DVDs Just Show Up in My Mailbox! I Like This System!

I just signed up for a two-week free trial at Netflix, and I can't for the life of me now think why I hadn't done so before. Well, no, actually, I think I know the reason: I've tended to associate them with movie rentals, and I almost never rent movies. Once I suddenly realized that they have a huge catalog of TV series, as well, I was totally there. I'm thinking this will help a great deal in acting on my recent reluctant conclusion that it's really, really stupid for me to just buy everything I'm remotely interested in on DVD. I mean, I've purchased quite a few shows that, yes, I really want to have in my collection and will doubtless watch more than once, but I've also accumulated a ton of discs that, realistically, I'll probably never play again. And paying $17.99 a month sure as hell beats buying a boxed set of something every month, at as much as fifty or even a hundred dollars a pop. Yay, me, for being smart! Finally.

So far, I've season one of The Office, a British comedy whose humor is so low-key it's practically non-existent, but which proved oddly addictive, nevertheless. And I'm working my way through season one of The Sopranos, a show that's gotten such good press that I've been meaning to check it out for ages. I've seen four episodes of that so far, and while I can't say that it's got me hooked or anything, I am very definitely liking it. Great acting, the promise of some interesting unfolding plot developments, and a main character who is, amazingly, both utterly sympathetic and deeply appalling. Pretty cool. Oddly, though, my biggest emotional reaction to it so far has been a surprisingly intense feeling of homesickness brought on by the opening credits. Dude, I hadn't even thought I still missed New Jersey, and a feeling of nostalgia in that particular context is just... disturbing.

Anyway, next up is more Sopranos, followed by some South Park. Apparently, I am in the mood for violent and vulgar.