egad, a base tone denotes a bad age

WWdN reader Katie D. was inspired by yesterday’s audiobook post, and sent me this incredibly awesome piece of art:

Several readers sent me this story from the Mail Tribune about some of Stand By Me’s locations. If you are up in Southern Oregon, and you want to see some of the train tracks and locations we walked along in Stand By Me, now you know how to find them.

I heard from WWdN reader Mike Massee that the trestle we ran across, which is located in Northern California, is being torn down. He was recently there, and took some beautiful pictures of it.

If you want to get your very own 8-bit clown sweater T-shirt, you can still do that.

Speaking of T-shirts, I haven’t pointed to the Wil Says Don’t Be A Dick T-shirt in a long time. I think I’ll do that right now. POINT! POINT! POINT!

I wrote the introduction to John Scalzi’s Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded. The book has shipped, and at least one reader liked it. Yay!

My dad and I went to the Dodger game last night. It was a hell of a game, right up until Torre decided to manage his bullpen like an 8 year-old playing MLB ’06 on the PS2.

I learned two things while I was at the game last night. First, the quality of an over-priced shitty cheese pizza is improved one million percent by the judicious application of jalapeños. You will pay for it 18 hours later, but pair it with an equally over-priced, shitty beer and it’s almost worth it. Second, a baseball game with your dad is great, but a playoff game with your dad – especially the first one you’ve ever attended together – is awesome. The last time the Dodgers were in the NLCS, I was 16, firmly in the grip of teenage angst, and I didn’t care about baseball precisely because it was important to my dad. Even though the Dodgers gave us a heartbreaking loss last night, it was a victory for me in the only way that really mattered.

. . . fuckin’ Dodgers.

41 thoughts on “egad, a base tone denotes a bad age”

  3. Interesting art piece…
    But Wil, what’s in the glass?
    What would a man like you, dressed like that, smoking that, and petting the kitty, be drinking I wonder?
    *smiles*

  4. Hey Wil,
    thanx for posting the clown link. I just bought one……I know it will probably be a collector’s item someday 🙂 Good looking picture, you are very debonair looking.

  6. Don’t care much for baseball, it’s soccer that’s great here and that I should go to with my dad I think-oh, and luuuurve the palindrome! I read it twice and thought “something’s odd here….”

  9. First off, Thank you Katie D. That picture is AWESOME! *said in a sing-song voice*
    And that would be Guinness in your glass, I presume to assume. *nyuck*
    Second, thank you for pointing out the shirt link, Wil. I like buying the Christmas presents sooner then later. :o)

  10. As for the Stand by Me locations…
    When I was a high-school senior, a story of a film crew in Oregon naturally made the news. My mom told me that they were actually using the house of some friends. They had an older house, and some property with old junk cars (the kind with blackberry bushes growing through them). The friends were thinking of clearing their property when the film crew asked to film inside their house. The production folks told them to leave the cars there, and when the filming was done, the land would be cleared and cars would be hauled away as part of their agreement.
    I assume that this was the Lachance house and Junkyard from Stand By Me. The people who owned the land and house mentioned a Stephen King story, but I initially didn’t make the connection since there was nothing really supernatural in the movie.
    Nice “fireside chat” pic. A couple tweaks and that could turn into a “Wil as Bond Villain” pic.

  11. Beautiful, and perhaps a bit creepy, piece of art.
    I agree with Surool… Wil could totally be a Bond villain in this shot…
    Also, it reminds me of the bad guy on Inspector Gadget.
    But… that’s just me!

  14. Oooooooooo I so want to meet that man in the picture above – I mean: fireplace, kitty cat, Guinness, a pipe = HEAVEN! 😉
    So Sorry about your Dodgers. Regardless of what happens with them, I’ll die a Cubbies fan :-p
    One of our high schools in Des Plaines, IL is Maine North (I went to Maine West, Harrison Ford and my dad went to Maine East). Maine North is where the Breakfast Club was filmed. They used the gym to make the library … go figure. When that school was closed (and became a community center of some sort), lots of people went and took pics before all the important parts were renovated.
    Although I can not remember any other such stories at the moment, I have heard many instances of where locations of famous movies were disappearing for one reason or another. It’s kind of sad. But who knows – they may make way for the next movie hit’s location. *shrugs*

  15. Best. Photoshop. Ever.
    Oh, yes, and Cubs fan right here. I have a lapel pin that is the front cover of the Chicago Sun-Times with the headline “Cubs Win!” It makes me laugh as much as it makes me sad. (However when watching the Phillies-Dodgers game I did root for the Dodgers.)

  16. Also, I was wearing my “Wil Says…” tshirt the other day in Best Buy and one of the Geek Squad guys said, “Heh. I like the ‘Jesus Says…’ version better.” I gave him props for recognizing Penny Arcade and then said, “Are you daft, man? This is the better version! Wil is more popular than the Beatles! And you know who they are more popular than, eh?” No, actually I just smiled at him and went back to deciding which Disney movie to buy in an attempt to recapture my early youth.

  17. I think it’s cool to find out you were chased by the train from “Emperor of the North.” Cool film.
    And it’s still running and pulling tourists. That would be a cool charity event. Ride the rails with Wil Wheaton on the train that chased him 4mph in “Stand by Me.”

  19. Really cool artwork by Katie!
    Phillies fan here. Not to gloat (okay, I’m gloating) but, only one more win to get to the series – yay! Since I live far away from home now, the last Phillies playoff game I got to go to in person was in the 93 series where I watched Schilling pitch a shutout. Amazing.

  20. Speaking of T-shirts, I haven’t pointed to the Wil Says Don’t Be A Duck T-shirt in a long time. I think I’ll do that right now. POINT! POINT! POINT!
    I must have missed that day at class. Can you please explain? ;0

  21. I grew up in Cottage Grove & my mother still lives in town. I didn’t believe a then-boyfriend when he told me he watched the filming from his backyard when he was a kid (his house is right by Rat Creek). Too funny that he was probably telling the truth!

  22. ooooooh!! I LOVE this art! so much, I want a copy. can I have it? (of course, right?)
    I really enjoyed this post and now the art just adds to the enjoyment.
    thanks!

  23. That is a pretty cool picture. I think I’d change the glass style though. Make it a brandy snifter or something. Right now, it looks to me like a glass of grape Kool-Aid. Which, if Wil’s a Bond villain, could be a plot point of some sort, since we unfortunately have the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” as part of our linguistic psyche, due to Jim Jones. [Although according to Wikipedia, it was Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid, that was used.]
    As for the Dodgers… Sorry, Wil, I’m with the Phillies this year. My hubby’s a Phillies fan; thus, I’m a Phillies fan. [I’m also a Twins fan but they couldn’t score one stinkin’ run against the stupid White Sox.]
    It does amuse me, however, to watch the games and know you’re probably cursing the Dodgers as we’re cheering the Phils. I believe the Germans call that Schadenfreude. :>)

  24. Arrgh, I can’t believe we gave up 4 runs in the eighth. I want to know why we aren’t using Maddux more. He’s still a hell of a pitcher and I think he’s only pitched like, one inning this postseason.
    Here’s hoping LA can still pull it off.

  25. Haha, Topaz – it was originally a brandy snifter, but when I got to cleaning it up and doing the black lines, I thought, “No wait, this is Wil. It has to be Guinness.” Maybe I should have put a logo on the glass. 🙂
    Thanks everyone for the compliments. I laughed a lot drawing this and I’m glad you liked it.

  26. Stand By Me was on AMC a couple weeks ago (right after the Birdcage which made me wonder what they were smoking when they came up w/that lineup). I love that movie but it does not work w/commercial interruption.

  27. This looks like you about to tell us a rauchy christmas story about Santa and some hooker or something like that. I like picture. Great job.

  28. I was doing my tri-daily run through my fav websites and all of a sudden I could do nothing but bust up laughing when I clicked on WWdN and that picture popped up. Absolutely classic:)

  29. What, like Torre moving to the NL meant he’d magically change his managing style? Pfft. He likes to pull pitchers after 1/3 inning if they throw a wild pitch. It’s his thing, man. Annoying? Hell yes. Now you know what I’ve been dealing with for the past decade or so.
    Anyway, it totally sucked. Fuckin’ Dodgers.
    And I like the picture. That is quite the jaunty ascot, good sir.

  30. I grew up in far Northern California. We keep track of every film production that even *sniffs* the local area. (Seriously, there’s a throwaway shot in Willow of them passing by a waterfall. The locals all know that’s Burney Falls.) Sad to hear they’re tearing the bridge down. Of course, that’s railroads for you…
    I need to pick up the Scalzi book. Because Scalzi is awesome, and Wheaton is awesome, and together they are two great tastes that taste great together (or they fight crime, whichever is funnier).
    My only NLCS game was back in 2002, when my beloved Giants somehow beat back the Braves and then hosted the Cardinals in the NLCS. There’s something special about the playoff environment, isn’t there? Of course, Benny Santiago hit a two run shot and the Giants win on to win that game and the series, only to fall to Anaheim in the World Series, but I won’t go on about that. Besides, you’re a Dodgers fan, and we’re sworn enemies or something. 😉
    And yes, *awesome* pic, Wil, and great job, Katie.
    -kat

  31. One can’t help but notice how many people send Wil presents that are usually images of himself!
    As I always say to my boss, nothing says I love you like cash.

  32. I will agree that father/son days at the ballpark are great, but since I have daughters, mine is father/daughter days, and it is fantastic to have a true baseball fan for a daughter, even if she always roots for the wrong teams…Braves and Red Sox.
    Yankee fan here, but I say, GO Dodgers!
    goinggreenaccidently.blogspot.com

  33. Wil Pizza at a Dodger game?!!! Come on man you should of had a Dodger Dog or two. Maybe garlic fries… Shame on you, ha.

  34. Thaks for sharing that awesome art with us. That is exactly how I pictured you 🙂
    And, can’t say I feel bad about the Dodgers….I am from Philly and this is one series the Phils better win! Don’t know if you have ever heard of the fans in this area, but it could get really U.G.L.Y. if they don’t bring home the win!

  35. Nice artwork! I like how it captured all elements of the post – the cat; the ascot; the pipe; Wil’s awesome beard. Oh wait…the awesome beard might have been from a different post.
    Anyway…I love it and, of course, love the inspiration for it. That particular post was especially fun.

  39. omg, that picture is so very cool (sorry for the lack of caps, my shift key is being a bastard). it has nearly reached the coolness lvl of velvet weasley.

  40. When I was a kid the World Series was always the Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers–every year. My dad was for the Yankees and I was for the Dodgers–it was great fun.
    Freeman 🙂

  41. Dangit! I wanted to go to that trestle, where Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix (R.I.P) and Rob Reiner were!! I watched that movie all the time when i was little and it kinda scared me. I was always like “oh my gosh, run you faggots!” It was a very cool scene… as for the picture.. what ever floats your boat man.

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