A Fistful of Geekumentaries

OK, I haven't had time to watch the following documentaries yet - I just started digging into the BBS one - but they are all available to watch online, so I figured I should at least let you know about them!

BBS: The Documentary
Jason Scott's the director currently at work on the Get Lamp text adventures documentary. Before that, however, he created a documentary about the history of BBS.

BBS: The Documentary is an 8 episode series about all aspects of the history of the dial-up Bulletin Board System, or BBS. 3 years in the making and the result of over 200 interviews, this collection puts in one convenient package a sense of the variety and wide-reaching effects of the BBS phenomenon. All in all, over seven and a half hours of material is included across the three region-free DVDs.

You can watch it on Google Video, or get the physical version here.


JK Rowling: A Year in the Life
In conjunction with the release of the new Tales of Beedle the Bard book, a multi-part online documentary following JK Rowling around for a year has been released.

Journalist James Runcie was granted an incredible documentary opportunity in 2006 -- to film Harry Potter author JK Rowling for the entire year as she worked on the final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Parts 1 and 2
Parts 3 - 5
(UPDATE: 12/24 - oh BOO, these are now the subject of a rights debate. Maybe take a peek here.)


Classic Game Room
Classic Game Room: The Rise and Fall of the Internet's Greatest Video Game Review Show.

In 1999, the first online video game show was inaugurated with a single camera, a $50 per episode budget and a pair of hosts who weren't above swilling beer and slinging joysticks to inject some fun. This film documents the short-lived show's rise and fall, and includes Mark Bussler's and David Crosson's reviews of classic games such as Frogger, Duck Hunt, SeaMan, Yars' Revenge, Alien, Joust and more.

Heard about this one from a recent issue of GameRoom magazine. It's on Netflix, and you can watch it online for free if you're a subscriber.


I'll do individual reviews of these once I've seen them, but in the meantime, feel free to check them out and share your thoughts! I've also got the Showtime version of Chasing Ghosts to check out. When it rains, it pours!