Archive for December, 2009

I finally figured out how to use my expensive new Handycam video camera, and after a slow start I am now able to film such earth shattering events as my dog chasing a frisbee in slow motion, my dog taking a swim in his favorite swimming hole, my dog napping, well, you get the idea.

Once I got the operation of the camera figured out the next step was to learn how to shoot video. This is basically a trial and error process so I'm glad I got the hard drive version of video camera, I end up deleting a lot of video clips, either because I was shaking too much or getting useless video of my feet. I really like the camera but one of it's major flaws is not having a viewfinder. Outdoors, especially in bright sun, the screen display will wash out, leaving you guessing at whether the camera is on record or standby.

Next was to tackle downloading my video from the camera to my PC, find some basic (free) video editing software, create clips, add transitions, dialog, special effects, music, text and credits, which ends up taking hours to do if you want the finished video to resemble anything even semi-respectable so you can put it on YouTube. Why you would do that is a whole other topic.

It wasn't easy, especially the editing part but thankfully I have no desire to make professional videos so the pros can rest easy. My dog in slow motion is enough for now but watch out YouTubers, I plan on getting much better at this!

A southpaw is what they used to call a left-handed pitcher in baseball and believe it or not, just like us humans where some of us are born right-handed and others left-handed, a dog can be either left pawed or right pawed. I always thought that was a funny way to describe a left-hander because when I hear "paw" I think of a dog, but baseball is a weird game anyway.

It has been well documented that some dogs will twirl when they get excited, especially the smaller ones like Yorkies or Pomeranian's. Which direction they twirl in, we suspect, has to do with the "handedness" of a dog. A right pawed dog would twirl in a clockwise direction and a left pawed dog would twirl in a counterclockwise spin. I got this bit of dog lore from Clay Thompson's column in the Arizona Republic although he does say he is only guessing when he responds to a reader with a question about twirling dogs. I think it's a reasonable explanation as to why some dogs twirl in a certain direction and others go the opposite way.

Of course once you think you have figured it out along comes a dog that spins in both directions, sort of ambigdogerous, which in baseball, means a switch hitter. (more…)