YouTube Movies

I have been pointing out the number of movies one could watch for free on YouTube. Alas, this is no longer true. Since Google is trying to monetize Youtube, in addition to the ads we all skip, they now are much more vigilant on what they allow someone to upload. Now there are channels to which one can subscribe, by paying a fee. Roger Corman, the king of the B movie, has a channel now. Other channels exist. The problem is that I, as an average consumer, will not know who owns the right to what. Let's say I want to watch every Charlie Chan movie ever made. (I enjoy white guys pretending to be Chinese.) Where can I do this? Netflix has a good number of them, but not all.

I would not mind paying, but I can't. The rights are scattered across many providers. Disney will not allow Mickey Mouse to become a part of the public domain, so the copyright restrictions continue in perpetuity, not the set number of years originally envisioned in such laws. This is, well ... Mickey Mouse.

So I will continue what I do and not have cable service, but my selection of movies is dropping. I have Netflix, and Hulu and that is enough for me. Although the commercials on Hulu are getting more and more annoying, and I predict I will be canceling it soon. At $100 a year I can purchase 4 TV seasons a year. This is more than I watch.

So there will no longer be YouTube movie recommendations from me. There are not very many, and when they exist, they get canned quickly.

I periodically look at the various Internet TV options, but they are not good. I plan to blog on some non-TV options in the future.

Well back to the Russian TV I am watching where a Caucasian woman has dyed her skin black and is imitating Gloria Gaynor. She may survive, but I won't. Actually, except the Gaynor imitation, the Russian impersonation program is good, Marilyn Monroe is next! Indeed, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend." 

Putin

I was doing a little reading of science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle's blog. He is writing an article about Putin. He made what I thought was an amazing statement I never heard before. Putin resigned his position in the KGB on Aug 20, 1991. This was in the midst of the attempted coup by the Russian military to replace Gorbachev that occurred August 19-21.

In other words Putin resigned his position at the height of a crisis. If the coup had been a success, it would have gone badly for him. Apparently Putin resigned before it was known if the coup would work.

For those interested here are some links for Putin:

NPR Timeline.
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/putin/biotimeline.html
The wiki article on the attempted coup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d'état_attempt
Putin's life from his PR perspective.
http://eng.putin.kremlin.ru/bio
A different perspective centered around the many deaths in Russia of various political figures and journalists.
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/putinmurders/

I am not quite sure what to make about the crisis in Ukraine. But as I have said before, no Russian leader is going to allow the Crimea to be a part of a NATO country. This was always not negotiable. I read an op-ed piece that claimed that Putin "blinked" and backed down from invading Ukraine. I can only say that I was one of the rare westerners who actually watched Putin's press conference about the crisis. I even embedded it on the blog. It is dated now. But how can Putin have blinked when he did exactly what he said he would do and not invade Ukraine? It may be a mistake to expect any politician to tell the truth. But everything Putin said in the conference in terms of not invading is still valid today.

This is in stark contrast to the US promise made to Gorbachev that if he allowed the reunification of Germany and dissolved the Warsaw PAC that NATO would not expand.

Oops.

We live in a weird world where Russia becomes more free, and America less so day by day.

Stormy Weather

This may be the best dance routine ever made. 

Stockman Interview

For the latest David Stockman interview click here. 

The Slow Burn

Just ignore the modest amount of conspiracy stuff, otherwise this interview is "spot on."