Day: December 14, 2008

Scriptbuddy

I’m messing around with a screenplay. A few years ago I bought as copy of some screenwriting software — FinalCut or something like that — but can’t find the unlock key and don’t care to pay for it a second time.

So, being in a freetard mood as my latest blog comment buddy, RattyUK, puts it, I googled for “Open Screenwriting” and found Scriptbuddy.

This is a good cloud app. Free to use. Pay a fee so I can print. Brilliant. No nagware.

Best part — it handles the semi-arcade world of screenplay formatting so I don’t have to.

Seven minutes in, 113 to go.

Whereabouts week of Dec. 14

Monday – Tuesday 12.15-16: Cotuit

Wednesday: 12.17 personal day

Thursday: 12.18 Cotuit

Busy week of phone work, planning, writing, drafting, powerpointing, and year-end wrap up.  Killing off one PC and transferrring to a new one (that is eating the spare moments this weekend. Started a screenplay on the King Phillip Indian War of 1675 (working title “Metacomet”).  Still picking away at Shadow Country.  Need to see the accountant on Wednesday for tax stuff. Friday hit the road early for roadtrip to Vermont. Following week me and the rest of the world basically goes on break for the holidays.

Daughter returns from college on Tuesday. Son … not sure. In-laws the following week. I’m already cooking — making up a chicken and beef stock this weekend for some serious end of year cooking. On the agenda — a cassoulet perhaps, definitely a beef bourguignon, and then a big roast — perhaps a stuffed saddle of lamb or a goose on Xmas. New Year’s Eve … undetermined at this point.

Half-way there on the erg challenge

Today I crossed the 100,000 meter mark in the annual Concept2 Holiday Challenge — 200,000 miserable meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Today I crossed the 100,000 meter mark, meaning I am way behind and need to do 9K a day for the remaining days without missing a single session. That’s out the window as I’m off to Vermont next weekend for a friend’s 50th birthday party — which means I need to do some 15,000 meter or one-hour long erg sessions this week to stay on course. Woe is me. All this for the right to buy a t-shirt and another pin to nail into the wall of my erg/gym barn.

The transfer to Songbird is upon me

Sorry Mister Jobs,  iTunes, as revolutionary as it was when it was introduced, is enough of a DRM-infested annoyance that I am saying sayonara and following Uncle Fester to the new fields of Songbird.

What is Songbird? Think of what Thunderbird did for email clients, or Firefox for browsers, and Songbird is doing the same for media. It’s iTunes, but without the holier than thou Mac b.s. that iTunes nyah-nyahs in your face. It’s an open source music and media platform, and I for one am sick and tired of proprietary and closed when it comes to stuff I pay for. Songbird is open and extensible and runs on Linux. Which is good enough for me for now.

There. I have ranted. Now, as I set up my new ThinkPad X200 and “deauthorize” the iTunes library on my old machine and move it, once and for all, away from Apple’s clutches (and its update-insistence that I download Safari), it feels good to see my iPod appear in Songbird. My stuff is still with me.

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