I Think It's Officially Time for Me to Cancel My Netflix Subscription

Comments

If you use the free instant viewing (on your computer or with a ROKU) it is totally worth it, otherwise, yeah, Netflix usually wins.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:42 AM

Scarecrow is fun, and has lots of movies, and is local.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:44 AM

The best thing about you is how unapologetic you are about being a dumb cunt

on April 13, 2009 at 11:45 AM

I still think it's the greatest thing ever. I watch at least 3-4 movies a week.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Yeah, that's why I canceled Netflix. Also because most movies can be seen for free. Here I'm voting for the pirates FTW.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM

I have a couple of DVDs languishing on my coffee table, but I watch tons of movies/tv shows on Watch Instantly. That makes it worth it for me, but yeah, I should probably return the DVDs I do have.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:49 AM

you know, at some point you just have to say to yourself: "self, i am obviously NOT going to watch this movie. i'll send it back and maybe order it again if jack nicholson or faye dunaway suddenly croaks and all the subsequent misty retrospective chatter about him/her gets me hot for it again." then you put it in the mailbox. this should happen by the 4 month mark or you are a fool.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:50 AM

We got a Netfix gift two years ago, used it really well for the first winter, and then....the above happened. So, we cancelled, and now get our movies from our local library. Sometimes the wait is super long, but we don't watch a ton, so it works for us!

on April 13, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Your problem isn't that you are throwing money away with a subscription to netflix. Your problem is that you think you are more cultured than you actually are, so when you order cinema classics like Chinatown and Dr. Strangelove you feel cool for having done the actions to get them in your home but never actually watched them once they were there. Netflix shouldn't be blamed cause your a pretentious hipster geek. Sorry, but this was a really dumb and unnecesary post.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:52 AM

If you haven't let mailing discs get the best of you (yet), the legendary Chicago nonprofit movie-freak outlet Facets (finally) netflixicized their amazing rental stock, mailing back and forth with alacrity and panache. They have a lot of crucial stuff that literally nobody else does, because Facets finances a lot of disc pressing themselves. If you order a Criterion immaculate reissue with two discs of extras, you get all three counted as one mailing. Woof. I am best pleased. Do be sure to get one of their enormous beautiful printed catalogues first for targeted queuebuilding.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:53 AM

If you want to catch up on tv shows, it's totally worth it. (And you're like me and binge on the entire disc the first, and only day, you have it.)

...otherwise, yeah no.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:54 AM

I go through phases with Netflix. Sometimes I watch like 3-6 movies a week, other times it'll be like one a month. Usually I will have one movie for months while I watch and send back the other two. But the main reason why I love having Netflix is the Watch Instantly, which I've been using a lot.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:54 AM

Dear Ms. West, if this means that you have never actually watched the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, please consider this our break up letter. Don't fret so much over Chinatown though, it's mostly confusing and in the end, it turns out the Dam did it. xx

on April 13, 2009 at 11:55 AM

I just wanted you to know that my boyfriend directed me here in an email that also begged me to cancel my netflix subscription because Five Easy Pieces has been sitting unwatched on my entertainment center since December 2007. Thank you for letting me know I am not alone.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:57 AM

I beat you. The DVDs I currently have from Netflix have been sitting on top of my TV for about...18 months, at least. And they aren't even anything compelling or anything I would feel guilty about sending back unwatched (two DVDs from season 3 of Quantum Leap.

My problem is that I can't watch movies on my computer (I don't have a highspeed connection at home, and I don't want to sit in a coffeehouse or at the laundromat watching a movie - that's when I catch up on TV. And I don't have cable, and I can't have my DVD player and my digital converter box hooked up at the same time.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:00 PM

I had Chinatown for about six months, and started it twice. I cancelled my subscription about a week ago after finally watching The Deer Hunter, which was equally dusty, and very good, but maybe not worth sixty bucks.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:03 PM

Patti is right @2.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:03 PM

Am I the only one that does not understand what the fuck is happening in this posting.
You rent from Netflix, don't watch them, hang on them for one year, somehow watch some other stupid movies, and this is Netflix's fault?
And everyone comes back "i did the same"
Explain. I don't understand. Were you forced to rent Chinatown and Dr. Strangelove?
There is a major keynote missing...

on April 13, 2009 at 12:04 PM

I'll put in a plug for Video Isle, with two locations to serve you: Queen Anne and Fremont. And apropos of your mentioning Dr. Strangelove, I'll just say: Ice cream Mandrake, children's ice cream."

on April 13, 2009 at 12:05 PM

@9's got it. The problem isn't Netflix, it's your fake image of yourself as a hi-brow movie lover.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:06 PM

Stop ordering classics. If you like watching the drivel, don't apologize for it, just enjoy it!

I never use "watch instantly." The only use I see for that would be if my computer monitor and speakers were higher quality than my television. It would be like buying a ticket to a movie and then watching it through the little window behind the entrance door.

Netflix is great, I go through about 20 or so movies/tv shows a month. I only queue what I know I'm going to watch.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:06 PM

That's funny...same thing happened to me, with the same damn film!

on April 13, 2009 at 12:06 PM

Lindy, if you open that envelope, you'll find a disc inside, which you can insert into your DVD player or your computer. Within seconds, you will be watching "Chinatown". 121 minutes later, you'll be done -- unless you want to watch some of the extras (or if you have to pause it and go pee). 121 minutes is .0002 of a year. You're welcome.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:07 PM

@9 and 20: *you* are an unnecessary post.

I did the same thing with the Mary Tyler Moore show for a couple of months *after watching it.*

on April 13, 2009 at 12:11 PM

also... people like you are part of the problem why shit sits on my queue list with "long wait" forever.

Why the hell do you pay for a subscription if you aren't going to use it?

on April 13, 2009 at 12:11 PM

@10, they don't have anything Scarecrow or Rain City wouldn't have. + they might finance (some) pressings, but it doesn't absolve them from some of the wretched transfers and lack of QC they've let slide on releases. I don't blame the storefront for that though.

Cool on the mailing DVDs though.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:12 PM

This is precisely the same attitude I have about my gym membership - except that I'm locked into a contract for another year.

@6:

I've never heard of Watch Instantly, but when I go to their site (www.watchinstantly.com), everything says "coming soon", so HOW do you watch things if there's nothing to watch?

on April 13, 2009 at 12:17 PM

@9:
> Sorry, but this was a really dumb and unnecesary post

At least you apologized. We'll try to find it in our hearts to forgive you.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:18 PM

I have a very basic Netflix sub, I get 2 a month. I also get movies from the library which means I have to watch them or return them. Maybe down grading your membership makes sense?

on April 13, 2009 at 12:18 PM

Lindy, I love you, but this post made me want to buy stock in Netflix. Greatest. Business. Model. Ever. Prey on the gap between people's intellectual reach and their grasp.

Having said that, it took Mrs. Sven and me a month to watch Hotel Rwanda.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:20 PM

@2, 17: Yeah, the future is definitely in brick-and-mortar stores with a single location. If she won't watch a movie delivered to their mailbox why in hell do you think she'll go to Scarecrow, pick out the movie, go home and then not watch it?

But hey, you live near Scarecrow and it's all about you, right?

on April 13, 2009 at 12:21 PM

If you thought you wouldn't watch it for awhile, why didn't you just rip a temporary copy and then return the disc?

As others have mentioned, maybe you should have managed your queue better so that you get the stuff you really want.

Or, as others have mentioned, support local stores.

btw, in case you haven't seen it, here's a slideshow of what the boston netflix workers look like:
http://www.boston.com/business/technolog…

on April 13, 2009 at 12:22 PM

Solution #1 Dvddecryptor + External hard drive + SVideo cable to tv + headphone to RCA jacks cable.

=Rent, rip, send, watch whenever.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:23 PM

I have three movies sitting on my entertainment center for about two months now, because I can't be bothered to send them back in. I've watched each one of them once, which is lame, because I had already watched all of them, and really couldn't care less about any of them.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:26 PM

i've joined nextflix three times and cancelled three times...have been without for almost 1 year...for the same exact reason you describe. to me, it's like sex or i suppose alot things...you want it when you want...i love the video store for this reason...and also renting online.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:28 PM

So....you are writing a whole slog entry to complain about the fact that you don't watch the movies that you yourself selected to put on your queue? Talk about bitchin' for bitchin's sake.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:29 PM

I watched some classics from Netflix, and a lot of cheese, then after about 16 months I pretty much stopped using it. After 18 months I canceled. Maybe I'll start it up in another couple years.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:32 PM

My GOD! I can't believe Lindy posted this without having any idea it might make her look foolish! Did she even realize that telling everyone she watched the trashy movie but not the highbrow movie might make her look like a phony??? OMG I'm going to tell everyone Lindy totally is incapable of detecting the most OBVIOUS IRONY EVER! Lindy herself is the butt of a joke made by Lindy herself!!!!

lols I feel extra smart now. Ten hundred times extra.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:32 PM

I do the same thing as Lindy with Netflix except I do it with books. I buy the ones I really want to read, but then am so exhausted from school and work that when I do have any actual time to read, I'm more likely to read a trashy novel or surf online (reading things like Slog) than to crack open the books on my shelf.

Same thing goes for me with movies. If I want entertainment, I'm less likely to watch something "important" than to watch something mindless and fluffy. These things used to make me feel guilty, but I've given up on that. It is how it is!

on April 13, 2009 at 12:32 PM

I feel this way about buying groceries.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:33 PM

You get to go to any film you want in Seattle for free and you have netflix? WTF!

on April 13, 2009 at 12:36 PM

@26 your quibbles about the nonprofit Facets are right on the money. I guess I cut them more than enough slack to cover that, since my subscription helps cool stuff happen for people other than stockholders.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:41 PM

three words: seattle public library.
three more: fucking waiting list
and 3 more: high school musical?
tres mas: i'm a jerk

fuck netflix and your laziness. lindy, you still are ok by me but get off your ass!

on April 13, 2009 at 12:44 PM

And your the fucking film editor. What a waste of space.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:47 PM

I refuse to use Netflix, on account of those obnoxious pop-up ads they run all over the Web.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:55 PM

"Herbie Fully Loaded?"

"High School Musical?" one and two?!?

"The Ruins?"

WTF!

Your taste in movies really, really sucks ass.

on April 13, 2009 at 12:59 PM

Sure are a lot of fuckheads slogging today.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:00 PM

I love netflix. 3 at time, unlimited per month and the US mail is still the limiting step.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:05 PM

Good Advice is that movie where he's pretending to be a female advice columnist, right? is Denise Richards in that as well? They were showing that on Comedy Central non-stop for a while.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:10 PM

You let Chinatown sit on your teevee, unwatched, for a year. You are an idiot and deserve to have lost your money.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:14 PM

Netflix is great. It's your fault for renting movies you actually don't want to watch. I'm glad you've lost $$ with the subscription you never use. It's easy to mail things. I'm addicted to The Wire. Six Feet Under & Dead Like Me & Carvinalle & Deadwood & Sopranos are excellent. Netflix has lots of great documentaries & music DVDS. Peace out ya'll

on April 13, 2009 at 1:18 PM

I think I have y'all beat — I have a *watched* copy of 24 hour party people that hasn't been returned for at least 18 months. I buy groceries and then let them rot in the fridge, too. Goodbye, unopened 1 pound bag of baby carrots, I let you shrivel for a month and no longer find you attractive. Oh well. My point is, it could be worse. Also, you should go over to somebody's house to watch Dr. Strangelove, so that you actually do it. It's a good movie, I swear.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:19 PM

Seattle is lucky to still have several great local indie video stores around town.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:22 PM

Yea...
I think you should have cancelled it a year ago.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:24 PM

Thank you, Elenchos@38. You rock.
When did we commenters, with an ever
dwindling number of exceptions, become
so dumb? Was it all of a sudden?
Am I just remembering the not-so-distant past
through a haze of nostalgia?

on April 13, 2009 at 1:32 PM

I can confirm RL @ 52's ignored 24 Hour Party People. Lindy, you should make friends with RL. Maybe watch Dr. Strangelove together.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:36 PM

Ms. West has admitted that she lacks both discipline and taste in movies. Hardly the type of person who belongs in an influential role for an otherwise informative publication like The Stranger.

Time for America's Howetown Newspaper to find a new hometown film editor.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:39 PM

@27, I'm not sure if that was sarcasm...but Watch Instantly is a feature on Netflix that allows you to watch certain movies/tv-shows instantly on your computer. It's not a separate website.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:45 PM

Chinatown is a really good movie. you just need to prioritize better.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:48 PM

One of my old roommates had Tank Girl out for, like 6 months, and one day I came home to find her watching it On Demand. The DVD was sitting right next to the tv. At least she was still paying her part of the Netflix bill the whole time. I eventually broke into her queue and added the movies I wanted to see so that I got two movies at a time.

on April 13, 2009 at 1:59 PM

This post just reminded me to add a few things to my queue that was mentioned over the weekend.
I love Netflix and the library and video stores. I'm a big movie watcher, as are most of my friends, so weekend marathon sessions are a big thing. But sometimes, those forgotten show disc take some time to send back. It happens.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:09 PM

ummm....you people realize you can plug your computer into your tv, right?

on April 13, 2009 at 2:20 PM

If you let anything sit on your TV for a year you are the biggest porking slob of a housekeeper in Seattle.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:32 PM

the snark on this post is EPIC.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:37 PM

@9 I don't think someone who ordered Herbie Fully Loaded and High School Musical (and admitted it publicly), thinks all that highly of themselves.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:44 PM

Same reason we canceled finally, and we were early adopters. Like, way early, when it barely had any press and it took "days" to get your DVDs in the mail. Love the idea, love the service, love the selection.

hate the lack of time to watch.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:47 PM

i hate myself for having childish tastes @ 18: I am going to beat your ass.

on April 13, 2009 at 2:51 PM

..what was that movie that had the self fellating guy that cried and whined when he was done ?..was it 'shortbus'? i had that one for six months and then discovered that self fellatio was really common and free on xtube. so no more netflix.. it was quite some time ago though, and no i ain't ashamed ...

on April 13, 2009 at 3:51 PM

Thank you for subsidizing my very reasonable Netflix subscription. I never have to watch commercials and I watch what I want when I want.

on April 13, 2009 at 3:54 PM

I had the above happen to me too, but instead of canceling netflix, I just dropped my subscription to the Two movies a month and two hours of online viewing. Now I always use my netflix to the fullest extent.

The other thing I started doing was ripping movies to my computer and sending the discs back right away. Then I can watch them on my time and not hold up my subscription.

on April 13, 2009 at 4:01 PM

58:

No sarcasm, there really is a web site with that address. Not being a NetFlix subscriber, I had no idea Watch Instantly was a feature on their site.

on April 13, 2009 at 4:05 PM

@19 - hey, does Video Isle have the Cthulhu DVD?

I can't find it at Rain City Video.

on April 13, 2009 at 4:36 PM

I'm sorry you lost all that money Lindy. I hope you have a good day anyway.

on April 13, 2009 at 5:02 PM

Hey Lindy. Are you busy tonight? You wanna come over and we can watch Dr. Strangelove together? Or Chinatown. I've seen 'em both already, but you'll love my running commentary.

Think it over and give me a call.

on April 13, 2009 at 5:13 PM

Bummer. That is why I only rent from the local video store. Sometimes, life doesn't work out the way we planned or we change our minds.

on April 13, 2009 at 6:01 PM

Dr Strangelove is one of my favorite movies - it's really too bad Kubrick didn't do more comedy in his career, because, even though his sense of humor is very dark and cynical, the move is still funny as hell - and I've seen it probably 30 times.

Of course much of that is due to Sellers' stellar multi-character performance, and to Terry Southern's amazing script (and heck, props to Slim Pickens, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden & Keenan Wynn as well), but the film itself still holds up pretty well after 45 years - and directors are STILL copping stuff from it (e.g. the Nixon war room scene in "Watchmen").

Seriously, Lindy just rent the fuckin' movie and watch it.

on April 13, 2009 at 6:44 PM

Go half-sies or even quarter-sies with some friends. They get a movie, you get a movie, and Netflix is only a couple of bucks a month each.

p.s. I tried to watch Hotel Rawanda and couldn't. It sounded really good but the subject was so grim that I just couldn't bear to watch it. I know it has a hopeful message but genocide is too depressing and frightening for me to find "entertaining". I got Gundam Wing instead.

on April 13, 2009 at 7:21 PM

Do yourself a favor and don't get a library card.

on April 13, 2009 at 9:14 PM

Bummer man. Chinatown is a really good movie.

Watch Training Day.
Once you start, you'll be unable to turn it off.

on April 13, 2009 at 9:30 PM

Training Day - that was fun.

on April 13, 2009 at 11:13 PM

@ 77
i think i made myself watch hotel rwanda AFTER i weaned myself from repeatedly watching the whiny self fellating guy in shortbus. stupid me. i ended up with semi porn guilt and lazy,ignorant, can't be bothered to know what's going on in the world and do something about it guilt.
...and THEN i discovered x tube

on April 14, 2009 at 12:32 AM

It's not netflixs fault for anything. Just u being a complete dumbass for not watching those awful movies you rented. Stupid bitch what a pointless post . You want us to feel sorry for your hipster ass? Yeah right.

on April 14, 2009 at 9:39 AM

How can anybody not like Lindy? ECB I understand- she gives as good as she gets- but hating on Lindy is like hating on the Easter Bunny.

on April 14, 2009 at 1:05 PM

Hi, Lindy et al:
One of the reasons I read SLOGs and their wonderful commenters is that I love finding out I'm not the dumbest person in America. (Well, maybe I am, but there're quite a few of you right down there near me.) Don't know much about Netflix, but I pay a lot of money in library fines (@ $0.40/day) for movies that I never did get around to watching.

@ 52: RL, You're lucky your baby carrots merely became shriveled and ugly. Mine grew mold and merged with the bag of moldy oranges stored next to them and were about to attack the celery and green peppers (each crusted with its own species of mold) before I hauled the entire vegetable bin down to the dumpster in the middle of the night. The leftover stuff I have in my very full freezer won't mold of course, but some of it's a year old, and I don't remember what the hell most of it was. (Yes, some things are labeled and dated, but most aren't.)

I don't store much stuff ON my TV, because I have so much stuff piled in FRONT of it that I can't get to it easily. (And I don't watch it any more anyway, since I got the Internet.)

*Chinatown* I saw in a theater when it first came out, and twice on home video, and didn't ever understand much what the hell was going on. I generally LIKE John Huston's movies--they're great on character and atmosphere, but they aren't for anyone who wants endings neatly wrapped and delivered. *The Two Jakes* sequel to *Chinatown* I thought was pretty good, and underrated. Didn't Jack N. direct that? I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

*Hotel Rwanda*: I feel like a goddamned idiot for saying this, but I remember news pictures, during the actual genocide, of that church and the decomposing bodies around it, I and don't think I could handle watching it.

*The Ruins* was a pretty scary horror novel by Scott Smith. Does the movie really suck as bad as everyone says?

@72: Hey, Will, what's "the Cthulhu DVD"? I've been a Lovecraft fan since 1966 and haven't seen much movie/TV stuff that lives up to my expectations for his stories.

Best wishes to all from northwest Pennsylvania.--Tim

on April 14, 2009 at 5:26 PM

@ 81: Hey, dr, did you say you "weaned" yourself from wathing auto-fellatio vids?

on April 14, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Wow 82,

You could make your point without being nasty.

on April 14, 2009 at 7:32 PM

@3 I look forward to an era where we all can be apologetic about being a dumb cunt. Trial and error (usually with expensive consequences) is how we learn to not be so dumb.

When the consequences for trying and failing become too excessive, we end up with people choosing dumber inaction over dumb action and then we wonder how a guy like W could end up president for eight whole years, with nary a impeachment for all his (undisputed) high crimes and misdemeanors.

That aside @84, I recommend Dagon which I only saw on the Sci-Fi in its Lovecraft-approved-nudity-trimmed-for-TV glory. It's a pretty darn good rendition of Shadow Over Innsmouth.

This is from someone who hasn't yet seen any of the Re-Animator series, but wasn't too impressed with From Beyond.

Ia.

U.

on April 14, 2009 at 9:37 PM

Lindy,

please don't worry about the other posters. I think you're funny, and I know you think that too, and I appreciate that. you are awesome. keep it up.

on April 14, 2009 at 10:55 PM

@9 and @20 FTW.

But I still like Lindy.

Just sayin; make a new queue, and leave the classics out

on April 15, 2009 at 9:28 AM

People, she was merely admitting to being human. We are all creatures of inertia.
All you haters need to chill. I'm sure there are plenty of things in your life that you have inertia about. Like stepping away from your computer keyboard, for example. Honestly, is your life that empty and meaningless that you have to call an honest writer who is illuminating the human condition so many horrible names? Get a life, why don't you? And stop polluting ours with your inane drivel.

on April 15, 2009 at 10:32 PM

If Pirate Bay totally wins then I AM totally cancelling Netflix.

on April 16, 2009 at 11:11 PM

I Think It's Officially Time for Me to Cancel My Netflix Subscription

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