Christmas Dream - Isla St Clair

A short video edited to my favourite version of one of my favourite Christmas songs. This was a song I heard back in 1982 and which my father had recorded from TV. Played it many times until that tape got wiped boo hoo then it took years to get hold of this version of that song again. Years. I'd managed to get the Perry Como version and much as I love that version it wasn't this version. I finally got hold of this one last year, twice. The first copy on vinyl stuck in one part of the song so I found another copy and it stuck very near to the same place as the first one. Hmm. So I edited a version digitally using the parts of each record that didn't stick and that's the version I've published today, to a mix of pictures I've taken or taken from the internet.

To me this song sums up Christmas and it brings with it very happy memories of that 1982 Christmas when my parents were alive and well and when the house was a very happy place. This is a song that makes me feel Christmas-sy as a result. I love this version.

I've finally completed the DVD for This Is Cala Bona, the holiday video that I posted onto YouTube back in March.

I've produced PAL and NTSC versions of this with the NTSC one being the slightly better of the two. PAL is the UK standard so more DVD players should be able to play this one though there are a lot of UK TVs & DVD players that can likely play the NTSC version.

Both editions carry the following videos:

This Is Cala Bona

Rain In Cala Bona

Then there are extended sequences for:

Duo Maritim: American Icons My My

Boat Ride to Porto Cristo

Son Servera

Bar Playa Costa De Los Pinos

Palma

The extended sequences were (mostly) edited before the main production but when I came to include them in the main production I decided those sequences needed a trim.

All the videos are available on YouTube but the DVD has been produced after a few people asked me if I could do this for them. Blu-Ray version not available yet and likely not for some time.

Rain in Cala Bona

A very short video of footage shot from the balcony of a ground floor apartment on a day that it hammered down with rain in Cala Bona, Mallorca / Majorca. The footage is from 1st October 2016 and I've literally just edited it today. It will appear on the forthcoming DVD containing all the 2016 holiday videos.

Length: 1 minute 2 seconds

2nd July 2017:

Bucket list completed*.

I am now the prize-winning author of the Doctor Who Magazine Star Letter for Issue 514, on sale as of 29th June 2017. No seriously, stop laughing, it's a big thing, it's been years since I got my name in a publication and it tickled my sense of humour. As if there wasn't enough good reason to buy the magazine in the first place!

I wasn't going to read the latest issue until after the season finale had aired on 1st July because I didn't want to accidentally see any spoilers but received an email from Peter Ware from the magazine the day I received it in the post letting me know my communication was Star Letter and had won a Dr Who book as a prize. So barely seconds later I was looking at the Letters page.

The book arrived two days later but I've yet to read it as I've been constantly re-reading the Letters page of Doctor Who Magazine since last Thursday. As well as vacuuming the house. A bit.

*Never had a bucket list never going to. But if I had this would have been on it.

Pictures: cover to the must-have magazine

of all-time and the resulting prize.

Both are bound to run out so I'd grab at

least 10 copies each if I were you.

2nd July 2017:

Yesterday's season finale of Doctor Who Season 10 was one of the best episodes ever in my opinion and what an opinion I agree with, it was simply full of a staggering amount of fantastic moments in a quite senses-bewildering masterpiece. If you haven't seen it yet what the heck are you doing reading this tosh, go away and watch it! Then come back here to read more tosh including my review of that brilliant episode which can be found by clicking on The Doctor Falls.

On 1st July I posted a new page to The Portmeirion Gallery, it's not too exciting but it answers a question or two that I often get asked regarding models based on buildings in the village: The Portmeirion Village / Pentref Portmeirion Collection.

Also on 1st July I posted another page to Andrew O'Day and Guests, Andrew's quest to be photographed with everybody he can think of. This is Page 72 of a likely never-ending quest and this one features the good Doctor with Yvonne Antrobus who appeared in the very first Dalek story back in 1963 so that's surely a good thing isn't it.

25th June 2017:

I've finally posted a page of photos taken in Cala Bona & Cala Millor last year, those who are Facebook friends will have seen some of these before but there are some different ones.

Cala Bona & Cala Millor 2016

18th June 2017:

Since yesterday I've been transferring my websites from one service provider to another, there was some expected downtime yesterday but overall this has been a pretty smooth transition.

Today I've begun the process of removing the backup sites from their original locations as they are stored with my previous service provider. I'll consider the possibility of new backup sites in time, though I feel there may no longer be a need for them.

For up-to-date system status notifications regarding my websites go to: http://hrvt.tripod.co.uk  If ever my sites go down this notification page should have the latest developments. Remember to bookmark it though.

This week my lovely boy cat Charley passed away aged 17 and 11 twelfths and it was sad to see the little feller go. He had been a wonderful companion and there won't be a day I won't miss him. Cats are cool, they really are.

29th May 2017:

Roger Moore popped off on 23rd May 2017 at the age of 89 and while not wholly unexpected for such an age was a sad moment anyway as he always came across as being a nice guy. Loved his version of Simon Templar The Saint as well as Brett Sinclair (The Persuaders) and James Bond. He was able to take the mickey out of himself too and his sense of humour made him many friends. Always wanted to be The Saint as a kid, more so than The Dr in Dr Who.

I held my own "Watch What He Was In" day and this consisted of:

Ivanhoe: Episode 16: Brothers In Arms

The Alaskans: Episode 33: Calico

Maverick: Season 4 Episode 1: The Bundle From Britain

The Saint: The House On Dragons Rock

The Persuaders: Greensleeves

The Spy Who Loved Me

He did a heck of a lot of stuff really including a whole bunch of other films including The Man Who Haunted Himself, The Wild Geese, Escape To Victory, etc and I'm gonna start watching some of those again. He was a true great and his passing is a great loss to those of us who consider ourselves fans.

14th May 2017:

'Ow do, me video This Is Cala Bona seems to have been viewed over 3400 times across 51 countries since 25th March so I'm pleasantly surprised by that. It shows how popular that place is that's for sure.

Am re-visiting an old video of mine titled Xonus and have been restoring it up to almost watchable status. Not sure if I'll post it on-line or not but have mostly been enjoying working on it. Have been having a break from it since Easter though, needed a rest and the day-job has been keeping me more than occupied to the point I don't rush to get onto a PC when I am home. It'll get finished at some point.

Doctor Who series 10 started 15th April and it's been a mixture of 3 good and 2 average so far. I think Bill Potts has been excellent so far though, Pearl Mackie is just great in the role. Keep her Chibnall, keep her!

25th March 2017:

'Ow do, as of last October I've re-started video editing (using more recent versions of the programs I once used), editing short holiday videos for use within a larger one with five up already (links below).

I've been working on the main holiday video that's 43 minutes long and has now been posted as of today: This Is Cala Bona.

Whilst editing the above I took a break from that and returned to a 1998 film / music project I worked on in WHY Productions titled Taking What's Mine. The main production and three associated music sequences have recently been digitally transferred to YouTube and that can be found further down this page. I'd long considered this an unfinished project and it's been largely unseen for some time so here it is at last.

This is more or less the edit as was made back then albeit I've linked the four individual videos into one as was my original intention back when I was editing them. Plus I had to create a new WHY logo as the original wouldn't load and I didn't feel like spending hours recreating the original.

For the future there's a couple of mini videos to edit. Then I'm off down the pub.

Above: Faux poster thrown together for the arrival of This Is Cala Bona to the internet

Saturday 25th March 2017

This Is Cala Bona

Holiday video showing how nice Cala Bona, Mallorca (Majorca) is from the scenery to the people to the atmosphere. Edited using footage mostly from 2016 with bits from previous years. It's as much a holiday video as it is about the place and as such features other places visited during that holiday; Son Servera, Bar Playa (Costa De Los Pinos), Porto Cristo, & Palma. Cala Bona is next to Cala Millor and this wonderful place (with Cafe Del Sol) also features.

Length: 42 mins 53 seconds

Above: Mini poster thrown together to announce the arrival of the TWM digital transfer to the internet

Sunday 19th March 2017

Taking What's Mine

Largely unseen in the year of its release 1998 or since, this is the film / music project I worked on with Phil Young, Laurence Williams & Nickely Burke. The basic plot is that a man wakes up as a prisoner of aggressive people and who then spends as much time trying to get away from them whilst heading towards... something.

Length: 31 mins 16 seconds

Above: The two different video covers I designed for TWM: the original one on the left was the more widely-seen version.