I’ve been a regular at Hollywood Video for over a year now, running in to pick up a couple movies every Friday night before work. Problem is, my taste in movies tends to run towards the semi-obscure, and I cleaned out Hollywood’s limited special interest/foreign section awhile ago.
But the kicker this weekend was when I went in looking for two mainstream movies: Love Actually (for myself) and Spongbob Squarepants: The Movie (for the little sis). Looked and looked and couldn’t find either of them. So I tracked down an employee…
“Where would I find Love Actually? I’ve already looked under Comedy…”
“Did you look under ‘Drama’?”
“Yup, and I didn’t see it there.”
“I don’t know if we have it.”
“Don’t have it in at the moment, or don’t have it in stock?”
“No, I’m pretty sure we don’t have it at all.”
“Oh…okay. Well, I was looking for the Spongebob Squarepants movie as well.”
“That’s under ‘Kids’.”
“Yeah, I checked and I didn’t see it.”
“Looked under ‘New Releases’, too?”
“Yup.”
“Well, if it’s not there, we don’t have it.”
“Don’t have it…at all?”
“Nope.”
“Um, okay. Thanks.”
So I picked up FF7 for the kidlet and, while looking for Love Actually, found Gosford Park for myself. Stephen and I watched it last night, excellent movie.
And I went home that day and signed up for Netflix. Had three movies shipped on Monday and were in my mailbox by Tuesday morning: Ladies in Lavender, Starter for 10, and yes, Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie.
I’m sorry, Hollywood, but I needed someone who could meet my needs. You understand…
You gave me an idea: next time I have stuff to do on campus (which is going to be this Friday; doctor appointment), I’m going to check out the DVD section of the main library. I’ve heard good things about their movie collection…
My roommate seems to prefer Blockbuster to Hollywood Video.
And finally, they should really have a movie catalog on their computer.
Our library actually has a really great catalog — I just returned TMNT and 300 earlier this week.
I liked Love Actually. Cute movie. :o)
Netflix has certainly helped to raise my overall quality of life.
I love your icon!
This is exactly how I joined Netflix lo these many years ago. My first two movies were Trekkies and Babette’s Feast. Incidentally, I loved Gosford Park so much I watched it 4 times in a row. If you haven’t returned it yet be sure to watch it once while listening to commentary by the screenwriter, Julian Fellowes.
I’m a Blockbuster member, and I’ll admit that I’m tired going in there as well. Either they don’t have the movie at all or they don’t have any in stock due to their new “return it whenever you want, we have no late fees” rule.
When Erik comes home for good, we’re definitely joining Netflix.