Gently down the stream.

I've been enjoying watching streaming video via Netflix and Hulu lately.

Half an episode of Glee was enough to confirm my suspicion that I am not at all this show's target audience. Ugh.

This year's Treehouse of Terror episode is as good as always.

The Sweeney Todd episode of The Office was enjoyable enough.

The pilot of Lois & Clark is cute and just fine, but I won't keep watching.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... is the best interview show I had never heard of even though it's two years old now. I've only watched the Elton John episode so far.

This past Saturday night, I saw my first episode of True Blood while staying at my friend Ben's sister's house in Erie, PA.

I have to admit that I had a great time watching it, partly because I was in a silly mood and partly because of its irresistible trashy allure.

Ben reminded me that the Harlan Ellison movie, Dreams With Sharp Teeth, was available via Netflix: Watch Instantly. Ellison is always interesting, but this documentary fails in the same way that so many biographical documentaries fail, not realizing that it would be more interesting just to listen to the subject, here Ellison, speak for an hour and a half than to watch this documentary. The attempted informational/educational structure of the doc gets in the way of any sustained entertainment that Ellison could have achieved.

Back From Hell: A Tribute to Sam Kinison does a better job of letting Kinison's material speak for itself, with some adoring commentary from Kinison's younger comedian peers. Still, you're probably better off just watching a Kinsion concert video instead of this doc.

It might be that I'm cynical toward both these docs because I'm already familiar with the "characters" depicted, but I think that there's more than that disappointing me. Both of these only offer a shallow surface introduction.

The Oath, on the other hand, slowly and methodically peels back more layers of its subject, deepening and widening the mystery of the person(s) under examination, always revealing more humanity, playing with audience expectations and delivering a sober sort of thriller with a sad, conflicted release at its climax. I'm hoping to watch it again soon. I'm hoping you guys watch it soon and let me know what you think.

I watched the first episode of Battlestar Galactica. I understand the appeal and have multiple friends that love the show, but there's no way I can start another long series now. I'll slowly make my way through Smallville for now and maybe, maybe I'll try to tackle The Wire sooner or later. Later. I've also continued to slowly make my way through Star Trek: The Original Series, but I usually fall asleep to whatever episode I try to watch.

Right now, I've started a new film watching project that will take up the rest of the year and probably continue into next year. More about that in the next post.

I've continued to get rid of DVDs and am starting to feel much better about the shape of my collection, though there's still plenty of weeding to do. I think I'm mostly cured of the "impulse buy" mentality, but, then again, there haven't been any "going out of business" sales to tempt me for quite a while. There has been the ongoing dreaded B&N 50% off Criterion sale that is so damned hard to resist, but I haven't given in to that particular weakness yet this time.