My new obsession is the marvellous
lovefilm.com. I know these postal DVD things have been going a while, but I have finally succumbed to an offer of a month's free trial after listening to the actors in my recent short film going on about it.
I am sure it will end up being like a lazy man's gym - in that I will keep on paying the monthly fee without only utilising the service irregularly, but for the moment I am loving working out which DVDs I would like to see, getting sent tow of them, then watching them as quickly as possible so I can post them back and get more sent. The turnover is almost frighteningly quick. I had sent back 24 season 4 disc 1 (mainly because I have not yet seen season 3 - you quickly learn to make sure only the first disc of any series you want is on order) and today got the last disc of Spooks season 2, because my own copy of this DVD had been faulty and I had never seen the final episode. Meanwhile Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" sits by the TV waiting for tomorrow evening when I can watch it, then rush to the post box to ensure another film or TV show will be on its way. The beauty of this limitless DVD feast at a set price is that you can afford to take a chance on films and TV shows that you wouldn't usually want to risk paying for. So "Flightplan" is on my list, as is "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith", but I can also now dip in to TV shows that I am not sure I want to buy the whole set of, so I will finally get to see if "Arrested Development" is as good as people say. You have no real power over which DVD from your list will arrive next, but that's kind of exciting. Every day becomes like a slightly rubbish Christmas where you might get Terry Gilliam's supposedly disappointing "Brother's Grimm."
Apparently if you pay a bit more you can get PSP games too, which is where this service might really come into its own, as I usually get minimal play out of games that I pay full price for, but if you're allowed to keep them as long as you want then you can surely get your money's worth as well as discovering which games you're going to like.
I am not sure I need another outlet for entertainment. I already have Sky Plus and bought DVDs and a few dozen books I need to read, but anything that can help me prevaricate away from the job in hand must be a good thing.
I'll let you know when I get bored with it. Hopefully it will be in the first month as then I can wrap things up and it won't have cost me a penny.
Good service though lovefilm.com. And I am mightily impressed with how swiftly the next rubbish film or TV show arrives.
