Amazing!!!!!

Yes it is. My two hour lesson took place last Monday, August 15, 2016. After a hectic week I finally got around to trying to create a show using the techniques Steven Blauweiss taught me. After three hours on Monday, 7:30 PM - 10:30 PM, and then another hour or two working with Laura on a photo sequence on Tuesday, I tried to export the video from IMovie to my desktop. That is necessary in order to then upload to Youtube and create DVDs. The first attempt produced very poor sound and was useless. I tried again and the export process stopped in the middle and indicated that there was no room in my hard drive. I looked at my storage, and sure enough there was very little room. I went to bed with the thought of trying again the next morning. I dumped a lot of videos and movies I didn't need on my computer, and tried again and this time the show was successfully exported. Laura and I watched in amazement the finished product. We were stunned by the fact that this actually was created almost entirely by me with significant help from her. I am still stunned and worried that something may still go wrong. However, Alan's Italy Show # 124 - Return to Civita di Bagnoregio is now uploaded to Youtube for your viewing pleasure.

The show contains a lot of videos we took when in Civita last June, and many new images. It begins with a brief history of my association with the town and its significant restaurant owner Franco Sala, our dear and sweet friend who has shown us fantastic kindness over the years. I interwove photos and videos with my images appearing occasionally along with my voice over the photo sequence which takes the viewer on a "tour" of Civita down the narrow alleys, and passing some extraordinary scenes. The format is similar to what I used to produce in the studio with some slight modifications. The images are much better and the videos viewable as never before. I like the process of editing as it gives me almost complete control of what everything will look like and the timing of the images and videos. All the filming of me occurred in my living room sitting in my favorite chair. Everything else was moved from IPhoto to IMovie.

I am eager to get on to part 2 of the project which will be the story of our association with Franco, a biography of him and how he came to Civita, and finally a cooking demonstration with Laura taking an amazing series of videos right in the kitchen of restaurant during his busiest time. It will be a wonderful tribute to a great man and friend.

The New Alan's Italy

Apparently even the most OCD, rigidly comfortable with how he has done things rather successfully guy can change. After the last show which had blurry images and almost unwatchable videos, I made the decision to change the way Alan's Italy is produced. I decided to try to learn how to create my show through the process of editing using IMovie as my vehicle. First I told Ellen that I was leaving Woodstock Public Access Television as a live broadcaster. I will still give the station my DVD's but only after the show was completed. I then contacted Stephen Blauwiess, a well known and successful videographer in the Hudson Valley to give me a two hour lesson to begin my training. The lesson was obviously only the beginning of the process, but I was on my way. He taught me how to do some basic and sophisticated things to enhance the Alan's Italy experience. At this point I am putting together the two shows I was intending to produce before, Show # 124 - Return to Civita di Bagnoregio and # 125 - Franco Sala's Trattoria Antica Forno in Civita. The two shows will be based on our June 5, 2016 trip to the town I had visited three times previously, except that this time we videotaped our experiences especially a cooking demo by Franco himself. There will be a lot of videos, but also some stunning images that Laura took during the visit. Although I will mention Franco in the first part with the intention of doing a whole show on his marvelous restaurant, the entire sequence of the two shows will be dedicated to him and my extraordinary friendship with him. The second show will be the one where I will really give my viewers a peak into an amazing man complete with a biographical video I took several years ago in the lobby of the Hotel Duomo in Orvieto. Although I will not be able to really get started preparing the two albums until the weekend due to my absolutely hectic schedule this week, I have already begun the planning. There is no target date for uploading to Youtube, but knowing who I am and how I operate, I assume that in a week or two I will unveil the first show followed soon afterward by the second one. I ask my followers to be patient while I do my thing amid myriad things I am currently involved with including and especially the opening of my 45th year in education starting August 25.

I apologize

...to all my readers who keep waiting for a post. I have spent the summer in the fog of cataract surgery which, although many people say is a breeze, to me was a challenging period of my life. Although my vision now is very good and I am very satisfied with the surgery and my doctor, the road to this point took many strange and anxious turns. Surgery on my left eye (eye # 2) was postponed minutes before being wheeled into the operating room because the nurse and then doctor noticed an infection in my eye. I had to go home and wait a week and a half for that second surgery putting antibiotic drops in the eye to clear up the infection. That was hard for me. Then I kept having the feeling of something in my eyes, both, but worse in the first eye. Then of course the drops I was putting in my eyes for a total of 8 weeks and the antibiotic cream I rubbed on the left eye for several weeks every evening. The drops were actually the least of the issues as I had no trouble with that. Nevertheless, the process of cataract surgery is amazing and anyone who is contemplating surgery on one or both eyes should consider having it. I also recommend Dr. Roger Husted in Kingston for people who live in Ulster County. He was remarkably sensitive, accommodating, and understanding. His reassurance to me constantly was one of the things that got me through the whole process. And of course he was using the latest lenses, called Toric which not only correct the vision but also correct the astigmatism. In my right eye (eye # 1) my vision is now 20-30 and in the left, 20-25 which the Refraction Technician told me will shift between 20-20 under perfect conditions such as weather and dryness of my eyes to 20-25. The Toric Lenses are not covered under Medicare and it cost me extra. The prospect of not having to wear glasses for distance was too good to pass up. Of course I now continue to wear glasses for reading as I did before, but now I have no short vision for reading as I once did a couple of months ago. I am still able to answer my cell phone, see my food to an extent, and do a number of other close up things, but little else. I will try bifocals for times when I need near and far vision quickly such as eating meals for example. I will try, however, to only wear glasses for reading. I love not wearing glasses.

So, although I did do "normal" things and even produced a few TV shows along the way, my energy was being used for my surgical situation. I did a lot of Alan's Italy thinking however and did one show which did not turn out correct with blurring photos and even blurrier videos. I will revisit the possibility of editing my own TV show at home rather than doing the broadcast in the studio. My goal will be to create perfect images and videos and to make the process as simple as possible. The stress I always experienced that I wrote about at great length in these blogs is starting to get to me. I will pursue that possibility in the near future. If I can produce my own show, I will still upload to Youtube and give a DVD copy to WPAT. I will keep you posted. Until then Alan's Italy might not appear on Youtube for a while. Not sure at this time.