Movie Mania

Ever since The Lion King, I have been a movie person. It started with a small hobby, something to buy time with, but it would grow into something much, much bigger. Thanks to modern-day technology, I can access  thousands of movie options with the click of a button.

For the longest time, I've been a member of Netflix. For those who haven't heard or haven't turned on a TV in the last 5 years, Netflix is basically a more convenient version of blockbuster. Instead of having to go to the store to pick out a movie, you can do it on your computer or even on your gaming console (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii). There are no late fees, keep the DVD as long as you need to. This feature is probably my favorite, because when I get busy with school and just tied up in a lot of things (aka, I procrastinated a little), I can just keep the DVD until I have some spare time to watch it and then return it afterwards.

Not only can you receive DVD's through Netflix, but they have thousands of movies and TV shows available to watch via an online streaming method (gaming consoles previously mentioned or a computer/laptop). Personally, I stream through my Xbox 360, which is ironic since I bought it to play video games but now I have no time or desire to play video games, so it serves as my DVD player and Netflix access device.

The best thing I'd say about the instant option through netflix is the TV shows. You can watch just about any type of show. If your looking for a funny TV show, your options are pretty wide. Some of my favorites to check out are The Office (first 7 seasons), South Park (14 seasons), Family Guy (8 seasons), That 70's Show (8 seasons), and even Cheers for you old folks. Not looking to laugh, but instead want a serious, suspenseful dram TV show to watch, your in luck. Some popular dramas Netflix offers are Law and Order SVU (12 seasons), Law and Order Criminal Intent, Heroes (Seasons 1-4),  24 (8 seasons), and many more.

The movie side of the instant option through Netflix is not quite as great as the TV side, but there is a lot of great movies available. The best perk is that any movie available on the movie network Starz, is available on Netflix, thanks to a contract between the two companies. So along with a few movies sprinkled into the mix, the majority of the good movies available instantly are mostly older movies. Some of the best older movies I've seen on Netflix include Full Metal Jacket, 8 Mile, Memento, The Beach, Gone Baby Gone, No Country For All Men, Black Hawk Down, Angels and Demons, The Boondock Saints, Shutter Island, among many, many more. So when I say the options aren't as good, that is not necessarily a bad thing but just a not as good thing, if that makes sense.

There are, however, some downfalls to Netflix. The first being a minor one that has only affected me a handful of times in the three-plus years I've had Netflix, the downfall being scratched or damaged DVD's. In the process of mailing back and forth hundreds of times, DVD's take a beating. Netflix realizes this and has a good system for keeping customers, that being if you receive a damaged disc, all you have to do is go to your online account, click on the "Damaged DVD" icon and they'll send you a new disc as soon as possible. Another downfall is that you have to have a decent internet connection to stream Netflix instantly. This is not a problem for me at my house, because there are only three people possibly using the internet at the same time. Consequently, I can't watch Family Guy during class or even in the library for that matter. At first, I thought this was truly a downfall, but I realized I wouldn't get anything done if I could watch Netflix in class and in the library, so I'm thankful for the 10,000 or so other people using K-State's internet and dedicate my GPA to each and every one of them. The final downfall to Netflix is a more recent one, and that is that they are raising their prices for each option of service. For the longest time they kept their prices constant, but as a result of about every video store going out of business, Blockbuster being the latest and biggest of the video stores, Netflix has started to raise their prices. It's a smart business strategy, with their customers having less options to pursue (i.e. Redbox and???), and I personally still value the service-plan I use more than I pay for it so it's worth it to me.

I'm going to start trying to do a movie review about weekly, hopefully, the movies will either be new movies or older movies I've never seen before. I may even drop a new TV show or documentary into the mix that really caught my attention. I'm starting to get used to my schedule for this semester and am going to do my best to update the blog more frequently.

In other news, I got to see my mother, father, both brothers and my two favorite sister-in-laws for the opening weekend of K-State football. The game wasn't what I was hoping for but that I'll leave that for a different post (maybe tomorrow?). Besides the actual game, the weekend turned out to be a great one, I got to see my family, eat great tailgating food, and just hang out with old friends and classmates. Hopefully, the next game in two weeks, will be better and complete the weekend to its full potential.

Stay tuned people.

Love these people! (Sorry Abby for stealing this picture off your blog)