Ourflix

This would be a clever bit of reporting, if I hadn't stolen the idea wholecloth from Jane Magazine's guest blogger, Lindsay Robertson, who seems to have pinched it from a friend who writes Cinetrix, who owes it all to the Los Angeles Times, which might have actually committed an original act of journalism and come up with the notion itself:

What would it show, anthropologically speaking, if we used Netflix' "local favorites" feature to show which movies are rented most often in which neighborhoods.

After seconds of in-depth research, I can report that Philadelphia's favorite movie - that is its "unique," the DVD people are renting that distinguishes Philadelphia from other markets - is ...

Rocky.

Philadelphians are loving the 30-year-old war horse from Society Hill to Chestnut Hill.

Based on all of my reporting, I would like to move to Yardley. This Bucks County burg has pretty edgy tastes in cinema.

It's most-rented flick was that slyly metaphoric Romanian classic, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which Netflix describes as a drama that follows an ailing old man who awaits his end, as a weary paramedic shuttles him between hospitals. It's the first of a series of stories planned from around Bucharest, which I can report is the only European capital where I have been chased through the streets by packs of wild dogs.

But I digress.

Netflix - a service where you go online to pick the movies you want to watch, then they send them to your home via the U.S. mail - isn't used enough everywhere to have generated local information. My neighborhood must be a Hollywood Video kind of place. I'm two weeks into a Netflix trial to see if it makes sense, given my knack for generating late fees.

But there's data for places across the region, from Haddonfield, N.J. to Kennett Square, Mt. Airy to Swarthmore.

God love Haddonfield. No. 1 there is Wrong Turn, which features cannibalistic mountain men. Stay classy.

Swarthmore swings for Fever Pitch, which turned Nick Hornby's obsession with British football into Jimmy Fallon's obsession with the Boston Red Sox.

Kennett Square goes for Murder By Numbers, starring Sandra Bullock as a homicide squad detective, profiling two brilliant young killers. Sounds like TV fare, but the Chester County town gets points for its second choice, Transamerica. Don't let anybody tell you the suburbs are boring.

Some of the results leave you thinking, Duh! Who among us would be stunned that Las Vegas loves Larry the Cable Guy? Or that Pittsburgh can't get enough of Super Bowl XL. Or that New York's favorite flick is called New York.

But the Netflixers of Beverly Hills show some taste with their No.2. choice. -- The Philadelphia Story.

Daniel.

Love Your Blog, Your gonna love Netflix because there are NO LATE FEES AND DUE DATES.

I have been a member since November 1999 and it is great, I have not rented from a video store since. 

That feature they have for local favorites started a few months back, I have to explore it more as I did not know it covered communities in the surrounding area. 

Keep up the great work and I will continue reading.. Enjoy your membership. 

All The Best

Sincerely

Christopher Shookla
Philadelphia, PA 

I did this last month!
http://quinnchannel.typepad.com/tfh/2006/08/why_netflix_is_.html

wait, you're in jersey. no deranged cannibals in your neighborhood?

Sure there are, but they keep their lawns nice so nobody cares.