I missed seeing "The King of Kong" at Tribeca. Tonight I returned to the plush HBO screening room (stadium-style seats!) to see this documentary, which opens August 17. I have never played Donkey Kong or any other arcade game; it was after my time and more of a guy thing. That didn't matter. I absolutely loved this movie.
The elite video gamers are almost universally male (one older lady is highlighted), generally nerdy (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and as dedicated to their passion as anyone we know in crosswords. Many of them have families and careers and lives; they're just obsessed with their particular obsession.
I laughed, I cheered, I gasped, I cringed, I cried. I wondered whether this or "The Lives of Others" wins my best film of '07. Thank you, IFP and Picturehouse.
It was just before Associated's 9 pm closing time when I got back so I picked up some groceries (they still had no blondies). My apartment was stuffy despite the slightly cooler weather. So I brought my new chair out to the terrace for the first time, ate frozen yogurt in the dark, and then read People with my clip-on light. There's an outlet there but I didn't want to drag out a lamp. I could see lots of light coming from my neighbor's terrace; he has a whole set-up out there. Too bad I didn't use the terrace the first 32 years I lived here. Extremely pleasant - nature in the city.
I then updated my iTunes and iPod software. For some reason I had been putting this off for, oh, years. Now I can finally do podcasts, a whole new area to explore. I still have a dozen CDs to load.
I finished "Billion-Dollar Kiss: The Story of a Television Writer in the Hollywood Gold Rush" by Jeffrey Stepakoff. I would not enjoy this kind of work - too creative and too collaborative - but I enjoy reading about it. I've also been reading Ken Levine's blog (he's Millipede's brother-in-law).
People always mistakenly assume I write questions for game shows. Research, just research - or checking other people's research. I may be one of the few researchers who doesn't really want to write (and everyone else in showbiz really wants to direct), though I don't mind tweaking wording here and there.
I'm so low on lens fluid I had to dip into the 4 oz. travel size, and if that goes I'll be using expired Renu of the type that was recalled (I save this stuff just in case). So I need to get to Duane Reade ASAP. And pick up at-home mail so I can perhaps clear out the entire backlog of grading.
