Eleanor

Robin's been gone on business for a few days so last night I found myself desperate for a little video treat. The only Netflix videos I had were "Guns, Germs and Steel" disc 2 (I forgot to put disc 1 first in the queue) and a biopic about Eleanor Roosevelt. Since my treat videos are usually light, comedic and doused with estrogen, neither of those videos would be satisfying.

So I contemplated going to Safeway to rent something, but decided it would be a waste seeing I was already on the 4 at-a-time Netflix program.

Then I considered watching commercial television and doing sit-ups or something to get through the commercials. The only thing I even remotely wanted to watch was Notes from the Underbelly, but since I'd missed the past four episodes, I'd have to catch up on abc.com.

Turns out abc.com doesn't show reruns of the show (bastards) as they do with LOST. And iTunes doesn't sell the episodes either, as they do with LOST. Since I wasn't about to watch a show in non-consecutive order, the commercial TV plan was out.

Then I remembered Netflix has this thing where you can watch some movies or shows right away on their site. Perfect. I went to the site to peruse the list.
Let's see...
No
No
Seen it
No
Ah yes, The Office
I'd seen the British version (every episode, in consecutive order), but hadn't seen the American version yet. I do like Steve Carell. Cool, hitting Play.
Wha!?
"Your system is not compatible with instant viewing"
Bug bug bugger!

Fine.
Back to iTunes to see if maybe there's a movie I can download.
TEN BUCKS for a movie!? Forget it. I'll never watch it again, so it's not worth it.

Eleanor Roosevelt it is.

Two and a half hours later I felt proud and ashamed. Ashamed that I'd tried ridiculously hard to find something mind-numbing to watch, and proud that I'd watched the whole PBS special and loved it.

She was truly an amazing person. Her tireless humanitarian efforts and courage to stand up for things she believed in were incredibly admirable. She lived a long time and actually received recognition for her efforts. A few juicy tidbits about her life made the documentary more than interesting, so I wasn't left totally unamused.

I love Netflix for their breadth of educational choices. It's really all due to them that I don't watch crap every day. That said, The Office is next in my queue.