Not Starring

Not Starring is a database of "your favorite stars, and the roles they didn't get."

One of my greatest disappointments is that Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He would have been brilliant. Way better than Viggo Mortensen. I guess Mr. Lewis had no desire to be richer and famouser.

The "red army of Netflix" enlists another fan

Steve Svekis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is a recent convert to Netflix fandom. Read more about what got him to make the switch. Bottom line? He hasn't "stepped into a video-rental store since."

If you can't see 1001, how about 50?

Perhaps I should re-name this blog after the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, since that's my current obsession, but there is no way I could meet my goal of seeing them all without my beloved Netflix. However, if you despair of seeing all 1001, or you have a short time to live (my condolences), the Sunday Mail has come up with a shorter list of only 50 Films You Must See Before You Die...according to "experts" of course. I have posted my checklist on Listology, where you can see that I have only nine more to go before I'm free to shuffle off this mortal coil (not that I intend to, of course).

Idaho has a new Netflix distribution center

Faithful reader Tourneyman1 says folks in Idaho had been getting DVDs from the Salem, Oregon distribution center with two days mailing times. Starting Jun 26 he's been getting them from a new Boise, Idaho shipping facility with one day delivery.

I've posted the address for the Boise facility on the list of Netflix distribution centers.

Fabulous photos of Netflix headquarters

Mike K of Hacking Netflix went to California and brought back some fabulous photos of the Netflix headquarters. He's not a spy, so all of the photos are legal. They wouldn't let him take any photos of the distribution center {sadness}. I guess that's why they won't invite me out there. They're afraid I would be all over that DC with my nano-spy-camera, giving away their secrets, like I have no self-control or anything. Anyway, head on over to Zoomr to see the collection.

It's been saved

Netflix says :

For titles that haven't been released on DVD yet or for which the release date is unknown, we offer the option to save them in the "Saved" section of your Queue.

Sometimes a title will disappear from your regular queue and show up in your Saved section. This could be because it goes out of print, or all the copies get broken or missing, or whoever holds the rights to it stops dealing with Netflix, etc. There are all sorts of reasons. Don't give up. I have seen them come out with a new edition shortly after.

I'm in the Eighties now

I'm using Netflix in my quest to see the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. I have put the movies in my queue in chronological order, and I have just started working on films made in the 1980's. I have already seen 816 of the 1001, and I have 147 in my queue.

New Blockbuster Online beta site

Chase of GeeksHideout blog pointed me to the beta for the revamping of the Blockbuster Online site.

Netflix domain name up for sale on eBay

Netflix.us is on auction at eBay with a starting bid of $500.00. The sellers claim it is worth ten times that. I wonder. It's worth nothing, if Netflix shuts them down. Seller is brand-spanking-new servo_webfx, with a feedback of six, and claims to be in Colorado.

Hacking Netflix interviews Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

Or, Mike K. talks to Reed H.

Mike got Reed to answer a couple of our questions, but I still ain't got no satisfaction. I'll translate for you. When Mike asks why doesn't Netflix reveal the formula behind "throttling," Reed basically answers that as long as happy customers outnumber unhappy ones, they don't have to tell you anything. He says it's a balancing act between protecting a trade secret, and giving subscribers "a sense of straight-forwardness."

You can read it all here.

You can bet Netflix will win

The online sports betting site, bodog, is taking bets on the outcome of the Netflix vs. Blockbuster Online patent lawsuit.

Netflix queue fodder from twofifty.org

If you are looking for movies to add to your Netflix queue, The Internet Movie Database is one of the best places to start, other than Netflix.com of course. IMDB maintains a list of the top 250 movies as voted by their users. I have seen 223 of them, but the list changes as the popularity of the films changes. As time passes, some drop off and others are added. I keep track of how many I've seen using a site called twofifty.org, which automatically updates the list as it changes. You can easily check off the ones you've seen with a single click. You can post comments on the movies, share your list on your blog, and check out the statistics on various movies.

Blockbuster Online promo code

Someone using the email address blockbustervideoonline at yahoo posted this one month free trial promo code on the netflix_complaints Yahoo! group:

No risk or obigation. Compare it side by side with Netflix.

www.blockbuster.com/trial

Promo Code: 40037

If you've never used Blockbuster Online, you should try it out. In some areas, the shipping is not as fast as Netflix, because they do not have as many distribution centers, and their selection is a little different. They don't always ship in queue order. Sometimes they ship from a video store. Although not as good as Netflix, they are a good alternative.

Skeleton climbing the Netflix building

P1010017
Originally uploaded by ~YYY.

I have no idea why.

The Netflix Challenge

Could you empty your maxed-out Netflix queue in only one year? Well, San Francisco Bay Area writer Bucky Sinister is trying to watch 500 Netflix movies (the maximum you can put in a Netflix Queue) in one year. As of this week he's watched 229, and needs to get the rest viewed by December 31. He's calling it the Q-500 experiment. You can also "play along" by joining his Netflix Friends list, swap opinions on films, or suggest a film for his queue. If you're crazy like me, you might try to beat him. Except I can't. I've seen 257 movies this year, but only 82 were from Netflix.

If you love them, set them free

Stoner alerted me to this article in the New York Times detailing one poor man's effort to detach himself from the clingy AOL. "When Vincent Ferrari, 30, of the Bronx, called AOL to cancel his membership last month, it took him a total of 21 minutes, including the time spent on an automated sequence at the beginning and some initial waiting in a queue."

In sharp contrast to Netflix, which makes it easy to cancel their service:

IF I were asked to think of an online company that provides exemplary customer service to its subscribers, Netflix, the DVD rental company, would come to mind well before AOL. When I took a look to see whether Netflix offered a way for a customer to cancel membership swiftly while online, I discovered that it provides a procedure — a click on a link, a click on a checkmark box, and one more click to complete — that would take no more than two seconds. No exit interviews, no last-ditch offers while I'm held captive on the phone.

Seeing how Netflix would be so protective of my time were I to leave makes me all the more unlikely to do so.

You should read the whole article. It's scary-funny.