Complaining: it's good for the soul

[katiefoolery]

There are two main problems with the Samsung MX-20.  Firstly, it claims to film in genuine 16:9 widescreen; secondly, it declares itself to be YouTube friendly.  It is neither.  It is so, so neither.  It's so neither that it almost makes me laugh out of slightly-crazed frustration.

It does film in 16:9 widescreen.  Unfortunately, it doesn't export in said aspect ratio.  In fact, this is a common problem with the camera, as I found out much later.

I wasn't even game to introduce it to YouTube.

Actually, there are three problems with the Samsung MX-20 and the third would be the TYPO ON THE BOX.  Hassle is not spelt "hassel".  No, really it's not.

I was going to purchase the Canon mini-DV cam, but the Samsung was sitting there, all red and shiny and designed to record on memory cards, rather than mini-DV tape...  And then I got around $50 off, due to its being on special and being the display stock (and the last one in red).  So even though I had intended to buy the Canon - on my dad's expert advice, no less - I went ahead and followed the shiny.

And tonight, it's going back to the store, to be replaced for the Canon.

So while I thought I was going to shoot this week's vlog on my shiny new camera, I ended up with my webcam again.  And all of the footage I took over the weekend?  In useless, squished-up 4:3 instead of widescreen.  GAH.  I wanted my writing week video to be extra special, dammit.

Anyway, here it is for you all.  Writing week: Why do we write?  Watch the video to find out!

Incidentally, why do you write?

Comments

[little-wolf1985.livejournal.com]

You have to be the most adorable person EVER!

[frohike.livejournal.com]

Seconded!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Oh, stop. :P

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Well that's quite a claim. Thanks. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/traycer_/]

Hey, you're not whispering anymore! I can hear you so much better. Oh, and I've been wanting to tell you the following ever since you posted that video asking about the good and the bad. (That was on one of my bad internet connection days and I forgot to come back when the internet fairies liked me again). :D

I love the bright blue curtains against the dark yellow walls!! Best background ever!!

*ahem*

I write because I love to do that more than anything in the world. :D

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Yeah, things got better once I shfited from my EeePC to a much better webcam. Oh, and started speaking up - that helped a bit. And that's a good thing you're telling me! I asked for bad! Bad! Actually, the curtains are a really dark green but they weirdly come up looking blue on the video. Strange.

That's an awesome reason for writing. :D

[http://users.livejournal.com/traycer_/]

Green?? Huh. Well, at least you know what blue curtains would look like with the yellow walls. :D

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Yep - a dark, teal-ish green. Although we rent, so I couldn't take the credit for blue curtains anyway.

[wiccanslyr.livejournal.com]

No worries sweets, sometimes we have to let the shiny get us in order to learn why we should follow our "instincts". It's all good. Just think about the extra special super awesomeness that will be NEXT weeks vlog! =D

Also, I'm totally going to recommend that you pick up an inexpensive desktop mic while you're out too. I'm still having trouble hearing you when you're on the webcam and I think it has more to do with the internal mics on those things being mostly shite then you not speaking loud enough. A mic should fic that for time you use it. =D

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

It was so shiny and red! Impossible to resist. And next week's vlog will be my ode, so I do want to make it super special. :D

Plus, the camera I switched to actually has a mic input, so I am thinking of doing something with that. Such as plugging a mic into it. I think that's the obvious thing to do.

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

oh I'm sorry about the stupid camera :(.

I write cos I can't not. THere are stories in my head and they have to come out.

Also - be on MSN tonight. I am lonely and demand your wisdom!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

It was so frustrating. I have this lovely footage I took over the long weekend and it's all pretty much useless. Dammit. Oh well - have the new one now, so we'll see how that goes.

Those stories sure do cause trouble if you leave them stuck in your head. I have one trying to beat me into submission right now...

I'll be on later! Although I don't know if there'll be any wisdom to speak of.

[qwaynt.livejournal.com]

But it's red! And red should mean it works better. *sob* Because red is...well it's red! At least it can be returned. I hope there's better luck with the Canon. As a former typesetter I'll forgive the typo, because it looks like something I could have done. I'm very bad at transposing letters.

Writing is something I recently started doing, but I've always created people and scenes in my head. A few years ago, I decided to move some of that stuff out of my head and onto paper. I also think that is my problem with writing. I can create scenes - a moment in time - I'm not sure I can come up with an entire story.

Good luck with the new camera.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I know! It was such a gorgeous, shiny red - completely irresistible. I swapped it over last night, so I'll see how the Canon goes over the weekend. The only down side is that it's mini DV, so I have to capture the footage in real time after I've taken it. Ah well. Hopefully it'll be worth it.

I do the same thing with scenes - sometimes, that's all you get. Or you get a brilliant scene with a story attached... and you're left to somehow make all the pieces fit together. It's not easy at times, that's for sure.

[erinmacha.livejournal.com]

Ooooo - you mentioned very many similar reasons why I write. :P Chiefly because I usually have a story in my head that I have to share - or my head may explode. :P

Number one reason why I'll stop writing - stress in real life. Although I can't blame it only on that at the moment.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I'm totally the opposite with stress - if I'm stressed or over-worked or have no free time... that's when I want to write. And when there's plenty of time and I'm relaxed, I won't feel like writing at all. It's very contrary.

I hope you can solve your non-writingness soon - I really miss reading your work.

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

I know why I used to write, but it looks like I've given it up, so I dunno.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

You'll probably find it'll come back to you - that's what happened to me. I thought I was destined to be a beta and not a writer after all... and then the words came knocking again.

So why did you write before?

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Writing was the only thing I had to deal with the characters and ideas. It was a tradition that I didn't realise could be out-dated or unnecessary.

[natally.livejournal.com]

I'm disenchanted with writing at the moment. This is probably because I write to get marks. The fulfillment comes from the percentage at the end, not the lovely feel of the language itself.
I mean, good marks are necessary but can't I enjoy it too? Where is the happy medium?

Wishing you a better week this time round!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean about writing for marks instead of fun - the same thing happened to me at uni. And I never felt as though I could write the stories I wanted to write, either - it always had to be something I thought the lecturers would accept. I'm not sure what the solution is. Perhaps you could write for yourself when you have the time and write other stuff for your assignments?

[faded-pretense.livejournal.com]

LOL! I write because I can't get my creativity out any other way. I feel like my head might explode too if I don't get the ideas out. I haven't written in forever. I'm too lazy. u.u; Just like I'm too lazy to make a vlog. Haha!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I'm lazy, too, so I know what you mean. If I weren't part of this channel, I'd probably still be sitting around, just thinking about making a vlog instead of actually doing on every week. You should make more vlogs, though - I'd like to see them. :)

[violentstylings.livejournal.com]

A lot of digital video devices record their widescreen video as squashed 4:3 footage. That's because *insert ye olde trumpet noise here* all standard definition widescreen content is actually just 4:3 content squished and then stretched across your screen. Technically, if you use software like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut it should be able to tell from the file if it's widescreen or not... unless that's the problem with the camera? It's not saving the correct aspect ratio information to the files it records???

Oh, and be nice to us poor graphic designers and our lazy and ignorant use of the English language. We just like to make things look pretty! ;)

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I was just amazed that such a typo had made it all the way through to the final product. Wouldn't someone have noticed at some point? Then again, the school magazine (which I jointly produce) almost went to press last year with a giant "journey" spelt "jpurney" which hadn't been picked up in four rounds of proof-reading...

And yes, I believe that's the issue with the Samsung - it doesn't attach the right information to the file.