Clint begs for it
Last week I mentioned a new video rental option for Slovenia, called iTiVi, essentially Netflix. I said that we would give it a try and now I can post a preliminary report. The ’search’ function on their website could use some work — for example, it claims to allow you to search using various inputs, including director, but searching for {coen} turned up jack. This says more about the poor search interface than it does about the selection, which is actually pretty broad. The thing about this service that most impressed us, however, was the speed of delivery: I clicked ‘order’ at around 14.30 on Friday, and the disc was in our mailbox at 10.00 the next morning. There’s something to be said for the efficiency of the postal service in a country the size of Vermont.
Renting from iTiVi is not cheap; various pricing schemes exist, depending upon how many DVDs you rent, and of course they get less expensive as you commit to more rentals. However, you get to keep the disc for two weeks, which gives you the flexibility to watch when it’s most convenient. I can’t count the number of times we’ve returned discs unwatched because someone was collicky or had worn us out too much even for Ron Burgundy. Nor the number of times we’ve paid hefty late fees because we felt we had to hang on to the film until we could squeeze it into our schedules. So on balance, although renting from iTiVi involves more initial cash layout, the hassle of return and late fees is non-existent — slip it into the postage-paid return mailer and drop it in a mailbox — and I imagine that in the long run it could end up being competitive in terms of price. And it’s this idea that is the subject of their most recent print advertisement:
Now, the obligatory rough translation:
Frame 1
Blondie: I’m returning these… …And I’m going to get a fistful more westerns.
Frame 2
Unnecessarily Confrontational Video Shop Clerk: AHA, there’s going to be a late fee! 3500 tolars!
Frame 3
Blondie: Too much!
Unnecessarily Confrontational Video Shop Clerk: Pay up now. If not, there won’t be any new films!
Frame 4
Blondie: Please give me new films! I must have them! Pleeease!!! [weeps like schoolgirl]
Considered together with the previous ad featuring John Rambo, I’m beginning to see a pattern here of iTiVi pitching their service to emotionally unstable male video renters. I am their target demographic.
I can’t tell you how much I love that “tu mač”. Hilarious.
I must say I’m surprised that iTiVi doesn’t offer hardcore films right on the front page. (Or at all, for that matter.) What’s happening to this country?
Comment by Michael M. — Wednesday 7 June 06 @ 09.39 MDT+2.00
I was wondering if the “tu mač” was some obscure “Dober, Grd, Hudoben” reference I was missing. I’m not really up on my Clint/Leone trivia.
Comment by sgazzetti — Wednesday 7 June 06 @ 13.52 MDT+2.00