I bet you can buy that DVD for money very close to the rental price, even now.

My Netflix fees would cover the purchase of two movies per month. On a slow month, I watch four movies. A fast month? I can watch ten. And I don't have to worry about storing them (I buy three more DVDs, I'll need new furniture. That day isn't too far off, since I like buying DVDs, but still. 273 DVDs? A lot of furniture)

Or, anyway, a cut so slim, it is hard to notice.

Agitating for their rights and then stealing movies -- I dunno. Not much of a moral high ground there.

And while the WASPs still have their happy little world they're they only one who gives a damn about it anymore -- nobody else reads the "socitety" pages or gives a darn who this years most stunning debutante is besides the parties in question.

Really?? Then why is Paris Hilton on television all the time? (AFAIK, she has both money and WASP pedigree. And most importantly, an eagerness to be noticed.) I don't personally read the society pages, but the existence of People Magazine and InStyle and Extra! all imply to me that a fascination with richer people than you or me is still a wildly popular activity.

There is certainly a segment of the US that is way rich and doesn't give a shit about fame and doesn't get profiled on VH1 "It's good to be..." But that's because profiles of people who are not into fashion and conspicuous consumption and sex in public are kind of boring.

Also, once you do make that much dough, people of the correct colour making that much dough aren't any more enlightened than their poorer brethren -- tales I've heard make it sound even worse.

And a rich, famous black man still can't get a cab in many cities.

I just checked. The 1925 Phantom is out of copyright. Nobody involved with the original gets a dime.

You know, I know the sun position changes. I'm good with this. I watch sunsets. I know how quick the motion seems. But for some reason realizing I can see this movement in the form of a band of light moving across my screen is really amazing. I'm not talking "hey, it's on the other side now." I'm talking watch it inch across.

most non-whites are definitively stuck on the new money side

But most whites are stuck there too. The deck is still stacked much more heavily against non-whites crossing the divide, but it's still an awfully exclusive club.

I bet you can buy that DVD for money very close to the rental price, even now.

When DH and I were still members of Netflix (which we will be again, once we've gotten the to-be-watched stack down far enough), we were renting about 3 films a week. At $20/month, that averages out to under $2 per movie.

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Now, what's the best method of hooking it up so I can listen in the car?

Nutty, the nouveaux riches in 1890 desperately wanted to be accepted by "old money". See Edith Wharton. By contrast, today the nouveaux riches are perfectly happy to hang out with each other. Donald Trump doesn't care if Mrs. Astor asks him to tea. Alva Vanderbilt (then new money) cared very much indeed.

Boston and Charleston and New York City all have established social elites that are difficult to break into; you have to have been born into the right family. The difference between the 21st century and the 19th century is that people outside those circles aren't particularly interested in breaking in. You weren't invited to the St. Cecelia Ball? Who cares? There's a better party being thrown at the brand-new country club.

Wait, Paris Hilton has Old Money pedigree? Wasn't her grandfather a hotel owner? That's new money by WASP standards.

I know there are a ton of people who work on movies (yes, those pirating is bad ad-spots really got me ), but am I really supposed to feel bad that Tom Cruise or Jerry Brukheimer is not getting a piece of my rental? Don't they factor things like that into the huge amounts of money they get as payment for their jobs on each movie?

Smaller movies? sure, I get that everyone down the line made less money, but aren't those smaller films working with distributors like Sundance and whatnot to get their product out?