Wait, you guys stopped? I used to have Netflix, Hulu/Disney+, Max, Prime, Paramount+/Showtime, and Peacock. I should have had access to pretty much any movie I wanted with all those subscriptions. Yet, at least once per month I decided I wanted to watch something either I had or hadn't seen before and it'd be on some random service I don't have. I refused to pay for more services so I'd just pirate it.
A week ago I cancelled them all and subscribed to a VPN. Piracy is cheaper, more convenient, and it pisses off the corpos. That's a win/win in my book.
You know what it's like? It's like that show "Becker," you know, with Ted Danson? I watched the entire run of that show, hoping that it would get better, and it never did. It had all the right pieces, but it just... It couldn't put them together. And when it got cancelled, I was really bummed out, not because I liked the show, but because I knew it could be so much better, and now it never would be. And that's what losing a parent is like. It's like "Becker." Suddenly, you realize you'll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you'd never admit it, part of you - the stupidest goddamn part of you - was still holding on to that chance. And you didn't even realize it until that chance went away.
This is why I'm not happy with the Activision aquisition. It'd be one thing if Microsoft had become a pioneer of QOL improvements for the consumer. But they're not making any improvements. They're regressing. At least Sony still feels like they're trying to evolve into a better corporation. Their shift to Stars was mostly an upgrade. Microsoft continues to be anti-consumer at every chance they get.
It's the Galactus adaptation we all wish we could forget about.
I try not to because then I get sad that it's never going to be what it was.