If you're looking to see more, here's the main thread on 2+2 discussing the movie. The director and also Zeebo have done a pretty good job of answering questions and keeping up with the discussion:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/busto-robusto-captain-zeebo-512004/Some more comments now that I've had some time to digest the film.
- the GE shoutout was nice, but I think Greg was unnecessarily harsh on himself. he admits that trying for :59 Facility 00 was obsessive compulsive and weird and not a great use of his time, which is of course true, but the way he described GE you get the impression that he was just locked away in his room for 10 hours a day competing against himself. I mean he
sort of was, but it would have sounded much better if he'd explained how he and a group of his friends from high school all got involved in this very large and very active online speedrunning community at around the same time, enjoyed competing against each other and people from all around the world, spending all kinds of time online together talking about GE/PD on the boards or over AIM, etc. how he met a bunch of new friends as a result, how they had a legendary Illinois meetup with players from all over the US, how he ended up spending a bunch of time with Paragon and Youse later on... I mean obviously they weren't going to cover all this since it wasn't the focus of the documentary, but I wish there could have been at least a little taste of it so that it didn't sound like Zeebo was just locked away in a closet 10 hours a day going super OCD on the game all by himself
- that being said I DID appreciate giving video games some credit toward his success, as in the transition was easy because you're basically still just playing a game on your computer, except now you're getting paid for it
- I wasn't trying to be mean when I said that Zeebo is lucky to have Erin, I was just pointing out how unlikely it is to find someone who doesn't complain that you spend a week at a time at the computer or on the couch. and also that I have no idea how he could have survived those bad weeks of bipolar mania if Erin hadn't been there to keep him grounded and make sure he got professional help. in any case I think Zeebo fully realizes how lucky his is, otherwise he wouldn't be marrying Erin next month!
- this is very clearly a movie made by hardcore poker players for the hardcore online poker community, so I was very impressed that they avoided the easy trapfall of going way too indepth with Zeebo's playstyle, what sites he was playing at what limits with how many hands at a time, breaking down the Zeebo Theorem, and so forth. people on 2+2 are saying that we should have seen more of that kind of stuff, but I disagree- keeping it a strict Zeebo character study instead of going into all this terminology that would have gone over 90% of the potential audience's heads was the right decision to make. this isn't a documentary about poker, it's about a
poker player- that being said... sorry, but I just can't see this episode translating into mainstream success. personally I loved it, and its gotten a great reaction on 2+2, but I can't see someone outside of the internet gaming/gambling subculture being able to get behind Zeebo to that same extent. in theory it sounds like a surefire winner- likeable loser goes from living in his parent's basement and flipping burgers for 6 dollars an hour to becoming a self-made millionaire twice over, moving to a big new house in the beautiful state of Wisconsin, and marrying the girl of his dreams. but I think that if, for instance, my Mom came across this video all she would get out of it is "spending way too much time on the internet + losing $90k a day = mental breakdown" and just come out of it really depressed and worried that this kind of internet culture can even exist
Those are my five cents!
