Monday October 18, 2021
7:00 a.m. Green Guest House
Mae Sot, Thailand
Once again, not a whole lot happened yesterday except for listening to the rain and working on technology. The rain continues to astonish. A friend of mine sent me some photographs of the main highway between Mae Sot and Tak, and apparently, a large part of that highway vanished in another landslide caused by the excessive rain this year. It’s not clear how open that highway is now. And I have plans to take that highway to Tak either Tuesday or Wednesday morning, weather permitting. From the weather forecast, it looks like both are possibilities. For my life and things I need to do, I think Wednesday is a better choice. That will give me today and tomorrow to get my life sorted out and organized. If the main highway to Tak appears to be risky in terms of closures, I could always take the mountain road again. That would take much longer, of course, but it would be much more scenic.
I left off my life story yesterday, tearing into iMovie. And this morning, my opinion hasn’t changed in the slightest. I’m sure that given enough time and study, I could figure out how the darn thing works. After all, a lot of people in the world happily use it for video editing. But even if I became an iMovie master, I don’t think I would be satisfied with it. I’m a simple man, and I need simple features, such as being able to see the filenames of the files stored on my computer. And if iMovie can’t do that, then it is bye-bye iMovie. And even if it turns out that it is capable of doing that, I would still dump iMovie for the simple reason that it has to duplicate all my files, and there is no autoscroll option for the timeline. I’ve done some research into that, and it appears that iMovie used to have autoscroll, but in the latest update, they removed that ability. No one knows why. And even the iMovie experts don’t seem to be happy about that.
I was so annoyed with iMovie yesterday that I didn’t just stop using it. I decided to do a slash and burn and remove it completely from my computer along with any trace that it ever existed. That was also an interesting experience on my PC-to-Mac learning curve. On a PC and on Android, I would normally uninstall an application. It had been installed. Now it needs to be uninstalled. And that special command is what you look for on the menu and in the system. But there is no uninstall option on Macs and in iOS. Instead, you just move the application to the trash. And that’s it. Apparently, moving it to the trash uninstalls it. That felt weird to me. What if all you wanted to do was delete an icon for the program? You could accidentally remove the whole program when all you wanted to do was delete an icon.
But iOS kind of has you covered there, because in another annoying twist, this MacBook and iOS requires me to insert my passwords to do anything. Even to download and install a new app, I have to insert my Apple account password. It asks for my password for nearly every action I take. Perhaps I can change this in the settings, but this has been driving me a bit crazy. I don’t understand the need even as a default. I’m logged in to my own laptop. I’m logged in to my Apple account. All I want to do is download an app from the Apple App store or delete an app. Why should I have to insert my password again to do that?
But I eventually managed to remove iMovie. And this was after deliberately tracking down and deleting every copy of every video file I could find that iMovie had created. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life enduring 50 gigabytes of my limited SSD drive space being taken up by hidden iMovie files. I don’t know if I found them all, but I did my best. And the storage on my 256 SSD appears to make sense now. Enough free space appears to be available.
And then I downloaded and installed DaVinci Resolve 17, and I began the first few tentative steps on learning how to use that program. Right out of the gate, I was much happier than I was with iMovie. It’s too early for me to say that DaVinci Resolve is a fantastic program and perfect for me. It might turn out NOT to be suitable. But I CAN say that it felt intuitive and normal right away. I watched a long and detailed tutorial video for beginners, and everything the guy said made sense to me, and I understood it all right away.
The features I expected to be present were present. And everything worked largely as I expected it to. DaVanci Resolve didn’t have to create its own copies of all my files. It just used the original files that I copied from the memory cards. It also worked with all the folders that I had created for my video files. I was able to view the filenames of those files. In fact, the program offered four different view options: I could select Thumbnail View (with filenames). I could select List View (with filenames, file duration, frame count, file type, resolution, FPS, File Path, Video Codec, Audio Codec, Date Modified, Date Added, and other information). I could select a simplified Metadata View (with large thumbnails). And I could sort the files in each of these views by multiple parameters in an ascending or descending direction. That all seemed logical to me, and it was exactly what I wanted. Contrast that with my experience in iMovie, where I could not figure out how to get the app to just show me the filenames!
From there, everything I did in DaVinci Resolve just made sense and felt intuitive. When I created a new project, DaVanci asked me to name the project. iMovie didn’t allow this. It called every new project My Movie, and then you had to change it later. The first step in DaVinci Resolve was to select all the technical parameters for the video project. And this could be saved as a convenient Preset, to which I could assign a name. None of that was possible in iMovie that I was aware of. And DaVinci Resolve had a convenient set of icons arrayed along the bottom of the screen, each representing a completely separate workspace. While working on a video project, you simply moved from left to right and switched from workspace to workspace until you got to the end and exported your final video.
The first is your Media space, where you simply select all the files to add to the project. The second is called Cut. And this workspace is designed as a place where you can quickly and efficiently do a rough cut on individual video clips. The third is called Edit. And this is your main editing workspace. Next to that is Fusion. This is a highly technical and powerful space where you can create motion graphics and visual effects. The next one over is called Color, and you do your color grading here. The penultimate workspace is called Fairlight, and this contains a suite of highly advanced audio post-production tools. And, finally, you reach the Deliver workspace where you select all your parameters for the final export of the video.
It’s unlikely that I would ever have a need for the vast majority of the tools and features in DaVinci Resolve. I feel sure that I would never need to even use the Fusion and Fairlight workspaces. But the way DaVinci Resolve is organized makes that okay. All those powerful and professional tools are kept separate and in entirely different areas. I can just skip past them and never think about them. Ninety percent of my time would be spent in the simple Edit workspace anyway. I only need to concern myself with the Media, Edit, and Deliver workspaces to produce one of my simple videos.
It’s possible that there are other programs out there that are more suited to my needs. DaVinci Resolve is clearly designed for professionals. But it seems to run just fine on this MacBook. It is logically laid out and has all the basic features I need. And I can simply ignore the pro areas that I don’t need. Yet, they are there if I ever want to play around with them. I’m going to give DaVinci Resolve a try and see how it goes. In my short time using it yesterday, I noticed that I was having no trouble at all with cursor control and video playback. I was just doing what I needed to do instinctively. In iMovie, I was constantly making mistakes. I couldn’t figure out how to scroll through the video the way I wanted to or move my cursor or insert my cursor, or control when and if the video would start to play, or where my edits would be inserted. There was something about the logic that eluded me. I guess it just wasn’t what I was accustomed to. I think it was backwards to my expectations, and that’s why I kept doing the wrong thing. But the system and logic of DaVinci Resolve appears to match my experience with my previous video editing programs. It is by far and by orders of magnitude the most complex and professional program I’ve ever had to deal with. Yet, it feels simple and manageable. iMovie is supposed to be simple and easy to use for beginners, but I was baffled by it. There’s a mystery of design philosophy there to be solved, but I’m not going to dive into it. I don’t have the time or the energy. I’m just going to pretend that this little iMovie interlude in my life never happened.
What I just wrote about occupied much of my day. With the rest of it, I edited and exported a video for YouTube. It was a video that I shot while visiting the somewhat famous pedestrian bridge in Tak City. This small adventure occurred in the evening on the same day that I rode my scooter from Sam Ngao to Tak City and then moved into my wonderful room at the SOHO Boutique Hotel. At about five in the afternoon, I grabbed my Pocket 2 camera, and I went for a walk to the Ping River and the bridge. It was only four or five blocks from my hotel at most. I joined all the local people walking across the bridge and enjoying the sunset and the cool breeze off the river. And I took the opportunity to keep testing the Pocket 2 and become more familiar with it. I focused in particular on the three gimbal modes. I think I now have those gimbal modes figured out. I am having some issues with the Pocket 2. These are unexpected issues. For example, the Rode Wireless Go doesn’t seem to play nice with the Pocket 2. I learned that the Pocket 2 will NOT connect with the Rode if the Rode is already plugged in. The only way to get the Pocket 2 to recognize the Rode is to plug it in after the Pocket 2 is turned on. This is a problem because it means that I have to unplug and plug back in the Rode every time I turn the Pocket 2 off and back on. That is a big enough hassle that it is essentially a deal breaker. It means that I can’t use the Rode with the Pocket 2. It’s the same, in fact, with any wired microphone that you plug in to the Pocket 2. If it is already plugged into the Pocket 2 when you turn the camera on, the camera won’t recognize the microphone. It will default to using the four built-in mics. To switch to the external microphone, you have to unplug the mic and then plug it back in. This is a problem because it takes time and is a hassle, but it is also something you will often forget to do. You will end up recording with the built-in mics by accident when you intended to use an external mic. It’s inevitable.
Luckily, this problem does not exist with DJI’s own wireless mic. It does not require plugging in an extra receiver or a cord. Therefore, the Pocket 2 recognizes the DJI wireless mic whether the camera is on or off. If it is already on, the Pocket 2 will see the microphone and connect to it. Plus, of course, if the Pocket 2 is already powered on when you turn on the DJI wireless mic, it will also connect to it. Therefore, it is much faster and safer to use the DJI mic. I tested this, and it works the same way when you have a lavalier mic plugged into the DJI mic. This means that the DJI mic will be my default microphone for the Pocket 2. I planned to use the Rode with both the Pocket 2 and the GoPro 9 just so that I could keep the audio quality roughly the same. But it turns out I have no realistic choice but to use the DJI wireless mic. I don’t actually like the sound of the DJI wireless mic, but combined with a lavalier mic, it is great. I guess that will be my normal setup. And in a way, that brings an advantage, because I will no longer need a cold shoe mount for my Rode Wireless Go receiver. That will open up mounting options, including using a tiny Andoer tripod ballhead that I discovered online the other day. I will be placing an order on Lazada for one of those as soon as I can.
1:15 p.m.
I’m back from a short errand run. I had an interesting if unproductive experience out there in the big city. My main goal was to withdraw some cash for my upcoming trip to Kamphaeng Phet. I was successful in that. The ATMs of Mae Sot showed me some love today. But with some of that cash, I hoped to buy at least one new memory card. I went to all the stores I could think of in Mae Sot, but none of them had a single memory card larger than 128 gigabytes. I’ll eventually be able to get the 512 GB or 1 TB card I want, but I will have to order it online and have it delivered.
While riding out of the Tesco parking lot, I came across a man sitting on the curb and asking for money. Luckily, I spotted him long before I got to that part of the exit. So I was able to stop and get out some money to give to him. I’m odd that way in that I’m perfectly happy to give money to someone asking for it, but I dislike standing beside that person and then getting out my wallet and rifling through it to select the appropriate amount to give. That always feels weird and awkward to me. I prefer to prepare in advance. And seeing this man from a distance gave me that time to prepare.
When I rode up beside him, I could see that he was missing one leg. He had a plastic prosthesis, but I couldn’t make out much in terms of its design or construction. He was quite appreciative of the money I gave him. One could say that he was overly appreciative, because he wouldn’t take it for a long time. He clasped his hands together in the classic Thai gesture of thanks, and then he just held them there while I was holding out the money. Meanwhile, cars and trucks were lined up behind me and waiting for me to ride on. It was an amusing moment, a somewhat typically awkward moment for me. These things tend to happen in my life. I was trying to do a nice thing by giving this man in need some money, but I ended up annoying a whole row of vehicles as they waited impatiently for me to keep moving.
The other small adventure involved massage chairs. The massage chairs at Tesco have been inoperational for most of this pandemic period. They have been unplugged, shut down, and have had big red Xs on them. But I noticed that they were open for business again, and on impulse, I pulled out a 10-baht coin to try one out. I have to say that I was deeply disappointed. The chair didn’t work in the way that I expected, and it was actually quite uncomfortable. It wasn’t relaxing at all.
But at Robinson’s shopping plaza, I found other massage chairs. These looked to be much better, and they were so fancy that they wouldn’t even take coins. The minimum amount you could insert was a 20-baht note. I decided to take a chance, and I sat down and put in my twenty baht. And it was wonderful. This chair was branded with the name Krotron. And it did all the things I hoped it would. For one thing, it reclined. When you first sit down, you are sitting upright. But once it activates, the chair reclines and you recline with it. And this allowed me to truly relax into the massage. The massage itself was not amazing. It is just a set of mechanical rollers in a chair, after all, but it was pretty good. It went on for a deliciously long time and had a variety of movements built into its programming. Best of all, the lower parts wrap tightly around your calves and really grip them and provide a nice workout. I really like that super-tight sensation of pressure. The chair at Tesco didn’t do that at all. I thought it was well worth the 20 baht. I wasn’t surprised that when it was over, the chair played some music and a recorded announcement. I assume it was intended to wake up any customers that were soothed into sleep during the massage. I think even I could have fallen asleep.
I returned to my guest house with no 512-GB or 1-TB memory cards, but I have some cash and feel quite relaxed after my chair massage.