Leo's back

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

He's back. And back on his birthday. His first birthday.

This is a kitty-came-back story to beat them all. You say he was just sitting outside the front door?

Crouching down, scared. Tiny meow.

He's OK?

Fine, apart from some seeds stuck in his fur.

Leo, where have you been for two days?

Who knows?

I wonder if the upstairs people were keeping him in there? You remember we heard a faint meow yesterday, from above, when we calling his name? Am I being too suspicious?

I know there are people who do pick up cats and take them in a for few days. And the lady up there is certainly cat friendly. But he could just as well have been lying low in bushes for the forty-eight hours. He's never going to tell us.

Anyway, happy birthday, Leo. Card, candle and cake.
...

Uploading to YouTube

“Fetch Leo” is a short video clip of a Siamese cat fetching a flung toy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3o0u2QXp4k

It’s not a memorable piece of filming but was an exercise this morning in converting an AVI file to MPEG4 and then uploading it to YouTube.

Capturing the 10 second film clip from DV tape was done by Premiere, exported as an AVI file in a couple of minutes.

The conversion AVI to MPEG4 was done using a freebie convertor called PSP Video 9 which is good for converting videos for viewing on iPods and took only a few seconds.

The most time-consuming part of the exercise was getting registered on YouTube, since all the nom de plumes I tried had been taken. Eventually I settled on FB22222 as a user name. That’s the RGB code for Firebrick, a subdued red that my father has used effectively on buildings he has designed. Such a business getting your knickers in a twist to find a name. I was getting so tired of getting the same message “Sorry User Name already taken,” I saw red.

I say it is only a mediocre video since on YouTube I immediately saw a rather better 28 second film of another Siamese cat fetching something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiObzQ_iG_M&mode=related&search=

That video has music and while the conversation in it is not exactly something the Coen Bros might have scripted, there is some talk. Point taken, Leo passed his screen test and will be taken on a location shoot next Sunday.