Author: Bernie

Sometimes IT junkie, Woodworker and Amateur Photographer. Reader of crime novels mostly with a 1930's or 40's flavour.
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Adobe Premiere Elements 8 First Impressions

Adobe Premiere Elements icon
Image via Wikipedia

This is my foray into Adobe Video editing software. I have been a long time user of Pinnacle Studio (PS) having used this application through several versions. Version 14 I decided to try something different and looked to Adobe Premiere Elements (APE). I only use video editing for home movies so I need an application that is relatively simple to use. APE offers some advantages PS mostly the ability to use multiple video and audio tracks. The interface is not too different but the means of achieving the same is quite different.

Editing is relatively straightforward as is adding audio. The addition of Smartsounds allows the generation of royalty free music to accompany your video. The DVD menu system works well but requires a great deal of manual input. Once all the menu and scene markers are added to the timeline the preconfigured menus pickup all the scenes. My first project in APE was one and half hours long . The program crashed a few times during the editing process. This proved frustrating as the most recent changes hadn’t been saved. I am running Windows 7 64 bit. The rendering of the video files took nearly 2 hours and occupied a 100% of the Core 2 Duo’s attention.

The results were satisfactory but I had to resort using online video tutorials to get the most of the program. I think for a complete novice to video editing the learning curve would be quite steep. On balance Pinnacle Studio is easier for the novice.

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A new theme

Image of a vineyard in McLaren vale.
Image via Wikipedia

I had problems with the theme I have been using for a while so I needed to change it. In fact the update of the previous theme killed my site. I was lucky that I had previewed the site in another browser tab so I still had the admin pages open.  With the help of a Barossa  Valley  Cabernet  Sauvignon ( that’s from South Australia for the naive)  I have come up with this new theme. I have been sticking with themes that had customizable headers , no harm has come from letting this go!

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Main Course Regret

Karnataka Food
Image via Wikipedia

Ever been out to dinner or lunch only to discover that you didn’t go with your initial choice on the menu. You were going to have the goat curry but you wandered all over the menu and ended up choosing something else. The food arrives it’s not as good as you had hoped. Across the table sits the goat curry you  have main course regret. This is almost always the result of not going with your first choice. Then you have to endure your dining partner tucking into what should have been yours. Main Course Regret. You should always go with you first choice!

This of course is only exceeded by desert envy. This is much the same. However this is characterized by never being satisfied with whatever desert choice that you make. The other deserts on the table will always be the ones you wanted. A cheese platter is always a second best or at worst an entrée  for desert.

So remeber always pick the main course that first takes your fancy other wise in the words of Edith Piaf “Je Non Regret Rien” which loosely translates as no regrets.

Desert is curlier than you might imagine  it’s really an all or nothing proposition.

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Sir Tom – Sexpot and Nearly 70!

Tom Jones at Hampton Court Palace, 2007.
Image via Wikipedia
This is a post is a review that I posted on the Ticketek website , didn’t want to waste my words
The venue was great, even though there were some showers just prior to and through the first act, The Wolfgram Sisters. The DJ kept the crowd amused with a series of songs which featured rain in the lyrics, even managed “I can see clearly now” when the blue sky burst through the rain clouds.
First on the bill were the Wolfgram Sisters, they sang their hearts out but really didn’t win the crowd over, Second act was local SA boy  David Campbell who really got the crowd going covering a variety of styles. He finished with the Johnny O’Keefe Classic “Shout” which had the crowd dancing in the isles.
Tom Jones did not disappoint at nearly 70 he hasn’t lost his mojo. His energetic performance could put performers decades younger to shame. he covered material from his current album ( which I am still waiting for as part of the ticket deal)  through to songs from nearly  40 years ago. A great show.

The venue was great, even though there were some showers just prior to and through the first act, The Wolfgram Sisters. The DJ kept the crowd amused with a series of songs which featured rain in the lyrics, even managed “I can see clearly now” when the blue sky burst through the rain clouds.
First on the bill were the Wolfgram Sisters, they sang their hearts out but really didn’t the crowd over, Second act was local SA boy  David Campbell who really got the crowd going covering a variety of styles. He finished with the Johnny O’Keefe Classic “Shout” which had the crowd dancing in the isles.
Tom Jones did not disappoint at nearly 70 he hasn’t lost his mojo. His energetic performance could put performers decades younger to shame. he covered material from his current album ( which I am still waiting for as part of the ticket deal)  through to songs from nearly  40 years ago. A great show.

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Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Rejseholdet
Image via Wikipedia

Having watched Unit One (Rejseholdet in Danish see image in post), the Eagle a Crime Odyssey and now The Killing (currently showing on SBS TV in Australia) I have become somewhat entranced by Scandinavian crime stories. Perhaps this is a reflection of my Norwegian heritage.The TV shows offer a refreshing and different approach in their story lines. A for cry from the crime by numbers and a car chase US shows. Perhaps closed in style to the English shows such as Cracker and Wire In The Blood. It is great to see that the cultural imperialism is being challenged on SBS TV at least.

This has in turn put me on the path of  Scandinavian authors. The first author I have read  is the Norwegian Jo Nesbø, his hero the rather flawed Inspector Harry Hole.  The next auther that I have encountered is Asa Larsson I am looking forward to this as it is based in Sweden. Already Henning Mankell with his Wallander series has made a this Swedish authors stories well known in print and and on TV.

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You have to love opensource

WordPress
Image via Wikipedia

I have been using a plugin called Now Reading. It keeps track of the books a read and displays them on the blog site in a sidebar. It also helps me keep track of what I am reading and write some reviews. It also  maintains a library  for me.

The Rob Miller who originally developed the plugin stopped at around WordPress version 2.7 and subsequently it stopped working.  He is appearently  too busy to keep on with the development and changes t0 WordPress. I would have liked to update the plug-in myself.  However when I look at code I don’t see poetry its more like random swirls.

Anyway as is the world of Word Press someone else has taken up the baton and is now running with it. Now I can again add books and they display nicely on my site. Thanks to Ben Gunnink for Now Reading Reloaded.  The really amazing thing for me was I downloaded  Now Reading Reloaded  , deactivated the old one activated the new one and voila all my data was there .

Three Cheers for open source. This I guess would never have happened if this was  a commercial plugin.

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Too hot for the dog

The dog can’t stand it anymore she is outraged by the heatwave. I think a stern letter to the local council is in order. Perhaps we can sue the weather office.

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New WordPress App Version 2

Well here it is the second WordPress app for iPhone. Certainly faster than it’s ancestor. I always had trouble logging on with that version. So I am sitting in a park reading a book and thought I would give it a whirl.
Seems to work well and a photo too!


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Some Changes

Well I have finally made some changes to the site, a new theme and some fresh images for the banner. I suppose my interest in the blogging thing is as much about what goes on behind the scenes as is the content. Those in the know say that content is king but I still like to know how it all works.

This revision is coming form Pt Elliot this morning where the sky is a brilliant blue. I don’t know if there are any whales parked at the bay coz it is too far to walk…………