Author: Wil

It’s been a rather busy week (even though it’s only half over) for me and Anne, and she wanted everyone to know that she’s working on her marathon entry in every spare minute she has . . . she just doesn’t have very many of them right now.
Also, it looks like we’ve fixed everything that needed fixing, and comments are back. I’ve missed the interaction more than I thought I would, and I’m glad we’ve gotten out shit together again. Thanks to Loren and Josh 🙂

I’ve been interested in the case of the West Memphis Three for a couple of years. I won’t go into the details here, (there are more details in the link) but I think a grave injustice has been done, and it needs to be corrected.
The WM3 are really up against it now, and I’ve donated an autographed copy of Dancing Barefoot to be auctioned on eBay. 100% of the final bid will be donated to their legal defense (defence, for you non-Americans) fund.
The last auction of Barefoot hit around $150, for St. Jude’s, and I think that rocks pretty damn hard. Every single bit helps, so if you’re looking for a Barefoot of your own, and you want to help out what I think is a very good cause, you know what to do.

A few weeks ago, I wrote:
Dude! This is too cool!
Tomorrow, I have an audition to do voicework for Twisted Metal: World Tour!
I’ve played so much Twisted Metal over the years that if I hear Rob Zombie in the car, I have to change the station, or I may get a little . . . aggressive.
This would be like a Trekkie getting to work on TNG, or me getting to work on Family Guy or Futurama.
Apparently, a Video game news site ran a story which quoted the entry, but incorrectly asserted that I had been “cast” in the game. I sent them feedback and asked for a correction, but they never ran it, nor did they respond to my request.
And now, of course, I am in trouble, because people who are involved with the project think I claimed that I was cast in the project (except that I didn’t) that hasn’t been announced (except for the 2500 google search results, including a very cool movie of the game trailer.)
I have been asked to issue a retraction, which I don’t think is appropriate, since I never made the incorrect claim in the first place, but I love Sony’s games, and I especially love the entire Twisted Metal series, and since I don’t want to hurt them, and I especially don’t want to hurt my chances of ever working with them (provided it’s not already too late) I would like to issue the following clarification:

I completely respect Sony, and everyone involved with the production of all the Twisted Metal games. I wrote about my audition on my blog because I was so excited about the opportunity to audition for something that I love so much.
I understand the importance of not revealing any confidential or sensitive information, which is why I didn’t talk about the characters I read for, or discuss any storyline specifics. I’ve been a professional actor for over 25 years, and confidentiality is nothing new to me.
I deeply regret that I was misquoted by psp.ign.com, and I am very upset that they did not respond to my request to clarify their story. I hope this hasn’t caused any harm to Sony, or anyone involved with the production of Twisted Metal: World Tour, and I sincerely hope that I will get an opportunity to work with them in the future.
If nothing else, I can’t wait to get my hands on the wheel, and jump back into Calypso’s newest tournament, when the game is released.

I would like to add that I didn’t realize this was such a big deal, and I can’t understand, for the life of me, why any software publisher wouldn’t want the free and enthusiastic publicity that my post could have — no, SHOULD HAVE — generated. It’s not like the game is a big secret.
To ensure this doesn’t happen again, in the future, unless I am specifically given permission by the game’s publisher, I just won’t write about the specifics of my auditions.
This is perfect. I got excited about something, mentioned how excited I was, and now it looks like my video game voicing career is over before it even got started.
Hooray.

Continuing the “Dreams Come True” theme from the last entry . . .
I have been invited to play on the World Poker Tour’s second Hollywood Home Game this Friday!
I am so excited! I haven’t sat at a table and played NL Hold’Em (other than a few home games) since February, so I think I’ll be studying my Sklansky, Jones, Caro and Brunson this week. If I get some time, I’ll head out to the Bike, or Commerce, and see how I do down there.
I’m sure that I will have to sign a waiver that says I won’t talk about the details of the game, but I’ll keep notes, and once it airs, I’ll write up “Lying in Hollywood.”
I got the invite in large part because of WWdN, which wouldn’t exist without WWdN’s readers. So, again . . . thank you 🙂

This must be the Month of Dreams Coming True.
Last Tuesday, I did three voices for EverQuest 2, and this Thursday, I get to record a lead voice in a game called “Stonewall” that will be out in the fall.
I also had an audition last week for “Knights of the Old Republic 2: Electric Boogaloo*, and I think I managed to keep my geek under control long enough to not suck while I recorded an audition for a character that’s described as “The Next Han Solo.” (!)
Check this out: when I arrived at my agency for the audition, I didn’t know I’d be reading for KotR2:EB*. I was there for a Nickelodeon cartoon, and a commercial (it’s very common to go there for one thing, and end up reading for two or three other jobs.)
So I was in the waiting room, and my VO agent handed me the copy.
“Do you know what this game is?” She said.
“Jabba wah nichiko, Solo, ha ha ha ha ha.” I said. “Kresko, klinto kweecho coo . . . la orka!”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,'” she said.
“I’m a little bit of a Star Wars nerd,” I said.
“That’s ‘a little bit’?”
I giggled.
“Knights of the Old Republic is better than Episode 1, and I’m told it’s better than Episode 2, which I refuse to see.”
“Why do you refuse to see it?”
“Fool me once, and all that,” I said.
She laughed. “Okay, well, look it over and let me know when you’re ready.”
I spent about ten minutes looking over the material. “When I was playing with my Star Wars figures on the kitchen floor twenty years ago — holy shit. Was it really twenty years ago? — I never thought I’d get a chance to be part of it . . . even if it’s just an audition.”
The material was very straightforward, so I came up with a couple of character ideas, tried a few voices, settled on the ones that I liked, and told her I was ready.
I steadied myself, did my audition, and felt really good about it.
“That was great,” she said. “Do you want to do it again?”
“No, I’m happy with that. But if you could let the clients know, as part of my interpretation of this character . . . Han shoots first.”
“Why do people keep saying that?” She said.
“It’s a nerd thing.”
*(It is, of course, not really called “Electric Boogaloo.”)