Choppy's Thoughts: A non-sports post (sort of)

As some of you know, I like to watch documentaries. But, I like independent documentaries about "odd" topics. For instance, I've received a lot of crap at work for watching "Helvetica" http://www.helveticafilm.com/. This is a documentary about the world of fonts. Yes, fonts. 2007 was the 50th anniversary of the creation of Helvetica. Arial, the font I use for this blog, is a clone of helvetica. It was interesting to view a part of society that a lot of us take for granted. You'll learn the difference between serif and sans serif fonts. It was a good movie! Here's the trailer from the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

Next was "Two Days in April", a film that followed four players during their preparation for the NFL Draft. http://www.twodaysinapril.com/ The documentary showed the players training for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL, the NFL Combine, their Pro Days back at school, their training at their agents' sports academy in Florida, and was with all of them during the draft itself. You can view the trailer by going to the link above. Me, being a football junkie, found the "behind the scenes" movie very interesting.

Frequent readers know that I recently watched "10 MPH", a movie documenting a trip from Seattle to Boston on a Segway. http://www.10mph.com/ This was another interesting movie for a few reasons. Because they could not use the interstate highway system (the Segway can only go 10 mph), the group travelled the backroads across the country. By only going 10 mph, they were able to take in the beauty of the Rockies, the Badlands, and the farms of Kansas and Missouri. With the exception of the rural Illinois cop, everyone they met along they was helpful to them. They needed it as their "moneyman", who promised to finance the movie, officially backed out halfway through the trip after a myriad of excuses why the money wasn't available.

The most recent documentary I've watched is "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters". http://www.billyvssteve.com/ Wow! There is a whole group of people in our society stuck in the 80s. Actually, they are stuck in 80s arcades. In my opinion, this is a documentary depicting Good (Steve Wiebe) vs. Evil (Billy Mitchell). I really hate Billy Mitchell. Before I saw this movie, I had no idea who he was! But, the person who really needs to get a life is Brian Kuh, one of Billy's fans. One memorable line in this movie from a "classic gamer" is, "I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs...I play video games!". Guy, you forgot the "I don't do girls!" part. Seriously, this is a great movie! They use "Eye of the Tiger" and "You're the Best Around"! Any movie with these two songs is a great movie. When watching the the trailer, remember that this was filmed in 2005 & 2006 NOT 1982.