Sentinel.com blog

At the Sentinel, we’re doing more with video almost every day.
Two of our ongoing projects are up and running and gaining momentum. Assistant Sports Editor Jim Seimas and reporter Andrew Matheson have been previewing and reviewing each weekend’s football games.
I have to say, I’m not the biggest fan of video of reporters in a room talking about actual action. But Seimas and Matheson, with help from designer/photographer/video editor Tony Solis have taken this to an art form. Best production values ever for the genre! Have a look:

We’ve also added artist Kirby Scudder as a regular columnist to the Sentinel’s weekly Guide. Along with his column, he also produces a video profile every week of a Santa Cruz artist. We want to help Kirby with his mission of spreading the word about the arts community in Santa Cruz, one of the best in the country. Have a look at the playlist.

One other video note: Photographer Kevin Johnson (with reporter J.M. Brown) has done some really nice work on putting together four videos that help sort through what’s happening with the desalination project in Santa Cruz. We launch that project tomorrow.

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Here are the 10 most popular stories or pages from the Sentinel website for Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011

1. Authorities say man who killed himself at Capitola City Hall was from Redwood Estates
2. Wrong-way driver arrested after leading police on chase on Highway 17
3. People: New book says Palin used cocaine, bedded basketball star Glen Rice
4. Santa Cruz police officer injured during traffic stop
5. Colo. cat, missing 5 years, is found on NYC street
6. Judge sentences Santa Cruz’s Adam Hunt to 5 years in prison in Sorokin robbery case
7. Santa Cruz County’s Most Wanted: Sept. 15, 2011: Gomez, Phillips, Grayson, Mifflin, Mac
8. Cops and Courts: Sept. 14, 2011
9. Feds tightlipped on county drug arrests
10. UC Santa Cruz salary database: 2009-10

Link of the Day: Get your Friday football scores from the Sentinel reporters from Twitter.

Here are the 10 most-viewed stories or pages from Monday, Sept. 13, 2011:

1. Deputies: Two arrested in Live Oak after accosting man walking with family
2. Autopsy results show slain Santa Cruz attorney Celestial Cassman died of asphyxiation
3. Teen girl robbed at gunpoint in Soquel
4. Cops and Courts: Sept. 12, 2011: Two arrested after man is accosted
5. Deputies: Two arrested in Live Oak after accosting man walking with family
6. Capitola bank robbed by man claiming to have a bomb
7. Most Wanted suspects surrender in Santa Cruz
8. Database: Santa Cruz County pension obligations, 2011
9. Retired accountant who was in south tower on 9/11: ‘The buildings shook like an earthquake’
10. Orin Martin, Santa Cruz County Stories

Link of the Day: We’re adding football highlight video to this YouTube playlist throughout the season. Assistant Sports Editor Jim Seimas has been great about gathering several clips and uploading them from each game he covers. You’ll see more of this as smart phones get better, video editing tools get easier and we think more about using all available tools for storytelling.

Here are the 10 most-viewed stories and pages on the Sentinel website for Labor Day weekend, 2011:

1. Attempted murder suspect nabbed after hitting deer in Aptos
2. Drunken drivers collide in Aptos
3. Cops and Courts: Sept. 3, 2011: Police seeking two men after reported robbery
4. Local food advocates to protest in Santa Cruz a crackdown on small dairy farms
5. Gangs battle for Half Moon Bay
6. Southern California surfer declared dead as waves pound state’s coastline
7. Cops and Courts: Sept. 2, 2011
8. Santa Cruz Sentinel Photo Contest : 2011 In the Aloha Spirit
9. Watsonville air show participant’s plane has a surprising history
10. Santa Cruz Sentinel Photo Contest : 2011 A Begonia Tradition

Link of the day: Check out the Sentinel’s football preview section. And see the Sentinel’s coverage of the first week of the season at the Football Page.

Here is the list of top 10 most viewed stories and pages from the Sentinel website on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011:

1. Santa Cruz County’s Most Wanted: Aug. 18, 2011: Cabrera, Wilcox, Jay, Eaton, Sanchez
2. Close encounters of the baleen kind: Kayakers greeted by humpback
3. Driver crashes into photography shop on Mission Street in Santa Cruz
4. Bridget explains it all: 17-year-old playwright makes her mark on Santa Cruz
5. Real Estate transactions database
6. Headstones defaced in Santa Cruz cemetery
7. Reader Poll: Who will be the most exciting varsity football player to watch in Santa Cruz
8. Cops and Courts: Aug. 18, 2011: Stabbing victim recovering
9. ‘Whistleblower’ focuses on horrors of sex trafficking
10. Phone scam targets Aptos seniors

Link of the day:

We’re spending some of the day adding hundreds of photos from the 2010 high school football season here:

Great for browsing, prints, sharing and generally getting fired up for football season in Santa Cruz County.

It’s Friday night, and we know we’re a little early, but we’re in training for Santa Cruz County high school football season.

Longtime Sentinel sports reporter Jim Seimas is busy attending practices and talking to coaches.

Today, the online team dove deep into Seimas’ statistical archive.

Seimas has been keeping meticulous records and they’ve been used in a wide variety of ways over the years, but the online team thinks these stats need to be liberated.

So they’re on the way to a Sentinel.com sports page near you. Here’s a sample of what we’ve got in mind:

These aren’t official, haven’t been double-checked and will be updated over time (let us know if you see glitches), but we’ve got a ton of information to share.

When the season begins, the sports department plans to have live scoring updates, photos, slide shows, occasional video and all the stats and stories. We also plan to open a season-long scoreboard. Fans, coaches, team managers and bench-warmers are welcome to text updates through twitter (#sccfb) – or to log on to the site and share photos, observations, good-natured taunting, encouragement and occasional debate.