Wil Wheaton and a Beer
Let me start off by saying that for most of my life I’ve been a fan of Wil Wheaton. I’d first seen him in the movie ‘Stand By Me’ and was instantly enthralled with the movie when Wil regaled his friends with the pie eating contest story. My friends and I howled with laughter and proceeded to rewind the tape and watch that part a few dozen times more. (The part with the leech in his underwear had the opposite effect on us, but we still watched that part a lot too.)
Like many people I grew up watching Star Trek:TNG, with a young Wesley Crusher on board the Enterprise. Whenever he would help out Data with his human endeavors, I always had to laugh. The two of them made quite the team. Even as a kid among adults Wil handled the situation deftly and with a boyish charm, which reminded my mom a lot of me. (Being compared to Wil was quite the compliment, even if it comes from your mom.)
Well, over the weekend I was fortunate enough to meet Wil Wheaton in person. He came to a local brewery promoting his most recent book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives. It’s a collection of fabulous stories about him growing up as a geek in the 70s and 80s. He dazzled the adoring group as he read through parts of his book, pausing occasionally to enjoy some tasty Arrogant Bastard beer.
Afterwards we had a Q&A session. He was asked how he met his wife, how he got into acting, how it was like working with River Phoenix and many other questions. He was open, down to earth and eloquent with his responses and was quite entertaining. I took some candid pictures of Wil at the event for posterity’s sake. A big thanks to Wil for chatting with me and signing my copy of Happiest Days! His book is quite entertaining, as is he; check it out. (I look forward to seeing him at the San Diego Comic-Con again.)
