Because according to Tolkein nobody who isn't a dwarf can tell the difference between male and female dwarves anyway--they have beards and everything.

I missed this. Though Pratchett invented it.

The weird thing is that I just downgraded to streaming-only in June. One thing I just noticed: if it's streaming-only, there's no added tax. Not that it was a vast sum, but if that's a selling point for anyone.

I'll have to see how easy it is to switch back and forth, and whether you have to time it exactly right.

When you stop DVDs you have a week to return whatever you still have out. From playing around it looks like:

If you switch from DVD to instant, it is effective at the start of the next billing period. You'll have 7 days from the end of the current period to return the DVD (if you return too early they'll just send you whatever is next in your queue).

If you switch from instant to DVD, it is effective immediately -- you immediately lose streaming access and they'll ship out ASAP.

And if you have one, and add the other mid-month, it looks like that also is effective immediately, and the charge for the current month is prorated.

The disparity there is a little odd. Although I guess if the switch was immediate both ways, you could exploit that to effectively have DVDs and streaming for $8.

Oh: if you drop DVDs completely your queue is saved, but you can't access it until you change back, or add DVDs to your account. You also can't see the instant queue while you're DVD-only...

I would bet they'll change that, though. This is just rolling out, and displaying things that are available one way but not the other seems like too good a marketing tactic.

Thanks for playing around, Strega! I'm glad the queues are saved, just not accessible. But it would indeed be nice (and good marketing to tempt people) if the queues were still active, so you could see and add to them.

If you switch from instant to DVD, it is effective immediately -- you immediately lose streaming access and they'll ship out ASAP.

Effective immediately, but what about the...oh, right, there's no issue in pricing since they're the same price. Interesting.

I missed this. Though Pratchett invented it.

Nope, though to be fair it's apparently buried in a bunch of the extra-canonical material published after he died. The only reference in LotR is something in the appendices, about how outsiders think female dwarves must have beards, and that female dwarves are very rare.

I do love the way Pratchett has elaborated on it, and even gone so far as to apply the male-default within dwarf culture itself, rather than as something appearing only to outsiders.

... erm, that was kind of hard to follow. What I mean is: in Tolkein, outsiders can't tell the difference between male & female dwarves, but presumably dwarves can. In Pratchett, nobody but the dwarf himself can tell the difference, which is why it's so scandalous when the Ankh-Morpork dwarves start wearing female clothing. (I wonder what this says about traditional dwarf marriages--some are same-sex, I guess?)

(And I think we can assume that at least some of the female-dressing Ankh-Morpork dwarves don't have male genitalia, because who would know? There's some excellent fanfiction to that effect on the AO3.)

Sherlock Holmes II trailer. I am so there. I hope RDJ saw X Men: First Class and got jealous of the gay.

Damn you, wee ita! I was honestly just about to post that! I *just* posted it to FB.

My only problem is I think of RDJ solely as Tony Stark, which takes me to a weird place of Iron Man and John Watson: They Fight Crime!

I cannot WAIT for this movie.

I have to watch the trailer again. (And what the hell is RDJ wearing in the intro to the trailer?)

Oh dear lord. Shirtless RDJ hanging from the outside of the train. I so heartily approve.

I really have to give Sherlock Holmes another try, I just don't think I was in the right mood the first time I tried to watch it.

Leaked Dark Knight Rises trailer.

Jon Favreau interviews Olivia Wilde.