Two More Amazing Clips from King of Kong

1. Sean Norris says: Jan 30, 2009 Reply

   Oh my gosh! There are so many one-liners in that top video. “I am the Wayne Gretzky of Video games.” “I wanted the pretty girls to come up to me and say, ‘Oh you’re the best at Centipede.’” “At the top of the list they’ll just see ‘Todd’ up there, and sometimes I write ‘God’.” I love the friend in the second one that’s lighting up his cigarette as he talks about his buddy. Classic! Thanks Dave:)

2. Peter Emmet says: Jan 30, 2009 Reply

   If I had a quarter for every time I had a pretty girl come up and say to me, “Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede…”

3. Jacob says: Jan 30, 2009 Reply

   I was just thinking, is this actually real or is this one of thos mochumentaries.

4. John Stamper says: Jan 30, 2009 Reply

   It’s real all right, Jacob. It’s one of the best documentaries made in a long time. Wonderful, funny, incredibly touching. Though I’ll admit, the last two years have been GREAT for documentaries: Man On Wire King of Kong My Kid Could Paint That Bigger, Stronger, Faster Surfwise And before that: Capturing The Friedmanns

5. DZ says: Jan 30, 2009 Reply

   john – “capturing the friedmanns” blew my mind. at least, i still think about it all the time. not for the faint of heart…

6. dpotter says: Jan 31, 2009 Reply

   I loved this documentary…I think it is because the recipe works: combine the penultimate with people who take it way too seriously-this is the Spinal Tap of gaming. Of course, the reason why it is such a great film is due to the clear dichotomy between law/grace. Have you guys at M’Bird Central HQ thought about making this into a study like you did with The Office?

7. John Stamper says: Jan 31, 2009 Reply

   Oh. My. God. I absolutely love the phrase “Mockingbird Central Headquarters.” Let’s use it ALL THE TIME now. And let’s start calling DZ Agent 99.

8. John Stamper says: Jan 31, 2009 Reply

   BTW… I am glad somebody else was equally blown away by “Capturing The Friedmanns.” I forgot to mention “My Architect” as one of the great documentaries that have come out of the last few years. One of the things I love about these recent documentaries is that they are chiefly about very specific people and feelings and relationships and how grace and the law plays out in them. So for example SURFWISE is a movie about a family disguised as a documentary about surfing — BIGGER STRONGER FASTER is a movie about three brothers disguised as a movie about steroids — and so on. “My Architect” is a movie about a boy looking for his father disguised as a movie about architecture. I love KING OF KONG. It’s funny but also incredibly touching.

9. John Zahl says: Jan 31, 2009 Reply

   We showed this at the church last night and people LOVED it! Cate pointed out the extra footage of Steve Wiebe where he talks about his Christian faith, which, to my way of thinking, explains the bulk of the narrative. Good documentaries are so good!

Pingbacks/Trackbacks

1. Downing Peppermint Schnapps and Calling Morocco at Two in the Morning: Mark Borchardt Confronts the Senselessness | Mockingbird says: Jan 3, 2012 Reply

   [...] would have to be Chris Smith’s brilliant American Movie. With the possible exception of King of Kong, I can’t think of another slice of life that captures the dual realities of human nature [...]