I grew up in Pennsylvania when the Blue Laws were enforced. It means almost all businesses were closed on Sundays and we had to go the (New) Jersey to buy anything of any substance. I think the Blue Laws were related to Pennsylvania being on the fringe (or buckle) of the Bible Belt.

Times have changed, and today, the supermarkets are open on Easter Sunday. A short clip honoring those are have to take time away from their families to work on the holiday. The tune, appropriately, is “The Fruit of her Labor” by The Flavor Foundation.

This is the first set of clips shot with my Archos Gmini.I used Eyespot to create the mix.

Yogi says, “When you reach a fork in the road, take it.” I am trying to figure out what that means to my creative life regarding videoblogging.

Through a series of family/personal and health issues, my videoblogging has trailed off somewhat over the past few weeks. I had to return a wonderful JVC Everio loaner and a promised loaner of a high-end camcorder has yet to materialize. My current video tools are my Sanyo first generation hybrid and a slick little camcorder from Archos that also shoots in MPEG-4 but has no zoom or manual controls. So, all at once, I have lost my muse and my better tools of the trade.

I have taken way too many baseball videos. Baseball is on hiatus until the 2006 All Star Game in Pittsburgh. Also, I have shot way too many videos about dogs. I don’t even have a dog, but I find that curious subjects for videos because they have such distinct personalities. Dogs are on hiatus as a subject unless I come across a canine saving someone’s life or doing something truly worth capturing on video.

So that leaves me in search of the perfect camera and better subject matter. It also leaves me in search of better editing skills. I applaud and am humbled by It’s Jerry Time, a video series nominated for an Emmy ® that is shot in video and animated in Adobe After Effects. Wow. I want to be able to  (to some minor degree) incorporate some of those magical elements in my video.

Speaking of cameras, I dragged my producer to Frys Electronics and had her look at some of my candidates for my next camera. Of course, there’s the Sanyo HD1 ($800) with external mic jack and 10X optical zoom and a cool Panasonic SDR-S100 ($1,100) that shoots MEPG video in a wonderful form factor, but lacks an external mic jack. I am torn and I am cheap.

So, I am at that fork in the road. I will proceed with videoblogging, but am hoping to do more than dogs and ballgames. Will it be a Brightcove page? Maybe. Will it be something totally off the wall with cool animation? Maybe. I am at a fork in the road--it could lead just about anywhere