Streamflixing!?!??!

Doop dee doo...

So I got an e-mail from Netflix, saying "Hey Mr. Kzin!! We lowered the price of your monthly sub! Ain't that cool?!?".
And then, in a lower voice, "By the way, we can, urrrr, stream movies to your computer now".
O RLY? "YA RLY!"
Dang!
So yeah, Netflix now streams movies to your computer using a browser plug-in which probably interfaces with WiMP.
Since I have cable modem at home, I have good throughput and the picture quality is nice.
It's like watching a DVD on the computer. There's even a full-screen mode without any control panels or distractions.
Netflix says they have 3,000 titles so far and they keep adding stuff.
I watched the first 10 minutes of "THX 1138" to try out the system and it looked good.
This is going to be really handy for catching up on stuff I don't want to rent and for sampling new things!
If you remember where the cursor was when you stopped watching, you can restart the stream and drag the cursor to that point.
I'm not sure how or if one can access the special features and/or extras of the film. That may be added later.
For TV shows, there's a Play button for each episode of the selected DVD. They have lots of "Doctor Who" and "Red Dwarf". :)
And I just spotted "Ice Pirates" and "Heavy Metal"! Woo hoo!! I ain't seen those in a while!
It's all pretty new and it just went up so they're still building it and tinkering with it.
You're given a certain amount of streaming hours per billing period based on how much you pay.
I'm paying about $15 a month (2 discs at once), so I get 15 hours of streaming time.
(I downgraded from 3 discs to 2 discs after the TV died. I'm going back up to 3 discs soon since I have a TV again.)
The streaming time does not roll over from month to month, so it's use-it-or-lose-it. It's a nice bonus though!
I mean, it doesn't cost anything over the price of normal DVD rental, and heck, they just lowered their prices!
So anyway, that's all pretty nifty!
One more -flixing to add to my arsenal:
Netflixing, Homeflixing, Theaterflixing, Friendflixing, and now Streamflixing. :)

Raton-laveur!!

Because there's something wrong with me, I now present you with the Continental French version of "The Raccoon Song".
This is a contextual translation with (mostly) matching meter. There is some slang involved.
Original English lyrics are here.

Somebody stop me.


Je bouffe tous les dechets qui sont dans la décharge
Raton-laveur!

Je rentre dans les maisons et je choure tous les trucs
Raton-laveur!

Je porte un masque - OUAIS!
Et j'ai l'air d'un ours - (ouais)
Je porte un masque, et j'ai l'air d'un ours
Raton-laveur!

Je lave des poissons et je lave des poissons
Raton-laveur!

Je bosse la nuit et j'me fait mordre par les chiens
Raton-laveur!

Je porte un masque - OUAIS!
Et j'ai l'air d'un ours - (ouais)
Je porte un masque, et j'ai l'air d'un ours
Raton-laveur!

Chapeau de Davy Crockett et manteau de fourrure
Raton-laveur!

Me faites pas confiance avec vos trucs préférés
Raton-laveur!

Je porte un masque - OUAIS!
Et j'ai l'air d'un ours - (ouais)
Je porte un masque, et j'ai l'air d'un ours
Raton-laveur!

OUAAAAAIS!
(C'est la Chanson du Raton-laveur. Ouais.)


I hope jonaswins was watching. :)


PS: I'm feeling evil.
Maybe I will sing this in a voice-post.
Only you can stop me.
Think of the children!!!

Blood Music And Iron

Dang, I'm just unstoppable today.
Here's a nice, short little bit of Netflixing.
Only three titles this time.


Hellboy: Blood And Iron - "Lady, I was going to cut you some slack because you're a major mythological figure..."
This is the second Hellboy OVA and I daresay it's much better than the first one, which was good but okay.
Professor Broom is in this one and the narrative alternates between present-day and the Professor's very first assignment.
I don't want to say anymore because of the way the story is set up, but I will say one thing: if the sight of blood makes
you uneasy, even if it's animated blood, you REALLY don't want to rent this one. It's called "Blood And Iron" for a reason.
Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones and John Hurt reprise their roles from the film, with an assortment of cartoon voice
regulars filling out the rest of the cast (Cree Summer, Rob Paulsen, Jim Cummings, Kath Souci).
The writing is solid and the story structure is interesting.
I watched this Sunday Night with Warren "Whisky" No-LJ and we had a great time.
Worth renting and worth owning.

Blood And Chocolate - aka "Werewolves In Luuuuuuuuv"
So this is kinda like "Underworld", except there are no vampires and there's a lot less gunplay.
It's romantic and schmaltzy and I guess it's a date movie. In Bucharest, or is it Budapest, there's this beautiful girl
who is a werewolf and works in a chocolaterie. She meets an American graphic novel artist who happens to be
researching werewolves for his next book. He is very persistent and she begins to fall for him.
But the Pack is not happy about this, and there's some politics and power struggles and things go bad.
It's an unremarkable film thankfully devoid of excessive gore and nastiness. The weres go from human to wolf really fast
and with a minimum of weird body-transformation, so don't go expecting "An American Werewolf In London".
Overall, it's rather blah, and only for hopeless romantics with low expectations.

Music And Lyrics - Remember the '80s? You will!!
A romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, this turned out to be a lot funnier than we expected.
Yes, I watched this one with the Sibling last night, and we were both laughing a lot.
Hugh Grant plays the unsuccessfull half of a Wham-style '80s duo who suddenly gets tapped to write a song for Cora,
the ruling Queen Of Pop, a little-girl-faced artist patterned after Britney and the other interchangeable pop bimbos.
He's a lousy songwriter and has no idea how he's going to pull it off. In this modern age, he's lucky to get the occasional
theme park gig, so this is his chance to get out of the hole that his career has turned into and bounce back.
Into his life stumbles Drew Barrymore, playing a geeky ditzy dame with a natural talent for songwriting.
Hugh has to chase her down and almost tie her to a chair to get her to cooperate. And, urrrr, she likes it. :)
The writing is very enjoyable, with Hugh delivering some devastatingly funny lines in a very English sort of wryness.
Drew is bubbly and neurotic and reminds me of several people I know.
Sample funny dialogue:
Hugh - "The best time I've had in the last fifteen years was sitting at that piano with you."
Drew - "That's wonderfully sensitive... Especially from a man who wears such tight pants."
Hugh - "It forces all the blood to my heart."
Supporting cast includes the very tall and funny Brad Garrett as Hugh's agent, and the almost as tall and no less funny
Kristen Johnston ("3rd Rock From The Sun") as Drew's older sister who happens to worship Hugh's character.
If you grew up in the '80s and watched MTV religiously, you will find this even funnier than most.
A friend told me that Martin Fry of ABC (the pop group) had advised Hugh Grant on '80s dancing and singing,
but his name did not appear anywhere in the credits and he is not mentioned in the making of. Hmmmmmmm...
Okay-okay, one last bit of sample dialogue:
Hugh, singing - "Sleeping with a clown above my bed..."
Hugh, speaking - "'Clown' is not right."
Drew - "That's 'cloud'. Why would you put a clown in your bed?"
Hugh - "It would not be the first time."
As you can see, I really liked this movie. :)
So go rent it! NOW! I'll wait... :D