What Am I Doing?

For starters that is a Twitter question. And, if you don't know what Twitter is, you need to find out and get involved using it. Personally, I think you'll enjoy Twitter because it is an easy, fast way to keep in touch and up to date with your friends and what they're doing. You can do this on a desktop, laptop, PDA and other mobile devices including hand held gaming consoles such as NDS (NintendoDS) you heard right. You can do Internet and Twitter on a hand held Nintendo!
http://twitter.com/

This past week has been a complete failure for the local HillbillyNET cable company. No cable and no Internet for hours at a time. Thursday I literally spent 6 hours watching DVD instructional videos on my MOTIF XS because I had no cable. So this is good use of time when common resources are no longer available. Had I lost power, as in 110v AC, I would simply fire up the RV generator and continue home schooling my brain.

Taking breaks, I am creating two PC Help Videos. One is done and the other has to be completely rerecorded due to bugs in the latest version of Camtasia running on XP. I backed up TWO versions and will complete the second video. Also, it takes more time because I must configure the PC to be in a specific state of affairs. In this case, the PC must be infected with spyware. So between uninstalling the program, gutting out the registry entries so when showing how to install the program will actually look like it does when THEY install the software... all of this takes excessive time.

So you people out there that claim you can make a quality Camtasia help video in 10 minutes, let me clearly say it now, "You're full of shit". Okay, I feel better now. Also, adding zooms, pans and other effects during post production enable users to actually see what you're doing on the screen. Many Camtasia content creators simply just record the screen at some small dimensional size, and if you can't read whatever is on the screen, "You're screwed". I do not subscribe to that nonsense and believe that a help video should do just that, help you.

Next in the line up are some document projects that were 90% finished and needed that final touch so I plan to deliver those for approval over this weekend.

Next on deck is a unannounced project that involves one of my best friends' cartoon work. He returned to college for his degree in cartooning, 3D animation and all that, so for now his website is down. So I begged him for 16 of his cartoon strips and I plan to create a simple site where you can flip through the comics. I have enjoyed having CoyoteVille™ on my site since its inception and I don't mind tooting my own horn that although Steven Graziano invented CoyoteVille™ it was me, Harry James, 15 year veteran typographer who suggested that he change the logo to initial-capping the C and the V, so the idea took and stuck. I like that... took and stuck.

Okay next. While I am waiting for the weather to decide if it is going to rain or be kinda-sorta rainy, I am ceasing the construction of NASAV Studios™. Perhaps Paramount Studios works in the rain NASAV doesn't. So until the weather clearly clears up, and for good, I will not begin final construction because it demands DRY weather for at least 3 weeks. Besides the installation of the studio itself, there is construction, sawing, drilling, caulking and painting to be done. All requires dry weather, "For Harry to enjoy doing it". So this project is delayed.

However, in lieu of the delayed studio setup, I am daily working on the MOTIF XS learning and doing my best to fathom its enormous features and capabilities. As I learn these modes and details, I am noting and marking favorites which I will use to construct arrangements and songs later down the road. Meanwhile, EVERYTHING audibly sounds gorgeous. It brings tears to my eyes to listen to my own creations. Especially the orchestral arrangements. They remind me of songsl like Randy Edelman's, "Kathleen Mavourneen" which is an absolutely brilliant, intensely emotional composition which became just one of his stellar soundtracks for the finest Civil War movie produced, "Gettysburg" which is a Ted Turner production. The next time you find yourself with nothing to do for 4 hours, you owe it to yourself to watch, "Gettysburg" and hopefully you have a surround system or at least a stereo system connected to your VCR/DVD or TV. Prepare to be blown away by the movie and the musical soundtrack. I was lucky to see this film 70mm full screen in one of the best surround theaters in the United States, bar none. The music, the cannons, watching men load their rifles a mere 15 feet from each other to see who gets their shot off first, wow! Those men had pride and determination not found in today's modern men. And, they respected their duty to their country. And, they were passionate about their beliefs and were willing to die to achieve them. But with all wars, "...Different dreams" amongst men (and women) is the culprit to all wars. Well, besides the international bankers... Ahem...

Well the point is, I am really enjoying learning and composing music on my XS while I wait for the actual studio to get constructed, installed and wired up so I can get busy recording music. With a little luck I might get half my album recorded in 2008 and sew the rest up in 2009. Then of course, MASTERING my own album will be a new venture. But, I have confidence in myself because during this entire process, I am teaching myself to be a recording engineer which is a VITAL part to mastering an audio CD.

WHAT ELSE AM I DOING?
My life with Kathy is wonderful. We love living in our RV motorhome and we truly enjoy living here at this beautiful resort on the lake here in Soda Bay. Although closer to civilization, this is nicer than hundreds of miles further out up north near Mt. Lassen where volcanic ash replaces the nice forest and abundant wild life here. We enjoy the water fowl here. Mallard ducks and Coots, or commonly called Mud hens. The Ravens are back as are the squirrels, crows and deer. It's neat to watch, listen and learn how they go away during winter and come back pre-spring. And they add another level of wonder to our lives and we are thankful for that. We go for walks, spend time [not enough] hand-holding and just hanging outdoors. Kathy has some natal family reasonably close, and they have become MY family. But, Kathy and I mostly do each other here in the NASAV. He keeps saying, "NASAV" what is that? Well, had you read all my blogs you would know. So I shall repeat for those of you who have skipped ahead or just happen to plunk into this blog. NASAV is the acronymn for North American Surrealistic Adventure Vehicle. I apologize the NASAV website is not ready yet, but it is coming. So you will see photos and videos of the before and after of the RV. It's our home and we love it. Kathy and I have our own set of hobbies that we're content dabbling with, and yet we spend a great deal of time together doing things we enjoy together. Enjoying walks, wild life, watching movies on our TOSlink digital THX home theater and other times just relaxing back in the bedroom on our luxury bed while enjoying movies, TV or video games on the 19" inch LCD/DVD combo back there. In the bedroom we have (SNES) SuperNintendo and IntelliVision. Up front on the 30" inch we run both Xbox1 and Xbox2 (360) but I call them box1 and box2. I also have a PC jacked into the 30" inch which was to be used for Studio Manager software and displaying lyrics to read while recording in NASAV Studios™ but this idea has already been replaced with using a 19" LCD and XP SP1 PC which actually works better. Between the PC, MAC, and gaming consoles we have over 600 games with not 1 over 3 years old. They are all databased and bindered for quick and easy retrieval (finding and storing them) so that's a boatload of fun. Most recently, Kathy and I have both taken a liking to the NDS (NintendoDS) and we each have our own. I bought Kathy her Nintendo DS Gold Edition during Christmas 2007. Just 2 weeks ago I ordered my Crimson and Black NDS and have added a slot1 and slot2 ROM technologies and 4gb of microSDHC RAM to get things started, including homebrew, free SIP VoIP telephone calls, surfing the net, email, twitter and ebuddy. Check out my other Blogs about this stuff. It's totally fun and it's totally cool. These are not niche products but rather hand held gaming machines that can perform MORE than most cell phones, PDA's or even an iPhone which will cost you at least $60 dollars a month to use and more than likely if you have an iPhone you're paying $99 to $120 a month. So mind your P's and Q's when shopping iPhone contracts. Don't get me wrong. The Apple iPhone is phenomenal. It's just that I am waiting for A) 2nd generation product so by that time, the iPhone will actually do what I want it to, and B) the contract costs need to be HALF what they are for new subscribers.

Also, let's not forgot I still play Shanghai on the Atari Lynx which, "Is the first hand held color gaming system in the world". When I ordered mine on TV from HSN.COM http://hsn.com/ I bought a Atari-logo'd case, so my Lynx is "like new" and still lots of fun to play. The graphics are great, the controls are easy to use and the games are fun. There are even a couple new games now that I want to order for the Lynx. The Atari Lynx was released in 1989! I bet some of you reading my Blog weren't even born yet! LOL

Anyhow, thanks to Activision, a game called, "Shanghai" happened, first coming to the PC in all_green_monochrome 320x200 graphics. Later, they released a 2nd version supporting MCGA 320x200x256 color and 640x200 black and white. Although Shanghai is not the actual Mahjongg game, its 144 stacked tile matching madness became America's FIRST tile-strategy game on the PC. To this day there are hundreds of variations of this game. Many can be found at RealArcade.com and you can even buy and download a very nice Shanghai/Mahjongg from Apple iTunes to play on your iPod 5th generation or greater and the graphics looks gorgeous! And, thanks to the NDS supporting GBA on slot2, I can play the Shanghai game that I already have on my NDS.

On another note, right about the time Activision was creating blockbuster game cartridges for the Atari 2600 there was internal brewing going on within the company. This eventually led to one of the programmers, Al Miller, leaving Activision and founding Accolade which became famous for the games Hardball and Test Drive on the Commodore 64/128, Apple II and later on the PC. Further down the road Accolade began producing games on the Sega Genesis, Nintendo Gameboy, Super Nintendo and Macintosh where I actually corrected over 150 typographical errors in what they considered to be, "Their final draft of its game manual". Wow, those were the days. And, don't forget Elvira on the Amiga. Although one of Accolades best European games, Hardball and Test Drive truly put Accolade on the map. I was ecstatically employed at Accolade for years when on August 6, 1993 I was hit, head-on by an automobile while driving my motorcycle just 2 blocks from my home. If interested, you can read the rest of that story on my website. http://happyharry.net/ and click on MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY.

I believe this would be quite the appropriate time to close my Blabbing-Blog mouth. I do hope to see you here again, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

;;cheers;;