TWVS Episode 9 & More

Post-Script: I think the audio quality is the best part of my video productions thus far. But my video style is much too static. I keep seeing other You Tube channels with much more dynamic and spontaneous footage. For example, there's "Big Head Taco," a photographer from Vancouver, BC by the name of Take Kayo, who this week posted a nice video of himself walking around the streets of his city, recorded using a small mirrorless camera with wide-angle lens, held in one hand via a tripod ball-head mount, that lends a kind of spontaneity that my productions lack. Of course, it's hard to carry a video camera in one hand if you intend on discussing typewriters while also carrying a typewriter. But still, I do need to improve these videos and make them a bit more visually interesting. This latest video of mine did have some visual appeal only because of the wonderful setting, with birds flitting round about me while I talked.

I recently "upgraded" my home Internet with a faster DSL plan and also ordered a new router; but the new router had poorer range and coverage than the older router; the new one lacks external dipole antennas, which I think is part of the problem (the main problem being that the phone company is obviously trying to save money). I thought about returning it, but then did some Internet research and figured out how to use the old router, daisy-chained to the new one via a network cable, as a secondary hot spot, and now I have good coverage and speed at home, including in the Man Cave shed out back. Last night's video rendered and uploaded, via WiFi from the iPad, in only 45 minutes, which was much faster than before.

The storage box for the Nekkid-Riter is constructed in a similar fashion to many of my earlier pinhole camera designs, which is a space-frame made from 5/8" finish-grade poplar sticks, sheathed in thin luan plywood, with a base of heavier finish-grade oak plywood. It's a lightweight but strong design that's easy to execute. For the edges, where the plywood tended to flake and chip when cross-cut, I intend on installing 1/2" brass angle brackets, to cover the gaps and chips, while also giving it a bit more durability. I had to modify the space-frame design a bit, to permit the typewriter's platen knobs to clear the left and right side frame members when being slid in and out of the box; my intention was to make the box as small as possible while still being practical. I'm using folding metal equipment handles on both sides, that will also be convenient attachment points upon which to clip a carrying strap, should I decide to go mobile with the Nekkid-Riter. The typewriter's thick wooden base now has two 1/4-20 threaded inserts mounted underneath, which secures the typewriter in the case via a set of thumbscrews from the bottom side of the box. I'll post photos in a subsequent blog article after the project is complete.

Typecast via the Nekkid-Riter's more conservative sibling (who prefers to keep her clothes on, thank you very much), the blue Hermes 3000.