when i was a small child relishing the miracle of my family’s brand new vcr, we would all pile into the car and go to the video rental place. i learned the pleasures of browsing the shelves, looking at titles and poster art, debating whether we should get a comedy or action movie based on what we felt like watching at the time. it was a social activity. as an adult, i still enjoyed roaming from one genre section to another thinking about what kind of mood i was in and whether it was more conducive to an indie thriller that i’d heard was really good or the romantic comedy that i already knew i liked. or maybe something else entirely would catch my eye and be the perfect choice even though i hadn’t known it existed before. or feeling indecisive, i could just ask the film geek at the desk for a recommendation. the options were endless.