I finally got around to trying out my digital camcorder that I lucked out and found a great deal on it. I recorded my daughter’s team’s volleyball game last night and experimented. First, I would start/stop between plays to keep it short, but it has a slight delay when starting and stopping, so I stopped that.

In volleyball, the referee stands atop the net on a small platform. That platform gets in the way when watching the game. You miss out when players move into specific spots. I tried filming while directly behind the ref, standing on the gym floor where I could see the whole game in front of me, and sitting on the side where our players played.

The camcorder came with CyberLink PowerDirector Express and CyberLink PowerProducer. I started with Express hoping it would be a quick job — pull the videos together and burn to a CD. Instead it was time-consuming and frustrating. In Director, I added the title and text at the start of each game. Unfortunately, the text appeared over the video rather than on a blank screen. It didn’t have any features to add text that didn’t overlap the video.

OK, fine. Not a big deal. Moving on. I put the videos together in order and produced an MPG file. When I was ready to publish it, PowerProducer opened. There, I could create chapters and a menu like you see on videos. Once done, I burned it as a VCD. It created four folders and nothing that was obvious for clicking on to watch the video. I could play it, but an average user wouldn’t know what to do when confronted with folders with no executable.

The VCD didn’t work on our DVD players. Paul said he has created VCDs before and they worked on DVD players. But that wasn’t important it would be viewed on the computer rather than a DVD player. So I tried making a VCD using Nero instead. Same result. Another wasted CD. In the end, we burned the MPG to the CD using the regular burning option. The MPG landed on the CD and it plays fine on a PC.

I’m no media expert as I’ve never had a need to edit videos and burn them till now. There has to be an easier way to produce the CD and have it load the menu or run the movie as soon as the CD is inserted into the PC. I’d like to figure out a simple process for creating DVDs for DVD players and for computers that may not have a DVD drive. Anyone? Anyone?

The first poem I memorized for school as a second grader was Shel Silverstein’s Captain Hook. Over the years, I repeatedly referred to his poems from the two more famous books The Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Timeless. Funny. There’s another side of Shel Silverstein that few recognize — his country songs performed by the likes of Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.

Listening to The Best of Shel Silverstein provided a pleasant trip down memory lane for Paul (hubby) and me. It has a nice spread of his poems and songs, covered by a variety of artists from Johnny Cash performing Boy Named Sue at San Quentin to Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s funky interpretation of Cover of the Rolling Stone, a song Paul shamefully admits he had forgotten, but sang right along the instant he heard it.

A word of caution to the uninitiated, this CD contains more than his wonderful children’s poems and songs. It includes several of his adult works including Freakin’ At The Freakers’ Ball, which contain themes and language not appropriate for younger listeners. Fans of Shel Silverstein’s aforementioned books won’t get what they expect to get with this CD though many poems from them appear on the track list.

My only complaint is from a technical standpoint in that the recording levels vary greatly from spoken word to the songs. To be able to understand Silverstein as he recites his poems with his whispery voice and elongated “s’es,” I had to considerably turn up the volume … only to be blasted out of my chair when then next selection was a song and I had to turn the volume way back down.

Parents might want to listen to the CD first and then pick out the safe ones for children. However, it’s possible that kids won’t “get” the adult references, but a few bad words pop up. Other than the technical difficulties and the unexpected “grown up” songs, this is CD is a joy and wonderful addition to my album… er… CD collection.

Every now and then I find myself thinking, “Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy… Jane. She wants a drink of water, so she waits and wait and waits… for it to rain.”

That and, “Ickle Me, Pickle Me and Tickle Me, too, went for a ride in a flying shoe…”

Title: The Best of Shel Silverstein
Label: Sony
ISBN: B0009YNSKQ
Date: August 2005
Format: CD
Cover Price: USD: $11.98 Amazon: $10.99

Rhino Records has released its 2005 edition of its Totally Hits series. The new edition comes with four #1 songs, which include American Idol #1 Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be,” Mario’s “Let Me Love You,” and Ciara’s “1, 2 Step” featuring Missy Elliot. Also on the CD are “Karma” by Alicia Keys, “Truth Is” by American Idol contestant Fantasia, and “Nobody’s Home” by Avril Lavigne.

Since this album focuses on “hits,” on which charts are they considered “hits”? In researching some of the unfamiliar songs, some show up in the top 20 of lesser known or unknown charts.

Two adults and one 11-year-old listened to the music as we all have different tastes. We agree that the collection is geared towards tweens and teens. The adults liked a few of the songs and the rest weren’t their style of music.

The compilation consists of mostly rap and R&B with a couple from the adult contemporary group. It might’ve been a better move to stick to one genre as many listeners might not necessarily like all of the genres on a CD. The kid reviewer wasn’t a fan of the adult contemporary while the adults were, but she liked the rap and R&B songs. The adults weren’t into some of the rap and R&B music. People buy albums because they like most of the songs on it. If they only like half, then it may not attract as many buyers.

The 11-year-old reports that nine of the 20 songs are the winners. Most tweens and teens in the Dallas area listen to a station where most of these songs usually play. The others aren’t as known and people will be less tempted to buy. Not many adults are likely to appreciate this group, but the music attracts many kids from ages 10 to 18.

Title: Totally Hits 2005
Author: Various
Publisher: Rhino Records
ISBN: B0008FPIYU
Date: May 2005
Format: Audio CD
Songs: 20
Price: Cover: USD$18.98 Amazon: $13.99