If you love cars, then chances are that you love driving just as much—if not more. I’ve often wondered which I am more in love with between the machines and their medium. Most days, it’s the solitude of my BMW E36 hatch that I’m drawn to, but just about any car will do for gobbling up the miles. The driving is the point, which is why I’m down with the “Rollers with randoms” series on Instagram. I’m so smitten that I was compelled to share it with readers who might share a love for the open road and the regular-ass cars that accompany us as we embark on our oneiric road trips.
“Rollers” is a multi-part series from a fellow car lover in Atlanta, Georgia, who is behind 2tonemedia. The series is up to something like over 80 rollers (rolling video footage) by now, some of which even show the equipment used to record the footage. It’s really not as complicated or expensive as you might imagine, making use of a DJI Osmo Pocket stuck to the bumper of a car with a suction cup.
You can apparently book the videographer for a shoot that’ll make your daily look like the car cast of Ronin—the glorious BMW 5-Series E34 or Audi S8. Whatever vehicles, the “Rollers” series just has an uncanny ability to make it look awesome as it goes down the highway, whether it’s a big rig or a motorcycle, or even a delivery van.
It’s a given that rollers of a supercar or immaculate classic will make it look heroic, but if I’m honest, I’m a bigger fan of taking something mundane (such as plain old traffic) and elevating it to an art form. Just because something is commonplace is not reason enough to write it off. There’s no rule that says we have to relegate the quotidian to a life of mediocrity; the things we encounter every day can be as heroic as we want to make them. All it takes is another perspective like that of “Rollers.”
Funny that fans of the channel keep asking for rollers of trains, which I was unable to find in the back catalog, and which would capture the vibe I’m referring to perfectly. Indeed, that train you used to follow as a kid on road trips, or the one you stare at now and then as it clanks past you at the intersection is a noble companion. Just ask Brian Eno or Steven Wilson.
That slow train can be a pain in the ass on your commute home or it can take you places that are as soothing and restorative as they are regular or boring. And that’s more or less the idea behind “Rollers with randoms,” which follows cars that seem unremarkable along the expressway and reminds us that all of them are basically our own slice of space travel—no matter the car or the road.
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