zip.ca

For the past eight years, we've been renting most of our DVDs through the mail, from zip.ca . (That's the Canadian equivalent of Netflix.) They send us as many as 16 discs over a month--with a maximum of six out at one time--costing an average of just over $2.00.

Its biggest advantage is its extremely wide selection.  I have a "queue" of about 400 videos that I want to see eventually, though over half of them are currently out of stock.  And my tastes are wide-ranging.  I've been watching a lot of classic TV shows like MISSION:  IMPOSSIBLE, some episodes of which I remember seeing 40 years ago. (My sister Margaret was in love with Leonard Nimoy back then, but not because of STAR TREK:  he was master of disguise Paris on MISSION:  IMPOSSIBLE for a couple of years.)

I also like Hollywood classics (recently saw THE GUNFIGHTER, with Gregory Peck cast against type), documentaries (including FRONTLINE productions on subjects like the Apollo 8 expedition), operas (just returned a Munich production of Richard Strauss' DER ROSENKAVALIER), MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, and the earlier seasons of DOCTOR WHO.  Stuff I've recently seen includes a collection of early avant-garde short films (I didn't know Man Ray made movies!), Nicolas Roeg's BAD TIMING:  A SENSUAL OBSESSION, and the Canadian THE SILENT PARTNER (the one where bank teller Elliot Gould short-changes robber Christopher Plummer and keeps most of the loot for himself).

The monthly cycles start on the 16th.  Usually I have an easy time viewing all 16 films and returning them by the 16th, so I'll get a full six sent out on that day.  But last month I was in London until the 25th, so I started with a nine-day handicap.  In addition, some of the later discs were sent from Ottawa or Vancouver and took longer to arrive than usual, so I couldn't even be sure that I'd be sent the full 16 in time.  But I expect they'll be sending the last one tomorrow (the 15th), so I should get my maximum requisition by the skin of my teeth.