First, the bad news: I chipped the evrlivingfuck out of my tooth a few nights ago. How did I do it, you ask? Something cool, like a bar fight, or a hockey fight, or jumping in front of a runaway shopping cart to save a GT40 from getting a dent?
Oh no. No, my friends, it’s much better than that. I chipped my front tooth so badly I don’t even want to open my mouth, by . . . . eating pizza. Pear and Gorgonzola pizza from Trader Joe’s, to be exact. (Which is frakin’ good pizza, man.) My jaw is all screwed up, and I’ve needed braces to fix my bite for years, but I always felt it was vain to worry about having perfectly straight teeth . . . and as a result, I’ve gotten this really nasty underbite. So I hit my bottom teeth on my top front teeth all the time, and it has resulted in three bondings in less than a year. I get to go back today to get yet another bonding, and this afternoon I’m meeting with the orthodontist so I can finally get the process of fixing my screwed up teeth started.
Now the good news: I got the unbound galleys of Just A Geek yesterday! It looks like a real book. Oh my god. I also got to see the cover art, which is amazing. I’m so excited! I have until the 24th to give them my edits and corrections, and then I won’t see it again until it’s printed and bound. I don’t have a street date, yet, but I think it will be June or July.
And holy crap, when you find out who is writing the foreword, you will shit. It’s just about the coolest thing ever.
I’ve also been talking with O’Reilly about a book tour, and right now it looks like we’re going to do something up the West Coast — probably San Diego to Seattle — in August. I don’t know if they’ll send me out to the rest of the country, but I’m sure if there’s enough interest, we can put something together. *wink*
Voice Over Excitement: Yesterday, I had the coolest VO audition of my life . . . for Family Guy! They are looking for “utility players,” and I got to go read about 12 different characters for them. If I book it, it will be a bigger deal to me than when I booked Next Generation. I did a pretty good job, I think. I didn’t “hear myself” in several of the characters I did, and I think my obsessive watching of the show on Adult Swim and on DVD helped me out, because I know what types of characters they have — I was able to go “bigger” than I normally would if I didn’t know the show so well.
Today, I have a major callback for this animation project over at Disney. I read three characters for this show about two weeks ago, and I felt like I completely blew it with one, barely made it with another, but totally nailed it with the last one — and they’ve bringing me back for the last one (a character whom I love, by the way) today!
Other stuff: A few weeks ago, I did an epic, three-hour long interview with Sequential Tart, the first part of which is up now. I read it last night, and discovered that I am a fucking LONG WINDED guy. I need to learn how to just get to the point and shut up.
There are two good reviews of Dancing Barefoot, too. This one is from MacCompanion, and This one is from The Southend, at Wayne University.
Okay, that’s it from me for today. I have to go work on Geek now. Anne’s got an update about Kris that she’s working on in the other room. It should be in a little bit.
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Bookstore Roundup
From reading Neil Gaiman’s site, I think the way this works is the book stores have to ask the publisher to put up the money to have the author fly to their location. So in my case, to get Wil to the upper mid-west, a big well-known book store in Chicago or Minneapolis/St. Paul would have to make a big deal to the publisher to ask to be a location on the tour. For that to happen, people will need to appeal to the big independed book stores, or sci-fi specialty book stores in their area and ask them to tell the publisher “We want Wil!”.
Don’t feel too bad about the tooth chipping incident Wil. I chipped the tip off my left incisor eating steak after catching it on another tooth! The good news about that is that it’s been easier to chew food since loosing that tiny bit, and I won’t ever need braces because my overbite is so enormously HUGE that my my upper and lower front teeth never touch each other.
It’s a stange feeling when your teeth are so messed up that any work on them would be self defeating…
If you do a book tour you better hit up Sunny AZ! =)
yikes…braces. (sigh) I’m probably getting that this summer too…(shudders)
OH! If you’re booksigning, PLEASE come to San Francisco! PLEASE!! Might as well! 😀
W00t Seattle! Corey has a good point, you should see if you can swing it to be in town when PAX is happening. Hell, you should see if you can swing it to be AT PAX. Whereever you end up being, I will definitely be in the haus to get my copy of JAG signed!
Freakin’ sweeet! Giggity giggity giggity, oh yeah! *ahem!* Family Guy – as far as I’m concerned, that’s hitting the big time, Wil. I’m already a huge fan of the show, and if you get to do vocals on that… well, let’s just say that because of your guest appearances, I’ve become a Teen Titans fan.
On the book tour… It would totally rock if you could make it up to Montana (preferrably the Missoula area) We get next to nothing for book signings up here, and it would be cool if we could just once get someone we’ve actually heard of. Food for thought, anyway. Congrats on all the good news, bummer about the tooth. Stay groovy,
-Gavin
Wil,
NO, NO, NO, New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans.
Think N.O.–New Orleans. *wink* *wink* *wink*.
You could fill the Superdome, the French Quarter.
Come during Mardi Gras–Feb. 8.
Freeman 🙂
>Ok, who’s going to put up a site with a betting >pool as to who the writer of his foreward is?
>My guesses:
>Neil Gaiman
>Patrick Stewart
>Ralph Nader
>Stan Lee
>Stephen King
>Brent Spiner (that’s probably too obvious)
>Steve Jackson
I’m putting my money on WilliamFuckingShatner.
In reference to Mr. Bob’s guess as to who will foreword your book: Brother Wil, you could write The Great Gatsby, follow it up with Moby Dick, take a hiatus then hit us with The Stand while tossing off the complete works of Ernest Hemingway in your spare time- at the release of your 50th best seller, someone will be asking if Frakes wrote the intro. (I’m not trying to tease you, Mr. Bob, I know you were kidding- it just struck me as funny.)
Almost forgot- my cat has delegated it to me to send along best wishes to yours, Wil.
Wil, you TOTALLY have to come to Atlanta & sign my copy of Just A Geek when it comes out. You just HAVE to. If you don’t I will hate you forever. OK, so we both know that isn’t true. But, you have to & that is that.
Dood you gotta post a pic of that chipped tooth. If you want to make a trip to Loma Linda I can fix that for $free.99
(I am always so late getting my comments in on this =/) But WOW Family Guy!!! Thats so freaking unbelievably amazing!! Hope you get a part. That would be way freaking cool! Im so glad to hear it! Good luck with that. It must be wonderful to see a book in print form, just before publishing, and knowing that its your book. I recenttly started my own, but I am having the biggest problems getting around the massive potholes, thanks to my father not getting his arse in gear. You would think that after not seeing me for 10 years that he would be in a bigger hurry to write me a letter, just to tell me a little something I requested about a part of his life, so I can write my book. *Rolls eyes.* I am hoping that I dont decide it was a dumb idea, and instead get to see my book in print also. Good Luck and I know that I will have the money for both of your books by the time JAG hits the stands.
*Mojo mojo mojo for you and the fam and aminals.*
~*~Lotus~*~
Hope you get the gig on Family Guy.
I spoke with Seth McFarlaine at the LA Comic Con a few months back about a gig on Family Guy, too. Had also discussed a cartoon series based on the costume characters who work outside the Chinese Theatre.
I share your pain about the underbite. I have one, too. Makes my side profile look weird, somewhat like Beavis, but not as exaggerated. But, I can’t afford any dental restructuring.
Hope all goes well, and good luck with the charity walk, down in San Diego. Hopefully see you down at the Comic Con down there, too.
Come now, we are missing the point. Wil could work on reviving MST3K. We need new movies to do, which is simply an legal issue, a some scripts.
I work as a facilitator.. I can get those films there…. all you lads have to do it funny them up. I think Weaton between the two robots would be fantastically funny.
After all, if not us (I am a mega fan and have accused of being witty) and a star power front man with whomever would be willing to stay on…
I’ll be part of the long hours writing.
If you get the gig on Family Guy, I promise I will never refer to you as “Wesley” again for as long as I live.
Hey Will, you gotta come to Marin/Sonoma Co on your book tour, I will be the oldest geek in line I bet ! You’ll know me by the WWdN t.shirt
Only one Jane White mention? C’mon people. It’s the first thing that popped into my head.
Wil, couldn’t braces hurt the VO career? you wouldn’t want to SHOUND like SHTAN’s SHISHTER.
Wait, ask Priceline, who could replace WFS? Leonard Nimoy!
Well, having chipped a tooth just months ago on none other than a pink candy coating on a peanut, I can relate. It’s always best to get that seen to right away, before the dreaded root canal is called for. But way to go man on the voice over opportunities. I have to say, though, I am actually more interested at the moment in who this mysterious writer of the foreword for JAG will be? Let me guess..could it be…Patrick Stewart? That’s my guess and I’m sticking with it. By the way, I will say it again – Winnipeg is of course not the biggest city in Canada, but it has a huge literary tradition and people here really go to readings and book launches – it’s a prairie, thing, okay? So come here – If you are going to Chicago, it is not that far north to travel. And I promise, by the summer, definitely very hot weather, no fricking snow. And if you can’t come here, please at least visit somewhere in Canada. ‘Tis the land of literature.
Hey, cool interview!
I think it’s great that they’re letting you get all that screen space. I think that often, artists (or interviewees in general) get cut off two sentences into each answer, and the readers (or listeners) really don’t hear what they wanted to say. It’s clear that you’re speaking whole ideas and are able to talk about what you want.
Sorry about the tooth, dude. Orthodontic work will be a long and annoying process, but I expect it’ll be worth it. Good luck!
And I’m so glad to hear that Kris is doing well. Whoo-hoo!
My DH just turned 30 and I gave him the Family Guy Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD. I like Family Guy but he LOVES it. Good luck on your audition, and I look forward to hearing your character on future episodes!
My favorite Family Guy character is Stewey. 🙂
it sounds like you’re having a blast…let the good times roll!
You are great. BUT! Do you realize you write “Oh my God” like every other day? Or “Oh. My. God.” when you want to give it extra gravitas. Probably “Omigod” when you want to be informal, but I’ll admit I’ve not seen you do that one here.
What are you, Valley Guy?
Presuming He exists at all, which might be a stretch, wouldn’t the Big Guy be a little pissed at you by now?
Question: Is the person writing the forward Neil Gaiman?
Oh dear god, I hate to go all fangirl, but Family Guy, really? Oh, the squee in my heart is mighty!! What a coup that would be, man!! Fingers are crossed in the SF Valley for you.
Heh. I feel for you man. Chipped one of my back teeth on a peice of gum. Chewing gum, bit into it and felt my tooth come apart.
I happen to have an overbite, doesn’t really cause me too many problems. I think I need a few root canals, though. My last dentist told me that a few ‘almost did’, which means he wanted the money for drilling and sealing them, and then the money for the canal later. Evil bastard.
Apologies for ranting about the evil dentist. Good luck with the acting stuff in general, and I’ll be looking forward to your book.
UK book tour ?????
Congratulations Wil. I hope you get all the parts you’ve tried out for, you deserve it. Thanks for pvoiding us with all the great stories over the years, I really appreciate your site.
Wow, it’s totally cool that your voice over stuff is taking off so nicely. My God… I hope you get the Family Guy part. I haven’t been able to see your new work lately because I don’t get tech tv, and have missed your episodes of teen titans.
Your new book is going to be totally rad.
BTW, doesn’t it suck that they’re firing the san francisco staff for tech tv?
-Spazzium
Haldir:
“I cast mine eye about this place and I doth find none other but me here, so again, I say to thee, ‘Sir! Art thou talking to me?'”
I wish I had a way to encode parts of the interview because I totally lost my shit when Wil was talking about that skit. Alas, they’re on minicassette tapes (three of them!) and I’ve already got a friend of mine who wants a copy of them so he can hear Wil speak.
Good luck with Family Guy! Very, very cool. Seriously.
Thanks for doing an interview with us, Will! 🙂
Carrie Landers
Asst. Art Director, Sequential Tart
Sorry about your tooth, that must be painful. On the bright side, almost everyone I know prefers people with messed up teeth. I know it sounds crazy, but its true. Seems like everyone who is really considered beautiful has some feature that is screwed up, and usually it is teeth. Check it out for yourself, but here are a couple of examples: Shannen Doherty- one eye way higher than the other. Jewel- screwed up teeth. Johnny Depp- teeth screwed up in Pirates of the Carribean, yet everyone thought he was dead sexy. Maybe chipping your tooth was a good thing.
Hi Wil-
I guess that it’s either Brent Spiner or Jonathon Frakes that’s writing the forward to JAG.
Sorry to hear about your tooth- ouch! About braces- if you’ve ever felt self-concious because of your teeth, get braces. I waited ’til I was 24, but I’m so glad I got them.
How’s the kitty doing?
Glad to hear about the Family Guy- I really hope you get a part!
I guess that’s it for now. Have a great day!
-Alicia
http://www.thewagband.com
P.S. Dig this- my band, the Wag, will be opening for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, on Friday, July 23. Anyone interested in going, please e-mail me at [email protected] for details! I’m so excited about this! 🙂
God, the Wesley picture with that interview ALWAYS makes me laugh. The fark comments they did for it had me on the floor!
I have to chime in and say I can’t wait for your next book either, and you on the Family Guy would rule. Good luck!
I had both jaws broken as part of my orthodontic treatment. My bottom jaw was about half a tooth off-center and both were too narrow, plus the roof of my mouth was too high, which made it hard to breathe through my nose. My surgery was in the fall of 2000. I was wired shut for 10 days, by the end of which foods I’d never normally touch were starting to look reeeeeeeally good. It’s an all-liquid diet, but you’re not allowed to use straws because it could mess up the work they did. I used a feeding syringe, which worked pretty well, though I’ve heard some people can use a sippy cup.
When it was all finally over, I’d had my wisdom teeth removed, braces for 3 years, the jaw surgery, and two crowns (I had root canals on a couple teeth as a kid and the teeth were discolored), plus I treated myself to bleaching my teeth. I’m so much more confident with my smile now. Granted, I didn’t have to pay for most of it (thank you, Kaiser!), but I had to suffer through all of it. It wasn’t easy, but it was totally worth it.
Does this mean Seth will have to show some TNG characters, instead of the usual TOS gang on the show? You should include that in the contract: at least one TNG episode reference.
If you do plan on doing a tour, why stop at America? There are tons of Canadians out there who love you! And not just Toronto and Vancouver. Well, it’s a though, anyways…
Congrats on the book!
escaflowne
Liked the interview, don’t stress about the amount you say, the more the merrier!
I leave to work in your fine country in 2 weeks, I’m really looking forward to buying JAG off the shelf!
Great news about Kris, How’s Bear?
OMG Wil! I’m getting braces this summer too! This means you have to come to Colorado, if only to compare them. 😀 I promise to buy two copies of JAG. Please?!
Wil – If you get the “Family Guy” VO work (sending you VO karma now), you may need to come to Rhode Island to get a better sense of place. Stay with us!
The Sequential Tart interview is the best one of yours I’ve seen. The inteviewer was really present with what you were saying, and your answers were real and heartfelt.
Hell, I never would have thought that Wil Wheaton had a blog site. I mean, how cool is that! And I liked your character most of all on TNG. Anyway, I’ll check back often. If you get real bored, maybe check out my new blog site:
http://www.droppedonyourhead.blogspot.com
Take care, Wil.
Hey Wil,
Love the blog, love the interview! You may call it long-winded, but I call it comprehensive. It rejects the soundbite in favor of real info.
But, what’s with the bashing of dodgeball?
“separate kids into the strong ones who can aim at the face”
I count myself among the geeks as well. But, the hand-eye coordination I developed playing video games imparted great skill at throwing the ball, despite a lack of pure physical strength. That applies to dodging incoming balls as well!
I hated gym with a passion. But dodgeball day was the day I looked forward to with zest! It was like a real life video game. It was a real life application of Zanac, Gradius, Raiden or any of the other great shooters. You keep an eye on the big picture, dodging incoming fire, and firing back at the bad guys.
If phy. ed. was dodgeball every day, I would have signed up every year, public showering be damned.
I may not have been strong, I may not have been fast, but at the end of a dodgeball session, I was one of the last ones standing. And know this, my “foes” on the other side of the basketball court felt the sting of my balls that day. (Insinuation intended)
-A
FAMILY GUY!!! HOLY CRAP!
Good luck, Wil! You’ll be awesome.
LONG WINDED!…the SEQUENTIAL TART interview was excellent…and that’s because you were open and gave informative anwswers…i prefer interviews like that one where the subject of the interview really let’s it fly…being in radio, those are the people i most like to interview…long winded is especially good in radio…but i like it in print as well…as a reader i can get into an interview more when the answers are longer…and even a bit meandering…save the editing for the editors…just be yourself…you’re gonna need to be windy when you’re on LARRY KING LIVE!…btw, have you even considered talking to AL FRANKEN about his radio network, AIR AMERICA…i hear long winded people are wanted there.
Hey, just heard about ‘Wil Save’ (great name for a column, BTW); you’re gonna be all over the place in the coming year, aren’t you? 🙂 Good man!
Kennard Alton:
“The Sequential Tart interview is the best one of yours I’ve seen. The inteviewer was really present with what you were saying, and your answers were real and heartfelt.”
As the interviewer, I’m blushing and grinning at your compliment. Thank you, and thank Wil!
D. Burr:
“as a reader i can get into an interview more when the answers are longer…and even a bit meandering…save the editing for the editors”
At Sequential Tart, we have a policy to run interviews mostly as-is, unless specifically requested by the interview subject.
sequential has a great policy!…i’ve been interviewed by print media and the editing they did made me sound like a moron…so i understand the value of your policy…let the person come off as they are.