Wil Wheaton: still alive, still writing

[Darren Dirt]

...and still using extremely long titles in his blog


http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/08/when-we-filmed-stand-by-me-none-of-us-knew-it-was-going-to-be-the-huge-success-that-it-was-none-of-us-expected-it-to-be-par.html

I forget what day this picture was taken, but it was 1986, right after Stand By Me had been released. There we are, sitting on chairs in the green room, waiting to go be interviewed by (I think) Ron Reagan, Jr. It was my first trip to New York, and I remember how excited I was to go to that huge, almost mythical city, see Times Square, ride the subway, visit the Statue of Liberty, and hang out with Jerry in his home town.





This photo captures our personalities perfectly: River and Corey are focused and serious (Corey is even wearing a tie and drinking coffee!) I am listening to the same person they are, but I'm not even trying to contain how excited I am to be going on a television show that I had been watching with my Aunt Val since I could remember, in front of the whole country, no less.

My favorite part of this picture, though, is Jerry. It's almost like he caught my mom or dad taking this picture of us, and decided to strike a pose, just to be silly. I just love that he isn't taking the thing too seriously, and that he's just having fun and enjoying the whole thing. As I got older and began to feel like the teen magazine publicity stuff was taking over my life, it stopped being fun, and it started to feel like a chore. I always envied that Jerry seemed to take it all in stride, keep it in perspective, and just have fun with it. I heard him on the Adam Carolla podcast about a week or so ago, and he hadn't changed a bit: still silly, still cracking me up, still keeping everything in perspective.

I think it's interesting how somebody who for a short time veered into the "Teen Beat" scene, has so much "Geek Cred" after all these years, but still seems to have the ability to write about "celeb" stuff without sounding like he's bragging or missing that old life. Plus this is also interesting:

I've always said that Stand By Me was so successful because Rob cast four young actors who were so much like their characters, but I think it's spooky how the four of us ended up being so much like our characters: River died too young, Corey struggled like crazy to get his personal demons under control, Jerry found success and happiness, and I'm a writer.

Makes me think about photos of me and friends/family from when I was a young 'un, wondering what an observer at that time had thought about, in prediction of what kind of tracks me and the others would take on this train called life. What Wil said about Jerry O'Connell is funny, cuz each of has people in our past and present that fall on either side of the "hasn't changed a bit since way back then/is a completely different person" fence.

[Lazybones]

If you ever talked to him in person, you would know he was one of us.. years ago I met him in person in Edmonton. He was thankful to talk to someone about computers and anything NOT related to Star Trek.

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, I remember you said you discussed NICs or something, it's funny how someone of "our" generation can have appeal on so many different areas of society (geeks, Trekkies, writers) without it inflating an ego (you can tell by his choice of words, still very down to Earth after all these years of blogging and authoring).

My best "brush with celebrity" was Bill "cane tap" Matheson many years ago... he bought tons of toys and stuff for his grandkids just before Christmas, but wow he looked at -bleep- without makeup o_o



PS: the main reason I posted this, was the blog with the photo, and what Wil said about it... got me thinking, too, about how like 3 decades have passed since I was starting to become my own individual personality and whatnot, and how much things in my world and my own head are completely different, and yet in other ways are really the SSDD. Overly reflective as I am closer to 40 than 30, gets me thinking sometimes...

[Lazybones]

Well looking back at photos, and I have some of me with Wil and his Mom. However I have a hard time looking at my self due to the style of my glasses. My bro was there as well.

[HandsomeDevil]

Anyone heard him on the DnD podcast with Penny Arcade's Gabe and Tycho and Scott Kurtz from PvP? Funny stuff. Brings me back to my "mispent" youth rolling 20s in my friend's basement on a hot, sunny day.

I used to really enjoy the weekly poker tournament Wil used to host on Pokerstars.

Table top gaming, poker, computers, sci-fi. Wil is trully a Renaissance Geek!

[Lazybones]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guild#Axis_of_Anarchy

He is currently playing a villain in the web series "The Guild" http://www.watchtheguild.com/

[Darren Dirt]

He is currently playing a villain in the web series "The Guild" http://www.watchtheguild.com/

And his 2 appearances in "The Big Bang Theory" (as himself, a more evil version) were quite funny.



Just found this today: he went all "MST3K" a few years back, reviewing the most "intriguing" (i.e. LAME) of the ST:TNG episodes... good writing, funny and yet informative (and accurate in its lambasting!), circa 2006:
http://www.tvsquad.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton

[raeofsunshine]

He is currently playing a villain in the web series "The Guild" http://www.watchtheguild.com/

And his 2 appearances in "The Big Bang Theory" (as himself, a more evil version) were quite funny.

i am pretty sure it has been at least three

[Darren Dirt]

He is currently playing a villain in the web series "The Guild" http://www.watchtheguild.com/

And his 2 appearances in "The Big Bang Theory" (as himself, a more evil version) were quite funny.

i am pretty sure it has been at least three

Not yet -- the bowling was only the 2nd appearance afaik (according to IMDB, and also based on my recent perusing of Wil's blog lately, that's all for now, but from the comments from fans I think there's interest in a recurring-nemesis role for him if he's Willing.)

[Darren Dirt]

The damage is done and it's irreparable; we've made our first impression on an already skeptical audience (who, don't forget, have had to endure some truly atrocious episodes) and we can't ever take it back. After watching this episode, I finally understand -- no, I grok -- exactly why so many people hated Wesley so much. Hell, I played him for seven years and probably have more invested in him than anyone else in the world, and even I hated him after this.

- http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/02/12/star-trek-the-next-generation-the-battle/

Just read this one, hilarious, but also rather moving -- well worth reading THIS episode review if not all of his others.

[raeofsunshine]

He is currently playing a villain in the web series "The Guild" http://www.watchtheguild.com/

And his 2 appearances in "The Big Bang Theory" (as himself, a more evil version) were quite funny.

i am pretty sure it has been at least three

Not yet -- the bowling was only the 2nd appearance afaik (according to IMDB, and also based on my recent perusing of Wil's blog lately, that's all for now, but from the comments from fans I think there's interest in a recurring-nemesis role for him if he's Willing.)

ya i looked it up after i posted. must have been that he constantly refers to him since the first encounter that made me think it was more.

[Darren Dirt]

he constantly refers to him since the first encounter that made me think it was more.

ah -- well that's to be expected since he's one of these, clearly... and justifiably so, TBBT is still a great show (anyone else see the "When Leonard Met Sheldon" episode? Brilliant.)

[Thorin]

I saw that episode last week, and just last night started watching season 1 with the wife.  In the first episode they refer to Joyce Kim and her defecting to North Korea.  In "The Staircase Implementation" (when Leonard met Sheldon), Joyce Kim didn't "defect" - she was a North Korean spy.  I'm surprised they didn't match that up better.

[Darren Dirt]

I saw that episode last week, and just last night started watching season 1 with the wife.  In the first episode they refer to Joyce Kim and her defecting to North Korea.  In "The Staircase Implementation" (when Leonard met Sheldon), Joyce Kim didn't "defect" - she was a North Korean spy.  I'm surprised they didn't match that up better.

I think the fact is someone who TURNS OUT to be a NK spy would use a "cover story" of "defecting" as the reason they would give their mark for never seeing them again, so the p-whipped Leonard learns after the fact WHY she really left...

but enough IMDBing (i.e. discussing/debating the intricacies of sitcom continuity )