Redbox

Do you have Redbox video dispensers in your grocery stores? I’m not sure how long they’ve been in ours (maybe six months?), but we tried it a while ago and were pretty impressed. One buck for a movie, and as long as you return it the next day, that’s the entire fee. The only drawback: lines are starting to form at our neighborhood outlet, and this is a real drag, especially if you’re only returning a disc.

The other day I was waiting for a woman who had a baby in her shopping cart, sitting there making cute googly eyes and chuckling at Keegan and I. But my patience started to wear thin when she looked at screen after screen of titles, repeated the process, and finally chose a film. As it came out of the box, she bent over to her little one (about a year old, I would guess), and cooed, “Now I have to find something for YOU!”

Oh. My. God.

I guess she hasn’t yet noticed that the whole world is a movie for a one-year-old kid.

- Link: Slightly alarming Slate article about autism and TV viewing by very young children.