Author: DOuG pRATt

Happy birthday, Elvis?

August 16, 1977. Elvis Presley is born?

http://youtu.be/i57OqxAJlK8

At this link is Michele Bachmann’s other misstatement, about the battles of Lexington and Concord being in New Hampshire. Both of these examples can be brushed off as inconsequential, but in my experience people who are chronically careless about details are usually also weak on the fundamentals. In Bachmann’s case there’s the further issue that her positions on issues are filtered through her religious views. For example, the acceptance of evolution isn’t as controversial between scientists as Bachmann claimed here.

It’s valid to debate whether or not it was right to drop atomic bombs on Japan, but it’s not valid to argue whether or not nuclear fission works. By way of analogy, Bachmann and many in the Tea Party would have us think that nuclear fission isn’t a certainty.

But none of this matters, because I bet Bachmann won’t be nominated, let alone win the White House. Remember what happened to Ted Haggard? I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens to Marcus Bachmann. At some point an old rendezvous buddy will show up and Bachmann won’t have plausible deniability. Being gay isn’t the issue. It’s the hypocrisy, stupid.

P.S. I forgot Michele’s other celebrity gaffe — the one about John Wayne.

When this old roof starts gettin’ me down…

A while ago I found a leak in the flashing around the chimney, and it’s gotten worse, so there’s no putting off finding a roofer to fix it. In the meantime, I’ve come up with this temporary workaround that reminds me of the funky idea I had when there was a leak in the basement a year ago last spring.

CBS Radio blocks online streams

CBS Radio has started selectively blocking online access to its stations. Radio.com on a browser works, but I use a Logitech Squeezebox Radio in my bedroom. This is what I hear when I try to listen to WBZ-Boston.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Aug/CBS_radio.mp3|titles=CBS Radio blocking stations]

Tunein.com now redirects to Radio.com, which doesn’t work with a Roku media player. I don’t know or care who CBS Radio is making happy by doing this, but it’s not me, and I have no intention of returning to AM radio to hear WBZ in the house.

Follow-up: There’s a workaround. I used the URL that’s been working in the Chumby.

Supersize Me meets The King of Kong

I’m watching Morgan Spurlock’s series, 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die, on Keith Olbermann’s new home, the Current TV cable network. I hope one of those documentaries is Spurlock’s own Supersize Me. Spurlock is a great admirer of a documentary I love, The King of Kong, and for the series Morgan interviewed Billy Mitchell, the bad guy in Kong.

Rescue the Hitchcock 9

My buddy D.F. Rogers’ favorite directors are Frank Capra and John Ford. I too love their classic movies, but my top two director picks are Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell.

Recently it was announced that a few reels of a long-lost early work by Hitchcock were found, from a silent movie called The White Shadow. Here’s a nice mini-documentary surveying Hitch’s career.


And now there’s another find from the silent film era. A cache of sheet music has been uncovered, with cues for a pianist to play for every sort of scene.

As mentioned in the video, the British Film Institute has a project to restore nine Hitchcock silent films. The BFI is preparing the films for a showing with the London Olympics next year.

This post is, in part, my roundabout way to say how dismayed I am by the violence that erupted in England this week. I’m glad the situation seems to have calmed down, especially because by now Prudence Bury has arrived in London for an upcoming reunion at the Royal Ballet School.