Netflix's House of Cards disappointments (me)

Last night I streamed two episodes of Netflix’s miniseries "House of Cards."

House of Cards was produced by Netflix for distribution on the Internet, not via the traditional cable TV services. I am not a big TV watcher and am certainly not a drama critic, but I hoped it would be a terrific program, helping Netflix disrupt the status quo -- like comedian Louis CK's production of his own comedy show or Bill O'Reilly and John Stewart's comic debate.

I was disappointed. The protaganist, is Frank Underwood, a Machiavellian leader of the House of Representatives, who is out for revenge against the President who passed him over for Secretary of State.

I didn't get hooked because Frank Underwood is no Tony Soprano. Frank is one dimensional -- all selfish and plotting -- there is nothing to like about him. Tony is an evil murderer, but he is also loyal to his gang, loves and worries about his family and is a likable teddy bear of a guy.

The entire Netflix cast is one-dimensional -- the Lucretia Borgia wife, the hip reporter who blogs and knows that print is dead, etc.

There were a couple of innovations. I liked the way they showed people sending text messages on screen, and they released all of the episodes at the same time so people can watch them marathon-style if they do get hooked.

I hope I'm in the minority and most people love House of Cards, because I want Netflix to succeed and give us more high production value entertainment online.

Webcam monologues from Amanda Congdon to Felicia Day

New media lead to new art forms, and the Webcam monologue is well suited to the mobile Internet.

The first memorable Webcam monologue I recall seeing was Amanda Congdon's dramatic piece on Hurricane Katrina, in which she intersperses still images and moves the camera a few times:



YouTube is filled with Webcam rants and rambling, but Congdon's monologue was original and moving art.

Here's another example. I just stumbled upon a Web series called The Guild, and saw this clip of Felicia Day talking to a Webcam.

The clip is taken out of context, but she's a funny lady and a master of the Webcam monologue. She's expressive, over-the-top and at the same time, subtle.

These are are well above your typical YouTube videos and I can imagine many others. Have you seen any noteworthy Webcam monologues?

-----

The Felicia Day clip shown above was flagged as possibly infringing on copyright by Google. Rather than take it down, they added ads. Did you see an ad with this post? If so, what was it for? Do you think my including the clip was fair use? Why did I do it? Did I harm Felicia Day? Did I use a substantial portion of the original video?

I wonder if Google or the copyright holder gets the revenue from the ad or they split it. Was the suspected infringement discovered by a Google algorithm or one run by the copyright holder? If Google discovered it, did they ask the copyright holder whether they wanted to take it down or place ads on it?