I think I understood the concept behind the high range/low range gear lever on my Land Rover. But I had never had a real opportunity to use it this weekend’s snow (about a foot).
Went down the hill in 4WD (high). Came back up in 4WD (low) and it finally clicked for me. I need to remember to engage these gear combinations from time to time to make sure all the doodads are working.
Don’t recall sharing this but it’s way too late in the game to fret over such things. This must be from late 70s or early 80s. There might be a dated reference but I don’t think I can stand to listen.
Got a new mount for the GoPro camera. I would say a more flattering angle but I’m not sure they make such a thing. I ramble for 3 minutes about the early days of MTV. Audio level is too low so it’s gonna be video-only inside the cab of the Land Rover.
I came across a video showing how most pop songs are made with the same four chords. This got me wondering which chords go together so I asked my ukelele mentor, Professor Peter. Knowing my musical limitations, he dumbed it way down. If you want a 4 chord group:
A, F#m, D, E(7) – or
G, Em, C, D(7) – or
F, Dm, Bb, C(7)- or
C, Am, F, G(7)
When I started noodling around with these I noticed each group sounded like every teenage tragedy song from the early 60’s so I started jotting down high school memories. A quick, stream of consciousness list: high school cafeteria; AM radio; drag racing; orange vodka and cherry slo gin; fake IDs; 3.2 beer; drive-in movies; etc. I plugged ’em into C-Am-F-G7 and came up with three verses in search of a chorus.
The cool kids table in school lunch room
The A-M radio, playin’ our tunes
They put my jockstrap on my head
You go too fast, you wind up dead
Some orange vodka after the prom
Passed geometry with help from mom
My buddy Jimmy had a fake ID
But three-two beer was good enough for me
Too hot to neck at the local drive-in
Wasted money on the cherry slo gin
Suzie’s footprints on the dash of my car
You can leave but you can’t go far
I’ll cast these crumbs upon the water in hopes that someone will come up with the chorus.
As far back as Taxicab Confessions I remember wondering what sort of little cameras they used to get the candid video. Not GoPro cameras. In-car video has become common (Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, Carpool Karaoke, etc) but I’d be surprised if they were using these tiny, inexpensive cameras.
I thought it might be fun to keep one of these in the Land Rover. (Don’t ask me why. If I knew when I hit the buy button it has escaped me now.) I’ve always been impressed by the quality of the videos folks got with these and propping up my iPhone never worked the well for me. The GoPro is well designed for this task.
These are really pretty amazing. I can control the camera with an app on my iPhone or even configure for voice commands. In the next few days I want to try the looping feature which is — I assume — how people get all the insane dash-cam videos.
A few people have pointed out the camera angle is too low. No doubt. The Land Rover will have many more placement options.
Flexible Four Claws Pick Up Tool Spring Grip Narrow Bend Curve Grabber. Also known as a FFCPUTSPGNBCG. Only $2.38 on Amazon.
I misplaced my car keys (again). This time the key fob was attached to a Tile tracker. The iPhone app showed the keys being close but I couldn’t hear the chime so I assumed they were outside. The app displays a small green circle on a map and the tile/keys is located within.
In the screencast above the blue dot is me, moving around relative to the circle. I hurried this demo a bit and the app was playing catch-up. The device and the app work better in practice than my demo suggests. I’ve been impressed so far.
First attempt with new recording technique. Video from iPhone in effort to get away from the “looking straight into the laptop camera” look. Recorded audio using Amadeus Pro, then sync’d them. Did the sepia tone and audio tweak in ScreenFlow. So, yeah, I sort of forgot about singing and playing the uke.
ScreenFlow has some nice special effects for audio and video and think I like this version better than the first. Slightly more “enhanced”
I’m struggling to memorize a few songs (rather than rely on the iPad for lyrics and chords). I seem to be able to remember one or the other, but not both. This recording is as close as I’ve gotten. I find the pain more bearable if we all share it. One day I’ll post a version in one take. But not today.