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Not-flix Tonight Just because your local library is physically closed, doesn't mean that it's out of action. Most, as you would expect, have eBook loans, but more and more are doing the same with videos, thanks to services like Kanopy (kanopy.com), that work with libraries and schools, to offer an eclectic mix of films for all interests. No, these don't include the Hollywood blockbusters that the libraries' physical DVD collections may. But Kanopy as some award-winning indie titles like Lady Bird in their collection. Along with those, you'll find art-house classics, some worthy foreign titles that never quite made it into U.S. theaters, and cheesy horror flicks from around the world. It is sometimes easy to miss that Kanopy's role is primarily educational, and there's a wide collection of videos on all subjects for all ages, from the early grades through useful business and financial training for adults. On the topic of education, some of the Boomers and Gen-X'ers will remember those 16mm films that offered a break from listening to the teachers (or pretending you were). Those, 50's and 60's industrial films, old Hollywood features with expired copyrights, and a whole bunch more now live on The Internet Archive (archive.org). You can just browse around and depend on your luck or try your hand at its advanced search engine to see what's there. For the true nerd, there's a blog post that explains the syntax of how to use the site's URL to perform a custom search. You never quite know what you'll find. How about a copy of the Whole Earth Catalog, CD version from 1989, running in HyperCard on a Mac System 7 emulator in your web browser? That'll take you back! There's more to classic TV than Gilligan's Island reruns. Before the mid-sixties, there was no practical way to edit videotape, so nearly all TV drama was done live, or nearly so. Some of us believe that the mid-fifties to sixties were truly the Golden Years of Television. The networks brought in young directors from Hollywood and talented actors still looking for their first big break, including many who went on to become some of our best-known stars. They were performing in some of America's best plays adapted for TV and original teleplays by up-and-coming writers like Rod Serling and Paddy Chayefsky, who thrived in this new medium. Mostly in the form of one-hour dramas, anthologies like Playhouse 90 and Kraft Television Theater, almost every big maker of consumer products put their brand on a series at some point in time—that's how the Hallmark Hall of Fame, the only survivor from the era, got its start. It was only after many of these great programs started to peter out, that television began to devolve into the "vast wasteland" decried by FCC chair Newton Minnow in 1961. And where can you find these? There are tons of them, sometimes as grainy kinescopes, others as fairly decent transfers from quad videotape, on YouTube, quietly lurking amongst the cat videos and tutorials on clearing clogged drains.