August 15, 2012 8:48 pm

Whining about Netflix again

After stumbling across this “Post-Play” entry on the Netflix blog, I was compelled to write another whiny entry regarding the Netflix interface on the Xbox.

According to the Netflix blog, here’s what Post-Play is:

When you finish watching an episode of a TV show, we’ll minimize the credits and tee-up the next episode. If you do nothing, the next episode will start to play in 15 seconds. You can also stop it to get more information or select another episode.

Seriously, Netflix? I like the minimization of credits thing – that’s been there for a while on the Xbox interface – but the next episode starting to play after 15 seconds? WILL DRIVE ME BATTY.

I was already annoyed with the recent “preview” feature – if you leave your cursor over a movie/tv show, it now expands it to play a 30-second preview that you can’t exit out of. You can move the cursor to stop it, but if you leave the cursor alone again, it starts to preview THAT title. It would be one thing if I could hit pause and be done with it, but you can’t.

A comment on the Netflix post:

This is a killer feature I’ve wanted for years–but why isn’t this experience a user-optional setting? If I’m watching episodes of “Lost” on my couch, yes I want this feature! If I’m watching an episode on my tablet in bed before going to sleep, I may want it to stop after one episode so it doesn’t run all night[…]
– Kevin Park

I often watch several episodes of a given show in a row, but I don’t want Netflix to make that decision for me. I would accidentally stay up all night watching TV if I didn’t have the built-in failsafe of the episode stopping and having to make the conscious decision to put another one on.

The other most recent update involves being able to choose which “Netflix Experience” I want when I open the app, and my choices are the normal Netflix or one specifically for kids. I see why some people would enjoy the kids-only option, but… I don’t use it, I don’t plan to, and I want to avoid having to select it over and over.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Netflix Xbox app desperately needs a preferences menu. You could choose your default Netflix experience so it doesn’t ask you EVERY SINGLE TIME you open the app, you could choose whether or not to have the bip-bip noises when you move your cursor (NO), you could choose whether or not you want the preview option (NO), you could choose whether or not you want the auto-play option, either globally or on a per-viewing basis… the list goes on.

Netflix: Please let your users choose how they want to use your app!

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July 30, 2012 9:16 pm

More Buffy, HP Birthday, Hi-Kid, Computer, Life

More Buffy

(Follow-up to my Buffy post)

I’ve now read through Season 8 and (what’s been released of) Season 9 of the comics (though… I read S9 first and want to go back and re-read now that I’ve finished S8) and if you are a Buffy fan, I’d recommend them. They’re totally outlandish but it’s outlandish in a quirky, fun, comic-y way. I am glad I was warned it was crazy, for sure, but I felt like they stayed true to the spirit of the show and I really enjoyed them.

Plus, the artwork is so great – they resemble the actors without being portraits of them, and some of the panels are downright beautiful. (The “I miss my mom” dusk-sunset page!)

I’ve also been reaaaally half-assedly watching Angel, and ye gods. I cannot get into it. I am still set on giving it a chance (mostly to get to the bits with Spike) but it is pretty tortuous. I am just not that big of a fan of Angel, I guess?

My birthday

I turned 27 on June 21 and I had a Harry Potter-themed birthday party! My mom came as Molly Weasley, my dad as Neville Longbottom, my brother as Sirius Black, Daniel’s mom as Pomona Sprout, her man-friend as Hagrid, and Daniel was Harry Potter, I was Luna Lovegood, and Wesley was Dobby. Whew! There were several other guests that came as Muggles. :) I made a Platform 9 3/4 “brick wall” out of a sheet to hang over the door – it was a big hit. All the food was HP-themed as well; I even made pumpkin juice! I think the butterbeer was the big winner though – cream soda + butterscotch schnapps. YUM!

Hi-Kid

Daniel’s grandpa, whom we called “Hi-Kid,” passed away on June 20.

Wesley and Hi-Kid

My favorite Hi-Kid story revolves around him discovering I did web development, and then telling me he had Adobe CS already and wasn’t sure if he should upgrade to CS2 since what he was doing with Photoshop seemed to work fine for him, and could I tell him if it was worth the extra cost? I remember being appalled that someone in their eighties even knew what Photoshop was, let alone used it and had an opinion about upgrading it.

Hee!

Another favorite memory involves the first time I had dinner at Nana and Hi-Kid’s house, and Hi-Kid was serving mashed potatoes. I asked for one scoop, and he gave me that plus two more. I soon came to find out this was a thing, and the chronic over-purchasing and over-serving of food is sort of a running joke. This was further underscored during Hi-Kid’s memorial service when the family purchased WAY too many boxes of cookies for guests to eat and were trying to pawn them off on guests.

He was an incredibly sharp, witty man and I’m a better person for having known him. We’ll miss him a lot.

Computer

We’ve had some crazy lightning storms recently, and I am a dunce and did not think to unplug my computer during a particularly flashy one, and the next morning my computer wouldn’t turn on and the monitor smelled like burning. We took it in, it was diagnosed with a burnt-out power supply and we had to wait for a special one to come in the mail (I have a tiny computer and it needed a tiny power supply) and get installed. TWO WEEKS LATER, I have my computer back and am able to resume my normal computery activities. We do have a tiny netbook and a broken-but-repaired iPod Touch that got us by in the meantime, but man. I do not want to do that again.

Life

August is going to be a busy month for us! My brother is getting married on the 18th, and then we have friends coming to stay with us, and then my cousin is getting married near Boise, ID on September 1st so we’ll take a trip down there.

Wesley and his cousin were in the 4th of July baby parade again this year. Riley has one of those motorized kid cars, except it’s a John Deere tractor, so he drove and pulled Wesley behind in the trailer. They had loads of fun.

4th of July Baby Parade

My mom, Wesley, and I went cherry picking at my grandparents’ house. I am making a weird face but we had a good time:

Cherry picking

My dad took Wesley on a (low speed! very safe!) ride on his ATV. Wesley calls it a motorcycle (pronounced “moley-lyco”) and was THRILLED he got to wear a moley-lyco helmet.

Moley-lyco

My mom had gallbladder surgery recently (non-emergency, thankfully) and is recovering well. I was nervous when my dad didn’t text me for a few hours but then again I forgot to ask how long the surgery would take.
She’s also organizing a local Big Latch On event that I’m helping with. Should be fun! If you’re a breastfeeding mom see if there’s one near you – you can help break the record of the most women breastfeeding simultaneously.

I’m still working part-time, three days a week, and Wesley still cries at every daycare dropoff. Thank goodness it’s only once a week!

Our county fair is coming up later this month and I am ridiculously excited about it. I used to make all my summer money at the fair when I was younger (you get $3 for a blue ribbon!) and I want to enter some embroidery stuff this year. I have this Badbird Beaver pattern already and I’m dying to use it – I really want to make it sort of oversized and prettily colorful, and then maybe the judges will be overcome with love for my efforts and I will get a purple Grand Champion ribbon for it. A girl can dream.

That about brings us up to date, I think. What have you been up to?

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June 1, 2012 4:42 pm

Thoughts on Buffy

A while ago, I was searching for a new TV series to watch and I impulsively settled on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Because I was familiar with the characters despite having never seen an episode (being subscribed to Seventeen magazine while Buffy was airing probably didn’t hurt) and because everyone is all big on Joss Whedon, I decided to check it out.

I see now why people consider Joss Whedon a genius. The show is really good.

(Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the show!)

Favorite things:

  • Spike

    It’s not so much that I find James Marsters attractive; it’s more like I find his character attractive. His irreverent demeanor, English accent, devotion to Buffy, and offhand quips that perfectly describe something that no one else is willing to bring up.

    I ship Buffy and Spike, but I am still SO IRRITATED that Buffy was so mean to him all the time. Sure, she with him for all the wrong reasons in Season 6, but good grief. The things she said to him were extremely over the top sometimes. “You’re beneath me.” “It could never be you.” etc.

    That said… they were SO HOT when they were together. *fans self* (When Spike holds up Buffy’s underwear as she’s trying to leave? OMG.) (Or when they wake up together under Turkish rugs.) (Or when Buffy is invisible and has her way with him. And then Xander walks in while Spike is… “exercising.” “Naked.”) *fans self again*

    I also love Spike’s relationship with Dawn. He babysits her! She looks up to him! He calls her “Niblet!” I just love that he’s simultaneously this murderous evil vampire and a teenager’s babysitter.

    Plus, he’s kind of… a total doof before he gets turned into a vampire. Something about this totally doofy poetry-obsessed loser turning into Spike… it’s great.

  • Once More, With Feeling

    The musical episode. I bought the soundtrack to this episode immediately after finishing the series and now I cannot stop listening to it. There’s just something about the cast singing and all those harmonies that I can’t resist. (Walk Through The Fire is especially good.) I am now extremely, extremely sad that I wasn’t yet a Buffy fan when Cinema 21 in Portland used to host Once More With Feeling sing-alongs!

    Also: Giles’s knowing smile/laugh when Buffy sings, “Hey, I’ve died twice!”

  • Tabula Rasa

    This is the one where Willow accidentally causes everyone to lose their memory while trying to perform a memory spell on Buffy and Tara. The comedy in this episode is beyond wonderful. Spike thinks Giles is his father, Spike is wearing a brown tweed suit and a crazypants earflap hat, Giles and Anya believe they are engaged… the whole thing is simply amazing.

Other Thoughts

  • I’m not sure I understand why everyone seems to love Angel so much. I don’t dislike him, per se, I just feel like he wasn’t around long enough for me to get to know him. I mean, Buffy was super into him, but I feel like I never understood why. Perhaps I should go back and watch the first couple of seasons to see if anything jumps out at me?
  • I don’t like Faith. I get why people love her, but I found her a little too flippant and “whatever, I do what I want.”
  • Legitimately scary bits: The Gentlemen, Gnarl the skin-eating demon, The First turning Anya into this white-eyed creepy person, and The First making Dawn see scary flashes of her dead mother.
  • SPOILERS: Tara’s shooting and subsequent death seemed totally and completely random to me. I was convinced that Willow was going to bring her back right away and was very disappointed it didn’t happen. Also: Xander losing an eye was one of the most awful things to happen in the entire series. I was convinced here too that Willow was going to come through as his best friend and heal his eye, especially since they didn’t have her help Tara, but no. Sad! Poor Xander. END SPOILERS

I’ve heard mixed things about seasons 8 and 9 of the Buffy comic but I’m kind of interested in checking them out – not really sure how to go about this because I am not a comics person, but I saw digital copies for sale somewhere that I might take a look at. The artwork looked amazing.

I’m also going to try watching Angel. I started Episode 1 while I was in the middle of watching Buffy and didn’t find it spectacular, but then again I didn’t find Buffy spectacular for the first few episodes either so I’m willing to give it a chance. Plus, MOAR SPIKE YES YES.

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