News on Shuffle would like to give a great big birthday shout-out to one of our favorite geeks: Wil Wheaton. Once known as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he now has a legion of followers on both Twitter and his blog. Both are sources of entertainment for geeks everywhere. Recently, he also co-founded a live show called w00tstock, which is self-described as “3 hours of geeks + music” – although the show has run for well over that amount in the past. Other names involved in the project include Adam Savage (Mythbusters) and the comedy music duo Paul and Storm. I have mentioned w00tstock on Twitter in the past and would very much like it to come to NYC. Anyone who agrees can Demand It and possibly turn this dream into a reality.
They have said they will come to any city that gets 300 requests, so it really will make a difference whether you do this or not.
[Hey Wil, sorry for hijacking your birthday for my own personal campaign. I do it out of love…?]
*Now back to our regularly scheduled program*
Besides all the other cool things already mentioned, Wil has also made guest appearances on a number of shows, including The Big Bang Theory, Eureka, Leverage, and the web series The Guild. I have to admit, I have never watched Eureka or Leverage (although his guest appearances almost changed that). He was able to get me back on The Big Bang Theory though. I had stopped watching when it became too hard to balance tv with college, but hearing he was making a guest appearance was too exciting to miss. Good thing too, or I would have missed moments like this:
I am now catching up on all the episodes I missed in preparation for the next season. I also became interested in The Guild partially thanks to him. He mentioned the series on Twitter frequently (as did the show’s creator Felicia Day) and eventually I broke down and decided to give it a try.
Best. Decision. Ever.
The show is quirky and wonderful and you really should watch it sometime. They are currently in the middle of Season 3, but you can watch all the episodes here. There’s also two music videos, my favorite of which is
Damn, I did it again. OK, we’re going to consider promoting all these things as our birthday present to Mr. Wheaton. That and this birthday nugget – a clip from one of the w00tstock performances. I’ve watched it a dozen times and it still makes me laugh like a hyena.
Eternal Arr from Dan Coulter on Vimeo.
Bonus Birthday Nugget! Find the hidden Wheaton in this video:
we love xkcd from Olga Nunes on Vimeo.
We love xkcd… and Wil Wheaton. Happy Birthday!