Monday, February 18, 2008

King of Kong: Good and Evil, Pure and Simple

One thing was clear from watching the documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters:

Never before have I so clearly hated one character and loved the other. Except here's the thing, they're not characters, they're real people. I mean seriously, is Billy Mitchell for real? You could not make up a more ridiculously perfect, despicable character. Steve Wiebe just seems like a funny weird uncle or something.

But really, this movie was great. "FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!" <-seriously, you must click this link. This young YouTube star (Pruane2Forever, aka "Sexman" [fear not, he is about the furthest thing from sex possible, trust me]) will be a conquistador of the fertile land that was your mind. His videos bring entertainment to new, embarrassing levels.

But anyway, King of Kong. My favorite line was when that girl who was Steve Wiebe's student said "The science teachers at this school are weird!"

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't wait to see this movie. Alas, it is about 9th on my list. Maybe I should move it up...

M. H. D. said...

Move it up! It's a modern classic.

Anonymous said...

I've seen that kid before. I think I have a kid crush on him. He's great. And look at that room. Either he knows how to decorate or his parental unit is just hip.

davor said...

Adding to Netflix queue forthwith. At least, requesting its addition from my Netflix administrator!

sarah k. said...

We just watched the King of Kong last night, and for the first half hour, we were going back and forth, debating whether it was real or a parody. Because seriously, Billy Mitchell? I couldn't figure out how that guy could possibly be real, and how all those people could be so wrapped up in him. He was the creepiest creep I've ever seen that wasn't a villain from a Batman movie or Hannibal Lector. He was the embodiment of sleaze. I hope he googles himself and finds this post because he's yucky, and someone should tell him. And I wouldn't put it past him, either, because I didn't know narcissism could go to such lengths in real life.

Your opening sentence says it all. We loved Steve Wiebe, and wanted him to win the whole time, and we hated Mitchell and wanted someone to punch him in the nose and hold him down while they shaved his greasy hair and cut the lame tie in half. Not that I would ever really wish that on anyone, but there's something to be said about a little humility, which Mitchell had none of, and Wiebe had buckets of.