on the continuing benefit of being easily amused

Posted on By Wil

I got a MakerBot Digitizer, so I can do even more really cool stuff using my MakerBot Replicator. I set it up this afternoon, and here’s my first scan, which I immediately printed:

3D Printed Fake Dog Poop

Anne and I do this stupid thing where we hide that fake dog poop around the house for each other to find. So when I had to decide what my first scanned object would be, it was easy: I made her a little sparkly blue dog poop.

Because of course I did.

I uploaded it to Thingiverse, but I’m not currently able to find it there. If someone does find it, let me know and I’ll update this post.

Update: thanks to Bob G, who found the thing.

 

i forget the secret knock

Posted on By Wil

I’m pretty busy with a few projects that I can’t talk about, including two Really Awesome Things that I’m dying to announce.

My little pocket notebook is filling up with words that I hope will get assembled into something here when I slow down a little bit, so I’m still writing every day, just not in public.

And now I want to share something really neat, before I get back to work:

Stand by Me 1986 ( FILMING LOCATION ) from Herve Attia on Vimeo.

This was shared with me by a reader, who notes that this guy makes lots of videos showing the current state of classic film locations. I doubt you’ll have the same emotional reaction to it that I did, but still think you’ll dig it.

Ten great Tabletop games you can use to introduce your friends to gaming

Posted on By Wil

Via Reddit, I saw this fantastic list at Board Game Geek, detailing the top 100 “gateway” games, which is how we describe a game you use as an infection vector for tabletop gaming.

Here’s the top ten, as voted on by Board Game Geek members:

1 Ticket to Ride/TTR Europe
2 Carcassonne (all)
3 King of Tokyo
4 Dixit
5 For Sale
6 Diamant/Incan Gold
7 Can’t Stop
8 Pandemic
9 Love Letter
10 Settlers of Catan

As I’ve written before, different games work for different people, and someone who loves Ticket To Ride may not like King of Tokyo at all, so ask your non-gamer or tabletop-curious friends questions, and choose their gateway game carefully. All of these games have a high ratio of luck to strategy, which makes it a lot of fun for experienced and new players alike to play together.

And, as luck would have it, a lot of these games have been played on Tabletop, so you can get an assist from Your Old Pal Wil Wheaton when you introduce one of them to a new gamer. Just use the links above.

Have fun, and PLAY MORE GAMES!

Now I have something where I didn’t have something before.

Posted on By Wil

My friend Cory Doctorow says that he can write simply by sitting down and opening up a vein. It doesn’t matter where he is, or what’s going on around him. When it’s time to write, it’s just his brain and the place he puts the words.

I admire that, and wish I could do it, but it’s just not possible for me. I need to be in a calm and quiet place, both emotionally and physically, and depending on what stage of a project I’m in (rough draft, last mile, rewriting, outlining), I may need other existential things, particular bits of music, types of coffee or tea, things like that.

I guess it’s different for every writer, but I have these — you know, I sat here for almost a full minute typing and deleting the word “silly”, before deciding that it isn’t silly at all — rituals that let me open the creative vein that Cory can tear open at will.

The important thing, I guess, is that the words get written and the story gets told, and what the specific the steps are from idea to publishing don’t really matter, at long as you take them.

Today, I had the barest hint of an idea, and I wanted to know what it would turn into, if I worked on it. Imagine seeing something far away, though clouds and haze. It could be a mountain, it could be a thunderhead, it could be a tumor pressing against your optic nerve. The thing is, you don’t know what it is until you get close enough to see it clearly. You have to take the steps.

So I put on my running shoes, and I went out for a jog, letting my mind wander around, until that hint of an idea began to coalesce into something more tangible. After about forty minutes, I had enough to write down some broad strokes, knowing that once I started writing the actual thing, I’ll know how to fill in the gaps that were left today.

I took literal steps to get my brain going, and to start the process of turning a few scattered “what if…” ideas into something that may turn into an actual story. I don’t know what will come of it, and I don’t know when it will be finished, but I took the steps, and now I have something where I didn’t have something before.

everyone needs more marlowe wheaton

Posted on By Wil

"...but I was playing with the toys."

“…but but but I was playing with the toys.”

Seamus is really patient with Marlowe, but she’s 19 months and he’s 5 years-old, so for the last few days, she’s been pushing him, and testing her position in the pack.

Today, he finally decided that he’d had enough, and in addition to holding her down and reminding her that when he doesn’t want to play, it means he does not want to play, he took her toys away from her and made her wait about an hour before he let her take one of them back.

I let him correct her, because that’s really important for her socialization, and it’s really important to maintain pack status… but I did have to take this picture of her looking at me like it was the most unfair thing in the world that he took her toys away.