I found a relatively easy way to deal with the flash problem:
There's an online code generator at Kirupa.com that allows you to input your filename and size, then it generates code to replace the object/embed tags in the .ascx file.
You still have to edit the code to add <%= SkinPath %> to both paths, download the javascript and put it in the same directory as the skin.
An example:
<script type="text/javascript" src="<%= SkinPath %>flashobject.js"></script>
<div id="flashcontent" style="width: 770px; height: 66px"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var fo = new FlashObject("<%= SkinPath %>headerflash.swf ", "animationName", "770", "66", "6", "#FFFFFF");
fo.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "sameDomain");
fo.addParam("quality", "high");
fo.addParam("scale", "noscale");
fo.addParam("loop", "false");
fo.write("flashcontent");
</script>
HTH