The Azaelias burst into bloom on the weekend.
And the fish have become more lively. Nice to be back to digital video after the ‘archived’ 8mm movie.
Spring at Xanadu
Monthly Archives: August 2011
The Australian World Orchestra
We ventured out to the Opera House last night. The programme:
Australian World Orchestra (http://www.australianworldorchestra.com.au/?page_id=75)
William Barton, didjeridu
Simone Young, conductor
Peter Sculthorpe Earth Cry
Wagner Tannhäuser: Overture and Venusberg Music
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 in B minor, Op 74 (Pathétique)
The Wagner was dreary – his music has never appealed to my ear. Contrast this with the Sculthorpe; sensational. Barton began playing from the audience and slowly walked up on to the stage then sat. The orchestra began to accompany him and the gradually moved into one of those remarkable Sculthorpian driving yet subtle themes, with sections of orchestra building on to it then relinquishing to another. Barton played in and out until a great finale. Much applause and then Sculthorpe congratulated Young and Barton from the first row. The audience went bananas to see the three of them.
And then the Pathetique. I had forgotten what a classic it is. The crowd applauded at the end of each movement and again, went bananas at the end of that very brassy third. I had dismissed the fourth movement but hearing it live and a little raw, I liked it. A great night, a great hall, great musicians and great music. Home to a slice of toast and a cup of tea.
The predominantly grey audience were unruly — guzzling Chandon NV before and during interval, feet stamping, shouting out ‘Bravo’ at a quiet moment, applauding when they shouldn’t — Grey Power at the Opera House is refreshing!
And I couldn’t resist an iPhone video. I had been tempted to take the Canon G9 and shoot some quality but having this little iPhone wonder in my pocket cancelled the temptation.
Old movies (continued)
Have now achieved mixed success. When I click on the movie URL, the default is a postage stamp size screen in Firefox. If I open Quicktime and insert the URL from the source, works as I wanted it too. However, various friends have tested it on Windows machines and seems to work well. As the viewing audience is limited I wont spend any more time on this — they are poor quality to begin with and of limited appeal. But considering the 8mm film was stored on reels in a suitcase in various sub-optimal storage sites, I am reasonably pleased with the result.
Some movie success
Ken Cameron recommended Adobe Premiere Elements which looked promising but attempting to download a trial proved ‘Adobe User Hostile’. My Adobe user account was recognised but never connected to the trial download — while waiting I cooked dinner — still no success so abandoned this. While chatting’ with a support person, I had to take a 45 second phone call and the chat was terminated due to ‘no response’. Result — abandon Adobe.
This morning I reworked iMovie to save as ‘Broadband Low’ and now have a 1.6Mb file which could be viewed in Quicktime — see 09. Crescent Head. However, since installing an OS10.7 upgrade, it no longer works. More work required.
Struggling with old movies
I found a DVD of old 8mm and Super 8 movies from Crescent Head and Canberra and managed to convert from MP2 to MV4 (?) using Handcart, which I can import into iMovie. No problem editing in iMovie but unable to save, compressed, for web viewing. The max file size for video uploading into the Memoir is 4Mb and attempting to save the first cut (1 minute) results in files from 9Mb to 450Mb. The older HDMovie which was bundled with Mac OS 10.6 handled this easily but iMovie is far too complicated for a simple web-viewable file.
Early Epilogue
Working on this memoir with Malcolm has been illuminating – he is one tough Mackenzie. The early days when our parents split, moving to WA, working his way up from oil-drum filler, clerk, bookmaker to a Swan Brewery manager, Cyclone Tracey, houses, children and grandchildren (yet to be uploaded) with a sharp sense of humour and strong loyalty to family and friends makes him as a remarkable brother.
I am currently 72, knees completely shot (no cartilage left from years of long-distance running and skiing accidents), wildly overweight (because of poor mobility), over-educated, with many family and extended family people who bring much to my life, still working and rather content. Getting old has its issues but also has its rewards like realizing I am happy.
It has been quite a voyage discovering who we are. But more to come.
More documents and photos
Malcolm has sent more information on our roots which has been uploaded. We are now waiting on an audio file from the NT Archives of his Cyclone Tracey experience.
We are getting a little out of sync with text ahead of photos but will sort out as we get more images.
Today’s Podcast
Another excellent discussion on The Philosopher’s Zone. This week, one of the foremost philosophers of the age: Martha Nussbaum, professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2011/3294485.htm
Memoir progress
Malcolm is up to Cyclone Tracey, it makes an interesting story, and is busy getting more photos. One revelation is that Bill Coote’s second wife’s son David, was married to a Phyllis, who is the mother of Senator Ron Boswell, the so-called father of the Senate. Now, as he is 71 he must have been around before Phil married David. Check out his website — http://www.ronboswell.com/about-senator-boswell — he is still attacking the Rudd Government. We have ‘Cousin Ron’, sort of in the family.
Today’s Podcast
The Philosophical Baby – Alison Gopnik
I love the discussion on babies and their use of Bayesian Analysis to make decisions.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/
Mackenzie Memories
Introduction
I am not sure what triggered this flurry of activity with my brother Malcolm and myself but it became important to get some family information together. And there have been some surprises which will unfold in the development of the various stages and events. We are writing separate sections and Malcolm begins with the early days in Brisbane — the 1940s.
The content is saved under ‘Memoir’ (on the right side) as separate pages rather than posts (the sequence reverses when posting and we prefer the structure of early to contemporary).