Flix on the Net

Once upon a time when renting dvds through the mail was in its infancy, I signed up for blockbuster online.  The best part of the program was that you got a free in store rental in addition to the ones through the mail.  I would usually use these on television box sets.  I was definitely getting my money's worth.  After a few years they changed their policy to every movie received through the mail could be exchanged for an in store rental.  I like that at first, but after a while it became one more errand to run.

This winter I decided to switch from blockbuster to Netflix, because I was tired of driving to the store.  Evidently my $12.95 a month was the only thing keeping Blockbuster afloat.  Shortly after I cancelled my subscription, they closed down the Blockbuster nearest my house.

My plan was to take a break from movies for awhile then switch over to Netflix.  I enjoyed not having to schedule my life around when a movie would arrive in the mail, so I continued putting off signing up for Netflix.  Rewatching Angel this summer has kept me content and not missing movies at all.  I am over half way through and loving it as much as always.

Around the middle of June, I thought of a great blog post that I needed to write for you.  It is not ready yet, but it will be soon.  For this post to reach its full potential, I needed access to some movies that I don't own.  I finally signed up for Netflix and got their first month free trial.  Before my trial month was even over, they changed their prices on me.  It went from $9.99 for everything to $7.99 for dvds and $7.99 for streaming on the ps3.

During that first month, the only movie that I had downloaded was God in America.  It was also available to watch at pbs or at church if I had attended with any regularity this summer.  So I considered dropping the streaming portion of my plan, but then I watched The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  It came highly recommended by Ring of the Other Hand and his father, so I gave it a try.  I watched 14 episodes in one weekend and knew that I had to keep streaming.  Episodes last only 22 minutes, so I can watch several in a row or any time that I have a little time to spare.  After the Avengers I can watch Futurama, Family Guy, and cartoons from my childhood.


The only drawback is that this may become a stumbling block to my desires to read and write.  Sometimes I do not have the self discipline to turn off the television.  Hopefully I will be able to find the balance.