March 22, 2013

Mad At Netflix One Writer Connection

 

MAD AT NETFLIX

 

          I watch a lot of movies, my favorites the forties, fifties, sixties. I don’t care much for modern films, too thirteen year-old and younger oriented. I subscribe to Netflix, have for years. Many of the movies I watch come from them. I’ve watched them grow from a few hundred thousand DVDs to – as they advertise, 4 billion deals, rentals, or whatever. What I like about them, they send an email of date movie shipped, date of arrival, and it always shows up in my drop box the date they stated. A terrific deal. You can even download and watch movies right on your computer, instantly, if you can stomach that much time staring at a computer screen. Some cable providers now let you watch on your wall size television, but that’s beyond my pay grade. My Wi-Fi won’t handle the load and anything moving does so in jerks and sputters. That’s why I’m not a big fan of YouTube.

          But I’m mad at Netflix. As a writer I get many plot ideas from elderly movies. Not to steal direct but to alter and use. So I like classics, like “Band of Angels” with Yvonne de Carlo and Clark Cable and Sydney Poitier. So, I order the movie and what do I get? “Very Long Wait.” What’s up with that jazz? So, I go down my order list and this is what I find.

“Get Rich Quick” Short Wait

“Death Rides a Horse” Short Wait

“The Woman in White” Short Wait

“The Fighting Kentuckian” Long Wait

“The Squeeze” Very Long Wait

“Band of Angels” Very Long Wait

“So Ends the Night” Very Long Wait

“A Time to Kill” Long Wait

“Deadfall” Very Long Wait

          At one time, of the eight movies on my list waiting to be sent, seven had some kind of wait. And nobody lists next to those announcements, what is considered a Short, Long or Very Long wait. I’ve been waiting months for “Band of Angels” to get its “wait” shortened to maybe “Long Wait” or “Short Wait.” But, no, it hangs there in “Very Long Wait” for what? Six months? A year? A decade? I forget why I wanted to see it, other than a chance to watch a young Yvonne de Carlo move around once again, before she appeared on that monster crap.

          So, I’m mad at Netflix. I’m happy for their success with orders flying in from all over the country. But I now realize, as they must…Netflix has become too big for its britches.