Signs of the times
So I've been playing a lot of Fallout 3 lately.
For those of you who aren't familiar, it's a videogame that takes place in post nuclear apocalypse Washington DC.
It's odd to see these national monuments and places I've totally been before seem destroyed and neglected.
What makes things worse, is I went to Parkway Plaza today in search of a movie that I need to finish a film project I'm doing for my dad's birthday. It looks just like that videogame.
Last year, I'd go out there and it would be crawling with mallrats and you'd have to run a smoking kid gauntlet just to get into the place.
There was nobody there.
Empty storefronts took the place of even the more successful mall based stores. Everyone is selling inventory at absurd discounts.
All the employees working the kiosks were emitting a kind of hopelessness that was palpable.
All in all it was a sobering and upsetting feeling.
I felt like an entire way of life was collapsing.
Then I wondered what they would do with the space once all the retail stores went under.
I wondered if I might be able to step in and put to use some of my crazy ideas I've had over the years.
Then I got my feet back on the ground and went to Hollywood Video.
The last place known to carry a copy of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.