Video Editing - It's not really that easy

 I was editing one of my videos--which usually aren't part of a let's play series--and I got a bit tired of it, so I decided to come here for my break. 

If you're here, then you probably watch a good amount of YouTube. Each one of those high quality videos you watch (which is the majority of what most watch) takes a good amount of time and effort to edit. Unless you make videos yourself, you probably don't think about how annoying it is to edit the video for optimal viewer pleasure. Every aspect of the video must be considered, so it gets extremely technical to ensure the most frictionless experience to your viewers. Good quality audio, engaging video footage, minimal eye movement, silences, sound effects, and interesting content are all things that you have to think about when making and editing the video.

It's honestly annoying whenever I record a long video. I have a good time during the recording process, then realize I have to edit the shit out of it to make it somewhat interesting. I suck at editing and have nowhere near the amount of experience as professional YouTubers, but even my edited videos take a long time. I try to cut out every silence or breath, since it's not really necessary for the video and is boring to listen to after a while. We like constant stimulation, so any amount of silence or lack of that makes us instantly bored (trust me, even I'm guilty). I also try to add some effects here and there to add some humor, and maybe even some visual effects to spice up the screen recording. Just that alone, minus all the extra technical stuff that makes videos really shine, takes forever to edit. It takes like 10 minutes to get through only a minute and a half of the video.

Once you get more comfortable with it, it goes a bit faster, but it's still not a quick process after recording. If you're wondering why I never edit my Yoshi's Island or Oracle videos, it's because those are old games. It would sorta take away from the game if I were to hyper-edit it and use too many jump cuts (Yes, even over-editing videos is bad. Nobody wants 4000 obnoxious sound effects in their video). Most YouTubers who play retro games don't edit the video a ton, and it makes perfect sense. 

I haven't quite learned the full repertoire of techniques to really captivate an audience to gain a large viewership, but at least I'm making some cool videos for the small number of people who do watch.

Magical Keyboard

I'm not sure why Apple named their keyboards "Magic Keyboard"--they don't ever ask me to pick a card. Either way, this distinct keyboard has really grown on me over the past couple months. 

As with most Apple products, the design is very minimalistic and visually-pleasing. The small, aluminum frame contrasts well with the white keys laid across in a compact and neat way. The keyboard is extremely light, too. I often put it on lap when I'm sitting at my desk. The battery feels like it lasts forever, and I cannot notice any delay from the bluetooth (there's definitely some, but who even cares).  Apple has refined the design of the keyboard over the years; I have an old version that feels much different than the newest model. I have the small version without the number pad, and it looks so damn good next to my trackpad. There's no flashy RGB, no mechanical switches, no windows key, no complications--it's just pure Apple necessities at your fingertips. I find gaming keyboards to be unnecessary, since I rarely even play computer games (hello, I'm a Mac user) and don't find the need to have an overly loud and LED flashing keyboard for everything I do. Some people enjoy the sounds of a mechanical keyboard, but I find it annoying and distracting while typing for a long period of time. If you've watched my previous videos, you might remember that I often used a mechanical keyboard when playing retro games. Honestly, that keyboard was a piece of shit, so I didn't really enjoy using it after a while. I gave it away to my cousin a while ago and haven't really missed it.

The Apple Magic Keyboard literally works for anything I do while being stylish and fun to type on, so I'm gonna be an Apple sheep and use it with pride.

Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy Paper

    If you're in school or work at an office, you've probably come across copy paper at some point in your life. It's most commonly seen in letter format, which is around 8.5x11''. I have a stack on my desk--standard, 30% recycled paper with a 92 brightness. It's been there for a while, since it honestly takes a while to go through copy paper if you're not using it for school/work purposes. I've tested out some other types of copy paper like premium, which have a thicker sheet and heavier weight to them. They're nice, but I prefer the lightness of regular 'ol paper. I know you may think that copy paper is primarily meant for printing/copying documents, but what about writing?

    If you really think about it, having a blank sheet of paper for writing is essentially like having a blank text file on your screen. A white void of nothingness, with no lines or marks that taint the page. If I need to write something by hand, I almost always do it on a blank sheet of copy paper because it gives me the same feeling of writing on a blank text file. To me, copy paper is equivalent to opening a terminal window, full screening it, and using Vim or Nano to type, type, type away. I hate writing on lined paper, graph paper, dotted paper, or whatever other crap that's out there. The most friction-less experience comes from having absolutely nothing on your page. 

    I've read quite a few articles online discussing writers' dissatisfaction with distractions when writing with a computer. To combat this, many of them chose to use expensive, kindle-esque writing machines that intentionally strip digital features to enhance productive writing. This might be helpful for a lot of writers, but personally, I don't think I could justify (with myself or anyone else) spending over a hundred dollars on a glorified VTech device. 

   I've thought idly about typewriters for a while after re-watching a scene from YOU where Joe puts a typewriter in the cage for Beck to have her "low-tech writer's retreat". I've always wanted to try one out and see how it feels. With the age of digital technology, going analog might sound pointless, but I still feel like there can be something there when you use antiquated gadgets. 

 

Plastic or Reusable?

    As I sat at my desk this Friday morning, I watched the water in my plastic bottle gently swish with each stroke of my pen on the paper. And then I decided to transition my writing to this blog. I thought about the growing number of people using reusable water bottles, and the benefits and disadvantages that come along. 

    First of all, I still see the appeal of plastic water bottles, even in this day and age. For one, they're much more convenient in a lot of ways. You can easily stuff them in your backpack without filling them up, they're lighter, they're disposable and they're smaller and easier to carry. You don't have to worry about washing them, of course. The water already inside of them also means that you don't have to worry about getting that nasty tap water taste if when your filter's not working--that is of course, if you don't have a water dispenser on your fridge door or have some other water spout that has a filtration system. If you want your water to be cold, you can easily store a few plastic bottles in the fridge overnight. It's a little harder to get cold water in a flask. You either have to have ice cubes to drop in there or have a source of cold water in the fridge (from like a Brita or a dispenser). This doesn't really bother me, though, since I don't mind my water room temperature. 

    Even though they're convenient, disposable bottles do have their own issues. The most obvious issue that anyone thinks of is their environmental impact. Plastic bottles, since they're manufactured at an insane rate, produce tons of plastic. Who knows if recycling actually does anything? We still find these bottles in the ocean. A lot of environmentalist are urging people to stop using them because of this. Additionally, the microplastics that may be in the bottled water might have undesirable effects. I'm not even sure what chemicals (not to sound like a damn anti vaxxer) are in the plastics, but I'm not dead, so who cares. Beyond the environmental impacts, disposable bottles may add up in cost over time to an expensive Stanley or Hydro Flask. It doesn't seem like it at first, but you're likely to go through a bunch of bottles over time and spend more money. 

    Part of me doesn't care, though. I like the feeling of cracking open a fresh bottle and seeing that crisp, new plastic shell with all those little ridges and bumps. I like the feeling of crushing the bottle once I'm done. The plastic water bottle is a symbol of a day outside and a day of hard work. 

    I still see the benefit of the other side, too. Reusable water bottles, whether metal or a durable plastic, can be great for some. If you like cold water, then metal bottles often offer insulation that keeps the water cool for hours. This can be extremely nice when it's a hot day out and you want to have ice-cold water for when you're dying of thirst. On top of having cold water, you can have a lot more water when you use reusable ones, as they often have much larger capacities than 16.9 FL OZ. Obviously, reusable ones are more environmentally friendly, since they're not nearly as wasteful as the plastic ones. They also last forever. Like forever. If you treat your bottle with good care (which really isn't much) and wash it regularly, the thing'll last you for years and years and years. There should be no reason it will ever "break". This is also why it's probably more cost-friendly, since you don't have to buy another one for a very long time. On top of durability and lifespan, reusable bottles offer more customization and aesthetics, since you can apply stickers and get it in your favorite colors. 

    Overall, if you're stuck on which one to go with, do both. I use both types off and on, and I like the benefits of each kind of bottle.

Google Vids

 You knew this was coming after I made my most recent Lucas animation with it. Google Vids is a new video editing software released in the last year that uses Gemini and a Google Slides like interface to make "engaging" videos. It is very simple and easy to use, encouraging users to utilize the AI features to make short, appealing videos. You can do everything manual, too, but I feel like the AI makes it better. You're basically able to add images, shapes, text, and audio to a bunch of "scenes" that you can adjust. Google actually (probably unintentionally) made it more optimized for animations, since you can time each individual slide (scene) and add music and effects on top of the animation. It actually feels easier to make animations and the new features make the process smoother and more fun. The AI is great for finding backgrounds for a scene since you can ask it to generate an image. The fact you can directly import audio means I can already have voice clips for each character without using a separate editor. The only gripe I found with this software is that the time limit for a video is 10 measly minutes. I'm not sure why it's that short. Google claims is so that the video can remain engaging, but what if you don't give a shit about that? It's not like this is widely known about either-- I never heard people talk about it when it came out. This is partly because not every Google account can access this; only work/school ones (which aren't free) or personal accounts with "Google Workspace Labs". 

 Even with that time limit, I think this app is still pretty cool. It's cool to see Google adding goodies to their line of web apps now and then.

LibreOffice Writer

Months after downloading Microsoft Word, I glanced at it every time I used my computer and never opened it. The costly, bulky software sits in my Applications folder hogging space and collecting digital dust on its blank pages. I don't really know why I never use Microsoft Word--it's perfectly capable of handling everything text-related that I do. I’ve been using TextEdit for most of my word processing, so I didn't want to bother using a complicated and hard to use software for doing basic tasks like writing a video. In the end, I deleted it off my computer for good and replaced it with LibreOffice.

LibreOffice is basically the free and open source version of Microsoft Office. It has 6 softwares: Writer, Impress, Draw, Calc, Math, Base. I feel like people hardly talk about it, especially since most remember and recognize Word as the go-to software. LibreOffice is a successor to OpenOffice (which is much older) and is still updated today. The software I care about most--and the one I use most--is Writer. I want to learn how to use it effectively and efficiently. Writer is very customizable, giving you the freedom to change how the interface looks to optimize productivity. If you're intimidated by the amount of customization, the default look works perfectly fine for anything you're accomplishing. Personally, I like a clean and minimalistic toolbar with only the things I frequently use. Mine looks like this:

 

As you can see, it looks pretty plain. The top bar has only a few things, and the bottom bar has very basic formatting. I've already written a decent amount of text in it, so I can attest that it runs well on pretty much anything. Even on my slow, old Linuxbook, it ran without using much CPU or RAM. 

I suggest you give this program a try, especially if you don't want to pay for expensive software and need a capable program. 

Life in these United States

Since I enjoy reading Reader's Digest every month, I titled this post after the section dedicated to humorous stories from people living in these United States. Instead of being humorous (and blatantly copying RD), I wanted to share a few things that happened today.

 

1) As I was about to leave the house this morning, I decided to leave a jacket at home because it wasn't going to rain and the sun was out. Later in the afternoon, I severely regretted my decision as I stood in the cold, strong wind for an uncomfortable few hours at a track meet.

2) While typing on my Chromebook, I realized my "n" key felt sticky, so I decided to pry it out and try to fix it. After a lot of attempts, I successfully failed at fixing the key and had to replace it with the grave accent key that I never use. There's now a missing key on the top left corner.

3) I packed five total sandwiches for lunch today and used the entire remaining bread loaf.

4) My friend uploaded on his YouTube channel after more than a year.

5) As I opened the door from inside a classroom, it slammed outward with unbelievable force from the wind and made an extremely loud WHACK. I then proceeded to watch a few more people do the exact same thing.

Rain

 It's been raining for a few days now, and it made me think about my feelings on rain. I'd say it's delightful and irritating and the same time, depending on the situation. If it's a weekday and you have to go out to work/school, then it sucks. It makes you take a little bit longer planning your outfit, since you probably want to have a jacket and some better shoes to resist the water. You have to make sure to take an umbrella if it's raining harder, since being wet for a long period of time can be really annoying. When you step outside, tiny droplets of cold hit your face and make you squint your eyes. You pull out your phone, and it accumulates little droplets of water that start making your phone register inputs you didn't do. Your hands are cold. Benches and tables become wet, meaning you can't sit where you usually sit anymore. Whenever you rush under an awning, you're almost guaranteed to get hit by a giant drop since it drips down. The floor is slick and squeaky. The cloudy sky makes you feel lethargic and down. While it's not really enjoyable to have to go out and about while it rains, it can be delightful when you're indoors.

 It's a Saturday morning, rain is coming down hard. That tapping at your window fills the silence of the room. Fresh coffee for a morning of nothingness. You plop down at your desk, open up a good book or start up your favorite game. This is probably the only time when I feel rain is delightful. I love that feeling knowing that the outdoors is sort of undesirable and that you don't have to be out there. The pleasant noise of rain on the window is perfect for focusing on work. A gloomy, dim light that lights your room means you can keep the lights off. Whenever you eventually step outside, the smell of rain lingers. When the sunshine comes after the rainfall, a wave of good feelings comes. It's that perfect kind of sunshine, with a good amount of clouds in the air that don't make it super bright.

Even though most say that sunny days are beautiful days, I think the very rare and occasional days like these are equally beautiful.

 

Recording on a Chromebook -- My Experience

 Most people who start YouTube channels, especially ones that focus heavily on screen recording, use a good computer. A good computer means that you won't have to worry about any issues when recording a game or other task on your computer. However, since I had a Chromebook for most of my YT channel, I had to deal with annoyances that aren't really talked about. 

1) Picking the right screen recorder. For some reason, all of the screen recorders on ChromeOS run differently. It doesn't help that there's 50 thousands options, either. There's some on the Chrome Web Store, the built in one, MANY crappy paid online ones, and some hidden PWA gems. The most heinous are certainly the online ones, since they almost always lag the video and cost absurd amounts for very limited usage. It's so easy to find these just by searching "Free Online Screen Recorder". Please don't fall for them. 

With all these options, it's difficult to find a screen recorder that works on your device and has what you need. Some don't record audio that well, don't record your microphone, slow down your computer too much, take up far too much storage, or create weird audio formats that aren't seekable. I've encountered all these issues at some point. As evident by many of my videos, I switched screen recorders often in a scramble to find the best one. In the end, it didn't matter, since I got a better computer and have Arch Linux on my Chromebook.

2) The inevitable lag. Even if you do find a screen recorder that works, it's not guaranteed that it won't lag when you record. When you're recording and browsing the web and doing very light-weight activities, you'll probably will be fine. But, the minute you start playing a game (especially web-based ones like Super Mario Construct), good luck. The game will lag, and so will the resulting video footage. It makes sense--doing harder tasks on your computer while trying to record will take up a lot of CPU power on low spec machines. 

In my Mac Mini video, I mentioned how I got lag when I recorded a Game Boy Color game. This isn't a lie. If you go back and watch some parts in the middle of my Oracle of Ages series, you will notice parts where there is a very noticeable frame drop. This infuriated me nearly to the point of giving up. I tried nearly everything to fix this, but each time there would eventually be lag. It truly feels like these Chromebooks are moving backwards in the advances of technology.

 3) Limited Storage. On top of dealing with crappy recording experiences, I had to figure out how to manage my storage with long videos. They would almost always take up a significant amount of space on my computer, which forced me to quickly upload it in fear of running out of space. Chromebooks (surprise) don't have a lot of disk space, so keeping multiple projects just wasn't an option.

 

Looking back, I'm not sure why I didn't install Linux on my Chromebook much sooner. It's a game-changer and I'm never going back. It can literally do exactly what a Chromebook can and much more, including record pretty good for free. You're still going to notice the limited hardware, but at least you won't be locked down.

Must-haves in your backpack (my opinion) if you're going somewhere.

Whenever I go somewhere and take a backpack, I always carry a bunch of "essentials" that I believe should be in everyone's pack. It really doesn't matter where you're going (to school, to work, on a flight, on a roadtrip, on a hike, to a geocache), you'll likely end up needing these things at some point. Here's my list:

In your pocket:

- Phone

- Wallet w/ cash

- Keys

- Headphones

- Shades

I never leave the house without these. I'm sure this list is pretty standard among most. You gotta have easy access to these things in your pocket. Personally, I like to add an item of entertainment like a DS or yo-yo.

In your bag:

- Water bottle. This can be plastic or reusable. If you're on a hike, those camelback pouch ones are nice

- Gum. You know you shouldn't leave without it

- A pen

- Portable Charger. I carry this everyday for school and whenever I go out for a longer period of time. If your phone dies, it's a pain. 

- Charging cable

- Measuring tape. Not like the ones that retract, just a simple one that looks like tape

- Nutrition. This is so important. Like I said, it doesn't matter where you are, having snacks like bars, chips, sandwiches, etc. is so clutch when you're hungry. 

I know this is a small amount of things, but these are important. Anything else you have in your pack is going to depend on where you're going/what you're doing. If you're going hiking, you're going to bring a flashlight and first aid kit. You obviously wouldn't need that at school, so it's not on this list. If you're going to school, you'll need a computer and stationary, but not when when hiking.

Have fun.

My Messy Desk

 I feel like every week my desk has been getting messier and messier. I'm not sure if it reflects how busy I am, how much stuff I own, or my laziness, but it's kind of insane. 

Let me set the scene: 

Right now, I have a book on the far left side of my desk. It's taking up a decent amount of space. I have two water bottles right next to it, one empty and one completely full. I have a lip balm also in front of the water bottles, as well as a Nintendo eShop gift card that I have yet to redeem. On top of that gift card is a journal and a stick note pad. Next to that are some stress balls I got for Christmas. These are jumbled in a pile with a 3DS screw driver, a ziplock bag of keyboard switches, and a blue flashlight I got from an event at school. Slightly above this pile is a new shoelace for my running shoes and some Aller-Flo I got from Costco. The Aller-Flo has been sitting there for months. Next to that is two tape measures, a mini gumball machine, and a pencil lamp (that looks suggestive). In front of me is my monitor, and beside that is my Mac mini. Resting on my monitor's stand is my Elgato capture card and two orange speakers that are made of the same thing that those Chinese takeout boxes are made of. It looks like there's gonna be fried rice in one, but it's actually just a speaker. There's two papers sitting in front of my monitor, which are both comics I drew about Lucas. They're really shitty. On top of the comics are headphones, and in front of the comics is my keyboard and trackpad. To the left and right of my keyboard is a bunch of random stuff. AirPods, a Bic pen, my wallet, gum, iPod shuffles, cards, more pens, and an iPad case I haven't used in years. My desk has shelves, and there's a bunch of random things on them. On the right shelf, there's 3 Amiibos (Ryu, Ness, and Lucas), 2 cameras (an old 2008 Kodak video camera + a Canon G9X Mark 2), 3 SD Cards, a Sony recording thingy, and a keycap remover. There's a shelf above this one, which has the box for the Zelda Game and Watch. I used that Game and Watch a ton, until one day when I went into a pool on Kauai and completely submerged it without realizing it was in my pocket. That one hurt, especially since it was for like 3 seconds. Besides the G&W, there's a Luminator Yo-Yo (from Yoyotricks.com), a sharpener, the Sage Yo-Yo, a Darn Tough arm band, my Mario G&W, and neon-colored flash cards. As you can probably tell, it's messy. The left shelf has a mixture of things like cash, coins, a calculator, sticky notes, SNES controllers, and books. 

I was able to write a giant paragraph of nearly everything on my desk, which tells me that I probably need to clean it. Every time I try, though, I end up not wanting to move things/put things away in fear that I'll need it later. I know that sounds a bit hoarder-ish, but I'm not. It's the same reason I have 50 million tabs open at once (and then I complain why my computer lags... lol). I've heard that having a messy desk shows that you're like smart or productive, but I'm not entirely convinced. Even if it does, it doesn't take away from the fact that it's an eyesore and kind of disgusting. I always see those "aesthetic" desk setups or "minimalist" desk setups on the internet. They look awesome, but in practice, I feel like it would be annoying trying to grab what you need. Props to you if you like it that way.

Now that I wrote this, I think I'm realizing that I need to clean up a bit and reorganize my desk. I'll be back...

Bic Round Stic

Feeding into this blog's randomness, I wanted to post about the Bic Round Stic pen.

 

I use this damn pen so much, that I may as well just own the rights to it. The Bic Round Stic (pictured above) is a very inexpensive, plastic office pen that comes in many colors and versions. I use the classic blue one for nearly every piece of handwriting, even math. It is extremely lightweight, thin, and surprisingly comfortable to hold. Even after long writing sessions, it gives little fatigue to my hand. It writes really smooth for a ballpoint pen and lasts an annoying amount of time. I swear, it takes months of heavy use to wear one of these out. It'd be faster to try and drink 10 gallons of water with a fork than to finish a pen. You're likely to lose it or break it before you finish the ink. 

I'm not sure why I like this pen so much. I think it's just because it's so vastly different from what most would consider a "good" or favorite pen. Most people prefer expensive gel pens, but for me, I'd take this over any pen, any day. It is the most reliable thing ever, even if it's been sitting in a drawer for a decade. Even though this pen is so cheap and mass produced, it doesn't really feel or write cheap.

I prefer blue ink over anything because it stands out, especially among printed documents that are black. Let me know what you prefer. 

Also yes, I do math in pen. I've seen some Reddit posts of people who do math completely in pen, and I don't feel so alone. I do cross out a lot and it can sometimes get messy, but overall I find it more satisfying and just as viable as pencil. I hate pencil (the way it looks and writes), so I've always just used pen for literally everything. In elementary school, you're probably going to have a harder time trying to convince your teacher to use pen for everything. In high school, they don't care, so go at it. 

Let me know what you think about the Bic Round Stic--or any other Bic pen for that matter--and if you use pen for everything or not.

Where are the videos?

If you've noticed recently, I haven't posted a new video on the channel in a few weeks. The latest video was a random video of me playing Google Feud. Here's a few reasons why I haven't posted:

 1) This blog. I've been spending a lot of my time focusing on this blog. Even though I haven't posted anything new in a bit, I'm definitely still working on updating this and keeping it lively. My channel already has a bunch of videos on it.

2) I honestly don't know what to post. If you look on the right of the blog, you'll see it says that I still have no video ideas. I haven't found any informative/commentative videos to do like I did for the TextEdit one or the Mac Mini experience. Plus, making those videos takes a lot of effort, so it's a big commitment (I was making a Google Drawings video and I sorta gave up halfway). 

Gaming videos, while easier to make, are honestly kinda boring and not engaging in the slightest. The way I make them is very minimal effort, but I feel like hyper-editing an old game takes away from it. Sure, I'm destined to finish New! SMW2 someday, but I kinda lost interest in it after grinding it out during the holidays. I've said this a million times: it's difficulty makes it hard to want to play it.

 I didn't get as excited as I thought I would when I got a new computer that could play a ton of new games (the irony of it all is that I'm using my old Chromebook with Arch Linux to type this out). Even though I can play 3DS games, I don't feel like starting a series on something that'll get 4 views. Pair all this with the fact that I haven't even gamed by myself in several weeks, and you can understand my reluctance to post.

3) No time. I've got stuff to do all day, and during the weekends I'm super lazy. During Spring break and the summer I'll have more time to really come up with a few cool videos, but these months are the busiest.

4) Writing is cooler. Don't get me wrong, I love watching YouTube and making videos, but sometimes it's more fun to write out a random post about something. I don't have to worry about audio, or video, or keeping your attention. If you're reading, I've already weeded out the 5 year olds with no attention span. Reading books and writing is actually pretty cool. For AP Lang, you have to write, so getting easy practice from this helps. 

 

 

 

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -   Those are just a few reasons why I haven't posted on the channel for a while. There might be a few videos at the end of this month because of spring break, but otherwise IDK.