Naquada

So there was one issue with the new MacBook; playing shared video either via iTunes or via Front Row, it just didn’t work, fullstop

I expressly wanted to be able to stream audio and video from iTunes on the G5 back to a number of Mini Mac systems round the house, and getting the MacBook was a great way of actually testing to see if the wireless was up to playing it round the house.

I was very disappointed at first to find that although audio streamed no problem at all through iTunes and Front Row on the MacBook, video just caused a major headache for the MacBook.

At best Front Row came up with the message ‘The remote host is having issues playing this video’ or, Front Row just hung with a blank screen, or even sometimes iTunes on the MacBook hung and eventually needed to be killed.

I was initially thinking that this was an issues with my iTunes folder being on a linux box over samba, and I was ready this morning to head out and get a big SATA drive to put in the mac, but I wanted to try a local copy of a video first.

Setting the preferences to not copy the video into the iTunes library on import kept the video locally on the mac, but alas, the issue was still there, neither iTunes or Front Row on the MacBook would play the video.

A little more head scratching and thinking pointed me to some websites that discussed the MP4 tags needing to be very correct for iTunes to allow streaming, why I have no idea, but anything was worth a try..

A little digging later and I found Lowell Stewart’s Lostify; a metadata tagger for MP4 videos. It allows you to change or enhance the MP4 tags on encoded video, and with a little conversion, I updated the tags and re-imported the video into the iTunes library.

Happily this completely fixed the problem, both iTunes and Front Row could then play the shared video. If you encode using things like Handbreak or use iSquint, the MP4 tagging seems not up to Front Row and iTunes standards.. So thanks Lowell, Lostify opens up a whole new world of video streaming, and seems to be a fix most Front Row users don’t know about..

If you do use Lostify, make sure you drop Lowell some money via pay pal, its worth a little of any ones money!!

I’m actually very impressed with the speed and quality of the streaming even over wireless from a remote samba iTunes library, and Front Row really is a nice application for intel macs, line up those Mini Mac’s, we’re going streaming…

Ok so I couldnt hold of any longer, a particularly long stay in the Apple store in Regent street yesterday resulted in the purchase of one of the new MacBooks.

I didn’t unpack it until lunch time today, as I wanted to savour the moment, call me sad I know but these something wonderful about being able to open a brand new box, and slowly explore the contents on your new purchase.

Like every Mac I’ve had, setup was simple, seamless and easy, it was up and running within about ten minutes, and loaded with all my normal applications within about an hour or so.

So far I’m very impressed, I was very worried about the various comments going round about the heat, peeling black skins and glossy screens, but I’m glad to say (touch wood) none of these issues seem to be affecting my unit.

I think the black MacBook just looks slightly slicker than the white. Admittedly white has always been associated with Apple, but since the introduction of the black iPod, I’ve grown to like my darker side of Apple. Not to mention the glowing white Apple Logo on the black lid just looks quite mean…

So I’m sat here on the sofa, streaming radio to the downstairs Airport Express, writing the blog and all is well with the world. I’m now officially an Mac geek, a two mac household, a member of the cult of Mac..

Any issues ? well.. just one, it seems that front row (or iTunes or something in the ‘i’ world) dislikes streaming shared video from a remote drive. That is, that I have my main iTunes directory on a samba share to my G5, both front row, and iTunes seems to not be able to play videos over wireless using front row 1.2.2…

I think this is a Apple / SMB / Front Row / iTunes sharing issues from the look of the Apple forums, some experimentation with locations of the iTunes directory may be needed over the next week..

   Its been one of those weird starts to the week again, something of a nothing after you get over the excitement of the weekend. It probably didn’t help this morning having forgotten a number of quite important items when leaving the house, most notably my headphones. Its somewhat useless having your iPod loaded up with all the podcasts for today, and having no way of listening to them..

   So all this by the by, move on with the day and look at the tasks in hand. The one thing keeping me going this week is really the lady. Its amazing how just the smallest things can flavour the day with nice relaxing feelings that can help you cope with all the unimportantance that lands on your day.

   I was thinking this morning as I was scrabbling around for my wallet (and finding it wasn’t quite where I left it) about the idea of Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends and Enemies. It used to be an line in someones stage act, and I’ll need to hunt out and work out who it was.. “Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends and Enemies, I present to you.. A spectacle of wonder and amazement..

   So what is the spectacle of wonder and amazement? Sometimes I thnk its my life.. I’ve done more in the last five months than I’ve ever done before. I have more friends and people that care about me than I ever used to have. In some respects this is down to that mix of who I’ve had around me in my past, both good and bad.. The bad always enforcing the good things, the positive things, and framing the fact that life is actually quite good.

   Could I have gathered up 25 people to go out with on a friday night six months ago? Definately not! Could I have been struggling to keep up with my social life and trying to remember the next free weekend when I’m not doing anything? Absolutley not! Could I have switched off and forgotten about the real world and relaxed and enjoyed time away from home? Almost unheard of..

   So what’s changed? To be honest probably nothing has changed as such, its more a case of becoming the me that I think I’ve always been, but has just been suppressed. Theres an entry on my blog from the Spice Christmas Ball, and I think thats really the time when all this started to happen, the real me started to emerge again. I like this me, and certainly will try and rise over any difficult enemies to keep that me

   Someone on the train this morning was asking about me handwritting this blog entry on my TabletPC, and we spent a little bit of time discussing how neither of us really could manage without a tablet. It was odd, and when he left the train he wished me a good day, and said he’d enjoyed listening to me and what I’d said.. Maybe everything I say isn’t meaningless..

   Oh and the final thought.. Chocolate… Nigel Slater said that the best mid morning pick me up is Bread and Chocolate..

I believe this is something that I will need today and tomrrow to get through the week.. So.. Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends and Enemies… enjoy your day.. and all it holds for you… (Chocolate included)

So yesterday was the first Spice National Dragon Boating Championship weekend of the year at Pershore, Worcester. The Pershore Dragon Boating Racing Team (the Fallen Angels) organise the event for spice every year, and do a great job (despite the rain!)

The weather wasn’t overly kind, having rained pretty much most of the evening before, overnight, and all morning, the mud was thick, deep and pretty much everywhere.. Although the turn-out was pretty good considering the monsoon that lasted most of the morning..

Dragon Boat Racing has its origins in ancient Chinese history more than 2000 years ago. The first dragon boaters were superstitious Chinese villagers who celebrated the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in the Chinese calendar by racing long boats along the river. The racing was held to avert misfortune and encourage the rains (which we did wonderfully well this weekend!!)

The object of their worship was the dragon, The Asian dragon has traditionally been a symbol of water. It is said to rule the rivers and seas and dominate the clouds and rains.

As time went on a second story was integrated to give the festival a dual meaning – the saga of Qu Yuan. Legend says that the poet Qu Yuan was banished from the kingdom of Chu after the King fell under the influence of corrupt ministers. Qu Yuan spent many years wandering the countryside and composing great poetry until, on learning of his kingdom’s defeat, he leapt into the Mi Lo River holding a great rock in a display of his heartfelt sorrow.

The people loved Qu Yuan so much that they raced out in their fishing boats to the middle of the river in a vain attempt to save him. They beat on drums and splashed their oars in the water, trying to keep the fish away from his body. This is where the modern Dragon Boat racing now is, involving teams of up to twenty paddlers in a 40 foot boat with a drummer and helm, paddling frantically to beat the other teams down the course.

The Asian Dragons brought rain, rain and more rain so the barbecues were a little damp and smoky, everyone had mud up to their knees, but about 120 of us stood damp and very cold along the river Avon to cheer on the Spice dragon boaters.

There was some serious paddling going on from the Thames Valley team, recording the fastest time ever on the course, and rocking home with a winning time of 1 minute 58 seconds in the finals.

Its the first Spice dragon boating weekend I’ve been on, and it was very very enjoyable, even with the rain.. Hopefully the next session in July will be a little warmer and sunnier..

The photos are up on my Flickr account here

I found this set of photos on Pete Woodhead’s Flickr photos. Its photos he took at the performance Royal de Luxe did in London of The Sultan’s Elephant.

Royal de Luxe are an extraordinary European street theatre company, renowned on three continents but hardly known here in Britain. The company was founded in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult, and has been touring the world ever since.

In the past dozen years, they have created a series of spectacular shows involving giant figures and puppets, some as big as 11 or 12 metres high. The shows are very simple and run over a few days. The animal or giant arrives in the town, and lives its life. It goes about its day to day life and interacts with passers-by.

By the end of the performance huge crowds gather to watch the visiting creature and its daily activities. The sheer size of the puppets is enough to amaze adults and children alike as the story of the Sultan and his Elephant unravelled…

“Once upon a time, there lived a sultan who was tormented in his dreams by visions of a little girl who was travelling through time. This is his story, incredible but true.

The sultan could no longer sleep, his growing anguish diverting his attention from affairs of state. In order to cure his sickness, and believing that he would find the girl in the land of dreams, he commissioned an unknown engineer living in 1900 to construct a time-travelling elephant. A few months later, the sultan set off with his court in search of the little giant, which, in the course of his nightmares, had been transformed into a marionette 5 metres high.

she liked to stitch cars to the tarmac, boats to quaysides, trains to railway tracks and sometimes even envelopes to letterboxes.

The elephant followed the trail left by the puppeteers. And as in all love stories, strange things began to happen. Such was his happiness at getting closer to her, he began to expel hundreds of living birds which disappeared into the sky in a burst of joy.”

The performance started on the 4th of May.. London was shocked to find a rocket crashed nose first into Waterloo Place.. Smoke rising and the road crumbled and broken under it.

The following days saw the puppets interact with London. The giant puppet girl emerging from the rocket in Waterloo Place on Friday afternoon, and the giant elephant wandering majestically around London. The weekend performance ending on the Sunday, with the girl climbing back into the rocket and blasting off from Horse Guards Parade in St James Park.

The Sultan’s Elephant is the fifth in the series of giant pieces, the others being Le Géant tombé du ciel, Le géant tombé du ciel: dernier voyage, Retour d’Afrique and Les Chasseurs de girafes.

La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant à voyager dans le temps

was first performed in Nantes from May 19th to 22nd and in Amiens from June 16th to 19th 2005.

There are some fantastic photos of this on the Flickr Royal de Luxe cluster. Which really makes me wish I’d known this was on. The attention to detail, the pure size of the puppets and the amazing interaction with the public is something that I really love.

Unfortunately there is no information as to if Royal De Luxe will be performing elsewhere within the UK at any time..

UPDATE: I’ve just had a look on youtube and there is a bunch of videos from the performances round London, including the Grande Finale