Spiders, mushrooms, old ghosts and new forests

Mushrooms, spiders, old ghosts and new forests from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

...and the story of the Church of the Lake at Nagambie.

It was delightful Autumn weather for the Easter break spent at Moyhu. The orb weavers were out in force, just like back in 1992 (?) when you couldn't walk anywhere without waving a big stick ahead to clear a path through the invisible webs.

Everywhere new, lush growth.

A few jobs were undertaken and then a trip back to Melbourne via Nagambie to drop in on a chap in Heathcote.

A night out in ACDC Lane

A night out in ACDC Lane from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.
What does a cheesy Country ballad have to do with Flinders Lane cutting-edge street art? Probably just that the audio track was one of only two that I have of Dale Watson in my itunes collection, from the compilation album Ten in Texas. And I was keen to get the photos out to those who love our Dale. Of course, being the amateur photographer that I am, I missed a golden opportunity to snap Dale chatting with his fans outside in the break: I could've got him in the foreground with one of those artworks. Never mind, I got some fresh air and a close look at the finely tailored jacket that he was sporting.

The Cherry Bar was packed with punters: the air was hot and stuffy, and the oldies were jammed up on the benches round the sides with a perfect view of the band over the tops of the heads of the smart young things with coiffed hairdos like Dale's.

I tried to keep track of the set list - jotting down scraps of lyrics from the chorus of each song so I could google them later. At least his lyrics are understandable: whether it's truckin' and texting, crying into his whiskey/ tequila or beer or sharing his love and loss with us all. And the crowd was extremely appreciative - a lot had been to Austin (or so they claimed, in answer to his query).

The band was jumping - Chris Crepps on upright bass, new fiddle player Don Raby, Don Pawlak, pedal steel guitar and Mike Bernal, drums.

While I hunt around for those song titles, I'll post this for currency...

Fun with the Flip

In the last few days I've filmed an ESL class (more on that later) and worked out how to trim (top and tail) video clips made by the work Flip camera. Here's a short video compiled with Flipshare software on the imac. I've given up using the netbook because the software started behaving badly when trying to open it there.

Yarra River in flood from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

The floods video will be preserved for posterity: next drought we'll be able to view it again and again to admire the abundant waters. I really like the effect of the raindrops on the image.

Pan and zoom should be undertaken very slowly otherwise those predisposed to motion sickness might start feeling queasy.

Whilst I was filming Toni's Hands on English class I fortuitously worked out how to prevent the Two Touch smartboard from doing crazy things on the PC when writing on the projected image. Most of us are using the Two Touch at least to go to the internet and operate the PC by touching the board. But if you want to write something anywhere on the active area, it would inadvertently activate the PC. All you have to do is pull out the USB plug thereby disconnecting the whiteboard from the PC and Bobs your uncle! Problem solved. Just don't forget to reconnect when resuming 'touching'.

Here's the video from Toni's class: it was a little chaotic, especially when our student 'expert' told us we were folding wrongly. But that just gives us more 'language opportunities' for the follow-up class...

Hands on English at CNLC Making lotus flower from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

The compilation process is amazingly simple. I chose vimeo to host these - it seems hassle-free and it's private (compared to Youtube).

By the way, did you hear that Youtube Facebook and Twitter have joined forces to make a mega company? It's gonna be called YouTwitFace...