If dérive means to drift, I guess that is the perfect description of my everyday life. Of course I have plans, goals, a "things to do" list, but I float through these spaces observing the surroundings, especially the people, as if they are connected to the space, and I am not. For this task, I decided to drift through a space that is already quite familiar to me...the movie store (Blockbuster to be more specific). My dérive began as a random trip to the video store. I fingered through shelves reading titles, analyzing covers, distinguishing between the overly publicized failures and the underrated mindgasms. I listened to the children over by the "New Releases" negotiating amongst each other about what movie they should get their mother to rent (Madagascar III vs. Arthur's Christmas--an intense battle of mammals and primates in rainbow afro-wigs or another Santa remix). I considered offering my advice, which would probably be ditch them both and tell your mom to go take you to see Wreck it Ralph or Rise of the Guardians, but I thought that that advice coming from a 23year old, black, female stranger might be a little weird.

Seeing that I was walking around with a camera (I decided to make this task a project for a new media class), I got a few looks from the employees. Some stopped and stared. Others walked by casually, pretending to go to the bathroom or place a dvd on the shelf. Finally, one employee stopped to talk. He asked, "What are you doing?" I replied, "Dériving for school." He said, "What?" I said, "Just a project. So, what's your favorite movie?" We spent the next 10 minutes discussing how the process of finding a good movie has changed drastically in the last 10-15years, especially with the introduction of alternative movie sources like Redbox, Netflix, and Movies on Demand. Besides Blockbuster's bankruptcy issues, it is no wonder they are going out of business.

Wandering through the eyes reminded me of my childhood. All the Friday nights spent going to Hollywood Movies with my dad. I insisted on renting the same movie, Passenger 57 or "the airplane movie" (what kind of kid was I any way?), every week. I looked for it while at Blockbuster...couldn't find it though. All I have are my memories.