A writer's Random ramblings
Do you have a ton of video segments that make more sense as unified movies? How about photos that could tell a story if only they came together? Wondershare Filmora can help in both cases, and even add music and special effects to the creations.
A one-year subscription, which I decided to try first, costs $40, while a lifetime subscription runs the user $20 more. I run it on a Windows 10 computer with no problems now that I have made several short videos as tests to learn how it works. This program does not cause the headaches that many would think it would. It gives easy drag and drop options once photos, music, videos, and other objects are imported into its main screen. Each type of item to be included has its own track, much as different instrument tracks form a song on music composition programs. My first two projects consisted of telling stories using photos and music without voiceovers. In one, I used the caption function to tell the story of my husband’s classic car. On each slide (photo), I added a bar containing that part of the story. After putting together enough photos of the car and our family, I then added a music track where I had used my composition program to create a new score of a favorite hymn tune, originally made for my older daughter to play on saxophone. I then used Filmora’s editing function to make the slideshow fit the length of the tune. After this learning project, I set to work on a special video to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. In this case, I first added the music, a 4-minute special piece I had originally written for voice and piano as a wedding present to him. This video has no voiceovers or even captions. It begins with the first photo ever taken of us and progresses through the wedding, honeymoon, and ensuing years as we became parents. I ask if you have video segments clogging the computer because I do. I have footage from many band events my older daughter has appeared in over the years. She wants to add each show and concert as she goes through high school to a flash drive for a future portfolio. We need to stitch the segments my camera likes to make back together for this. Filmora fits the bill, giving me the option to go ahead and make each concert back into a unified show. After all, 15-minute segments may look fine on their own, but will present in better context as the 2-hour concerts they usually are. In these cases, I will only need the film line on the program since I do not need to add anything. These will be the simplest videos to make and export. Export is the function, regardless of what is compiled into a video, that allows the user to save the results in various formats to add to flash drives, memory cards, and other media as well as the computer itself. Thus, with Wondershare’s Filmora program, one can learn to storyboard photos and videos. From there, the user can then sew images, music, and other element into a new production. Using the export function sends the finished product to the computer for adding into a CD, DVD, or flash drive for a handy gift on any special occasion. I highly recommend this as a relatively inexpensive way to begin videomaking beyond what a camera does.
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With our younger daughter’s in-school introduction to recorder on the horizon, we wanted to get her acclimated a bit ahead of time. Schools always use a soprano recorder, which I recently learned scores its music down an octave from where it sounds. Be prepared for squeaks and whistles at first!
On Amazon, I found the 8 bees soprano recorder with its case and cleaning rod. This required a simple search of “soprano recorder” once I had verified with our older daughter that it is what kids use in General Music. I had the site list prices from low to high so I could find a good deal. Then, I picked this one based upon it coming in the color white, as the prior class of third graders had used in the presentation of what they had learned. Upon receiving the instrument, our daughters took it from the package right away and began to work on note fingerings. The younger one, who will use it in school, quickly also figured out without the instructions how to use the cleaning rod when the recorder feels heavy with spit. After only about a day and a half of thumbing through her book, she has mastered several simple tunes, including “Hot Cross Buns.” This value of an instrument will provide recorder students with a great value as they journey toward decisions about whether to learn other instruments later. Alfred Press’ Recorder Express gives students a wonderful self-study. It presents the chart of all notes at the rear of the book for those who prefer to begin with the range rather than individual notes. At the very beginning, the book discusses technique - how to hold the recorder, how to sit up straight, and blow air through to get various tones. Then, the student learns the very middle notes of the range, and as soon as those three come out all right, simple melodies follow. As students progress, the book gives new notes in order of difficulty, Music theory and terminology appear at such times as the songs require them. This integration of theory and technique will serve those those who pick up band and orchestra well, as many teachers use beginner books organized the same way. The cover alone of this book attracts and entertains children with its colorful graphics of a train by the name chugging along a track. This could easily inspire younger children to learn recorder before schools require it, letting people become more proficient at music. All in all, anyone with musical experience could help a youngster start on recorder with the combination of 8 bees soprano recorder and Alfred Press’ Recorder Express. Adults with a curiosity about music and the ability to figure out a fingering chart could also learn this way. I highly recommend these tools for musical beginners of all ages. The novel The Other Woman tackles many themes one often does not expect of a romance novel. Although sent a review copy of the paperback in April, I chose to read it more than once. Due to themes of abuse in unexpected relationships, being saved by unexpected characters, and other social ills and redemptions, many will need to read it several times to digest the information. Author Sandie Jones takes on reasons why some in society become abusive while others in the situation do not in very realistic ways.
The story centers on themes of love and who finds whom worth loving. Should a woman love the first man she contacts, or his brother? Many things tie up this process. At first, the man seems fine and the brother busy with a different woman. The brothers’ mother seems to meddle in everyone’s romance. She only claims to want to help everyone get the life he or she deserves. Nobody seems to be able to get out of having her around, even when weddings and babies occur. The meddling of this mother will lead many to believe she abuses the other characters. However, she holds surprises by the end, as do many others. Themes of lost love and broken love reoccur often through the novel. Sometimes, perceptions of these lead to cheating emotionally and sexually. Cheating occurs at weddings and in other unexpected places. This tendency on top of lost loves leads to much pain in many of the characters. We often wonder why nobody appears to be in counseling or other therapy. Lives broken by death and desertion drive people together in The Other Woman,only to then tear them apart again. These on-again, off-again relationships seem too immature to be reminiscent of adult in our world, yet likely reflect many real people. The past, in both love broken by death and childhood abuse, comes to a head through a main character in this novel. He often witnessed his dad beating his mom and sometimes took the force himself. He then bottled that up for far too long. When the only woman he truly loved died under odd circumstances, he took that to heart as well. Both of these situations come out in him in the wrong way. The unexpected heroine saves a main character from this situation and rectifies it eventually setting off a much better ending than the reader comes to expect. To what do I allude? I shall not tell. Pick up Sandie Jones’ The Other Woman, due out in August, to find out. Only reading this emotional roller coaster for oneself can do it justice in the forming of an opinion on both the book and society. https://amzn.to/2NfDgsY Recently, I signed up for a 2-week challenge with Metamucil. Thinking the Insiders Club had not selected me at the time, I went on with my day. Next thing I knew, a delivery arrived at the door. Looking inside the box, I found a shaker cup, large container of the product, and several free sample packets of product, plus some instructions. Following what I saw, I chose 8:00 PM local time to take the fiber mixture each night. After all, it had the timing to come when I had recently run out of the peanuts I used to eat as a fiber-filled snack at that hour each night. Following the instructions, I stir 2 teaspoons of the Metamucil into a coffee mug of water each evening. It claims each user needs to place this amount of the product in 8-16 ounces of water. Not always wanting to measure too perfectly, the coffee mug gives me just the right amount. Naturally, the more water one adds, the less orange flavor comes through. On the label, Metamucil claims the solution can mix into any cool liquid. The slight orange flavor, however might not mix well with everything. Even my husband, when he tried a bit of the drink, likened the flavor in water to the old Tang brand juice we drank as children. Metamucil does not carry much of that flavor, being less sweetened and tart as I recall Tang. For this reason, I doubt Metamucil belonging in coffee or other non-fruit based drinks, as it could adjust the flavor in unwanted ways. As stated on the label, Metamucil does promote regularity. This improves gut health, thus allowing some to begin losing weight. As long as one eats healthfully and exercises, this result is within reach. One dose a day per the label begins the regimen. I found this amount leaves my system feeling clean. By taking the product at 8:00 PM and retiring to bed, I give the product all night to do its wonders. Metamucil then cleans my gut by morning, no interruptions during sleep time. I feel no need to up the amount each day since it works so well in the aforementioned amounts per day. Thus, Metamucil represents one of the simplest ways people can add to their health. Good gut health brings with it good overall health. Of course, check with a physician before beginning this if you have any underlying conditions, but if the doctor only shows concern about weight, go ahead and give Metamucil a try. https://amzn.to/2KSGbu3 |
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