simple way for a bootsplash?

[avx]

I'm long out of the business of using a bootsplash, but since I'm now using my Macbook more often, the turn grey->black->X11 annoys me and I'd like to have it smoother.

I'm not looking for something very fancy, some kind of wallpaper in the native resolution of 1280x800 with some kind of logo and if possible, a little spinner.

Currently, rEFInd boots a 3.5.3 kernel with EFIstub, some simple parameters(root=, loglevel, etc) are included in the built-in kernel-cmd; currently there's no need for an initrd/initramfs on this machine, so I'm not using any.

The goal is to directly include the (most probably needed) initrd directly in the kernel, which should setup the backdrop as early as possible and idealy have no flickering at all between rEFInd->kernel and init->X11. Currently I'm using plain old sysv/openrc, but maybe I'll try experimenting with systemd in the future(though I actually despise some of it's functionaliy - and Lennart of course).

So, what are the easiest options to do it, simple to maintain, etc.? I guess plymouth is overkill and I don't want to fiddle with dracut if not absolutely needed(had big problems with it in the past).
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[fr3eatlast]

I have used fbsplash to set up the bootsplash on my laptop as it was very easy to set up and maintain. I don't know if it is what you are looking for but there is more infomation here.