Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 28-10-2021: Escoffier.

28th October, 2021.

Right … the UK’s had it’s Autumn Budget, yesterday: the statement from the UK’s Chancellor about government spending.

It’s the usual mixed bag of things.

Those of us who drink … ?   Will welcome the alterations to the various alcohols duties announced.

Many will welcome the money for various public departments.

Many of us receiving Universal Credit will be angry about the removal of the twenty pound uplift handed out during the Pandemic: and were looking for that to have been made permanent.

Just so you know?   Universal Credit features a taper: an amount of money you lose, per pound, for every pound you earn.

The last time I worked, I lost sixty-three pence (63p) for every point in my pay packet.

What Mr Sunak did, yesterday, was reduce the taper by eight pence.

Were I working?   I would now lose fifty-five pence (55p) in every pound.

I’d get to keep more benefit.

That, and the rise in the national living wage are something I welcome: in theory.

It’s great … if you’re claiming both the benefit, and working.

For me and many others, who aren’t working?

It’s useless.

Thanks for nothing, Mr Sunak.

~≈Ÿ≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 6th January 2024.

6th January 2024.

I have something of a confession, there.

I’ve used iMovie to make videos, over the past few years.

And generally been happy with it.

Unfortunately?

My use of the app took something of a nosedive, recently: with the collapse of my old iMac.

My only alternative?

Was to use the free version of ClipChamp: on my aging Lenovo ThinkPad.

It wasn’t necessarily the easiest experience: video editing isn’t on a  machine that age.

The best work to describe the whole experience?

Is clunky.

Spoon-bendingly, chest-pain-inducingly, gear-grindingly, clunky!

Thankfully, and with thanks to all who helped, it was only a temporary measure: an updated version of iMovie — and a new Mac mini— helped.

Today, though?   I felt using ClipChamp’s online version of the Mac seemed in order.

At least to do the intro video for today.

ClipChamp seems to have exported the eighteen seconds worth of video slightly faster than iMovie.

But we’re talking about a matter of seconds, there: and I suspect that the online version I used, leveraged some of Microsoft’s cloud servers to do that.

I don’t think I’d make the change permanently: but ClipChamp seems OK.

There’s a wider choice of transitions, and filters, to it over iMovie.

But, counting against it?

iMovie has better integration with macOS: and can access my various media libraries, far more directly than ClipChamp.

And the current version — iMovie 10.4, on a Mac mini using macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 — seems to able to queue projects for export: hand, as far as I’m concerned.

I suspect neither would be of interest to pro users who use things like Avid, the various Adobe editors, and Apple’s own Final Cut Pro.

But?

Both seem equally viable options for me and other home users.

~≈⌘≈~

Oh, JUST as a thought … ?

My nephew, Jude, was over, yesterday.

As a result of him turn thirteen, recently?

I’ve been able to add him as a manager* to two of the YouTube channels I run for him on YouTube.

If you’d like to subscribe to @MikeytheRabbit or @BobbytheCat, you’d be welcome to!

~≈⌘≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 26-1-2019: Uganda

26th January, 2019.

Hmmm … 

I have to admit, I do like my Apple products.

Really.

I’ve been quite the loyal one for some eighteen or so years.

Right at the moment, though, I have to admit to being one that’s mildly annoyed.

I’ve installed a recent set of updates: serious, security, ones that I discuss here.

The downside to those updates … ?

Simply put?

Is that, since installing those updates, my copy of iMovie is behaving distinctly badly: causing system hangs that only seem to clear up, if I force a restart, switching my machine on and off again.

Frankly?

As someone who relies on that app, I’m not exactly what you call happy.

~≈§≈~

Westworld — Series 2 — Episode 1 Journey into Night: A Review

3rd April, 2019.

Hmmm … 

Drifting … 

There’s possibly a lot one can say about drifting, right now.

The first thing I want to do, though … ?   Is something for my fellow Mac users.

You may remember me mentioning that — in the wake of the update from one version of my operating system, to the next — that the update had affected iMovie.

Making it render videos extremely slowly: especially when the animated text featured was used.

Yesterday and today?

Yesterday and today, however, we seem to have improvements.

For starters, Apple released an update for iMovie: taking it from 10.1.10 to 10.1.11.

Which didn’t seem to do much.

This morning … ?

We got the OFFICIAL little red dot on my System Preferences icon.



Meaning I had an update to the operating system, itself, available.

Effectively?   My machine was getting updated from macOS 10.14.3 to 10.14.4.

Gosh, the excitement … 

At any rate, right now?

I seem to have a version of iMovie that seems to be back up to snuff … 

We’ll have to see, won’t we?

~≈§≈~

At any rate … drifting … ?

Over the past few months, I’ve been doing all sorts of stuff … 

OK, granted, I’ve watched a lot of movies, and TV shows … AND read a book or two.

But, when in a TV watching mood … ?

I’ve watched some … at the expense of others.

Including Star Trek Discovery, and the superb El Ministerio del Tiempo, included.

One thing I managed to catch, last year, was the first series of HBO show, Westworld.

And very enjoyable it was, too.

It’s been a year, though.

Given that?

I felt it was time to catch up with series two.

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 4th April, 2019

4th April, 2019.

Right … 

You’re possibly aware that I’m something of a Mac fan.

And one who got mildly announced when on of Apple’s own updates for the operating system.

Mostly because of the knock-on effect on iMovie: rendering video that included animated text in about twice the time it should.

Thankfully, and as I mentioned in last night’s post — about Westworld —, Apple have issued updates to both iMovie, and macOS, itself.

That seems to have help.

Or, at least, allow iMovie to work.

We’ll see.

~≈§≈~

One other thing I know … ?   Is that I’m … mildly concerned.

There’s been one or two incidents of Brexit related … protest? … protests, over the past couple of weeks.

Intimidation of MPs from protestors from both sides.

At least one rooftop protest: at the Eurostar terminal.

Pro-Brexit sabotage of at least two lines … 

And protests on the border … 

And now we have the police warning us about potential violence, and how they’re planning to deal with it.

These are interesting times.

Worryingly … 

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 16-12-2018: Noël …

16th December, 2018.

Yep: it’s officially official.

I know know a little bit more about … compositing … !

Basically?

It’s a film technique.

Someone will get filmed in front of a blue or green screen.

Then, in post production?

The blue (or green) colour would be removed … and replaced with something else.

Moving background, image, what have you … 

Frankly?

It looks interesting … if I could do it.

Then, yesterday … ?   I watched this video … 

And thought, “Oh, I’ll have to look that up.”

Then … ?

I thought about just simply double checking the Help pages for iMovie … and found that it’s something I can do in iMovie.

That’s handy to know: assuming I can get some spare bedsheets, an upright frame … and a lot of green dye.

All this … 

When you’ve just watched Tron, and want to write about it … 

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 11th March 2026.

11th March, 2026.

Right … it’s officially Wednesday … and … ?

YouTube seems to be behaving itself, and uploading today’s Teaser video: and has already finished uploading today’s intro video.

The version of that introduction I’ve uploaded to the blog post … ?

Is getting deleted: as, going by the preview I’ve looked at, it’s going to be ‘Unavailable’.

Why this is happening?

I don’t know.

But if you have an ideas?

Please post them here.

~≈🧑🏻‍💻≈~

All that said?

I think I’m getting the hang of Final Cut Pro’s Magnetic Mask option: it’s used in that same introduction video, to remove my flat.

If you understand what I mean!

At any rate … ?

It means I can do some experimenting, at some point.

~≈🧪≈~

One final thing about Final Cut … ?

Is that it can import projects from the iOS version go iMovie.

Which is handy: if you’ve got an iOS device with an iMovie project on it.

However, the Mac version of Final Cut can’t import projects from the macOS version of iMovie.

That strikes me as a flaw.

~≈🎬≈~

King of Thieves: A Review

26th January, 2019.

Right … 

as much as I like the current version of iMovie … ?

And Mojave … ?

I think I’m in a bind … 

As it’s taken about ten minutes to render the video in that intro.

I’m not exactly a happy bunny.

After all, that’s a lot of time … when you consider that iMovie had been doing those renders in about half that time.

At most.



This possibly means I need radical action, here.

Switching on my old Mac, and seeing what I can do.

At any rate … ?

That’s something I’ll have to concentrate on, another time.

Whilst I wait for any iMovie or Mojave updates.

~≈§≈~

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, it’s a quiet Saturday night.

And … ?



Well, I’m tempted to do several things … several sweaty things … several sweaty things that, unfortunately, involved either money or company … 

A movie it is, then … !

And, yes: I had just enough cash in my iTunes account to get … 

King of Thieves.

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 10-5-2019: The Iron Road

10th May, 2019.

Yes: I think we can safely say the I and my nephew, Jude … ?

Had too much pizza, last night!

Saying that … ?

The past few weeks, I’ve baby sat Jude: although that’s possibly the wrong phrase to use, given he’s eight.

Eight … possibly going on fourteen.

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, yesterday was Thursday … which meant Jude Day.

And, JUST to be different?

We had pizza delivered: one Margherita from him, one pepperoni passion for me.

That … 

That and the fact I’ve worked out how to do screen recording on my phone, could record audio with Quicktime, and that Jude* likes the fact we can use iMovie to make his voice sound funny?

And could edit stuff together,  with totally amateur movie making?

Well … 

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 1st February 2026

1st February, 2026.

Right … it’s a quiet Sunday morning … 

And … ?

I’m expecting it to stay quiet.

Here’s hoping!

~≈🌞≈~

I’ve been doing a little research, after finding out that the newly updated versions of Pages*, Keynote and Number were available.

Complete with premium options connected to Apple’s Creator Studio suite.

It turns out that I don’t need a subscription for the iWork suite.

I just need the subscription for the premium content, premium content that includes extra templates and AI features.

It’s a shame in one sense: those templates look good, and would add variety to some of my presentations.

And using this updated version of Pages seems to be causing less overheating, when used with multiple Safari tabs.

The subscription would included access to Final Cut Pro.

The software’s a step up from iMovie, and better optimised for the Mac platform than the free version of DaVinci Resolve†, which I also use.

I feel a little mixed about that.

But can at least say I’m not spending more money … 

~≈£≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 7th April, 2019.

7th April, 2019.

You’re probably aware I’m a Mac fan, aren’t you … ?

One who’s had a Mac for quite some time, and one who’s had trouble with iMovie: after some updates.

Thankfully?

Those seem to have been solved: after more recent updates.

I know have a functioning version of iMovie.

In fact … ?   And as I asked in today’s intro … ?

I think the intro in last night’s post — about Westworld —was just a bit … 

Overdone … !

If you can let me know … ?

~≈§≈~

Oh, that’s a thought … 

I’ve always taken an interest in the history of Bletchley Park: the code breaking centre that was vital to the Allied success in World War Two.

It seems reconstruction of the Heath Robinson machine — the machine used to decrypt high level messages — has now been completed.

I visited the National Museum of Computing, with friends, many years ago: where we saw it displayed.

Frankly?

The fact it’s now in action?   Means I’d love to see it again!

~≈§≈~

Mad Max: the Review

20th December, 2018.

Yes, OK … 

I’m listening to the relatively obscure From A to B, by New Musik, right now.

Possibly the only hit LP New Musik ever had.

Complete with the only actually hit they had, too: Living by Numbers.

Apparently, the song’s writer, Tony Mansfield — New Musik’s lead singer — was a bit of a fan of The Prisoner.

They really don’t want your name … 

~≈§≈~

That possibly beside the point, though.

For one thing?

I’ve been meaning to try my hand at video compositing: as soon as I learnt I could do basic green screen work with iMovie, the basic video editing app on the Mac.

I’ve not managed to get the spare bedsheets, green dye, or curtain pole I’d need.

But have worked out that I can use Keynote to make a quick animated slide, with a black background … 

That I can then manipulate in iMovie to produce … well … things like today’s intro movie.

That ‘What Duck’ bit … ?

Is green screened into the movie file … 

~≈§≈~

I’m still bloody digressing, aren’t I … ?

Yes: I’ve seen a movie.

A day or two, ago, now, Old Peculiar regular, — and New York Times bestselling author — Debbi Mack, happened to ask if The Babadook was better than Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

I don’t know what I could say, there.



Except it got me thinking.

That I’d not seen Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior for a while: and should possibly sit down with it, again.

But before I did that?

I should watch the original, Mad Max, first.

Guess what I watched, tonight … 

~≈§≈~

Star Trek Discovery — Series 2 Episode 2: New Eden — A Review

25th January, 2019.

Yes: I’ve officially had my lower jaws done.

Jaws?

JAW!

Cleaned, if you must know.

What made things … interesting … ?

Was the fact I thought I’d made the appointment for 11AM.

Turns out I was wrong.

Turns out it was for 2PM: which meant going into Brentwood High Street, twice!

Boy, I was embarrassed.

Still … 

I did managed to get to have a natter with one of the hygienists about the shiny new MacBookPro she was using … 

~≈§≈~

As I was able to let her know I’d got a notification, this morning, via MacWorld: turned out there were some quite serious security updates.

You can find the details, here.

Now, while I’m not sure or all the exact details … I’m fairly sure of something.

For starters, the updates have caused issues.

I know I’ve just rendered the intro for this piece: and had to shut down my Mac, a couple of times.

As rendering it in 1080p slowed iMovie down to a crawl, and made using switching between alternative desktops VERY crappy.

On the other hand … ?

I noticed that a number of the security updates listed on that page?

Were aimed at macOS’s kernel.

The underlying code that forms the operating system’s heart.

One was aimed at the hypervisor.   Which, if I’ve understood it correctly?   Is some of the heavyweight hardware control software that’s part of a modern operating system.

It is — if I’ve understood the Wikipedia entry correctly — controls a lot of a computer’s hardware.

On top of that … !

On top of that, Apple’s page thanked workers from Google’s Project Zero a lot of help on the kernel updates.

Project Zero are the Google researchers who find zero-day exploits: previously unknown security flaws.

And that, therefore, need treating rather urgently.

Frankly?



I’m grateful: that means my machine’s better protected.

I’m just going to have to wait for Apple to update iMovie, and Mojave.

I’m grateful for the protection.

But would like the rendering speed back.

~≈§≈~

Now, I have to admit: that’s NOT why I started this post.

Yes, you guessed it: it’s Friday.

And yes: right at the mo, that means it’s time for the new episode of … 

second series … 

~≈§≈~

El Ministerio del Tiempo/The Ministry of Time — Episode 3: Cómo se reescribe el tiempo/How Time Gets Re-written: A Review

30th November, 2018.

Yes: in amongst everything else … ?

Christmas has come early.

As, in order to make sure of having bought the right item and make sure of some of the Black/Cyber Monday deals?

I’ve now got a new phone: a rather shiny Huawei P-Smart.

Which is a lot better than the Alcatel Pixi I got for myself in March.

Can I make a suggestion … ?

Don’t get the Alcatel Pixi: it’s not good!

~≈§≈~

At any rate … ?

The past few days have been busy … ish.

After all, an interview, buying the phone, internal jobhunting … 

Oh, and making Teaser videos.

I’m slowly getting the hang of using iMovie: although quite when it wants to export as 1080, or 720 resolutions?

I’ve spent time doing important stuff, in other words.

He says, staring thoughtfully at the nearest available iMovie manual … 

At ANY rate … ?

I like the odd TV show.

You’ve possibly worked that out.

I’ve written extensively about Dr Who … and others … 

And, right about now?

I’ve been watching Series 1 of El Ministerio del Tiempo/The Ministry of Time.

This is really good stuff … 

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 16th February 2023.

16th February, 2023.

I’m right, aren’t I … ?

If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

After the Great Disc Problem of a couple of days ago?   Where my external optical drive stopped working?   And was fixed by a further update?

Yesterday, I started having issues with Safari, my default browser.

It started refusing to open, when needed: bouncing up and down in a way that told me there was issues.

When opening, most Mac apps — if they’re on the Dock at the bottom of the screen — will bounce up and down to tell you they’re opening.

If they stay bouncing, without opening?

You know you’ve got issues.

I had an issue: one I didn’t figure out … until I had a look at the other account on my Mac.

Which had a perfectly working version of Safari.

Which meant the problem was one I had encountered, before.

My Safari .plist file was causing problems.

In Windows, there’s a thing called the Registry: which is where Windows operating systems store users settings on a given machine.

It’s one great big file: way down deep.

.plist files are the nearest Mac equivalent: there your settings for each app you use.

Except there’s multiple ones.   One for each app, each user’s using on a machine.   I’ve got one for Safari, another for Firefox, a third for iMovie, and one for each of the other apps I use.

There’s separate ones for Safari, Firefox,  iMovie, and the other apps … in the other account on this machine.

Diagnosing problems with a .plist file is relative easy.   You log out of your account, and into another: if the app in question works in the latter account, the .plist file in your account has gone wrong.

Your copy of the file only needs deleting, for the app to work.

I logged out of my user account, into the other … to find the other Safari was working perfectly.

My .plist file had gone wrong.

It was a relatively trivial job to delete the thing: it took longer to find it, than to get rid of it.

But once that was done, and Safari working properly?

I heaved a sigh of relief.

~≈🆘≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 21st March 2025.

21st March, 2025.

I have to admit, it’s pay day: so … ?

I’m going to be off shopping and bill paying, later.

Which will be so much fun, I’ll get over-excited!

Yeah: you can me getting ironic, there, can’t you?

~≈🙃≈~

At any rate … I’ve got a review in progress: as I watched Robert Eggers’ 2024 remake of Nosferatu, last night.

I’ve also got the video version of the review planned.

With a provisional timeline set up in DaVinciResolve.

The same software I’ve used for the intro video at The top of this post.

There’s upsides: the free version is remarkably feature-rich.

Although I’ve yet to work out how to fade audio tracks in and out.

The only other downsides, for me?

Is that there’s some noticeable green fringing in the videos I made with it: more than I’ve seen in their iMovie equivalents.

And DaVinci lacks the quality outputs iMovie has: although it does have presets for various platforms.

We’ll have to see what I can do, there!

~≈🧑‍🎨≈~

Just as a last thought … ?

I’ve been reading the collected MACH1 comics: from my misspent, 2000AD reading, youth.

The character is a British equivalent to the Bionic Man.

I’ve got to the episode where the main character’s predecessor, MACH0, is introduced.

And?

When I saw the original image of 0, a thought struck me.

That the image reminded me, vaguely, of the anti-semitic cartoons published by the Nazis, in 1930s Germany.

I can only hope that was accidental!

~≈☹️≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 29th January 2026.

29th January, 2026.

It’s officially official: Apple have updated iMovie, Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

Apparently to improve performance and stability in iMovie’s case.

And to introduce bug fixes in the case of the iWork suite.

I can only hope those bug fixes address the overheating issues I’ve been having … 

~≈🔐≈~

There’s something else, as well.

Yes: YouTube have introduced a new feature.

I can now add a quiz to my videos!

Which seems a little pointless in the case of the Teasers … but I’m sure it will come in useful.

~≈⁇≈~

As another thought … ?

I got told, a day or two ago, that I could contact a human support agent on X/Twitter, if I paid for X Premium.

I signed up for the cheapest option available,

And, after waiting the advised amount of time … still can’t talk to a human.

I’ve had to fill in a form.

And also tried to use their Contact Us button.

Which just leads to a barrage of FAQs

‘FAQ’ … is not the word I’m using … 

~≈📇≈~

Just as a last thought … ?

My nephew, Jude, was over, last night.

Yes: pizza, garlic bread, chicken strips and chips were eaten.

And yes: a video was made.

Apparently, the main man in attack is Erling Harland … 

~≈⚽️≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 24th February 2026.

24th February, 2026.

Right … it’s officially official.

I’ve lost weight!

As long term readers will know, I’m overweight: and on a weight management programme that’s designed to help me lose weight.

I was at my most recent meeting, yesterday, in fact.

Usually, I’d join the Warm space hub, next door to the weigh-in room: but it was a bit noisy, yesterday!

At any rate: and after the wait?

I had myself checked by the volunteers who run the service: to find I’d gone from 100·1 kilos, last week, to 98·5, this week.

A loss of some 1·6 kilos, in other words.

Considering I’d done up, last week?

And had a cheeky fish supper, on Friday?

I was pleasantly surprised … !

~≈⚖️≈~

It’s also official: that I’ve had a delivery from Amazon.

One that’s turned up when they said it would.

Which is nice.

Part of the delivery?

Is a bluray copy of The War Between the Land and the Sea, being copied as we speak, some leather cord for my waistcoat, and a leather cutting blade for the cord.

The blade?

Was advertised as a skiving knife, I should add.

I’ve not heard the word, ‘skiving’, for a long time: and it’s the first time I’ve heard it in that contest.

The last time I heard it?

It was getting used very differently!

~≈🚸≈~

Oh, just in case you’ve seen today’s introduction video, at the top of this post?

I made it with the rentable version of Final Cut Pro, Apple’s pro-level video editor.

It’s not as good as the ones I’ve made with DaVinci Resolve, or iMovie.

But, in my defence?

I’ve a lot of experience with iMovie: and, despite its steeper learning curve, plenty with DaVinci.

At the moment?

And right now?

I have some learning to do: especially about Final Cut’s transitions, and colour-correction.

~≈📽️≈~

As a last thought, before moving on … ?

Yes: I have seen another episode of Stranger Things: episode three, “The Turnbow Trap”.

And, yes: I’ve finished reviewing it.

Feel free to hit the YouTube version’s ‘Like’ button!

~≈🐙≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 1-11-2024 — Juventus

1st November, 2024: Juventus.

Right … 

I’m due to have COVID jab, today: at a chemist in Shenfield.

I’ve not double checked whether I can still have it: after a recent bout of COVID.

But should be able to check when I get there.

I can also check with my regular chemist: to see if they offer ’flu jabs.

I’m theoretically eligible for one: but never booked it, as I had a COVID jab, due.

We’re going to have to see, aren’t we?

~≈💉≈~

OK … I’m still in process of re-organising my music library: and juggling external drives.

I’ve now, finally, got my second external drive set up as a Time Machine backup.

Which both took time: and was a learning experience.

It turns out I couldn’t use iMovie during the initial back up.

My iMovie project library is on my other external drive: so I suspect that — whilst the initial back up was being done — the system couldn’t use it.

That was frustrating … but at least I had a few alternative things I could do.

Including organising my Music.app library: which wasn’t affected by the back up process.

Wouldn’t you know it?

At any rate … ?

It wasn’t until I was re-arranging my music library I realised quite how many Tangerine Dream albums I had!

~≈💿≈~

Just as a final thought … ?

Today’s Teaser video is taking a while to upload.

As it’s in four-k (4k) resolution.

If you can view it in that resolution, can you let me know how it looks*?

Cheers!

~≈📽️≈~