You might think, from this blog, that I’m the cool person in my household. After all, I have books published, I’m an invited panelist at cool events, and people regularly send me books to read for my opinion before they’re even published. I guess that’s pretty cool. (I certainly enjoy it.)
But you’d be wrong. Ten years ago, my husband was already way more famous than I’ll probably ever be. With his good friends, who eventually became internationally ranked players, he traveled the world to make videos and montages at tournaments for a cool little video game you may have heard of: Super Smash Brothers.
He’d always had an interest in film-making, and started making these videos as a way to record his adventures with his friends. Eventually, Major League Gaming came along and said, “Hey, keep doing what you’re doing. But we’ll pay you!” He traveled around the country and as far away as Sweden and Japan. As “Team Ben,” his friends topped leader-boards and won tournaments. My husband filmed it all, and thousands of people watched his videos. These were the early days of YouTube, so for most of them, this was the first way to study the pros and learn their gaming secrets.
His work inspired another generation of gaming videographers. This year, Last Stock Legends hunted him down to get his story as part of their documentary series on major players in the Super Smash Brothers tournament scene.
I’d love to introduce you all to my husband, Bach. (He is not the guy in the video’s static picture, but you’ll see pictures of him in the episode.)
(Okay, let’s be honest here. As cool as my husband is, both of us agree that the coolest people in my household are the three Siamese cats.)