Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin all agree on one important thing: After his conviction, Senator Stevens has to go. Sign our Change Congress petition to ask him to resign, and help us, well, Change Congress.
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Meanwhile, in the economy
» Paul KrugmanISM factory gauge falls off a cliff – worst number since 1982. We need a government of national unity to deal with the economic crisis, starting at, oh, around 8:45 PM tomorrow. No Tags
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10:24 Enormously important news from the Free Software Foundation
» Lessig BlogThe Free Software Foundation has released the GNU Free Document License version 1.3. Section 11 of that license now (essentially) permits certain wikis to be relicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (v3.0) license, so long as the relicensing is completed by August 1, 2009. That means, the Wikipedia community now has the choice to relicense Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license. (Here's the FAQ for the amendment.)
It would be hard to overstate the importance of this change to the Free Culture community. A fundamental flaw in the Free Culture Movement to date is that its most important element -- Wikipedia -- is licensed in a way that makes it incompatible with an enormous range of other content in the Free Culture Movement. One solution to this, of course, would be for everything to move to the FDL. But that license was crafted initially for manuals, and there were a number of technical reasons why it would not work well (and in some cases, at all) for certain important kinds of culture.
This change would now permit interoperability among Free Culture projects, just as the dominance of the GNU GPL enables interoperability among Free Software projects. It thus eliminates an unnecessary and unproductive hinderance to the spread and growth of Free Culture.
Richard Stallman deserves enormous credit for enabling this change to occur. There were some who said RMS would never permit Wikipedia to be relicensed, as it is one of the crown jewels in his movement for freedom. And so it is: like the GNU/Linux operation system, which his movement made possible, Wikipedia was made possible by the architecture of freedom the FDL enabled. One could well understand a lesser man finding any number of excuses for blocking the change.
But here's what Richard said in 2002 in a different context:
"If we don’t want to live in a jungle, we must change our attitudes. We must start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when appropriate...."
Add "good citizen" to the list of praise for this founder of contemporary freedom.
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10:24
Enormously important news from the Free Software Foundation
» Lessig BlogThe Free Software Foundation has released the GNU Free Document License version 1.3. Section 11 of that license now (essentially) permits certain wikis to be relicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (v3.0) license, so long as the relicensing is completed by August 1, 2009. That means, the Wikipedia community now has the choice to relicense Wikipedia under a Creative Commons license. (Here's the FAQ for the amendment.)
It would be hard to overstate the importance of this change to the Free Culture community. A fundamental flaw in the Free Culture Movement to date is that its most important element -- Wikipedia -- is licensed in a way that makes it incompatible with an enormous range of other content in the Free Culture Movement. One solution to this, of course, would be for everything to move to the FDL. But that license was crafted initially for manuals, and there were a number of technical reasons why it would not work well (and in some cases, at all) for certain important kinds of culture.
This change would now permit interoperability among Free Culture projects, just as the dominance of the GNU GPL enables interoperability among Free Software projects. It thus eliminates an unnecessary and unproductive hinderance to the spread and growth of Free Culture.
Richard Stallman deserves enormous credit for enabling this change to occur. There were some who said RMS would never permit Wikipedia to be relicensed, as it is one of the crown jewels in his movement for freedom. And so it is: like the GNU/Linux operation system, which his movement made possible, Wikipedia was made possible by the architecture of freedom the FDL enabled. One could well understand a lesser man finding any number of excuses for blocking the change.
But here's what Richard said in 2002 in a different context:
"If we don’t want to live in a jungle, we must change our attitudes. We must start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when appropriate...."
Add "good citizen" to the list of praise for this founder of contemporary freedom.
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in which time is well spent ...
» WWdN: In ExileYesterday, while Anne took Ryan to the airport, Nolan and I found ourselves in the living room. He sat at the desk and played Warcraft, and I sat on the couch, bored with football and contemplating some Xbox.
"Hey," I said, "let's play frisbee."
"Mmmhhhuuhhh," he said, clicking the mouse and doing whatever it is you do when you play Warcraft.
"Hey," I said, again, "Nolan!"
He turned around, still clicking his mouse. "What?"
"I have a hankerin' to play frisbee. Let's go outside and play."
"A 'hankerin''?"
"Ah shore dew. Yeehaw!"
He shook his head. "You are so weird."
Weird has become Nolan's go-to word for just about everything recently. He doesn't say it unkindly, but it's a stand-in for lame, or other expressions of mild disapproval. If I'm too friendly with someone while we're at the store, it's weird. When we watched my episode of Criminal Minds together, it was weird to see me being Floyd. When I complimented a little kid on his awesome Darth Vader costume, and when I told a mom that dressing her little kids up as Popeye and Olive Oyl was adorable, it was weird.
"Yeah," I said. "You've mentioned that."
We looked at each other. I sensed an opening.
"Come on, Nolan, we can sit here and have our backs to each other, or we can do something fun together."
I didn't say it out loud, but I thought to myself, I'm not going to be an old man and wish that I'd played more video games ...
"Augh!" he said, with mock irritation. "Why do you have to make so much sense!?"
"Because I'm weird." I said.
He gave me a look. I'm not quite sure, but I think it was the I-see-what-you-did-there look. He turned around, typed something into the chat box, laughed, and shut the game down.
"People are so stupid," he said. "I'm 8 and 1 in this match, but when I stop to talk to you and get killed, some guy on my team tells me that I'm a dipshit. And that guy was 1 and 6." He shook his head. "This is why I only like to play with my friends."
"That's what I'm talking about when I say 'don't be a dick,'" I said. "That guy would never talk to you like that if you were face to face."
"Meh, whatever. I don't care." He said. I obviously cared about it more than he did, both as a gamer and as a dad.
I walked to the closet in the entryway, and discovered that our frisbee wasn't there.
"Oh, it's still in the trunk of your car," he said.
"Augh!" I said. "Let's go get a new one."
"Don't you just want to wait until mom gets home?"
"It'll be dark by then, and I really want to play with you." It had become, as we say, a thing.
I grabbed Anne's car keys, and a few minutes later, we were in Target. I yanked a bunch of 175 gram frisbees off the rack, trying to get at a particular one near the back.
"Are you getting seven frisbees?" Nolan said.
"Nope, I'm getting this one." I handed it to him. "It glows in the dark, so we can squeeze a few more minutes out of the dusk."
He barely nodded, a generous expression of approval.
When we got home, we played in the street, long after the sun had turned the sky above us purple and its rays barely lingered, pink and gold, on the bottoms of clouds in the West. We stopped only when our depth perception couldn't pick out the softly glowing green disc with much accuracy, and the stars were starting to come out.
I woke up this morning with searing pain in my left arm and shoulder. It was joined by some pain in my right hip, and even though I'm pretty damn achey today, it's worth it. I'm not going to be an old man and wish that I'd played less frisbee with my son.
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Californians: Vote NO on Prop 8
» WWdN: In ExileProposition 8 and the people who support it disgust me. Want to know why? Replace every instance of "same-sex marriage" with "interracial marriage" and see how bigoted and discriminatory it is.
Here, these guys have done it for you:
I can't believe it's 2008, and this is still an issue. Contrary to the lies spread by its supporters, Proposition 8 is not about education, it's not about forcing anything onto churches, and it's not about protecting anything. It's nothing but hate and discrimination, and it's wrong. If you're a fellow Californian, please vote no on proposition 8 tomorrow. In polling, it's very close right now, and every vote is going to count.
ETA: If I wasn't clear enough, reader swordman69 makes it crystal clear: "One thing to remember, voting NO changes nothing. It doesn't affect a single thing. Only a yes vote changes what is currently legal here in California. Do we teach same-sex marriage in schools now? NO. Is it affecting you in any way now, NO. Only a yes vote changes anything. A Yes vote puts discrimination into our state constitution."
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16:46
Winning Tuesday: An urgent plea to Obama supporters
» Lessig Blog
I awoke in New Zealand today to an article in the New Zealand Herald, and I had a strange sense of deja vu. It is still Monday in America. And like the Monday before the 2004 election, and the Monday before the 2000 election, there is enormous confidence among Democrats that we are going to win this.
But as with 2000, and 2004, I have become a bit terrified about where we’ll be Tuesday. For as presented by the New Zealand Herald, however optimistic the static view of the swing states is, the dynamic view — what is the trend — is sobering, to say the least. As this graph shows, only Florida is trending in the right direction. Every other critical state is trending away from Obama.
Now of course, maybe not quickly enough. Of course, the advantages are significant, especially relative to 2004. And of course, McCain would have to move mountains to overcome the enormous machine that the Obama campaign has built.
But here’s the weird deja vu I feel. In 2004, I got on a plane Tuesday to fly to London. When I got on the plane, I watched every pundit, as well as Kerry’s daughter, speak about how all the polls were with Kerry. The “exit polls” indicated a clear Kerry victory. But then when I landed, I sat it utter disbelief in the United lounge at Heathrow, watching the Ohio numbers go against us, and therefore, delivering 4 more years to Bush.
We Democrats have trouble closing the deal. We have trouble continuing the push to the very last moment. We have repeatedly been blindsided by the fact that the other side votes regardless of the expected result, while we’re more contingent — making the effort if it seems necessary, relaxing when it doesn’t.
Please, don’t let this happen again. Please, if you’re an Obama supporter, do absolutely everything you can in the next 24 hours to make sure every single possible Obama vote turns out to vote. Volunteer for a phone bank, or use my.barackobama.com to phone bank from home. And beyond this, do the sort of things that too few of us ever have the courage to do: Express to your friends, and anyone you know, why you want them to support your candidate. Send an email with a personal story, or an argument important to you, to as many people as you can. Apologize for the intrusion, but intrude nonetheless. (How weird is it that engaging people about democratic issues in a democracy is generally viewed as inappropriate). And don’t let up until 8pm Pacific time.
I’m doing this. I’m exhorting you. I’m writing to everyone on my twitter/facebook/indenti.ca/flickr lists. If I can find an smtp server that will let me, I’ll dump an email to as many of my friends as I can telling them they this is so important. And when my plane lands in the US Tuesday morning, I will join my wife (who is running a phone bank in San Francisco), spending the day on the phone). I will mark myself as weird in doing all this, no doubt. But we can all afford this, if only just once in our life.
I understand the other side has their reasons. I respect them, even if I disagree with them. But I am genuinely afraid about what happens to our side if we let this slip away. There is enormous energy and passion among young people for Obama. There is a passion and hope that makes me cry each time I think about it among African Americans, and those who think about and live the discrimination of our past, and present. There is an energy I have never imagined could be behind any politician. I have known for more than a decade that this man is the real deal. And it gives me enormous hope for this democracy that we are about to vote to make him President.
Unless we don’t. Unless we let this slip by, again. Unless we sit in our comfortable cubicle, and let politics be run by the other side.
Don’t do this. Do something this time. Please at least help spread this message. Make sure everyone who could matter here knows what you believe. And don’t stop until the clock runs out.
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16:46
Winning Tuesday: An urgent plea to Obama supporters
» Lessig Blog
I awoke in New Zealand today to an article in the New Zealand Herald, and I had a strange sense of deja vu. It is still Monday in America. And like the Monday before the 2004 election, and the Monday before the 2000 election, there is enormous confidence among Democrats that we are going to win this.
But as with 2000, and 2004, I have become a bit terrified about where we’ll be Tuesday. For as presented by the New Zealand Herald, however optimistic the static view of the swing states is, the dynamic view — what is the trend — is sobering, to say the least. As this graph shows, only Florida is trending in the right direction. Every other critical state is trending away from Obama.
Now of course, maybe not quickly enough. Of course, the advantages are significant, especially relative to 2004. And of course, McCain would have to move mountains to overcome the enormous machine that the Obama campaign has built.
But here’s the weird deja vu I feel. In 2004, I got on a plane Tuesday to fly to London. When I got on the plane, I watched every pundit, as well as Kerry’s daughter, speak about how all the polls were with Kerry. The “exit polls” indicated a clear Kerry victory. But then when I landed, I sat it utter disbelief in the United lounge at Heathrow, watching the Ohio numbers go against us, and therefore, delivering 4 more years to Bush.
We Democrats have trouble closing the deal. We have trouble continuing the push to the very last moment. We have repeatedly been blindsided by the fact that the other side votes regardless of the expected result, while we’re more contingent — making the effort if it seems necessary, relaxing when it doesn’t.
Please, don’t let this happen again. Please, if you’re an Obama supporter, do absolutely everything you can in the next 24 hours to make sure every single possible Obama vote turns out to vote. Volunteer for a phone bank, or use my.barackobama.com to phone bank from home. And beyond this, do the sort of things that too few of us ever have the courage to do: Express to your friends, and anyone you know, why you want them to support your candidate. Send an email with a personal story, or an argument important to you, to as many people as you can. Apologize for the intrusion, but intrude nonetheless. (How weird is it that engaging people about democratic issues in a democracy is generally viewed as inappropriate). And don’t let up until 8pm Pacific time.
I’m doing this. I’m exhorting you. I’m writing to everyone on my twitter/facebook/indenti.ca/flickr lists. If I can find an smtp server that will let me, I’ll dump an email to as many of my friends as I can telling them they this is so important. And when my plane lands in the US Tuesday morning, I will join my wife (who is running a phone bank in San Francisco), spending the day on the phone). I will mark myself as weird in doing all this, no doubt. But we can all afford this, if only just once in our life.
I understand the other side has their reasons. I respect them, even if I disagree with them. But I am genuinely afraid about what happens to our side if we let this slip away. There is enormous energy and passion among young people for Obama. There is a passion and hope that makes me cry each time I think about it among African Americans, and those who think about and live the discrimination of our past, and present. There is an energy I have never imagined could be behind any politician. I have known for more than a decade that this man is the real deal. And it gives me enormous hope for this democracy that we are about to vote to make him President.
Unless we don’t. Unless we let this slip by, again. Unless we sit in our comfortable cubicle, and let politics be run by the other side.
Don’t do this. Do something this time. Please at least help spread this message. Make sure everyone who could matter here knows what you believe. And don’t stop until the clock runs out.
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The decadent left, in its enclaves on the coasts
» Paul KrugmanIt depends on the meaning of the word enclave From Sam Wang. Reference explained here. No Tags -
Bumper sticker
» Paul KrugmanOn my way to teach, this morning: “Vote for the hero and the hottie.” Yes, it was on a pickup truck. No Tags -
Time and chance
» Paul KrugmanIt was Lehman wot did it There will be endless bloviating over the significance of today’s results; I plan to do some bloviating myself. But we shouldn’t ignore the importance of chance events, or at least the chance timing of events. Without 9/11, what would have become of George W. Bush? My guess is that he [...]
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in which wil attempts to collect all his writing resources into one post
» WWdN: In ExileI'm not doing NaNoWiMo, but I know a lot of people who read my blog are, so I thought I'd collect some of the writing advice I've found over the years and put it all into one easily-bookmarked post.
Before I get to the older stuff, a couple new things I've found:
- io9 (which I feared would be lame like Gawker, but is awesome like Lifehacker) collected some secrets to creating great characters, according to six science fiction authors.
- I wrote about the weird feeling of emptiness that I always experience after I finish a project. Charlie Stross expressed something similar in a post titled On finishing.
Got it? Yay! Let's move on to some older stuff:
- five simple ways to Just Keep Writing
- Elizabeth Bear, Cherie Priest, and John Scalzi are three authors who are as generous with their advice as they are awesome and successful.
- One more post with lots of links to and wisdom from Elizabeth Bear.
- Five writing lessons I wish I'd learned the easy way.
- Even Neil Gaiman struggles from time to time. This is very comforting to me. (Interesting note. If you read that linked post, you'll see a mention of my friend who quit his safety net job to be an actor. He's on Heroes this season. Go David!)
- Neil Gaiman, it turns out, is very reassuring to me.
- Sometimes, you just get writer's clog. This is okay, and it will pass.
- I explored some of the differences I've encountered between writing short-form and long-form fiction. Related to that, from the common sense file: When working on short short fiction, which I'd say is between 500 and 1000 words, I can keep stuff in my head and write it all on the fly. Since I've moved into longer-form stuff this year, I've discovered that I absolutely must have an outline to follow, so I write that first (I spend a lot of time on it) and then use it as a memory map (much like I use my own memories when I write my narrative non-fiction stuff) when I write the story. I did this with both Star Trek mangas and with one of the two short stories (~15,000 words each) I've been working on since June. Of the two, guess which one has been enjoyable to work on? [::headdesk::]
- A collection of resources that I've come across, which I found useful as a writer.
- John Rogers writes very candidly and frequently about writing for television and movies. He is awesome, and so is his blog.
If you're doing NaNoWiMo, remember that the whole point of the thing is just to get a whole bunch of words together in a hopefully-coherent story that you will have to edit, rewrite, and polish. It is not supposed to be good, it is not supposed to be perfect, or even ready for anyone but you to read. The idea is to write, and write a lot, so let me close with Wil's Fundamental Truth of Writing: Don't be afraid to suck. It is easier to fix a broken scene than it is to fill up a blank page.
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6:05
Andy Oram on supporting Creative Commons
» Lessig BlogAndy Oram has a fantastically compelling piece about why it is important to support Creative Commons.
Let's keep the momentum going, and [make] sure they can continue to lay the groundwork for a public domain that becomes increasingly important for innovation in a tight economy and for political engagement in a newly aroused community-minded public.
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0:44
The made-up dramas of the Wall Street Journal
» Lessig BlogI got off the plane from Boston to find my inbox filled with anger about an article in the Wall Street Journal. To those who were angry, I hope you will direct any anger at the Wall Street Journal after you read what follows.
The article is an indirect effort to gin up a drama about a drama about an alleged shift in Obama's policies about network neutrality. What's the evidence for the shift? That Google allegedly is negotiating for faster service on some network pipes. And that "prominent Internet scholars, some of whom have advised President-elect Barack Obama on technology issues, have softened their views on the subject."
Who are these "Internet scholars"? Me. And of course, because I have "softened" my views about network neutrality, and because I advised the Obama campaign about technology issues during the primary, it follows (and obviously so) that Obama too must be going soft on network neutrality.
I don't know what Google is doing, though if they are trying to negotiate exclusive deals for privileged access, that shows exactly why we need network neutrality regulation. (Though note, the article doesn't say the deal Google was striking was exclusive).
And I've not seen anything during the Obama campaign or from the transition to indicate it has shifted its view about network neutrality at all.
But I do know something about my own views, and what the Journal has done here is really extraordinary.
It is true, as the Journal reports, that I have stated that network providers should be free to charge different rates for different service -- "so long," the Journal quotes, "as the faster service at a higher price is available to anyone willing to pay it."
But the whole punch of the story comes from the suggestion that my position is something new. As the Journal states,
Lawrence Lessig, an Internet law professor at Stanford University and an influential proponent of network neutrality, recently shifted gears by saying at a conference that content providers should be able to pay for faster service.
And:Stanford's Mr. Lessig, for one, has softened his opposition to variable service tiers.
Missing from the article, however, is the evidence that my view is a "shift" or "soften[ing]" of earlier views. That's because there isn't any such evidence. My view is the view I have always had -- whether or not it is the view of others in this debate.
For example, in April, 2008, I testified before the Senate Commerce Committee. This is what I said:
As I testified in 2006, in my view that minimal strategy right now marries the basic principles of “Internet Freedom” first outlined by Chairman Michael Powell, and modified more recently by the FCC, to one additional requirement — a ban on discriminatory access tiering. While broadband providers should be free, in my view, to price consumer access to the Internet differently — setting a higher price, for example, for faster or greater access — they should not be free to apply discriminatory surcharges to those who make content or applications available on the Internet. As I testified, in my view, such “access tiering” risks creating a strong incentive among Internet providers to favor some companies over others; that incentive in turn tends to support business models that exploit scarcity rather than abundance. If Google, for example, knew it could buy a kind of access for its video content that iFilm couldn’t, then it could exploit its advantage to create an even greater disadvantage for its competitors; network providers in turn could deliver on that disadvantage only if the non-privileged service was inferior to the privileged service.
That's the same thing I said to the FCC in its hearing at Stanford. You can hear what I said beginning at minute 18:20 here. There I distinguish between "zero price regulations" (such as Markey's bill (which I say I am against)) and what I called "zero discriminatory surcharge rules" (which I say I am for). The zero discriminatory surcharge rules are just that -- rules against discriminatory surcharges -- charging Google something different from what a network charges iFilm. The regulation I call for is a "MFN" requirement -- that everyone has the right to the rates of the most favored nation.
This is precisely the position that the Journal breathlessly attributes to me today. It represents no change -- no "softening" no "shift" in my views.
Now no doubt my position might be wrong. Some friends in the network neutrality movement as well as some scholars believe it is wrong -- that it doesn't go far enough. But the suggestion that the position is "recent" is baseless. If I'm wrong, I've always been wrong.
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10:59
WSJ followup: baseless, unsupported, and wrong, yet they're sticking by the story.
» Lessig BlogFred Benenson's got a nice piece about the WSJ piece. The most depressing part of this whole cycle was the news that the WSJ was sticking by the story.
On what basis, precisely? The charge that Obama was shifting policy was, and is, completely baseless. The charge that I had "shifted" my position was, and is, completely unsupported (and false). And the charge that Google was violating network neutrality principles has been shown (concisely by David Isenberg, one of the originals in this debate) to be just wrong -- no one who understands what "network neutrality" (or what we used to call this before it was smartly marketed, "end-to-end") is could believe that edge caching services, living in a competitive market, could raise NN concerns.
So they're sticking by a story that's baseless, unsupported and wrong. Sounds like we know where the Bushies have gone to work now that they've left the White House.
Update: So I've just had an email exchange with Christopher Rhodes, one of the authors of the piece. What surprised me most about the piece was that he was such a careful interviewer when we spoke, but that we didn't really speak about the issue they charged me with -- shifting -- and I was surprised he didn't ask or followup on that. Turns out he tried, writing to my assistant, but that I didn't speak with him. My assistant didn't know the context of our conversation, so her translation of the question didn't flag it. My apologies to Rhodes. Had we connected, the story would have been different. The mistake in not connecting was mine, no doubt. And the mistake convinces me that at least with respect to me, the story is a misunderstanding (and not, as suggested, bad faith). Important lesson for me, no doubt. But for others: Please send emails for me to me. I read and respond to every email I get (save the spam-ish sorts). And while I can be behind, if you don't get a response, I didn't get it.
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15:44
the only solution
» Lessig BlogHere's the latest argument for CHANGE (v2). It makes a strong push for "Citizens' funding of the Nation's elections." The idea is being discussed and voted on at change.org.
Please support the idea there if you can. I need about 500 279 179 votes to get the idea into round two.
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8:11
Wow: PEACE declared?
» Lessig BlogAccording to the Wall Street Journal, the RIAA has declared peace in the "copyright wars," and will stop its suits against individual fileshares. This is important progress.
Above, the latest (and among the last) remixes of this story about Remix, emphasizing especially the call for peace, now.
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8:39
Free Souls: Joi's New Book
» Lessig Blog
Joi Ito's new book is now available, Free Souls. The book is an amazingly beautiful (since Joi's the artist) and smart (since Joi knows the subjects) collection of photographs of many souls in the worlds Joi knows. All of the images are freely licensed (CC-BY) and all have signed model releases. So these are souls Joi has set free. As Joi's site puts it, "A celebration of all the people who are willing to share."
Still time to order for Christmas...
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15:20
Blow up the FCC (or so was this titled when I submitted it in October)
» Lessig Blog
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16:44
End the [copyright] war: NOW!
» Lessig Blog
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16:50
within the top 3
» Lessig Blog
We're in the top 3, but there's still over a week of voting. Consider this carefully, and then register and vote.
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21:29
from the department of irony
» Lessig Blog
Type "Apple Store Chestnut Hill" on your iPhone in Boston, and you get the map on the left. Follow the directions and you end up on a back alley -- about a mile from the Apple Store in Chestnut Hill. Frustrated. And cold. And no longer in the holiday spirit.
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Happy Birthday, @RedPenOfDoom!
» WWdN: In ExileToday is my friend Andrew's birthday. I know Andrew because he read my blog a million years ago (in internet time) and saw that I was a fan of various Steve Jackson games. At the time, Andrew worked at SJGames on some projects you may have heard of, like Chez Geek, Munchkin, GURPS 4th Edition, and several others. Andrew e-mailed me and offered to take a look at what was then the first draft of Dancing Barefoot, and we've been working together ever since. Andrew has played a significant part in everything good I've ever written, including my 2007 PAX keynote, my story Cura Te Ipsum in the second Star Trek Manga, and, of course, The Happiest Days of Our Lives.
In the acknowledgments to The Happiest Days of Our Lives, I wrote:
I couldn’t have done this without the tireless assistance, guidance, and magnificent red pen of my editor and friend, Andrew Hackard. I’ve worked with several different editors in my brief life as a full-time writer. Until I started working with Andrew, I didn’t understand why some authors would follow certain editors to the ends of the Earth to keep working with them. I also want to thank Andrew’s parents, Jim and Sandra Hackard, for creating him, making him the person he is today, and for being so supportive of our work together.
I treasure Andrew's friendship, and I wouldn't be half the writer I am without his Red Pen of Doom. I've lost track of the number of times I've called or e-mailed Andrew in a complete panic, because I just can't find the end of something, or I've been working on something so long I've gotten too close to it and can't figure out why it doesn't feel right. Every time, Andrew talks me off the ledge and makes my writing better. I'd love it if everyone who reads my blog took a moment to join me in wishing him a happy birthday.
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Yes, niggling
» Paul KrugmanReaders have been correcting me for saying "niggling nabobs of negativism" in this post. Yes, I know the original (written by my former colleague William Safire.) But "niggling" is better for the current situation. Here's how I see it: the opponents of a strong stimulus plan don't really have an alternative to offer. They don't even [...]
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11:59
ccAmazing -- $12k to go!
» Lessig Blog
While most companies have cut back on their support for the Commons, wonderfully and amazingly, the most constant and forceful support continues -- Sun ($50k). We're now within $12k of making our goal -- something that seemed impossible just 2 weeks ago. Massive increase in small time contributors. Thank you to all. And please help put us over the top.
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Optimal fiscal policy in a liquidity trap (ultra-wonkish)
» Paul KrugmanOne thing that's been bothering me about the discussion over fiscal stimulus is the virtual absence of fully worked-out models, with all their t's dotted and eyes crossed, or something. Not that a rigorous model is always better than a rough-and-ready but more realistic approach, but I like to have both on hand. So I've [...] -
You know
» Paul KrugmanIn fairness, we all have verbal tics, which is one reason I hate to read transcripts of myself. Still, this is funny: Caroline Kennedy, you know, might need, you know, a speech coach, um, if she, you know, wants, um, to be a senator. Um, you know? Kennedy, who gave a flurry of media interviews on Friday [...] -
Stages of the bubble
» Paul KrugmanThe latest Case-Shiller housing price numbers are out, and they're as grim as you might expect. I've combined them with BLS data to produce price-rent ratios, normalized so that January 2000=100: What goes up … And here's a trip down memory lane: "A national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States" - Alan Greenspan, October [...] -
Katrina and Bush
» Paul KrugmanPresidential Not presidential So everyone is talking about the Vanity Fair article in which Bush aides say that Katrina is what did him in. I don't think that's entirely true, but what I'd like to focus on is why Katrina was such a problem for Bush. Above are two photos. The second one shows Bush flying over New [...] -
Crying Fire, Fire in Noah's flood
» Paul Krugman1931 version. 2008 version: Germany's finance minister told AFP in an interview that cutting interest rates too low in an effort to counter the global recession could create what he called a dangerous "growth bubble." -
Looking for a word
» Paul KrugmanUnusually, I'm having a vocabulary problem. There has to be some word for the kind of person who considers his mild discomfort the equivalent of torture, crippling injury, or death for other people. But I can't think of it. What brings this to mind is this from Alberto Gonzales: I consider myself a casualty, one of [...]
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14:37
powerfully interesting work on citizens funding
» Lessig BlogRobert Sand wrote this thesis as an undergraduate at Brown (he is now a law student). Roughly put, it models the effect that the view that "money buys results" has on political participation. The idea he wanted to test is this: that the more you think "money buys results," the less effective you think your own participation in the political process is, and thus, you participate less. And, by contrast, the less you think "money buys results," (for example, because of citizen funding of elections), the more effective you think your own participation is, and thus you participate more.
He's got an enormous range of data for this, and he finds statistically significant results supporting the thesis.
Sand wants to work on this more and eventually publish it. He has included his email address if you'd like to see the data. Obviously, there's tons more work to be done here to verify and understand the model better. But I wanted to share this here (with his permission) because it is precisely the dynamic at the core of the concern that I am talking about: The expectation of illicit influence drives people to disengage -- even if there isn't any such influence.
If this model stands up, it will be an important contribution to this debate. Whether it does or not, quite a contribution from an undergraduate.
Meanwhile, less than 12 hours to vote on the Citizens' Funded Elections proposal at change.org. At this moment, we need 6 votes to get into the second round.
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Geek Madness continues, scrabble is played, and the Gabe Bag is packed
» WWdN: In ExileI decided that I would take the week between Christmas and New Year off, but the damn Internets keep pulling me back in!
Various items for today:
Paul and Storm say:
...as the first geek President, Barack Obama would do well to reward this important and influential constituency by creating a new cabinet post: the Secretary of Geek Affairs.
And it’s up to YOU (the collective you, that is) to make sure the right person gets the job. As such we present GEEK MADNESS: a 64-”team” elimination tournament decided by public voting as to which person (or persons), real or fictional, is best for the job.
It's as much fun to read as you'd think. The four regions have names we all recognize, like the Bombadil and Jor-El Regions, and there are some truly difficult geek match-ups, like Steve Jobs vs. The Cast of Revenge of the Nerds.
Somehow, I got added to this insanity, and I'm in the Jor-El region. Normally I don't care about this sort of thing, and never take it seriously, but I really like Paul and Storm and I'm totally into the spirit of Geek Madness. Vote early and vote often, my brothers and sisters, and we'll all celebrate when I get crushered in the second round, provided we can somehow get past Bruce Cambell in the first round. (I know, I know. If you can't vote for me in this circumstance, I totally understand; I had a hard time voting for me.)
I wasn't going to write an LA Daily this week, because the Internets seem to be turned off, but my editor told me that traffic is actually up at the Weekly, so I went ahead and wrote a story about playing Scrabble with Anne:
I drew an X. She drew an E. It was an unnecessary harbinger of things to come. She went first, and instantly took a twenty point lead. I scored seven, much better than usual. Four or five turns later, she played SEXY for a triple word score, and I never caught up. It was a blowout. I was Custer at Little Bighorn, Varro at Cannae, The Broncos at Superbowl XXIV.
With about twenty tiles remaining in the bag, I saw a chance to draw within 40 points. I had QIEEB after I'd played an ineffectual two letters for a humiliating three points. If I drew a T, N, or R, I could place the Q on a triple word score, build off the U in FUGUE, and make QUIET, QUEER, or QUEEN.
I drew the T and held my breath, for Murphy's Law of Scrabble is that, with 85 potential places to play, your opponent will always play in the one place that leaves you thoroughly fucked.
Mike (aka Gabe) says that playing D&D with me and Kurtz and Tycho inspired him to get a DMG and learn how to run a game. They did four comics about it that I absolutely love. (part one - part two - part three - part four) I also love that this comic has given rise to the term the Gabe Bag as in, "I knew it would be a long flight, so I put my DS into my Gabe Bag, but I started reading an ARC of BONESHAKER before take off, and I never took anything else out."
Mike couldn't have chosen a better time to start DMing. The Fourth Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is the book I've wanted to read since 1983: instead of just being a collection of magic items and a few passing references to the joys of reading boxed text, it actually teaches the reader how to be a DM. It explains – among several other things – how to figure out what your players want and give it to them, how to create encounters on the fly, how to scale encounters and award XP, and how to bring the game to life off the table, so everyone truly feels like they're in a town called Winterhaven and maybe it's not such a good idea to try to bluff that Ranger in the alley after all. The Fourth Edition DMG takes every single thing that makes DMing intimidating and scary, and casts dispel fear on it. Whether you're planning to run a 4e campaign, a T20 campaign, a GURPS campaign or a World of Darkness campaign, it's the one book that all hopeful DMs should have, and I think that even experienced DMs will find it a useful and enjoyable read.
So far, the feedback on the audio version of Happiest Days of Our Lives is overwhelmingly positive. Reader Paulius seemed to really like it:
If you've ever rolled a D20, stayed up all night mapping out Zelda on the NES or just happen to have heard of Wil Wheaton…buy The Happiest Days of Our Lives audiobook, it's more than worth it.
Listening to the book was an almost eerie experience. At times I felt like some of Wil's stories were lifted directly from my own childhood, only with the names and locations changed. I think this is what makes this book so charming…that despite the fact that, like me, you may have grown up a decade and a few thousand miles away from the author…you instantly feel have a lot in common through sheer geek-cameraderie.
I remember standing in a toy store, determined not to leave without a Star Wars action figure like in 'Blue Light Special'. I remember being 'taught' by little-Hitler teachers who were far more interested in petty, selfish power-trips than actual teaching like in 'The Butterfly Tree'…and sadly, the loss of a beloved family pet almost exactly like "Let go – A requiem for Felix the Bear."
In fact, to me, that's almost exactly what this book is. A memoir of the experiences that 'growing up geek' brings. The discovery that the things you love deny you entry into the mainstream social circles, the feeling that you have to constantly defend your choice of hobbies, and the joy when you find someone else who feels the same way. After listening to the whole thing, I almost can't help but think of Wil's childhood recollections as 'Geek-Seed Moments'...those formative childhood experiences that steer you down the road towards geekhood.
Geek-Seed Moments is a phrase that I like a lot. I'm working on a new introduction for the Subterranean Press edition of the book, speaking specifically to people who aren't already familiar with me and my work, and don't know what they're getting into. I keep coming back to various ways of saying that it's about geek nostalgia with some of the stuff I love thrown in, but the words keep coming out all weird. Maybe "Geek-Seed Moments" will help me put them together into something more satisfying.
Finally: this.
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the 2008 year in review, part one
» WWdN: In Exile2008 was supposed to be the year that I wrote a whole bunch of fiction. I got a lot of things started, finished an important project, but I didn't finish the two projects that were most important to me. I'm going to blame my failure on losing three months to sinus surgery recovery, and a busier-than-anticipated summer convention schedule. Now, I will look forward to 2009 as the year I'll write a whole bunch of fiction, and publish it, even.
As I looked through my archives for 2008, I remembered a year that totally didn't suck. Here are some of the highlights:
I put on pointy sideburns and a space suit, and brought Lieutenant Commander Wesley Crusher back to life as the Assistant Chief Engineer of the USS Titan for Star Trek: the Tour.
I suggested that AAA automobile insurance can eat a bag of dicks. This made Consumerist giggle, apparently, and the whole thing was even included in one of those "best of the year" things.
I went on an awesome date with my wife, and then I went to an awesome convention in Phoenix:
The day was a blur of friendly faces, signing autographs and books, shaking hands, posing for pictures, mutual geeking at scientists (there were lots of scientists there, mostly astronomers, who listened patiently to me while I slimed them with my slobbering geekiness) and my constant excitement and wonder that so many people knew about my books and wanted to pick them up.
This went on for a few hours. Then, during a lull in the day around lunchtime, Walter [Koenig] walked over to my end of the table after posing for a picture with some fans and looked at my books.
"I hear you're a writer now," he said, looking at Happiest Days, "What do you write?"
I told him.
"What's this one about?"
I told him, then I showed him the Manga.
"Check it out," I said, opening it to one page, "I totally blew up Leonard!"
He grinned, and I pointed to Dancing Barefoot.
"There's a story in here about the first time I met Bill, and what an ass he was to me," I said.
Walter laughed and said, "Who hasn't he been an ass to?"
I laughed with him. I suspect that if WFS had been there, he probably would have laughed with us . . . before ordering us off the bridge.
"If you're interested, and if you think you'd have time to read it," I said, "I'd love for you to have a copy of Happiest Days."
Walter smiled at me, surprised. "Really?"
"It would mean a lot to me," I said.
"I'd like to buy it from you," he said.
We danced for a minute, me trying to give it to him, and him trying to pay me for it. It was an exquisite tango, and I won't reveal the victor, because it's not that important. What is important to me, though, is that Walter has a copy of my book, which I hope he reads, because there's this story in it about conventions that I think he can appreciate on a different level than most readers.
[…]
A young girl, probably no older than 10 or 12, wanted to buy a copy of Happiest Days. I didn't think she'd like it as much as the Manga, so I asked her if she wanted to have that, instead.
"It's in the vendor's room down the hall," I said, "so let me send someone to go pick it up for you --"
"This isn't for me," she said, "this is for my stepdad. He'll really like it."
I almost started to cry. For the first time since I've been raising Ryan and Nolan, I've recently been made to feel the step in stepdad, and it hurts more than anything.
"I'm a stepdad," I said to her, taking a deep breath to steady myself, "and I think it's the greatest thing in the world that you want to do something kind for him."
I blinked back tears as I signed it.
"Here ya go," I said, "You're both very lucky."
I know I signed other books that night, but after that, nothing stands out.
While I was at this convention, I had a moment of clarity and grew a level:
"Just a few years ago," I said, "I rarely came to conventions as a guest, because I felt like I was trying to hold on to whatever fading celebrity I once had. I didn't do it because I wanted to be famous again. I did it because, at the time, it was all I could do, which was so much worse. But now, when I go to cons, I feel good about it. I look forward to it, because I feel like I can share the Star Trek thing with people who love it, but I'm really here as an indie publisher, just like you."
I thought for a second and added, "You know what it's like? It's like -- "
"Don't say 'rising from the ashes' while you're in Phoenix! Don't say 'rising from the ashes' while you're in Phoenix!" My brain screamed at me.
"It's sort of like rising from the ashes for me, in a way, which is a pretty lame thing to say since I'm in Phoenix."
"Do you even listen to me anymore? That's it," my brain said. "I'm out of here."
"I am so lame" I said.
The Phoenix Comicon is in just a few weeks, by the way, and I'm going back this year.
In February, I had sinus surgery to correct a massively deviated septum and scrape a whole bunch of polyps out of my skull. The recovery sucked and I couldn't write or do anything useful for weeks. I did get to watch a bunch of movies, though.
Gary Gygax died in March. Part of what I wrote to remember him was read at his private memorial service:
Of all the things I do that make me a geek, nothing brings me as much joy as gaming. It all started with the D&D Basic Set, and today it takes an entire room in my house to contain all of my books, boxes, and dice.
Thank you for giving us endless worlds to explore, Gary Gygax. Rest in peace.
I wrote a story for the third volume of the Star Trek manga. In volume two, I brought Star Trek to manga, and I worked very hard to bring manga to Star Trek in volume three. TokyoPop didn't promote the book at all, but we who worked on it did our best to get it to reviewers and support it with interviews.One of them said some very nice things about my story.
I began having conversations with iTunes.
iTunes: Here, enjoy something soothing called Velvet Piano. What the hell is this? Did you download this from one of those retroblogs you read?
Me: How did you know about that?
iTunes: the SDK isn't just for programmers, you know.
Me: Okay, I think it's time for a playlist.
iTunes: No! No! Here's Nine Inch Nails! You just bought that! You like Nine Inch Nails! And now Boingo! doesn't it make you happy? Doesn't it remind you of those halcyon days of youth?
Me: Now you're just embarrassing yourself. I think we're going to spend a little time away from each other.
iTunes: Wait!
Me: It's not you, iTunes. It's me.
I went to Wizard World LA and lost my badge.
When we were about eight steps past the officious security guard, I reached up for my badge, which I'd pinned to my T-shirt's collar, so I could write my name on it.
It wasn't there.
I looked all around my jacket, checked all of my pockets several times, and had to accept that it had fallen off somewhere inside the con floor. Because I'd paid cash, I had no receipt. Because I hadn't written my name on it, yet, I had no way of proving that I'd lost anything.
I sheepishly revealed all of this to Matt and Ariana while I was whirling around like a dervish, patting my pockets and shaking out my jacket, looking like that guy down the hallway in Jacob's Ladder.
Interlude: My kids are awesome.
I love Sriracha sauce, but I know how insanely hot it is, so I always put just a few drops on, mix it up, and apply more if I feel like it as I eat.
Nolan, however, put it on his dish like frosting.
"What in the world are you doing?" I said.
"I'm putting my chili sauce on like a man," he said, "not like a pansy."
Nolan took a bite of his food, and his face turned as red as the sauce.
"Yeah," he said, in a pinched voice, "that's the stuff right there!"
I took a bite of my food.
"How's your dinner treating you?" Nolan said to me.
"It's good," I said. "I don't need as much hot sauce as I used to, because after my surgery, I can taste food a lot better than before."
"And you're a pansy," he said.
Ryan put his chopsticks down, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and said, "The difference between you and him, Nolan, is that he's enjoying his food, and you're enduring it."
I was interviewed by Wired's game|life blog. I admitted that I have a comic book problem. I co-wrote a special edition of PvP. I discovered something obvious about my writing process. I also put together a collection of resources for writers (and shared some thoughts on writing) that I think is pretty useful.
I had a damn geeky weekend.
Friday night I said to Anne, "When I finish this martini, I'm going to think it's a great idea to have another martini. It will, in fact, be a very bad idea for me to have another martini, and I'd appreciate it if you'd remind me of that fact when the time comes."
When the time came, she wasn't at the table. Oops.
[…]
I wasn't nervous at all about my reading at Mysterious Galaxy, which was really weird. In fact, while we were driving there (Anne was driving, I was reading from my book because I got it into my head that it may be a good idea to try something new about 20 minutes before showtime) I said to Anne, "You know what's weird? I'm not nervous at all." It was at that very moment that I got nervous.
[…]
While I was signing books, a girl about my age walked up to the table. She extended her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Gina."
"Hi Gina," I said. "It's nice to meet you."
"I'm a blogger," she said.
"Oh? Cool!" I said. "What's your blog?"
"It's called 'Lifehacker,' and --"
It was at this point that I completely lost my shit and spent the next eleventy hundred minutes telling her how much I love Lifehacker.
[…]
Please enjoy this moment from lunch, which I sent to Twitter: Anne: It's Jedi day! Me: What? Anne: May the Fourth be with you. Me: OMG I am so sending that to Twitter.
Anne and I went to New York for our friends' wedding. I never finished my trip report, so let me sum up what happened after the events of part one, part two, and part three: We went to the Natural History museum, where I realized how I've just taken for granted that there are replicas of everything everywhere. Actually seeing priceless gems, complete dinosaur skeletons, and ancient weapons and clothing was more awe inspiring than I thought it would be. If you can get to a natural history museum, doo eet. The wedding was awesome, and Sean Bonner and I engaged in a little bit of mayhem, and live-blogged it via Twitter. The following night, Anne and I went to see Spamalot, which I loved, despite Clay Aiken who can barely sing and really can't act. We did a few other touristy things, but nothing worth mentioning. I love New York, and I hope I get to go back there in the future as often as I did when I was too young to appreciate it.
At long last, I got my very own Lego Wesley Crusher. I saw Kenny Loggins in the airport, and hilarity ensued.
I went to the Emerald City ComiCon in Seattle:
Very Memorable Moment of the con: I was talking to Ed Brubaker, who waited in my line to give me copies of Criminal. It's one of my favorite books in the world, and I asked him if he would sign it for me. Ed and I kind of know each other because Warren Ellis introduced us (I know, it feels like name dropping to me, too, but I swear it's how it happened) and Ed's given me a ton of reassurance and advice as a writer. I was attempting to thank him for casting Dispel Fear and Self-Doubt when I failed my save vs. insecurity just before I started my second Star Trek manga story, and this really angry guy in my line yells at him for talking to me for so long.
I think we'd be talking for about 5 minutes, which is about how long I spend with everyone who waits to talk to me at a convention, because that's just how I roll.
For those of you who don't know who Ed is, he writes (and killed) Captain America, and that's not even the coolest stuff he's done. Yelling at Ed Brubaker at a comic convention is like yelling at Wayne Gretzky at a hockey convention.
When Angry Yelling Guy got to the front of the line, he just wanted to talk to me about Star Trek. For five minutes.
I didn't mention it at the time, but Angry Yelling Guy didn't just talk to me about Star Trek, he bitched at me about everything he didn't like twenty years ago. Still, it's quite funny in retrospect.
I drove to San Jose for a convention, and praised the scenic route:
…the grass on the foothills is golden, creating an inviting backdrop for splashes of color thrown across it by wild flowers. There was orange from poppies, yellow and green from wild mustard flowers, bright purple from lavender, and occasional bursts of bright green from grass that hadn't gotten the memo about dying off for summer. Around it all were gnarled oak trees, providing shade for grazing cattle and horses.
Once I got north of Soledad, towering Eucalyptus trees -- sixty feet tall, it seemed -- stood guard over vast green fields of lettuce and celery, as if the foothills had been somehow pushed back by farmers decades or even a century ago. Near Monterey, a heavy blanket of fog did its best to come inland, as coastal mountains held it back.
My story Blue Light Special from The Happiest Days of Our Lives was adapted into a comic.
I went to what will probably be my last concert, because I've finally had enough of the entitled assholes who ruin concerts:
For the next twenty minutes, this woman loudly complained about me to her equally drunk, equally idiotic friends. She kicked my chair. She clapped her hands next to my head. She screamed like a teenage girl in a Beatles concert film.
In other words, this stupid asshole made about a third of her concert experience -- seeing The Police! -- all about trying as hard as she could to ruin it for me, because I'd asked -- politely -- for her to just be considerate of the people around her.
I did an episode of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.
Bob Justman died in June:
I can close my eyes right now and see him standing just outside the set lights on stage six, gesturing excitedly at the bridge while our crew set up a shot. I can hear him tell me, "Good job, kid," after a particularly grueling day on Planet Hell.
Nolan read Little Brother , and it built a bridge between us that is still strong six months later (that's an eternity in teenager time)
Later that night, I noticed that he was sitting in the chair by our family iMac, but instead of playing games or talking to his friends on iChat, he had his head cocked to one side, Little Brother open in his lap. He'd made some serious progress in the book. I noticed that he had Firefox open to a Google search about [spoiler redacted].
I nudged Anne and pointed to Nolan.
"He's been reading that pretty much non-stop since you gave it to him," she said quietly.
"That rules," I said.
Over the next two days, I'd see him sitting on the couch, sitting in my favorite reading chair in our den, sitting in the chair by the iMac. He was always in the same pose, head cocked to one side, Little Brother open in his lap. We talked a little bit about the characters and the events in the book, and he asked me lots and lots of questions about the technology and real-life issues Cory presents in the book.
I made an appearance in Abstruse Goose. I wrote some more stuff about writing. (I wish I'd done as much actual writing in 2008 as I did writing about writing.)
Okay, this is way longer than I thought it would be, and I'm only up to July, so I'll split this into two parts. Part two will be up shortly.
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Economists behaving badly
» Paul KrugmanOuch. The WSJ's Real Time Economics blog has a post linking to Raguram Raghuram (!) Rajan's prophetic 2005 paper on the risks posed by securitization - basically, Rajan said that what did happen, could happen - and to the discussion at the Jackson Hole conference by Fed vice-chairman Kohn and others. The economics [...]
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the 2008 year in review, part two
» WWdN: In Exile2008 was supposed to be the year that I wrote a whole bunch of fiction. I got a lot of things started, finished an important project, but I didn't finish the two projects that were most important to me. I'm going to blame my failure on losing three months to sinus surgery recovery, and a busier-than-anticipated summer convention schedule. Now, I will look forward to 2009 as the year I'll write a whole bunch of fiction, and publish it, even.
As I looked through my archives for 2008, I remembered a year that totally didn't suck. Here are some of the highlights, continued from Part One:
I wrote a post that ended up being all about Stand By Me:
I remember asking Rob why Gordie didn't make Ace give him back his Yankees cap at the end of the movie, since it seemed like the sort of thing that should happen if Gordie and his friends "won." (This made perfect sense to me when I was 12.)
Rob said that Ace didn't keep the cap, and threw it away as soon as he walked around the corner. It wasn't about the cap, Rob told me, as much as it was about Ace being cruel.
I learned a lot about filmmaking and storytelling in that conversation with Rob, and I still feel its influence on my creative life.
I had a disastrous audition, but ended up growing a level in acting as a result of it, leading directly to my role on Criminal Minds:
There is a lesson here about not giving up. There's a lesson here about learning from your mistakes and applying that knowledge, instead of wallowing in self-pity. I'm not pointing that out because I think anyone else needs to hear it; I'm pointing it out because I'm going to forget it sooner or later, and I want to remember it the next time I go searching through my writing for advice from myself.
One more thing: when I had the audition last week, I did my best, even though my best was crap. When I did my audition yesterday, I did my best, and it was much better than what "my best" was just a week ago. Someone once said to me that we should always do our best, and understand and accept that "our best" will vary from time to time. I'm glad I remembered that.
I lamented the closing of Star Trek: the Experience in Las Vegas. I didn't even get to go say goodbye during Creation's big honkin' Star Trek convention in summer, because they barred me from the show.
I created a Flickr Pool for people to share photos of my books in the wild. It has some pretty awesome stuff in it. I did an interview for Mahalo Daily at Comic-Con. Normally, I suck in interviews, but I'm really happy with how this one turned out.
I nearly completed the endless setlist on Rock Band with Ryan. I say nearly, because…
…after already playing for 5 hours, (and not exactly conserving our energy) we started to play this rock epic, knowing it would be the greatest challenge we'd faced yet.
Our first time through, we failed at 84%. It was entirely my fault for holding my guitar too high and deploying our emergency overdrive when we didn't need it.
"Sorry about that," I said as we lost 360,000 fans. "I blame my guitar."
Ryan looked at me.
"Okay, I blame myself."
Ryan laughed and said it was no big deal. He was confident we'd get it on the next try, and when we started the song, I could see why. He was in the zone, nailing 97% of the first solo. I wanted to holler about how awesome he was, but I felt like it would have been the same as talking to my pitcher in the middle of a no-hitter, so I stayed quiet and did my best not to screw things up.
I screwed things up, and we failed the song at 96%. We lost another 360,000 fans, almost wiping out the million we'd picked up when we did the Southern Rock Marathon last week. Compared to the nearly 5 and a half hours we'd spent playing, that 18 minutes wasn't that long, but it sure felt demoralizing, especially because it was, again, entirely my fault we'd failed. See, there's this bass phrase that's repeated over and over and over, and if you're just a tiny bit off (like I was) you're screwed, and . . . well, you get the point.
And because that wasn't bad enough, I managed to shut down the Xbox, sending five hours of work to the Land of Wind and Ghosts. All was not lost, though:
What happened next was astonishing to me: Ryan didn't freak out. He didn't get upset. Instead, he told me, "Calm down, Wil. It's just a game. We can do it again."
I did a three part interview with Comicmix.
I met Randall Munroe, and made a complete ass of myself:
"Hey, have you ever met Randall?" He said.
His companion turned to me and extended his hand. My brain screamed at me, "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THAT'S RANDALL MUNROE! BE COOL!"
Before I knew what was happening, my hand shot out from my body and grabbed his. I incoherently babbled something about how much I love his work. He tried to say something, but I just. kept. talking.
My brain screamed at me, "SHUT UP! YOU'RE MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF YOU ASSHOLE!"
My mouth, however, was out of my control. I continued to ramble, vomiting a turgid cascade of genuinely-excited praise and gratitude all over him.
A full minute later, I realized, to my abject horror, that my hand was still shaking his. I held it too hard in a sweaty, trembling hand. Darkness flashed at the edges of my vision, and I felt weak. I pulled my hand back, a little too quickly, mumbled an apology, and shut my mouth.
They said things to me, but I couldn't hear them over my own brain screaming at me, "GET OUT OF THERE YOU COCKASS. YOU HAD ONE CHANCE TO MEET RANDALL MUNROE AND YOU BLEW IT! I HATE YOU! YOU GO TO HELL NOW! YOU GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE!"
I remembered the first time I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show. I didn't write as much narrative non-fiction in 2008 as I usually do, but this is one of my favorite posts of the year:
She bent over and said, "are you a virgin?"
I was, in every way that mattered, and in that moment I would have pushed my mother in front of a train on its way into a lake of fire if it meant that this girl would remove from me this . . . condition.
If I'd been standing, I'm certain I would have fainted. "W-what?" I stammered.
She extended one hand and caressed my face. She repeated herself, even more seductively than the first time.
My voice cracked as I said "YES!" a little too loudly.
Her eyes flashed and she squeaked - squeaked! - a little. "This is going to be fun."
She stood up abruptly and hollered, "I have a virgin!"
"A VIRGIN!" Replied much of the audience.
Before I knew what was happening, she stood me up, had me repeat some oath that I've sinceforgotten, and spanked me. I remained fully clothed, but by the time I was done, I was soaked through after everyone in the theater sprayed me with their squirt guns and spray bottles. As quickly as it started, it was over, and she disappeared before I could get her number.
My deflowering was, like most people's, nothing like I'd hoped for or expected, but it was still magical. I loved every second of it.
I fought a bear while boxing a kangaroo and managed to break one of my ribs in the process:
[My doctor] put one hand on my back, another on my sternum, and pressed.
"Does this -"
I made a sound like a giraffe getting run over by a train while they're both hit by a meteor.
"Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and x-ray that."
I went down to the lab and had a series of films taken. I successfully resisted the compulsion to say "HULK SMASH!!" after each shot. When I took them back up to my doctor's office, he showed me where he could see a break, and where he thought my ribs were cleverly concealing at least one other break.
"So . . . do we have to put me down?" I said.
"No, but you're going to be unable to do much of anything for at least another week."
"Can I get a note to that effect to give my wife, and would you leave some space for me to write other . . . doctor's orders?"
"You're sure you only took Motrin this morning?"
I answered in the affirmative.
My friend John Scalzi commissioned, and sent to me, a velvet Wesley Crusher painting. I started The Geek Group at Propeller. It took off, and has become one of the coolest things I've ever done. I came up with five simple ways to Just Keep Writing.
I went to PAX, and got such a bad case of ConSARS, I could barely stay on my feet. When I look back on the show, I'm convinced that I really let down a lot of people who wanted to meet me based on 2007's tales of glamour and excess. I promise to make it up to everyone in 2009.
I took some pictures that I'm really proud of.
After going to PAX and playing D&D for an encounter and a half with my friends, I got a serious case of I'm A Gamer And I Love Games. OMG LIZARDMEN! Um. I ended up writing a lot about gaming in 2008. I'm particularly happy with the codifying of Rule 17b.
I wrote a few Ficlets in 2008, but I'm particularly happy about Hunter & Hunted. Of all the fucking retarded things AOL has ever done, killing off Ficlets and not even making it possible for someone or a team of someones to take over the whole community when they pull the plug next week has to be in the top five.
Several exceptionally geeky unknown facts about Wil Wheaton were revealed in 2008. Here's mine: 36. Every day, Wil Wheaton is afraid that he can't live up to his reputation.
I played in a charity poker tournament, and made the final table. I wrote a post that claims to be all about ambient music, but is really about my second coming of age, when I was in my twenties.
I went to Sacramento for a tiny convention called From the Land Beyond. It was way more fun than I expected:
I had a panel on Saturday, which I thought was going to be shared with some other Star Trek alumni. Turns out I was wrong, and I'd be on the panel by myself. I had a little bit of a last-minute panic when I learned that I was going it alone, because I hadn't prepared anything, but I thought quickly, and decided to read my Datalore review from TV Squad, because it's in Sunken Treasure. I figured this would let me perform and entertain whoever showed up, while fulfilling the "Wil's going to be talking about Star Trek" portion of the program. Thing is, I haven't really looked at it since I wrote it several months ago, so I needed to prepare (being super prepared is very important to me) before I attempted to present it. I spent about 20 minutes reading it, remembering where the beats were, figuring out where it would be safe to drop some ad-libs in and where I should just stick to the material. It wasn't as funny as I remembered it, but Datalore wasn't as good as I remembered it, so I figured those things cancelled each other out. Besides, it's not like I had anything else to perform that fit the bill, so I just went with myself (thank you for that timeless advice, Fiona Apple.)
I worked on Naruto, which made my kids think I was cool for about five minutes (which is nearly a day in teenager time.)
If you count Macross, Robotech, and Battle of the Planets, I've been watching Anime since I was a little kid. If you're more of a purist, I've been watching since I got Akira on a fifth-generation VHS bootleg at a con when I was 14. (Funny-but-true story: my friends and I watched that tape over and over again, but since the original Japanese dialog wasn't subtitled, we had no idea what the story was. We built one of our own that we thought was pretty good, but turns out was completely wrong.)
I'm not super hardcore or anything, but I enjoy anime and manga, and I was awfully excited every time I got to do all the traditional anime sounds, like the various gasps, and the occasionally-awkward translations and bits of dialog we had to add to match the mouth movements (which were originally animated to go with Japanese. Mostly, though, I felt the tremendous satisfaction that comes with bringing a character to life and making him my own.
I removed any doubt about what a total dork I was in the 80s.
I got to work on Family Guy and Naruto in the same day.
When I recorded my lines, Seth MacFarlane directed me. My scene was with Peter Griffin, and I am as proud of myself as I've ever been that I didn't lose my shit when Seth read me into my first line in Peter's voice. I also told him that I'm still laughing about Surfin' Bird, and nearly convinced him that members of The Trashmen were all deadbeat dads to the same former groupie, so the increased sales on iTunes was finally feeding her numerous bastard children. (This was way, way funnier than it seems now. Making outrageous shit up like that and committing to it completely is one of my favorite ways to amuse myself.)
I know, right?
I reaffirmed my commitment to a DRM-free life. I had a lot of fun with Twitter in 2008, mostly because the @replies are like the biggest game of "Yes, and …" in the history of the universe.
I repeated some advice for actors on auditioning:
This is something I tell actors all the time: you have to find ways to enjoy auditions, and as hard as it is, as counter intuitive as it is, you just can't make success or failure about booking the job. You have to make success or failure about enjoying yourself. You've got to enjoy the process of creating the character, preparing the audition, and then giving the people on the other side of the desk whatever your take on the character is. You absolutely can not go in there and try to give them what you think they want. The way you stand out, and the way you enjoy it whether you are hired or not, is to take the material, prepare it, and find some way to make it your own. Even if you don't book the job (and the ratio of auditions to jobs is something like 20:1 for successful actors) you've been creative. Casting people will recognize that, and even if you're not right for this particular job, they are more likely to bring you in for other parts, because they've already seen you take a creative risk.
I didn't get the gig that inspired that post, which I think it kind of perfect.
I worked on Criminal Minds, and wrote a series of production diaries about the whole experience. I'm so proud of how they turned out, I'm considering making them into a little chapbook from Lulu or something like that.
I drew a fucking awesome unicorn. I terrified everyone with my halloween costume. I did a Halloween edition of Radio Free Burrito!