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Post by impulse on Apr 25, 2022 9:11:15 GMT -5
I honestly think that I'm done with visiting cinemas for good. Too many noisy a**hats, tickets too expensive, snacks too much of a rip off, and too few films I want to see. On the latter point, of the two or three films a year I really do like the look of, I can't imagine needing to see any film so badly that I wouldn't be prepared to wait 6 months or a year for it to come on TV. Rude people have all but ruined the cinema experience for me. Without exaggeration I can only recall at most two times in the last 10 years at least that at least one person didn't talk or take out their phone or, God forbid, answer it, during a movie. One of these was in the "used to be the new hotness but now the old one but still decently kept up" theaters on a random weeknight at like 9 or 10pm or something. One time I went to the super premium fancy ULTIMATE SCREEN AND BOUGIE SEATS $25 per person fancy theater and a couple walked in late, sat a few seats away from me and talked through the entire movie. That was one of the more excessive experiences, but still. It's just terrible. I probably can't get away with completely boycotting the experience as my wife likes to go and my kids are getting to that age where it will be fun, but my instances going will be few and far between. I'd rather watch at home on my large 4K screen where I can pause to go pee and the beers aren't $10 each. Do like my eldest and I... when we decide to go see a movie together, it's aways as it's ending its run and there are like five people in the theatre! This is pretty much what I have to do to make it tolerable. Late run and/or off-peak day/time.
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 13:00:58 GMT -5
Forget the wheels! You maniacs DRIVE on the wrong side of the road! It’s so we can pull into the petrol station. That’s petrol station, not gas station!
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 11:53:13 GMT -5
Forget the wheels! You maniacs DRIVE on the wrong side of the road!
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 10:33:04 GMT -5
It looks like it's going to jump out of its bowl, grab your face and lay an egg in your stomach!!! Hey, I remember that movie!
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 9:25:12 GMT -5
I believe you. That looks and sounds disgusting.
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 9:17:33 GMT -5
I still haven’t trialled Hello Fresh. For me, it is about getting out of my comfort zone. I am sure I can cook anything (if in doubt, find a recipe), but each week, I seem to stick predictably with meals such as cod and chips, a jacket potato and salad, or something like beef and potatoes. Time to explore a bit! What? No jellied eel & pie? I’m joking. I’d rather eat a kilo of haggis before I ever touch a gram of jellied eel… I quite like haggis, actually. I’ve had jellied eel once, and the texture and appearance was the deal-breaker for me. The taste wasn’t terrible, though. And here I sit touting my affection for haggis, while condemning eel for its aesthetic qualities… what’s wrong with this picture? The devil you know... BBQ eel sushi is delicious.
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Post by impulse on Apr 22, 2022 8:35:33 GMT -5
I think hello fresh is for people that need help making meals. Cooking is part of her job. She went to school for dessert preparation. Ah, I see. My FB feed is bombarded with ads for Hello Fresh, Gousto, Simply Cook, etc. I wasn’t sure if they were for people who needed help making meals, or whether they were just a convenience thing. It's both or either. I know how to cook decently well, but sometimes you get stuck in routines and want new ideas. Sometimes it's to save the time and energy of planning it and shopping it
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 16:59:06 GMT -5
Today marks the end of an era for our family, as our 16-year old Honda CR-V failed its inspection on multiple items and will be far too expensive to repair to any semblance of quality. This was the first car my wife and I bought as a married couple, each of us bringing in our own vehicles at the outset. We got this one to replace my wife’s Daewoo (the WORST car I’ve ever seen) because it was too hard to get our daughter’s car seat in and out of the back since it was only a two-door. This car has been with us just six months less than her, and it is the one she has been learning to drive with. She’s sad about it, as she and her friends were excited to have the car for their adventures, but she knows we can’t justify fixing something that is on the verge of falling apart at any moment. However, she is excited that she will be getting something newer and maybe a little “cuter”, and I’m happy because she’ll be in something safer that just happens to get better gas mileage. Rest in peace to your family's old mechanical friend, and thanks to it for safely conveying your family over the years. May it's newer, cuter and slightly more efficient successor be just as good to your family.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 15:43:30 GMT -5
A lot of folks are cycling them. Wait for a show they want to post, sign up for a month or two to catch up, then cancel and do the same for another. I suspect people will do that until the companies start trying to lock people into annual contracts again, and then we are back to cable. Or just increase the price of the first month and have following months cost less, or package deals- x amount per month is you sign up for a year. Slightly more if you only sign up for 3 months. And even a little more if you sign up for just 1 month. You advertise the month by month price as THE price, and offer discounted rates for long term sign up, so they end up making more money from the people hopping on and off the train. Services like Marvle Unlimited already do that. The yearly rate is less per month than the monthly rate. -M Most likely this but to get the good price you will need to buy the year, and the monthly price gets jacked up.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 15:14:27 GMT -5
A lot of folks are cycling them. Wait for a show they want to post, sign up for a month or two to catch up, then cancel and do the same for another. I suspect people will do that until the companies start trying to lock people into annual contracts again, and then we are back to cable.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 14:17:31 GMT -5
There's definitely a streaming ceiling people will be willing to pay. Then maybe these companies will actually have to start competing on service and price again.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 13:59:42 GMT -5
It was a peculiar complaint. I had a Sky TV package once. I don’t think I ever watched UK Living (I presumed it was a female-oriented channel). Only really watched Sky One for WWF programming. In fact, there were some channels I never watched, but as I knew everything was “under one roof”, there was no stress. I mean, a friend of mine is a bit of a Luddite, but he’s slowly coming around to technology. He’s a huge Star Trek fan. So he has got a Netflix account now, but he was quite vocal recently about Picard being on Prime, the next season of Discovery being on Paramount+, etc. Said something like, “So I’m gonna have to subscribe to 3 service to keep up with all Trek? I miss when it was all on the BBC.” Which is why it will inevitably lead to people getting some of the content by less scrupulous means. As stated by Gabe Newell, founder of Valve (makers of Steam, the PC gaming equivalent of the iTunes store for those who don't know): Gabe Newell: Piracy is an issue of service, not price
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 13:29:53 GMT -5
Yeah, there are pros and cons to either side. I'm not a sports guy at all, so I always felt like I was overpaying for cable because I knew that was some of the more expensive content. If I could have paid for just the handful of channels I liked and not sports, I would have at the time. Now though I wouldn't go back to cable at all. I find the heavy ads and arbitrary time slots insufferable.
I am not opposed to bundles as an option as long as we keep a la carte options and picking and choosing. I'd rather pay for no ads and on demand and just buy the few things I can't stream outright rather than go back to bundled cable or ads, personally.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 11:41:29 GMT -5
Ultimately, what's being described here is far less a Netflix problem and far more a "Balkanization of streaming services" problem. Sure, when Netflix was the only game in town they had the best stuff. As other streaming services have come up and have had some success there is clearly going to be less quality at any one service because it's being spread out over mulitple services. All of this was completely forseeable and I've been saying it was going to happen for years. Even when it comes to original content, they're still competing for creators with all those other services, plus cable, plus broadcast TV, etc. I do miss the days when you had satellite/cable packages. Sure, there were often entire channels one did not watch, but if you wanted to keep up with The Simpsons, Babylon 5 and WWF programming, it was all under one roof, so to speak. As you posted, it was foreseeable. I mean, I’m not a Prime member. I will buy on DVD what I wish to watch from there, e.g. Invincible. There’s no compelling reason for me to subscribe to Prime, when I check at times, I can’t justify the cost. I also feel it has been, well I’ll use the Balkanisation terminology (which I like). Does Apple TV have a USP? Am I enough of a horror fan to subscribe to Shudder? If I subscribed to another service tomorrow, do I then have enough cash to subscribe to Paramount+ if/when it launches in the UK? And if I do, what if there is only one or two programmes on Paramount+ that interest me? One of the biggest advantages of streaming was actually a response to people not liking the cable bundles. "I don't want to pay for a bunch of crap I won't ever watch." At least a lot of the early buzz was being able to pay for only what you want. Now people are getting a taste of what that means. I personally prefer streaming for on-demand and no ads.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2022 11:03:25 GMT -5
Right now, I’m watching Chicago Fire and The Toys That Made Us on Netflix. Oh, and The Crown. I’ve never found a problem watching anything. I feel there’s enough there for a wide variety of tastes. Oh, yeah, that Toys That Made Us and Movies That Made Us are really cool documentaries. Ultimately, what's being described here is far less a Netflix problem and far more a "Balkanization of streaming services" problem. Sure, when Netflix was the only game in town they had the best stuff. As other streaming services have come up and have had some success there is clearly going to be less quality at any one service because it's being spread out over mulitple services. All of this was completely forseeable and I've been saying it was going to happen for years. Even when it comes to original content, they're still competing for creators with all those other services, plus cable, plus broadcast TV, etc. Yes, this was inevitable. Netflix even knew it when they started building out their own content. I just think their fatal flaw is they botched their original content, so instead of having valuable, quality IPs to attract people, they have a bunch of crap and unfinished series cut off at the knees. They are a little too trigger happy out of the gate, and instead of having a show that could develop an audience later, they have an unfinished idea. I'm not going to start something new that is cancelled. Netflix being the one stop shop with everything always had a shelf life, of course. They just went the wrong way when faced with choosing quality and completion over quantity and trying to capture lightning in a bottle. Now that everyone else is doing their own streaming, they are behind instead of being ahead where they started.
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