High above Rapid City, South Dakota is Dinosaur Park, a small patch of land atop a hill in the centre of town that provides some impressive views of the surrounding area. These quirky roadside attractions seemed right at home in the Black Hills, and have actually been there since 1936.
We quickly discovered on our road trip in 2007 that there was no shortage of random attractions to explore in the area that had popped up as a result of Mount Rushmore. From the Cosmos Mystery Area to the Berlin Wall, there were lots of surprises. These campy dinosaurs were just one more reason to love the Black Hills.
It appears that time travel is possible after all! It's not as instantaneous as Doc would've hoped, but here we are five years into the future from when the first episode of Buick to the Future debuted on a brand new little blog called Editing Luke. What a long way we've come. The Buick is gone, film school and Regina are behind me, and this small project (surprisingly) proved to be just enough to kick start a personal website that hasn't faded out.
Below I've posted a few highlights from what became a four episode series in 2007 and 2008. Also, check out the original trilogy post and conclusion post for the stories behind the campiest, most kitschy short films I've ever made. Word is still out on whether Doc and Marty survived after episode four.
I was recently contacted by a member of the design team at Online Schools about sharing a new infographic they had created about student debt. I can certainly relate to the frustration of trying to keep your head above water, as I did have a loan for several years of film school and ended up back at my parent's place afterwards trying to pay it down. I consider myself fortunate in this situation, as it would have been much worse if I wouldn't have had my folks there while I was trying to get started. I did write about some of this while I was going through it in 2009.
I've since made a lot of progress in paying off one of my loans completely, getting out of the basement, and gaining traction with my career. It took a lot of work just to get to this point though, and while I'm fortunate that I'm able to work in positions focused on video and photography like I went to school for, money and growth opportunities are still very real concerns. The numbers stated in this infographic are surprising, but the reality unfortunately is not.
