Crackers and cheese!

I love eating crackers and cheese!

I think it is the bees knees!

Would you like some? Just say please!

We can all eat crackers and cheese!

Review: iPod touch 4th generation

Since the launch of the iPod back in November 2001, Apple have regularly updated and increased their range to provide music players to the masses.

Today, their product line-up consists of the compact iPod Nano, the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle, the hard drive-based iPod Classic, and the touchscreen iPod Touch.

Image shows iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Touch.
Image © Matthieu Riegler, CC-BY, Wikimedia Commons

The 4th Generation iPod Touch.
Image © Matthieu Riegler, CC-BY,
Wikimedia Commons

Today, I am going to review the 4th Generation iPod Touch.

IMAGE AND VIDEO

The most obvious difference between the iPod Touch 4th Generation and it's predecessor, the 3GS, is the addition of not one, but two cameras, one on the front and one on the rear.

The camera on the rear can be used to capture HD video footage, which is quite an achievement on a device as small and light as the iPod!

The footage seems to be really high quality, and once you have shot your rushes, you can use several apps to edit on the go as well!

The iPod photo and video browser connects easily to your youtube account, and you can upload your clips or movies easily using a WI-FI connection.

I have found the iPod has all but made my DSLR and camcorder redundant! As I always have my iPod touch in my pocket, I can capture moments as they happen and easily share them online, or store them for later. I find this is much more convenient than carrying a video camera and a separate camera about!

The addition of the cameras means the iPod touch can now be used to make video calls. FaceTime is a package that comes pre-installed on the iPod touch and allows you to do such a task with other i-devices, such as the iPhone, iPad2 and of course other iPod tough 4G's. Apple have also designed FaceTime to work on Mac computers.

Of course, if you have no friends who own an i-device, you can always use other apps (such as Skype) to make video calls using the built in cameras.

I have a friend who has the same iPod as me, and I tend to use FaceTime to call him if he is at home - it saves on phone call charges or using up your mobile phone text allowance.

Other than that, I find FaceTime isn't very useful as I don't know enough people I can FaceTime with.

Image Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

The main other cosmetic change I would care to mention is the physical size of the iPod touch 4G - which is considerable thinner and lighter than previous models. This model is a mere 4.4 inches x 2.3 inches x 0.28 inches in size!

(Please note there are some other cosmetic changes, such as buttons being moved, etc, but these aren't really important, and therefore not worth mentioning).

Overall, the iPod touch is a clean, crisp and sleek piece of gadgetry! I like it!

SCREEN DISPLAY

The multi-touch display has also undergone a radical re-development, the 4th generation now comes with Retina Display. In short, this is a display which contains 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch - this is around 4 times the amount of pixels as previous iPod touch models!

The results are very impressive - it is just about impossible to see individual pixels on this display. (However, this claim is only true on apps that support the Retina Display, not all of which do...)

The Retina Display is one of the newest displays produced by Apple, and is currently only found on the iPhone4 and iPod tough 4G - even the brand new iPad 2 hasn't been fitted with the Retina Display!

Having used the iPod for playing games and videos, I must admit I am VERY impressed with the quality of the display! A lot of the app's developers have either worked towards designing apps with the Retina Display in mind, or have brought out updates to maximise the compatibility for this.

Text is superbly clear, images are beautiful (photography skills aside!) and the screen produces a wonderfully clear refresh rate when playing videos. Basically, it's as if you have a HD quality TV in your pocket!

POWER AND MOVEMENT

The iPod touch 4th generation has undergone a radical upgrade under the skin as well, and is now powered by the A4 Chip - the same processor Apple uses in the iPhone4 and the iPad.

Quite simply, this means you can use your iPod for more than just playing music and taking photographs - with the right apps you can edit video, manipulate images and play super-slick games!

The 3-axis built in Gyroscope means you can control game movement by simply rotating or turning your iPod around. This works very smoothly and (once you get the hang of it) works very well on driving games!

Image Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc.
All rights reserved.

THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

Without Apps (short for 'Applications' - software packages that can be installed on the i-devices) the iPod would be little more than a music player with a built in camera... (not taking into account the built in apps pre-installed on the iPod...).

You can access the Apple App Store without even requiring a computer! The iPod touch allows you to access the app store using a WI-FI internet connection, and you can search and download whatever apps you require from the device itself.

However, unless you jailbreak your i-device (which will invalidate your warranty) you can only install apps that are available through the app store.

This is one of the main reasons why some people prefer to go down the Android route, and have a device that allows you to install apps you design and create, without having to go through Apple.

However, saying that, the Apple App Store has literally millions of apps available, with new ones being developed every day.

Depending on what you are looking to do, you can find an app that will let you use your iPod touch (or other i-devices) to accomplish whatever task you need.

From addictive games, such as Angry Birds and Flight Control to image manipulation using Adobe Photoshop Express; creative video production using apps such as 8MM Vintage Camera, I-movie and Splice.

If you are into blogging there are hundreds of apps (I found an interesting article with links to the most popular blogging apps) you can use, depending on your choice of blog host.

For the more technically minded, you can even use your iPod to control a computer using Mocha VNC!

To prevent this article becoming stupidly long and dull, I will sum up by saying the Apple App Store will enable you to find an app for almost ANYTHING you can imagine doing with an iPod! 

Image Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

BATTERY LIFE

The battery on the iPod is, sadly, one of the weakest points of the iPod touch.

Apple claim an impressive 40 hours of music playback, and 7 hours of video playback time for the iPod touch 4G on their website.

However, if you start using the iPod for anything other than listening to your favorite music or watching your favorite videos, this battery capacity is reduced significantly.

Once you start using WI-FI or playing games, you will find yourself becoming very familiar with a "Battery is at less than 20%" message.

You can recharge your iPod touch using pretty much any USB socket (I often charge mine using an XBox 360), however a power adaptor is sadly not included in the box, and is only available as an accessory.

FLASH (OR LACK OF FLASH)

One thing that is lacking on the iPod touch is Adobe Flash. There is much speculation as to why i-devices such as the iPod and iPad do not have flash available, however, in an article about the lack of Flash on i-devices, Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) is quoted as saying the reason is because: "Proper" Flash performs too slow to be useful on the iPhone... There's this missing product in the middle. It just doesn't exist.

This is further backed up by a list of reasons why Apple has chosen not to include flash within any of it's products, and after reading their decision it is quite difficult to disagree with them.

It is unfortunate and does mean that no flash content can be used on the iPod, iPad or iPhone devices. However the huge amount of apps more than make up for this lacking facility in my opinion.

OVERALL

Quite simply, I LOVE my iPod touch! In the last six months or so I have owned one, I have constantly found new and exciting things to use it for. It is the most used gadget I own!

It is the first item I pick up in the morning, the last item I put down at night and is pretty much in my hands constantly all day in between!

Image Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

I would recommend the iPod touch 4th Generation device to anybody who is looking for a gadget that they can use for everything. The quality, design and size of the device is brilliant, and is easily slipped into your pocket when you are going out.

The audio quality is brilliant. The earphones supplied are well built, however slightly uncomfortable. Therefore I would recommend the JVC Gumy earphones as a solid replacement if you are out and about, or the Sennheiser HD202 headphones if you want very good audio at home.

The fact that the iPod cannot use Flash content restricts it a tad, however I still haven't found any content I specifically miss.

Video sites such as Youtube and Vimeo use a different encoding format, (H.264 video codec, for those technically minded of you) and the iPod plays these fine.

Other video based sites now work (or are working towards) the use of HTML5 compatible video, enabling much more "Flash" video to be available through devices such as the Apple i-devices. This content availability can only continue to increase.

The battery is the only let down I have to mention. As soon as you use the iPod for more than simply playing music, the battery life is fairly short.

However, this can be overlooked if you don't mind charging it when it's not in use.

FINAL SCORES

Design: 4.5 / 5
Ease of use: 5 / 5
Battery life: 3 / 5
Usability: 10 / 5
Overall: 4.5 / 5


- TheLittlerich

If today was your last day

It's wasn't a great day yesterday.
The car failed it's MOT on Tuesday and I asked the garage to give me a quote. I received a call from them on Wednesday morning and to my dismay it's going to cost more than we thought to get it through.

My girlfriend and I discussed our options, and came to the conclusion that as it is, we simply can't afford to keep up the finance payments, afford the repair bills and the running costs.
We worked out that in the long term it would be better to spend money on a cheap runabout car and replace it in a few months or so.

Although it was a sensible option, I admit I spent most of the day worrying about it...

The problem wasn't the fear of not having a car, but the fact that giving up the car we have was like admitting defeat...
I took the car on when I was working, earning a decent wage. Now the circumstances are different, and I feel as if giving up the car is like losing my "status" - It is a bit like accepting I am a failure in life.

I called up the finance company to find out what was involved, and I started to think about the benefits of ending the agreement.

I thought about having a different car every few months or so, and not having to worry about being able to pay for a car that really isn't worth the money - in the long run I started to realise it was a better,  cheaper, easier solution with less problems...

I admit once I changed my way of thinking about the situation I felt considerably better!

I started to listen to some music, and I heard a song by Nickelback - "If Today Was Your Last Day".

One line caught my attention in particular: Each day's a gift and not a given right.

As I listened closer I started to think about the lyrics of the song:
--------------------------------------
Against the grain should be a way of life.
What's worth the price is always worth the fight.
Every second counts, coz' there's no second try.
So live it like you'll never live it twice!
Don't take the free ride in your own life!
--------------------------------------

The song seemed really appropriate. It made me think about how easy it is to get tied down in the daily grind of life, worrying about the stupid irrelevant things to the point you are so wrapped up in them you miss the good things in life.

Before he went to bed, I sat with my son Dominic and we played about on a couple of guitars I have recently bought.

It was quite a short jam session, but he really enjoyed it, and so did I!

It made me realise that in order to really appreciate life you should take at least ten minutes each day forgetting it all!

Forget the bills, the housework, money worries, unemployment, ect...
They can't be completely avoided but don't spend every waking moment consumed by the negatives in your life, but spend some time each day doing something that you really enjoy or want to do!
Try getting up in the morning and telling yourself:
Today I will do something that makes my life worth getting out of bed for!
Let me know how you feel!

- Thelittlerich.

Hitting the '30' milestone: How does it compare to how you planned?

30 seems to be a landmark age nowadays, one in which you compare where you think you should be and where you actually are.
For some, the age 30 holds excitement and joy, for others they reach 30 and realise the achievements they wanted to accomplish were far beyond them.

I recently reached 30, and I decided to measure where my life would be, how I always saw myself by 30 and compare it to what I had accomplished.

My goals were:

• Have settled down in a steady relationship, with two children (a girl and a boy).
• I wanted to be either working in a television or video production based environment, or running my own business.
• I wanted a decent car... Nothing too flashy, something sensible.
• I wanted to have a decent size house, with a large enough garden to allow the kids to run about safely.
• I wanted a dog.

Having recently (well, almost 6 months ago) reached 30, I look back and realise I haven't done too badly!

• I am in a steady relationship with Jan, and we have two children, Dominic and Makayla.
• My career has been working in TV - my last job was working for a national broadcaster in Scotland for several years.
• I currently drive a Renault Scenic - it's not exactly a Porsche but it's big enough to ferry the family about in.
• We have a dog called Buster!

I could look at my achievements and think "I've failed" because not everything on the list has been ticked off - I don't own my own house, and right at this moment I'm unemployed, but I have managed to achieve a career and a family. However, I see my life as a success - I'm sure not many people can look back on their life at 30 and realise they have achieve what they were aiming for.

If you ask me how I have done this, I must answer I don't know. I don't feel that I have really had to try hard to get everything I have wanted, it has just sort of came to me...

You could say that I was lucky in life -

I was lucky to get my break in RedTV, I was lucky to get the experience and the personal life that led me into Glasgow and onto my HND, I was lucky to be picked from everybody on my course to work in STV, and then I was lucky to end up in Darlington with Jan, Dominic and Makayla.

I am now looking forward to the next milestone in my life - 40! I haven't really given that much thought, however I think it will involve getting back into work and restarting my career, watching the kids grow up and hopefully moving into our own house.

Whatever the future holds, I know one thing - I am not going to worry about it!
Whatever is set for our future, we will face together, through good and bad times. What more can a guy ask for in life?

- TheLittlerich.

Rooftop Arrest.

I was going through some old draft scripts and notes from various ideas that I have had over the years for short films, stories etc, and found a few that I thought I would share with you.

The following short story is one that I wrote many years ago, hasn't actually been read by anybody, and has been sitting in a drawer collecting dust. I thought that I should share it with you in my blog as a way of publishing it.

After adding the text, I decided that I should include some illustrations to break it up a little, and so I've quickly doodled some... (I know they are terrible...!)

Apart from the terrible scribblings, I hope you enjoy the story!

- TheLittlerich

---

Rooftop Arrest.

The warm, female body remained standing, but was only supported by the gripped hands around her neck... His hands...

The hands loosened and she collapsed into a heap on the bed.

Steve woke up with a jump. As the sleepiness and vague memories of the dream subdued, the memories crept back into his consciousness. His dream wasn’t a nightmare, it was real.

The hands around the woman’s neck were his, and the woman was Sarah, his fiancé. At least she was. Until she told him about Alan Halloway, a police sergeant she had an affair with.

In a drunken rage, Steve had started to hit her. Between the cries of pain and the pleads for him to stop, he grabbed hold of her throat and squeezed. Hard. His grip got tighter and tighter.

He could feel Sarah trying to escape the vice grip of his fingers. But as she struggled more and more, his grip became tighter and tighter.

Until she stopped moving...

He suddenly panicked and let go.

She collapsed onto the bed, surrounded with messed up pillows and sheets.

He looked at her. She didn’t move.

"She’s faking it" he thought, he tried to tell himself, until he realized that she wasn’t.

She really was dead. Her chest wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing. He hurriedly felt for a heartbeat. Nothing.

"Oh god’ I’ve KILLED her!" he whispered. Then the thought repeated over and over
in his head. "You’ve killed her, you’ve KILLED HER!"
Looking around quickly, he wondered what to do.
"Gotta move, gotta get out of here, QUICK" he thought.

The rest of the time it was hard to remember. He couldn’t remember running away from the house, he couldn’t remember coming to the old apartment building.

The only thing he could remember was killing Sarah. The memories burnt into his mind like a laser. He could see her face, even when he closed his eyes. Her face was burnt into his memory.

It came to him most when he was asleep. He could only dream about what had happened. When he woke, he could not remember for a few seconds. He hoped it was a nightmare, until the memories returned, then he knew what he had done.

Steve was in an old, run down apartment. The rooms were bare, the wallpaper was hanging off the walls, and the place smelt damp. Some of the rooms were worse than others. Some of them weren’t even fit to stay in.

He had fallen asleep on an old couch. The cushions were bare, the pattern had long faded. There were a few springs poking out the bottom, and the seats were damp and smelt bad.

But this was the only place he could go. The police wouldn’t find him here. At least not for some time. Besides, he couldn’t go to any of his family...

His family lived nowhere near him. The nearest person was his sister, Louise. She lived in France. She had done ever since she had been married. Her French husband, Jac, was a complete bastard. He didn’t care about her. He only married her because of the baby.

She had wanted it, but he hadn’t. He was opposed to it ever since she told him. He told her to get an abortion. He even tried to kill it himself. Jac beat her up, kicked her in the stomach and pushed her down the stairs while she was pregnant. Jac didn’t deserved to live in Steve’s mind.

But he hadn’t killed Jac, he had killed Sarah. She didn’t deserve to die.

"I didn’t mean to kill her" he thought, "it was an accident".

The sound of a police siren made Steve look out of the window. He could see a police car speed around the corner. He watched it for a few seconds.

Then he could hear the sound of another one.

Then another... And another!

"How did they find me?" he wondered.

He then ran out of the room, down the stairs and towards the front door. He could see the flashing blue lights through the dirty glass, and quickly turned around and ran towards the back door. He could see more blue lights.

"What the hell?" he thought, “have they brought the entire police station with them?".

He decided that the roof might be a better idea, turned around and ran back up the stairs. He ran into the hall, and through the door that led to the roof. Then he ran up another flight of stairs and to the door where the roof exit was. He pushed the door hard and it gave way.

He pushed the door open wide to see the bright blue sky overhead him.

The roof was gray. He could see a low wall at the end of the roof. Past that, he could see another roof, a little higher, but he could make it.

A loud bang made Steve turn around. The police had broke down the front door.

His heart thumping, Steve ran towards the edge. He stopped just before the wall and looked at the next roof.

It wasn’t far...

He looked down the gap between the two buildings. It was a fair drop, about three storeys. Steve climbed onto the wall as the police emerged from the door.

"Freeze" he heard a police officer shout as Steve jumped.

The next roof was a little further than Steve had expected, and he fell slightly short.

He grabbed hold of a pipe that was sticking out of the floor, and pulled himself up.

As the police officers had reached the wall on the first roof, Steve was back on his feet

and running towards the other end of the roof.

He looked back to see a couple of police officers jump the gap. They had more experience at judging the gap than Steve had, and landed perfectly on the next roof on their feet, and continued running.

Steve ran to the edge and jumped, without thinking about the gap or the distance down. All he thought about was getting away.

He made the jump, but landed funny on his leg. A sharp pain shot up his leg. The pain made him fall to the ground. He grabbed his leg. The pain became very strong. Tears came to his eyes, and his mind became blank, trying to cut the pain out.

A police officer jumped the second ledge and landed next to Steve. Through the tears of pain, he could see the blurry shape of the man standing over him.

"You’re not going anywhere, you son of a bitch" the policeman said in a low tone of voice.

Steve blinked hard and the image of the man became clear.

The man was older than he was. He was well built, but not fat. He had a thick, gray mustache, and his hair was slightly gray, but not balding. He frowned and looked angry.

Then Steve noticed the gun in the man’s hand. It was a Smith and Wesson .22. He recognized it because he had one. He wished he had it with him, but it was under the mattress at home. The mattress where they had probably found Sarah.

A few tears came back into his eyes. He blinked them away.

The man spoke again. "You killed Sarah, and now I am gonna kill you, you piece of..."

He was cut off by another police officer who landed next to Steve.

"Put your gun away, Sarge".

The sergeant turned around and looked at the other police officer as Steve spoke:

"How do you know Sarah?".

It was a bit of a silly question, he would have found out from her identification back at the house.

The sergeant turned around and looked at Steve. He put his face close to Steve’s.

"My name is Sergeant Alan Halloway... You might have heard of me?".

Steve’s mind recognized the name, and then remembered where he had heard it.

"I’m having an affair" he remembered Sarah telling him, "His name is Alan Halloway, he is a police officer".

Then all of the pain disappeared as the anger and hate in Steve grew. He turned towards Alan. This man, the one in front of him now was responsible for Sarah’s death.

Steve wanted revenge, for sleeping with Sarah, for making him break his leg, but mostly for making him so angry that he had killed Sarah.

Steve grabbed hold of the gun and tried to take it from Alan’s hand. Alan had a strong grip, but the sudden fight in Steve made took him by surprise!

They wrestled with the gun as the other police officer drew his gun.

"Freeze!" he shouted as they continued to fight for the gun. Steve threw a punch at Alan’s face. It made contact, and threw Alan back a bit.

He let go of the gun.

Steve aimed the gun at Alan’s head.

BOOM!

The police officer fired at Steve, and the bullet slammed him down against the floor.

The pain shot through Steve’s body.

Alan bent down and took the gun from Steve’s hand. He pointed it at his head.

"What are you doing?" shouted the police officer, "he’s not armed".

"He doesn’t deserve to live, he killed Sarah, and now I’m gonna kill him!".

The police officer now had the gun aimed at Alan’s head.

"If you fire, I’m gonna have to arrest you, Sarge".

"Do what you have to do, but I am gonna kill him" Alan replied. He took aim and slowly pulled the trigger back.

BOOM!

The police officer fired, and the bullet hit Alan in the shoulder. The force threw him down onto the concrete and he dropped his gun. The police officer ran over to the gun and kicked it away from the sergeant.

He pulled out his radio and pressed the button. "Officer down, requesting backup".

"I’m putting you under arrest, Sarge" he said, and then turned around to Steve.

"It’s the cells for you too, but you are going to the hospital first, to get that leg checked

out".

By Richard Stewart

Random words and mutterings.

Some randomness... Silly words and phrases I think are funny:

- Banana Squirrels.
- I wonder if Twiglets Float?
- Ow! My spleen!
- Boing! Giggles! Oops where's my thribble?
- Transmogrify!
- Loonies "wick the lindows"!
- Boogie sounds like bogey!

Ok, I have no idea why I'm writing this but OMG! EAGLE!

- Thelittlerich

Writing a blog without a topic...

Starting a blog with no idea as to what topic you are going to be writing about... Probably one of the most difficult things to do on a dreary Saturday afternoon.

OK, so it might not be as difficult as performing brain surgery, piloting a space shuttle or even understanding a foreign language, but it is difficult nonetheless!

Which is why I have almost wiped the screen about four times already and started afresh...

I thought blogging would be an easy task. After all, it's simply writing down what you think and clicking publish, isn't it?
Well, not really... I have a tendency to want to produce high quality work, in whatever medium I am working with at the time, and as a result, I often find I need to satisfy a certain quality I set myself before I offload my ramblings to the world to read.

It is the same when I am working - having worked within a video production based environment for many years, I always try to create work that is as good as possible. (Follow this link for my video production history)
Therefore, why should my blog be any different? Which is why I want to write interesting articles that keep the reader engaged until the end.

I have decided to try and write a blog a day, although this will really depend on whether I have any thoughts that I wish to share or not, and whether I feel they would warrant an article being written about them!

In the meantime, please leave any comments about what you have read so far on The Ponderings..., and also if there are any topics you think I should try ad write about please let me know!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

- TheLittlerich

A brief history of Richard M Stewart

Born survivor

Born in Glasgow in 1981 with major heart problems, Richard

fought his early days for survival.

It was as he grew up with constant hospital visits and heart operations, Richard realised he wasn't kit out to be a physical child, and running about, football and sports activities that most children participate in were replaced with computers, gaming and video editing.

Having moved to Cambridge at an early age, Richard was always interested in new technology and computers, and discovered a natural interest in video production when, at 11, he was given the chance to play with the family camcorder.

Richard became the main person in the family who dealt with all video projects, from documenting family christmases and holidays, to filming birthdays and other events.

It was no surprise that a keen interest in film making soon caught Richard, and his earliest pair of films, Attack of the Killer Teddies really captivated his interest in how a film could be recorded and put together.

Starting a career in TV

In 1998, at the age of 17, Richard heard about a local cable TV channel, Cambridge RedTV.

Starting in Cambridge, RedTV was recruiting

volunteers to help make television programmes.

Armed with an application form and a carrier bag full of

home-made portfolio tapes, Richard approached RedTV to see if he could become involved.

He was introduced to Harriet Wallace (who went onto produce Big Breakfast and Watercolour Challenge, amongst other things), given a tour of the building and then asked if he wanted to help on with the broadcast of the RedTV's flagship programme, 528.

Of course, he accepted, and the result was his first television credit EVER: Executive Producer.

Richard's career in television had immediately started, and over the next four years Richard worked for RedTV (completely voluntary!), gaining as much experience and insight into television as he could.

Filming, editing, presenting, graphic design, titles, programme development, vision mixing and broadcasting were all part of the hands-on skills Richard learned.

Often, Richard was given the responsibility of keeping the channel on air, running to schedule, vision mixing and presenting (quite often in the same shift!).

In 2000, Richard was one of four key personnel who helped RedTV at their biggest production ever – an attempt to break the Guinness Record for the Longest live TV broadcast - This meant 18 days of 24/7, completely LIVE broadcasting!

Alas, the record was not officially recorded by Guinness but internally everyone involved knew what they had achieved!

Over the next few years, Richard continued working at RedTV as well as working for other companies, including The Warehouse, a live internet broadcasting house who broadcast live events every weekend. 

His roles involved setting up the network, attending live events and filming / web streaming them online for others to see.

Back to his roots

In late 2003, Richard decided to relocate to his birthplace, Glasgow.

It was during his time working within various temporary office jobs that he discovered the

Glasgow Metropolitan College, and applied for the HNC course to study Television Production and

Operations.

However, with the amount of experience already under his belt, he was accepted straight onto the HND course, and spent the next two years learning the full process of television production, from initial programme concept  through the entire production process, post-production and delivery.

At the Glasgow Metropolitan, Richard was given hands-on training in many different roles within television. 

Training in the first year included camera operations, lighting directing, sound recording, sound dubbing mixing and editing, using Final Cut Pro.

During the first year of his course, Richard shot, edited and directed a 7 minute documentary called "Room 2 Talk" about internet chat rooms, which was nominated for an award.

On the second year, as well as learning editing on Avid, more studio work was introduced, and his roles varied from floor manager and dolly grip to director, production assistant and producer.

During the second year of his course, Richard directed two projects, a short narrative entitled The Cycle of Love and a corporate video about the TV courses, Making TV at The Met.

The latter production was actually used by the college as their promotional DVD for prospective students!

Working for a National broadcaster in Scotland

Having proved in college how much enthusiasm Richard had for the industry really paid off.

After an informal discussion with the head lecturer of the TV course (who was a former employee within the industry), Richard was head hunted by Scottish Television!

Initially this role was a two-week trial within the audio department, however Richard keenly proved himself and was soon working as a VT Assistant, alongside seasoned editors with credits including Fun House, Finders Keepers, Take the High Road, High Times, How2 and Taggart.

As well as assisting with stv's daily promotions, Richard worked on a huge variety of different productions, including Taggart, Rebus, The Making of Rebus, Scotsport, various Setanta football programmes and many, many others.

A position within stv opened, and Richard started working in the transmission area of Setanta Sports, which covered broadcasting of Setanta Sports 1 and 2, Rangers TV and Celtic TV.

Another position opened up within stv to work on Scotland On TV, one of stv's Scottish themed video based websites.

It was here that Richard gained a huge amount of practical experience working with a new media environment.

Over the next two years, the New Media department grew significantly. Richard found his role continued to be extended to include filming and editing new and repackaging broadcast media for the web, seeding content to relative online sources and management of the archival process to store the edited video and data.

Richard was also involved in the initial development of the STV player - an in-house developed catch up service that rivals the iPlayer, 4OD, ITV Player, Sky Player and other online catchup services.

The future?
In Janurary 2010, Richard relocated to Darlington, and is currently seeking an exciting new challenge.

If there are any video production companies or visual businesses who are looking to hire a motivated, enthusiastic individual with the flexibility to work in a variety of media formats, please email Richard on richardmstewart@live.com

I can provide a portfolio of past work and current CV.

Thank you!

- Thelittlerich.

10 things that irked me this morning.

1. Computers automatically syncing with devices.
I've just plugged my ipod in to charge it, LEAVE my music alone!

2. Writing lists.
Why did I bother starting this?

3. Facebook.
Yup, I am addicted. I can't go more than about 10 minutes without checking what's going on in the world, but I get really pissed off when I check back and there are very few updates!
Come on ppl! FB more so I have more to keep up with!

4. Colds.
I have one. It's annoying me right now.

5. Alarm clocks.
Yup, I KNOW I need to get up this morning, just stop reminding me will ya?!

6. Software Updates.
WHY do you want to update this software I am about to us? It works FINE! Will you just LEAVE IT ALONE!

7. Caps Lock Key.
gRRR i HATE IT WHEN IT STICKS!

8. Profile pictures with animals, kids, cars, inanimate objects and multiple people in them.
Why?!?! It's YOUR profile picture. About YOU! People want to see what YOU look like, not all your friends, your car or your pets!! Change it! NOW!!

9. TV Programmes.
Ooh! that program was great! I really enjoyed it! What do you mean I need to wait a week to see the next episode? I wanna watch it NOW, while I'm in the mood! FFS, I'll have to download it...

10. Blogging.
OK, So I'm new to this. Everyone I know seems to be blogging about this or that, spouting their inner most thoughts in a drivel of nonsense... I've decided to join in. Why not, eh? It's not like anybody ever reads these meanderings, is it!?

- TheLittlerich

Testing a blog post from a mobile device.

Just thought I'd try posting a quick blog from my mobile device.

I must admit I am not sure how often I will be updating my blogs using this method, but at least I have the ability to blog from the bog, should I so wish!

- Thelittlerich

New to blogging.

Hi everyone.
I'm fairly new to blogging, but everyone seems to do it, so I thought I would have a go at it.


In fairness, I'm sure this is just a passing phase, and I will stop after posting a few blogs. Mainly because that's how I am... I get all enthusiastic about things, and want to do them NOW! 
After a while, I don't have that same enthusiasm, and I lose interest and give up or undo all of my work.


As I'm writing this blog, I'm already having no idea as to what I want to put into it... I have sooo many questions about blogging already -

• What should a decent blog contain? 
• Should I reveal all my deepest secrets? 
• Do I keep the topics light and "fluffy"...? 
• Should I keep my blogs silly and random squirrel bananas?
• Should I fill my blogs with random thoughts that I have? (Or is that what status updates on FaceBook are all about?!)
• How often should I post a blog? Is daily too much? Is once a week enough?

I would like some input! .. So if you have a blog and have been blogging can you give me 3 pieces of advice?


I might take it on board, I might not... (Although at this stage, I will probably take on board most of what you can offer!)


I hope you enjoy my blogs, and continue to read them. If so, I will continue to write them!


- TheLittlerich