Wordless Wednesday: TED Video About My 4th Grade Son

Movie Monday: Top 10 Films of All Time

Now that Movie Monday has become a regular blog series, here is a list of my favorite movies to give you an idea of how geeky and pretentious I really am. In my younger days, I frequented The Nuart, New Beverly Cinema, Melnitz, and Royal Theater in Los Angeles. I'm proof that moms prefer "Contagion" to "I Don't Know How She Does It."
Here are my top ten films in order:





1. Masculin Feminin (Godard)
2. Contempt (Godard)
3. La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
4. 8 1/2 (Fellini)
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
6. The Godfather, Part II (Coppola)
7. Tokyo Story (Ozu)
8. The Passenger (Antonioni)
9. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
10. La Notte (Antonioni)


Let me know if you've seen any films on the list or if you have any geeky film recommendations for me. Happy viewing!

Wordless Wednesday: 4th Grade Lit

Movie Monday: An Apology from Netflix

The fallout over Netflix price hikes continues. Netflix has split its DVD subscription service from its streaming service into two separate businesses. Qwikster is the new name of Netflix's DVD subscription service but Netflix will continue to stream movies under the Netflix banner.
In September, we cancelled our Netflix DVD service and opted for streaming only. We have been loyal Netflix subscribers for years, but the price hikes forced us to rethink the value of our Netflix costs. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who cancelled their subscription and Netflix is trying to make amends.

An email I received from Netflix this morning -


Dear Wendy,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix

p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

Back to School Night - 4th Grade

Fourth grade Back to School Night can be summed up in three words: homework, homework, homework. Third grade was fun, but playtime is over.
I anticipate a challenging fourth grade school year for my son. A year that includes writing poetry, California Mission report and famous Californians report. In order to succeed, my son needs to improve his organization and listening skills. Not an easy task. Big sister never had this much work in fourth grade, but in 2011, this is not your older sister's fourth grade classroom.

Wordless Wednesday: 8th Grade Homework

Movie Monday: Trust

Here's a disturbing movie for parents of teens. Trust directed by David Schwimmer is a drama about a teenage girl's online romance with a boy who turns out to be an online predator. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener play a happily married couple with three kids living in suburban Chicago. Fourteen year old Annie (played by Liana Liberato) is their intelligent daughter, a typical teen with cell phone, laptop and IM account. Online, Annie meets Charlie, a handsome high school athlete from California. Slowly, Annie and Charlie's relationship grows via texts and instant messages. When Annie finally meets Charlie in person; Charlie is not the handsome teen she fell in love with, but an online predator. The rest of the film follows the family's unravelling as Annie seeks counseling and tries to pull her life together after being a victim of rape.

"Trust" has received mixed reviews but Clive Owen and Liana Liberato's performances are believable as father and daughter trying to repair themselves and their relationship. David Schwimmer does a solid job as director and refrains from taking the film down a sordid or exploitative road. The most disturbing part about "Trust" is how authentic this suburban nightmare feels. Annie on iChat, IMing or emailing photos is like every teenager I know. As parents, we are not privy to every text or instant message our teen sends and receives. The scary part is how easily kids can get into trouble, even under parental supervision.

Trust (2010) is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon VOD and iTunes

Good-bye Netflix, Hello redbox

This is my last week as a Netflix DVD subscriber. Made the decision to keep Netflix streaming but cancel Netflix DVD subscription after price hikes. Like many families we plan to reduce our monthly media costs after feeling jacked by cost increases, taxes and fees. I have been a loyal and happy Netflix subscriber for 7+ years. In December 2010 I paid $13.99 for unlimited streaming + 2 DVDs out-at-time and now I pay $14.99. With September 2011 price increase I will pay $19.98. Canceling the DVD plan and switching to streaming only plan = $7.99 per month. A good value for under $10.

We rarely watch DVDs anymore as my kids (1 teen & 1 tween) prefer YouTube to movies and television. If there's a DVD to rent I will rent through redbox kiosk at my local supermarket. I have tried redbox's $1 a day DVD rental and give their service a big thumbs up. Redbox also rents video games too. Having a redbox at the market makes renting and returning just as convenient as Netflix via USPS. Goodbye Netflix DVDs. I will miss you.

Here is a list of my last 10 Netflix DVD rentals:
1. Trust
2. Rango
3. Cedar Rapids
4. The Kids Grow Up - documentary
5. True Grit
6. Mao's Last Dancer
7. Get Low
8. Faster
9. Somewhere
10. Black Swan

Wordless Wednesday: Sayonara Sprint

Movie Monday: Forks Over Knives on DVD

Forks Over Knives is now available on DVD, iTunes, Amazon VOD and Netflix Instant. "Forks Over Knives" is the most profound and eye opening food documentary since Food Inc. I saw "Forks Over Knives" in theaters right after my sister was diagnosed with hypertension and it helped changed our eating habits overnight. Where "Food Inc." scared me about food I was eating, "Forks Over Knives" empowers you to eat healthy for better living. "Forks Over Knives" was released on DVD the same week Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special The Last Heart Attack aired on CNN. Both "Forks Over Knives" and "The Last Heart Attack" will inspire you to make better food choices for you and your family.