Paring down a DVD

I rent a lot of older movies, those that are a buck for 5 days. That way, I can watch in 30 minute increments while I'm on the treadmill. As such, I get to see trends.

Not so good movies tend to have as their previews other not so good movies. They nest together. The converse isn't necessarily true, that good movies preview other good movies. Doesn't happen.

Older movies won't have subtitles or English for the hearing impaired. Having such is a big plus when there's not only noise from outdoors but the treadmill and I've already cranked up the TV volume to near high. If the movie is from England, I always want the subtitles on or I'll miss half the movie fighting my way through the accent.

Watching the movie trailers can be fun after you've seen the movie--and you can learn a lot about (un)truth in advertising.

Then sometimes you need to stop or go back or change rooms when there's just a little bit left to watch or--and this does happen--the film is so good I want to finish it right then. So the chapter index or scene selection comes into play. There, you have to guess by the still photo where you were so you can pick right up on the action.

This morning, watching an HBO video from 1988, I found the most pared down choices possible: play and chapter index. Within the chapter index were only the titles, no stills from which to choose. I had to guess (and I guessed correctly) what the editor would have called the scene I'd just left.

Talk about a DVD at its minimum! This was it.