On Notflixing

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Today is the day to yell at your dying plant.

Come see me be totally out of my element on Friday.

I tend to be a little OCD when it comes to my media. I hold onto books that I clearly will never read when it would benefit the community and myself to just donate them to the library. I feel compelled to read the newspaper on Sundays even if I don't have time and just don't want to. It pains me to delete shows from my Tivo without watching them, even if it's an episode of "Law and Order" that I know I've seen before.

Up until today, though, one thing was still pristine: Netflix. I like Netflix because I feel it forces me to watch all the movies and shows I'd never gotten around to. It was unlikely I'd actually go to the video store and rent "The Godfather," but when it was sent to my house, it held me hostage until I watched it and could send it home with a clear conscience.

Sometimes, though, you just aren't excited about what you have to watch. It sits around in your house for weeks, reminding you how much money you're wasting by not watching it. It ends up on your 'to-do' list, as if watching a movie is homework.

Up until today, I had a perfect record though of watching everything before I sent it back. Today, though, I'm giving in.

I'm sending back the remaining DVDs of Season 1 of "The Sopranos." I'm not a big television drama person, and I'm even less interested in movies and shows involving the mob (which is probably why it took me so long to watch "The Godfather.")

"The Sopranos" has been sitting here for a few weeks and I'm giving in. It was hard to make myself watch the first DVD of the series--following that up with three more seems impossible.

I'm just facing facts and keeping my budget in mind. There's no reason to watch something that I don't have any interest in. So, they're going back. (For the record, the unofficial term for this, sending a Netflix movie back before watching it is to "Notflix.")

I feel sort of liberated, saying "I deserve better. I deserve a movie I actually want to watch!" But I also feel like a failure, for being too lazy to watch TV and for failing to appreciate a cultural phenomenon.

I need to feel better. Have you Notflixed a movie (or, if you don't have Netflix, rented a movie and let it sit around for a stupid amount of time, willing yourself to want to rent it?) Write in to me and let me know: what movie lingered in your home, making you feel guilty? Why couldn't you bring yourself to watch it and how long did it stay with you? I'll make a list of the movies or shows that seem good at first until you get them home to your house.

This still though is better than the time I lent a movie I had rented from Kozmo.com to a friend of mine, who procrastinated returning it until the company went out of business and she just kept it for herself. That was awesome/kind of sucked.