Today is my last day on this episode of Leverage. In just under 24 hours, I go back to real life.
Yesterday, I went over to Pioneer Square to talk with Stephanie Stricklen on a local news show called Live at 7. It was a good time, and I got to meet a lot of Portlanders afterward who came out to, well, meet me.
Here's the segment. If you look closely, you can see a preview of the T-shirt I'm releasing next week:
Awesome!! I can’t wait for that shirt, too! LOL
You know, it says on J!nx that a new shirt was supposed to come out yesterday, on July 5th, but I haven’t seen anything…
Yeah, we held off for a week because I'm in Portland, and yesterday was a bank holiday here in the US.
That was a great interview Wil. I just think it’s amazing that you are such a positive force, and you do this by being a decent fellow and enjoying your work. We can all learn from that.
Kudos!
H
Has Niyazi has taken my words out of my mouth.
I particularly liked “The ‘right’ computer and the ‘best’ operating system is the one that does what you want it to do and makes your life easier.” That’s exactly how it is.
People always ask me what camera they should buy and I always tell them, “well, I like X because they fit my way of working and my hands but this might not be the case for you. There’s Y and Z and a few others. Go to a big, physical store with knowledgeable staff and try out various makes and models, then buy the one that feels most natural to you.”
Great interview! 🙂 So glad to know you are back on leverage again! Can’t wait!
Hi Wil,
Just want to say (and I don’t even know where to start) that I really enjoyed the interview, and above that, that as I am sure you have for many others, you have been a really instrumental part of helping me get through very difficult times in my past.
I am half Japanese / American, and I was born in and grew up in Japan (still here to this day), and well, to keep from getting too detailed and rambling, it was very hard for me growing up in many different ways, and being accepted for who I was.. was not something that happened.. for a number of reasons.. but one of my very few spots of happiness was watching Star Trek (along with reading and gaming).. and it may sound silly, but I remember seeing your character in the show, and I was always so impressed, and for many reasons I felt safe in an odd sort of way, watching your character’s interactions.
Anyways, I am a relatively new reader of your site, but even now reading your entries and your thoughts gives me the motivation to get through my days, and I just want you to know that what you are doing really does have such a positive effect on many, many people’s lives, and I hope that you can feel some sense of meaning from that, that you can know that you are truly appreciated, and that life will treat you well in the future too.
Take care, and who knows, someday I might get lucky enough to meet you in person, although quite a number of very unlikely pre-requisites that would have to take place before it became a reality hehe.
That was a great interview, and I’m totally getting that shirt for Gen Con. I may even have to secretly get one for my husband, so we can share our love of boardgames and Easter candy together. 🙂
It was definitely the highlight of my week to meet you, sir! You’re totally worth waiting for: so awesome!
If you want to know, there’s a secondary reason why we waited outside to meet you. (Some of us discussed it) We’re obviously there because we’re fans of yours, but by being there early and waiting around…we start talking to each other. It starts off being about why we’re your fans and what introduced us to your work, but then…it becomes about what we read and the shows we watch, and strange little things we thought unique to ourselves. It’s safe space, since all those things that make us weird or nerdy to the non-geeks in our lives make us cool when a bunch of us gather together.
It’s like a mini-con. We all know we have something in common from the get-go and then it’s about discovering more things we have in common. It’s geek community building and, for someone like me who moved here literally four days ago, it’s an invaluable resource to finding the people who know where things are happening that I’d want to be involved in.
The thing for me, about blogging and twitter, is the incredibly weird and blurry line of “I know them! But I don’t really!” affection that a lot of us have for each other. I wrote on my own Twitter that knowing a blogger I read and have tremendous affection for (hi, it’s totally you) is in town but that I am doing exactly nothing to see him makes me feel a little bit like I am being a neglectful friend even though we do not actually know each other in 3-D. It’s hard to describe it fully in a comment that I’m trying to keep short but the main idea is that it is a wonderful and wacky online world we live in.
I’ve seen you comment on the power of Twitter on a few occasions, and I fully agree with your stance on this. Most people don’t seem to be aware of the power of Twitter’s open API, though. On three separate occasions, I have tweeted my frustration over my failure to use an application in the manner that suited my fancy. On all of those occasions, my tweet generated an unsolicited response from one of the people closely associated with the application in question. These scenarios happened out of the blue, and they led to a protracted session of tech support, supplied courtesy of Twitter. Twitter’s open API makes it possible for any subject to be tracked in near-realtime, and this can be leveraged to provide support for us poor users.
It’s like having Jedi Knights arrive to lend a hand just because they felt a disturbance in the Force.
That's awesome. It makes me so happy to know that I can play a small part in getting people who like the same things together, so we all don't feel so weird and alone.
“On this episode”?
Is that a spoiler? 😀
You said “icky” :)Great interview!
That interview was what an interview is supposed to be: two people having a fun discussion about things that matter to both of them. The interviewer was had obviously prepped herself about what you are about and worked to bring YOU out with things that you’re passionate about.
*sigh* I’m bummed that I missed you up here in the Twin Cities… come back soon!
It’s really weird seeing you on interviews now. because I’ve got used to you being this ordinary guy. But every now and then you keep reminding me that you are a celebrity
Wow that was a great interview. The Grinch-hacker who stole Christmas… Cant wait to see that.
As for Woot-Stock… Ya gotta to a Florida Date! I know its far.. but its a family vacation AND an excuse to have a show all in one! XD
Oh and is the shirt “Rollin with my Peeps?”
Hey Beth, I don’t want to steal/hijack the comments thread here from Wil, but if you need in-town buddies I’d be happy to meet up with you and help you get to know our fair city. 🙂 (I tried to find a contact thing for you on your profile but either there isn’t one or I didn’t look hard enough).
Great interview (as has been said many times now!). I am so impressed by what a genuine person you are. I really enjoy your tweets (especially the conversations you have with your dog), your geek glee in so very many things, and the wry observations of the world. I am a fan of several celebrities, but in your case it is less being a fan than it is just really liking someone.
Such a good interview. I was kicking myself yesterday for missing the TweetUp, but I guess that is cosmically fair since I ran into you at Ground Kontrol the other day and spent 5 minutes talking one on one with you. A couple of people mentioned above that it’s weird feeling like you really know someone that you follow on Twitter/blogs/the-internets-at-large but then realizing you don’t know them in 3D. Thank you for being genuine and down to earth (as was mentioned above.) I was so thrilled to talk to you and geek out about our Incredibles and thanks for telling me to download Google Sky ’cause it’s awesome.
Great interview, and nice to see them giving you a segment. But they forgot to super you as Secretary of Geek Affairs.
Wil, I plan on writing a pretty extensive blog post on this very soon, but I wanted to say it was because of you and your blog that I start to truly embrace my geekiness. I came to realize and understand that it was completely OK for me to like the things I like and to be openly proud about the fact that I am a geek.
Yes, my geek-adjacent wife rolls her eyes at me when I squee about certain things, but I have still be able to get her to do certain geeky things with me (D&D, Magic, going to the JJA Star Trek movie, and watching BBT are prime examples).
Like Anne, though, she has her limits of how much geek she can take getting on her at one time. I think you and Anne should collaborate on a book about being a geek/non-geek couple. It would really be of help in bridging the gap in that kind of relationship.
Great interview, in no small part because of the interviewer, Steph Stricklen. Believe it or not, she really is a geek herself, and probably didn’t have to do any heavy research on you particularly as she already was a fan.
I’m glad you were able to enjoy some Portland sunshine finally, and I hope you do another book tour through Powell’s at some point; I became a fan of yours after reading your books.
Mindvox alumn,
SharonG
You stayed in Neil’s house?!
Er… what did you dream about when you were there? j/k
Seriously, what is it like for a serious fanboy (as you’ve admitted you are for Neil) to have that sort of insight into his world? Did you do one of those “Oh, I see, he’s just a normal guy,” or was it, “OMG he’s TOTALLY AWESOMER now!”?
Today is about as beautiful as it gets up in Seattle. I hope you are enjoying the same down in Portland.
Did you talk about “The 13 Clocks” to Neil while you were staying with him?
That was a great interview. I think part of your appeal to your fans is that you are a genuine and open person and it totally comes through as you talk. The curse of that is probably that it leads thousands of people to wanting to be friends with you, because friendly, open people are hugely appealing. I don’t know how I’d deal with that.
Anyway, I’m not sure what it is that makes it so easy to adore Portland, but it’s cool you feel it too. Good luck in the heat. Very few buildings in this town have air conditioning, which seems like an odd choice when the temperature climbs over 100F. Or maybe it’s just been bad luck on my part. In any case, you are warned.
This interview was great! Thanks for posting this. I would wait for you, lol. Sorry if that is a little weird for you! I just tweeted a big thank you to the likes of you, Felicia Day, Hank and John Green for making me feel like I’m a part of something bigger than me that’s actually kind of cool.
Your interviewer was really cool too! I don’t know who she is but she seemed genuinely interested and kinda geeky herself. 😀
I am usually a lurker, but I had to log in and speak up to say how much I identified with the last bit you talked about in that interview. I am significantly more comfortable “networking” online than in real life, something I take a lot of flack for in my day job as a social worker (there’s irony there, I know). It is comforting to consider how online social networking is evolving to a place where we can connect with people and achieve the same rubbing elbows effect that comes with in-person gatherings. Granted, it may take social workers a tad longer to get to that place than actors, but I am willing to ride out the wait.
Thank you for bridging the gap between geek and mainstream!
There was so much I wanted to express in a comment, then after reading all the other comments before me, I had nothing left to add! 🙂
All I can really say is a personal, “Wil Wheaton, thank-you for being you. As long as you stay true to who you are, even when you’re not sure who that is, you will always be looked up to and appreciated.”
Totally believable because I noticed that while I was watching! I thought, “Wow, part of what makes this interview so great is that she’s totally a geek!”
Peeps?!?!?! I less-than-three Peeps!!! I didn’t get past the first 15 seconds of the interview after looking at your shirt and all I saw was Peeps!! Peeps smores! OMG!! *forced sigh* okay…*whispers excitedly* “Peeps”
I’d like to add my kudos to the pile. That really was an awesome interview. Your enthusiasm is infectious, and I had to laugh when you said “icky.”
LLAP *wink*
Wil, thanks for signing my DM Brian’s shirt. One of our D&D group died in May, and he was one of Brian’s closest friends; we all miss him a lot, but especially Brian. A shirt can’t make someone feel better, but it seemed like the right thing to do. I couldn’t believe my luck that you were on Steph’s show and I could get it signed before game night on Thursday. And then Brian showed up too! Synchronicity! or something!
BTW: I think you can just assume that if you’re coming to town/in town, and you want to do the show, Steph would be thrilled to have you. Just D her. Steph is teh awesome, and back when I had a Portland media blog, I declared her “the talent to watch” in this market. She is beloved of geeks throughout Portlandia, and the best way to watch the show is online since it goes through the commercial breaks.
And I promise to stop @velvetackbar (my husband) from sending you more real estate listings. Though that house in Ladd’s Addition…dude, it’s got your name on it. 😀
Hey Wil – Glad you had a good time in PDX. I think you hit most all the awesome spots that I would have recommended: Voodoo Donuts, Ground Kontrol, Stumptown, Powells, the downtown food carts, the 24 hour Church of Elvis, etc. I work in the big pink tower (in the middle of all that) and was hoping to maybe run into you, but no luck. Come back again soon.
Wil, You are truly the man. Not afraid to be who you are no matter who is watching. So many people should be able to learn from your example. Top shelf.
‘Playing characters that I’m not’ is EXACTLY why I started voice acting work- and I definitely find playing bad guys is often more fun than playing good guys!
And if it wasn’t for social networking, I definitely would not be on a potential path to a career I have always dreamed of having. I’m all for trying new things, and if it works for you (or you can find a way to make it do what you want) then awesome- if not, chalk it up to trial and error and see if there’s another way to go.
Wil,
When the ID tag appears on screen, and says “Wil Wheaton – Actor”, how do you feel about that? Would you have preferred it said “Actor / Author”? I realise that since you were there with your Acting Hat on, it makes sense to refer to you as an Actor. But I was wondering how you mentally fix the writing/acting in prominence in your head.
Is the writing just something you do to pay the bills between acting gigs? Or is acting something you do for fun now, without actively pursuing it? Or are they sitting in equal importance to you in your head, or what? Really curious, so I hope you can answer this…
As a newb to the Wheaton universe, I found this interview great. And normally most hosts seem clueless…she did not however. Howdy everyone!
I LOVE WIL WHEATON!!!
Wait….are you saying you are NOT a superhero???
I am so proud for you, Wil! It puts a big smile on my face to know you are getting to do work you love. I wish you all the best and more. =]
Absolutely correct. The interviewer was truly excited about Wil being there. Nicely done and fun to watch.
Bugger. I was at the Square that day with friends and their munchkins. I missed having a fan squee by all of about an hour. 🙁
Interviews like this are why you’re a person worth waiting for: you’re real.
Hey, Wil, I am new to your website but have been a fan since Star Trek Next Gen, I am thrilled to see you on the Guild and The big Bang Theory. I thought your interview went very well. I noticed the person in the background in the Red jacket walking in a funny way, I don’t know if you saw that,I just that was funny and it caught my eye. How cool was Stephanie with her love of Neil, I’ve seen a few shows that were about Portland and it seems like a cool place to live don’t you think?
That was so cool that the interviewer knew your c.v. as an actor AND was a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. I thought it was great that you two had a moment where she said Neil was formative to her in high school and your eyes just lit up when you said, “Me too!”
I met Neil briefly @ an SPX in DC about a decade ago. I basically said, “I don’t want or need an autograph, but a friend of mine has written this book about what happened in Waco and it totally contradicts what the media was saying about the Branch Davidians, so I’d love it if you’d take a copy.” He thanked me, said he would and took the book from me. Very gracious, and INCREDIBLY talented.
Apropos of nothing, I’m getting tired of Explorer asking me if I want it to save passwords. Do I LOOK like I’m made out of stupid? <:@)