The blog Petula Clark: Driven By Emotion is suddenly available only by invitation. I don’t know if this is intentional or accidental. When it was open there was no contact information, so if the blogger sees this, and you intend to keep the blog restricted, please contact me at dograt@dograt.com. Thanks.
Author: DOuG pRATt
No Buddy From Netflix
On a whim I checked the free Video On Demand offerings on FiOS TV, and spotted a movie with the description “Norwegian comedy” so, what the heck, I pressed OK. The movie is a serio-comic romance from 2003, called Buddy. Carol and I really enjoyed it.
Netflix has both the DVD and the option to play Buddy online, but sitting together in front of the computer isn’t an option, and getting video from the computer to the TV is an annoying and unreliable process. Fortunately, getting TV to the computer is much easier, so here’s a 3-minute scene from Buddy, as played on FiOS TV V-O-D.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/Buddy.flv 400 300]
Watching Plasma
Look what arrived today from my dad for my birthday, which is coming up soon. A very cool plasma globe! Eric says he’s always wanted to have one of these, so we’re going to share it. It responds to touch and, when the audio switch is set, sound. Thanks, Dad!
His Story Will Never End
Who did this song? Maybe you’ve heard of it, but never heard it. If you’re drawing a blank, catch the reference to a certain city and listen carefully to the voice.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/SEP07/Freddie.mp3]Pratt Porch Project – Day 14
The insulation is in and the blue board is going up.
Click to enlarge
Bernard Herrmann Theremin
Well, let’s see. I mentioned Theremins a couple of posts back, had a post about film composer Bernard Herrmann some months back, and I recently made reference to the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still, for which Herrmann wrote the score with lots of Theremin sounds.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/EarthStoodStill.flv 400 300]
This sequence from The Day The Earth Stood Still came from a 20-year-old LaserDisc played on an equally old Pioneer LD-838, as did the Spellbound clip. Even in this reduced and compressed format I think the virtues of LD compared to VHS are apparent.