Do You Like Luxury SNL Jaguar Skit

I was watching some old episodes of Saturday Night Live on Netflix when I came across this sketch.  It's bizarre and irreverent, and as an avid fan and owner of my very own Jaguar, I was tickled pink.  Admittedly, I'm quick to point out my car even when I notice it in the background of some obscure show on the BBC.  This was better. 

New Blogger Dynamic Views

Blogger, along with Google, has just recently introduced 5 new dynamic views that make sharing and viewing content through Blogger even more enjoyable!  Imagine being able to fully visualize your blogs history, instantly scroll through a complete timeline of your posts, or view interactive collages that allow you to explore the posts you want to read right there and then.  Now it's possible, and Blogger's dynamic views do all the work.

These new views are like more elaborate RSS feed pages, where it just takes the regular content that you've already posted on your blog and then creates these interactive and alternative ways to see and share it.  The dynamic views refresh and update as you post to your blog, and even better, the pages load content as you scroll - this means you don't have to search through pages of posts to view your entire blog history. For the first time you can get a visual representation of what all of your posts look like (if you've been using images in them that is).

The new views are Flipcard, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot, and Timeslide.  You can see my blog, Editing Luke in each of the new Blogger dynamic views below.

Here I've used the Flipcard dynamic view to chronicle my posts by the month they debuted.

This view displays all of your blog posts as thumbnail boxes.  You can also clearly view the thumbnails based on their date, label, or author. Click here to view this page.

This view generates a random collage of your posts in a loose chronological order.  This is perhaps my favorite view as it really emphasizes the variety of content, especially for very visual blogs. Click here to view this page.

This view lists all of your posts along the left side of the screen, making it easier to scroll and instantly interact with all of your content.  Click here to view this page.

This view takes all of the images from your blog posts and puts them in a chronological photo album.  Like all dynamic views, just clicking on the image will open up the full blog post.  Click here to view this page.

This view creates columns that showcase select posts as you scroll through your blogs history.  This is a great example of how the new views help to highlight your content and explore it in new ways.  Click here to view this page.

Sony DCR-TRV110 Video Camera

When I turned 16 I had been working for a little less than a year, but had managed to save enough money to purchase a new camera. I suppose most kids my age were saving for a car, but my priorities were clear.

I was hired to shoot a seminar in the summer of 2000 and was asked to help select a camera to buy for the shoot. After it was complete, I was asked if I wanted to purchase the camera and I agreed - shelling out around $1200 for it (a slight discount, but still a big chunk of change for me at the time).

What made the camera worth emptying my bank account for, was that it was digital. This was the beginning of editing on the computer, higher resolution and most importantly, more options. Having a digital camera and a decent family computer meant that for the first time I could add music, titles, and transitions to my work. I could actually edit with some accuracy! It's something that now seems so easy, but at the time it was a rush - and truthfully, my evolution in using the computer was slow going.

Through most of high school and into my first few years of university this was my camera of choice. I opted to use it on my productions in early film school courses because it seemed just as good as what they'd let us use. The digital quality of this camera was at the top of the spectrum for what was available in the consumer market at the time, and to be honest, it's still a great little camera!

I've made a lot of videos with this Sony - including Keys to Existence which has screened at several international festivals and venues. The DCR-TRV110 proved to be versatile enough to allow me to experiment and learn a lot of the basics of media production when I was really hungry to learn.  For more just check My Videography for projects between 2000-2005.

In late 2005 I knew it was time for an upgrade mainly because of how much I was using MiniDV in my production classes. Without a doubt, I got my money's worth from this camera though. These days, my D8 is used mainly to access old footage, but on occasion I've still used it for home video shooting. Given my personal history, this is one camera I'll never get rid of.