Genius. Pure Genius.

I think I'm in love with Netflix. I can't get over it; it's simply the best thing ever. Whoever came up with this crap deserves an award/prize/national recognition for being a genius. Or at least 51% controlling interest of the stock.

The thing about it is that it is not only compulsively addicting (ooo! What should I get next?), but it also makes going to the mailbox fun again. Say good-bye to the days when bills and junk mail were the only things waiting to greet me c/o the postman. Oh no, not anymore. My mailbox now holds the greatest thing imaginable: possibility. Every trip to the mailbox now gives me a childlike glee as I mentally peruse the options of what may lay in wait for me. The thought puts a smile on my face and a little skip in my step.

And I know what you must be thinking: Hey. Geek. It's just movies in the mail, get over it. But the thing is, renting movies this way has turned out to be surprisingly...liberating. I know, weird huh? But when you think about it, it makes total sense. When you make a conventional trip to rent a movie, a lot of mental energy goes into the effort. Not only do you have to agree on a selection with your movie watching companions - but after touring ALL the new releases and spending the length of a full length feature just making your choice, there is an implicit amount of pressure for the movie to be worth it. If it's not, you've not only wasted the $5+ it costs to rent a movie these days, but you've wasted your time on two fronts: picking the movie AND watching it. With Netflix though, that pressure is suddenly released. Since you pick your movies ahead of time online (whenever they pop into your head; so convenient) and since you can rent an unlimited amount for the same cost...it's suddenly not such a big deal. Therefore, you can afford to take bigger risks in your movie selections. Expand your horizons! Try something new! If the movie isn't great, no biggie - just mail it back and get something else. Easy as pie. (Well, easier actually...pie making is kind of hard.)

Plus you don't have to drive anywhere to return the movie. I'm not even going to go into this particular piece of geniusness as it's pretty self-explanatory. But still. I love that part.

And I know I'm gushing here - but the fact that you can rate any movie you've seen with one click and it remembers all of your ratings and makes educated suggestions of other movies you'll like based on the ratings....yeah, seriously. If you don't have this crap, you should get it. (I just wish I could look at a graphical representation of all the statistical movie rating information I'm generating......okay, so I might be spending a little too much time on Lookout Landing and USS Mariner. What? Saber-metrics are cool.)

Bottom-line: it's über-efficient and I'm never going back. (And it's completely wonderful.)