Category: blog

Hey, guess what I got today? I got my very own desk, here at G4!
Normally a desk wouldn’t be something to get excited about, but having this desk means that I have more space for stuff, and that means those cool Simpsons action figures I’ve bought over the last year or so have come out of the cabinet at home, and are now proudly on display. There’s something oddly comforting being observed by Professor Frink all day, while I’m sitting here with the writing and rewriting and the emailing and the Heeeyyyyy!
Honestly, when I got this job I told my brother to come and smack me in the head if I ever cared too much about where I sat, because that would mean that I’d gone totally corporate, but I really do like the extra space. I think I’m going to get some of those little chili pepper lights, and put them around my cubicle walls tomorrow.
NOT!
Jesus, what do you take me for? Come ON!
So, onto the weekend.
Friday, I took the boys to see Spider–Man.
I really liked it a lot. I was never much of a Spider–Man weenie, like I was for Batman, so I can’t really go Comic Book Guy on it, which I guess is a good thing. I wonder how many otherwise enjoyable movies are totally ruined for us because we go Comic Book Guy on them? That’s something interesting to think about…
I’m going to hold off on the big review for a few days, so I don’t lone-gunmen-are-dead it for anyone.
My favorite thing? I sat next to Nolan, and more than once he tuged at my sleeve to tell me, “Wil, I LOVE this movie! I can’t wait to get it on DVD!”
Other than that, it was a very uneventful weekend. I brought Silent Hill 2 home from work, and really enjoyed that, too. What a scary freakin’ experience that was…on the advice of a guy I work with, I played it late at night with all the lights in my house turned off…and after about 2 hours I had switched on a light, and had called Ferris to sit with me.
Yeah, I’m a sissy like that.
Speaking of video games, Anne and I took the kids to the Pakk Man Arcade in Pasadena on Sunday. It’s this arcade that I’ve been going to since I was too young to drive myself, and it’s really awesome to share that place with my boys, and see them experience the excitement that I once felt.
The thing is, the Pasadena City Council, in their infinite “wisdom”, is on the rampage to close down the arcade. They’ve been at it for years, but it looks like they may have finally found a way to do it. I’m beyond furious at this, and I’m joining the fight to keep the arcade open. If you live in or near Los Angeles, or Orange County, please consider coming to a huge rally that is being held to save the arcade, on Saturday, May 18th.
If you’re planning on attending, email me and let me know. I’ll look for you there, and we can make up some sort of WWDN battle cry to holler at the rally. It’ll be cool.
Speaking of cool, the auction ends tomorrow, and I can’t believe that it’s over 200 bucks. I think that’s really cool. I’ll be able to pay for a GPS device for geocaching with my kids, and I’ll have extra left over to pay some bills. Cool! 🙂
It’s time to get back to spinning in my cool chair before my meeting.
Thought for today:

“We live in age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”
-Oscar Wilde

Today’s title comes from The Vandals album “Fear of a Punk Planet.” One of the true classics, if you ask me.
Doctor update: I have a sinus infection, and the doc put me on antibiotics. I didn’t want to take them, but he agreed to dance around me with a stick chanting the theme to Knight Rider if I did, so we compromised.
I have heeded countless email requests, and I’ve put up an eBay auction. It’s an 8×10 of me in the spiffy red spacesuit. Interesting fact about this photo: it’s the only one of me from TNG that I really like. Of all the publicity photos I ever did, I think I look the least lame in this one. The auction is set for 5 days.
Also, I’ve updated the library selections on the right side over there. I was going to let them stay for another week or so…but when I saw that Hitchhiker’s Guide was out, I couldn’t wait. I am such a geek.
So check it out: if this auction goes well, I can totally buy a GPS, and start geocaching…how cool would it be to make a WWDN geocaching team?
I’m taking the kids to see Spiderman tonight. I hope it doesn’t suck.
Funny, isn’t it? In a post-Episode I world, every time I get excited about a big movie opening, I am reminded of how ripped off and angry I was when I left that movie, and my excitement is tempered…then I recall how much I loved X-Men, and my excitement rises again…and then, while I’m basking in that warm feeling…I remember Jar-Jar, and [whine] “My name is Anakin, and I’m a peson!” [/whine]
Well, at the very least, Kirsten Dunst is hot. 🙂
Oh, and speaking of hot…maybe Episode II won’t be so bad after all. Meow.
I’m off to work now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Oh, and….GO LAKERS!

Well, I’m still sick. I’ve broken down and made a doctor’s appointment for today.
I was reading loren’s site earlier today, and I have found a new purpose in life: Geocaching. As soon as I get some time and some scratch, I’m totally getting a cheap GPS, and taking the kids to do this. It looks awesome.
Thought for Today:

“If you sacrifice others for yourself, you will suffer the consequences.”

Good news and bad news:
Good news: G4 did the official switch from Pong to real programming at 12AM EDT this morning. My show, Arena, even has it’s own page on the website now. I just checked it out, and they’ve added TONS of stuff to that page. You can click the little 8-bit picture of me, and see all sorts of spiffy stuff.
Bad news: I am officially sick. I have some sort of sinus infection thingy. My head is so stuffy and my throat hurts so badly, I may have to go see a real doctor (I much prefer those guys who dance around you and chant, while shaking a stick that has a complete set of A-Team dolls tied to the top of it.)
Even though I was feeling like hell last night, I went out to our official launch party, where everyone from Comcast down to the janitor in our building watched the programming switch from Pong to Blister. It was a strange feeling. I felt like we’ve been pushing this rock up a hill for months, and we’ve totally been able to control where the rock is going, and how fast it’s rolling…and now it’s over the top of the hill, and on it’s way down, and we just have to keep up with it, and hope that it doesn’t roll too far away from us.
It’s still a bit surreal to me, because Arena evolves heavily from our first episode to our fourth, and we’re just now hitting our stride…so it won’t be until the third or fourth show is on the air that I’ll feel that sense of accomplishment and excitement that I always feel when a something I’ve worked on is put in front of an audience.
The thing that’s totally new and different for me is that I’ll be constantly producing new material, so I won’t get to sit back and think, “Man, Episode 107 was GREAT!” Because Episode 108 is right around the corner.
It’s good though, one thing I’ve never liked to do is sit back and rest on my laurels.
Oh! One last thing before I go back to bed: I drove over a screw a few days ago, and my tire was going flat yesterday, so I took it back to the tire shop, and got a free replacement, because I’d bought that stupid road hazzard insurance for like 8 bucks. Hmm… 8 bucks or 200 bucks? I was happy to save the 200 bucks.
So I bought myself a cool new shirt for 25 bucks (Or should I say, Vega$ bought me a shirt?! Oh YEAH BABY!), and called it even.
Thought For Today comes from the Tao:

“The sky is everlasting
And the earth is very old.
Why so? Because the world
Exists not for itself;
It can and will live on.
The Wise Man chooses to be last
And so becomes the first of all;
Denying self, he too is saved.
For does he not fulfillment find
In being an unselfish man?

Boy, I should really be in bed now, but I can’t sleep.
I think I’m getting sick, and my throat is just killing me. My sinuses are all dried out, and I keep coughing. I think all that smoke and recycled air in Vega$ got to me.
Anyway, so I’m in bed, just starting to doze off, which is a good thing because I have to be up early tomorrow, because we’re filming 2 episodes of my show, and I’m pretty sure the Big Men In Suits are coming to watch us…but as I’m dozing off, I get this idea for a sketch to present at ACME tomorrow night, so I hop out of bed to write it.
When I sit down here, I see that I have email waiting for me, that they’re talking about me at Mike Doughty’s BBS. Now, Mike Doughty was the man behind one of my favorite bands of all time, Soul Coughing.
Apparently, they were pokin’ fun at that stupid picture of me that Robert posted at RetroCrush a couple of weeks ago…
So I read through it, and posted:

“So anyway, Mike (can I call you Mike?), here’s some fanboy ramblings from the artist formerly known at TVs Wil Wheaton: Your band was and currently is one of my all-time favorites, and I was listening to Ruby Vroom this morning. You were a real inspiration to me (along with Burroughs and Rollins) when I was younger and wanting to be a writer.
Okay, that’s the end of my fanboy lameness.
Here’s my stickin-up-for-myself lameness:
We all looked like tools in the 80s. Anyone who denies that is either too young, or too delusional to remember. Unfortunately, I have the joy of my 80s lameness being forever preserved in magazine form for all eternity. And for the record, “Party Naked” was the pathetic plea from a confused and awkward 14 or 15 year-old for female attention. Pink Floyd was one of the few bands I had heard in 1987 who had anything meaningful to say (Listen to Animals, and you’ll get my drift).
In times like these, when I feel mortified at this photographic record, I thank the gods that I never wore anything like Corey Feldman.
Well, at least I was never photographed in my fedora.”

God, don’t I sound like a stupid fanboy, there?
Anyway, if you haven’t heard Soul Coughing, you really owe it to yourself to check out Ruby Vroom and El Oso, at least.
So when it’s 5AM and you are listening to Los Angeles, you can know if the Radio Man is laughing at you, or with you.