iMovie Confession

If I have a regular reader it’s probably due to a high fiber diet, to which I say: “Keep it up Sir/Madam your chance of colon cancer is significantly reduced.” If people exist who actually read the stuff I write more than once said individuals may have noted that I seem to be trending towards a subject matter that’s a bit iMovie heavy. I feel certain this reader might be wondering “Hey Chris Seibold, why so much iMovie stuff?” and “If I shot you from a distance of six hundred yards would anyone be impressed?” Taking the second question first: No, no one would be impressed. My head is so large in comparison with my body that I resemble a bobble head doll. Addressing the second question: The reason I review so much iMovie stuff is because I love iMovie.

Were I stranded on a desert island and had the choice of just one program (sure it’s a wildly unlikely and overused situation) it would be any e-mail program. That way I could send an e-mail to some one and get off the freakin’ island. Short of an e-mail program it would be iMovie. The question bubbles up like a French beverage: Why iMovie? Why not a game? Why not something designed to kill time? The answer, which may be a stumper for some, is because iMovie is just so much fun. iMovie is a bigger time killer than Diablo, Baldur’s Gate, and a bevy of Microsoft offerings all rolled into one. So now the real question is now in front of us: Just what makes iMovie so much fun?

Well to answer the question all iMovie users are going to have to make a painful admission. Fetch a mirror and repeat after me: “I am an iMovie fiend and that’s all right, but my movies suck” After you are done with that painful Stuart Smiley admission you can move on. Sure your movie sucks, it probably doesn’t suck as much as the last Star Wars installment, but it’s still less than it could be. And with your movie being less than perfect you have the hook that is iMovie. Every movie you make is riddled with flaws and errors. But none of these flaws or errors is attributable to iMovie. Since you are always trying to get “it” just right and since iMovie is enough program to get Hitchcock jealous you’re always left reaching for more. This is where the joy of iMovie lies, you did it, it was cool, but you KNOW you can do better.

That, of course, is why I love iMovie. Simple on the surface but with so many intricacies you can always improve. The same stuff keeps amateur golfers back at the links, keeps amateur hack writers submitting articles to MyMac.com and keeps every serious painter painting. Once you use iMovie you’ll stop using it only when you hit the proverbial wall. I doubt my talents will ever outstrip iMovie, and if they do Final Cut is only a thousand bucks away. Until then I’ll be looking for ways to stream iMovie directly into a vein.


Chris Seibold

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