King of Kong
17-Sep-07
For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell held the highest score for the game Donkey Kong in the world.
Until Steve Wiebe.
King of Kong tells the story of Wiebe’s attempts to top Mitchell’s score. If you liked Spellbound or Wordplay, or depictions of people with very unusual brain chemistry, you will probably like this movie. (Saw it with tdj in Berkeley tonight.) Also had mushroom/potato pizza at Jupiter’s. Tasty.
Rant: I wish there were more public toilets in Berkeley. It was quite time consuming to find a restaurant with a public bathroom. Say what you will about the chains like MacDonald’s, but I’ve never been refused use of their bathrooms.
Earlier, I had lunch with P. M. and his wife X.at the Fish Market in San Jose. We sat in the atrium overlooking the water. Great view and I’ve never had crispier fries. P.’s an interesting guy. He completed most of the requirements for a PhD in mathematics, before going to work for Nasa on the Apollo missions. He then became an investment manager, specializing in short-selling stocks. Now he’s quasi-retired, and considering retiring to China with his wife (who is Chinese). He said that they were considering China because a) inexpensive to live there b) they have a culture that treats the elderly with respect c) their status would be much greater (due to their knowledge of English, and their relative wealth) d) he has business contacts.
And prior to that, I took a class in oxy-acetylene welding at the TechShop. I cut a steel rod in half, and welded two plates together. Great fun. Working with acetylene is a little freaky — turn the knobs incorrectly and the tank could blow up. I suspect that welding is one of those things that is great fun if you don’t _have_ to do it for a living.