Docs about People who are Awesome

This documentary gets its own post. If someone could only watch 1 documentary for the rest of their life, I would probably recommend this one (side note: please don't ever ask me to make that decision for someone because it will probably lead to my death after I agonize over the decision for 3 months - I blame ENFJ-ness and being a Libra). 

I loved watching this doc. Its about a guy who decides to go a whole month living entirely off Craigslist with these guidelines: 

1. He cannot have contact with anyone he knows (so he gets a new phone # and email that none of his current people know )
2. All he can carry is 1 backpack, laptop, phone and I think that's it. and I think he can only wear the clothes off his back. 

(I think those are the guidelines, I watched it like 2 months ago.)

Anyway. So he has to depend on craigslist for food, shelter, transportation... 

This documentary will restore your faith in humanity and the kindness of strangers. 

It reminds you that a majority of people are caring and kind. 

This documentary made me cry as well, but a nice happy cry. A definite must see if you are feeling down or think that America as a country is going down the crapper. 

Sometimes it is important to be reminded of that (especially if you are are social worker..) Almost like a Care Bear stare moment if you will.

Also, while doing extensive research for this blog (google searching and then clicking on the website) I found a Craigslist Joe blog. which I am now following on google reader. Score. 

ESPN Docs!

Where are the documentary posts you may ask?! Well they are right here!

I love sports and all things sports related and I love to throw myself into a good championship/tournament challenge. I like to cry and get goosebumps and feel depressed all because of the outcome of a game. It's my soap opera.

I was naturally drawn to the ESPN docs. I feel like I have to pace myself with them though so I don't over do it. I know I am going to like all of them. I am listing these in the order of my favorite so far.

1. The Marinovich Project- ESPN Film

 I had never heard of Todd Marinovich before, but apparently every guy knows who he is.. I think it was before my time and I lived in Brazil during his hay-day, but whateves. Todd has the childhood training that every athlete dreams of having, but it actually ended up ruining his life.... ENJOY! 

3. The 2 Escobars- 30 for 30 

I watched this during the last World Cup (2010!) and it was Awesome! It is about how the drug lords funded the National Soccer team during the World Cup 1994 (which was my very first world cup- Go BRAZIL!). Lets just say.. it didn't end well. Warning, a majority of this movie is in Spanish and you will have to read subtitles. 

2. The Band that Wouldn't Die- 30 for 30

This is a must watch for any Marylander- It tells the tragic tale of the Baltimore Colts through the perspective of their Marching Band. Any good Marylander knows the story of the Colts leaving in the middle of the night to move to Indianapolis in 1984. And if you are a really good Marylander you boycott Mayflower moving company, because all that was shown on the news were these big Mayflower moving trucks, taking our beloved team away (okay, I was 3 years old at the time and had no idea what was going on, but that's what my family said happened). This film is the sweet story of how the band was instrumental (see what i did there?) in helping to fight to bring a football team back to Maryland. And thank God they did GO RAVENS!!!!!!! Also if you are homesick for Maryland and need a good "Hey Hon" to warm your heart, this is the movie for you. 

4. Catching Hell- ESPN Films

Okay, I will be honest, I fell asleep during the middle of this film, but it was still AWESOME! It was about a guy who "interfered" with a play in the 2003 World Series and how it ruined his life. He is currently in the witness protection program because people tried to kill him. It is actually really sad. But interesting. 

Docs about People who make Extreme Life Changes

1. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.

I heard about this doc through another blog, so I decided to check it out. I tricked Meeker into watching it with me (I just turned it on) and we were hooked. After watching it, Meeker and I decided to buy a juicer and do our own juice fast (and according to twitter, everyone else who watches this movie gets the same inspiration FF: @joethejuicer ).

Meeker and I did not have the same results as this Aussie.

We made a few obvious mistakes which led to our demise, so maybe you can learn from us.

Mistake 1: We planned our juice fast to start on Dec 22.. 3 days before Christmas. We were staying in Raleigh by ourselves for Christmas because I had to work and had no vacation time left after our wedding. We thought it would be the perfect time to juice because no one was around and we could focus.Turns out, we wanted to be around people during Christmas even though we were away from family which means Christmas food temptation to the max .

Mistake 2: We did not detox leading up to our fast. Before you start a juice fast you are supposed to eat raw  so the withdrawal symptoms are less severe. Instead we went to 3 Christmas parties that week including the night before our fast. No Bueno. The preliminary fast is important, not just a "meh" as we once thought.

Mistake 3: We did not experiment with recipes or our juicer before our fast. We blindly followed all the recipes on the reboot website associated with the doc. Mean Green, you are trash, Gazpacho juice- I hate you. :-) We naively thought we would like all the juices and we just didn't. And we bought a really expensive juicer (thanks wedding registry credit!), so our juicer was yielding 2x the amount that the recipe said it would make (go Omega!) so we were probably over-doing it.. We were so disgusted... we made 40 oz of that Gazpacho juice and poured it directly down the drain because it smelled like onion (onions should not be juiced) and looked like vomit.

So, as I mentioned in a previous blog, our juice fast lasted 3 days and ended at  Cheesecake factory.

But, we have learned from our mistakes and found some juices we like so it wasn't a huge waste.

2. No Impact Man
I heard about this movie from my friend Abbi, who had rented it from the Library for free. (Abbi is one of my most frugal friends and she and her husband Joel are pretty cool. They saved up money for a whole year to drive across the country (Ohio to CA) and now live in this community in Baltimore, Reservoir Hill). Anyway, I found it on Netflix and added it to the queue. I watched it while Meeker was on a business trip. It was really interesting. Its about a guy and his family who decide to go a whole year making "no impact" . So they try to create as little waste as possible- no trash, eating local, only using bikes or walking (he lives n NYC). It was actually really interesting and inspiring, and I now cringe every time I use a zip-lock bag or paper towel. Check it out yo!

Docs About People with Weird Hobbies (and The Walking Dead)

Before I begin, I just want to take the time to give a brief apology to The Walking Dead. Meeker asked me to watch you and I said no for 2 months. I talked bad about you. I refused you. I said you would be too gory. I said that zombies were dumb. I was wrong on all accounts and for that I am truly sorry.  (The only way Meeker got me to watch this was by telling me that the main character was one of the characters in Love Actually SWOON! It's so good, and reminds me of LOST)

Anyways... 

If you want to get pumped up for March Madness, these docs are probably not for you. But, if you want to find out what the non-athletes were doing with their time during high school, these docs will not disappoint.

1. Word Play
This was the documentary that started my love for documentaries. I watched this at a theater in downtown Asheville in 2006 and loved it. I own it on DVD if you need to borrow it. This is about the NY Times crossword puzzle and it is fascinating! And, yes, like all weird hobbies, there is an annual competition involved hosted by Will Shortz! It is great and makes you feel smart because you are watching a documentary about crosswords and then dumb because you could never do a crossword puzzle in 2 minutes.. You will also find yourself cheering for people in the finals as they compete head to head on blown up crossword puzzles displayed on dry-erase boards.  I have watched this doc several times and it has yet to disappoint. Note, this is not on Netflix, but you can watch it for free on Hulu.







2. The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters.

During January 2011 we had a snowstorm in Raleigh, and since I was "working from home" , I took the afternoon to work on a puzzle and watch TV (I also think I only had 2 clients at the time, so stop judging me). I had heard about this doc from a guy I had a crush on so I watched it and it was awesome. I kind of can't remember all of it, but it's basically about a guy who had all these things go wrong at once, and in turn, dedicated his life to beating Donkey Kong. The story goes on to a major Kong Competition- riveting.



3.American Harmony 
If you like Glee- you might like this. This doc is about an international barbershop quartet contest. I think my favorite part of this documentary was me watching it. It was entertaining in the sense that you can't believe that it's happening. Its just mind boggling that there is an international competition that is SOLD OUT every year.. like they are selling out stadiums and going on tour.. wow. so there's that. I liked it. Go OC TIMES!

Fun Biography Docs.

Here are some other Random Biography Docs that are bueno!

1. Being Elmo

This Doc fueled our passion for the muppets and made Meeker and I want to drop everything and dedicate our lives to becoming Muppeteers. (We google searched how to become a muppeteer and it is a very long process- we would have to quit our jobs and do a lot of free internships and move to NYC or LA. Kinda like water-skiing,  it's something you have to start when you are young.)

I also loved that he was from BALTIMORE! 

Note: This Doc came out before the whole sex scandal thing, so it was not mentioned.



2. Bill Cunningham New York
Netflix told me I would probably like this movie and give it 4 out of 5 stars. I added it to my queue and it stayed there for months. Then one lazy Sunday afternoon, Meeker and I decided to take a nap, so I put this on to fall asleep to. I mean, it's a doc about a fashion photographer.. things I don't really care about.. but turns out, Netflix was right (o, wise one). 

I fell asleep 20 minutes in, but Meeker was so intrigued, he watched the whole thing start to finish. When I woke up he told me I would really like it so I re-watched the parts I missed. I can't explain why it was so good, he is just an interesting man, has great character, and pretty awesome job. So check it out! 

Senna

One of my Brazilian friends posted a trailer for this movie via YouTube on Facebook a few years ago, and I remember being really excited to go see it. As far as I know it never came out in a theater around me but I was excited to find it on Netflix. Meeker watched this one with me and he loved it. 

Spoiler Alert - I am going to talk about what happens in this documentary.. I don't feel bad because it's a biography.. but thought I would warn you in case you want to watch it blind.  

Senna  is "A documentary on Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34."

Just to be clear, I have no interest in racing. The culture is weird to me, and I don't really get it. However, I was in Brazil in 1994 when Ayrton Senna died and it was an experience I will never forget. 

Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian Hero in the early 90s. Brazil had nothing going for them- a corrupt government, corrupt police system, an out of control economy (the currency changed 3 times during the 5 years I lived there).  Ayrton Senna was a light in a dark place.  

When he died in a tragic racing accident, the country completely lost it. Think Michael Jordan dying in the middle of a basketball game when he was at the peak of his career.

Brazilians do not suffer in silence. People wore all black for the whole week of his death. At my school, the teachers put a Black stripe across all the Brazilian flags on display. The flags were at half mast the whole week.  This wasn't just his family, or Formula 1 fans- it was the whole country. People were openly weeping about it. I remember watching the evening news and the newscaster started sobbing during the live broadcast just mentioning it.. and the camera just stayed on him because everyone else was weeping too. 

The Documentary does a great job telling Ayrton Senna's story and it actually makes Formula 1 driving interesting. Sorry if you didn't know he died. I remember telling Meeker something about him dying while we were watching it and he was like "HE DIES?!" I forgot that most Americans have no idea who he is. 

 (PS- Brazil recovered from its mourning a few months later as they won the World Cup '94!) 

Searching For Bobby Fischer

Warning. This is going to be a long story that doesn't really go anywhere.

Background 

My family lived in Brazil from 1991-1996 and we did most of our banking down there. My parents, being foreigners and not speaking the launguage and all, tried to open a savings account -did it incorrectly and lost some of the money the process (prob only like $200). 3 years later we found out that the money was never "lost" but put into some type of mutual fund and now had $800-ish. So my missionary parents did the only sensible thing that you can do when you get a surprise income. They bought a humongous TV! 

This TV was awesome and had the "SAP" feature (remember, this was in 1995, and we were in Brazil). Brazilian TV was all dubbed in Portuguese, but if you put it in SAP it would turn it to the original language, so we could watch all of the American shows in English! Well for some reason, when we put it on SAP, the shows would be in English, but all of the commercials would be in Spanish, not Portuguese.

One of the commercials on Brazilian cable would be for a movie called "Searching for Bobby Fischer". But the commercial was in Spanish, "En Busca de Bobby Fischer".. and I couldn't  understand what they were saying, so in my 13 year old head, this movie was a mystery movie about a child abduction. Bobby Fischer was a little boy who was kidnapped and his mother and father looked for him every where and couldn't find him and it destroyed their marriage. I was dying to see this movie. Where was Bobby Fischer?! Who took him? Did they ever find him? Maybe they found him when he was an adult, and the story had a happy ending? Who would kidnap a child!?  I probably saw this commercial a million times but the movie was never on when I was watching TV! Or it had already started or something and I wanted to watch the whole thing.. Well, the goal of watching this movie was pushed a side by my desire to be cool and hang out with high-schoolers while I was still 13, so I quickly forgot about this movie, and moved on with my life. 

Flash forward to 2013.

I am searching through Netflix and what do I find?! None other than "Searching for Bobby Fischer" I added into my insta-queue, where it was quickly passed over for bigger and better things. So when Meeker went out of town, I thought it would be the perfect movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon. So, I am watching, and watching... and no one's name is Bobby.. and no one is getting kidnapped.. and they keep playing chess.  and more chess...chess chess CHESS! about half-way through, I realize.. this movie has nothing to do with Kidnapping.. Turns out, Bobby Fischer is a famous chess player, and the movie is about "A prepubescent chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer." (thank you IMDB ).. so yah..quite different from my original interpretation of the Spanish trailer.  I was a little disappointed. The actual story line was okay- a little long...I organized my kitchen while it was playing... 

But, Seriously.. how can you have a cover box like this and not be about getting kidnapped...