Bigger, Better BlogRat

Lots has been changed. Not just with the blog theme, but with how I capture and edit video. With any luck there won’t be any problems serious enough to force me to go back to the way the blog looked. Let me know what you think. You may, of course, prefer the more claustrophobic format.

One topic I’ve wanted to tackle for a long time is Ayn Rand. Her influence extends from Spider-Man artist and co-creator Steve Ditko to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Here are ten minutes from The Fountainhead, directed by King Vidor.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/TheFountainhead.flv 480 360]

Not Blue Men in Coats

While seeing Blue Man Group perform in Boston last week, I was reminded of a video I saw a few years back, with a couple of very funny Brits who call themselves Men in Coats. You will like this, I promise! I particularly enjoy the parody of 70’s “actionless” TV shows, like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Incredible Hulk. And I’m sure it’s just coincidence, but both Blue Man Group and Men in Coats use a song by The Sex Pistols in their act.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/MenInCoats.flv 400 300]

Searching comments

There’s an add-on feature for WordPress that I’ve played with a few times that extends searching to include comments. But it has a couple of quirks. It adds an index that’s seen as an error by the database, and it prevents me from searching posts when I’m in the editor. Anyway, it’s enabled right now, so if you give it a try you’ll probably see it brings up posts that don’t appear to have the thing you were looking for. You’ll undoubtedly find it in the comments.

Gene Colan wins Sparky Award

The Sparky Award, given by the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, is named after Charles M. Schulz. This year the Sparky Award has been given to none other than Gene Colan. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, Gene is seriously ill, but he’s been feeling well enough for a trip to California. After Gene’s been back home for a few days maybe I’ll give him and Adrienne a call to offer my congratulations.

One of the first Web pages I ever composed, back in 2002, was about Gene Colan. You’ll find it at this link.

Beatles song titles hidden in ‘Emma’

Last summer I did a post on the anime called Emma. The second season is now out on DVD, and we’re watching it. Tonight we spotted a moment in a show where a ledger is being shown, but then we realized that instead of being an accounting of financial transactions, it’s a bunch of Beatles song titles. I’ve tried to make them legible in this image.

\"Emma\" anime