A Few More Mac Keystrokes for Ya

Here’s a list of some keystroke options, as a follow-up to the post from the book The Mac Is Not a Typewriter.

Option [    “

Shift Option [    ”

Option ]    ‘

Shift Option ]    ’

Option 8  •

Shift Option 8  °

Option g  ©

Option 2  ™

Option r  ®

Option $/4  ¢

Option 1 ¡

Option Shift ?   ¿

To accent an e:

Key Option e

Then e

é

To add the tilde:

Key Option n

Then n

ñ

To add the schwa:

Key Option i

Then letter

â

I’ve been looking for some of these occasionally needed tools, so I was glad to have found this short list. I know I can search online and find the answers, but since I came across the book, I chose to do a bit of blogging about it before I moved it off my shelf and out the door.

The Mac Is Not a Typewriter, Robin Williams, Rules 1, 2, 3, and 4

These notes are from the little book The Mac Is Not a Typewriter.

Rule 1
One space between sentences. APA style still argues this, and some professors don’t get it. It’s not just a silly rule that those computer geeks have set up to annoy us. It has to do with proportional spacing v monospacing. Using two spaces creates a disturbing gap.

Examples:   '   "   versus  ‘ ’ and   “  ”  
In Times:
Examples:   '   "   versus  ‘ ’ and   “  ”

Rule 2
How to use quotation marks. When I write in this blog window, it produces these: options:  '  and  "

for opening quotation marks: "opening

for closing quotations marks: closing"

for single opening quotation marks: 'single opening

for single closing quotation marks: single closing'

Working with documents, my computer is set for smart quotes, but I never knew how to get around it on the blog, until today.

Use Option [    for opening quotation marks: “opening
In Times:
“opening

Use Option Shift [     for closing quotations marks: closing”
In Times:
closing”

Use Option ]     for single opening quotation marks: ‘single opening
In Times: 
‘single opening

Use Option Shift ]     for single closing quotation marks: single closing’
In Times:
single closing’



Rule 3
Now you should have no excuse (at least on a Mac) for using the opening single quote for the apostrophe. Usually it is seen like this: Rock ‘n’ Roll (in Times: Rock ‘n’ Roll), because the computer doesn’t know you mean to use two apostrophes. But you can, like this: Rock ’n’ Roll, although most people might just write Rock n Roll. But it’s just an example.

Our church used to use a theme of: Reach ’em and teach ’em, then teach ’em to reach ’em.
In Times:
Reach ’em and teach ’em, then teach ’em to reach ’em.

I used to think this could be corrected only by first typing this pair:  ‘’ and then deleting the first one. Now I am happy to know that the closing bracket used with Option or Option Shift creates the correct one for single quotes and apostrophes, and the opening bracket used with Option or Option Shift creates the “smart quotes” for the regular quotation marks.

Rule 4
Hyphens are not equal to dashes. And there en dashes and em dashes. I used an em dash in the first paragraph. I thought I had tried this previously on the blogger and that it had failed. You can look up rules about en dashes and em dashes, but I will list a few examples.

The hyphen is that Hyphen key on the top right of the keyboard, and looks like this: -

The en dash is made using Option Hyphen, and looks like this: –

The em dash is made using Option Shift Hyphen, and looks like this: —

Hyphen usage

high-class restaurant

blue-green

En Dash usage

pp. 16–23

2:00–4:00

Romans 12:1–3

Em Dash usage

Most importantly—in my opinion—it is used for interruptions in a sentence--where most people use 2 hyphens, as I just did.

The book warns that fonts that are name for cities—Geneva, New York for example—sometimes have the key patterns switched.

Fun stuff!

Chris Tomlin, Glory in the Highest

The final Christmas album for review is Glory in the Highest, by Chris Tomlin. I bought this album yesterday because it was on sale for $5. Chris Tomlin is a popular writer of worship songs, so I thought, Sure, this should be a good album.

Chris and companions recorded this performance with an audience—a smaller one it seems, a congregation, perhaps. You hear Chris as the lead on most songs, with others singing along in the background. Audrey Assad, Christy Nockels, and Matt Redman are featured on three other songs. Chris’s four original songs are what give the album something different. He is talented. His “Glory in the Highest” is the most outstanding track, but I would have preferred to hear Chris in a studio without the background voices. It’s not just that it’s background voices; it’s the whole mood that is presented. Maybe the idea was to be warm and cozy, but I found it more of a sleepy, singalong, even save-us-some-money feeling.

Lessons learned: Don’t count on the name. A bargain isn’t always a bargain. I have other albums I would listen to repeatedly.  This isn’t one. Because I would choose to listen to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra album before this one, I have to rate it 3, a notch above Plus One’s album.

9 Bryan Duncan—Christmas Is Jesus
6 Michael W. Smith—Christmas
1 Michael W. Smith—It’s a Wonderful Christmas
4 Trans-Siberian Orchestra—Christmas Eve and Other Stories
7 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas Live
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas
2 Plus One—Christmas
3 Relient K— Let It Snow Baby . . . Let It Reindeer
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas in the Aire
8 Mannheim Steamroller—A Fresh Aire Christmas
3 Chris Tomlin—Glory in the Highest

Mannheim Steamfoller, A Fresh Aire Christmas

A Fresh Aire Christmas is a 1988 album by Mannheim Steamroller. The opening with trumpet heralding leads to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” which is the song that first introduced me to Mannheim Steamroller. “Veni Veni (O Come O Come Emmanuel)” begins in Latin in the style of a Gregorian chant. A keyboard and flute lay a foundation for higher voices and a more familiar choral sound, and the track exits with the Gregorian style. Nice. Next is “The Holly and the Ivy,” with flute, guitar, and strings. “Traditions of Christmas” is beautiful.

The best on the album and one of the best of all Christmas melodies is “Still, Still, Still.” For me, it is one of those close-your-eyes-and-enjoy-the beauty songs. And other equally beautiful versions can be found on YouTube. Sometimes I click through to enjoy several versions, in the same way that I enjoy “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

Less pleasing to my ear are these tracks:

The synthesized-to-acoustic “The Little Drummer Boy” confirms my preference for a more traditional version. A horn version of “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” simply doesn’t work for me.“In Dulci Jubilo,” from their Renaissance styling, reappears on this album, and I liked it better in its place with the Renaissance Christmas feast on their Christmas Live album.“Greensleeves” starts out with flute and guitar and swells to harpsichord (or some similar instrument) and strings to play through the entire melody. The string portion is the most lovely. Though I do I like harpsichord, here it sounds harsh against the strings.“Carol of the Bells,” says MS’s Chip Davis, has only about twenty seconds of music to work with, so he brings in variations of bells and styling—which is doesn’t work for me.“Cantique do Noël” seems drawn out and, by now, repetitive in style.

Two things have occurred to me during this exploration of a few Christmas albums: I should develop a playlist or at least a written list of the songs I enjoy the most. And most certainly I should create a folder or list in iTunes. Those in the first paragraph might be included; those in the second paragraph, probably not.

9 Bryan Duncan—Christmas Is Jesus
6 Michael W. Smith—Christmas
1 Michael W. Smith—It’s a Wonderful Christmas
4 Trans-Siberian Orchestra—Christmas Eve and Other Stories
7 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas Live
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas
2 Plus One—Christmas
3 Relient K— Let It Snow Baby . . . Let It Reindeer
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas in the Aire
8 Mannheim Steamroller—A Fresh Aire Christmas

Relient K, Let It Snow . . . Let It Reindeer

Surprise! Surprise because I’m not the right audience for Relient K’s Let It Snow Baby . . . Let It Reindeer. I borrowed it from my daughter, and I’ve listened to it several times in the past couple of days. The insert identifies band member Matthew Thiessen as the composer of the songs that aren’t familiar to us.

From the top . . .

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a great version of the song. Influences of the Beach Boys are heard. Right from the start, I appreciate the talent. I played this song over and over. The performance of “Sleigh Ride” makes me think of Michael Bublé. Compared to Plus One, the performances by these boys are bold and confident. “Silent Night/Away in a Manger” = pretty.

 In general, I like the songs written Thiessen—perhaps more so the sentiments of his songs. “I Hate Christmas Parties” is pretty song about a break-up. “Boxing Day” tells about the end of the Christmas season. “Merry Christmas, Here’s to Many More” is a well written, well thought out, well done song. Like!  “I Celebrate the Day” and “In Like a Lion (Always Winter),” are not as appealing to me, but knowing that “Lion” was inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe makes it more interesting.

It quite amuses me that I choose to even listen to this “hip” album. The speedy and unusual versions of familiar Christmas songs are no surprise if you have heard other Relient K albums. Yes, I have. Favorites of mine on any of their albums are those that have a more traditional sound. However, since my son first shared Relient K with me six or seven years ago, I have come to appreciate even their “pop punk” or “alternative rock” sound. Their version of “12 Days of Christmas” is befitting for Relient K—with a variety of sounds, including soprano voices, a bit of screaming, and good harmonies.

I am more likely to bring out Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories (so I can hear “Ornament” again) than I would be to listen again to this album, which means it has to rate below TSO’s album. I would choose to download just two favorite tracks from RK’s album: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Sleigh Ride.”

9 Bryan Duncan—Christmas Is Jesus
6 Michael W. Smith—Christmas
1 Michael W. Smith—It’s a Wonderful Christmas
4 Trans-Siberian Orchestra—Christmas Eve and Other Stories
7 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas Live
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas
2 Plus One—Christmas
8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas in the Aire
3 Relient K— Let It Snow Baby . . . Let It Reindeer

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas to you all!

I hope you know the Jesus of Christmas.

  

Jesus of Christmas
 

Mannheim Steamroller, Christmas in the Aire

Another Mannheim Steamroller for today: Christmas in the Aire. This one starts out with an identifiable MS-type production of “Joy to the World.” Using my criterion of “pretty,” it is not. Interesting. Okay, yes. But it is followed by  a “pretty,” with “Joseph Dear Oh Joseph Mine.” Why have I heard this melody but never known the title? Google finds that an alternate title is “Song of the Crib.” Pretty? Yes.

Skipping “Rudolph.”

“Herbei, Oh Ihr Glaubigen” is “O Come All Ye Faithful,” sung by a children’s choir, with the addition of bells. The choir, in case you want to Google, it is the Bielefelder Kinderchor. “Pat a Pan” is always a winner. For “O’ Little Town of Bethlehem,” Chip Davis explains that he harmonized the song as his father, an arranger and composer, would have done it. This is indeed a unique rendition of the song. Very—yes—pretty!

Next up: “Angels We Have Heard on High” is the studio version of a song included on Christmas Live. This comes across to me as an experimental version. “Gagliarda,” lovely as usual, and played by what Chip calls the Renaissance Ensemble Le Doo Dah Band. Next, one I do not tire of, “Los Peces en el Rio.” Even today, I went YouTubing to enjoy some versions with voice. “Christmas Lullaby” comes around again on this album, a pretty song!

“Kling, Glockchen,” sung by a boys choir is “Ring, Little Bell.” The album ends with a slowed and unusual—and pretty—version of “Jingle Bells” that fits Chip’s cozy-around-the fire-with-snowflakes-in the aire mood.

I am tempted to rate this a 9, but it is not as pleasing to me as Bryan Duncan’s Christmas Is Jesus.

9 Bryan Duncan—Christmas Is Jesus

6 Michael W. Smith—Christmas

1 Michael W. Smith—It’s a Wonderful Christmas

4 Trans-Siberian Orchestra—Christmas Eve and Other Stories

7 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas Live

8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas
2 Plus One—Christmas

8 Mannheim Steamroller—Christmas in the Aire