How I learned to stop worrying and love Hulu..........and Netflix

Two Months ago I canceled cable. Why is probably obvious, the cost and the fact that although having over 100 channels there was still nothing to watch (ever).

However, today that does not mean the end of televison viewing. There are several internet options available.

One of the best options is Hulu.com. Hulu is a free internet site which allows to you watch network television shows. Right now Hulu has shows from NBC, ABC, FOX, FX & A&E as well as many classic television shows.

Typically Hulu will post new episodes of shows from these networks a couple of days after they air and keeping them accessible for about three weeks with about five available at any one time.

The drawback to this system is commercials. Yes commercials at the typical break. Typically one 30 to 60 second spot per break, compare this the numerous commercial filling the breaktime on aired television is about ten minutes.

Most recently Hulu has also provided a desktop program allowing access to the site through a software interface rather than a browser. This program is also available for Linux as well as Windows and Mac.

Other services is subscriptions which will send you emails when new episodes of your favorite shows are posted.

Oh did I mention its free ? (maybe I did).

My second best online televison option is Netflix "Watch Me Now"

The Watch Me Now feature is available to anyone who has a Netflix account. Netflix is a great rental site for Dvds.....but they also have available the Watch Me Now feature which alows you to watch alot of content through a web browser. There are many movies and televisions shows available. The accessibility of this system is easy to use and navigate. One down side is the cost, you have to have at least a basic subscription at $9.99, another is that it cannot be used on a Linux computer Windows & Mac only.

A third system is CBS online, although they have many episodes available the site is horrible to navigate through....

In addition is Crackle.com which is an online site which allows to access a very limited number of movies through your browser.

With all of these options available it makes getting rid of Cable really easy.

For The Love of Japanese Films

In 1954 two films were released in Japan that would have everlasting effects on the cinema, world wide and American pop culture. Although coming from the same shore each film's director had drastically different styles and careers but they both shared a lifetime friendship.

4 Reasons Why Grass-Fed Beef Is Better

4 Reasons Why Grass-Fed Beef Is Better: "The benefits of grass fed beef are numerous, when compared to conventional beef cattle raising.

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Night Gallery

The Night Gallery was a television series which aired on NBC between 71-73. This was a anthology series by Twilight Zone Creator Rod Serling. It was a kinda mixed bag, but had many fine episodes. One of the best was an episode directed by a young Steven Spielberg.

This series is available to watch on Hulu, but unfortunately the Pilot is not online, but the show is fun and you should give it a try.

REC vs Quarantine

Last year,the movie Quarantine was released in theaters. This was another in the recent trend of documentary style fiction movies (i.e. Cloverfield). However this was also a remake of the Spanish language film REC.

A comparison of these films demonstrates very interesting observations about remakes of foreign films into English.

First off its obvious that something in the original films sparked an interest in making an English language version. However it amazes me that they are never truly simple remakes and that there are always changes to the films sometimes just esthetics's but many times it is changes in plot lines as well.

Both films are about a two person television crew following firefighters on call for the evening. Both versions are about that call leading to an apartment building which a woman is acting strangely, resulting in some type of infection spreading through the tenants, making them crazed killers.

However the approaches to these films are very different. REC is more brightly, starkly light throughout, and the camera work appears of less quality leading to the belief that this is a real life event. The scenes in Quarantine are much more darkly lite and the picture quality is sharper and clearer. Therefore it is only the camera movements that evenly slightly leads you to believe this is real life.

Also the major plot point of the infection is handled very differently in both films. In REC there is never any clear cause or identification of the virus throughout the entire film. I think this leads to a more suspenseful film. There is also one scene which one victim which was obviously dead suddenly disappears, making this more of a Zombie film.

In Quarantine the virus is identified by the resident Vet as some kind of Super Rabis, I found this to be very silly plot device, and unnecessary.

Also is was odd there was much more swearing in Quarantine than in REC, as though the writers of this version thought it helped in character development for some reason.

As you can read, I feel that REC is the much superior film, and that Quarantine is a poor substitute for an English language version. Its a shame that there are so many people adverse to subtitled films, because there are so many great ones out there. Especially for horror films this seem to be the only outlet for anything of any quality.