A View From the Couch: My Recommendations

As a few of you may or may not know I hurt my knee, had surgery and have been recovering since then. So, my view of the world has been from a ratty, body enveloping couch lately, prompting me to let you guys in on a few of the gems I've been able to witness over the past month.


Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a documentary about steroid uses in sports and weight lifting in the United States. Going into this movie I had been vehemently opposed to the use of steroids, but after seeing it, I'd encourage them to be legalized. Bigger, Stronger, Faster* isn't necessarily in favor of steroid use (The director has tried them and his brothers are both users), but it's able to provide an amazingly balanced look at the subject matter, which is pretty refreshing after the glut of Micheal Moore-like one sided documentaries.

Buying In is the first consumption based book from Rob Walker, author of Murketing and the New York Times "Consumed" Column. The book is one of the quickest reads I've had in a long time. If you're at all interested in how marketing has changed from a TV based hook-line-and-sinker approach (before Tivo) to a much more indecipherable and, at times, vile cascade of branding (much of which a lot of us aren't even aware of) you'll devour this book. OH, and by page four it's already mentioned The Hundreds, Nike and Magic (the Convention, not the gathering...). The strange thing is it kinda makes me like The Hundreds. Fuck. Go buy it.

The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters is one of the best damn documentaries that I've ever seen. I deserve a sizeable late pass on it since it released last summer, came out on DVD in January and runs nearly around the clock on the G4 network (Comcast channel 136, if you nasty), but some how managed to never hear of it until a couple weeks ago. It follows chronic good guy Steve Wiebe's attempt to wrestle the world record for Donkey Kong from douche bag/hot sauce heir Billy Mitchell. I KNOW, it sounds like it's awful (especially if, like me, you're not interested in video games), but the story is so hilarious and, at the same time, gripping that you'll be hanging on to every scene. I'd never really known about the retro gaming subculture and the stranger-than-fiction characters that are involved in it, but King of Kong is the second best movie I've seen this year(Batmans good). It doesn't matter if you love video games or hate them, this is a damn good way to spend 79 minutes.

--Ira