xkcd addresses the rock band haters

Posted on By Wil

Last night, Ryan and I played Rock Band for a couple of hours, taking turns playing guitar and drums. We’re both sore today, and it was entirely worth it.

The point isn’t to play real instruments. The point is to pretend that you’re in a rock band, and have fun while you do it.

Our final set list was:

  • All I Want is to be Next to You
  • Reptilia
  • . . . And Justice for All
  • Foreplay/Longtime
  • Won’t Get Fooled Again

At the end, I threw my drumsticks down on the living room floor, and threw both my arms into the air, throwing double goats. Ryan spun his guitar controller around his neck, threw his arms up into the air, and we shared a spontaneous double high five.

I don’t care about playing real instruments. I just want to have fun with my friends (or, in this case, my son.) I’ve played real guitar and real bass, and though it was always satisfying to play songs well, it was never as fun as it was playing in Zombitis* last night. Rock Band haters (who have to try real hard to impress everyone with how cynical they are) completely miss this fundamental point, which is sad. Maybe if they were having fun like this, they wouldn’t be such dicks.

*2/3 of Zombitis, anyway. We couldn’t convince Nolan to stop playing Warcraft long enough to rock out with us.

I’m going to live forever

Posted on By Wil

Well, it’s official: Guinness is good for you!

The old advertising slogan “Guinness is Good for You” may be true after all, according to researchers. A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks. Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

[…]

The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease. They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.

There are, of course, some caveats:

A spokesman for Brewing Research International, which conducts research for the industry, said she would be “wary” of placing the health benefits of any alcohol brand above another.

She said: “We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients. It is possible that there is an extra effect due to the antioxidants in Guinness – but I would like to see this research repeated.”

Clearly, this requires more research, for which I am happy to volunteer.

(via Propeller)

Geek in Review: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Posted on By Wil

Suicide Girls is doing some reorganizing, and the budget for the Newswire is being cut in the process. The Geek in Review is a casualty of the downsizing, so for my final column today, I collected some of my favorites from the last year in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

I’ll be honest: I’m sad that this is over, and I want to thank Sean, Missy, Helen, Erin, Gerry, and Christopher (who brought me here in the first place two years ago as an editor) for making me part of this tremendous community. This has been an incredible time for me, and I’ve really enjoyed working with everyone on the newswire. I’m proud of everything I did here, and it’s been an honor to share the masthead with people like Warren Ellis and Rob Corddry. I don’t know where I’ll take my geeky writings next, but I’m keeping my membership and will be visiting regularly, uh, for the articles . . . even if I’m not writing them.

I’m going to miss doing the GiR, but I’ll be able to look at some of the offers I’ve gotten in the last year to write for other magazines and publications, now that I’ll have a little bit more time in my schedule.

If none of that pans out, I have three Sci-Fi ideas sitting in my mental queue, and as soon as I finish this manga script, I’ll be putting all of my time and creative energy into transforming them from ideas into actual stories, with the intention of collecting them into one book to be released next year. I’m also planning to finish the first season of TNG reviews at TV Squad over the next couple of months, and put all of those into their own book, since the demand for that is pretty high right now. If you subscribe to the notion that everything happens for a reason, the end of the GiR, while sad for me in many ways, could be an enormous opportunity to write some things I’ve wanted to write for a very long time.

MY PRECIOUS!

Posted on By Wil

I just saw, via Propeller, that Peter Jackson has signed on to produce The Hobbit.

Director Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc said on Tuesday they have agreed to make two movies based on the book “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien, ending months of legal wrangling.

Jackson, the director of the smash hit “Lord of the Rings” movies, and producer Fran Walsh will executive produce both a “Hobbit” movie and a sequel, but no decision has been made about who will direct the films, Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of New Line told Reuters.

The good news is, it’s going to take two whole films to contain its awesomeness. The (potential) bad news is, he won’t be directing. That’s offset by the (potential) good news that it will make its way into theaters before 2011.

King Kong showed that Peter Jackson isn’t infallible, but it’s clear that he loves and respects Tolkien’s work, so I’m sure I’m not the only geek who would be willing to wait until 2011 or 2012 if that’s what it takes to get someone who loves it as much as we do behind the camera. I mean, we’ve waited for decades for this; what’s a few more years to get it right?

Thank you, Chris Dodd

Posted on By Wil

When the Democrats — who I thought were the good (or at least the anti-Bush, and pro-Constitution) guys — took back Congress in the last election, I was overjoyed. I thought we’d see an end — finally — to the Bush administration’s recklessness and lawlessness that’s made me feel ashamed to be American. Of course, the Democratic leadership has been a pathetic, embarrassing, contemptible, miserable failure, and now we see that not only have they enabled Bush’s insanity, they’ve been willing participants, helping him and Dick Cheney feed our constitution into the shredder. Yesterday, for the first time in ages, I felt my faith in our government begin to return, and I have Chris Dodd to thank for it.

It’s been depressing to watch our Democratic congressmen — the very ones we all worked so hard to put into the majority — do nothing to slow Bush’s destruction of what it means to be American.

I still don’t understand why Harry Reid will honor Republican holds and do back flips to make Mr. 24% happy while he extends a hearty “F you” to Senate Democrats, the Democratic party, and now the vast majority of Americans who are begging congress to do something — to do anything — to stop this tyrannical lunatic before it’s too late to save our country.

It is outrageous that Senators Clinton, Obama and Biden are asking for our votes, but are unwilling to provide leadership now. If they won’t stand up for the principles we all hold dear when they’re trying to earn our votes, how can we expect them to do it once they’re in the White House? Leadership is doing the right thing when it’s risky and when it’s unpopular. (And how depressing is it that upholding your oath of office is risky and unpopular? How doubly depressing is it that the only people who think that — and the only people being listened to — are Joe Klein, the DLC consultants, and the rest of the pundit class?)

Well, as a complete idiot once said: Fool me once, can’t get fooled again.

John Edwards has inspired the hell out of me with his message of hope for America, but Chris Dodd has shown real leadership on one of the most serious issues we’ve faced lately with telco immunity. While the other Senators have talked a good game, Senator Dodd actually did something when his country needed him.

I wanted to share my letter to him here, in the hopes that somehow it will find its way into his hands.

Dear Senator Dodd,

I doubt you’ll get to see this personally, as you’re very busy campaigning and defending our constitution from, well, everyone in government, it seems.

I hope a staffer will convey my immense gratitude — not only as a Democrat but as an American — to you for respecting your oath of office, and standing up to defend the very values that have made America great.

I sent e-mails and I made phone calls yesterday, but you stood up on the floor of the Senate and did something no other Democratic candidate for president seems to be willing to do: you were a leader. You stood not only with the base of our party, but with the vast majority of Americans who want the recklessness of this lawless president brought to a halt.

Your real leadership has inspired me and many others I know who have lost faith in our government, but especially in the Democratic party.

Best of luck to you in the primaries, and thank you for restoring a little bit of my faith in America.

Sincerely,

Wil Wheaton

Pasadena, CA