Testing 1,2,3

What comes around goes around.

Of something like that.

I'm back on blogger, writing a "test" post for a new blog, just like back in 2002. Why? Well, because the Xanga service, on which I've blogged as a "lifetime" subscriber for nearly a decade, is either switching to a paid subscriber service or going out of business altogether.

My Hostway subscription is up in two months. I can't use my old Dreamweaver program, so the site stays forever frozen in time at 2010.

What better time to attempt to create a website with an embedded blog.

And in HTML5 too.

I'm experimenting with embedding the blogger blog into a website I've designed in one weekend, at wix.

Cloudscaping Too: A MikeVideo Internet Movie

I spend the weekend creating my first Internet Movie in six months! "Cloudscaping Too" a "sequel" to the 2008 internet movie "Cloudscaping". In up to full 1080p HD, 4min. 30sec. long.

I planned this particular video last summer and first announced my intent to make the vid in August 2012. The title card above was presented in a blogpost on Oct. 12, 2012. As with the first 'Cloudscaping' video, this one is simply 'a series of images of clouds, set to music.' The music I used is an electronic piece titled "Moon in the Water" by Dent, who blogged on Xanga as @relic47. I don't think he blogs here anymore. I supply a link to his website in the video credits.

I always compare finishing a MikeVideo to giving birth. These little movies are my babies, and this one joins almost 100 others which I display on my YouTube channel. Most of the images were taken between 2010 and 2013. Preliminary editing began before my ongoing computer troubles. The last problem seems to have been fixed, so editing was pretty much nonstop from Friday evening until last night, when I finally hit the "render" button on my Sony Vegas video editing program.
There are three "moon segments" included in this video. The footage at the end, with wispy clouds hovering over the moonscape, was shot with the camera mounted on a tripod. The footage under the credit sequence was shot handheld and zoomed, and the present video camera I use does not have image stabilization. So I spent a good deal of time, almost adjusting the image frame by frame to a grid, in order to eliminate the shake. It's still there, but not as pronounced as it came out of the camera. It took a good six hours time to "edit" these few seconds of video under the credit sequence.
Enjoy.

This is the first attempt at embedding a blog in my website by duplicating the Xanga entries as Blogger blogs. (Wix doesn't support Wordpress or have it's own blog module right now) I'm inputting the HTML code, but am noticing I have to tweak the entries somewhat.

Posted: July 15, 2013 6:12 AM Updated: July 20, 2013 9:50 AM

Remembering Xanga: Part 10: Profile Pic Gallery

A Gallery of My Xanga Profile Pictures. 2004-2013

(An updated version of an entry originally posted on 6/6/08.) Some Xangans have had the same profile pic since they joined. Some update regularly. I think perhaps I'm the only Xangan who created a "gallery" of "rotating" profile pictures in the weeks right after I joined the service, with the express purpose of using different pix for different themed posts.
Invariably someone will notice one of the many different profile pics I might insert into a new entry and tell me that they "love the new profile". I've created over 75 sometimes quite creative profile pics since I put this blog online on Memorial Day 2004. Originally, the idea was that each entry would have a "themed" profile pic from whatever age I was writing from that viewpoint. For example, if an entry was about my high school days, the profile pic on that entry would be of me in high school. The first profiles had the ubiquitous dreamcatcher as a "frame" into which the photo was inserted. There were three "motifs" in the beginning, which morphed into the themed blog headers, for which the profiles used the same background. The dreamcatcher is sometimes hidden, but it was (usually) always there up until a few years ago. Shortly after I posted the first "gallery" I created the morph which appears in the upper left hand corner of the blog.



 



 



                                            
These images are arranged (mostly) from the most current to the oldest. There were a few I did not include because they were either never used or were similar to another one already here in the "gallery". As I did in 2008 I'd like to challenge anyone reading this to do the same kind of entry on your blog, including profile pics you have either used or created. My profile name: baldmike2004 is just one of the many "dated" versions of my "baldmike" profile name I've used on websites since I first went online back in the late 90s.  (This should be Top Blog, don't ya think?)
Posted: July 10, 2013 8:46 PM