Hey look! It’s the Memories of the Futuremug!

ByWil

It turns out that all this talk about getting excited and making things, uh, got me excited to make something.

I don't remember the precise moment this hit me, but I'm pretty sure it happened during one of those times I felt stuck on a story or something, and decided to get out of my office and take a walk. These walks are a fundamental part of my creative process, a time when I let my mind wander away, confident that it will come back with something cool.

During this particular walk, I was thinking about my plans for 2010, what I'll do with my podcasts, and getting excited to do more work on Memories of the Future Volume Two.

That's when my mind ran off like a dog chasing an idea through the forest, returning a few minutes later with something awesome. If I were to create a dialog to dramatically illustrate the way it all came together, it might go something like this:

My Mind: DUDE! OMG! This is going to be so cool!

Me: Okay, I'm listening.

My Mind: We're going to make a mug that goes with Memories of the Future.

Me: Tell me more…

My Mind: On one side, it will have those beautiful space jellyfish that Will designed for the cover.

Me: I love how those look.

My Mind: Everyone does. Will did a great job with them. Now listen, because this is what takes this mug from cool to awesome: On the opposite side of the mug, it says:

Tea,

Earl Grey.

Hot.

Me: Holy crap, My Mind! That's awesome!

My Mind: I know, right?!

Me: High five!

My Neighbor's Kid: Why did Mister Wheaton just slap himself in the head?

My Neighbor: He's a writer, honey. They do weird things like that.

And … scene.

When I got back to my house, I e-mailed the idea to my friend Will Hindmarch, who did the cover and interior design for Memories of the Future, Volume One. About 2 hours later, we'd built the mug and put it into a store at CafePress. I remember saying to Will, "I think this is awesome, and I don't know if anyone else will … but who cares? It's a 2 hour project that has great potential, and if I'm the only person who wants one of these mugs, so what? I'll have one, and I'll be happy."

I vaguely recall Will saying that he thought more than one person would want to have one, but I'm not entirely sure, so I'm not going to quote him. I'm sure he'll chime in here if he wants to add to the historical record. (Edit: Will says, That's pretty much how I remember it going, with the enthusiasm and the hope that people would like it and the glaven. Except that I remember gasping and saying, "That's magnificent!" when you said it should say "Tea, Earl Grey. Hot." on it.)

Now, I'm going to restate something I said on this week's Memories of the Futurecast: In just two hours, my friend who lives on the other side of the country and I created something that anyone in the world can get, if they want it. We didn't have to invest anything other than a little time (and, honestly, Will did all the hard work; I just came up with the idea and tweaked the final specs a couple of times.) I. Love. Living. In. The. Future.

Okay, enough backstory. Here's the 1000 words that matter:

Tea-mug-450px

If you'd like to purchase a Memories of the Futuremug for your very own (or as a gift for the luckiest person you know), you can head over to make it so at my Memories of the Futureshop at CafePress.

Please note that, in addition to Earl Grey, the Memories of the Futuremug is suitable for other types of tea, various kinds of coffee and other hot beverages, pencils, or pudding.

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105 Comments

  3. Damnit, now I need one.
    Ithink the only problem will be that my mind will require me to put the mug in the microwave and ask it for Tea, Earl Grey. Hot…
    And nothing will happen, of course. But my mind usually gets its way, sadly.
    *sigh* Here’s to my girlfriend rolling her eyes at me in the near future.
    G!

  4. That’s pretty much how I remember it going, with the enthusiasm and the hope that people would like it and the glaven. Except that I remember gasping and saying, “That’s magnificent!” when you said it should say “Tea, Earl Grey. Hot.” on it.

  7. Memories of the Futuremug is suitable for other types of tea, various kinds of coffee and other hot beverages, pencils, or pudding.
    Individually, but not at the same time.
    Will be buying at least pair, maybe a set of MotFMs. Awesome!

  11. Can you give me a more-detailed bug report, Craig? It works for me in both Firefox and Safari on my Mac. Are you sure you don't have some scripting disabled or something like that?
    Anyone else having this problem, please chime in.

  14. I really hope there will be voice activated microwaves soon. The technology should be there but I guess there’s not enough marketing potential out in the real world.

  16. Dude. That is exciting! I’m in the throes of NaNo right now, but as always happens when I’m working on a big project, lots of little ones won’t leave me alone! So, come December, I tend to go to bat country with the creativity! Whee!
    Thanks for the inspiration, Wil!
    Oh, and I absolutely, positively, must make it so that I have this mug.

  17. D’oh!
    Correct as usual, Mr. Wheaton. My ammended feature/bug report reads:
    If you browse CafePress website with the “noscripts” plugin activated (which in general I recommend, because browsing is soooo much faster), clicking on thumbnails will have very odd and unpredictable results. The effect of clicking won’t be nothing, but you get shuttled into a random (or not) section of cafepress. When I clicked on the right thumbnail for the “back” of the mug, I got a page with a T-shirt saying something like “Doctors against home birth” or some such.
    My noscripts has been instructed to allow CafePress and all is correct with the world. Cancel alert; sorry about that.

  21. That’s pretty awesome, actually.
    When I’m writing, and I feel like I need to take a break, I usually watch an episode of some TV show I missed during the week because… I was writing.

  23. You know you’re going to have to mail one of those to Patrick, right Wil? 😀 He seems like he’d get a kick out it. 🙂
    I’ve put it on my Christmas Wish List e-mail that goes around my family. Thanks for an awesome gift idea, I hope I get one!

  25. Memories of the Futuremug Space Jellyfish pudding!! I am laughing out loud. That is SO not going to make any sense when I try to explain it to my wife.

  26. I just ordered a mug and a copy of Memories of the Future as a gift for a friend for Christmas. She’ll love it! “Tea, Earl Grey. Hot.” is one of her all time favorite Trek lines.

  27. Definitely many and various kinds of awesome associated with said mug. 😀
    Not the least of which is the awesome left handedness of the mug, at least according to the pictures. *lol* Us lefties no longer even have to answer when someone asks us what we are drinking, it’s printed right on the “outside”. Plus we can hoard the beautiful space jellyfish to ourselves instead of exposing them to the world. 😉

  28. I'm just giving you the secret LEFTY handshake right now and secretly laughing at all those other people who couldn't overcome being right-handed like we did.
    SNAP!

  29. Too cool. Let’s see what the budget allows.
    Btw Wil, have you seen the uproar regarding the Writer’s Associations – Romance, Mystery and Science fiction and their response to Harlequin’s vanity publishing venture? Any comments as a self publisher?

  32. Oooooo… another gift for The Dot’s stocking. Does it mean anything that her ringtone on my phone is the STNG theme and I address her as “Captain” when I answer?

  35. O.M.G. I must have! Having this will alleviate some of the dork I feel when I am heating up water in my microwave and I say to it, “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”
    Yes sometimes I talk to my microwave and pretend it is a replicator because it makes me happy.

  37. Little known fact: The replicators on Star Trek had trouble making pudding (hot or cold) and actually made something almost, but not completely, unlike pudding. There was an ensign on the Enterprise whose primary personal mission was to find a replicator somewhere in the galaxy that could make a decent cup of pudding. Sadly, his story never made it into any of the episodes that aired.
    (for a short time, when the Bynars were doing upgrades, the replicators were able to produce a perfect cup of pudding, but that ability was lost when the Bynars left the ship.)

  38. Now, to make it even AWESOMER, it should have some of that heat-activated ink. So that when cold, it says “Tea, Earl Grey.” and once the hot tea is added… “Hot.”
    And you can make one of the Farpoint Jellyfish appear and disappear to. Actually seems kind of a appropriate if you think about how the episode had one, and then the other showed up…

  43. DUDE. THAT IS THE BEST MUG IDEA EVER. you officially win, Wil Wheaton.
    I totally started drinking Earl Grey tea because of Picard (and because that was the only other interesting option at the gas station besides green tea).
    I’m so buying this asap.

  45. Wil,
    Just a suggestion, since some people aren’t Tea drinkers, preferring a cup of joe?
    Maybe make a few saying “Raktajino” or “Coffee. Jamaican Blend. Double strong. Double sweet.”

  49. Hee hee!! I’m not much of a tea drinker myself – I prefer coffee – but just like many others here, I decided to try Earl Grey just because of Captain Picard. Oh yes, I am a geek… And you know what? I like it! 🙂 There’s some in my cupboard right now… I may go have some. I must get this mug – what a great idea, Wil! I also hope that you send one to Patrick for Christmas (or just because). I think he’d get a kick out of it.
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

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