Props round 2

that's just creepy Wes

I’ve been beaten to the punchline.  I’d half-written this post early last week and just now stumbled across an entry by Mathew Helmke (of planet ubuntu) chomping on the same bit. It seems we both share a man crush (along with another blogger) on a certain Wil Wheaton (wiki), better known as our favourite character (/s) from the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe, Wesley Crusher. I’ve followed his blog of daily musings fairly closely for maybe a year and also read his novel Just a Geek which chronicles his tranformation from angsty teen on the TNG set, to a struggling, ego-bruised actor and finally a reborn writer, blogger and internet personality. I’d describe it as a coming of age, dealing with the circumstances of life, and realizing potential story wrapped into a comical little package of 200 some pages. I cannot express deeply enough that the emotion he conveys through an internal narrative are as raw, real and clever as they come. Not only are you served a unique, insider peek at the Trek universe through the eyes of teenage Wil, but the interpersonal tug-of-war faced by our author hits way close to home in so many ways  Life is hard (especially when devote trekkies loathe you) and Wil spits it straight. If you’re a UW student, I know for a fact this book looms somewhere in the library system.

Not convinced just yet? Wil has just released a new book titled Memories of the Future Volume One where he teleports the reader through the budding episodes of the first TNG season as it cheezily goes where no Sci-fi western had gone before. I haven’t read a word of it (yet) but I already know it’s very cheeky and brutally honest (in a loving way) to each episode covered. How could I possibly know such a thing? Well, it happens that Mr. Wheaton knows how to use the intertubes better than the average bloke. He puts out a weekly podcast aptly called Memories of the Futurecast and reads a good chunk of each chapter with additional commentary. They’re maybe 20 minutesish long each and funny as hell so go check a few of em out or put em on your ipod and listen to them in transit. Nine chapters have already been covered so you’re way behind on your homework. I’m pretty sure he also offers his book as a free pdf. What a guy, eh? So kind of you to let us read a whole book on a computer screen. I kid. Only kind of though. I want to say most of my geek friends aren’t trekkies in the least but I’d beg to say these stories have appeal beyond those of us who recite live long and prosper on the daily. Check out his stuff and thank me later.

Wil's best one-liner: don't be a dick.

Recent reading

Having only somewhat recently fallen in love with reading at the ripe age of 20, I perpetually feel like I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.  I present to you a snappy rundown of books I’ve consumed (in part or whole) in recent history.