NetFlix - Less than Spectacular

In spite of my earlier excitement, I am not at all impressed with Netflix. If I watch a movie the day it arrives and return it the next morning, I can get exactly one movie a week (on the $9.99 plan - 1 movie at a time with unlimited rentals...the cheapest, excluding the $6.99 for 3 movies a month which seems to be only available through ads on MSN). That works out to, roughly, $2.50/rental. That's definitely cheaper than the video store here, but given that there are over 150 selections on our list right now, there's little chance we'll get through them any time soon. Plus, with a good part of my contribution to the list being tv series that I missed (24 seasons 1-4, Lost season 1, The Greatest American Hero, etc....), there's little reason to expect to see them in a worthwhile fashion. I may as well just eliminate all of those since I don't care to waste our one chance of entertainment a week, every other week for the next 3 years, on something Andria won't be remotely interested in. Sure, it's possible to upgrade. The 2-at-a-go option is just $15 a month, but that starts moving into a place where we're slaves to the rental, which we will be...it's our nature, and we'll be consumed with getting our money's worth out of it. Truth be told, we'd get our money's worth out of it when the third movie came, if you match it against the local video racket's prices, but that's not the point.

Or maybe it should be.

Maybe I should try to convince Andria that to make it worth it we should upgrade. That way, she can still watch her musicals ("If I were a rich man...da da da dada...") and I could catch up on glorius television (I think they have the A-Team and maybe even Thundercats).

But then, that kind of thinking is exactly how they get you...

Friggin' Potheads

...Oh, excuse me...that should read Potterheads.

So, historically, I've been anti-Harry Potter. There's no rhyme or reason to WHY I've been against the young wizard and the tales of his exploits. It was more of an arbitrary decision. Maybe that everyone and their grandmothers were screaming about how these books were the greatest thing to hit the printed word since moveable type, much like how I hate country music based, mostly, on how everyone here in Hicksville, USA, loves country music. Anyway, the local movie chain (well, the chain isn't local, but they have two outlets in my tiny town and no competition) has been offering one free rental a day over the weekend, so long as you get something that isn't new. Well, I'm not sure how it went down, but Saturday we came home with The Sorcerer's Stone and Sunday, because one of the others we'd intended to get was out, we got both The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban.

But Monkey, you're thinking, that's two movies and you were only getting one free per day and that's TWO on Sunday.

True, but its one free per day PER STORE. I do so enjoy working the system. Besides, if they didn't want people to do it, they'd make the computers at both stores reflect what the customer has done regardless of location.

Anyway, so in one weekend I've gone from no Potter whatsoever to one movie shy of all the Potter there is. Not too shabby. My wife did point out that it was quite a bit of the same thing in such a short timespan. Then again, she frowns on the idea of me getting the entire run of 24 through Netflix, as such is available, because that's a lot of 24.

I wouldn't be expecting me to read the books, though, if I were you. I still haven't finished American Gods yet...and I started that (more or less) back before Christmas.

Good thing I work at the library. They might've gotten mad at me otherwise.

Hooray.

Well, I've still got my money, a week later...but my car still hasn't been fixed (a major contributing factor to the continued presence of said cash). I did receive word, though, that my car will be ready early next week.

...

Also, the cost is nearly $200 more than I'd been told.

...

After I go back in time and kill Alexander Graham Bell, I'm going to kill Henry Ford.

Either A or B...

It seems that one of the following MUST be true:

A) I am allergic to Wookie fur and Chewbacca is hiding in my sinuses

B) Ben Burtt recorded me blowing my nose and used it in the Star Wars films as the sound of said Wookiee (a remarkable feat considering I wasn't even conceived until four months after A New Hope first hit theaters).

Also, I've blown a head gasket on my car and will be roughly $500 dollars poorer next time we speak. Yay for cars. And sinuses.

Brain dump

Warning: The following is probably disjointed and random, held together loosely under the idea that it all came from the same head. Mine, that is.

So, I've been going through an odd spell, lately. Without any creative output of my own, I've been limping by on my daily list (the ones down the side of this blog, plus PVP, Penny Arcade, and Real Life). (Oh, and Mac Hall. I kinda forget to list that one since it only updates roughly once a month. That's better than some, I suppose ((read: my comic)), but still, it used to go through spurts and now it just dribbles.) Anyway, that's left me with not much, and when you factor in other things like how Eric Burns has been all but silent on Websnark (sad fact is, I don't care what Wednesday has to say about anything because, while I don't always match up with Eric as taste goes, nothing she reads ever mattered to me...I mean, she's obsessed with Jack Chick) and if you look at the Websnark main page, he's nowhere to be found. And don't get me started on Brigadier General John Stark. Burns gets me interested in a visually repetitive and static comic based on words alone (no mean feat) and then just stops?!? Dude!

Anyway, it hasn't been all downers. I read through the archives for Zebra Girl, which I'd dismissed as being either a furry comic or a fan-service festival in the past, only to realize its really good. Maybe you noticed from a few of the Vapor Lock comics, but I really do get down on with the supernatural stuff. Plus, between the art and the pacing, there's a lot to enjoy. Dude rocks at foreshadowing. Stuff'll happen in a panel or two during one storyline and you won't think anything of it until it becomes important later. Of course, I had the benefit of reading all 5 years worth in two days time, so maybe it seemed more obvious, but still, I like the way he handles the story.

I seem to be at an impasse when it comes to the "new comic" (which has been named in a place not here....so go look for it already, ya bum!). Artistically, I think I'm ready, though only time and available reference materials will tell (I need building reference for cityscapes, which are my weakest area by far....see the early pages of Troubled Times for evidence). I'm trying to script right now, but, while I already have a solid number of characters primed for the superhero parts (and more coming all the time...which isn't as helpful as you might think since I'm forced to sketch them out so I'll remember them later...I am lacking in direction and, thus, characters for the more mundane aspects of the main characters' lives. This isn't a problem for Widow (ooh...I let slip a character's name!!!) but it is for....(sorry, one thing at a time). In spite of certain difficulties inherent in getting a project started, I'm still rather stoked about this one. I've had it on my mind for a while and I really want to do it justice, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to continue to bear with me. PLUS, should you feel any desire at all to make any comments or suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Splitting the difference...

Cricket's making this tough on me. This only works if I'm the unreliable one! Anyway, I put up a sketch on Vapor Lock's site, one which'll be up on the Dim Bulb main site on Thursday. I was going to put it up on Tuesday, as I often do, but Cricket's colored drawing deserved some airtime, so...there you go. So as not to leave it unseen, I decided to put it up on VL for today and DBC tomorrow. The sketches, as you may have noticed, have gotten less and less detailed. That would be because I'm busy scripting right now.

One step closer, baby!