Where do you even rent movies in this post-Blockbuster, fragmented streaming world???

[feliciacraft]

I tried to find a site/service to legally stream Deadpool this weekend, and I couldn't. That's with subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. I even checked out Google Play Store for movies (which embarrassingly for me required a Google search because I'd never used it for movies before), and everywhere, the price is $14.99 to buy, and

Comments

[chelseagirl]

I miss my old neighborhood video store so much! He actually had enough of a loyal client base to keep going -- though we'd moved to a different neighborhood so suddenly factoring in two round-trip subway rides, renting was starting to cost the same as buying -- but the rent went up exponentially and he had to close his doors. It was indie and the owner was great and I rented from him for over 20 years -- we keep in touch on Facebook.

[feliciacraft]

It's wonderful that you still keep in touch.

I'm a sporadic media consumer, and convenience is a major factor. I think it was entirely due to BtVS and AtS being available for Netflix streaming that I got into the fandom. So if a movie is only watchable for $15? It just means that I put off watching it for as long as the price is outrageous, and go stream something else instead.

[herself_nyc]

Doesn't your public library have DVDs? Here, I can reserve them online and pick them up from my local branch. NYPL has a deep bench of classic movies as well as new ones, and TV shows, foreign films, etc. It seems most libraries feature a lot of DVDs, I suspect because people probably end up paying more late return fees for them than for anything else. :)

[feliciacraft]

I'm sure they have DVDs. OTOH the local branch of the library is only open for a subset of my work hours on weekdays, something like 12-5pm on most days. There's nothing more frustrating than missing the pickup period for a book I've been looking forward to that's become available in the "hold" area for me, and not being able to do a thing about it.

[herself_nyc]

No weekend/evening hours? What a shame.

[feliciacraft]

Oh, the library is open on Saturday/Sunday afternoons. It's such a narrow window of opportunity, though, for people with hectic, chaotic schedules. People who struggle to be predictable. People like me. :P So the failings do not entirely fall on the library (although it's true that its hours have been reduced over the years). I used to spend so much time at the library on weekends as a teenager I practically lived there. It was always open. Oh well.

[herself_nyc]

Yep, I know (and miss) the place. And gallingly, the store sat empty for a few years after he was forced out. Now it's a Garber's Hardware. ;/

[chelseagirl]

Because there's not already a hardware store of many years' existence just one block away. Ridiculous.

[herself_nyc]

That's right! THough at least it wasn't another cellphone store or Starbucks.

[chelseagirl]

Oh true. But I used that hardware store on 9th between 21st and 22nd for 20 years and found it completely adequate; not sure what need another one would solve . . .

[feliciacraft]

I just found out the other day that the FAO Schwarz flagship store had closed??!!? But that's like Santa's workshop downsizing. It's just...wrong.