Good Movies/Shows For Netflix Watch Instantly

I just purchased a Roku player (after a while of toying with the idea of building my own media center PC). So far, it's better than I expected. This $100 device lets you stream Netflix 'watch instantly' movies (and Amazon.com video on demand movies) to your television. The only downside I've seen is that the selection of movies is somewhat limited.

That doesn't mean that there's nothing good to watch however. I've looked on-line to see if anyone else has recommended some good movies to watch, but the only sites I've found are pretty outdated. I will keep a log here of watch now available films that I've watched which are worth the time. Let me know if you've found this useful:

• Pan's Labyrinth
• Let The Right One In
• Waco: The Rules of Engagement
• Man on Wire
• The Endless Summer
• The King of Kong
• The Green Mile
• The Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition
• Capturing the Friedmans
• Survivorman: Season 1
• Enter the Dragon: Special Edition
• The Exorcist
• Heroes (First season, so far, has been excellent)
• The IT Crowd (First two episodes are slow, but it's very funny by the 3rd)
  

Free Tade And Government Bailouts

Where is the World Trade Organization? I read yesterday that the government will soon own 75% of GM. Yet no one is talking about government subsidies (low interest loans, direct payments, bailouts, etc) distorting "free trade". I wonder why? Just a few years ago the WTO was ranting about how the US government 'supports' Boeing through R&D payments. Yet not a peep on the massive US and European bailouts.

Maybe they're figuring it all works out in the end if GM exports jobs along with their vehicles.

Remember That You Read It

5/27/2009

"WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year, although the recovery is likely to be bumpy.

That assessment came from leading forecasters in a survey by the National Association for Business Economics released Wednesday. It is generally in line with the outlook from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues."

"More than 90 %" Eh? Too bad they didn't list names. I don't know anything about NABE, but I suspect they're about as good as the National Association of Realtors at predicting the economy.

Darwinius Fraudious?

So am I the only person who is slightly suspicious that a fossil found 23 years ago, held in a 'private collection' and 're-discovered' 2 years ago, studied in secret and announced to the world as "THE MISSING LINK", might actually be some sort of fraud? I mean the guy who had it for 23 years and apparently wasn't aware of its significance sold it for $1,000,000. Does that sound like someone who has no idea of it's value?

The stampede to embrace this alleged discovery is astounding. Every media outlet is running with this story (Google even put up a special image of the fossil on their page), even though very few other scientists have even had a chance to look at this fossil before it's declared to be 'the one'. Keeping in mind a few other discoveries of late, the Peon Pulpit's official position is that this is a hoax until proven otherwise (or at least 50 years has past).

Anytime you see a scientific announcement preceded by a movie and a book deal, be afraid...be very afraid. Clearly the value of the book tie-in (read: almighty dollar) has not been lost on these scientists.

Travel Channel Has A Winner

Dhani Tackles the Globe. This show is actually pretty good. Too bad I caught it near the end of the season. I'm not sure if Dhani Jones is any good at football, but he probably has a career in television.

Don't Look Now...But The UK Is About To Catch Fire

If you haven't been following the growing scandal in the UK, now might be a good time to get acquainted with it. What's happened is a common product of when the easy money get's tight: All the fraud is exposed like coral at low tide.

Just like the Bernie Maddoff scandal here in the US, the Daily Telegraph has set alight a fire in England. The Telegraph leaked expense documents for Members of Parliament which show they were abusing their privilege of tax write-offs and government funded expense accounts. Some of the abuses border on criminal. But what did the Labor Party government of Gordon Brown do? They indicated that they would prosecute the person who leaked the documents! Never mind that it was the public's money.

Then the tide suddenly turned. Suddenly the MPs started to worry about the real possibility of pitchforks and bonfires. Now they're sheepishly announcing that they're 'paying back' the money, but all the while still claiming it was all on the up-and-up. Clearly it's not. And since when was agreeing to give back stolen goods enough to just walk away from a theft? I suspect Gordon Brown and the Labor Party will not recover from this one. Keep an eye on this, it might erupt into street violence....who knows these days.

Every day more details leak out. I wonder how long it will be before the same happens in this country?