The Return of MST3K

Posted on By Wil

I was twenty years-old the first time I saw MST3K. I was sitting on the couch with a friend of mine, looking for something to watch on a Sunday morning, when she stopped on some crappy old horror movie.

"What’s this?" I said.

"You’ve never seen this before?"

"No," I said, "That’s why I asked ‘what’s this.’"

"It’s a show about this guy who is trapped in space with robots, and is forced to watch horrible movies. So he and the robots talk back to the screen."

It reminded me of this show I first watched on KDOC here in Los Angeles when I was a freshman in high school, called Mad Movies. I became a fan for life in a matter of minutes, and developed a list of favorites just as fast: Manos, the Hands of Fate, Rocketship XM and Lost Continent are a few that come instantly to mind.

MST3K’s Joel Hodgson once said, "We don’t ask ourselves, ‘will anyone get this?’ We tell each other, ‘the right people will get this.’" I was inspired by that philosophy, and when I wrote sketch comedy or did improv (both pursuits inspired by MST3K and the British Whose Line?) I used it, and I still use it today, even when I’m not writing comedy.

So now that there’s some context for how much I love MST3K, you’ll understand how excited I was when I saw that most of the original crew has reunited for Cinematic Titanic, which I believe can be safely called The Return of MST3K:

Cinematic Titanic is a feature length movie riffing show and is an
artist owned and operated venture created by Joel Hodgson, the creator
of the Peabody award-winning Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Cinematic
Titanic features the original cast and writers of MST3K, which is
Hodgson (Joel Robinson), Trace Beaulieu (Crow), and J. Elvis Weinstein
(Tom Servo). Filling out the ensemble is Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester)
and Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank).

While this is exciting to me as a fan, it’s also inspiring and validating to me as a creative person who lives on the Long Tail. Instead of waiting for a network to give them the opportunity to bring their show to viewers, they’re distributing the show on DVD themselves. Between this and Riff Trax, we Misties have a lot to celebrate these days.
 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some rock climbing to do.

it’s graphic, and it’s awesome

Posted on By Wil

DailyBits compiled a list of seventeen — seventeen! —  free and dowloadable graphic novels.

DailyBits, calls them "sensational" and I agree. Look at some of them:

Fell #1 from Warren Ellis

Detective Richard Fell is transferred over the bridge from the big city to Snowtown, a feral district whose police roster numbers three-and-a-half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban trashzone, Richard Fell is starting all over again.

Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned by Brian K. Vaughan

When a plague of unknown origin instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome, unemployed and unmotivated slacker Yorick Brown suddenly discovers that he is the only male left in a world inhabited solely by women.

Sandman #1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine, the Hellblazer.

Next time someone asks you to define awesome, you may want to point them to this list (you could also show them this collection of people posing with album covers in a rather clever way.) It’s also a spectacular resource to use if you’ve ever wanted to introduce people to graphic novels.

(via Pulp 2.0)

the best thing, ever

Posted on By Wil

Anne and I went into a little coffee place in Eagle Rock this afternoon, on a spur of the moment date.

While we waited, the girl who poured our coffee looked at me from behind the espresso machine and said, "Are you who I think you are?"

I’ve heard this question a lot in my life, and there really isn’t a good way to answer it that doesn’t make me feel like a dick.

"I’m not sure," I said. "Who do you think I am?"

She hesitated before saying, in a soft and uncertain voice, "Are you . . . Wil . . . Wil Wheaton?"

"Yeah," I said. "That’s me."

She blushed and smiled. "You’re my favorite!"

Anne, took my hand in hers and squeezed it. Her eyes sparkled. "He’s my favorite, too," She said.

I looked at my wife. I felt the same way I did when she said, "Yes."

"That’s the best thing, ever," I said.

***
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