and the winner is...

I know that data basing, opinions, and ratings can be mangled up in a blender and poured into an icy, cold margarita glass. I’ll also admit that I’m not one to worry too much about the chemistry, actual science, and logic behind the process; in fact, when the 20Q handheld game first came out I was somewhat frightened by its ability to figure out that I was thinking of a weasel and not a badger. Most of the “you’ll like this” junk never really works on me – there’s always some system that tell me that Meet the Parents is really, really funny.

I’ve joined Netflix for my second go-round and I’ve joined for the same reasons: I don’t like late fees or worrying about returns, the selection is amazing, the price is just right, and they’ve got all the TV series I want to test view. I’m not actually sure why I let my membership lapse the first time. After you join they’re fairly aggressive in trying to get you to rate a whole bunch of movies you may have watched in your life, they ask you some questions, and then they allegedly build a suggestion list for a given genre. Today’s quizzing was so they could extract my comedy leanings and then suggest films I might like, as if that’s possible. I’m a little weirded out by the eight main suggestions:

High Fidelity
Waiting for Guffman
Manhattan
Ghost World
Fargo
Royal Tennenbaums
Big Lebowski
Secretary

I think that I’ve owned seven of the eight, and Manhattan I did see at some point. I love these films. I know what you’re thinking “Gee, they threw in a couple Coen Brothers movie, a Wes Anderson, and a Christopher Guest…that WAS hard.” But, the Ghost World and Secretary shots are off-the-wall – that ain’t easy. In fact, Ghost World has one of the funniest scenes, and greatest characters, I’ve ever seen in a movie: Doug. You also get early Scarlett Johansson (17?) and Thora Birch. Anyway, the query results fall under the same spell that gets X all lost in iTunes when she slinks in for a song and comes out a $100 later simply because some little bubbles read “if you like this then you might also like…”

I came with a bubble over my head.

t.