what are DVDs for, anyway?

[oiran]

I'm wondering if I'm doing this wrong. I've been getting some really disgusting disks from Netflix, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing something aberrant by simply watching DVDs and being really pretty passive about the whole DVD experience. Based on the condition of the things I get in the mail, I'm not nearly as interactive with the DVDs as some of you (general, in a world sense, not just an LJ sense) seem to be.

[Poll #288390]

I am trying to watch Angel S1 disks and I have to repeatedly smear them with this nerdy audio/video goo that Mr. Glove has around so that I can get them to play at all. I'd say that at least three-quarters of the disks we get from Netflix have serious problems with crusted splooge of one sort or another, as well as deep gouges that seem to have been gnawed into them. People, if you don't like the movie, please don't take it out on the disk.

Comments

[timian.livejournal.com]

I'm fantastically anal, and the fear of discs in less than absolutely perfect condition has prevented me from joining Netflix. Although, the idea of the service sounds fun.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

They are really imperfect, condition-wise. Really imperfect. Like, I'm seriously positive that there was a big, bloody, dried booger on a DVD we had pass through our hands. Well, we didn't touch it much until we washed it.

Even in my stupidest moments, I wouldn't think blowing my nose on a DVD would be all that great a joke.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

This is so weird, because all of the dvds that I've gotten from netflix have been just fine. Different branch offices cover different areas with different people, maybe.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

That could certainly have something to do with it. When we first started using Netflix, we didn't have any problems. I know they've added some distribution centers in the last few months, and our problems have certainly been concentrated in the last 3-4 months.

It's gotten to the point that we pretty much wash all DVDs when we get them, and then we use various audio/video nerd solutions on them when they pixelate/drop sound/stop for god knows what reason.

I do understand fingerprints, and I even understand that discs get scratched, but I don't understand the crusty coatings or the grease or the lumps. I can't help thinking that people get them gross on purpose, though the entertainment factor seems very, very low.

[nuptse.livejournal.com]

Boogers? Ew!! Suddenly those disposible discs out of the vending machines don't sound so bad.

Discs are quite fun to use in the microwave as well. They get all crackly 'n stuff.

But um... sounds like it's no different than the tape exchange at the local porno shop. Handle with hazmet gloves and all that.

Once a few years ago I bought a pack of ghey magazines at the local porn shop and they had *fingerprints* all over them. *shudder* I wonder - under what circumstance do you take magazines back to the shop?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

It's gotten to a point where we just wash everything when it arrives. And then wash our hands. Twice.

And I've wondered about those magazine packs with the fingerprints and the torn covers inside the seal...it would never occur to me that I could return porn when I'd used it up, or that it would be resellable. The only porn shop I've been into here in Nashvegas was truly nasty and had these 1970s magazines with the pictures all faded to a funny blue/yellow, very handled, and sealed up in plastic for, like $40 a pack. I had to wonder if the fact they were probably all stuck together was supposed to be a bonus and that was why they were so costly.

[nuptse.livejournal.com]

HA! Never thought about the costly perspective.
Yeah, usually they threw in one really old mag with like, Tom Sellick look-a-likes wearing really tight, short running shorts with the white piping on them, yaknow?
We lived right around the corner from a porn shop out in the sticks and we'd go whenever we felt bored and didn't want to go all the way into town. I'd get the ghey mag packs and sometimes a dildo grab-bag. Once I got a spanking mag in the gheypack and I was like "SCORE!!!". You never knew what you were getting... the BEST one was a huge center-fold of just a big half-hard uncut penis. I hung it on the fridge. (of course this was pre-kiddo time)

[paddyg.livejournal.com]

Wow, what bad luck. I've had only one really bad DVD from Netflix; I don't get the new releases, so maybe that's why. But boogers? Splooge? Teethmarks? What are people thinking?? As a last resort, you could try washing them gently with mild dish detergent and drying them carefully.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Mostly what we've used Netflix for is to see Buffy, Firefly, and now Angel, with the occasional movie. At first, we didn't have problems, but the last few months have been pretty gross.

We've gotten to the point where we just wash everything when it arrives, and then we use various audio/video nerd solutions on the discs when they pixelate/lose sound/stop for no reason, etc. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I still really like the Netflix service, as I am terrible about returning things on time and I have spent the equivalent of the $20/month Netflix fee on late fees for an individual disc or tape from the local video store many times. Like, almost every time I would take something out. So, even with the splooge, it's a better option for us. But, still: gross.

[rhyo.livejournal.com]

So far, I've used Netflix to get some obscure stuff:
Fellini movies (much better when I was young and watching them at the art theater in a consciousness-altered state), Ingmar Berman (Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, ditto), A Soldier of Orange, Woman in the Dunes, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, An American in Paris, Brigadoon and a bunch of others I can't remember. Those discs were all in good shape.

The season 2 Oz discs, however, were not. What surprises me, though, given those flimsy envelopes, is that they survive shipping AT ALL.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

The last time I did a search for some obscure movies on Netflix, I couldn't find them. They also didn't have the due South DVDs, and I do really want to see those. Of course, it's been a few months, and I should check again before complaining too vociferously. Besides, the only options here in Nashvegas are Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Hollywood is the lesser of two evils, but not that much lesser. And complaining about how foreign movies have been cut for explicit sex without being labeled as such to a nice young Baptist man/clerk is just painful for everyone and frustrating for me. Explaining, "But I rented it because I wanted to see graphic sex," makes heads explode.

[rhyo.livejournal.com]

Explaining, "But I rented it because I wanted to see graphic sex," makes heads explode.

One takes one's pleasures as they come. Can't get graphic sex? Exploding Baptist heads run a close second.

I tend to rent from 4 categories:
Foreign Language and International
Documentaries
Classics
Independent (although a lot of the stuff in here is mislabeled)

I have the first 2 seasons of Due South on DVD, plus the pilot on VHS if you'd like to borrow them.

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

You forgot an option in your poll: let them sit around and do nothing but collect dust.

That’s the worst that happens to my DVDs. Scratches I might understand. But man. You make me not want to subscribe to Netflix.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Actually, I love Netflix. And I do recommend the service. I have spent so much more than the monthly Netflix charge on late fees for just a single movie that I can put up with the splooge. I just can't figure out what people are doing. The way my electronics are set up, there's just no likelihood that food or bodily fluids will get on discs unless I'm trying on purpose to make them gross.

If we were using the service for older movies, it might be different, but we're mostly catching up with Whedon series that we didn't watch the first time, i.e., Buffy, Firefly, and now Angel. All of these discs have been well-handled and now...sticky.

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

*snorfles*

My french dvd netflix equivalent keeps sending me dvds that are in bloody french!!!!! (it's equally annoying, but in a slightly less humans-are-morons! way)

And i take it you handed in the redux piece? I'm laaaaaaaaaaaaate. DOOM.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Le singe est sur la branche. [/izzard]

I have not turned in my homework yet. I am editing still. I hate it. Do you hate yours? Need eyes? I am willing to help.

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

Ah, Edward. It really pleases me that he's straight. Which is odd, as I usually feel the exact opposite.

I have not turned in my homework yet. I am editing still. I hate it. Do you hate yours? Need eyes? I am willing to help.
Thank you! Cool. I hate it - what it is, which is sweet f.a. - and am nowhere near the middle, but it'll be short, i think, so... I'll write for a while and mail you. Do the same if you want an un-jaundiced eye for yours, okay?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Yes, and yes. I'll fiddle a bit and mail you. Mine is a big, fat experiment and possibly a big, fat failure.

Oh, and a big YES on the Edward, too. He oughtn't to be sexy, but I do indeed wish to fuck him. If he didn't wear lipstick, I doubt I'd feel that way.