To preface, we’ve been Netflix subscribers since the DVD days. I am not one to share our Netflix password either.

Daring Fireball recently posted an article about Netflix shares dropping 25% in Q1 of 2022. He believes this is because of the quality of Netflix’s original content. I agree with Gruber on his assessment.

There’s not a lot of compelling original content from Netflix. The originals feel like a sea of garbage with the occasional gem. We’ve tried a lot of them, but have only enjoyed a few.

We have enjoyed House of Cards, The Crown, and The Queen’s Gambit. I’m slowly making my way through Arcane and have been meaning to watch The Witcher. But these aren’t must watches for me. If needed, we could subscribe for a month or two and binge the shows and then go back to ignoring Netflix.

Netflix has original games now? Why?

Pricing on Netflix has gotten out of hand. It’s the most expensive service we have, and one of the least compelling. We pay $15.49/month for the Standard plan. I don’t think we’re getting $15/month of value from Netflix. Right now, we’re only watching Seinfeld and Grey’s Anatomy (my daughter does). Every week or two, I’ll watch another episode of Arcane, but I usually forget that Arcane exists.

There is a cheaper Basic plan. We haven’t dropped down to the cheaper plan because of High Definition (HD). The Basic plan doesn’t allow HD streaming and that’s been a dealbreaker for us for a while.

I think Netflix has to take a step back and reevaluate their original content. Stop making so much of it and concentrate on making really great content. Oh, and they should revisit the pricing.

The issue isn’t password sharing, its quality original content and pricing.

When I’m looking for something to watch, I’ll turn to Disney+, HBO Max or Apple TV+. If I get down to looking for something on Netflix, it means I’m desperate.

Over the Christmas break I rewatched the original The Matrix trilogy. I haven’t seen these movies in a few years. I watched them in preparation to watch The Matrix Resurrections on HBO Max earlier this week.

I think the first Matrix movie was revolutionary. At least in my eyes. I think it came out as the right time in my life. It was such a good movie. For a long time after watching it, I would think about the movie a lot. Even rewatching the original, I am reminded of how much I liked it.

For a little while after the original movie, I wished they would make a sequel. And then they did. The two sequels they made were not good.

The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions weren’t like the Star Wars prequels. The Star Wars sequels weren’t great, but had their place. The Matrix sequels were just bad and I managed to block them from my memory. When I rewatched them last month, I had completely forgotten what happened.

Whenever I think of The Matrix sequels, I think of this XKCD Comic (Matrix Revisited). The comic came out 10 years after the release of the original (and after the sequels), but still wished for sequels.

I watched The Matrix Resurrections over a few days earlier this week (it takes me a while to watch movies). I really enjoyed it. It was enough nostalgia without relying too much on the original movie. I don’t think it was as good as the first one, but way better then the second two movies.

If you’ve watched the original trilogy and gave up on them, try The Matrix Resurrections. It’s good. This is another movie I want to watch again.

I’ve consumed quite a bit of content in 2021. Here are some of my favorites. Not all of these were released in 2021, but it’s when I enjoyed them. So I’m going to count them. And since I’m making up the rules here, I’ll allow it.

Books

In 2021, I read 43 books. I liked most of the books that I’ve read. I couldn’t put down either of the following books.

Favorite

My favorite book that I read this year was Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I really like his books and this was no exception. It’s a great Sci-Fi novel.

Runner Up

It was hard to chose a runner up. It was really close between any of The Expanse novels that I’ve read. But I think my runner up is Press Reset by Jason Schreier. It’s a great look into the video game industry when things don’t quite go as planned.

Movies

I don’t watch as many movies as I used to. I really enjoy watching movies, but I am alone on this in my house. So I try to sneak movies in here and there. Sometimes it’ll take me a week to watch a movie. I was able to talk some family members into watching these two movies though.

Favorite

Dune was such a good movie. I only watched it once, but can’t wait to watch it again. The movie also has an amazing soundtrack, which I have listened to multiple times (including The Dune Sketchbook).

Runner up

No Time to Die is a great ending to the Daniel Craig Bond movies. The Daniel Craig Bond movies are the only Bond movies I’ve seen, but I’ve enjoyed all of them. This one was no different.

TV Shows

We watch more TV Shows than movies. But we end up watching older shows like The Office, Seinfeld, Friends, etc.

Favorite

Wandavision was a bit of a slow start. Once things got going, they didn’t slow down until the end. I spent a lot of time reading the Wandavision subreddit theorizing about what might happen next.

Runner up

Ted Lasso (Season 2) was a family favorite. I think we watched the entire season over a weekend. We’re all looking froward to season 3.

Video Games

Along with movies, I don’t play as many video games as I used to. And I’ve actually gotten pretty bad at them. But I did play a few video games this past year.

Favorite

I both played and finished Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I have a thing for Star Wars content. This was probably the best Star Wars game I’ve played in a while. I hope they make a sequel to this game. I had a lot of fun playing though it.

Runner up

Metroid Dread. I have a special love/hate relationship with this game. It’s an amazing game. But I am terrible at it. I died hundreds of times. I persisted and made it to the end boss.

I really enjoyed how Metroid Dread made me better at the game the more I tried (and died). I never finished the game though. I got to the final boss, got frustrated, took some time off and have probably forgotten everything I’ve learned while playing.

2022

2022 is just hours away. I have a backlog of content. I hope to make another list like this next year.