Tuesday, August 08, 2017

(maybe) taking the plunge

Am considering taking out a streaming subscription via Netflix.

My current dvd player can pick up Netflix streams (just as they do with Amazon Prime), which makes watching streaming content more comfortable than either having to sit at my stiff office desk or worry whether my laptop's got enough charge for the full movie (the way the cord to it is set up, it would currently be woeful to move its recharging station).

I see it's about $11 when you factor in local tax (which, knowing my state, there WILL be) for the "standard" plan, which is HD but not "super" HD (hm. Wondering if that's like "Premium" gas)

Some of the things I would want to watch would be done in HD, some would not. But whatever "super" HD is, I probably don't need it - I don't need, for example, a zoom-in on Peter Lorre's pores in some remastered old movie.

My main resistance to this in the past was that I already pay (and quite a bit) for cable, but at this point I still feel like I need it - getting the local weather news online can be kind of spotty, and just local news in general is harder to get online, so I like being able to watch a 5 pm newscast or something (or a 6 am one, to find out if there's been another jail escapee I have to watch out for).

But Netflix, if that $11-and-some price is really the "forever" (until inflation creeps it up) price, seems like a good deal. (That was my one concern: is this a "deal" like cable companies offer, where there's a perfectly reasonable price for the first year, but then, once you've become accustomed to having it, the price jacks WAY up, and you have the unpleasant choice of shelling out a lot more, or just eliminating the service?)

I do wish they were a little more forthcoming on their website about what they had on offer without making you sign up - I have been told "Moana" (which I have not seen yet but want to) is on there, but what about other Disney movies? I would love to watch "Lilo and Stitch" again, for example. And I'd like to know what BBC stuff is on there.

(There was a gag making the rounds on Twitter that Netflix needed a "I'm sad, please show me BBC mysteries" option  and I laughed and laughed because that is so true of me - when I am sad or lonely or angry at the world, that's the best possible thing to watch for me. Bonus points if it's one of the "period" ones like Poirot or the current run of Father Brown where you have the interest of costumes and interior design that are different from current day)

And yeah, I know, there are other services out there like Acorn that are more BBC-specific but I do not think I can stream them through my DVD player without an additional device and....meh, that's more effort. And anyway, I want cartoons as well. Cartoons and BBC mysteries and maybe some old comedy shows and some old movies and things like that.

So I don't know. I suppose I need to do the "month free" but I know that's one of those "give us your credit card number and you're free to cancel before your month is up" deals. I just have to decide if I want it or not.

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I also find myself looking at a lot of the eBooks on Ravelry - books of patterns fitting some theme. (I have a couple in my online "library" that I have bought - Hobbit Knits, and one that is shawls inspired by train lines.) I don't know. Once again I'm looking for patterns with literary/art/fandom tie-ins, I just find those interesting and there is something oddly comforting to me about an eBook of patterns that all follow a similar theme. It's kind of hard to find the specifically "themed" ones though.

(And yes, to be clear: I am soliciting suggestions if you know of some that fit that description. I have Hobbit Knits and both the "Trainspotting for Stitchnerds" one and one called Literary Knits, but I am SURE, knit-designers being who they are, there are other good ones I don't know of)

I did dig out the yarn I bought for the "Heliopath Vest" yesterday. It's.....almost the same color as the yarn for the cabled sweater. Yeah, I tend to stick to a pretty limited palette these days for sweaters: dull green, usually bluish-green, dark purple, or gold/brown. I don't think I've made a really light colored sweater (Well, I guess Hagrid is....)

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I dunno. the news of the world has me seeking comfort. The whole escalation-of-words-with-North-Korea thing. I though maybe (hopefully) we had left that kind of widespread nuclear war fear back in the 1980s but I guess I was wrong. (I know, I know: "suitcase nukes" but somehow that feels different than Death From The Sky.

I came home at lunch and flipped on the news and saw what was going on. I said an unladylike word that begins with "s" and turned off the news but, yeah.

I was so hoping my Doki Doki box would come in the mail today but no, it was just a catalog, an alumni magazine (which I usually don't read anyway), a monthly statement from the broker I use, and one of those "Shopper" newspapers that I would honestly pay a reverse subscription to be able to AVOID getting every week. Disappointing mail days are worse when you're already a little sad.


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And oh, fish you, would-be comment spammers, sending me walls-o-text with a few dodgy links sprinkled in like raisins in the cookies you are expecting to be chocolate-chip. Go to where the goblins go. I don't want to put up with this today.

2 comments:

CGHill said...

When Netflix started streaming, the HD package was $7.99; it went up to $9.99 in 2014. Tax and such not included.

Christa said...

There are six seasons of friendship is magic on Netflix. Moana and LILO and Stitch are on there. I think there is some other older pony stuff too. The main issue is that stuff rotates on and off Netflix so it isn't always available.