The cinetrix knows that by virtue of asking why something ran in the New York Observer, in a way her question is always already moot. Still, a Netflix article, in April 2004? How freakin' cutting edge. But, see, New Yorkers are all competitive and neurotic about adding Netflix to their busy, solipsistic lives.
What a hook. Between this and the Times food section breaking down self-serve scanning at the market, it's time to cue the Buck Owens here at cinetrix HQ.
In the mental iconography of the New York culture junkie, the Netflix queue has joined the line of must-have life accouterments. The kind of person who fixates on arranging just the right titles on his built-in bookcases or artfully stacking back issues of Granta and The New York Review of Books now spends countless hours searching the Netflix Web site. His Netflix neuroses requires him to add to his queue all the high-end movies that he never got around to catching at the theater—if not necessarily to watch them.[snip]
For Elaine Chen, an ad copywriter at Wunderman, though, the problem is more mundane: When a friend at work suggested she add Netflix to her already overloaded entertainment smorgasbord, the thought made her cringe. "We all basically have a bottom-line amount of information we can handle, so I thought, ‘I can’t be spending any more money on this crap than I already am,’" Ms. Chen said. "If I already have a cable bill, you throw in my Internet and my TiVo, it’s $100 a month!’ So I’m like, ‘If I pay another 20 bucks for Netflix, I’ll just feel like I’m an asshole.’ It’s particularly bad because I really have an extremely frightening home theater system for a single woman. At some point, I really need a reason to leave the house."
[snip]
For now, though, there’s a weirdly, mutually profitable match between New Yorkers and their Netflix subscriptions. "The interesting thing about Netflix: It brings to entertainment some of the appeal of getting something accomplished," as Mr. Levine put it. "Like when I’m compelled to watch my Netflixes and mail them back and feel good about that. I shouldn’t, though. It’s not an achievement. It’s a freaking movie."
Yes, it's good that you did that. And I'm guessing the home theatre system is not the only reason Elaine doesn't leave the house.
Yay! Group hug! [roll credits]
