May 10, 2008
Comic Life Magiq first impressions
I got an email from the lovely people at Plasq offering me a cheap family pack of the new version of Comic Life. The new edition is Leopard only because it uses all the lovely Leopard core functionality. As a test for this review, I made this collage of some of the photos Steven took of the morrismen on Bank Holiday Monday. I really liked the extract feature, which isn't perfect but is good enough, and amazingly quick. I liked the flexibility around lettering, panel shape options, the great array of comic fonts that come bundled in and the starter templates. And I liked the overall ease of creating comic pages. You can see above that for a local club, you can create something really fun very quickly.
What's not to like? Well, a fair bit actually. Do you remember 'Kai's Power Goo'? It was a great little image editing program with a really silly interface. Looks like Plasq remember it too. If you decide to do complex editing on an image, it throws up a large palette in the middle of your screen, with a tiny editing window inside that; perhaps 640x480 (see screenshot below; either that editing window is very small or very far away). There are no context-sensitive right-click menus, and almost none of the elements are smart. Layout programs with layers need easy ways to see what layers are under your mouse at any given time and bring the right one out to work on. If there's a way to do this in Comic Life, I haven't found it yet. I want it to be perfectly obvious how to, for example, flip an image or object 180 degrees horizontally; I never found a way to do that at all.
The program keeps guessing about what it is you're trying to do, like Clippy. Several times, it decided for me that I wanted to insert an object into the frame of a different object. Er, no, ta; why would this ever be the default for anything other than an empty frame? And on one occasion Comic Life created a smart object out of two different elements, for no reason I can see, and I couldn't retrieve them except with Undo. 
There's a weird circular editing tool that brings up a wheel of seemingly random options; its purpose is completely opaque to me. I guess my problem is that I'm not looking for 'intuitive' or 'whimsical' user interfaces; I'm looking for a neat array of tools with clear menus for their use, and a program that takes full advantage of my screen real estate.
Having said all that, I do think this is a great program. Comic Life has been used not just for comics and for family greetings and snapshots, but for a whole range of instructables and manuals. This version extends its functionality and provides enough editing tools for most non-power-users' needs. And the core of the program -- making comics to share with your friends and family -- is as much fun as ever.
Posted by Alison Scott at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2008
Smultron and LilyPond
Regular readers will know that I'm a great fan of Barfly, a great .abc reader for the Mac. And, in fact, a great fan of abc, the simple music file format that's very popular with folk tune collectors. Barfly's now been upgraded to work fully with Leopard. It's splendid for dealing with long abc files with many tunes in; it plays them really well, and it generates sheet music instantly.
However, nobody could claim that Barfly's printed output is beautiful. For that we turn to LilyPond, a Free Software music engraving program. The output from LilyPond is exceptionally lovely; the program has been designed from the ground up to make elegant sheet music. LilyPond itself is not exceptionally lovely; it's a command line program. It once had a nice Mac gui front end, but this has broken in Leopard. Instead, it's now supported on the Mac with a tiny bit of Applescript. So you do have to roll up your sleeves to use LilyPond at present. And although LilyPond includes an abc2ly converter, I can't make it work. Hand-coding from scratch is taking me about ten minutes a tune at present (this for 'ordinary' 32 bar English tunes). So I will not be producing a 2000 tune tunebook any time soon. But for tunes I'm actually learning, it's fine. In fact, it's causing me to think about the ways in which the abc that I'm working from is different from the tunes as played by the better melodeon players around me.
LilyPond has a reputation for fearsome syntax; I had little trouble with straightforward tunes, but as soon as I tried tunes with chords or books of tunes, I started to struggle. It's worth persevering though, because when it does come right the results are spectacular. I'm not exactly stretching it, with easy monophonic tunes. The most complicated thing I've coded so far is a You can use LilyPond to produce multi-part orchestral and choral scores. But you might die in the attempt.
At heart this is a markup language, and for that you need a text editor. Plokta famously uses SubEthaEdit for collaborative working, so I hadn't tried other text editors. The text editor of choice for LilyPond is Smultron, which is a lovely Maclike editor that supports LilyPond syntax colouring. I'm not exactly a power user of text editors, but this appears to me to be both easy for beginners to use, and has some key features (like keeping track of nesting). For some reason the Mac isn't overly provided with good, free text editors, so it's nice to find one that's actively supported.
Posted by Alison Scott at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2008
Wii Fit First Impressions
Unsurprisingly, I had pre-ordered Wii Fit. Regular readers will know that I'm particularly interested in two key gaming concepts; games that instruct in a fun way, and games that use physical simulators as controllers. Wii Fit tries to do both of these things. How well does it succeed?
The controller is a balance board, the size of two sets of scales, that measures your weight and how it is distributed front to back and right to left. It asks you your height, and how much your clothes weigh, to calculate your BMI. Here at PloktaCentral, we don't like BMI much as a measure of fitness or health, but there you go. We also don't know how tall the children are, so we had to guess. Having done that, it tests your ability to balance and shift your weight precisely, and gives you a Wii Age. All four of us are crocks, it appears.
Obviously, this is another inconvenient controller to go with the dance mats, guitars, bongos, wheels, snowboard and maracas. At least this one can be pushed under the sofa (and that is where they suggest you keep it). But it turns out to be fabulously versatile, and when combined with a remote and nunchuk holds the promise of full-body game controls.
There are then four sets of activities; yoga poses, more traditional strength exercises, aerobic activities and balance games. Of the four, I'm least convinced by the traditional exercises. The game gives you a model to follow in the manner of a fitness DVD, and it tracks your centre of gravity as you do the exercise. But I am not persuaded that you're getting much more here than you would from a DVD.
On yoga, however, the benefits are much clearer. Tracking centre of gravity is incredibly useful as a focus for static yoga; the first balance I did in Wii Fit was as good as any I've managed in an actual yoga class. Admittedly I have no sense of balance, but there you go. For other poses, it shows you where the ideal centre of gravity is, which helps you get the pose right. I think this probably works better for people who've done some yoga than for complete beginners.
The aerobic activities feel like games to me; I guess the difference is that they're more directly simulations of real world activities. But there's a fine line here. They include jogging, step, hula hoop, and some to unlock, including rhythm boxing. The jogging is a particular joy; I find running on the spot terribly dull, but they have an island to run round, populated with all the other Miis on your machine, hidden Nintendo characters, and interesting scenery. A nice touch is that there's a map of the jogging island in the instruction book. The rhythm boxing is the first game we've unlocked that uses the board for your feet, plus a Wiimote and nunchuk for your hands, to control all four limbs, opening up a whole new layer of controller complexity.
The balance games include ski slalom and jump, heading footballs (and avoiding panda heads), and a great tilt table game where you maneuver balls into little holes like a puzzle. That one I found very intriguing; after playing a couple of times, I completely forgot I was using my whole body to control it; the mental process felt identical to the irritating little puzzles you get.
WiiFit tracks your activity over time and unlocks things; given that it suggests you play for 30 minutes a day, unlocks seem to come a little quickly for my liking. It can store up to eight users per Wii, which was a pleasant surprise after family-argument-prone Zelda. One big change that Nintendo need to make is in Mii management. Our Miis now carry our history in half a dozen different games; they're essentially our individual user accounts on the Wii. But anyone can delete a Mii in the Mii channel; not even any parental control.
Overall, I'm very excited by this game. The whole family has registered, and we're all fighting to get a go on it. And we all like different things. Marianne really likes the Step, Jonathan has played a lot of the balance games, and Steven has displayed a heretofore unsuspected talent at Hula Hoop. What about me? I've been down the slalom track about 100 times. And gosh, my calves ache today.
We will need to play for some time to see whether it helps us stick to a regular exercise routine. I don't think there's any holy grail for the yoga or muscle exercises. And all the aerobic activities and balance games feel like minigames; there are different difficulty levels, but I'm not sure there's much variety in, say, the placement of the slalom gates, or the step routines. Most of them could be developed, using the same control system, into full games. Imagine a simulation where you buy a Lake District map to jog or walk around, for example? Or SSX Wii, controlling the board with your feet and doing tricks with the Wiimote and Nunchuk?
I expect Wii Fit to sell in huge numbers. The prospect it's offering is very enticing and the price point is not bad. But the real potential is in the other games that could be made using the balance board as a controller. Because it's splendid.
Posted by Alison Scott at 12:30 PM | Comments (1)
Corflu Silver
What are you doing this weekend? Well, over in Las Vegas, they're holding Corflu Silver, the 'core fandom' convention (and oh, how I dislike the term 'core fandom'). And they've got a live video feed. Well, not now, because it's the middle of the night. But there's a linked chatroom, so you can watch the feed, chat in the box, and generally lose track of time. Fun.
Posted by Alison Scott at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Navigator Records
It's uncommon for a new record label to launch, signing only music I really like. However, Navigator Records is one such. This is a folk imprint of established indie label Reveal Records. I think it's a first for me; they have nine artists signed, and the only one I haven't seen live is the new collaboration Drever McCusker Woomble. I've seen them all individually though. Anyway, I'd thoroughly recommend any of this music. Not on emusic though (shame).
Posted by Alison Scott at 03:30 PM | Comments (1)
More MacHeist
If you missed MacHeist, or just love software bundles, MacHeist have released a 'retail bundle' of Mac apps. You'll have most of them if you been a MacHeist player all along. But if not, it's pretty good: it includes several apps from previous MacHeists that have found their way into my daily workflow, such as iClip, Awaken, Overflow, and the most beautiful iTunes controller ever, Cover Sutra. It also has the writer-focused word processor WriteRoom (I use Scrivener, in the same space), personal finance program Cha-Ching, personal organiser DevonThink Personal, password/data manager Wallet (I use 1Password), utility to remove excess code from your programs XSlimmer, and three different Pangea games. Anyway, not a bad bundle for $49, and you can get it here. Disclaimer: that's a referral link and I get prizes if you buy the bundle.
Posted by Alison Scott at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2008
Mother's Day Piracy Special
For Mother's Day I was brought breakfast in bed (boiled eggs and bread and butter and coffee), and flowers and chocolates and two cards. Marianne had embroidered a flower, very beautifully, and Jonathan had found a pirate themed card. Why? Because this particular Mother has played entirely too much YoHoHo Puzzle Pirates recently. I had completely packed it in, partly because of the crack-like tendencies of MMORPGs but mostly because of the phenomenon described in this Penny Arcade analysis. They're talking about WoW rather than any other game, but the killer quote is this; What I do know is that they have set up a system that allows me to rent my friends on a monthly basis.
A couple of weeks ago, I was back looking at Penny Arcade again, and there was an ad in the corner for Puzzle Pirates, and I thought, just briefly, gosh I miss distilling. And that was it; I fell that quickly. I reactivated my character, picked up the 'longtime subscriber' special offer of £25 for a year, and discovered the new Atlantis expeditions. I went and stood on the deck of my sloop but haven't sailed it at all; I'm not sure I remember how. Instead I've been jobbing on other boats and spending the money on new clothes. Marianne is playing too, in strict defiance of the Three Rings child protection policy. We have just (this minute) commissioned a joint portrait.
The results of all this are predictable; staying up far too late, eating badly, getting no exercise, playing no melodeon, doing no housework, and spending every possible moment in the game. It's an act of strength to do anything else at the moment. I love the collaborative nature of the game, and I enjoy the puzzles. I'm just not sure I can play it moderately.
Instead, today I'm working with a new toy; an *ion Tape2PC cassette deck. I appreciate that I could have done this with any cassette deck; I didn't need a USB one. But in fact we don't have a cassette deck, and haven't for some time, but when we found the cache of old cassettes there were some dozens that we weren't prepared to throw out. The Ion deck comes with Audacity (which is free anyway), and with some software designed to make it easier to use on PC, though not Mac. I reckon that this is a job for the killer combination of Audio Hijack Pro and Fission. The deck is £100 from Maplins; I bought mine on eBay for £84 including postage; the intention is to store all the bits and resell it as soon as the transfers are done. AHP and Fission come in a bundle for $50; although I think you can do all this stuff in Audacity if you try, I find Rogue Amoeba programs much easier to use and highly optimised for the precise tasks I tend to be doing.
So. I'm currently listening to the album launch of the Oysterband's Holy Bandits, at the Borderline in 1993. Gosh, what a great gig that was.
Posted by Alison Scott at 01:05 PM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2008
So what have I been listening to?
I am entirely aware I haven't blogged here for four months. Sorry. The explanation is that I bought a new computer that didn't have the web address on the bookmark bar. I know that's not a very good explanation, but there you go.
In the only non-spam comment I've received in the hiatus, Ken Josenhans perfectly reasonably asked for news of what I'm listening to. I know it's a poor substitute for blog entries, but I direct you to my Last.fm homepage, or indeed to the 'recently listened' widget in the sidebar of this very blog. I appreciate that nobody reads the blog directly any more. But still, it is there; also in the sidebar are my del.icio.us links.
As to what I am listening to, overwhelmingly it's new music. In the last four months I have picked up:
- a variety of Christmas songs from iTunes Plus, mostly filling holes in my collection;
- Rubber Folk
, the Mike Harding show tribute to Rubber Soul;
- The first Nick Drake I've ever bought, Pink Moon
. Yes it's great, I should have known. A gap in the collection. I got it from Fopp!
- Starry Gazy Pie
by Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. I think I have all their albums now. From eMusic.
- The excellent, great value, Show of Hands 'Best of' collection Roots
. One disc is all the best-known songs, the other is new versions of the fan favourites. A fabulous introduction.
- Also Steve Knightley's solo album Cruel River
. I quite like this, but I think it much less exciting than Witness
, SoH's last studio album.
- A key eMusic find; a compilation of tracks recorded at The Sidmouth Folk Festival
. Many of these are really very interesting.
- Wild and Undaunted
by nu-Folk darling Lisa Knapp. I really like this album; fresh, simple arrangements of traditional songs.
- The Blowzabella Wall of Sound
, a Christmas present for Steven, who likes Blowzabella even more than I do. I also learnt the traditional tune "Blow Zabella" over Christmas, though I think I've forgotten it again now.
- The new Duhks album, Migrations
; one of Marianne's Christmas presents. She just looked at the CD in a sort of 'what am I supposed to do with this' way. I don't think she really associates CDs with music at all.
- The Fairest Floo'er
, Karine Polwart's new album. I don't really have a sense of this album yet; I got it on eMusic the day before my downloads expired.
- Last Orders
, by the winners of the 2007 Young Folk award. Just fabulous melodeon playing from Joe O'Connor. This is the first Fellside album to turn up on eMusic for a very long time.
- A new album of Christmas songs from Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band, Ringing the Changes
, "A Latin Latin Christmas" was not what I was expecting.
- The second album by the Pine Leaf Boys, Blues De Musicien
. I've been meaning to get something by them for ages; this was on eMusic.
- Threads
, by Ruth Notman. Good on her for getting a contract with Topic, and you can see the influence of a slightly bigger record company on this album; the arrangements are pretty lush. Last summer she toured as a duo with Bryony Bainbridge, but Bryony doesn't appear on this album; the harmony vocals are instead provided by Bella Hardy, another rising star.
- Make No Bones
, a new double album by John Kirkpatrick. We saw him at the folk club, after a catalogue of errors and mishaps, and bought this album there. It's designed to reflect his current live set; this is very much what you hear if he plays your local club.
- A Bed of Roses
, by Lal Waterson and Oliver Knight. This is a 'regularisation' of my collection; I've had these tracks for years, but I didn't own them. Now sorted.
- Having got that, I noticed that eMusic also had Oliver Knight's solo album, Mysterious Day
. I'm not sure about it yet; but I wouldn't have bought it on CD. I think this is another example of the way that people who have eMusic buy more music.
- We saw Crucible at the folk club and liked them so well we brought home both their albums, Crux
and
Changeling. Gosh they were great live; do catch them if you can.
- Finally, eMu suddenly turned up two Men they Couldn't Hang albums that I didn't have, simply because they aren't easily available; The Domino Club
and How Green Is the Valley
. Of course I do have most of the tracks in other places. But I was still delighted.
Posted by Alison Scott at 01:07 PM | Comments (1)
October 07, 2007
eBay Mountaineering
I didn't list anything on eBay to finish on postal strike days, but by next weekend it should largely be over, and so another big pile of household junk is made somebody else's bargain treasure. Apparently I specialise in MP3 accessories and film camera accessories, which this week is fair enough. There's also a bit of bric-a-brac and video game paraphernalia. Nevertheless, despite my industry, the total amount on the 'needs to be eBayed' pile went up very significantly this weekend, as we sorted through one column of boxes in the room that is almost entirely full of clutter. We don't really look like people with a serious hoarding problem *except* in bedroom 4.
For some reason, people don't stop buying books from you on Amazon just because there's a postal strike on. Amazon itself is using every other courier in the UK to get parcels through, but that's sort of not an option for li'l ol' me. So I'm writing careful notes to people designed to get them to say 'oh, no problem, the book turning up sometime randomly next week is just what I wanted' so they don't give me rubbish feedback.
I went, for the first time, to the English Tunes Session at the Horseshoe, a pub I know because we held Plokta.con Pi there. When we were there, the real ale was on; lack of beer this lunchtime meant that the intervals between sets were largely taken up with people discussing moving the session in grim tones. The actual music was splendid though. Once again people mistook me for a proper melodeon player because my box has velcro straps on it as for microphones; of course, I bought it from someone who plays in a band. I'm itching to go again, but not only is it a monthly session, the number of weekends when I have four free hours over a Sunday lunchtime is not that many.
Posted by Alison Scott at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2007
Catching Up
We are overwhelmed with school admissions. People who haven't done this have an eye-glazed-over moment when I mention it; people who have are all sympathy.
I'm very taken with Music Arcades, where David has put his music collection on Shuffle by Album and is writing about it one day at a time. I don't know how many albums I have; there are currently 20,820 tracks. The next album up on Shuffle is "Sing a Song For You" by Anne Briggs; her albums are perennial seller despite her turning her back on singing and recording after only a few years in the limelight. And for all the glories of the current folk revival, I don't think there's a singer of traditional material to touch her. Posted by Alison Scott at 02:23 PM | Comments (1)
