Spend a pocketful of quarters

Michelle and I saw the most incredible movie last night -- “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” an amazing and funny documentary about, of all things, a couple of guys vying to post the highest score ever on the video game Donkey Kong.

Now, I wasted my own share of quarters on Donkey Kong in college, when Gohman and I would spend hours at a little off-campus tavern drinking beers and, as onscreen Mario, jumping barrels and avoiding fireballs. So I get the attraction on a basic geek/loser level. But the movie goes far beyond this particular video game to explore a fascinating subculture of gamers and, really, the weird thrill of any obsession. The characters in this movie, all real people, are extremely compelling and the competition, ludicrous as it is, is unavoidably exciting.

I heard a fascinating interview of the director, Seth Gordon, by Elvis Mitchell on “The Treatment,” and Gordon said a studio exec had described the documentary as the ultimate high-stakes/low-stakes movie. I totally get that. At last night's screening, the audience, us included, cheered the outcome of some the games -- and again, these are video games, and filmed video games at that. You get caught up in it.

Gordon attended last night's screening, at the Varsity Theater in Seattle's U District, and he was smart and engaging. I wish him great success with the movie. If you get a chance to see it, I can't recommend it highly enough. Four gliomas!

If you want to listen to Gordon's interview with Elvis, here's a link to the podcast.