NETFLIX... THANK YOU...

So far, they're doing this one right. ("They never do it right" is a phrase I credit to my good friend, Thane of the Universe.) I've been a member of Netflix for about 2-3 months now, and it has breathed new life into the hours I spend in front of the boob-tube. For those of you who don't know what Netflix is, it's an on-line DVD rental business. Very simple. Set up an account, add movies to your queue (list of movies you want to see), and Netflix sends them to you via mail. The turn-around time is impressive, usually 2-3 days. They have several plans which vary in price depending on how many movies you want to have "at home". You can have just 1 at a time all the way to 8. Personally, I started at 3. When that proved insufficient, I changed to 5. When that proved insufficient, I changed to 7. I am quite taken by Netflix because of the convenience. Unless you're into serious immediate gratification, there's nothing like ordering on-line in the comfort of your own home, and just waiting for your rentals to come in the mail. You no longer have to physically get ready to go out, get into your car, drive to the nearest video rental store, browse thru numerous catagories, genres, etc, stand in line to rent, get back into your car, drive home, watch the movie(s), and then repeat the process when you return your rental(s). With Netflix, you just wait for the movies in the mail. And the "envelope" the movies come in also serves as the return envelope. They did it right!

I can remember many days and nights of channel flipping and not being able to find anything worth watching. Remember when we only had about 8-10 channels to choose from? And now with cable and satellite, we have channels galore... But I still have trouble finding things to watch. I've got a small collection of DVDs, and there are those choice few that I could watch over again, but Netflix has provided me with a near endless selection. I could probably rent forever without ever watching the same thing twice. Also, it has given me a chance to catch up and re-live certain series I grew up with. With the exception of Star Trek: TNG and Babylon 5, I don't think I've ever stuck with any TV series in its entirety. Not even X-Files. In the past, my general pattern of watching TV was to hear about a series thru friends or commercials. I'd watch the series, get into it, and then faithfully keep up (set up the VCR to record, etc., etc). Then, I would gradually lose interest, missing an episode here and there, until its importance in my life faded to a mere shrug of the shoulders. Now, I see this as an opportunity to "catch-up" and fill in the gaps. I have at my fingertips, the chance to watch entire seasons and series at my leisure. Further, it's much more satisfying to watch episodes back-to-back as opposed to once a week.

Many times, before NetFlix, I've opened the cabinet next to the TV and peered in. I don't have a huge collection of DVDs, and that's a good thing. But I've often just watched things over and over again, just to have something on TV while I was eating breakfast. But now, especially with NetFlix, I have second thoughts as to why I had bought certain DVDs. I think: "How many times have watched this one? How many times do you think you're going to watch it again? I didn't really have to buy this one." The same could be said for probably two-thirds of my collection. A friend of mine, who has a lot more DVDs has this pattern: buy a DVD, watch it once, put it on the shelf, and never watch it again. Needless to say, I will rarely be buying DVDs in the future.

So now I had a new quandry. For me, there are many movies out there not worth buying, but worth watching again. Since there's so much out there I haven't seen, do I spend time re-watching things I've already seen? Or do I watch everything only once, and never again? I've opted for the former. Something I'd seen many years ago might hold something different for me now. I might appreciate something more now. I might despise something now that I loved years ago... Again, I must say, it's amazing that what I once thought was magical, is not so much anymore. Kinda sad in a way...

I have almost 400 in my queue. Now, I'm looking for that perfect rotation where I always have something to watch...

So, thank you, Thane of the Universe, and thank you, Netflix...