What's taking DVD-On-Demand so long?

I've been waiting patiently for Netflix/Blockbuster to unleash a simple way to search their vast libraries, select a movie, have it download to your hard disk, and let you watch it as if it were a DVD -- all for a reasonable price of $15/month. Imagine the simplicity: you get three movies at a time, but you never have to leave the house. We already have all the software out there for mounting a DVD image, we already have plenty of devices for watching (high-def) movies on your television, and we have many options for broadband service at reasonable prices. We also know that Blockbuster and Netflix are looking into this right now.

So what's taking this DVD-On-Demand (DOD) system so long? The answer is licensing: the big whigs who own the rights to these DVDs don't want anyone to have access to their selections for fear of copyright issues. But what, I ask you, is the difference between downloading a DVD to your TiVo versus getting the DVD in the mail and pirating it on your computer? The answer to this question is time. It takes more time for the DVD to arrive, to put it into your computer, and to rip it to another DVD that you might ultimately keep in your vast collection of dust-gathering discs. But the people who are willing to do this are in the minority when you get all-you-can-eat for $15/month.

Why does my dad rip Netflix movies as they come in? Because he wants to have a vast selection of movies ready to go anytime. Would he go through that effort if he could have his online queue readily accessible to him at any time? Absolutely not! Why waste time with physical media when it can all be stored electronically? The simplest solution is partnerships with Netflix and Tivo (already supposed to be done) and then perhaps Blockbuster and Microsoft. Tivo/Microsoft update TiVo/Media Center to allow for the downloads (perhaps using bit-torrent type technologies to enhance performance of popular recently-released movies) and Blockbuster and Netflix provide the content. The software puts some sort of magical encryption over the movie so you can't hack your disk and put it onto a DVD.

Now in reality, of course you could do that: everything can be cracked. But most people who are paying for this service probably wouldn't go through the effort of doing it, and if someone really wanted to make a living selling pirated DVDs he obtained for $15/month from Netflix or Blockbuster, he can do it nowadays anyway -- he just has to wait a little bit longer for the mail to arrive. Besides, I'm sure suspicious content providers might be alarmed if one household is watching 15 movies/day. That's something you can investigate and determine in a case-by-case basis.

I'm frustrated. I really want to get whatever movie I want for $15/month, downloaded directly to my computer. No DVD media to get scratched. No lag time for mailing. No computer-mail-TV interface. Everything should be accessible with a few clicks of my remote control.

Perhaps I'll do an alternative solution: set up a data center somewhere in an off-shore community that has not restrictions on pirated content, get as many DVDs as possible and make ISOs of them, then provide my service over the internet to mainland subscribers. $15/month for any movie you want. We'll even build bit-torrent right into it for more popular downloads. Now if only I can figure out which islands would allow this...

Raw Diet: Day 0

Today I sampled the life of the raw diet, and it was painful. I had a Bumblebar for breakfast followed by green tea (caffeinated) at work. Lunch was a salad (no meat or croutons, dressing of oil/vinegar). Dinner included two apples and a cucumber. Around 10 PM I had a tasty desert of a coconut bar.

OK, so it was pretty bland, and you need to stick with a raw diet for several days before you'll start the detox process. That's what next week is for. Starting on Monday, it's raw 100%. I have picked up a few books to help with my food preparation, since I would probably shoot myself if I ate only apples and oranges. My goal with this diet is to rapidly lose weight, feel healthier, have more energy, and even have better skin. My ultimate nefarious goal is to eliminate these horrible headaches I've had for years. While they may be psychological in nature, diet is possibly a cause for them.

I'm going to take pictures of my face each day so I can watch the progression of skin and hopefully capture it. I'm using a nice Nikon D80 camera so that should allow me to capture good samples. I will be noting everything here for you, oh bloggers, so that some day if someone else wishes to go raw and hear of my experiences, they will have a real set of blog entries to follow.

300 - The Battle of Thermopylae

... which, by the way, occurred in 482 BC. (300 refers to the 300 Spartans, who stayed behind after the Greek allies retreated, to fight the 100,000-200,000 Persians) This is my favorite battle in human history and now there is a movie about it (yay). Check out the movie site and watch the high-definition trailer (very nice!). I'm looking forward to this baby debuting on March 9th, 2007. Go Sparta (I know they lose, but they put up a hell of a fight)

Back on the Raw Diet

Morning Weight: 207 lbs (down 212 from yesterday)

In early November I purchased a raw cookbook called Raw: The Uncook Book by Juliano Brotman. After having read countless web sites evangelizing the numerous benefits of a raw diet, I was excited to lose weight faster, have more energy, feel more alive, etc. Sadly when I got the beautiful book, I was terrified by recipes with sometimes over a dozen ingredients, most of which I had never heard of before. My dreams of preparing a simple recipe in ten minutes were shattered, and my stamina was challenged. To top things off, the holiday food season was starting with Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away.

While I ate like a pig and drank like a Dartmouth student over the Christmas and New Years holidays, I returned to Seattle a startling 212 lbs. What had happened to my 9% body fat, where I was at a point where my step-sister said "damn you're hot" and my roommate's girlfriend said "I want to see you with your shirt off!" Something had to be done, so I consulted my sister, who has been vegetarian for years now.

Today I placed an order for two more books, Cook Vegan and Raw Foods for Busy People. With my Amazon.com prime 2-day shipping advantage, I'll have them by Tuesday, and I'll be rejoining the ranks of the diet. My goal is to learn one additional raw "recipe" each week and prepare it for myself and my girlfriend. I think my biggest foe is going to be cheese: I love cheese on pizza, crackers, chips, whatever. Cheese cheese cheese! After having read online documentation about the worries of milk (and dairy in general), I definitely would like to confront this foe head-on. (here comes the soy milk!)

Kate and I have been trying to awaken at 6 AM every morning to hit the gym, as per my previous post on early rising, but our new puppy Paradox is making this more difficult, as he is keeping us awake late at night barking and whining for his mommy (Kate). Since both our goals are essentially to lose weight and not necessarily be training for anything, perhaps the raw diet will solve this and allow us to sleep in a little bit more.

Finally, I am enjoying taking the Seattle mass transit system both days this week (route 545, free thanks to Microsoft) since it gives me time to work through my stack of books and even movies in my Blockbuster queue. (I love Blockbuster Online!) I enjoy taking the bus and watching my movies so much that I may even purchase a portable DVD player for the trip (the Phillips PET1002 is my favorite so far). Once I sell my Jetta, that's around $450/month back in my pocket. And the bus is totally convenient! I really don't even think I need a car in Seattle, although I may end up buying an old Jeep Wrangler since I think they are cute and I can probably get one with 100K miles for under $7K.

Dieting Status

I'm back from my vacation and the scale is showing 212 lbs. That's right, I gained between 5-10 lbs in the past two weeks, depending on who you ask. So here I am at my office drinking my second liter of water for the day and prepping for Capoeira tonight. Kate and I are going to start waking up at 6 AM every day (with no required sleeping time) as per Steve Pavlina's blog entry on How to Become an Early Riser. After 15-20 minutes of preparation, it's off to the gym for 60+ minutes of cardio. My goal is to weigh 185 lbs by March 15, 2007, so the race is on. Today so far I've had a tab energy drink (5 cals), a salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, and soon two apples. After two hours of capoeira, I should be able to take on the delicious pasta Kate made the other day.