Last week, The New York Times published a series of interesting mashups showing Netflix rental patterns among different neighborhoods in 12 different cities across this diverse land of ours. Among those cities is our own salty burg and its immediate environs. The maps are pretty interesting and appear to support what this writer has long suspected; the Newark/Fremont/Union City triplex is the anti-San Francisco!
Check it out. Pretty much everybody in the Bay Area wanted to rent Slumdog Millionaire and that irritating Benjamin Button movie. However, as we scroll down through Netflix's most rented list, some disturbing patterns emerge. For example, Milk, as expected, was all popular in San Francisco. Newark/Fremont/Union City? Not so much. Similarly, Paul Blart, Mall Cop had folks in the Newark/Fremont/Union City area running to their computers to update their rental queues, while the fine folks of San Francisco appeared to be left scratching their heads, asking, "What's is this Paul Blart?" The pattern continues with films like Rachel Getting Married, which apparently prompted San Franciscans to order lots of take out, pop open bottles of wine, and settle in for the evening. Newark/Fremont/Union City? Tumbleweeds.
This all of course prompts the obvious question - why so trashy, Newark/Fremont/Union City? We provide you people with a never ending series of examples on how to live quality lives and you repay us with a love for Adam Sandler? Unacceptable.