in which i once again praise and thank mst3k

Posted on By Wil

A few months ago, my dad gave me a copy of a James Michener book called The Eagle and the Raven. “Read the introduction,” my dad said. “I think it will speak to you.”

He was right. The introduction was all about how Michener saved everything he cut out of his novels, and described how the book I held in my hands was born from material he’d cut out of a different book he’d written years before. I never throw away anything, and it was spiffy to read that one of my behaviors as a writer is mimicked by someone who probably cut more words out of his novels than I’ll write in my entire life. I thought about this earlier today when I came across a file called introduction.odt, which I assume it was going to be an introduction to something, at some time:

When I was twenty or twenty-one, I read an interview with Joel Hodgson, one of the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was asked about the uncommonly high number of obscure references and jokes that were lost on a large portion of the audience. Those obscure jokes were one of the main reasons I loved MST3K so much, so I paid very close attention when Joel said that they didn’t ask themselves, “Will anyone get this joke?” but instead they said to each other, “the right people will get this joke.” That philosophy was and continues to be a very strong influence in my writing, so

and then it just ends. I can’t remember where I was going with this, or what it was for (I didn’t check the date stamp on the file before I reflexively saved it after opening it this afternoon) but it remains true: MST3K was a huge influence on me during some of my formative years.

The MST3K crew reunited recently to give an interview to my old stomping grounds, The AV Club, and in it, Joel said:

No one was saying, “Don’t put that in, no one will get that.” We had a very open architecture in the writing room. The only person that could remove any joke was basically an individual who said, “I have a problem with that joke, it offends me.” And then we would throw it out, no questions asked.

I’m doubt that Joel or anyone from MST3K will see this, but I want to publicly thank them all, not just for entertaining me during the exciting rock climbing portion of my youth, but for inspiring me to never worry about trying to be all things to all people.

I got some important work done today, and I’m going to celebrate by watching something from the 20th anniversary box set, probably First Spaceship on Venus .

Oh, while I’m talking about MST3K: People who can make this happen, please get Lost Continent and Rocketship X-M onto DVD, mmmkay? I haven’t seen them since 1990, and after waiting all this time, my lungs are aching for air.

bolts from above hurt the people down below

Posted on By Wil

Three things today:

1. I’m pretty sure I’m not a prima dona, but I’ve been prima dona-adjacent plenty of times in the course of my acting career. Because of my extensive experience with prima donas, I was able to advise John Scalzi on the matter yesterday, via an IM conversation that he’s reprinted on his blog:

Me: I just want to burnish my credentials as an insufferable prima donna, you know?

Wil: Dude. Come spend some time with me. Learn at the feet of a master.

Me: “Fix me pot pie!”

Wil: Good, but try: “Are you fucking kidding me? Where’s my pot pie?”

“I came all the way here, and you can’t even make a fucking pot pie?”

Then you sort of shake your head, like you’re really disappointed.

Yes, I’ll be at LosCon, but probably for only the one panel with John. If there’s a sudden and unexpected explosion of Awesome next weekend, that’s probably why.

2. While Propelling this morning, I came across one of the single greatest things I’ve ever seen in my life: The Genesis of Doctor Who, from the BBC Archives:

Explore the origins of a TV legend with this collection of documents and images. It’s now the number one family favourite, but ‘Doctor Who’ had a difficult birth, emerging from the imagination of some of BBC Drama’s top minds.

Here, we tell the story of the creation of ‘Doctor Who’ from the very beginning, starting with a report on the possibility of making science fiction for television and leading up to the moment a new drama series is announced in the pages of ‘Radio Times’.

Please prop this story at Propeller. I’d kind of like to keep my corporate overlords over there happy, for the usual reasons.

3. Since I first turned it on, iTunes Genius has been the opposite of the generally accepted definition of genius. Instead of it, I’ve relied on totally random shuffle to amuse myself when I’m not listening to one of my many carefully-designed playlists (all those years making mixtapes paid off, apparently.) I kept checking back, in the hopes that it would get a little closer to awesome, and recently, the Genius playlists have been considerably smarter and more useful (as I figured they would be, as they aggregated more user data). Today, Genius said, “Hey, you have this playlist with New Order, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Jam? You’ll totally like the soundtrack to Marie Antoinette.” I took a look, and iTunes Genius was totally right. As I said on Twitter, I’m late to the party, and I have no desire to see the movie, but you can do a lot worse than the soundtrack to Marie Antoinette.

That’s probably it for today. I’m racing against yet another deadline on yet another awesome project that I can’t wait to announce.

in which wil announces a new weekly column (yay!)

Posted on By Wil

When I was in my late teens and early twenties (you know, those years where you’re invincible and know everything?) my friend Dave and were crazy about the LA Weekly. We’d pick it up every Thursday, and then sit in his house or my apartment, listening to records (actual, vinyl records) and reading it cover to cover. I think it’s safe to say that the Weekly’s voice and editorial point of view in the early 90s was a significant influence on me.

A couple of months ago, my former editor at the Suicide Girls Newswire became the editor of the Weekly’s blogs, and she asked me if I’d come and write for her again.

I was really excited at the prospect of writing for a publication that I’d been reading for over 15 years, but as soon as I accepted the job, the performance anxiety kicked in. I got really nervous about writing for a new audience, especially one that I know nothing about (if I could hop in a time machine and go back to 1991, I’d be all set, but currently? I’m kind of shooting in the dark.) It’s intimidating, like finally getting to play for a team you’ve watched your entire life, and I’ll admit to being really overwhelmed by the whole thing. When I worked on my column yesterday, rewriting it for the millionth time, I realized that, for the first time in a long time, I was afraid to suck.

It was a lot of work, and I’m not entirely sure I struck the notes I wanted to strike, but my first column just went live a little bit ago. It’s called Crosstown Traffic, and it’s about Los Angeles as a microcosm of 21st century America:

I’m an Angeleno by birth, rather than by choice (a bit of a rarity, it seems). I grew up in the Valley, I worked in Hollywood (in both the geographical and mythical sense) for most of my life, and I’ve driven at least ten miles on our freeways for every resident in the county, most of them sitting in traffic on the 10 during rush hour.

Two things are certain when you live in Los Angeles: you’re going to deal with people who can’t drive in the rain, and you will meet people who have come here from all over the country. Some of them are chasing a dream, some of them are running away from a nightmare. Some are here to get discovered, some are here to disappear. And, sooner or later, all of them are going to be between me and where I want to go. When I’m late. On a Friday. Sitting on the 10 during rush hour. Well, at least if it’s raining they’ll know how to drive.

Speaking as a third-generation Angeleno, I’m glad they’re here, because I think we’d live in a pretty boring city otherwise.

My column will appear every Tuesday morning. If you think it doesn’t suck, I’d be extremely grateful if you’d tell your friends about it, link it, and do all that stuff that makes my bosses happy, and glad they hired me.

(I’m stealing a move from John Scalzi and closing comments on this post, to encourage comments over my post at the Weekly.)