Monday, January 3, 2011

Guest blog #1 - from Life of Riles: Netflix Guilt

I will be running guest blogs all of this week. This is a blog from Tim Riley, one of the nicest blokes you will meet in the blogisphere....



Newsweek coined a great phrase a few years ago: Netflix Guilt. If you use Netflix, chances are you've experienced this condition.

Netflix Guilt results when a movie shows up at the house, and for whatever reason, you never get around to watching it. The guilt intensifies every time you watch something else, but you just can't bring yourself to watch it. You really want to, but the mood is never right. Finally, after months of excuses, you shamefully place the movie in your mailbox before skulking off to work.



I am currently experiencing a bout of Netflix Guilt over The Last Station. I want to watch it, I really do. Helen Mirren is in it, and she was great in The Queen, right? It's about Tolstoy, and I read War and Peace, didn't I? Hell, Meg and I even toured Tolstoy's old house when we were in Moscow years ago. Tolstoy was cool, I should want to watch a movie about the guy.


I like to consider myslf a bit of a cineast, so I hate to give up on any film. I'm also a realist, and it's time to admit defeat and move on. This isn't my first run-in with Netflix Guilt, and I'm sure it won't be my last. So, my fellow Netflixers, what movies have you had to send back unwatched?

 http://tjriles.blogspot.com/

7 comments:

  1. (came over via pearl)

    and yes, i am currently experiencing netflix guilt BECAUSE not only is kenneth branagh's 2 disc "hamlet" sitting next to the tv, BUT i also just got dinged for the monthly fee! so, i'm paying money to look at dvd's sitting unwatched. yeah, i feel your pain, sugar. xox

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  2. We just recently signed up for Netflix, but I don't think I will have any guilt from it. We have it through the internet on our computers and through the Wii on our TV and don't get the DVDs in the mail. So we can just click on what we want to watch when we want to watch it. There's nothing to return or feel guilty about. We just signed up for it after Christmas, so it's early yet, but so far, we love it!

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  3. Ha ha! We call it LoveFilm here in the UK and I had Bright Star next to the TV for two months. I no longer feel too guilty though. We only get two rentals a month, so I'm the only one losing out.

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  4. I had no idea there was a name for this condition!! LOL! I totally have this myself. All the time! I always find myself getting in the mood for a certain film, putting it in my queue, forgetting about it, and then not wanting to watch it when I get it. :S And I mostly feel guilt about wasting my precious ten bucks a month on a film I never got around to watching! Ugh.

    It actually makes me feel better to know there are others out there going through this. Haha.

    Great guest post. :)

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  5. Thanks for including me in the guest blogger week David.

    Savannah: a two disc movie is daunting indeed, even if it is branagh and the bard.

    Daisy: streaming is the way to go, but the catalog is pretty thin yet. I look forward to streaming new releases, and you could be right, I won't run into this problem anymore.

    Emm: I had the same experience with BS-meant to watch it, never did.

    Jennifer: I think there's a lot of the Netflix Guilt going around-thanks for the kind words.

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  6. Oh dear! I totally have this condition and didn't even know it.

    I do believe there are two Netflix DVDs in the living room and I don't think we'll ever watch them.

    I'll tuck them back into their little clever envelopes and shuttle them on their way.

    Why do we do this??

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