Hulu Hooping is Back in Style!

As the youtube revolution that has spanned the past three or four years continues to make stars out of anyone and everyone who possesses talents ranging from a talent in etymology to lip synching on demand. There is (occasionally) genuine talent to be found and knowledge to be shared (though straight and female, I am an ardent fan of hotforwords), yet finding those diamonds in the rough can be an arduous task of shifting through mountains of dreck and lunatics speaking in diatribes to their webcams. youtube has become the contemporary equivalent to knocking on doors at a talent agency, and this time, any schumck can take up the part. If amateur hour on the internet is your deal, youtube is like the virtual Apollo, but if you choose where to waste your time with a little more class and discretion, hulu.com is the place for you.

Hulu is a site which compiles the individual seasons and episodes that have previously been available on network sites such as abc.com and nbc.com; bringing an impressive arsenal of shows both modern (i.e House, The Office and Family Guy) and vintage (Fame, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alfred Hitchcock Presents). All the videos are legitimate and professional; there is no need to worry about the constant deleting and difficult as on youtube. The shows are formatted in one high-resolution presentation with the small hinderance of about 4 commercials per hour. It's less than you would see on a network television airing, and it helps maintain the costless featuring of the material. While watching old TV programs might not be your fix, hulu also shows dozens of movies from across the decades. Some of these are classic and much lauded, such as Moonstruck, Some Like it Hot and The Big Lebowski, while others are somewhat...pathetic. I'm thinking of you, Hercules in New York. So much for wading through the dreck. 

Some may point out that the site is just another clever form for advertisers to spread their word in a tivo, spam-conscious society, but I for one can tolerate a couple of car commercials in exchange for some on-demand viewing. Hulu is one of those rare inventions that benefits both the money-challenged slacker as well as the power-hungry capitalist executive. Hopefully the site can overcome its somewhat dopey name and rise to the challenge of providing to the world more of what 99.9% of its population craves: free stuff.