I wanted to share with WWdN readers this amazing thing I discovered via boingboing recently: Comfort Stand Records.

I’m listening to Swingin’ Singles while I do this work . . . and I absolutely must share this record with you WWdN readers. It rules. Stand out artists include Math and Physics Club, Forty-One, Messer Chups (particularly Orgia of dead 2), and Kim & Buran — and that’s just the first side of the collection. I haven’t even gotten to side b yet.
But here’s the greatest thing in the world about these artists and this label: every track and album is released under a Creative Commons license, so you can download, burn, and share the music with anyone you want legally. Comfort Stand sez: “Comfort Stand Recordings is a community-driven label where all releases are free with artwork and liner notes. We strive to bring you recordings that we find interesting, compelling and downright enjoyable. We are not genre-specific and feature a wide range of material, from well-known performers to those loud unknown kids down your block.
We are not a business. We’re not out to make a profit. There are no banners, popups, or spam at Comfort Stand. You don’t have to register yourself to download the music you like. We operate under the ideology that money need not come between artists and audience.”
There’s a lot of lousy free music on the internets. It’s nice to listen to some really good free music for a change.
Enjoy . . .

Three things for a Sunday afternoon:
1. It was 85 degrees here yesterday and Friday. Can you believe that? I guess Demeter worked something out with Hades, and got temporary custody of Persephone for the weekend.
2. The ACME show last night was amazing. I have been in a lot of ensemble casts in my life, and this cast is one of the best. It is truly a privilege to share the stage with them, and I can’t wait to do this show every week. I remember feeling this way back in 2001 when I was doing my first ACME show “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Sunday Show.” The camaraderie backstage creates a trust and relaxation onstage, which takes the show up to eleven. There’s already talk of extending our show past the usual ten weeks, because it’s getting such a great response from the audience.
3. I read this in the comments recently, but I’m putting it here for the RSS folks who probably missed Troy Rutter’s The Top 10 Ways You Know You’ve Been Reading Wil Wheaton’s Blog Too Much . . .

10. You pronounce Wil’s site as “dubya dubya dee enn” in general conversation.
9. You take a trip to California to go geocaching hoping to see Wil’s name in the log.
8. You try to send an update to the IMDB to change Ernest’s last name to Borg9.
7. You Photoshop Wil’s name onto a box of Wheat Thins.
6. You buy the “Wil has a posse” thong for your girlfriend.
5. You write a letter to the producers of Alias pleading with them to write Wil into a dream sequence for Sidney.
4. You wish you could go back in time to help Wil kick his own ass.
3. You buy a case of voodoo dolls and put the last name “Kimmel” on all of them.
2. You apologize out loud to Wil when Foster dies in Ghost Recon 2.
1. You watch Boston Legal and at the end of the credit you scream “That’s William FUCKING Shatner!”

Thanks, Troy! The last time I was in a top ten list, it featured clever ways to kill my Star Trek character. Six of them involved Klingons and soap-on-a-rope, but your list more than balances that out.

I watched My Coolest Years: The Geeks with Anne and the kids last night. I thought the show was fantastic, and I was honored to be in such great company. Open note to The Cool Guy who tormented Jessi Klein or the girls from The Donnas: Dude, wherever you are, you are a loser.
Biggest surprise of the show: John Tesh is hellafunny! I remember that he played a Klingon for a day on Next Generation in the episode “The Icarus Factor.” Well, “played a Klingon” is probably a little too much . . . he was sort of a featured extra in a line of about twenty guys who wore Klingon makeup and costumes, and snarled while they zapped Worf with painsticks. (Back then, a metric ton of celebrities wanted to be on the show, and they usually ended up wearing crazy alien make-up. Mick Fleetwood was this weird fish-looking thing, for example.)
I remember that he was really friendly, and seemed to be getting a HUGE kick out of the whole thing, but I don’t remember him being as funny as he was on My Coolest Years last night.
Best moment of the show: When I saw that they titled me “Wil Wheaton: Author of Just A Geek” (which reminds me: Just A Geek has been recommended by Quint, from Ain’t It Cool News! I am in incredibly good company over there, too. Thanks, Quint!) instead of That Other Thing.
That’s a big deal to me, you know. Though I personally feel that I’m finally emerging from the shadow of America’s Favorite Acting Ensign And Starfleet Academy Classmate Killing Cadet, I wonder if I’ll ever do that in the eyes of the entertainment industry. This morning’s Dork Tower gives a funny-because-it’s-true view of how that effort is playing out in fandom.
. . . and in casting too, now that I really think about it . . . but that’s okay. The Path I’m currently wandering is a good one.
Absolute coolest moment in the show: They put up a picture of me with my überhot wife as part of the “Geeks Ultimately Win, So Bite It, You Cool Kids” portion of the show. Ryan just about died when he saw Anne, in the coolest “I’m fifteen and I’m so proud of my mom” way. (Apparently, the kids on his baseball team tried to torment him by singing “Ryan’s mom has got it goin’ on” to the tune of “Stacey’s Mom,” and he silenced them by replying, “Yeah. My mom’s hot. So what?” Sweet.)
Tonight, VH1 gives us My Coolest Years: The Dirty Hippies, which should be hilarious. It looks like My Coolest Years could end up being as great as I Love The 80s, or maybe even better. Go Generation X! Rock! Yeah! \m/
If anyone from VH1 reads this: I had a blast, you guys. Thanks for making me look cool. I’d love to work with you some more.

If you’ve got VH1, you can watch me tonight on My Coolest Years: The Geeks.
VH1 says:

“Nobody gets through high school without feeling like a total loser now and again. But God help you if you were unusually intelligent, gifted in something other than sports, or a little more shy than normal . . .”

. . . or the geeky kid on Star Trek who knew more about Car Wars vehicle design than talking to girls.
I did about three hours of interviews with VH1, and I have no idea what they’ll use . . . but I watched “The Metalheads” last night, and like most of the VH1 nostalgia shows, it was super cool. The show airs at 10/9c.

I play David Foster in Ghost Recon 2. I’ve been waiting for months to play it (ever since I recorded my first few lines of dialogue), and last night, I finally got my chance to try it out.
I couldn’t sleep, so rather than lie in bed and toss around until I woke Anne and got The Wrath, I quietly went down to the living room to play.
Okay, the first mission? SO @!#$^%ING HARD! But that’s good, because it sets it up for the player that this isn’t going to be a cake walk. Save early, and save often, as the saying goes. 🙂
After several tries, I finally completed it with my entire squad intact, if slightly wounded. Funtimes!
On to mission two: blew the bridge with no problem, and lead my squad around the left side of the building complex, where we took a big group of hostiles completely by surprise! Yes! A few times, I heard me (Foster) tell myself, “Great shot!” or “Fire in the hole!” I must say, I am quite the badass . . . and so is David Foster.
So.
After we cleared this courtyard, I consulted my map and saw that we had a few hundred meters to cover before we met up with the British squad, so decided to send my men on the right flank while I went up the left side.
“Copy that,” is that last thing I heard myself (Foster) say before a hail of gunfire errupted from behind some bushes.
“GARRAGGHHH!!!!!” I (Foster)screamed.
“Foster’s been hit, captain!” Someone in my squad said, while I listened to myself (Foster) writhe in agony. “Oh shit!” I thought. “I have to save myself!”
I ordered my squad to lay down suppressive fire on the two North Koreans who had me (Foster) pinned down, and I crawled through the grass until I was close enough to adminster aid.
I heard the zip of the bullet cut through the air in front of me, just before it buried itself into my (Foster’s) head.
“Foster is down!”
“We’ve lost Foster!”
“NOOOOO!” I shouted, loud enough to wake my entire house.
Luckily, the doors were all closed, and maybe my scream was louder in my head than it was in my living room, because The Wrath I would have gotten when Anne realized I was mourning my (Foster’s) death in a video game would not have been pretty.
I reloaded the mission and tried again. This time, I ordered Foster to hang back while I tossed way too many grenades near the area where I knew the hostiles were lurking. Yeah, I spammed ’em good.
We hooked up with the Brits, held off a pretty nasty assault while we waited for extraction, and made it into the chopper relatively unscathed.
This game is fantastic. Between GR2 and San Andreas, I don’t know how I’m going to get anything done between now and . . . March?