Author: DOuG pRATt

Embed is Dead

I’ve decided to stop using embedded video and audio.  Everybody moans. Awwwww….

Sorry, but the problem with it is the setup phase, which can be seen in the status bar message, “Connecting to media.”  When there are several of these on the same page, the load time takes too long, especially if the hosting service is busy.  The server is in Phoenix, by the way.

From now on what I’ll do for video is take a screen shot and make it a link to the file.  The videos will appear in their original size, 320×240 pixels, and you’ll have to use your media player to make them bigger.  For audio I’ll try to find a picture to use for the link, but failing that there will instead be a text link.

Colbert Dishes

Stephen Colbert had an intriguing show last night, dedicated to feminism.  And to mark the occasion he had two surprise guests — Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, who were there to promote GreenstoneMedia.net.  But before they could do that, Colbert promptly pushed them over to a kitchen set to do some baking, as seen in the video clip.

I quickly threw together a few pictures, and I apologize for the poor quality.  Fonda is shown in a scene from Barbarella, and Steinem is in the Playboy bunny costume she wore while researching an article she wrote before joining the staff of the previously mentioned HELP! magazine, which is where the other inserted picture came from.

Click here

Political Science 101

I was, for some years, a big fan of Randy Newman.  My interest started with hearing his then-new album Sail Away in high school.  My favorite song from the record was Political Science.  I loved it so much I used the closing lyric as my high school yearbook quote.  If you click here you can listen to the song, as taken from the original piece of plastic that I listened to a thousand times, so many years ago.  Spring of my senior year in high school I was ecstatic when it was announced that Newman would be appearing at Symphony Hall in Boston.  I took a train into the city and bought tickets at the box office for myself and my girlfriend, and it was a very memorable show.

This week, Newman will be appearing at Carnegie Hall.  Last night, Newman appeared on The Colbert Report to promote the concert.  Washington politics being what they presently are, I think Political Science is more timely than it was 34 years ago.  Here’s the video of Newman performing the song.

Player problem?  Click here.

Riddles in the Dark

Illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/Hobbit.mp3]

A couple of days ago The Boston Globe had an article about a new book that Christopher Tolkien has assembled, called Children of Húrin.  It’s based on fragmentary writings by his father, J.R.R. Tolkien.  If the link above doesn’t work, you can read the article by clicking here.

I have an LP that is unquestionably purely J.R.R. Tolkien.  His narration of “Riddles in the Dark,” from The Hobbit.  The recording provided here is from August, 1952 and it’s half an hour long.  It begins with the introduction of Gollum, and it ends with Gollum’s cursing of Bilbo (“Thief!”).