Starbucking

This is an odd but entertaining little documentary about a guy named Winter (just Winter; that's his legal name) whose hobby is trying to visit every Starbucks Coffee Shop in the world. He's been doing this now for over 10 years. Winter realizes this is sort of a pointless pursuit in and of itself, but he simply wanted to do something different. And I'd say he's succeeded, having as of this writing visited about 95% of the Starbucks stores in the U.S. as well as several stores in other countries.

As goofy as all this might seem, there's even some actual philosophy behind what Winter is doing. He says that we have enough resources in the world today that people shouldn't have to work as much as they do. Instead, they should be able to devote more time to various creative or just plain fun projects and pursuits. He's aware this isn't necessarily practical, especially for people living in third world countries and so on. It's simply his vision of an ideal world.

Winter is definitely a character. I'm not sure if I'd want to spend too much time hanging out with him in real life (or anyone who has as much caffeine coursing through their veins as this guy does), but spending an hour and a half watching him in this movie was fun. I give Starbucking a 7 ½ out of 10.

This documentary on one man's quest to visit every Starbucks is very watchable for such a quirky subject; you might not think it's interesting in itself, but it's acceptable entertainment.

Our protagonist, Winter, is a bit odd himself and that makes up half the entertainment. Perpetually shaking from a caffeine rush, he lives out of his car while attempting to visit every single Starbucks, both corporate and franchise. Some of them are in amusement parks or other places, and Winter manages to find a way there at the lowest possible cost to himself. He may be eccentric, but he's no fool.

Much of the entertainment comes from his friends and girlfriends commentary on him. They apparently see him as a harmless but interesting guy who provides that little bit of zaniness which makes everyone's life a bit more exciting. People ask for his autograph, they pose for pictures with him, they laugh openly at his mission. None of that fazes him in the least. Winter just keeps on trucking to the next Starbucks.

This isn't going to win any Oscars, but it's definitely worth watching.