Need responsive blocks to display latest/featured/popular articles/blogs/photos/videos/events

I need a programmer to  create some blocks that will work in our current responsive template that show off the latest, featured, and popular content.

Here is a mockup of the desired result:

The block must grab an image from the article/blog/photo/video/event and add an overlay showing the title and snippet.  The image would link to the article/blog/photo/video/event.  It would be desirable to be able to select whether the block shows the first, second, third item so several blocks could show the top article, 2nd top article, 3rd top article, etc.

The same functionality would also be added to an image slider presently in the splash area of the homepage.