Troy Patterson

Educator, Thinker, Consultant

The Hunchback of Notre Dame poster. The words "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are superimposed over an image of the hunchback and the deacon of Notre Dame.

Weekly Review 2024-13

October 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Weekend

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This was a wonderful weekend. We went to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Portland Opera House. The original 1920’s version was accompanied by the Kotzschmar Organ. It was a fantastic experience to see the movie as it was originally intended, with an organ (or orchestra) providing the soundscape for the movie.

Tammy Faye

We also headed off to see Tammy Faye. This was Rm’s Birthday Surprise. We had a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the show.

I do note that “dressing up” doesn’t seem to be a thing for Broadway shows. I still like to dress up a bit and enjoy the show, but I was definitely in the minority.

Class

The class that I’m taking is getting close to the end. I’m taking a class on Teaching the Exceptional Student for my recertification. The class is a remote class delivered through Moodle. I’ve completed most of the requirements, with a couple of weeks to go.

52Frames

My streak on 52Frames has continued. I’ve now posted 43 pictures. Most of these are cross-posted here as well.

Quote and Song of the Day

Driving in to work, I had the idea of reaching out to a couple of friends that I don’t see very often. The idea was to share a song of the day, something that I’m listening to that they may not be aware of. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe they wouldn’t want to be bothered or interested. Then I thought, but, ah, if they were willing to get it… So, I’m starting a Quote and Song of the Day project for my blog.

…And, after about a week, it is on hiatus. It seems that I’ve got a bit too much going on right now.

Movie Pre-roll AD

I was tasked with creating an Advertisement that would run in local movie theaters. This allowed me to refresh and expand on my Davinci Resolve skills.

Presidential Race

All I can say about the Presidential race is that I can’t belief that it is a race at all. This should be so simply obvious.

A shell sits on a rocky area.

52Frames Week 42

October 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Oh, Hi. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been able to complete 42 weeks of the 52Frames Photo Challenge, but here we are. This week, I really wasn’t sure of my submission.

I reached out to my mini-group, and they voted for the picture below. Their comments included that this one met the challenge better and was stronger in technical aspects: focus and centered subject.

A shell sits on a rocky area.

I like the shell, but I was leaning toward one that told more of a story. This was my second choice.

A broken lobster trap sits on a rocky beach. The Atlantic Ocean is in the background.

I submitted the shell as I do agree that there is something missing about the lobster trap. I like the story, but I think that the framing could have been better.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

RSS

October 18, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Cory Doctorow has a wonderful write up about RSS (You should be using an RSS reader).

I’ve long used RSS to follow the news (and other things). I tried to look up when I started using RSS, but couldn’t find a hard date. Given my remembrances (and a quick search on Middle School Matters), I would posit that it was around 2008. At first, like so many things, I didn’t get it. However, I quickly learned that instead of checking a variety of websites, I could get an RSS feed to see only the things that changed. This saved me tons of time.

With the advent of Facebook and other social media, many people have relied on social media to provide news. That means being at the whim and decisions of Mark Zuckerberg or another billionaire.

In the meantime, I have continued with my RSS feed. I have many different categories that I follow, a couple are educational, a few are humor, a few are sports related, a couple are Apple related, and comics.

One of the main points for me is that I like to read the comics. As a kid, I loved the comics page. As an adult, well, I still loved the comics page. As newspapers started going away, I wanted to continue with the comics. RSS allows me to do that.

GoComics provides an RSS feed for their comics. Originally, I created a single comics feed. That was a bad idea as if I wanted to add or delete one, I had to recreate the whole feed. Plus, if something broke (remember that was the early days). Later, I learned to create a feed for each comic. Now I can add or remove a comic quite easily. I currently have 90 comics that “come to me”.

Personally, I use NetNewsWire as my RSS reader of choice (with Feedly to keep everything in sync). Read Cory Doctorow’s write up though, he has some additional suggestions and thoughts. (NetNewsWire has a long history. It is available for iOS, Mac, and iPad. It is open source, free, and wonderful).

RSS is even more useful now than ever. Mastodon and BlueSky both are RSS feeds. (Podcasts are RSS feeds unless they are locked up on a big company site – like Spotify or Amazon). Cory Doctorow makes a great point that many sites do have RSS feeds (though some sites are locked down behind paywalls).

Go read You should be using an RSS reader by Cory Doctorow. If you are interested in comics and would like my feeds, let me know. RSS is easy to share.

Fredrik Backman

October 17, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I’m a big fan of Fredrik Backman’s books. Every single book that he has written is awesome. (Not all of them are *easy* to read as there can be a great bit of powerful emotions included).

While checking to see if there was a new book coming out by Mr. Backman, I happened along a speech that he gave. This is four minutes of pure joy.

The Kennebec River on a sunny morning. The sun shines above a tree lined river. There are colorful Adirondack chairs on a deck. Clouds are reflected in the river.

52Frames – Panorama

October 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The 52Frames challenge this week is Panorama.

The Kennebec River on a sunny morning. The sun shines above a tree lined river. There are colorful Adirondack chairs on a deck. Clouds are reflected in the river.

I stopped in Hallowell on a sunny morning. The sun was bright, but I like the clouds reflecting in the river.

I tried to use the Hugin plugin, but that wouldn’t open. I switched to the AutoPano Gigi plugin and successfully created the Pano. I’ll need to play around a bit more, but I can definitely see creating more Panomaras in the future.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240928

September 28, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Quote of the Day

“Life instantly improves when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control.”

  • James Clear

Song of the Day

As Long As You Follow by Fleetwood Mac is our Song of the Day.

The song proved to be one of their many popular songs. This one isn’t about love lost or getting retribution, but rather about love returning and being a supportive guide in life.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240927

September 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Quote of the Day

“Wake up determined. Go to bed satisfied.”

  • Dwayne Johnson

Song of the Day

Liquid Lunch is our song of the day. Caro Emerald was a fantastically enjoyable act. (As of 2022, the Caro Emerald project and live act are dormant and no longer active.) Filled with upbeat music that called to swing, lyrics that were fun, Caro Emerald’s music remains a mood lifter.

Liquid Lunch is unsurprisingly, a song about drinking.

Baby, pass the aspirin—something’s gotta work
I know I did it to myself, but man oh man, it hurts
That second last Martini, the one that went down real smooth
Set me on a bender with nothing left to lose

Yeah, baby, it hurts a bunch
The girls got goin’ and we had a munch
I promise on a dime it’s the last time
I’ll ever have a liquid lunch
Yeah, baby, it hurts a bunch

This one is toe tapper that you’ll love to sing along with. Just take it for fun.

The principal singer in Caro Emerald has moved on to a very different project “The Jordan”.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240926

September 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Quote of the Day

“The most important conversation is the conversation you have with yourself each day.”

Song of the Day

Hymn of a Summer Night by Jesse Terry is the song of the day. This song is on the When We Wander album. Reflective of growing up, friendship, and returning home.

We discovered Jesse Terry at 20 Front Street (a terrific venue to see intimate shows). Discovering artists like Jesse Terry is powerful. Go to those local music spots with original singer/songwriters.

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