I was listening to Wil Wheaton'sperformance recorded at Gnomedex 4.0 via IT Conversations this week. The stories ranged from mildly amusing to yawners and when it was over I started wondering why Wil? Is it because he blogs? Because all geeks have a secret desire to be on Star Trek? I'm not sure. The impression I walked away with was that Wil is pretty good live performer, took a long time to get through adolescence, has had some challenges in his life and is profane. To be sure it wasn't just that performance I checked out his blog, but I still don't get it. What relevance does Wil have to geekdom? I know there are those who adamantly hate Wil for something as well as those who love him. But for me, I've decided I don't really care - at all.
I don't get it either. He's not even interesting. I saw him a couple of times on The Screensavers on TechTV and just scratched my head.
Finally, someone has the courage to stand up and speak the truth.
He's a geek with issues that a lot of folks can relate to, he's has had some public successes, and is a contemporary of the first generation of folks to grow up with the personal computer.
Other than that, you might as well ask folks to explain "popular culture" in general.
I think it's that he's survived a geek hazing of sorts.
"Fans" brutalized him when he was on Star Trek, and he came through it in one piece and with suprisingly little hard feelings.
I think Joe is onto something, he was everyones favorite guy to make fun of on ST TNG, and yet he's kept on ticking. Maybe that has garnished him some grudging respect. =)
Anyway, pretty much the same can be said for any blogger. If it's interesting to you, read it, if not, go read something else.
Why Wil? Good question. I think a lot of people attending Gnomedex were thinking the same thing. He was probably invited because *Chris* thought it would be cool. Chris is a fan of Wil and Wil is a fan of Chris. Anyway, not sure if you realized it or not, but Wil didn't prepare a talk or anything for Gnomedex. He just read excerpts from the books we was hawking. Wil stated at one point, refering to his the profane language, that "we're all adults here". Well Wil, mature adults don't have potty mouths. I had no opinion one way or the other going into Wil's talk. During and after I was thinking what a big disappointment and waste of time his talk was...
Oh, I just about forgot... Wil didn't even take questions from the audience.
Ditto. I was at Gnomedex and was so unimpressed by Wil Weaton that I would have rather wasted time by shoving Google pins in my eyes until they bled. I’ve made a few blog entries of my own site about Wil. I even took a picture of a box of Kleenex and emailed to him this morning so he could cry about the Bush re-election. He actually emailed me back to say how mature I was. As opposed to crying like a baby, I guess. :)