Saturday, July 19, 2008

Stumpers

I'm always surprised and interested when I stump a place. The stumper then becomes my measuring stick for the value of the place and places like it. For example, "the cheeky monk, Denver, CO" confounds MapQuest but not Google Maps. I used to have a word (can't think of it now) that I would use to test dictionaries; if it existed in that dictionary I knew the book could be trusted. So sorry MapQuest, but I won't trust your site again until you get my stumper correct!

In the movie rental world, a stumper that really surprised me a couple years ago was requesting "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask" from Video One on Colfax. Video One advertises on their sign that they have over 10,000 movies in the store and I picked one they didn't have - a Woody Allen movie no less!

Today I easily stumped Amazon Unbox with Rome. It was my first search on Amazon so it was indeed surprising. For me it shows how far Amazon Unbox has to go to really threaten Netflix. And it makes me really question Amazon's pricing - $3.99 for a download movie rental?! I can see why Blockbuster needs to charge $3.99 but Amazon..? Don't I already pay for my Internet service? Sheesh! In the end I support Netflix not only for their (once) revolutionary distribution but for their dedication to a comprehensive library.