WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5

I'm always careful not to post too many details about auditions, or the content of things I've worked on, because it usually freaks out the people who hired me, who want to maintain some mystery about their project, control the publicity, or reserve the right to keep the whole damn thing a secret until they are good and ready to share it with the world.

With that in mind, I haven't talked too specifically about the project that I booked yesterday. In fact, I figured I'd wait until I went to work, so I could ask the director (who is also the writer and creator) if it was cool to put out a few details, and maybe even a character model or two.

Well, I think it's okay to talk about the show a bit more now, because Jun, the director, e-mailed me this morning with a link to her blog all about the show!

The show is called Kyle + Rosemary, and I am Kyle. (That's Kyle on the right there, and Rosemary is down a bit on the left, for those of you who like reading obvious things that are put into parentheses and then become the subject of much meta-commentary by the writer, who feels the need to talk about himself in the third person, when the smart thing to do all along was just to delete the damn parenthetical statement and trust that his reader wouldn't need it anyway. But then the writer, who is really amusing himself by now, is all excited that he got to use the fifty-cent word "parenthetical" within a parenthetical, which is almost as good as having an intalicized footnote.[1])

Yesterday, I wrote "I felt such a connection with the character, and had so much fun looking at his character model and creating the voice and character it inspired . . ." so here's a little bit on how that works for me. Follow along with Kyle (who is on the right over there. See previous parenthetical statement, kthnx.)

When I go into the booth to do a character, I do different things with my body to make him come out of me. Aqualad is a little haughty, because he's a prince, so to create his voice and character, I sit straight up, with my back off the chair, put my hands on my knees (Ensign Ro-style) and hold my chin up when I talk. I don't know how all that comes together to create him, but I know that it works.

For Kyle, my initial voice was way too nerdy and cartoony. Once Jun showed me this drawing, I grokked him. I walked into the booth, let my shoulders slump a little bit, put my hands in my pockets, and sighed right before they rolled tape. She guided me, and Kyle came right out of me, like I'd known him for much longer than the five minutes I'd had his image in my mind.

Jun said some cool things about me on her blog

So, having completed voice casting, after much painful deliberation (there were many great candidates) I decided on Wil Wheaton for the voice of Kyle. I'd call this an inspired casting choice; for one thing, Wil is a self-proclaimed geek, and for another, he runs his own hawesome weblog, in which he professes his geek-ness several times a week.

[. . .]

[W]e as directors and creators go through the casting process with often rarely a thought to the multiple lines of actors and actresses trooping through, hoping to get parts on our shows based on the quickest of auditions - auditions where they have to drive across town for just a few minutes in front of a microphone, saying the same lines that everyone else says and hoping to stand out. They are just as excited to get a part as we are when we sell a show. It's really nice to have a little insight into their lives once in a while. Thanks for sharing, Wil!

See? I knew there was a reason I liked her so much. She cares about story, she cares about actors, and she's a geek blogger (I love the posts in her blog where her mom comments and says how proud she is. That rules.) So if a singularity shows up in Burbank next week, you totally know where to pin the blame (or at least start the investigation, though we'll be watching you from our newly-discovered higher plane of pure-energy existance, and totally screwing with you through the power of mental thinking.)

I still don't think it's cool to gve up too many details about the show, but I think it's safe to disclose that Kyle and Rosemary meet in a MMORPG, and the show takes place both in the game, where I will get to voice Kyle's alter ego, Sir Horace, and in the real world, where Kyle and Rosemary can't hang out, because she is a goth and he is a geek. There are some storyboards of their in-game alter-egos on Jun's blog, if you want to see them. Oh, and when I voice Sir Horace? I totally stand tall, push out my chest, and put my hands on my hips. When I speak, I take one hand and stab at the air with it, because he is so totally heroic. And the transition from Sir Horace back into Kyle? Way too much fun.

Now I'm off to Shane's house to pick up my nerd cape. And don't even ask how it got there, because I'm not telling (though you can probably get Annie to tell you if you ask her nicely enough, and bribe her with coffee.)

[1] Yeah, it's still good.

Posted by Wil at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (54) | TrackBacks (1)

From Seth Godin's blog:

A long line at the American Airlines counter. Finally, a particularly well-dressed man gets to the front, loudly announcing that he wants to check in for first class.

The harried agent does her best, but there's no room. He starts getting louder and more angry. He's blathering about his power and authority.

She tries to placate him, but to no avail.

Finally, he yells, "Do you know who I am?"

Without missing a beat, the gate agent grabs the microphone. "Attention in the gate area. We have a medical emergency. The man at gate 11 has just suffered a serious bout of amnesia. If anyone recognizes him, can they please come forward and help him?"

Posted by Wil at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (32) | TrackBacks (1)

Remember the audition I had last week at Nickelodeon?

I had a crush on this project as soon as I read the breakdown. After I met the director and grokked what sort of story she wants to tell, I was hopelessly in love with the project. I really, really hope I get this job.

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about jobs after an audition. In fact, I have a ritual where I take my sides, and dump them into the first trash can or recycling bin I find, so I can let go of the whole thing, and put it into the hands of The Universe -- or a higher power, like the producers. But this one was different. I felt such a connection with the character, and had so much fun looking at his character model and creating the voice and character it inspired, I thought about the show every day, and called my manager about it several times.

I probably shouldn't disclose too many details about the story that I auditioned for, but it is a wonderful, funny, charming animated short about a geek and a goth who are starcrossed lovers.

I'm sure you're all surprised to hear that I read for the geek. I used my sense memories to recall the Kyra crush and did my best to be the kind of guy who "you want to take his glasses off, and mess up his hair, because he's so cute and he doesn't know it," according to the director, who I really, really liked.

Just now, as I was about to make my daily call to see if we'd heard anything, the phone rang (true story). It was my manager.

"Remember [name of project]?" He said.

"You mean the one I call you about every single day?" I said.

"Yes, that one." He laughed. "You got it."

I lept out of my chair and hollered. "What?! Are you serious?!" Which is a stupid thing to holler, because he wouldn't call me if he wasn't. "Really? I really got the job?" Which is also a stupid thing to say, but I'm passing this one off on the surge of adrenaline and seratonin my brains released upon receiving the news.

"Yep. I called to see if they had made a decision yet, and [casting executive] told me that she was just about to call me with the news!" He went on to tell me that the director could have picked anyone in the whole world to do this part, and she chose me.

I'm going to say that again: she could have picked anyone she wanted, and she chose me. Man, that feels so good. I mean, it feels tasp good.

I hung up the phone and ran around the house like a hummingbird being chased by a dog that shoots bees from its mouth.

After all the times I've written about the audition that went great, but didn't work out, or the audition that was a lot of fun, but it turns out I'm not edgy enough, it's so insanely awesome to write about one where I not only had a great time, but actually get to do more than just the audition sides. When this show is animated and released, for the rest of time, I will be the actor who helped bring that guy to life -- and I really love this character. I am so excited! Squee!

Anyway, I had a blast reading for this project, and I was so excited when I left, I totally forgot to steal a camphone snap of the hawesome four foot tall SpongeBob made out of LEGO in the lobby. If I get the job, or the next time I'm at Nick, I'll grab a picture of it on my way in, because I'm usually skipping with nerdy excitment whenever I'm on my way out.

I'll be sure to snag a picture of the giant LEGO SpongeBob on my way in when I record my dialogue next Wednesday or Thursday, and I'm taking a gift to Don, the most awesome security guy ever, who works at Nick and is always so awesome to me when I go there for an audition.

Posted by Wil at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (116) | TrackBacks (3)

I've been busy today. I wrote next week's Games of our Lives, did some top secret Team PokerStars stuff that I can't wait to announce, wrote two articles for CardSquad (Yet Another Interview with Wil and Why Didn't Mike Nail Petra? The Writers of "Rounders" Finally Reveal the Answer) and read the script for Legion of Super Heroes which I'm recording on Friday.

It's really cool, and I totally can't say anything about it until I get a thumbs up from Warner Brothers, but I believe the phrase that the damn kids today use to describe my feeling upon reading the script is "ZOMG!"  When the script says, "ENERGY CORUSCATES around him until the power is too strong . . ." you know you're working on something hawesome.

Posted by Wil at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Over the last few months,Glenn Greenwald has rapidly become one of my favorite political bloggers, joining Digby, Joe Gandelman and John Cole. Just like those guys, he is intelligent, well-researched, intellectually honest and consistent, and whenever I read one of his posts, I feel enlightened, if outraged. In fact, it's because of guys like those (and Avarosis, and C&L, and Peter Daou) that I rarely write political posts these days; if I can't say it as well as they can, I don't see the point.

Glenn is about to release a book, researched by bloggers and inspired by his own blog called How Would A Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok. His book is published by Working Assets, which is a very small press (they're primarily a long distance provider which was coincidentally started by a friend of a friend.)

The reason I mention this is not because I think it's a book that everyone should read (it is) but because it's a book, like Just A Geek and Dancing Barefoot, that was born on a blog, nurtured by bloggers and blog readers, and did something neither of my books was able to do: rocket up to number one on Amazon almost immediately after it was announced. Just A Geek peaked in the teens, if I recall correctly, thanks entirely to the efforts of bloggers and WWdN readers.

In a very short time, Glenn has made substantial contributions to the blog-o-sphere, and it's wonderful to see him getting some recognition from the same. Congratulations, Glenn!

Posted by Wil at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

Oklahoma's State Senate unanimously passed a bill that would equate videogames like HALO and Grand Theft Auto 3 with hardcore pornography, making it a crime to sell those games to anyone under the age of eighteen:

HB3004 seeks to amend an existing Oklahoma statute, and redefine what is considered "harmful to minors." Authored by State Rep. Fred Morgan (R), the bill would add "inappropriate violence" to the statute. In the actual wording of the bill, "harmful to minors" means: "the material or performance lacks serious literary, scientific, medical, artistic, or political value for minors."

[. . .]

Virtually everyone can agree that there are games which are clearly inappropriate for children, but that's what ratings and parents are for. Why is it that Republican lawmakers are gung-ho for personal responsibility and government abstinence when it comes to healthcare, welfare, and minimum-wage laws, but they can't vote "aye" fast enough when it comes to intrusively legislating morality?

If this bill becomes law, it will be a crime to sell a "harmful" game to a anyone under 18. There are countless reasons that this is incredibly stupid, among them the fact that a 17 year-old can buy himself a ticket to a graphically violent film like Saw or Hostel, or a sexually-charged film like Showgirls. But that same 17 year-old couldn't legally purchase DOOM 3, and the person who sold it to him would be criminally liable. How does this make sense? The answer is, it doesn't. Bills like this have nothing to do with protecting the children or seriously addressing issues which need governmental attention. Bills like this are entirely about election-year pandering to the ultra-conservative minority who unfortunately make up the modern Republican Base.

You can read the rest at the SGGeekwire.

Posted by Wil at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (36) | TrackBacks (2)

Last week, Otis asked me if I'd write a few words for the PokerStars newsletter about how acting and poker mix together, and if I'd discuss how acting has helped my poker game.

I tried to answer intelligently and keep it brief, but since it takes me 200 words to say hello to someone, it shouldn't be a big surprise that I ended up sending Otis a little over 2800 words about acting, poker, and Almost Famous. I was so long-winded, in fact, that Otis ended up using the power of the fully-operational PokerStars blog to handle the Alderaan-destroying mountain of words I sent.

If you're interested in the poker stuff, or want to know how I've been able to combine my acting experience with my poker game, you can read the whole thing at the PokerStars blog.

For the rest of you, here's a little bit about acting that you don't have to be a poker geek to follow:

As an actor:
1) I have to be completely connected to the other actors in the scene, so my character understands what the other characters are doing, why they are doing it, and I (as the actor) can allow my character to react naturally and realistically. rather than "acting."
2) I have to completely commit to everything that my character does, and allow my character's memories, beliefs, and prior experiences (that I have made up) to truly _live_ in me, like they are real, so that all the unconscious physical signals that come with different emotions happen naturally, rather than as a result of "acting."

For an actor, getting caught "acting" is worse than a poker player getting caught bluffing; it's more like getting caught cheating. So we actors work very hard to make sure it never happens.

[. . .]

One of my favorite examples of this is from Almost Famous. Kate Hudson, as Penny Lane, asks Patrick Fugit, as William Miller, if he'll go with her to Morocco.

When she asks him, they've been running around a park together, and it's clear to the audience that they're falling in love. It's really charming to watch, and unless you're deeply cynical, it's tough to not smile with them, recalling the first time you fell in love.

"I've made a decision, I'm gonna live in Morocco for one year. I need a new crowd. Do you wanna come?" She says.

"Yes!" He says.

"Are you sure?" She says.

He looks at her, like he was completely lost in her, and says, "Ask me again."

She flushes, and she says, more intently, "Do you want to come?"

"Yes! Yes!" He says, as some seventies power ballad starts to play.

According to director Cameron Crowe, Patrick asked Kate to ask him again, because he'd been staring at her, and just got lost in that moment, so he missed his line. But he was still in the scene, so he asked her exactly the way he would have if it had been real. Kate stayed focused on him, stayed in the scene, and asked him again, so we have this incredibly wonderful moment of two people falling in love that probably has many of you running to Netflix to queue it up right now. If either one of them hadn't been completely focused on each other, that moment (which would have been impossible to script) never would have happened. If we'd caught them "acting," it would have ruined that moment, and the whole movie would have suffered as a result.

Did I pique your interest? Heh. So go on, read the whole thing. You know you want to.

Posted by Wil at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)

I didn't notice until just now that Montreal has reached critical mass! I'm shocked that the demand grew so quickly, but right now there are 91 people who want to see me do my thing (or a puppet show, I'm not good with French) and that's enough for me to track down a bookstore and get things worked out.

CruiseTrek embarks on Saturday, 24 June (I wrote it that way just for you, Montreal) and I'm committed to some CruiseTrek festivities on Friday, 23 June, so whatever I do in Montreal will happen on Thursday 22 June. That's also good for all you Browncoats up there, who would totally have to blow me off if my puppet show conflicted with the charity screenings of Serenity on the 23rd. Update: Shit. That's actually extremely bad news for you Browncoats; the only day I can do a performance and signing is the 22nd, because I'm committed on the 23rd. I don't think it's appropriate for me to jump onto any Serenity screenings or anything like that, because not everyone who is going to be there will appreciate me taking up any of their time, and if I understand it correctly, most of the people who have joined this demand are Serenity fans who. I'll see if I can work out something in the late afternoon on Friday, before my evening commitments commence, but this event may end up not happening this time around. %$#@!.

I know nothing about Montreal's book store scene, so if someone can help point me at an indie bookstore that wants to feel the love, leave some info in comments or e-mail wil at wilwheaton dot net.

I'm working on finalizing a venue for Boston today. I'll post those details (and updates on Montreal) as soon as I have them.

Oh, and a quick note about demands: the critical mass is always going to vary from city to city, based on what it costs me to get there, the venues, and some other factors. I set critical mass for these two events at 75 because I figured that would be a sufficient number to get the attention of bookstore owners. It's unlikely that critical mass will be lower than 100 or 150 for most events, just based on stupid economics.

Posted by Wil at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBacks (2)

This weekend started out on an exceptionally high note: on my way to Dodger Stadium to meet my parents for the Arizona game, I got a call from my manager: one of the producers from Teen Titans is now working on Legion of Superheroes, and wanted to cast me for a part on the new show. I don't know any details, yet, like if it's a one-time voice, or a recurring character or what, but I'm working on Friday! Go me!

The Dodger game was superexcellent. Not only did I get to spend an evening with my wife and my parents, but it was a great game that the Dodgers actually managed to hold on and win. Go Dodgers!

Saturday, I bought some new shoes and a new belt  (trust me, this is very exciting) before Anne and I met our friends at Dave and Busters and goofed off for hours. I am the master of coin-flipping soccer, and I have over 20,000 tickets and nothing worth redeeming. Go me (but really go Dave and Busters for making a game that I love to play with no tangible reward . . . yet.)

Sunday, I started the day with some marathon training, but I only got one mile done before I got the goddamn pain in my right side that keeps ruining me. Maybe someone knows what the hell is going on: occasionally, I'll go out for a jog, and after about two blocks, this tightness starts in my right hip that spreads up my stomach and eventually into my ribs on my right side. Once it starts, it takes about one minute to take over the right side of my body and hurts so severely I can't even take a deep breath, much less keep running. I always end up just turning around and walking home, because I've learned that I can't even walk it out, because it's much more (and worse) than a simple stitch in my side; it's more of a crippling muscle freak out. The worst thing is that I get pissed because my cardio system is fine, the rest of my body feels fine, but I absolutely can't even jog a half a block. What the hell? I'm only 33 years old, and I can't even run a block? Why can't my fucking body just work?! Can you tell that I'm getting pissed just thinking about it?

Anyway, after that unfortunately aborted attempt to get out and exercise, I came home and played some poker online. I played a one table sit-n-go tournament (where you just wait for 9 players to sit down and you go, hence the name.) I got knocked out with my pocket kings vs. ace queen when he caught an ace on the river to bust me. I wasn't upset, though, because I made the right decision on the play, and he just got lucky. I've noticed that when I play at limits I can really afford and I just focus on being decision (rather than result) oriented, I always have a good time and I'm much happier playing, whether I win or lose.

I was talking about this revelation with my friends CJ and Alan, when CJ talked me into playing a three table (27 player) sit-n-go. I had some time to kill while I waited for Anne and Ryan to get home, and Nolan was asleep on the couch (so no guitar hero) so I signed up and played my little heart out.

Dude, I totally won! It only cost $11 to enter, and I won $100 for first place! I was extremely happy with all the decisions I made, including when I made a four-card diamond flush with AT to suckout on a guy who had AA, then fell on the other side of that hand when I was heads-up at the end, with JJ vs something totally lame like T3 suited and he caught a diamond on the end to make his flush. Go me again again!

Anne and Ryan got home right after I finished that tourney, and she wanted to take a nap (yeah, I have a real nap-happy family) so Ryan and I went over to the movie theatre to watch Silent Hill.

I've played about 40% of Silent Hill 2, but I didn't have any expectations for the film, really, and mostly went because Ryan really wanted to see it (he can't see R-rated films on his own for another four months. Excuse me while I process that reality and have a minor heart attack.)

I really, really liked it. It looks very creepy and spooky (just like the game) and the visual effects are really fantastic. The monsters (especially Red Pyramid and all the bugs) are terrifying, the music is great, the casting is perfect, and though the whole thing requires a some suspension of disbelief, the story is quite solid. In fact, about halfway through the movie, I thought to myself, "Man, this is really quite deep for a horror movie. I wonder why?" When the credits rolled and I saw that it had been written by Roger Avary, I totally understood. Go Roger.

After the movie, we came home and the entire family settled in for some Simpsons (fairly funny, but the over-reliance on musical montages this season is really getting on my nerves) Family Guy (more Stewie-as-gymnast, please) and American Dad (I don't know how they made an entire episode about anal probing hilarious, but they did) before the rest of my family went to sleep, leaving me to read Cell in alone in the living room where the zombies can totally get me. I eventually watched Survivorman (my new favorite show on cable television) before drifting off to sleep, blissfully content at the end of a fun-filled weekend.

Posted by Wil at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (46)

As of this writing, there are 79 demands for me to come to Boston, which is certainly over the critical mass of 75.

The next step for me is to contact a couple of places, and see if they can host me for a reading and signing. A lot of people have suggested Porter Square Books, a "fiercely independent" store that's in Cambridge. That's close enough to Boston Metro Area, isn't it? Thats the first place I'll contact tomorrow morning. If you're a Bostonian, and you have a connection to, or can suggest a venue, please leave info in comments or e-mail me. I'm wil at wilwheaton dot net.

See you in Boston!

Posted by Wil at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (76) | TrackBacks (1)

Oh boy! I've been invited back to CruiseTrek! This year, the cruise is called The French Connection. It sails at the end of June from Montreal through Saguenay Fjord (where I'll be waving to Slartibartfast) around Nova Scotia, finally ending up in Boston. I've only been to Montreal once, when I worked on a show eons ago called Sirens, but I absolutely loved it, and I'm thrilled to go back. And Boston? One of the highlights of my life was playing goal in the Boston Garden, and as an American history geek (thank you very much, School House Rock) there are few cities in the country that rival Boston for awesome walking tours and museums.

But here is a huge bonus: Using Eventful, I've discovered that there are demands for me in both Montreal (currently 20) and Boston (currently 49). I know that time is relatively short, but I think this is a fantastic opportunity to see if this demand idea works. If you're interested in seeing me for a reading and book signing in either of these cities, join the demands. Critical mass for both cities should be 75 people, which I think would convince a book store to schedule an in-store appearance with just about eight weeks' notice, and make it worth my time to spend an extra day in each city (Montreal's event would probably happen on Thursday the 22nd of June, and Boston's would happen on Saturday, July 1st or Sunday, July 2nd.) We have to move pretty quickly, though, because I have to book my travel by the end of next week. So if you're into seeing me in either one of these cities, join the demand and spread the word! You can get stickers for Montreal here, and stickers for Boston here.

I spoke with Charlie from CruiseTrek this morning: the cruise is nearly sold out, but I understand that it's still possible to get on board. If you're interested in a truly hawesome vacation with a whole slew of geeks, you can't do much better than CruiseTrek. And there will be poker. Oh, yes, there will be poker.

Posted by Wil at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

Two tickets from TicketBastard: $52

Parking: $10

Four Dodger Dogs, two sodas: $27

Crushing heads with my stepson: Priceless

Watching the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles blow a one-run lead in the 8th to lose to the Cubs: Sadly predictable.

Posted by Wil at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)

A lot of European players can't make my Tuesday night game at PokerStars, because it's sort of in the middle of the night for them. Because I love Europe so much (and to atone, in a very small and meaningless way, for that whole stupid Freedom Fries bullshit) I schedule a game once a month specifically for European players. It's called Eurofriendly Friday, and April's game is set up for tomorrow.

What: WWdN: N1kita Eurofriday
Where: PokerStars.
When: Friday, April 21. 1800 GMT
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 23319749
Buy-in: $10 + 1

Of course, anyone with eleven bucks and a PokerStars account is welcome to play with us, regardless of geography. It's also a much smaller field than the regular Tuesday night games, so if you're really into playing with me, your odds are much, much greater that you can crusher my kings with the hammer -- in fact, there are just three players signed up now, so it may just end up being a semi-private sit-n-go.

Posted by Wil at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I had an audition for a voice over at Nickelodeon yesterday. The only problem is, I, uh, didn't know about it, because the details on the reading came via e-mail during a period of a couple days last week when all e-mail sent to me went flying off into the gamma quadrant of the Zarkon V Nebula.

Luckily for me, the director of this project was really into reading me, and we were able to reschedule for this morning.

Okay, I know I'm supposed to maintain some professional detachment, so when I don't get the job it's less of a disappointment, but I had a crush on this project as soon as I read the breakdown. After I met the director and grokked what sort of story she wants to tell, I was hopelessly in love with the project. I really, really hope I get this job.

I've talked about how much I like going to Nick in the past, but I'll just do it again for those of you who didn't listen to RFB #4: Nickelodeon just feels good to me. It's not intimidating like Disney, it's not corporate like some other places, and I really feel like I'm walking right into a Nickelodeon cartoon. Some of my happiest childhood television memories are of Nickelodeon shows, like You Can't Do That on Television, Mr. Wizard, The Third Eye (SCARY!) and Danger Mouse, too, and I did lots of things with Nickelodeon when I was a teen idol, including getting slimed several times and hosting the Kid's Choice Awards, so I think that makes it easier for me to find a happy place when I audition for any Nickelodeon shows.

The other reason I always find a happy place at Nickelodeon is entirely due to the guard who works the parking garage gate there. I don't know his name[1], but he is one of the kindest, warmest, and friendliest guards people I've ever encountered. I realized today that he plays a very big part in why I love going to Nick so much, and why I always give good auditions there.

He is the first person I encounter when I pull up. He is a gentle, grandfatherly, white-haired man in his late 60s, and always seems to be smiling. He always makes me feel at ease, and gives me (and everyone else who comes in, I'm sure) the impression that he really wants me to book the job, like it matters to him, and he believes in me. I realized today that I've always picked up a bit of his kindness and warmth and carried it in with me. It's nice to be so utterly at ease when I walk into an audition, you know? It makes a big difference.

I probably shouldn't disclose too many details about the story that I auditioned for, but it is a wonderful, funny, charming animated short about a geek and a goth who are starcrossed lovers.

I'm sure you're all surprised to hear that I read for the geek. I used my sense memories to recall the Kyra crush and did my best to be the kind of guy who "you want to take his glasses off, and mess up his hair, because he's so cute and he doesn't know it," according to the director, who I really, really liked.

I honestly don't know if I'll get the job, because I'm worried about how deep and manly my awesome voice is. Even though I know I can get the teenage voice down to second nature wth enough practice, I have done this long enough to know that when someone else comes in and nails it, they always hire the "nailed it" guy over the "could nail it with enough practice" guy. That's just science, and you can't argue with science (unless you're one of those "global warming is a myth and evolution doesn't exist" moonbats, in which case arguing with science is sort of your whole reason for existing, right?)

Anyway, I had a blast reading for this project, and I was so excited when I left, I totally forgot to steal a camphone snap of the hawesome four foot tall SpongeBob made out of LEGO in the lobby. If I get the job, or the next time I'm at Nick, I'll grab a picture of it on my way in, because I'm usually skipping with nerdy excitment whenever I'm on my way out.

Whether I book this job or not, I'll be watching for it when it airs, and I'll be sure to post about it, because it's the type of show that I know WWdN readers will love.

[1] In comments, formerlyme says, "Hey Wil, I used to work at Nick. I know exactly who you're talking about. His name is Don, and he's the most awesome security guy ever."

Posted by Wil at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (35) | TrackBacks (2)

"You may have to metaphorically make a deal with the devil. And by 'devil', I mean Robot Devil, and by 'metaphorically', I mean get your coat."
  - Bender

Destroy All Humans! is one of my favorite games of 2005. My only complaint was that it was too short (you can rent it and finish the entire game in one weekend) but it sold very well, and I hoped that a sequel result. I hoped so much, I was willing to "get my coat."

Looks like my deal with the Robot Devil is about to pay off:

Destroy All Humans Sequel Coming in Fall
The sequel will be set in 1960s Europe, where Crypto will face off against ninjas, hippies, communists, and Godzilla-style mutant monsters.

read more | digg story

Posted by Wil at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

And now, an infrequent reminder that you can play poker with me tonight, and every Tuesday night, at PokerStars (or just download the client and watch us play, though I don't think you can chat with us unless you have at least $11 in your account.)

To sign up, go to Tourneys -> Private and look for WWdN:Change100 Invitational. I'm hoping for over 100 players this week, so the final two tables will pay out.

What: WWdN: Change100 Invitational
Where: PokerStars.
When: Tuesday, April 18. 8:30 EST
Password: monkey
Tournament number: 22928623
Buy-in: $10 +1

Additional details, and a whole bunch of WWdN tourney news is at CardSquad.

Posted by Wil at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

A week before I wrote about our plans to do the San Diego Rock-n-Roll marathon in June, I seriously tweaked my neck. I'd like to thank Hwy. 18 and all the snow that kept us on said highway for seven hours instead of an hour and a half like it should have been. I was with two girlfriends, both of whom were scared to death to be driving in the snow while I sat in the back seat, appearing calm, but leaning to the center of the seat to look out the front window of doom, all the while clenching my teeth. Thus, tweaked neck. [Note from Wil: The next time I beg Anne not to go up into the mountains during one of the worst storms in a decade, because "it's just a really bad idea," there's a 20% chance she'll listen to me.]

Before this weekend of white dusted hell, we were well into our training, and very excited to start our fundraising. As I sat writing about it (pumped full of every pain medication I could find and a heat pack around my neck,) I figured I would be up and running in no time and going full speed ahead with big plans of dashing through 26.2 miles with ease. Boy was I wrong!

My neck continued to get worse. All I could do was lay down. I missed almost three weeks of work, and I got so freaked out by the pain I made Wil take me to an orthopedist to get an MRI, because when one of your friends has cancer, suddenly every minor ache or pain you get could be cancer, too. He said it was just a really bad muscle spasm and had me start physical therapy immediately. I did this for a couple of weeks, and of course being the over-doing it person I am, I went back to work as soon as it felt better, only to tweak it more and end up in physical therapy again. [Note from Wil: The next time I say, "Hey, you really shouldn't push it, honey, and give yourself a little bit more time to heal," there is a 25% chance Anne will listen to me.]

Fast forward to five weeks later and it's back to the marathon training drawing board. Instead of looking at doing ten miles on the weekend, we're struggling to run two miles without stopping. How are we going to do the whole 26.2 miles when it's just six weeks away? Um, I'm thinking that's not a good idea. Let's be realistic.

I had dinner with Kris in between one of those "I'm feeling better" moments. The first thing she said was "How are you going to run that whole marathon?" Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. So I came up with a solution: a half marathon was definitely do-able. And making our fundraising goal a little more within reach would make us all not freak out about this whole thing. So that's what we're going to do. Our fundraising goal has been pulled back to $10,000, so we're already halfway there, and our distance goal has been cut in half, to a more realistic 13.1 miles.

As for Kris' progress, she's doing great! Her biopsy came back clean, and though it is six months to two years before she will know if the transplant was a success, she is at home and back on her feet. In fact, she recently went on a road trip with her son to look at colleges. It's so wonderful that not only is her dream of seeing her son graduate going to happen, but she will get to see him go to college next year.

Also, her husband is finally doing the addition they've talked about doing for the 15 years they've lived in their house, which is another thing to look forward to. And her huge family reunion she looks forward to every other year is in Lake Tahoe in June. She's so excited to see them. Her treatment was definitely worth going through again. And, honestly, it was worth it from my selfish point of view, too. I didn't want to lose my friend, so I'm so happy she fought back and won.

Although Wil and I had every intention of doing this full marathon again, sometimes things just happen. And in my 36 years here, I have learned that everything happens for a reason. Good or bad. But we just do the best we can. [Note from Wil: Life is what happens while you're making other plans, in other words.]

So if you would like to contribute to our fundraising efforts, you can do it here. Even if it's just five dollars, or whatever change you can collect from around your car or your couch it really matters; so many people read Wil's blog, tiny individual contributions rapidly turn into enormous and significant totals.

Note from Wil: I sincerely hope that our choice to switch to a half-marathon doesn't let down anyone who already sponsored us. We're doing the very best we can under some really stressful circumstances that I can't publicly talk about, and it looks like we're going to end up walking most of the (half)marathon in June. To me, it feels like a major defeat and I'm disappointed that we aren't going to be able to do the whole thing, but this isn't really about me and Anne; this is about Kris and her family and everyone who has somehow been affected by cancer. Thank you all so much for your support, whether it's sponsorship, kind comments, or just a positive thought while you're walking your dog.

The original "Comments from the Wife" posts are: 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0. You may also want to read the first Comments from the Wife: in Exile.

Posted by Wil at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)

There are a several benefits to being on Team PokerStars. The most obvious is that I get to work with a company that feels like a family, and I get to occasionally pose for Magnificent Seven-style photos with the likes of Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Isabelle Mercier.

The second most obvious is that I get to play in a few big tournaments each year, most notably the World Series of Poker and the World Championship of Online Poker, while flying the Team PokerStars flag.

The least obvious is that I get to play high-stakes heads-up (just two player) matches several times a year, against some of the best opponents in the world, in a weekly match that PokerStars calls the Tournament Leaderboard Winner Match.

Isabelle was supposed to play in the heads-up match this week, but was unavailable, so I got called off the bench to represent the team . . . and I totally won!

So this morning, before my PokerStars TLB Winner Heads-Up Match,  I went through my pre-tourney rituals (reviewing some well-worn notes from Absinthe, paging through Harrington, a little meditation, and a brisk walk around my yard to shake everything off and just focus on the game) and sat down hoping that I'd catch cards when I needed them, and make more good decisions than bad.

[. . .]

I got very lucky and caught some good hands right around the time my opponent (who played a very good, solid match) started to hit a place where a standard raise was about 20% of his stack, and I was able to apply pressure at some key points (I'm not good enough to explain what those points are, I just sort of know when they come up, I guess)  so I was able to start raising with K-rag, J-rag, and the one little pair I caught, knowing that he would only play back with a real hand. That let me steal some blinds and keep his M low enough to set him up for playing at me with a weak hand, I hoped.

I really like heads-up play, and I'm beginning to think that I don't completely suck at it. I'm 1-1 when I'm scheduled for myself, and 2-0 when I'm filling in for someone else (I filled in for 2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem a couple of weeks ago and won that match.) I also play these 4-player, two round heads-up tournaments at PokerStars pretty frequently, and I'm a lifetime winner there, as well. (Those are great; you risk one buy-in to win three if you beat two opponents.)

Okay, I'm totally starting to speak in poker code, so if I haven't lost you entirely, you can read the full story at Cardsquad.

Technorati Tags: poker, pokerstars

Posted by Wil at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (27) | TrackBacks (2)

"What do you want to do with your life?!"

"I wanna rock."

Well, shit. I've gone and found another game that not only do I totally love, but gives me something else in common with one of my kids. Productivity is down 75,000 percent as a result.

Guitar Hero is the most fun I've ever had with a pretend guitar, and let me tell you something: I've spent a lot of time playing with pretend guitars, long before Journey make air instruments popular in the video for Separate Ways.

I saw it at IGN Live last year, and thought it was really fun, but I didn't know if I really wanted to invest 65 or 70 bucks into the game, but when Ryan started talking about how he wanted it, too, we decided to split the cost so neither one of us would feel shafted if it wasn't as fun as we hoped. Two weeks or so ago, we picked it up, and we haven't stopped rocking.

The game is outrageously fun: you have a mini guitar controller (which you can outfit with stickers, including a totally rockin' skull and some ass-kicking lightning bolts) that plugs into your PS2. There are five color-coded buttons on the fretboard, and a flippy lever thing on the body. You play along with the songs, DDR-style, by pushing the correct button (or combination of buttons) as the stream down the screen at you, while you strum along on the flippy lever thing. You get points and bonuses, including the totally rockin' star power bonus, the more accurately you play.

You choose a character, and begin rocking out in some guy's basement with songs like "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "I Love Rock & Roll," and work your way up to songs like "Bark at the Moon" in a stadium. Along the way, you can buy new guitars, new designs for your guitars, and unlockable characters. The only complaint I have is that you can't buy hookers, blow, or tools to bury them when you're done with them. But thankfully, I'll always have GTA to fill that need.

There are different levels, and Ryan is much better than I am, completing all of Medium and the first level of Hard, while I'm still struggling to get past the second level of Medium. I've noticed that on the songs I know how to play in real life, I screw up the most, because my fingers get all excited and think I'm playing my bass for real (especially on Ziggy Stardust and Iron Man.)

Last night, Ryan and I were playing together (taking turns; we haven't picked up a second guitar for what I understand is the greatest two-player game in the world), and we decided to take the game to a whole new level: in addition to the bonus points the game delivered, we gave each other style points based on how hard we rocked out (Chuck Berry-esque leg kicking and throwing the goat during extended wahh-wahh notes were both good moves.) We were both rocking pretty furiously and I took a huge lead, until Ryan went into his room, and came out a few minutes later with a necktie around his forehead, sunglasses, and a Hawaiian shirt open to the waist. He threw the goat and said, "I am ready to rock."

I immediately had to award him umptybillion points for that move, and Ryan took a nearly insurmountable lead. I tried to come back with some exrta rock of my own, but the best I could muster was, "Hey, get these bitches off the stage, man," when Ferris and Riley decided that our jumping and wailing was an invitation for them to come into the living room and play with us. I took away umptybillion points of my own, giving Ryan a two umptybillion point lead, which is just short of one brazillion.

Right around the time we were about to finish rocking, Nolan wanted to give it a try, so we set him up, and told him that he could finish the gig (did I mention how much more fun this game is when you play with people who aren't afraid to be total dorks about it, and talk in a bad english accent and yell at the "audience" who are deep inside the TV?)

Nolan has only played once or twice, but he decided that he could jump right in on Medium (bad idea) and he picked Thunder Kiss 65 (worse idea - that's a tough song to effectively learn on.)

He did pretty well, all things considered, until about halfway through the song. He missed some notes, and started to get frustrated. Ryan did the coolest thing, though: he said, very calmly, "Hey, Nolan, you've totally got this. Just relax and you'll do great."

Nolan relaxed, and finished the song for a 3 star rating and 80% notes hit. That's not bad for your third time playing, especially following in the shadow of your big brother who kicks ass at the game, and your stepfather who took the rocking out a little too seriously.

Last week, I said that I wanted to raise kids who are people I am "proud of, and I'd like to spend time with, even if we weren't family: honest, honorable, generous, compassionate, and responsible."

It would have been very easy for Ryan to be a dick to Nolan about it, or to tease him, or not say anything encouraging at all, but he chose to be kind and compassionate. He saw his younger brother struggling, and chose to help him through it.

Of all the rocking we did last night, that rocked the most.

Posted by Wil at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (60) | TrackBacks (2)

My friend Sean Bonner is a self-described "casual player" in World of Warcraft. Sean is also the co-creator of Metroblogging.com, so he recently added Metroblogging: Azeroth to the list of Metroblogging cities.

Yeah, "casual," not "totally into it." I totally believe you, Sean.

I don't play WoW (for reasons which will become apparent in a moment) but six million people do, and a Metroblog for a virtual city is just too geeky to ignore, so I interviewed Sean for SGNews Geekwire this morning:

W - Unlike something that would make a great April Fool's gag, like Metroblogging: The Island from Lost, this could actually take off, because to many people, Azeroth is a real place. When you did it, did you think at all that it would have a life longer than the typical "I kiss you" meme?

S - Oh totally, we didn't do this as a prank, and that's exactly why we didn't do it on April Fools. It's something we've been thinking about for several months now at least and finally had enough people who wanted to give it a shot. So we put it together in all seriousness, just like one of our other cities, to see what happens.

[. . .]

W - How much time do you spend playing?

S - More than I want to admit?

W - Hah. That's a great answer.

S - That's actually a kind of deceptive question, but you wouldn't know it if you don't play.

W - Oh, perfect. Another Geek meme I'm not in on.

S - Dude, seriously, it's nuts, you should check it out.

W - No way. I lost a year of my life to a MUD, and that was free and just text over telnet. I'm going to have to go to a meeting now, just because you brought it up.

Technorati Tags: WoW, Warcraft, metroblogging

Posted by Wil at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (1)

Well, I turned in Games of Our Lives, and I get to walk away from the computer and do some marathon training, but before I go, I thought I'd point out some of the stories I've worked on recently at CardSquad and SGNews:

At SGNews, (which is safe for work):

• I edited a story that Seanbaby wrote about Lara Croft entering the Guinness Book of World Records. Seanbaby is hellafunny, and his story cracked me up.

• I also wrote two stories of my own, about a disposable MP3 player that just costs nine bucks, and a story about Apple offering (or not offering) adult movies in the iTunes Music Store.

• There's also a story I wrote last week about this guy who modded a 1988 Ford Escort into a street legal Landspeeder. For reals. It's a story that I'm particularly proud of, because I got to work in a ton of geek jokes.

At CardSquad:

• I opine that the F-Bomb Rule has got to go.

• Also, Bodog was sued over their reality show, which is quite a lucky bit of free publicity for them, just a few days before the show is set to air.

In poker-related news, this Sunday I'm filling in for Isabelle Mercier in the Tournament Leaderboard Heads-Up match at PokerStars. Two weeks ago, I filled in for Joe Hachem and won, bringing my record in those matches to 3 and 1. I'm hoping to make it 4 and 1 this week. Even if you don't have a PokerStars account, you can download the client for free and watch me play, if you'd like. I'll put up all the details on that later this week.

Okay, I'm off to run, then walk, then run a little bit more, then curse about how much my side hurts, then run again. Anne will have a post about the marathon in the next day or so, maybe even tonight if I can bug her enough to write it.

. . . one last thought, because I think it's important to mark moments like this: I have a really great life, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I can head out at 1:10 in the afternoon on a Wednesday, after writing stuff that I'm proud of and enjoyed working on all morning, to train for a marathon that I'm running in to raise money for cancer research in June. Later today, I'll get to play Risk with Ryan and Nolan, then watch Lost tonight after having BBQ for dinner with my family. And I know that, if my dog could talk, she'd say, "I love you, Wil, so I'm going to keep hitting you with my paw until you get up, take me outside, and throw the ball."

Okay, maybe it's more about the ball than it is about me, but I'm still one of the luckiest guys in the world.

Posted by Wil at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

When I work on Games of our Lives, I usually listen to Fred on 44 or Ethel on 47. I used to listen to Lucy on 54, but it's recently become totally unlistenable, thanks to the addition of Sheryl Crow (on the "alternative" station?), and the heavy rotation of Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers, making my satellite radio just as annoying as my regular radio. Way to go, XM.

Today, however, I'm listening to some fantastic radio from the internets that I thought I'd share with the five of you who don't know about it already: SomaFM, from San Francisco, specifically the Secret Agent station.

I used to listen to Soma quite often in the pre-Mac days, when I'd stream music over shoutcast on my Linux machine, but I usually listened to Groove Salad. I forgot about it until I found the Secret Agent station sort of by accident last night, and I've been listening to it pretty much nonstop since I got up this morning. So check it out, if you want to hear something you probably haven't heard before, or are in the mood for something totally different.

And while I'm off to work on next week's Games of our Lives, I encourage you to take a look at this week's installment, Bermuda Triangle, which has some cool (in my opinion, anyway) Easter Egg-ish obscure references for your "hey! I got that!" pleasure. While you're there, you may want to take a look at Guzzler, which I also think is pretty funny.

Posted by Wil at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (26) | TrackBacks (1)

I just realized that, last night, I front-paged a really huge Lost spoiler. I forgot that lots of non-US viewers read my blog, and I wanted to apologize for that. That sucked, and I'm sorry.

I've spent the last 10 days catching up on the entire series, first on DVD and then through iTMS. I have never been so enthralled with a series in my life, not even when I first watched The Prisoner in my teens.

I think it's so cool that there are things like iTMS (and, uh, other ways which I don't personally use) to experience an entire series like this. By making their shows easy for me to watch, the producers of Lost have earned a huge fanboy who will now buy merchandise and listen to their podcast, and evangelize on his lame blog about how great their show is.

If you like any of the things that I like, and you're not watching Lost, you absolutely must. Right now. When you think you're going to watch American Idol, or Bones, or Medium, or re-runs of that awesome space show with the kid in the sassy grey spacesuit, or anything else at all on television, don't. Just get yourself the first season on DVD, and spend your allocated television time watching Lost instead. Then find some way to watch the second season (iTMS worked great for me) and keep going. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. It is quite possibly the best drama in the history of network television, ever, and I don't say that lightly.

Posted by Wil at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (57)

Remember that one time in Encounter At Farpoint when Counselor Troi wailed out, "Pain! Pain!"

Remember when Mr. Spock was all, "Pain! Pain!" which was totally not Vulcan-like?

Remember when [Lost spoiler redacted]?

Remember that time your company had a Christmas party, and instead of a band, they got an Agony Booth?

Yeah, that's me right now. Yesterday, I was smashing some trash down in the trashcan beneath the sink, and I learned that a dogfood can lid on its side is an incredibly efective cutting tool, especially against the top of my thumb, just across the knuckle.

If you ever want to see what the inside of your thumb looks like, or you want to bleed twenty-three gallons of blood all over your house on your way from the kitchen to the bathroom (because, having seen the inside of your thumb, you're kind of in shock and don't stop to think, "Hey, there's a sink right here, dummy, don't go all the way across the house to the bathroom!") or you'd just like to watch your normal typing rate drop by 90%, this is a great way to do that.

Oh, and as an added bonus? You get to wake up about every 90 minutes all night long, because your thumb is throbbing, itching, or both. And if you play your cards right, you'll get to have a tetanus shot, too.

Yeah. Goodtimes. Good. Times.

Hopefully, I'll be back to normal by Thursday, but until then, probably not so much new spiffy stuff here or elsewhere, because typing is a real bitch right now.

Afterthought: a bunch of people have asked why I didn't have the deadly lid and the can in the recycling, where it belongs. That's a good question; unfortunately, the answer is: I just didn't walk the lid out there, and the can was being used to hold bacon grease (gross.) If it makes a difference, I've had PTSD every time I've gone anywhere near the sink in the last 24 hours. And I'm on my way to the hospital to get a tetanus shot tonight, instead of waiting for my regular doctor tomorrow afternoon.

11 PM - Aaaaannnnd I'm back. I went to urgent care at 8, because "that would be faster than the ER," logic which apparently comes from the run-across-the-house-while-bleeding portion of the brains.

Okay, it actually was a lot faster than the ER, and I had no business being in the ER with my gaping and life-threatening little wussy cut anyway . . . but let's be honest with each other: didn't "that would be faster than the ER," logic which apparently comes from the run-across-the-house-while-bleeding portion of the brains make you giggle a little bit? I'm glad, because nothing makes a joke funnier than pointing it out, and going on and on about it.

The attending was impressed with my butterfly sutures and my splinting, didn't laugh at my totally awesome pirate bandage, and gave me a tetanus booster before sending me on my way with no need for making-Wil-faint stitches. I was going to ask for a "be nice to be cuz I've been shot" sticker, with the teddy bear and the hearts and bows, but I figured that being able to take a rusty nail without fear until I'm forty-three years-old was good enough.

Posted by Wil at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (77) | TrackBacks (2)

How about if I wait six weeks to call. I could tell her I found her number while I was cleaning out my wallet, I can't remember where we met. I'll ask her what she looks like and then I'll ask her if we fucked. How about that? Would that be money?
    -Mike, Swingers

There aren't any real developments on the Sci-Fi hosting front, and I only have one really great Fark Cliche left, which is why I haven't written about it recently. Like I said before, I have to just let go of these things after a certain point, accept that it's entirely out of my hands, and keep moving forward with everything else in my life.

But so many people sent me supportive e-mails and left supportive comments, I didn't want to leave you all hanging with nothing, so here's what I know: we followed up last week, and found out, for certain, that the people responsible for the show really liked what I did. As far as I know, I'm at the top of their list for the job. But we haven't heard anything from the network people, who are ultimately responsible for making all the decisions.

And that's where we've been, sort of floating in the doldrums on the Sea of Waiting. As far as I know, the show is still going to happen. As far as I know, when it does, I'm one of the first guys they are going to talk to about hosting it. And as soon as we open the box, I'll let you know if the cat is dead or alive.

Until I know something new, let's all ponder the meaning of life with these owls:

Posted by Wil at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (41)

Remember yesterday, when I wrote that the PS3 was getting stupid expensive?

Sony says the leaked price was incorrect, but after reading their statement,  think it sort of depends on what your definition really stupid expensive is.

(link goes to my article at SGNews, which is SFW.)

Posted by Wil at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

The Trinity Test Site , where Robert Oppenheimer famously became "Death, destroyer of worlds" is open to the public only twice a year, so it's pretty tough to get a first-hand look at this rather important historical location.

Enter Joshua Ellis, an independent journalist who went to Trinity this year to compile a story on the site, the people, and its history. Josh's trip was funded by small donations from various people, and he promised to publish an in-depth story with a ton of pictures, and video if he was able.

Josh's story Dark Miracle is live today, and boy is it amazing:

When I told my friends where I was going, a few of them blinked at me. "Be careful," they said. "That's, like, The Hills Have Eyes territory." I promised to pack at least a machete, somewhere in the car.

[. . .]

Many of the houses date from the original Manhattan Project -- prefab duplexes and quad-plexes that have been extensively retrofitted by various owners over the years. It is easy, looking at some of these houses, to imagine physicists such as Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe or Edward Teller or Leo Szilard sitting on their porches, discussing different approaches to building the Gadget, as they called it.

It is an odd little place -- beautiful, to be sure, but it seems devoid of the sort of small-town closeness that other small American cities like it possess, where everybody knows everybody else. There seem to be a lot of strangers living next to one another in Los Alamos.

It is part history lesson and part travelogue; Josh paints vivid pictures that put the reader right next to him on every step of the journey, whether it's talking to Ed Grothus, the excentric owner of the Black Hole Museum of Nuclear Waste, driving up to the test site, or looking at what's left of ground zero. There are pictures and video, as well as entries in his blog that give additional details and perspective to his story. It is really a remarkable project.

As a reader, I count myself lucky that I got to read this piece; as a writer, I am absolutely thrilled at the idea of freelancing stories that are funded through small contributions from many different people. Josh brilliantly released his story under a creative commons license, so more people can see the benefits of distributed journalism.

(via boingboing)

Posted by Wil at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I swear to jeebus, it's a good thing so many geeks still live with their parents, and the rest of them made brazillians in the dot com boom, because these game systems are getting stupid expensive.

Posted by Wil at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

The kids are on Spring Break this week. Anne and Ryan are up in HellaNorCal, checking out colleges, and Nolan and I are hanging out with the dogs until they get back.

It's been a really fun week so far: lots of Magic: The Gathering, Brawl tournaments, The Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles on TV, and walks with the dogs around the neighborhood when it isn't raining.

I've also introduced him to Lost, and I have the feeling that he'll run through Season One on DVD in five days, just like I did. Hopefully, he won't become as hopelessly just-jam-it-into-my-veins addicted to the show as I am (I'm only up to Episode 4 of Season Two, so if you're going to comment, please don't post any spoilers, okay? I reserve a special type of wrath for that sort of thing) but I managed to hook him on Battlestar Galactica this way, and I apologize for nothing. Nothing!!1one!

Sorry. I got a little carried away there.

So.

I've always felt that, as a parent, my job (and greatest hope) is to help my kids grow into the kind of adult that I'd be proud of, and I'd like to spend time with, even if we weren't family: honest, honorable, generous, compassionate, and responsible. Sometimes, as part of the whole Pod People experience, I feel like those efforts are failing. Add the bonus of the really great and neverending loyalty conflict game (that I refuse to play, but have to deal with, anyway,) and it's easy to wonder if any of the work will ever pay off. It's been easy to lose hope.

But over the last couple of months, I've come to believe that the Pods were actually Chrysalises, because it feels like both Ryan and Nolan have emerged as young adults whose company I really enjoy (and I believe the feeling is mutual.) The moments of irrationality are still there, and I'm sure that I am still so lame from time to time, but I have lots and lots of hope.

If you're a parent dealing with a Pod Person, don't give up. One day, you may wake to discover that your Pod Person has vanished as quickly as it arrived, leaving behind an honest, honorable, generous, compassionate, and responsible young adult.


Technorati Tags: parenting

Posted by Wil at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (1)

I ended up watching a few minutes of VH1 Classic before I fell asleep last night, and, uh, i kind of watched this crazy old video of Kenny Loggins.

It was totally rad, with the whites blowing out and the occasional old VHS noise, and the slightly greenish skin tones. He was playing an outdoor concert which was just filled with girls in tube tops and guys with horrible Kenny Loggins-esque beards, and the whole thing looked pretty stinky and coked-out. If that wasn't enough evidence that it was the early 80s, he was playing I'm Alright, from Caddyshack, which is one of my guilty pleasure tunes (I didn't realize until last night that it contains the lyric "No, no, cannonball it right away.")

So far, we're okay, but you may want to prepare to throw up in your mouth a little bit:  he was wearing white ankle-high boots, a huge, puffy red jumpsuit with a novelty-sized belt around his waist, the obligatory rock-n-roll mullet, and seriously rocking out with his bad self while strumming an acoustic guitar.

Maybe I'm uptight, maybe I just don't understand the rock like I think I do, but when he ran around the stage during a guitar solo (which he wasn't playing; he had his 12-string a-strummin') and jumped up on a raised platform so he could kick an amp off the stage, I didn't think, "Oh man, that guy is a hardcore rockstar!" as much as I thought, "Uh, what the hell was that all about?"

I changed the channel when the Top Gun song started. There was no way I could endure shots of L. Ron Cruise after that.

Posted by Wil at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (38)

Shane posted this picture of a mystery hotel in his blog over the weekend, and I suggested to him that it would be cool to have writers post short stories that it inspires.

I'll be honest: I'm terrified right now, before I hit publish and send this out into the wild. I'm not the best in the world at brevity, and whenever I attempt fiction, I feel incredibly self conscious.

I also made the mistake of reading Otis' story after I wrote mine, and I feel (like I often do when I read Otis' writing) like a kid who belongs at the card table, pretending to sit down in the dining room with the adults.

So now that I've managed to lower your expectations to UPN-like standards, please enjoy. . .

Room 302
by Wil

Farnsworth frowned as he shuffled the photos. He dropped them on his desk and looked over the top of his reading glasses.

"I can't use any of these, son. I can hardly see the men, and there's too much whitespace in here." He picked up one photo and pointed at the tin ceiling. Martin recalled how brightly it had reflected the flash, and how the younger man had flinched in the light. 

"Mr. Farnsworth --"

"Look, you're a good kid, and even if your photos aren't always front page material, you rarely let me down."

"Thank you, sir."

"I know that you have a baby on the way, but I can't pay you for photos that I can't use." He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands across his chest. "Hotels don't stay in one family and celebrate their hundredth anniversary every day, though, so it's news that I need to run. So why don't you go back to the hotel, get a closer shot of the Ellisons, and I'll pay you double for it." Farnsworth smiled, and put the photos into an envelope.

"I'll see what I can do, sir. Thank you." Martin took the envelope and traded the quiet of Farnsworth's office for the chaos of the newsroom.

Martin needed the money, and it was important to keep a man like Richard Farnsworth happy. Evelyn was due in two months, and these freelance newspaper jobs were all he had.

But he wasn't going back into the Ellison, today or ever. There was something very, very wrong there, and Martin felt it in his soul when he walked up the stairs into the second floor lobby. Those men were terrified, and Martin wanted to get out of there before he found out why.

He took the number five bus home, and left the envelope on the seat when he got off. The sooner he could get way from it, the sooner he could begin the long process of wiping that feeling from his memory. He hugged his wife tightly when he walked into their apartment and felt his unborn son stir between them.

Back at the Ellison Hotel, the tenant in 302 woke and rang the front desk. Father and son looked at each other.

It was time to eat.

Posted by Wil at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (77) | TrackBacks (6)