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Raskolnikov2089 posted:Korean cinema is pretty much my "go to" for awesome foreign movies. They're so deliciously hosed up, you can't help but love them. I went to watch The Host last week and it wasn't on there. Is it back up? kri kri posted:If you don't think Netflix makes an absolute shitload of money I don't know what to say. They must pay a lot of hosting fees, but they had 403 million dollars of gross profit in March 2011. I'm not sure what your point is. They made a moderate amount of money before operating costs which even you admit would be quite high. They made $60 million in the last quarter, which isn't exactly big bucks for a company that large with as many customers as they have.
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Jul 14, 2011 20:33
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CNN and other news outlets are awash right now with stories about users protesting the Netflix price hike, and it's loving retarded. I mean, no one likes a price increase on something they use everyday, but being able to stream 24 hours a day 365 days a year AND get discs for 10 bucks was the deal of the loving century. I've actually been thinking for awhile that it was only a matter of time until this happened, and I'm not surprised at all. In a day and age when people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars a month for iPhone service when all they do is play games and gently caress around with stupid apps, Netflix charging as little as they did was an absolute steal. And it still is. 8 bucks for streaming is still an amazing deal, considering that it's limited only by how many days and hours there are in a month. Doubling that to get discs is STILL cheaper than most poo poo out there. Hell, Gamefly is 15 bucks a month, and it's disc only. It's amazing how quickly people get up in arms about poo poo like this, treating it as some sort of inalienable right. Goddamn people are depressing.
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Jul 14, 2011 21:57
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Twitch posted:This is sort of troubling news, but I switched to streaming only last month anyway. What I like about Netflix is that when I'm actually in the mood to watch TV/movies I can always find something new to watch. I just finished watching the series yesterday. I enjoyed the first few episodes, but I think it get's even better soon after. Any episode that revolves around Bubbles is great as far as I'm concerned.
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Jul 15, 2011 00:25
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particle409 posted:I just finished watching the series yesterday. I enjoyed the first few episodes, but I think it get's even better soon after. Any episode that revolves around Bubbles is great as far as I'm concerned. I have to agree with this. There were some slump episodes for sure, but if anything the show gets better over time. It's rare that a show goes 7+ seasons and I'm sad to see it end.
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Jul 15, 2011 00:28
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I was disappointed that they dropped Cory and Trevor in season 7 . Other than that, it's a terrific series and a great show. e: Here's the skinny on what happened, from a blog post Trevor posted then later thought the better of and deleted: http://www.tv.com/trailer-park-boys/what-really-happened-to-cory-and-trevor/topic/5951-1215083/msgs.html
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Jul 15, 2011 00:44
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bort posted:I was disappointed that they dropped Cory and Trevor in season 7 . Other than that, it's a terrific series and a great show. Well, that certainly puts things in a slightly different light. Anyways, a ton of the Troma movies are up. Toxic Avenger 1-4, Tromeo & Juliet, Class of Nuke'em High 1-3, etc. I'm currently watching Toxic Avenger 3, which starts of with a poignant criticism of major studios strong-arming independent video stores into only carrying their videos and not the smaller studios' videos. Obviously this is now a bygone argument, but it's still sort of funny.
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Jul 15, 2011 02:42
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Is the movie not a good place to start with Trailer Park Boys? I tried watching it and was quickly bored to sleep.
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Jul 15, 2011 15:51
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particle409 posted:Well, that certainly puts things in a slightly different light. There had been rumblings about unsavory behavior on the production end for Trailer Park Boys for a while. This is the most straightforward indication of the people behind the scenes being dicks that I've seen, however.
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Jul 15, 2011 16:13
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Great article on the price increase that's not just the same stuff over and over again like the rest: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/why-netflix-raised-its-prices/
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Jul 15, 2011 19:32
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cheerfullydrab posted:Great article on the price increase that's not just the same stuff over and over again like the rest: This is an interesting article. I'd like to know why the author hastily dismisses an increase in licensing and distribution costs, however. Also, I have to disagree about it now just being an "average deal". $16 a month still isn't that much.
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Jul 15, 2011 19:50
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I think most of the discussion is stupid because it fails to account for several things: - How many customers are actually affected? That is to say, how many customers were actually fully utilizing the DVD+Streaming Plan? Because those are the only people that will see this much touted '60% increase'. - How many customers were paying 10 bucks/month for DVD's+Streaming when all they actually wanted was DVD's? In effect, these people were subsidizing everyone else and now they'll just pay 8 bucks/month for DVD's. - For some subset of customers, I imagine the 6 dollar price increase in DVD+Streaming will make them realize they weren't really using the DVD option anyhow (think of how many people here mention having had the same DVD for god knows how long, anecdotal to be sure but it could be indicative of a larger trend) and switch to Streaming only, thereby actually reducing their monthly charge by 2 bucks a month, or 20% since that sounds more impressive. - Lastly, I hate the way that article starts: "Sad, sad, sad. The world’s best deal in TV and movies has just gone away.". Near the end, it also says: "In other words, even at $16, Netflix still gives you more than anyone else." So which is it? Because it can't be both. The best deal in TV and movies didn't go away, it just went up in price, that's all. It's still the best deal you'll find. I also don't get why this is now just an 'average' deal. $16 bucks a month for access to tons and tons of poo poo seems like a pretty awesome deal to me, unless you've only been alive for a couple years and have no memory of what things were like 5 years ago before we even had streaming and Netflix was more expensive for DVD's only.
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Jul 15, 2011 20:41
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Jibo posted:This is an interesting article. I'd like to know why the author hastily dismisses an increase in licensing and distribution costs, however. Also, I have to disagree about it now just being an "average deal". $16 a month still isn't that much. Agreed. I have no idea why how he can use the phrase "average deal" directly after pointing out that all of the alternatives are both more expensive, and not as good. I would not personally describe the best deal in the industry as "an average deal". The bottom line is that 60% is a huge increase, but is still absolutely a great deal anyway.
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Jul 15, 2011 20:43
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I use the DVD checkout, but my activity with it goes in cycles. I will check out 10 movies in a month then not check any out for months. The thing is Netflix lets you add and remove features on demand, and prorates the charge. Now instead of keeping it all the time I will just add dvd checkout during the times I am using it. It also, from reading, sounded like the streaming has been subsidizing the DVDs more than anything. Netflix kind of made it sound like a large part of their growth has been strictly in streaming, but most of those people kept DVD checkout while not using it (probably since there was non streaming plan only to start with).
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Jul 15, 2011 21:32
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Since there's a lot of talks about the current listing of Korean films, I should bring up that there are some great Chinese films (mix of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan): Mad Detective - Schizo detective who was forced to retired, but his "ability" is called on to solve a missing cop case. Don't go into thinking too much about 'Man, that's not possible!' but it's a really cool police drama with a side of comedy. Election - Hong Kong cinema's portrayal what Chinese triad's like - in comparison to how Hollywood's portrayal Italian Mafia in Godfather. Dragon Tiger Gate - Based on Hong Kong comics, so it will be flashy fights, cheesy CG effect, but it's a pretty fun beat-everything up type of movie. One Nite in Mongkok - Great movie that shows sometimes a bad guy isn't really bad, and the good guys aren't that good after all. There's intense moments in regards the cop trying to catch the hit man. A World Without Thieves - Pretty good China film starring Andy Lau, it has some silly cinematic moments as it should be a more serious movie but it's a fun film over all.
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Jul 15, 2011 21:54
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<(I can tell you that it is NOT '42'.)
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bonds0097 posted:I think most of the discussion is stupid because it fails to account for several things: Yes. 16 bucks a month is still cheap as hell for the value you get. If they'd hiked it to 50 bucks a month I could understand this backlash, but a six dollar increase making people freak out like this is loving retarded.
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Jul 15, 2011 22:02
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bonds0097 posted:
This is me. I usually never have a DVD for more than a few days. And on a slow night, I will turn on the PS3 and stream a few episodes of things. I've made sure to get the most out of my $10. Yes, $6 isn't much but it was not wanting to pay more than $10 that kept me from getting 2 or 3 discs at a time. The reason people like me are mad is that we are now paying more but not getting any more. As I said before, why can't those of us who want/use both get some kind of bundle deal? As for people who only wanted DVDs by mail, wasn't there a limited DVDs my mail plan for, like, $5? I could swear it was there a few months ago when I was looking through the plans while I considered adding Blu-Ray. Is Netflix pretending that this never happened? edit: looks like such a plan does exist but it's only 2 DVDs a month and 2 hours of streaming. I thought it was more. Homeybeef has a new favorite as of 23:39 on Jul 15, 2011 |
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Jul 15, 2011 22:52
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How much is it to rent a DVD from Redbox? $1? If Netflix offered a one-time-DVD-rental for an extra $3 and it was guaranteed to get here in <24 hours, I'd be all over it. For the once in a blue moon that I really want to watch a film and I'm not buying it or it isn't on streaming.
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Jul 15, 2011 23:33
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BeeZee142 posted:How much is it to rent a DVD from Redbox? $1? If Netflix offered a one-time-DVD-rental for an extra $3 and it was guaranteed to get here in <24 hours, I'd be all over it. For the once in a blue moon that I really want to watch a film and I'm not buying it or it isn't on streaming. 100% of the time I order a physical dvd is because it isn't offered on streaming and is relatively rare (e.g. foreign films, old films, documentaries). I guarantee you it's never offered at a RedBox.
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Jul 16, 2011 00:15
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Man, Power Rangers is so great. I now understand why my parents used to watch this show with me as a kid and laugh uproariously all the time. Its the perfect combo of everything great about 70's Japanese cinema: the goofy martial arts, the rubber monsters, the "acting" thats so bad it might as well be a dub. Also, if you're a fan of goofyness Top Secret is up on the Flix. Its Val Kilmers first movie, and made by the Airplane! guys. I won't lie, the movie is ENTIRELY sight gags and bad puns, but there are so many of them and they are so well done. Features, among other things: the greatest western style barfight ever (its under water), a Mr.T look-a-like who gets guns handed to him from off screen, and much more goofy goofiness.
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Jul 16, 2011 01:12
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I recently tried to look at the facebook fan page to see what other people are doing about this and this is all I see. 1) people saying that they've canceled their plans when the new pricing hasnt gone into effect yet and saying that they are switching to redbox because of it. Is it just me or does redbox have nothing be b movies and the occasional art house release. 2) people spamming the page with the same thing over and over again. Yes, we get the point that you angry about this, but stop being a dick about it. 3) people posting the CEO's email. Like he really reads them anyway. People have to realize that trends are shifting and things need to change to support it. I'm going give it one month and see how it is before I decide what needs to be canceled. But I'm also writing down my current streaming queue just in case I have to get rid if the streaming, this way I have to get rid of my streaming.
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Jul 16, 2011 01:27
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El Estrago Bonito posted:Man, Power Rangers is so great. I now understand why my parents used to watch this show with me as a kid and laugh uproariously all the time. Its the perfect combo of everything great about 70's Japanese cinema: the goofy martial arts, the rubber monsters, the "acting" thats so bad it might as well be a dub. Top Secret is pretty great. It's not quite the classic that Airplane! is (in no small part because a lot more of the humor is overtly reference-based) but when it works it works. And the experimental stuff, like the underwater barfight or one scene that's played in reverse and was shot with everyone walking and talking backward, is great. screenwritersblues posted:Is it just me or does redbox have nothing be b movies and the occasional art house release. Redbox carries new releases and older movies related to them (like having an older movie when its sequel or remake is in theaters), the problem is that 9 times out of 10 they're picked clean by the time you get there so the only thing that's left are the crappy Asylum knockoffs. It's good for when you want to watch a new release on impulse but it's no replacement for something like Netflix, and people throwing such a shitfit when they're still getting unlimited movies for less than the price of a new-release DVD from Wal-Mart is pretty obnoxious.
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Jul 16, 2011 01:45
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Honestly, I see only one reasonable course of action. Re-evaluate whether you feel you are getting your money's worth out of your Netflix Plan, or rather whether you will be once the new pricing goes in effect and either: A) Keep your plan as it is because even with the higher pricing it's still worth it. B) Modify your plan to something you're happier paying for such as only streaming or only DVD's. C) Cancel your plan. I'm sure there's an exit survey when you cancel and you can express your opinion there in a reasonable way. There's no excuse to get all pissy. No one has a 'right' to Netflix, it's a good like any other. If you think it's too expensive, stop buying it. That's it, I don't see why there has to be so much wailing and gnashing of teeth. While you could argue that Netflix would have been better served by grandfathering in existing customers in order to avoid the public outcry, it appears they ran the numbers (according to the linked NY Times editorial) and decided they'd come out ahead doing things this way so that makes sense, given that they're a profit-maximizing company.
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Jul 16, 2011 01:53
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screenwritersblues posted:2) people spamming the page with the same thing over and over again. Yes, we get the point that you angry about this, but stop being a dick about it. I think it's silly that people would express so much anger over something so trivial.
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Jul 16, 2011 01:54
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Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but isn't the Blockbuster plan more expensive? It's 9.99 for 1 DVD which doesn't include any kind of streaming versus 7.99 for Netflix's 1 DVD plan... Does blockbuster expect people to pay more for the same thing just because they're angry?
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Jul 16, 2011 01:56
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bonds0097 posted:Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but isn't the Blockbuster plan more expensive? It's 9.99 for 1 DVD which doesn't include any kind of streaming versus 7.99 for Netflix's 1 DVD plan... Does blockbuster expect people to pay more for the same thing just because they're angry? Good, I thought I was going crazy. Only thing Blockbuster really has going for it is games and their game selection is mediocre, really. And with studios like EA charging people to play their games online after the 'free code' is used it seriously won't be worth it.
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Jul 16, 2011 02:18
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redbox selection also depends on where the redbox is. The ones in McDonalds seem to have more kids movies and bad direct to DvD action stuff, while the grocery store ones and 7-11 ones seem to have more new releases and the occasional old movie that people like.
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Jul 16, 2011 02:26
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bonds0097 posted:Maybe I'm reading things wrong, but isn't the Blockbuster plan more expensive? It's 9.99 for 1 DVD which doesn't include any kind of streaming versus 7.99 for Netflix's 1 DVD plan... Does blockbuster expect people to pay more for the same thing just because they're angry? Its selection is also much worse. My old roommate had it and it's pretty abysmal for getting anything mildly obscure.
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Jul 16, 2011 02:31
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Going to chip in another recommendation for Ip Man because drat son, just drat. Also, if you want a cheap laugh, watch Monster Camp. Basically, it's a documentary about this monthly LARPing gig in Seattle. Some of the stuff that gets brought up (like the minutiae of the NERO system) is just unintentionally hilarious. Another interesting documentary everyone should take a look at is Freakonomics. The topics covered in that movie are pretty cool. It goes over stuff like cheating in Sumo and whether or not Roe V. Wade caused a drop in crime. It sounds like a bunch of statistical wankery, but it's actually pretty neat. As an aside, oh poo poo, The Secret of NIMH is available for streaming.
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Jul 16, 2011 02:48
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Hopefully this hasn't been posted yet but my wife recommended Fat Head to me and it was actually pretty interesting. It's kind of a counter-documentary to Super Size Me that covers facts about American health, diet, fast food etc. The guy also goes on a diet where he has fast food every day (like Big Mac and fries, not just salads) and improved his health over a month.
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Jul 16, 2011 02:58
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The scientific parts of Fat Head are good. However, viewers should be cautioned that the presenter is highly political and comes at the topic from an extremely libertarian angle. The good parts are the animations about biochemistry and the interviews with scientific researchers. The bad parts include lengthy interviews with the libertarian editors of Reason magazine. Had the movie been a fair rebuttal of "Super Size Me" by showing that "Yes, eating fast food made Morgon Spurlock fat, but not for the reason he claims," it would be great. Unfortunately, it's not. There is some good information in the film, but it's coated in such charged political terms that it often puts off more people than it educates. Worth a look, but be warned.
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Jul 16, 2011 03:21
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I'm not angry. I don't believe a low monthy cost is my inherent right or anything. But I don't know why people are to eager to defend Netflix either, by finding the stupidest and angriest comments about it. A 60% increase still doesn't look or sound good. And yes, there's still a lot of people using both services. (And the idea that they were two different services all along sort of plays into Netflix's damage control PR.) I'm just going to act like a sane and rational consumer and consider my options once September comes. Most likely, I'll cut the DVD service probably, but consider switching to an another instant video service by the end of the year. To contribute, I recommended 8: The Mormon Proposition in the documentary thread a while back. It's a film about how the Mormon church was directly involved in pushing Prop 8 in California, and elaborates on their strategy through astroturfing and media blitzing. It goes into the where the money in support for Prop 8 came from. There's plenty of interviews with activists, politicians, and former Mormons. More interesting is the excerpts from leaked internal memos from the church. It's very surprising how much the church asked its members to do and sacrifice for the cause of banning same-sex marriage. Be warned, it's very depressing and anger-inducing. Echo Chamber has a new favorite as of 04:02 on Jul 16, 2011 |
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Jul 16, 2011 04:00
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Haven't got to watch it yet but I saw they added Legend Of The Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. I heard it's pretty good and it has Donnie Yen in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AARG8e8wNM
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Jul 16, 2011 08:01
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About half of the Monty Python episodes on Instant have their audio out of sync with their video. The only way I can seem to report this is by actually watching part of each of the episodes and reporting a problem in my Instant Watching Activity one-by-one. Is there a way I can do this more in batch without having to go through one-by-one, watching them to see if they're out of sync, and then reporting them individually?
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Jul 16, 2011 19:33
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incorporeal posted:Haven't got to watch it yet but I saw they added Legend Of The Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen. I heard it's pretty good and it has Donnie Yen in it. I just came here to post this. The movie is like saving private ryn meets IP man.
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Jul 16, 2011 20:28
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I don't know when they added it, but Dirty Jobs is now on Instant! If you've never seen this show, Mike Rowe does a good job of showing some of the hosed up jobs that keeps our country running. The only episode that really freaked me out a bit was the tannery one. I swear I could smell that place through my tv screen. It's season 3, episode 3.
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Jul 17, 2011 03:37
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Twitch posted:
Heads up, the boys + Randy have an upcoming variety show debuting this month (The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour). I'm cautiously optimistic of it from what I've seen from the commercial. Plus their was 2 TPB movies + a couple specials that you should see if netflix has
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Jul 17, 2011 04:08
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All 4 seasons of Home Movies are now up. Hopefully this is the start of more Adult Swim content on Netflix.
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Jul 17, 2011 04:22
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Jibo posted:This is an interesting article. I'd like to know why the author hastily dismisses an increase in licensing and distribution costs, however. Also, I have to disagree about it now just being an "average deal". $16 a month still isn't that much. Given that it's written by a guy who thinks the practice of taking potential customer churn into account when analyzing the effects of a planned price increase is "creepy", I'm not sure I'd place much stock in anything he says relating to business. As for Netflix, I'd guess they want to split their DVD and streaming services into separate business units, probably in part to make it easier to handle the ugly expensive morass of streaming licensing however they need to (i.e. increased prices) without affecting their DVD business line or customers. It might also let them streamline a bit if they're currently staffing and equipping both sides of the business based on current customer volume rather than actual usage, and at the very least it will make analyzing subscriber trends and planning future changes easier; right now every customer is a potential user of both services and they don't know if a guy buying the $10 DVD+streaming plan is going to be ordering lots of DVDs or watching lots of streaming video or both until he's been around a while. And, of course, splitting their business lines will also make it easier to eventually sell off one line of business or the other.
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Jul 17, 2011 04:35
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particle409 posted:I don't know when they added it, but Dirty Jobs is now on Instant! If you've never seen this show, Mike Rowe does a good job of showing some of the hosed up jobs that keeps our country running. The only episode that really freaked me out a bit was the tannery one. I swear I could smell that place through my tv screen. It's season 3, episode 3. It's all been on there forever, but it's well worth bringing back up so more people will go watch Mike Rowe be awesome.
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Jul 17, 2011 10:25
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The Fighter is on there, great movie. I'm surprised such a big movie got put on there so fast.
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Jul 17, 2011 15:06
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