Wednesday, May 04, 2005

It's a goldmine

You know those DVD movies that are cropping up at places like Dollar Tree? I found where they're getting them. Apparently a whole mess of films have entered the public domain, and they're at The Internet Archive. You can watch them there, or download them to burn. If you have a DVD burner, you'll never run out of viewing material.

It's not Oscar stuff for the most part; it's just the run-of-the-mill fare that appeared inn theaters in the 30s and 40s and disappeared the next weekend. There are a few gems there, though, including one of my all-time favorites, "His Girl Friday," with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. This is one off the funniest movies ever made, in my opinion, and the inside jokes ("The last fellow who tried to threaten me was Archie Leach. He cut his own throat two weeks later.") are priceless if you're an old film buff. Either way, there's something refreshing about seeing the movies that didn't get famous. And the ones made before the 1934 Hayes Code are an education in themselves.

Not only that, but there is an archive of live music performances. Being a Deadhead, I've been collecting leg tapes since before the spread of the Net. This site has every show I've ever wanted to find, plus a lot I never knew about. Oh, yes, and there are a whole bunch of other artists there as well. But nothing plays as well on bootleg as vintage Dead.

Plan on spending a good long time there, and a veritable buttload of blank disks.

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