Thirtysomething creators Marshall Hershkovitz and Edward Zwick are no strangers to naval-gazing angst. They practically revived the genre singlehandedly. So it's no surprise that their new series, Quarterlife, takes a long, earnest look at today's twentysomethings as they search for their identity.

What is surprising is that this network-quality show isn't on any network -- it's on MySpace.

Based on a Hershkovitz-Zwick pilot rejected by ABC, Quarterlife will "air" every Sunday and Thursday beginning Nov. 11. A day after hitting MySpace, segments will appear on www.quarterlife.com, and a week after that, they'll be available webwide.

But what's it about? Well, in the broader scheme, it's about a group of friends struggling to find their way out of college. Specifically it's about one woman, Dylan (Bitsie Tulloch), and how her relentlessly honest blogging RUINS PEOPLE'S LIVES.

And, going by the trailer, it also seems there will be a lot of hugging.

The key thing about Quarterlife is not its subject matter -- or even if it's good or not -- but the fact that it is the latest in a number of professional projects that are legitimizing the Web as a place for creative content. What do big money and big names hitting the scene mean for indie creators? That remains to be seen.

But when one of the stars of "Lonelygirl 15" has a lead in a show by the guys behind Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai, the times, they are a changin'.

Only mere whispers and mutterings throughout our history hint at the existence of one of the most mysterious, cryptic, enigmatic and… secret American artifacts. It is a secret book, kept by every President, that holds every secret United States secret in the history of crazy secrets. Its name: The President’s Book of Secrets. And getting his hands on it is the only way that secret-hunter Benjamin Gates can clear his family name, which has been recently marred by the discovery that his great-great grandfather allegedly planned the assassination of President Lincoln. In secret.

But good god, how is he going to do it? He has one option, and one option only: he’s going to kidnap the President. Clearing the name of his long-dead great-great grandfather is obviously more important than whatever else the President has going on.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present National Treasure: Boooook of Secretsssss, coming to a theater near you this Christmas.

Now that the technology for producing high-quality special effects isn't confined to Skywalker Ranch, web series set in space are more possible than ever. But how many of them promise to be interesting character-based dramas as well? Well, there's at least one, if Shane Felux's Trenches lives up to the promise of its trailer.

Focusing on the front-line drama of an intergalactic war, the special effects are tight and the actors engaging -- the perfect solution for all those Battlestar fans jonsing for a fix. In short, it looks like Starship Troopers, without painfully fascist -- and it was produced on a shoestring budget by Stage 9 Media. We'll have more about this when it premieres this fall, but in the meantime just start getting excited.

I wasn't completely sold on Paul Thomas Anderson until I saw Punch-Drunk Love at the New York Film Festival in 2001. (The screening was interrupted when a woman in the audience had a seizure, which may or not have been caused by Anderson's experimental editing and jarring sound design.) But that masterful art-film take on the romantic comedy got me seriously hooked -- not just on the young director's talent (which even the most diehard PTA hater must admit he's got in spades), but on his genuine desire to challenge himself and his audience with difficult material (and not just beautifully-executed pop).

Six years later, Anderson's legion of diehard fans will finally get another fix with the release of There Will Be Blood. Adapted from a novel by Upton Sinclair and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, the film tells the story of battling oil prospectors in 1920s California. While the film won't hit screens until August, a tantalizing trailer hit the Net last week. This clip is about as oblique as it gets for a major-studio offering, but it certainly makes me want to see more. Check it out.