© Copyright 2010 by Entropy Enigneering I was a contributing editor for Camcorder Magazine for many, many years. I’d have to go check the records, but it was something like a dozen years and more than 130 columns. When I first started writing for Camcorder Magazine, it was a bi-yearly magazine that primarily focused on Camcorders.  At the time, I was producing Video Titler™ for the PC. This program predated the Amiga, as it was originally released on a PC mostly compatible called the Mindset PC before being reworked to run on regular PCs. One day I got a call from someone at Camcorder asking me to advertise.  At that time, Camcorder didn’t have many computer based columns, and the ones that they did tended to cover Amiga topics. I pointed this out in my usual subtle way to the ad exec, and a few minutes later I was on the phone to the editor. He said that his staff simply wasn’t familiar with PC based video, so how would I like to write about it. That seemed like a decent enough idea. I figured that in a couple of columns I could both set the record straight about PC video and show that buying an Amiga wasn’t necessarily the path to high quality video. I didn’t expect the hate mail. Apparently, what I was saying was quite blasphemous. One didn’t dare say that there was anything better than an Amiga in those days, much less at a lower price. My first column generated quite a bit of controversy and boosted magazine sales. Not that there was truly anything controversial. The PC had better video cards, and had my software.  I had people telling me that I was lying about the cost and features of PC stuff, which was a good trick since the PC people advertised with prices in that issue. Fortunately, my editor didn’t feel the need to respond to every piece of hate mail. Especially the ones written in crayon. After my first couple of columns came out, my editor asked if I would like to keep going. I figured that if nothing else, I should do it to keep the magazine honest. Without me, they might have reverted to their older Amiga ways. Shortly after I started writing my column, which basically became Desktop Video on the PC, Camcorder Magazine became Camcorder and Computer Video and even became a monthly magazine. At least one of the other video magazines was paying attention to what I was doing and finally started putting out a column eerily similar to mine. That was particularly interesting as the editor of the other magazine was an Amiga fanatic and really didn’t want to hear that there were PCs. Even to the point of claiming that he didn’t know of any programs for them. A fascinating comment since I had the back cover of that magazine with Video Titler for a few months. I guess that he didn’t actually read the magazine. My columns typically had two parts. The first third was usually an introduction to the month’s topic written in a light-hearted fashion. I tried to write it in such a way that anyone could understand the concept, even if they had no experience with it. The next two thirds got down to the nitty gritty and product reviews.  For the most part, I had the freedom to review what I wanted, so I had the luxury of only writing about products that were worth owning. In other words, I didn’t have to resort to slamming products I didn’t like, I could ignore them.  I wrote for Camcorder and Computer Video up to about 2004, at which point life got in the way of writing. My son was diagnosed with Autism. While dealing with what we were told was an “incurable condition”, it became impossible to continue writing in any kind of upbeat manner. I tried for a couple more columns, but the words just weren’t flowing and I had to stop. After a dozen years of writing for the magazine, it might have been nice to get a postcard asking how things were… Anyway, if you had the slightest bit of curiosity about where your absolutely most favoritest writer had gone, now you know. But the story isn’t quite over yet. I did amass a bit of experience in video and film work over the years and it’s time to put it to good use. Autism isn’t exactly untreatable like was thought by most of the medical community trained in the dark ages of the 20^th century. However, getting the word out that things can be done is difficult. If only there was a way to use mass media to help spread the word. Something like a movie maybe….