I’m on JoCoCruiseCrazy 2, and I’m taking an Internet vacation until I get home. So every day while I’m gone, something from my archives will post here automatically, for your entertainment. I had a lot of fun picking these different things out, and I hope you enjoy them again, or for the first time.
Today, I'm linking to the first stupid cellphone videos I did. If you're as easily amused as I am, you can watch them all on my YouTube channel.
We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far
Originally published September 2010.
I'm home for a few days before I go back to Vancouver to finish out the season on Eureka. It's nice to sleep in my own bed, actually see my family, and work in my actual office, instead of sitting at a desk in a hotel.
Doctor Parrish was very heavy in the last episode I shot, so I worked 5 of 6 days, an average of 14 hours each day. It was exhausting work, but I loved every second of it. I wish I could get into the details of it, but that is right in the middle of Spoilertown, so I'll just say that it was a lot of fun, and I got to do a lot of origami.
There's this saying, possibly apocryphal, that actors work for free and get paid to wait. One of my days last week, I was called to the studio early, and then ended up not working for about seven hours. This sometimes happens when the scene before me takes longer than anyone expected, or it turns out that they're not going to see me in the background of a shot like they thought. Rookie actors tend to bitch about this sort of thing, but salty veterans like me have learned to be grateful for the job, appreciate that I'm getting paid to wait, and pack a Bag of holding that's filled with books and games and diversions. (Back in the old days, I'd bring tons of stuff, but now I just bring my iPad and a book.)
On this particular day, I played the hell out of Plants Vs. Zombies HD, re-read Metatropolis, spent some time looking for the end of the Internet, and actually started to get bored.
Once I started to get bored, my brain spit out an idea, that went something like this: "Hey, your cell phone has a video camera on it. You should make stupid videos with it, and upload them to YouTube!"
This sounded like a brilliantly stupid idea, so I did as my brain commanded, producing this:
I told Twitter about it, and there was much rejoicing. A few hours later, I did this:
Then I was finally called to set, where I was no longer bored, and my cretive energy was directed into the very useful and productive task of bringing Doctor Parrish to life.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that my stupid videos had been viewed about 7,000 times. "See, we're entertaining more people than just ourselves," my brain said, "let's make more stupid cell phone videos!"
"Yes, sir, Mister Brain," I said. I enlisted the help of some friends, and made this:
I don't know how long this will last, but it's easy, it's amusing to me, and it's a lot of stupid fun, so I'll keep doing it until I lose interest or get distracted and chase a red balloon down the street. If you want to see these stupid things as they become available, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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Hello Wil,
I am a NEW reader!! I saw your post a little while back asking to let you know when new readers come on board so here I am.
Wish I knew about Jo Jo sooner, not your fault of course.
Thank you for scouting out all the great stuff we as geeks can get/buy/consume since those of us that work 60-80 hours a week don’t have time to sniff it out and barely have time to enjoy it!!! I have found that everything you have recommeded that I have been able to read about has been great!!
Excelent critical thinking and analysis on everyday life and general topics of geek interest. Your humorous stories have turned various forms of liquids into projectiles shooting out of my upper orifices!!! The cat poop story was BRILLIANT!
I have never thought about going to a con, but you make me want to go. Especially for the really fun game play you have written about.
Thank you also for being you and putting all this hard work into letting us get to know you.
Sincerely,
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Thanks for reading, and for introducing yourself!
I agree by the way, it TOTALLY belongs in the Fiend Folio.
See!! Wil is cool as H*LL!!!
Heya WIl!
Been an avid follower of yours for years now and just now decided to post on your blog lol
I actually got jealous of a fan of your having you bless his dice for D&D that I made it my goal to have you bless my new set as well! Sadly I am never at Cons that you are at and the next one coming up here in Seattle is Sakura-Con which I doubt you will be at.
I watch The Guild because I heard you were in it so thank you for your awesome amusement!
Challenge: Find a way to virtually bless my D&D dice!
Accepted? 😛
Awesome. I went on a #physicsjokes bender a few weeks ago. Missed that one.
(Here’s a quick one for you: Theoretical Physicist Zombie wants braaaaaanes…)
A moment ago I typed a long comment, clicked on “Preview”, it appeared a second and then the page reloaded with no signs of my comment. So I’ll try to resume (with no preview): Get here thru Google Reader (after missing some days, plus being subscripted to Kotaku) (I get notified of the posts via Twitter too, but from GR I take a momment to possibly comment). Great idea the Stupid Cell Phone Videos, I like them, but I agree with N. Grayston: your SCPVs are the best… until Felicia Day decides to do SCPVs. Good luck with Tabletop (I liked it too), and with The Guild s.6. Live Long and Prosper.
Ariel Cattáneo
PS: Also I tried a joke with “FireFawkes browser”, but it was too bad I don’t like to repeat it.