Hulu Hoop

Got anything planned this weekend? No? Excellent! I investigated a new website last night that is guaranteed to absolutely suck up all your time.

After playing around for a mere five minutes last night, I turned to Jason and said, "Well, that's it. I won't be resurfacing until roughly Thanksgiving. Make sure Ainsley gets taken out for trick-or-treating, won't you?"

The site I am talking about, and which those of you with more free time to browse cool stuff on the Internets may already know about, is Hulu.

Hulu is a legal and mostly free download site for many of your favorite shows and even some movies. Right now their biggest partner is NBC, so the NBC shows are the most heavily represented, but I found something there from all the networks.

Many networks offer whole episodes of their shows. That's not so new. What is awesome about Hulu is its archive of older shows.

Miss your favorite 80s shows from your childhood? They've got The A-Team, The Facts of Life, and Fame. (DR--they've got Welcome Back Kotter!) Need a good cry? They've got season three of Party of Five, the season where Bailey became an alcoholic and and forced a tearful family intervention. Need something more cerebral? There's Nova and National Geographic News. Missed the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer phenomenon the first time around? Full episodes are there! You need to see it to believe it. Cult classics, one-season wonders, Emmy nominees...the possibilities for time-wasting are endless.

But wait! There's more!

They have movies.

Full movies as well as clips. I started my day with some coffee and one of my favorite moments from film ever: the diaper stealing scene from Raising Arizona.

"I'll be taking these Huggies...and whatever cash you got in the register."

The beautiful thing is I could've watched the whole movie for free if I'd wanted to.

I think my morale and mood are going to get a boost from this. Who needs Prozac when you can cue up the SNL clip where Phil Hartman does Clinton stopping into a McDonalds?

"Listen, boys...there are going to be a lot of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton. McDonald's is the least of your worries."

Sure, you can find some of these things on YouTube. But not all, and certainly not legally. I feel much better about myself as a librarian and protector of copyright getting my funny bone tickled by legally acquired clips.

What? Are you still sitting there reading my blog? Go check it out, dude! There's too much procrastinating and time-wasting to be done for you to be sitting there being productive!

Should you come up for air sometime this weekend, hit the comments with the shows and/or movies available on Hulu that you're most excited about.