Author: DOuG pRATt

Wacky Wallowheen!

Halloween 2009

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. We had a good crowd show up, yet we have more leftover candy than ever, because one of our neighbors dropped some off so we could cover for them while they went to a party. There’s plenty for me to leave in the break room at work on Monday!

Here is what I posted last Halloween ,and the year before that, and three years ago. This year I added the video projector to the decorations, in rear projection mode with an old sheet hung from the garage door for a screen. I played the 1953 movie “War of the Worlds,” and the original “King Kong .” It was very windy tonight! On the video you can hear the wind, and some kids up the street.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/OCT/WarOfWorlds.flv 512 384]

I was pleased that ABC -TV ran “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” twice this week. Being the fan that I am — Great Pumpkin is my favorite “Peanuts” cartoon — I watched it both times, and the commercials too. There was a loud hum in the soundtrack towards the end that I don’t recall ever hearing before. And I had to think of the promo in an ironic way, because I refuse to accept it as a sincere attempt at updating Charlie Brown!

[MEDIA=70]

Who blinked

Whether it’s called Video on Demand, IPTV, streaming video, or whatever, once you’ve seen it you know it’s eventually going to take over television. At our house we take Netflix Watch Instantly for granted, on Eric’s Xbox 360 that’s hooked up to the video projector via component video, and on the Roku HD player that’s in regular composite SD video on my beloved Sony 32XBR100.

Last summer I wrote about a Doctor Who episode called “Love and Monsters” (the YouTube video I’d embedded was pulled). Another memorable installment, one of the most enjoyable hours of TV I have ever watched, is called “Blink”.

Recently, the whole family watched “Blink” on the Xbox 360. It wasn’t in HD, but it wasn’t supposed to be. The quality of the highly compressed widescreen picture was, to borrow a line from The Doctor, a bit “wibbly wobbly,” but it was serviceable.

Funny thing, though, because last night, on a lark I put the Roku player on the projector with an HDMI cable. “Blink” was in HD! There was no doubt about it.

This left me wondering if there’s a setting that needs changing on the Xbox 360’s Netflix software, or if Netflix upgraded the Doctor Who files without adding an HD logo. I’ll see tonight, when I have Eric play a bit of “Blink” on the Xbox again.

This video clip has a few minutes of “Blink” in HD on the Roku player and taken with the Canon digital camera sitting on top of the projector. I add to the suspense of the scene by sticking my fingers into the left of the picture at 1:45, so you can get an idea of the image size.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/OCT/WhoBlink.flv 512 384]

While I was away…

I should take more time off from the blog. October has been the third busiest month this year for hits!

While I was away, to my utter amazement, lo and behold, those kooky ladies from Belgium, K3, finally went to #1 on the blog hit list! I suppose that must be due to the interest in the new girl, who was introduced at a live show in Holland a few weeks ago. Her name is Josje, which begs the question, how can they still call the group K3?

http://youtu.be/Rr96GO8ncvg

(BTW… Karen Damen is pregnant.)

Paper cutback

On June 1 the Boston Globe raised its weekly rate for home delivery by 50%, to $12.25. That’s over $600/year. With my home delivery subscription up for renewal, I decided to cut back to the Thursday-Sunday plan, at the same $8/week rate I had been paying for a full seven days.

A while ago I installed some software, run on Adobe Air, that downloads the Globe and saves a week’s worth on the hard drive. The Globe is available online, of course, but on my netbook I like using the reader, despite the fact that not all of the paper’s contents are included (adding the comics would be nice). Navigation is easy, the layout is cleaner than on the Web pages, and the ads are much fewer and less obtrusive.

The reader automatically adjusts for the screen resolution. So, for example, on the netbook’s 1024×600 display there aren’t as many photographs embedded in the stories as on my desktop’s 1280×1024 monitor. This is a screen shot of how the player looks on the 9″ netbook screen. The story is, ironically, about the most recent drop in circulation for the two Boston papers.

Globe Reader

A Hitch in time

This video clip is from an installment of “Alfred Hitchock Presents.” Take note of the character actor playing the bartender. He looks like he could be James Gandolfini’s father.

[MEDIA=71]

Four years after his appearance on Hitch, the actor playing Uncle Leo would be heard on TV again, and his voice has been ever-present ever since; even today, 32 years after his death. Listen carefully to the audio. He’s doing another character here, but he played somebody you’ve heard a thousand times.