Randomize Netflix

The more I talk to people about Netflix and their experiences, the more I realize that my approach is different. Several people I know have dropped the disc service because they let movies sit around for weeks at a time (at least) whereas I refuse to wait more than three days and watch them in the order in which they arrive (I have the two disc/unlimited streaming plan). I rarely monkey with my queue to push movies to the top that I'd rather watch because I know there are certain films I would never pick in the face of other options that I still have an interest in seeing (anything by John Cassevetes falls into this category). Of course, most people I know don't have over 300 movies on their queue, so shifting things around makes more sense for them.

Because of my particular approach to Netflix, I've always wished that they'd add a "Randomize Queue" button where the entire list of movies gets shuffled. That way, every few weeks I can hit the button and reshape which movies come. I tend to ascribe human emotions to inanimate things and feel bad for the movies that have to wait a year just to be seen. Also, it helps to mix in the movies I add when I go on one of my genre-hunting excursions. Finally, I added the Queue Sorter extension since I realized Netflix has stopped working in the best interest of its customers. Here's what it looks like:

Ooooo... so diverse...

It's pretty cool to use and I kind of want to hit the shuffle button every day (I'm going to be watching all of Nicolas Winding Refn's films here soon, hence the "only 7 throught 330" indication. That's not a default setting). Once again, though, I felt bad for the movies that had gotten so close to the top but were scattered throughout the queue when I hit "Shuffle." They'd been so patient (especially you, Brother From Another Planet). I only really have use for the shuffle button, but who knows what may develop? The only real problem is that it doesn't keep television series or multi-volume collections together. It's easy enough to deal with, but that would be a nice feature. Still, I'm pretty stoked on the whole thing and since I want to see everything on my queue, it's exciting to watch what rises to the top.