a video store experience
Last night I had what I consider to be, the quintessential video store experience. Maybe this has happened to you before?
You wander hopelessly into the local video store on a cold lonely night, don't have anything in particular in mind, you're not even sure you know what genre of film you're looking for. You've got a slightly better idea of what you're not looking for. Choosing a movie is a matter of deduction. It's similar to choosing a restaurant for dinner. You'll say to yourself, "Well I don't want anything too heavy or anything requiring subtitles. Tonight I want mindless entertainment." So you start with the long winding wall of new releases, in the hope that something will jump out. Maybe a movie you missed on the big screen, something you've forgotten about.
Then you start categorizing the new releases to make deduction a bit easier. There are the movies that you know are pure crap like Teen Bloodshed IV or the latest comic book rip off film or anything starring either Eddie Murphy or Nicolas Cage, so you can skip right over those. Then there are the award winning intensely dramatic and gut wrenching films that you never seem to be in the right mood to rent. There are also what I call, the pass over rentals. Movies you consider renting each time you go back to the video store and then pass over them repeatedly, anything Angelina Jolie has starred in comes to mind.
Finally, you spot a seemingly interesting indie film starring maybe Mos Def or Ellen Page. Maybe you read a blurb about it in Wired the week before. The back cover has words like, 'ironic' and 'witty.' You pick it up and this automatically becomes your default movie selection. "Ok if nothing else strikes me, I'll get this one...," you mutter to yourself. You keep wandering the aisles. Maybe you gaze at the picked over employee selection wall and chide yourself for not arriving earlier when they still had Texas Chainsaw Massacre available.
At some point in your wandering, a strange doubt creeps in and you start reconsidering the ironic indie film in your hands. You've been burned by this wolf in sheep's clothing before. In frustration, you put the movie back and now you've reached a sort of quiet desperation that you may never find a suitable movie tonight. In a panic you make your way to the sci-fi/fantasy section. "Maybe I'll just rent City of Lost Children again, it's been awhile." "No, no, calm down, you'll find something new, just think!" you instruct yourself.
You're wandering has come to a halt and you are in serious thought in the middle of the store, hoping to god someone doesn't realize how long you've been standing there. Maybe you consider the directors you like, maybe you send a text msg to a friend for a recommendation. Suddenly, it comes to you in a flash. "I still haven't seen the latest Michel Gondry film, that's bound to be good." Now, you walk with a purpose and a relief washes over you. Just in time because you were starting to feel the walls closing in on you. If you've ever left a video store without choosing a new movie, you know what i'm talking about.
Satisfied with your epiphany, you hastily move to the cashier. After taking so long to decide what to rent you sure feel hurried when you get to the check out line doncha! As the skinny bearded clerk behind the counter rings you up you're in a kind of post-indecision daze. You don't even remember what day he said it was due back. "Phew, that was a close one," you reflect as you leave video in hand.
For as stressful as movie selection can be it's a wonder we all keep going back!
You wander hopelessly into the local video store on a cold lonely night, don't have anything in particular in mind, you're not even sure you know what genre of film you're looking for. You've got a slightly better idea of what you're not looking for. Choosing a movie is a matter of deduction. It's similar to choosing a restaurant for dinner. You'll say to yourself, "Well I don't want anything too heavy or anything requiring subtitles. Tonight I want mindless entertainment." So you start with the long winding wall of new releases, in the hope that something will jump out. Maybe a movie you missed on the big screen, something you've forgotten about.
Then you start categorizing the new releases to make deduction a bit easier. There are the movies that you know are pure crap like Teen Bloodshed IV or the latest comic book rip off film or anything starring either Eddie Murphy or Nicolas Cage, so you can skip right over those. Then there are the award winning intensely dramatic and gut wrenching films that you never seem to be in the right mood to rent. There are also what I call, the pass over rentals. Movies you consider renting each time you go back to the video store and then pass over them repeatedly, anything Angelina Jolie has starred in comes to mind.
Finally, you spot a seemingly interesting indie film starring maybe Mos Def or Ellen Page. Maybe you read a blurb about it in Wired the week before. The back cover has words like, 'ironic' and 'witty.' You pick it up and this automatically becomes your default movie selection. "Ok if nothing else strikes me, I'll get this one...," you mutter to yourself. You keep wandering the aisles. Maybe you gaze at the picked over employee selection wall and chide yourself for not arriving earlier when they still had Texas Chainsaw Massacre available.
At some point in your wandering, a strange doubt creeps in and you start reconsidering the ironic indie film in your hands. You've been burned by this wolf in sheep's clothing before. In frustration, you put the movie back and now you've reached a sort of quiet desperation that you may never find a suitable movie tonight. In a panic you make your way to the sci-fi/fantasy section. "Maybe I'll just rent City of Lost Children again, it's been awhile." "No, no, calm down, you'll find something new, just think!" you instruct yourself.
You're wandering has come to a halt and you are in serious thought in the middle of the store, hoping to god someone doesn't realize how long you've been standing there. Maybe you consider the directors you like, maybe you send a text msg to a friend for a recommendation. Suddenly, it comes to you in a flash. "I still haven't seen the latest Michel Gondry film, that's bound to be good." Now, you walk with a purpose and a relief washes over you. Just in time because you were starting to feel the walls closing in on you. If you've ever left a video store without choosing a new movie, you know what i'm talking about.
Satisfied with your epiphany, you hastily move to the cashier. After taking so long to decide what to rent you sure feel hurried when you get to the check out line doncha! As the skinny bearded clerk behind the counter rings you up you're in a kind of post-indecision daze. You don't even remember what day he said it was due back. "Phew, that was a close one," you reflect as you leave video in hand.
For as stressful as movie selection can be it's a wonder we all keep going back!