Author: Wil

For the last month, I’ve been doing a show at the ACME Comedy Theatre with Shane Nickerson. It’s called Now That’s What I Call ACME Volume One and it’s a "best of" show.

I’ve got two writing credits in the show, for a poker-related sketch called William’s Tell and a a sketch I co-wrote called Living and Dying In DWP, (which CMack and I wanted to call The Tibetan Sketch of Living and Dying, before we were overruled.)

I’m also in the funniest series of sketches I’ve ever been in, called "Tribute." I love these sketches so much, I will perform them for the rest of my life, if Anne (who wrote them) will let me.

There are four performances left, counting this Saturday night.

Details:

What: Now That’s What I Call ACME, Volume One
Where: ACME Comedy Theatre
When: Saturdays until November 19th.
Time: 8PM
Tickets: $15. (Reserve online)

This is the last chance you’ll have to see me at ACME for a looooong time. I was sick with mono when the last writing session happened, so I won’t get a chance to be in any of the shows before mid-2006.

I keep seeing these magnetic ribbons on people’s cars that say, "I SUPPORT PRESIDENT BUSH and our troops." I always applaud these brave people, who have taken the extraordinary step of attaching a magnetic ribbon to their car as a reflection of their deeply held convictions.

Personally, I don’t think one needs to support the president or the war to support the soldiers, but this is a favorite talking point from the RNC.

Witness the case of Cornell du Houx.

The senior is most well known on the Bowdoin College campus in his role
as development director for the College Democrats of America and as
co-president of the Maine College Democrats. Under his leadership, the
organization in Maine has grown from two chapters to 23.

While Cornell du Houx has actively rallied against many of President
Bush’s policies, he feels that his involvement in the Marines is not a
conflict of interest.

"Regardless of my opinions regarding
the war in Iraq, it is my duty as a U.S. Marine to serve and I am ready
and willing to do my job to its fullest extent," he said.

Others on campus, particularly his political opponents in the Bowdoin
College Republicans, feel differently about his service. Daniel
Schuberth, a leader of the Bowdoin College Republicans and College
Republican national secretary, said, "I applaud Mr. Houx for his
service, just as I applaud any other soldier who is brave enough to
take up arms in defense of his country. I find it troubling, however,
that one of the most vocal opponents of our president, our country and
our mission in Iraq has chosen to fight for a cause he claims is wrong.
Mr. Houx’s rhetoric against the war on terror places him in agreement
with the most radical fringes of the Democratic Party, and I am left to
question his logic and motivation."

Boy, it sure is cute how Daniel Schuberth tries real real hard to spit out his Mehlman-ordered talking points, but has he listened to what he’s saying? Daniel Schuberth, who should probably earn some sort of award from Operation Yellow Elephant, has the fucking nerve to criticize a brave soldier who is following orders, even though he doesn’t believe in the war, when he won’t enlist himself. He may claim that Cornell du Houx is a representative of the "most radical fringes of the Democratic Party," but it’s pretty clear that chickenhawks like Daniel Schuberth are in direct agreement with the mainstream of George Bush’s Republican Party. I’m sure he has "other priorities", just like Dick Cheney did during the Vietnam War. What a brave, brave little fighting keyboardist he is!

Tonight, there are vigils all over the country to mark the death of the
2000th American soldier to be killed in George Bush’s Idiotic
Adventure. Blondesense has links, and advises people who support the
soldiers but oppose the war (a difficult concept for bemagneted car
owners to comprehend, but a valid one nonetheless) to Just Go. I agree.

I would like to ask all young and able-bodied war supporters to join me
as I mark this tragic milestone: I will do everything I can to end this war, and prevent others like it from happening. You can head to your nearest recruitment
center and join up. Dan Schulberth has a spot in the military with his name on it that he’s not using.

There is a really cool feature at Forbes.com all about various forms of communication. They’ve got interviews with some incredible people, like Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Goodall. They’ve also got a discussion about blogging with me. A brief excerpt:

Wil Wheaton is a writer and actor. His Web site, wilwheaton.net, is one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. He has written two books, Just a Geek and Dancing Barefoot, and has a third due later this year. As an actor, he is best known for roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation and in the film Stand By Me.

wil_wheaton: believe it or not, in all these years I’ve never done an interview over IM

david_ewalt: since we’re doing stories about communicating, this will show a whole other way in which people communicate

wil_wheaton: i was talking with my stepson the other day about this

wil_wheaton: he’s grown up in a world where IM has always existed

wil_wheaton: he spends time IMing with his friends like I used to sit on the phone with mine

wil_wheaton: and I have iChatAV on my
laptop and my desktop, so when I travel for work or whatever, I can
stay in touch with my family visually.

david_ewalt: this, in fact is why i wanted to talk to you…you seem to have mastered many of these new forms of communication

david_ewalt: that’s the nice way for me to say "you’re a geek"

wil_wheaton: w00t

Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade drew a funny-because-it’s-true comic on blogging, and Bob Jeffery supports my theory that traditional channels of media and distribution just aren’t that important anymore. The whole thing is awesome, and it’s an easy way to lose several hours filling your brains with thought-provoking Slurm.

In addition to my regular Games of our Lives column, I’ve got a review in The Onion AV Club this week.

Games of our lives looks back at Thief:

You robbed the bank. That’s good! But you dropped the money all over
the known universe. That’s bad. But you have a spiffy car to drive
around and pick it up. That’s good! There are cops everywhere. That’s
bad. But you can occasionally blow them up for big points! That’s good!
You want to play Pac-Man, but you can only find a cheap imitation! That’s Thief!

Gameplay: Using a joystick, you drive your little car around
the ugliest maze in the world. Your goal is to pick up all the dollar
bills so you can advance to the next level. Opposing you are four
little police cars. They don’t have names, but you could safely call
them something like, oh… let’s randomly say Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and
Clyde. If they touch you, you’ll blow up in a magnificent fireworks
display. However, if you pick up one of the dollar signs scattered
around the maze, a siren will sound and your enemies will become ghost
cars that you can run into for bonus points.

[. . .]

It’s a little embarrassing to watch Thief try to be as cool as Pac-Man,
but it’s still a really fun game that works extra-hard to keep players
happy. The game plays a super-cool police-scanner soundtrack right out
of a ’40s movie, and when you’re down to your final life, Thief helpfully says "This is your last chance!" Can you remember the last time Pac-Man said as much as "Hello" to you? Didn’t think so.

And I reviewed X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse:

Whether to get out of homework, exact revenge on a bully, or just
impress a potential date, every kid wants to be a superhero. But the
Earth’s yellow sun gives its native population sunburns instead of
superpowers, and radiation is likely to make you a cancer patient
rather than a mutant. So what’s a wannabe to do? Retreat to the
basement with X-Men Legends II, of course! In this follow-up to 2004’s X-Men Legends,
Apocalypse threatens to destroy Earth. In the face of this mighty
adversary, the X-Men team up with their arch-rivals from Magneto’s
Brotherhood to defeat him, presumably so they can get back to fighting
each other.

Final judgment: X-Men Legends II is more of an
action-based button-masher than a sandbox RPG, but there’s nothing
wrong with that. The few limitations are easily offset by just how
enjoyable it is to play this game.

I realyl liked both of these games. In fact, Legends 2 is so much fun to play, I got a copy of it for PSP so I could play it when I wasn’t at home . . . which brought to mind an interesting idea: wouldn’t it be cool if you could have some sort of online place to save your games, so you could play them on different platforms and keep your progress in synch?

If I had to pick one way to change the world, if there was only one thing I could do, I would eliminate prejudice and bigotry, and ensure equal rights for all people. Period. That people are so ignorant, and so stupid that they can judge others based on factors which are randomly assigned by the universe, rather than the quality of one’s character, just baffles me.

When I heard yesterday that Rosa Parks died, I wanted to write something about it, but I couldn’t find the words. It’s hard to imagine what her world was like way back in 1955, especially since 99% of the people who have the ability to read this blog will probably never know a life a billionth as challenging as hers — and none of us are going to make one tenth of the difference she made. So what could I say that would matter?

Crooks & Liars managed to say it for me:

Try to imagine
yourself as Rosa Parks did when she left work that day in
1955. Exhausted from working long hours in the department store, she
looked to take a seat like always; but making sure she sat in the right
section of that bus at the risk of being handcuffed. You can’t-can you?
It took this incredible woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white
man on that bus to change the course of American history.

Think about that, and honor her legacy whenever you can. I challenge you all to make a difference, in some positive way, in someone’s life today. And tomorrow. And the day after that . . .