Well, that's a goofy attempt at combining two subjects  into one "cool" title. See if I managed it when I reach the end of the post. ;)

First off--take a look:

I'm cast-less! Got it officially off yesterday. :) I definitely do not have full range of motion back yet, but I've been stretching a little bit every now and again over the course of the day and will keep that up. It hurts a little, but that is to be expected from muscles that have been essentially stationary for a month. However, it was​ nice to wash my hair with both hands this evening.

In other news, I had a cold for a week. Not this week, but last. I retain a left-over cough that still kind of nasty from time to time, but it's not too terrible.

Anyway, moving onto the spies bit--I finished reading Spies of the Confederacy by John Bakeless tonight. I forget exactly when I started it, but it took me long enough and yet not as long as it might have. I really enjoy Bakeless' books--having read two or three in the past. He is of that generation that knew how to write. History really is interesting, particularly when authors know how to engage their reader's attention. I gleaned some information (and hopefully some ideas) for my current CW-film project...

And now...and now I just have to figure out which book is next. I'm trying to figure out whether I want to read the bioptic novel on Antonia Ford or the book on Rose Greenhow next. I won't start anything tonight, being Saturday, so I may just go curl up with Dabney's "In Defense of Virginia and the South" and forget about picking my next read this evening. I do seem to be working the lady spies angle at the moment. I kind of started with the medical angle...so who knows where I'll actually end up beginning when I come to script writing. (By the by, in case I neglected to mention it here--the current project is actually a series of documentaries--whose length I'm not settled on--on that very interesting topic: "Confederate Women". It's a huge work and it's no wonder I am, you know, just "ever so slightly lost" in the where to start department...)

Anyway, that's that for this evenings ramble. I've been neglecting my littl' ol' blog something dreadful of late...

It is a happy thing to say, but the director's interview worked out!! In the process, I got a chuckle out of a variety of "things" and I figured I would share them will you in the hopes that you would get a laugh out of them too!

First off, my hair. Editor's hair is common enough...but it's particularly bad when I have it parted down the middle and it's not overly securely pinned in place.

Secondly, two screen shots I took. One was to demonstrate a face you never want to see addressing you and the second was just down-right funny--particularly as the video froze in that position for a minute or two while the audio just kept ticking along as pretty as you please.

I need to get the disc ready to burn again. :)

I also got the three rompers cut out for the custom order and I think it's going to be REALLY wrinkly to work with. Hopefully, my customer is good with that because she's the one that wanted taffeta. :)

I kind of think I will hold off until tomorrow to start stitching. I'm feeling awfully tired now and the weather is overcast big time.

Among the profitable and/or semi-profitable things done by myself this day was the fourth go 'round on the Cow Cavalry's Director's Interview. I sure hope it came out this time...

By the way, have I mentioned that I have otherwise completed The Florida Cow Cavalry? Well, I have. :)

I'm not overly enthusiastic feeling at the moment because I am feeling very tired and rather like just curling up and ignoring life for the rest of the day. I don't suppose the on and off ache of my right hip is helping much...I can't even say that I'm overly hungry... ("Quick, take her temperature!") 

Oh well...thus is the boring announcement of an exciting fact. :) 

​Cheers y'all...

Y'all probably thought that I had totally, completely, irrevocably forgotten about the Cow Cavalry, didn't you?

Think again: ​http://freedomslightfilms.weebly.com/news/an-update-at-long-last_

:) 

I wonder how much AfterEffects work I can knock out tomorrow.....

Right, so the whole day wasn't full of mishaps, but there was potential mishaps and actual mishaps today.

First, I spent the morning (and right after lunch), back working on The Cow Cavalry. Jordan sent me the very last voice over clip Saturday (I think it was...maybe it was Friday evening) and I "knew" when I got up this morning that I was going to work on it today. I spent awhile feeling frustrated and complaining to various sympathetic members of the family about the quality of the audio. I was even talking about starting completely over with the unedited audio clips--not that I really wanted to do that...

Finally, after getting Jordan's clip dropped in and the AE made for it and in place, I started working through from the very beginning again. Roughly 15 minutes in, I wasn't feeling nearly as frustrated. Turns out, it really doesn't sound as bad as I remembered--except for half a dozen clips. I will work on those again; probably starting tomorrow. I think it would make sense since my head got re-established into the project again today.

In addition to that, I began (during renders and letting the computer catch up with itself) to design how I am going to put the Cow Cav rosters up on the the website. I also got sidetracked chasing down a fellow my great-grandfather used to play poker with...history is too much fun sometimes!!

After I washed the lunch dishes, I headed out to see if I could help Mama any--even though I really didn't feel like working very hard. After planting a few peppers, I came in to get the next med on the schedule and bring her out a grapefruit. I also switched hats since I had decided that I was going to mow the yard.

Well, I had gotten roughly half of it done when I had to dip my head to keep my cowboy hat from flying off the back of my head (ribbons tied under buns don't help that much when the wind is from the front) and I turned at the same instant...and hit this old telephone poll in the junk pile with the deck. AND...I bent the cowling in and the blade got hung up in it. It took me another few feet to realize that something was wrong. 

I turned the PTO off and put the machine in neutral, throttling down. I crawled off the machine and reached under. Nope...no go. I couldn't turn the blade on that one side. I didn't realize until I had the thing up on the ramps that the blade was actually poking through the cowling. Daddy saw me stop and crawl around on my knees, so he came and looked it over. He fixed the bent cowling and I gamely went off--first to fill up my gas tank...and then before I switched the PTO back on, Mama asked me to get her another jug of water...so it was probably around 5-10 minutes later that I started mowing again. Almost immediately I quit. That side was still not mowing. Yes, sirree...I broke the pulley!! Seriously. This is only the second time I have mowed this year and this is already the second time I have broken the mower!! 

I helped Daddy take the pulley off and he sent me into the house with it...and while I was going, I heard him laugh. :) He said he wasn't laughing at me...but I guess I deserved it even if he was.

So you see, I really did have a Monday mishap...

I spent most of the day with my nose glued to one or another of my two computer screens. However, it really was a profitable thing. And it made sense on another front as well. See, it's been one of those days when I have not felt overly well. Not that I could say, "Oh yeah, such and such and this part of me hurts or feels sick". I've just been rather "blah" and tried...and semi-brainless today. My hip has hurt on and off (I tried doing some off the wall push-ups and forgot the idea on the first try because my hip screamed, "How DARE you treat me in such a fashion!!!" Of course, another day it probably wouldn't have even whimpered....but anyway.) And I have had some Lyme stomach burn too...but mainly I have just been having an undistinquished 'don't feel so grand' day. 

On the other hand, I had my nose glued to my editing machine most of the day. Did I already say that? Not exactly, I guess. 

Anyway, I have been working on The Cow Cavalry. I need three men to finish a few things up for me, but I will not start beating down any doors yet. I have most of the visuals to still put together yet, so why should I whine? I managed to fully complete (locked, I think) half a dozen or so over the last two days and worked on probably about a full dozen today. I would have to go dig my notebooks out of the drawer to tell you exactly...

After AfterEffects (oo! that sounds horrid, but how else do I say it?) froze up, I opened up Photoshop. I don't like Photoshop very well, but that's probably only because I don't use it often enough to really learn how it works. Anyway, I went into Photoshop to make lower thirds. Now, technically, I should be able to make lower thirds (with a transparent 'background' in AfterEffects, which I should then be able to layer over my interview footage in Premiere Pro. (Confused yet?) In fact, I have done this before (though I guess, I made the "art work" for those lower thirds in Photoshop as well; but the actual lower third was assembled in AE)...and it worked lovely. There is just something about this project that AE refuses to render a lower third with a transparent background. Black? You got it! Any other color of the spectrum you might choose? Absolutely! Transparent? WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT? 

Okay, okay...

After being frustrated with multiple attempts at different times (gracious! I could even say "different years" here and it would be true!) to make lower thirds in AE, today I decided to spare myself the further growlings about "dumb, stupid computer programs" and try it another way. 

The question you are all dying to have answered, I am sure, is, "Did it work?"

Um. I don't know. 

I had gone ahead and shut Premiere down as well before I opened up Photoshop. I guess we'll just have to wait and find out tomorrow--or whenever I next crank up the beast.

There...I got that update and the urge to write off my chest. I hope you enjoyed it. :) I rather had fun writing this post, so I hope you cracked at least one smile!

Cheekily,

Hi, Y'all!! 

If you don't mind continuing with yesterday's theme/story for another day...I have here a little documentary put together by a fellow filmmaker friend of mine, William A Moore.

It is called "Operation Deadstick" and it about the British 6th Airborne Division's part in the D-Day invasion. 

Anyway, without any further ado--Operation Deadstick!

(It was rather interesting as we watched "The Longest Day" Thursday evening--we got to the part that William tells about in his documentary and I got excited because "William's releasing his documentary on this tomorrow!" :D)

It's a good question, I suppose...but one it seems hard to answer.

I started out the day (cutting all discussion of dishes, since that's a given) working on the trailer for the "Cow Cavalry". I had 'finished' it yesterday and had to go back and fix a few things--some of them I spotted for myself and a few others were graciously pointed out to me by family and friends whom I asked to view it critically. It's nice to have an honest critique board. As of this writing, I'm currently uploading my third take to YouTube. Never fear...I'll give you a link here real soon. :)

I landed the job of being the-guy (ahem, gal)-to-watch-Granddaddy this afternoon and because I didn't want to watch the Bonanza episode that was coming on (I'd seen it before and it isn't high on my list...some married woman takes a header for Adam), so I watched "Master and Commander". Mama found a copy at Goodwill earlier this week. I'd heard good things about it and I really enjoyed it. I hope to write a review over on Reformed Reveiws soon. I might actually like to watch it a second time before doing that though because the lighting was terrible (glare on the TV and the film is in shadow box and lots of dark-ish scenes) and I had a couple of breaks where I either had to put Granddaddy on the toilet, hold the urinal, make sure he wasn't going anywhere, and tell him that no, he couldn't go to bed, so I probably lost some stuff in the mix. The music is great, however.

In the meantime, I got about 4 and quarter inches done on a sock. (Dark brown, this pair is going to be.)

So, the question becomes, was my day profitable?

While it doesn't seem like I did much today, I think that yes, my day was profitable. I got some more done on my film project, I got a good start into a sock, and I did something that is, in the long run, far more important...I sat with my Granddaddy. Someone has to do it...and to be completely honest, it doesn't take much arm-twisting to get me to watch movies. Particularly good ones.

Oh, yes...and I also finished that kid biography on Queen Victoria. I have yet to pick my next book...(I like to read during the slow-time when working on video projects...)

P.S. I just remembered something else! I got the first-step on a batch of pepperoni done. Yummy....

I may just leave that as the title even when I DO post it--after Christmas, of course! As is, I'm writing this around a week and a half before Christmas, since the events chronicled in the words and pictures contained in this post are nice and fresh in my mind...

The reason this is 'verbotten' to be published prior to Christmas is because it tells the tale of my sister Katherine and I tackling an unique Christmas gift for our mama--thus this post is also dedicated to her.

We had a three-day video shoot, in various costumes, singing loudly, sometimes on-key, sometimes off, and generally making ourselves hoarse...it's definitely proof that one shoots way more video than one actually uses in the finished project! It also proved that everything [scene] you shoot doesn't end up in the finished video either!

I'd like to note that this was really kind of a spur of the moment idea so the both the planning and execution was rather haphazard and quite honestly, more gung-ho than brilliant.

So, here we go--pictures with attached tales! :)

Day 1--"Down in Yon Forest"

Shortly after we got started that first day, my cellphone rang. It was one of the men from church coming with a load of wood. He wanted to make sure we would be home and if it was okay to bring it that day rather than the next because of the weather. I said sure, and he said they'd be here in about an hour. So...Katherine and I crammed multiple takes of "Down in Yon Forest" into thirty to forty minutes then quickly changed into "normal" clothes. That was a wrap on Day 1.

Day 2--"Scarborough Fair", "The Girl I Left Behind Me", "My Southern Soldier Boy", "Riding a Raid", and impromptu--"Suawnee River".

We actually took some "behind the scenes" pictures Day 2. They are rather thin, due primarily to the fact that Director and Make-up Artist were also the talent and film-crew.

Someplace while working on "Scarborough Fair" we spontaneously burst into "Suawnee River". (The music was on the same page, so why not?)

Between "Scarborough Fair" and the next set--which required a clothing change, we indulged in a snack...

I had to get my prop ready...all Katie had to do was stick Daddy's hat on her head!

I next plowed my way through "My Southern Soldier Boy" and ended up figuring that I'd more than likely scratch that one. I followed that up with "Riding a Raid" (I have Katherine whistling that a lot now) and came to the same conclusion. I was having a lot of trouble singing with the guitar.

Day 3--"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", "O Holy Night", "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted", "What Wonderous Love is This", "Auld Lang Syne", and "Dixie" done impromtu by moi when finishing playing "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted" while Katherine sang it. (I was really, really surprised that I was able to play it. It's really the only hymn I ever learned how to play decently and it'd been probably at least a year since I last tried it...I hardly play the piano any more these days and if I do, it's generally just to bang out "Dixie" in a fit of ardor.)

Katherine struggled with "O Holy Night" so did a re-take the next day. Other than having a ragged voice, I think her main problem was that she can't hit the high notes like she used to.

The rest we belted out even though we were hoarse even before we started. Professional singers must have to sing all the time in order to keep their voices nice and stretchy...so...if the songs sound rather crumby, Mama, that's why. We did have a lot of fun putting this together though...

We stuck to the same outfits for the whole shebang that day. We went "formal"...and I wore my mother's dress!! I really do like the style...

When I went to edit it together I decided to list a number of randoms observations about the whole gig...

Number 1: Our commentary between takes (or even during takes) can be down-right hilarious (sorry, only a select number of people will be allowed to veiw any of that!)

Number 2: During "Scarborough Fair" we had a few good-natured squabbles about perfectionism and the clash of words--we both had slight variants of the song memorized. Turns out Katherine had to give on one, and I on another. It worked nicely that way.

Number 3: We discussed how to sing. "Sure, you have to heave some--even when not shoulder breathing because it comes from down here!" Someone patted her diaphram a little too vigoreously...

Number 4: We sounded something like a swarm of bees while trying to get the proper key...

Number 5: The director wasn't always paying close enough attention to framing...that off-centeredness (and thereby cropping of motions) cannot be fixed in post!

Number 6: I still find 6/8th time hard to play on the guitar...but if I think 3/4th time, it's easier!

Number 7: Singing with the guitar is still hard for me...particularly when my voice is already strained.

Number 8: The director/editor obviously forgot about safe-margins when framing...

Number 9: One can tell that the director needed to go to the chiropractor...her gait was rather, well, 'waddle-ish'. :P

Number 10: You can tell that our participation in interpretive speech many years ago served us well! (Some of the choreography was simply spontanteous.)

Number 11: Bits and pieces of favorite movies slipped out...like McLintock.
 
Number 12: I clearly tend to sway when I sing, whereas Katherine keeps much more rigid...

Number 13: I reminded myself of Napolean (out of Aristicats) a couple of times saying, "I'm the director!!"

Number 14: You can clearly tell our voices were tired...

Number 15: The lighting really stinks. I am aware of that. If I had had more time I would have done a better job at trying to control the lighting. As is, we just went with the natural light from the front window and the overhead light-fixture.

Number 16: The sound quality would have been MUCH better if I had used the Zoom--but there was no way I was going to sync this project unless I absolutely had to! My on-board mic is pretty good, but it still probably would have sounded better to use the Zoom.

And Finally: I am convinced that though I am the shortest of us three girls, I must have the biggest lungs!

Katherine summed up the whole project very well when she said/sang: "We are nuts!!" :)

And...just for fun. At the end of Day 3, it was real chilly in the house because I had purposely let the fire die down in the furance so I could give it a thorough cleaning out. After we were done singing (and before supper), I bounded down to the basement (I seem to have difficulty walking down those stairs...maybe because it's cold in the garage) and banged and scraped and rattled and poked and prodded. I got the furnace cleaned out and the fire going nice and then I came up and per usual, dodged into the bathroom to scrub my hands.

I looked into the mirror and burst into laughter. I had a nice gray-brown nose and a matching dot on one cheek. I don't recall brushing hair out of my face or scratching my nose (though it is possible that I did one or both of those operations), but somehow I looked like a very clean chimney sweep!

You can't really tell in the picture, but if you look closely you can see that my nose is off-colored. :)

This particular movie has been on my radar for about two years now...and I'm really, really looking forward to it. From the trailer, it looks outstanding!

(Professional actors really help Indy movies! I've seen some good stories that were just not very enjoyable because the acting was terrible.)