Last year we saw Mickey Mouse going public domain and now every year more and more talkie movies are going public domain too. The talkies began in 1928, and I would say they got very close to what we have today in about 1934 or 35.
That means that every year people will have hundreds of “new” releases on public domain, making paying for watching new movies unnecessary. One thing is preferring the new movies when you have to pay both for new and old movies. Another thing is paying for new films when you have hundreds of old movies as good as the new ones (or better) for free.
I don’t know about you, but I could spend the rest of my life watching public domain classics, no problem. For instance, I read a dozen books last year, only two of them were less than a 100 years old.
I would say Hollywood is in a pinch right now, something that will make them miss the days when their biggest enemy was piracy.
What’d you read
Project Gutenburg
The Count of Monte Cristo is excellent. No movie has done it justice. No movie has come close to doing it justice.
The Three Musketeers Saga is very, very long, and very, very inconsistent in quality.
Moby Dick is really good. Also makes for a good movie, because there’s a lot of stuff about whaling that nobody cares about anymore.
Start with those, I expect a report when you return, along with an essay about what you did during the summer.
Moby Dick is good in a way where I don’t care about any of the characters or the story, but I could read Melville describe water or argue that dolphins are fish for the rest of my life, just because of how beautifully he does it.
Thanks for the recommendations! Haven’t read any of these books and after reading some reviews, I’m intrigued.
If you liked the details in Moby Dick about whaling, you may also be interested in this great BBC series I’ve discovered a few weeks ago: Inside nature’s giants where they dissect large animals and explain their anatomy and evolution. There are also two episodes of stranded whales being dissected ;)
theyrethesamepicture.jpg
White Nights - Dostoevsky
The Demons - Dostoevsky
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Tolstoy
Polikushka - Tolstoy
Short Stories Collection - Tolstoy
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
The Trial - Kafka
In Search of Lost Time - Vol. 1 - Proust
He said books buddy