The movie, Kingpin, contains some of the funniest lines in any movie and shows the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter, at their best.  The movie features an impressive cast, hysterical writing, an evocative soundtrack, and a few sincere flourishes which take it beyond the comedy moniker and surpass many other serious sports movies.  I enjoyed the plot so much that I think I’d still enjoy the movie if it were written as a sports drama.  Starring Woody Harrelson, from Cheers and Natural Born Killers, as Roy Munson, the movie takes us from Roy’s early days bowling in the backyard with his father, through his tour on the professional bowlers’ circuit, and ultimately to his downward spiral.  The scene which shows Roy as a young boy, running home to play with his father is both funny and sentimental as it plays out over Cat Stevens’ bittersweet Forever Young.

Shortly after setting out on the tour as the fresh faced, golden boy of bowling, Roy comes under the power of Ernie McCracken, played deliciously by Bill Murray, who manipulates Roy into joining him on a series of bowling alley hustles.  Things take a turn for the worse, when young Roy is uncovered as a hustler in a particularly seedy alley.  Abandoned by the unscrupulous McCracken, Roy becomes the victim of a vicious attack and is left without a hand or a future.  This is when the movie takes a sharp turn and shows us how poorly things have turned out for Roy Munson.

Without a hand, Roy has given up on bowling, but continues to be involved in the sport as a bowling alley supplies salesman.  It is at one such alley, that Roy hears the crack of the pins and discovers Ishmael Boorg, an Amish man with the innocence that Roy has long since lost.  After hearing of Ishmael’s average score and believing that with a little guidance, he could become a professional bowler, Roy hatches a plan to manage the young bowler and lead him on to victory.  Obviously, Ishmael’s na‹vet‚ and border-line idiocy doesn’t play a small part in Roy seeing the advantages of such an arrangement.

After posing as an out-of-town Amish man, Roy invites himself into Ishmael’s house and into his life.  It is here we discover that the fact that young Ishmael is played by a 46-year old Randy Quaid (a long time actor and brother to Dennis Quaid with notable roles as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon’s: Vacation series) hasn’t escaped everyone’s attention.  We’re never quite certain of Ishmael’s age, but it’s clear from his family that although Ishmael is old enough to be treated as a man, he lacks the common sense to warrant it.  His family would never approve of him going out on the bowling tour, but Ishmael is determined to prove himself and save the family’s farm from foreclosure, so he sneaks off with Roy and heads out on tour.

WARNING: SPOILER. If you have not seen this movie and are interested in it, do not read further.

Roy coaches Ishmael in the ways of bowling, trying to impart on him some of the guidance his father had given him.  However, after Ishmael loses his first match to a club bowler, Roy is disappointed to discover that the Amish man’s average score wasn’t what it seemed.  Having learned the game from a kind grandfather, Ishmael had been playing fifteen frames instead of the requisite ten, explaining to Roy, “Ten frames? That’s for Quakers.” The setback appears to be too much for Roy who immediately quits.  He is only persuaded to continue when it’s clear Ishmael will continue on without him and a glimmer of humanity and a rubber hand remind Roy of the dangers a young, na‹ve man can face on the bowling tour.

After agreeing to continue coaching and managing Ishmael, Roy makes it clear that Ishmael must do everything Roy’s way.  Roy turns out to be an excellent bowling coach and guides Ishmael toward becoming an exceptional bowler.  However, Roy isn’t as great as a life coach and Ishmael is quickly led into forsaking his upbringing and engaging in smoking, drinking coffee, alcohol, gambling, and even getting a tattoo.  Along the way they meet up with Claudia, played by the beautiful Vanessa Angel who had acted in the very short-lived TV series version of Weird Science, who is a hustler in her own right, but returns some of Roy’s dignity by adding some motherly love to the mix.

For me, the seminal moment in the movie is when Roy and Claudia chase after Ishmael who had run away again to escape the constant bickering and an actual fistfight between his two friends.  Roy and Claudia let go of their animosity and focus on finding and helping the vulnerable Ishmael before he gets into too much trouble.  When they find themselves in the area of Roy’s hometown, the two make a side trip to visit where Roy grew up.  It is here that the movie pulls at the heartstrings when Claudia tries to cheer up Roy by telling him that his father would be proud and Roy responds, probably correctly, that his father wouldn’t have been proud at what Roy had become.  Roy adds that he got word that his father had died a few years ago, but his shame kept him from attending the funeral.

More determined than ever, Roy finds Ishmael working as a cross-dressing stripper and rescues him from depravity.  The three wrap up their hustling and head to Reno, Nevada to the Odor Eaters(tm) Bowling Open.  After registering for the event it seems that nothing can stop Ishmael from becoming champion until they meet the present champion, Roy’s old nemesis, Ernie McCracken.  Big Ern, as he is lovingly called by fans is as despicable as ever, but it seems to go completely unnoticed by everyone else in the movie.  Bill Murray adds some hilarious lines to this character and even acts in a commercial for a Big Brothers-type charity where it appears that Big Ern’s only desire is to bed attractive, single mothers.

Incensed by McCracken’s derogatory insults toward Roy, Ishmael takes a swing at the bowling champ, misses, and breaks his hand.  After Claudia disappears with the money they had hustled, Roy is left with no other options: he must summon the courage to take to the alleys once again in order to save Ishmael’s farm.  The years haven’t been kind to Roy, he’s rusty, and he’s playing with a rubber hand, but he manages to win his matches and makes it to the championship game, against none other than Big Ern McCracken.  McCracken is the announcers’ clear favorite, but Roy is determined to unseat the champ and return a hero.  Just before the match is to begin, Ishmael’s brother shows up and summons the boy home.  With very little protest, and without even letting Roy know, Ishmael leaves with his brother and Roy is left all alone to face his demons.

The match is close between Big Ern and Roy, coming down to the last frames.  Roy is faced with a very difficult shot in order to pick up a spare which will put him ahead of the reigning champion.  Showing that he hadn’t lost all his skills, Roy picks up the spare and appears to be a shoe-in for the win.  However, Big Ern still has his last turn and proceeds to make three strikes in a row to beat challenger.  Despicable to the last minute, Big Ern makes some disparaging comments to the reporters, “Well, I didn’t want to lose to a guy with a hook,” then seizes Roy’s rubber hand and throws it to the crowd.

Roy’s disappointing finish is just another one of the reasons why I think this film sets itself apart from other sports films.  It’s great to see a champion win, but sometimes it’s more important just to see someone try.  Few movies are bold enough to show this, excepting maybe Rudy and Friday Night Lights.  Kindly, the film doesn’t leave us with Roy’s failure.  Instead, it shows Roy back at home, dumping out the bottles of alcohol in his cupboards, signifying that all was not lost and Roy has come out of it for the better.  Claudia also shows up at Roy’s house and explains that she didn’t walk out on him, but was forced out against her will by her violence-prone ex-.  She wants to start fresh with Roy and returns to share the money with Roy and Ishmael.  With a bit of good news himself, Roy explains that due to his bowling nickname of the Rubber Man, he’s been signed as the new spokesperson for a condom company and earned almost as much as if he had won the championship.  The two share the money with Ishmael, save the family farm, and the credits roll with a scene of everyone dancing while Blues Traveler’s But Anyway plays.

"Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter. Sermons and soda water the day after.”
Lord Byron

Some years ago, I shared an apartment with a friend, Mike. Mike and I had a lot in common and were good friends, so becoming roommates seemed like a good fit and that turned out to be the case. One of the things we enjoyed was watching movies at home or at the cinema. At the time, I was an avid listener of a Boston radio station that regularly offered free sneak preview movie passes for calling into the radio station’s contest line. They offered enough tickets to fill the entire theater, and the contest was usually held on the day of the showing, so my odds at winning a pair of passes were pretty good.

It seemed they offered tickets every week, so every week Mike and I saw a new movie for free. The movie cinemas varied and were usually smaller locales than the thirty theater multiplexes we usually attended, so in addition to seeing some good movies, we got a good education on the excellent theaters of Boston. We’d usually have to head out to the theater immediately after work to take the train into town, transfer to a couple different train lines, and walk a few blocks and still arrive at the theater in time. Sometimes the adventure of the trip was more exciting than some of the movies we had seen.

As I said previously, the free preview was usually held at small venues, so we were surprised when a particular movie was held at large cineplex in Cleveland Circle. We were even more surprised to arrive at the theater and find the entire lobby packed with people waiting for the showing. We had arrived pretty close to the designated time, so we had to stand pretty near the back of the crowd. To make matters worse, this particular theater required the radio station to hand out individual tickets to the contest winners which in turn had to be collected at the entrance to the theater.

I had never seen such a packed theater lobby and began to grumble that it would take an hour for us to just get to our seats. Soon, an announcement was made that they were going to start admitting people. Mike and I both took our places in line, if you could call standing in the mob truly waiting in line. Suddenly, the crowd started to move forward and we could see a steady stream of people being admitted to the theater. I nudged Mike and said that the owners must have decided that it was a better idea to just admit everyone, rather than attempt to collect all the tickets from the crowd.

We continued to move forward toward the entrance, as the lobby emptied. When we reached the velvet rope gate, I was surprised to find that an attendant was in fact present, collecting the tickets. He stood firm in front of the crowd, with both hands outstretched, taking tickets from people to his left and his right. More, surprising than merely collecting the tickets was that he was actually separating the stubs and returning them to each patron. He accomplished all this, without missing a beat, by grasping the ticket between his two forefingers and thump, snapping it to separate the two parts, collecting the receipt in the palm of his hand, and returning the stub between his thumb and index finger. His fingers snapped constantly and consistently as he set about his business until the entire lobby was processed and had entered the theater in a matter of minutes.

Several things struck me about this young man. He executed his job gracefully and efficiently. His movements had the rhythm and flow of a percussionist in a salsa band. He was faced with a difficult situation in front of a large crowd and stood his ground. I’ve seen smaller crowds cause terrible destruction and mayhem if provoked or left unchecked. He took a thankless job that many people may even consider beneath their consideration, added his own flair, and improved upon it. I’ve wondered if this snapping technique was something he invented himself or was taught by some ticket-taking guru under whose tutelage theater employees advance out from behind the concession stand. Although, I suspect he was self-taught, because I’ve never seen this performance repeated anywhere else in all my years of attending concerts, movies, sporting events, amusement parks, and haunted houses.

Although I may never know his name and doubt he still works at the Cleveland Circle cinema all these years later, I think he deserves recognition and admiration. I’ve often thought of his example, usually when I encounter a retail employee who looks less thrilled in receiving my money as I feel in handing it over. I know there are a lot of difficult, thankless, and tedious jobs that people nonetheless have to show up for and perform daily, but that’s not sufficient reason to fail to take some pride in those jobs. I also know that people who do take pride in their work, who respect what they do and expect the same from others, usually succeed in whatever job they perform. And, I don’t think that’s a coincidence at all.

"Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
Lord Chesterfield

I’ve been fascinated with computers ever since the first time I touched a keyboard.  My sister, Ellen, who has introduced me to so many things in my life is also responsible for introducing me to computers.  I was ten years old and in the sixth grade and Ellen was nineteen and in college.  We were worlds apart, but she still took the time to spend a day with me.

We took the train and then a shuttle bus to her college campus in Boston and walked around for a while before she brought me to the computer lab.  The lab seemed huge to me and was filled with college students busily clicking away. Ellen sat me at one of the Digital VT terminals and logged me in. There wasn’t much to do, but there were several text-based games to keep me entertained while she tended to whatever work she had. I also remember printing out large sheets of ASCII graphics (where simple keyboard characters are used to form a giant picture when viewed at a distance) and taking them with us; one was of Snoopy sitting on his dog house as the Red Baron.  That certainly wasn’t the only thing I took away from that day.  I was hooked on computers.

When my father bought our family’s first computer, a Kaypro II, I quickly mastered everything that came with it.  I learned CP/M, WordStar, The Word Plus, Perfect Writer, and Perfect Calc.  Then I set my mind on tackling Basic.  I read as much as I could from books that I had borrowed from the library, carefully keying in sample programs, and analyzing their results.  I heavily modified early basic programs like Eliza, the computer psychiatrist, and Vampire, an adventure game before I moved on to making my own programs.  I spent hours at a time, punching away at the keyboard.

I moved on to newer and better computer systems and mastered all I could with those, too.  I eventually got into modems and ended up running a very successful Commodore Bulletin Board System (BBS), the precursor of today’s web sites.  So, by the time I had my first chance to use the internet in 1992, I thought I knew what to expect.  I knew about faster speeds, multi-user access, and simple-to-use protocols.  What I really wasn’t expecting was the profound impact it would eventually have on the world in general.  I always laugh when I discover how little some people realize the ways the internet has already changed our lives and some of the ways it will likely continue to change them.

My first internet encounter was through a software protocol called Gopher. The interface wasn’t graphics based like the modern web browser, but had a very simple way of organizing data into menus.  I remember scrolling through different Gopher sites and selecting options which led to new sites and new options when I stumbled across the DNA Bank of Japan.

The previous night, I had watched the move Lorenzo’s Oil with Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon.  It’s an interesting, albeit fairly melodramatic, true story of a couple who had devoted their lives to finding a cure for their son’s disease. Their son, Lorenzo, suffered from a degenerative nerve disorder and the doctors had written him off as a lost cause.  The parents researched medical journals, library materials, and scientific papers, learning everything they could about the disease and possible treatments.  Over time, they would become more knowledgeable about the disorder than most doctors and eventually helped to develop a treatment.

What struck me about the movie was how difficult these people’s task was.  They had as much difficulty tracking down the information as they did in comprehending its meaning.  They spent many hours in the library, attended conferences, and met with researches. Even when they discovered what could very well be their son’s life saving medicine, they had to locate a scientist who had researched the chemical composition of the fatty acids to be able to produce their cure.  They literally spent years of their lives collecting and organizing information.

My first search in the DNA Bank of Japan was for the fatty acids they had repeatedly discussed in the film.  Almost instantaneously, I was looking at its chemical structure.  There were links to even more information.  Although I wasn’t sure that what I was looking at was the exact information that Lorenzo’s father had spent so much time researching, it had significance to me.  I realized the power of the internet.  The internet bridges the divide: the divide between people and information.  I’d eventually experience how it bridges the divide between people and other people, and even between information and other information.

The internet is home to some great people who have embraced the new frontier and provide valuable or interesting information, usually for free.  Although some operators request payment for an expanded newsletter, access to their archives, early releases, posting ability, ad-free content, or simply because they hope you will find worth in what they provide, the cost sometimes only covers their expenses and provides them with an incentive to continue.  When you find a free web site or newsletter that you particularly enjoy, definitely consider becoming a full member and making their efforts worthwhile.

One person who provides a great web site and newsletter is Fred Langa from http://www.langa.com.  Fred is a freelance author for InformationWeek and has been a writer and editor for over 25 years, is very knowledgeable, and a heck of a nice guy.  The couple times I’ve emailed him a contribution to his newsletter, he’s emailed me back directly.  My father has also received response from Fred in reference to some emails he had sent about configuring his PC.  Although I’m sure Fred can’t and wouldn’t respond to every email he gets, it’s nice to see that he makes any effort at all.

Fred’s web site is packed with useful and insightful information about computer installations, usage, maintenance, repair, and upkeep.  He has tips on software, hardware, and networks.  It’s a great place to look to whenever you have a computer problem or need some good advice.  Fred also provides a free newsletter that arrives twice-a-week, containing useful information and Fred won’t sell your email address.  And, if you pay for the inexpensive Plus Edition of his newsletter, Fred donates a portion of the proceeds to charity.  Fred is one of Deezle.com’s heroes.

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill