. We'll see if this progresses longer or not.

In other news, I've got my copy of Ubuntu Studios! Whee! I've already installed it and have been having a bit of a play with it. There is precious little documentation around for it, but it seems promising so far. I've already had a bit of a play with the drum machine that it comes with which is fun and reasonably intuative.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't find a good video editor (like Cinerrala) bundled in, but it remains to be seen if I'll be able to make any video clips during the holidays.

I've already shot a bunch of test footage with a camera mounted on the bicycle to make a filler video clip with, but I got nasuous watching the footage, so I don't know if I'll be able to use it or not.

We'll see.

Still no sign

Ordered Ubuntu Studios a while back. It's a Linux based digital creation suite. It has music and video software that should work quite nicely with my existing setup and get me streamlined and producing more music.

However, the first disc that arrived had an error on it and would not install properly. So arranged for another copy and it still has not shown up (this was in March!) which is starting to annoy me.

No matter, I have some time off coming up, I'll have to see what I can do then in order to get some stuff produced during the allotted time. If I can get hold of a camera, I'll see about making another video or two. That would be sweet. Still in discussion with others about collaborating, which will be awesome, but I need to get my own skills up first in order to make sure that I can keep my end up and bring a decent amount of talent to the group. Maybe.

Gotta keep practicing.

Getting Fit (again)

Well, back on the "let's exercise" train again. I'm going to do up a page on my main site (hopefully this week) and keep an on-line track of what I've done.

The current goal is simply to get <em>some</em> exercise each day (except Sundays). At the moment I have been doing okay, but it's winter and cold in the mornings so it's understandable if I miss a day or two (though I feel bad about it when I do).

Note to self: I also need more excuses to get out of the house and meet people.

Trying FireScribe instead

Well, this is my attempt to get more blogging done so that I can integrate my current (and much ignored) blog with my other assets.

I tried BloGTK for Linux and it was a sad, sad failure. It'd install but when I tried to run it, nothing would happen. Even updated the kernel and did a complete re-instal. At any rate, this is the first post to my blog from FireScribe