Indeed, it's been quite a while. But, as Wheeler (among others around the Ice Cave) are trying to get me to post, I suppose I'll give in. Peer pressure and all that, you know? So here you are. Enjoy it while it lasts, because, knowing me, it will be the last you hear of me in quite some time. But that's just how it goes.
Last month, I read Wil Wheaton's Just a Geek. I saw this book and thought it might be interesting to read, because no one's seen Wil in years. But, I didn't really want to pay money for it because I figured that he was just a washed-up celebrity trying to get some money off his fame. But somewhere or another, I stumbled across his blog. Much to my surprise, this guy is an amazing writer. He's witty, even downright hilarious in places, and many of his stories get you to empathize with him. It's strange, but I feel like I can call him Wil even though I've never seen the guy.
Most of the book is excerpts from his blog, though he explains most of the backstory and his feelings when he was writing it. Most of the book is not about Star Trek, though obviously he has to deal with the subject more than once. Most of the book is actually about proving the Voice of Prove to Everyone that Quitting Star Trek wasn't a Mistake wrong and about silencing the Voice of Self-Doubt. It's about his struggles as an actor, trying to provide for and spend time with his family, and eventually finding that his other great talent is writing.
While this is Wil's story, and probably doesn't have any major life lessons in it, it does have some well-written message in it. Though he also has some purely entertaining stories as well. Most of the stories he has from the set of Star Trek are highly entertaining. As an appendix, he includes his interview from Slashdot, where one guy asked him, "When you were on the set of TNG, did you ever find yourself running into the automatic doors when there was no one there to open them for you?" So Wil relates the story of a time when,
"Patrick [Stewart, i.e. Jean-Luc Picard] is going on and on about the Prime Directive or something and there is a loud CRASH! from the turbolift. We all turn around to look, and the doors open slowly (like the FX guy is scared to open the door), and Jonathan [Frakes, William Riker] is on the floor. I think it was Michael Dorn who was in the turbolift with him, and he is standing over him, just pointing and laughing."Maybe it's just me, but the thought of Michael Dorn, in all his Klingon garb, pointing and laughing at anything is absurdly amusing.
Wil also relates the joys of blogging, learning HTML, PHP, and Linux. He also admits that he has been a Trekkie all his life, is interested in sci-fi of all sorts, and is generally an all-around geek, hence the title. The only thing I had a problem with was he sometimes seemed to lay it on a little thick, as though he felt he had to prove to his audience that he was indeed a geek. The story has two major climaxes, in the chapters titled, "A Sort of Homecoming," and "The Wesley Dialogues." In the first, he realizes that even though he believed Star Trek ruined his acting career, he actually loved the show and all the people on it. In "The Wesley Dialogues," he finally overcomes his self-doubt, accepts his lot, and moves on. All in all, Just a Geek is an excellent book, and I recommend it to just about everyone. If you like Star Trek: TNG, or Star Trek, or, you know, life, you should definitely come borrow this book. If you can't seem to separate Wesley Crusher from Wil Wheaton, you should most certainly borrow this book.
So there. A post.
Posted by Gallagher at September 3, 2004 03:50 PM