Dave's Journal, Oct2020
October . . . Halloween . . . Dia de los Muertos . . . Day of all Souls . . . Scary old Movies . . . What's not to love?
We had a 5 minute storm blow through here yesterday, and it wiped out our power. It's mid morning and we're still out, and running on the generator.
Been thinking of this forever, so I did my homework and found out how to join video clips into one "trailer".
You didn't ask, but here's the procedure:
To join ("concatenate") mp4 video files into one mp4, using ffmpeg (on Linux).
1. Create a text file list ("mylist.txt") of the mp4 files, using exactly this format including the word "file" and the ' marks:
file 'Dracula1.mp4'
file 'FRANKENSTEIN.mp4'
file 'BRIDEOFFRANKENSTEIN.mp4'
file 'HORROROFDRACULA.mp4'
file 'WOLFMANclip2.mp4'
file 'BLACKSUNDAYclip.mp4'
2. Open a terminal window and type in this command:
ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i mylist.txt -c copy output.mp4
So . . . If your web browser can stand an 8Mb download and you have 4 minutes to watch a "trailer" of the clips above . . .
click here
Every time I stumble across this on Youtube, I laugh at how musical entertainment was back in the 1950's - '60's. Imagine a singer putting on this style today !
This is a not-so-good scanned slide (like many from that time), but computers can fix nearly everything these days.
I started this month thinking it would be classic horror clips, but apparently I am on a roll with re-processing some pictures I left undone. So . . . here are a few more, both from 2016:
1. The staircase at the Worcester Art Museum
2. Canoes at the wildlife sanctuary.
This morning I went for a 6-month implant electronics tune-up. Went well. The left side was making people sound like chipmunks - very different from the right side. We made improvements, but need time to let my brain re-adjust to the new signals we're sending it. This could take a few months.
Talked about musical notes and that they often sound flatter or sharper than I know they are. Long story for another time and place.
Then I grabbed a camera and trek'd to the wildlife sanctuary. Nice day, but no wildlife and the foliage is not glorious (not much rain this year). Caught a cute MG in the parking lot, though.
Tower Hill Botanic Garden, this time of year, is not too colorful when the autumn foliage is a dud. But I went there anyway, to get out of the house and hear the shutter click . . . .
