PlaySRT

Streaming Netflix doesn't offer a lot in terms of subtitles ~ closed captioning.

As a result -- I've started working on a .SRT player:

PlaySRT.zip

...not fully functional yet -- but, it is a start.

If you drag the .srt file atop the .vbs script -- it will open Internet Explorer and begin playing back the dialog. Right now it reads the start~top range -- finds the difference in the range in seconds, pauses that many seconds displaying the dialog~caption.

I'll probably wrap it as an .hta type file -- so that you can have more
control over how it starts and plays.

Black Beauty

Melanie and I are reading this now. It is quite good. Anna Sewell was raised Quaker and sound, good Christian sensibility permeates the book. Here's a sample from a chapter called the 'Devil's Trade Mark':

..he talked to all the boys very seriously about cruelty, and said how hard-hearted and cowardly it was to hurt the weak and the helpless; but what stuck in my mind was this, he said that cruelty was the devil's own trade-mark, and if we saw any one who took pleasure in cruelty we might know who he belonged to, for the devil was a murderer from the beginning, and a tormentor to the end. On the other hand, where we saw people who loved their neighbors, and were kind to man and beast, we might know that was God's mark."

Other Links: Netflicks, Project Gutenberg

Dorian Gray

Librivox:
http://librivox.org/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde/

Sparknotes:
Dorian Gray

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde

My thoughts:

Interesting ~ as plot Dorian Gray appears to be antithesis of 'Tithonus' (Victorian poem by Alfred Lord Tenneyson). While Dorian remained forever young and his painting aged -- Tithonus lived forever -- but, continually aged: Tithonus

Dorian Gray appears relatively early in his list of Wilde's work--between his stint as a journalist and before his plays. The work seems to be his showpiece for his ideas of "art-for-art's sake." ~ "Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."

Books for January - February

The Annotated Hobbit
ical

The Lord of the Rings
ical

Moby Dick
ical

The Tale of the Genji
ical

Ugetsu ~ 'Tales of Moonlight and Rain'

Very good film.

I found these quotes from subtitle download file at allsubs.org:

"The fruit of experience is beauty."
(経験のフルーツは美である)

"The value of both people and
things, change by the location."

"You are a dead man if you continue to run
around like this. Hurry up and get home!"

"You will wake up from the dream when
you realize how horrible the ghost is."

Google ~ Ugetsu ~ Books
Google ~ Ugetsu ~ Video

Got 'Tales of Moonlight and Rain' from the library. It was the basis for the movie 'Ugetsu' ... very good. The author reminds me of Isak Dinesen short stories : Winter's Tales

Moby Dick ~ quotes

Quotes ~ try double-click, copy, paste into book search for:

• a slave
• However, a good laugh

New words ~ try double-click ~ right-click search ~ dictionary for:

• topers
• obstreperously

Harpo in "The Big Store"

Booklists

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Best_Books_Ever_Listings_(Bookshelf)

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Cliffnotes
Sparknotes
Shmoop
Google realtime

If you're looking for 'Tale of the Genji'...

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19264/19264-h/19264-h.htm

---

Notes ~ Other references:
Wikipedia

Quotes ~ images ~ other:

Ch.1 "She survived despite her troubles, with the help of an unprecedented bounty of love" Paulownia, Poet of "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow"
Ch. 2 ...why does the conversation here make me think of 'How I met your Mother'? The review of the amorous notes(waka?), the metaphors of women to "things", "locker room" stories... coryza,propinquity
Read this again in the Royall Tyler translation.  Very good. obdurate, obduracy

---

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Genji/index.htm

THE TALE OF GENJI
Introduction
01. The Paulownia Court
02. The Broom Tree
03. The Shell of the Locust
04. Evening Faces
05. Lavender
06. The Safflower
07. An Autumn Exersion
08. The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms
09. Heartvine
10. The Sacred Tree
11. The Orange Blossoms
12. Suma
13. Akashi
14. Channel Buoys
15. The Wormwood Patch
16. The Gatehouse
17. A Picture Contest
18. The Wind in the Pines
19. A Rack of Cloud
20. The Morning Glory
21. The Maiden
22. The Jeweled Chaplet
23. The First Warbler
24. Butterflies
25. Fireflies
26. Wild Carnations
27. Flares
28. The Typhoon
29. The Royal Outing
30. Purple Trousers
31. The Cypress Pillar
32. A Branch of Plum
33. Wisteria Leaves
34. New Herbs
35. New Herbs
36. The Oak Tree
37. The Flute
38. The Bell Cricket
39. Evening Mist
40. The Rites
41. The Wizard
42. His Perfumed Highness
43. The Rose Plum
44. Bamboo River
45. The Lady at the Bridge
46. Beneath the Oak
47. Trefoil Knots
48. Early Ferns
49. The Ivy
50. The Eastern Cottage
51. A Boat upon the Waters
52. The Drake Fly
53. The Writing Practice
54. The Floating Bridge of Dreams

"The Song of Unending Sorrow"

Camille (1936)

Camille (silent)

FighterVerses2011

For those with a PC
1) Download this file (http://www.box.net/shared/2jp8f7iqhh) to your desktop
1) Run FighterVerses2011.exe (self-extracting file)
2) Open folder just creatd called 'MyItzyBits'
3) Double-click FighterVerses.vbs file to play verse for week.
It plays the verse display it's text(after 30 seconds it disappears).

Reading: The Complete Chess Player

I didn't know 'rank' and 'file' came from chess. Nor, that 'checkmate' came from Persion for 'The King is dead...'

Good book. I started it years ago -- when I'd taught my daughter to play. When she found I was reading it she hid it. SO! Since she's now lost interest it's time for me to grow in knowledge of the game.

The Complete Chess Player

Anyone know of free play on Internet without ads?