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Comment by nhebb | Hacker News Reader

I never understood the concept of buying movies. How many times can you watch the same damn thing?

I am starting to learn, with our 2 and a half year old daughter, that you can watch the same damn thing many, many times.

Beyond that, I completely agree with you though.

I had to endure The Sound Of Music at least 20 times with my 3-year old son. Now that he is a little older he has moved on to more entertaining fare such as Cars and Shrek. I am dreading the transition to Transformers however.

My older son had a Lion King addiction, so I know what you mean. I was thinking in terms of movies for grown-ups, though.

My older boy was the same way. I still have that freaking movie memorized (and it is one of my least favorite Disney movies).

I am surprised, though, by how many times my older kids and my wife can still re-watch the same thing. I think it is comfort with the known; I am much more of a risk taker than they are.

Buying a DVD (especially used) is barely more expensive than renting, and there are all kinds of benefits to owning it, including the ability to watch it over a long period of time, lending it to friends, watching a really good movie multiple times or a second time with friends, etc. Plus you can buy any movie; you're not limited to the crappy mainstream selection of the video store/kiosk. Plus they have value (some of my films are worth more than when I purchased them) so that has to be factored in as well.

Note: I live in an area which doesn't have Netflix, so I'm comparing to renting from a store/kiosk.

That's like asking how many times you can read the same damn book.

I don't get it when people find it weird that I will reread some books multiple times. I've read some books once every year or so and even my wife thinks I'm weird. She's a serial book reader (150 books as of now for the year, almost one a day) and will sell them as soon as she reads them, I don't work that way even after she tries to push me into selling some books I just can't.

It's interesting sometimes, how the book seems to change after another reading. But it's probably you that's changed.

Partly, sure. Also, knowing what happens makes it a different experience. No sense of wonder or mystery, more focus on the prose, storytelling ability, etc.

What kind of books does she read, that she can read 150 in a 9 months And when does she read these books? Good Lord! Unless she reads like Kim Peak... a page in like 2 seconds, then I suppose 150 books is well within reason.

She had the summer off before starting a master(in library science no less ;p). She also participated in a few 24 hour reading marathons. She has a blog about stuff she reads: http://talesandtreats.blogspot.com/

Impressive list, definitely. Sounds like you have yourself an interesting lady!

No it's not. Even for fiction, the plot depth of the books I've read multiple times is incomparable to the plot depth of the movies on the all time best selling DVD lists. That is, unless you think that Avatar and Twilight had really deep plots.

After working for hours on end it's nice to unwind by reading a little before going to sleep. If I re-read a book it guarantees that I won't get sucked in wondering what will happen next. Fewer side effects than Ambien anyway.

I have an extremely small movie collection, having been a Netflix subscriber for years, but I collect movies that I would want to share with other people.

I barely ever watch a movie twice, but I can watch it an indefinite number of times as long as there's at least one person in the group who hasn't seen it.

If it has any real depth, you'll see things the second time that you didn't see the first. If it's actually good, the same will hold true over and over. There are folks out there who watch "The Usual Suspects" in groups, regularly, picking up on details they'd missed the first fifteen times. I could watch "Ergo Proxy", "Eerie Indiana", TV-form of "Avatar: The Last Airbender", "Ghost in the Shell: Stand-alone Complex", "The Usual Suspects" or "Cypher" a dozen more times, and be suprised each time by picking up on new pieces of detail or references.

There are a lot of movies that are rent only or even watch it only if I see it on TV. But good movies (for some definition of good) are worth multiple viewings.

Don't underestimate the ability to put a physical object on a shelf, so as to broadcast your identity: http://randsinrepose.com/archives/2009/08/08/the_book_stalke...

So many times! With really great movies, they get better every time I watch them. It's A Wonderful Life, The Third Man, Casablanca, and The Godfather, to name a few. Of course I want to see them again. They may not change, but I see new things and understand them more completely every time I watch them. Like all great art, good movies deserve multiple viewings. I love rereading good books for the same reason. I can't imagine only looking at a statue like the Laocoön just once, why would I feel different about a film?

I don't know. Sometimes I just like to turn on my favorite movies as background noise. Maybe I'm just weird though.

A movie is not worth watching if it is not worth watching many times.

EDIT: If you think about Shakespeare's tragedies, they are being played by different acting companies for centuries.

You can resell them online easily.

Same thing, but buying books.

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