Comments on: Book review: Memories of the Future

By: Blurring the lines: Virtual human research promises real-world impacts | Lascher at Large

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:57:44 +0000

[...] just behind the glass wall of the tiny reception area. A gray replica of a transporter from the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series hangs from the room’s ceiling, making the wait for an appointment seem more [...]

By: ballookey

ballookey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:24:34 +0000

I bought this book based on this blog entry, and it IS hilarious, but I have to say I’m a bit disappointed that Wil doesn’t seem to have anything nice to say about his female co-workers except with regard to their primary sexual characteristics. The lone exception (so far – I’m not quite done with it) is to say he really like Majel Barrett and so he can’t objectively judge her acting.

He seems to fault Denise Crosby for her decision to quit – which frankly makes complete sense and anyone who had anything else going on or any self-respect ought to have at least seriously considered the same thing. I don’t know the story, but perhaps her quitting was needed to shine a light on how utterly blinkard the episodes were, and how shallow the characters were being written.

It’s especially ironic that on page 60 Wil objectifies women not just once, but twice in a single paragraph, while on page 61 he complains that most of the directors didn’t treat him as a human professional, just a bit of set decoration to move around.

Otherwise, the book IS hilarious and many of the comments that I’m complaining about are funny in and of themselves. Rowdy comments and boob jokes make the world go around. I only wish there was some professional respect shown. I really did enjoy the synopsises, especially where they called out how atrocious the plots and scenes were.

By: lagomorph

lagomorph — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:15:18 +0000

This is a great read. I do have a small pedantic nit to pick though Phil since I think this one’s probably your fault. It’s in your blog post and in Wil’s book, at least the PDF version. If you’re going to do the geeky ctrl^h^h^h^hbackspace thing at least get it right and show the correct number of ^hs.

By: Nes

Nes — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:35:26 +0000

ThePirateGuy@#21 is wondering if there’s a JREF Amazon link… I’m wondering if it’s on Amazon at all, as I can’t find it. (I did find Just a Geek.)

By: theinquisitor

theinquisitor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:32:58 +0000

Q was right, a dangerous savage child-race.

By: Jennifer B. Phillips

Jennifer B. Phillips — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:21:08 +0000

What do we say to mr Spinner? READ the FRAKING research, Brent!!! Quit listening to news pundits…

Unfortunately, Mr. Spiner seems parroting (or, I guess ‘tweeting’) the antivax equivalent of ‘teach the controversy’; to wit, he’s just encouraging people to ‘do the research’ and ‘educate themselves’. Just like ‘ttc’ sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do unless you know the intent behind all that openmindedness. Brent is (reportedly) turning to Dr. Jay Gordon for his vaccine ‘education’, which is a very bad sign indeed.

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:46:05 +0000

Data was one of my fav. all time STNG characters. But it’s just a character. I expect Brent has the same problem as any other huumon, he’s really not Vulcan.

Do Pham. Corps sometimes try to cover their butts because, like all human endeavors, they’re susceptible to error? Well, DUH! That’s why the scientific method works as well as it does; to compensate for the very human propensity to lie, cheat, steal and cover our butts. It’s about transparency and the ability to replicate what someone else claims as fact(anyone remember the cold fusion debacle?).

OK! SO? What do we say to mr Spinner? READ the FRAKING research, Brent!!! Quit listening to news pundits(unless it’s Jon Stewart and/or Stephen Colbert).

As anyone should be able to figure out, pharmaceutical companies have a great deal more to gain by NOT producing/manufacturing vaccines than by just supplying the drugs to cure people after the fact, yet they keep trying to keep people healthy. Ya think they might be in cahoots with insurance companies(who also have a bottom line desire to keep people from getting sick)?

Arg! Paranoid folk are essential to keeping an eye on other people and their propensity to be merely human but they’re so darn illogical.

Oh well, back to the METHOD.

Gary 7

By: Petrolonfire

Petrolonfire — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:55:48 +0000

Gotta be honest I couldn’t stand Wil “Wesly Crusher” in Star TRek TNG. I thought he was just very annoying and boring.

That said, if you really reckon his book is okay I might be tempted to check it out.

I know you’re okay with teh gayz but Wil .. “man” crush? *shudder*

By: theinquisitor

theinquisitor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:02:02 +0000

Brent Spiner… anti-vax… NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

By: Jennifer B. Phillips

Jennifer B. Phillips — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:09:58 +0000

Phil, you'd better see if you can get your boy Wil to appeal to Brent Spiner's Data-logic re: his apparent anti-vax views. I love Wil's blog, and I'll definitely be checking out the book.

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:22:45 +0000

I changed the line about Katherine Heigl. I misremembered what happened; her problem was a bit too much honestly, saying what she thought about the writers on her show.

By: mike burkhart

mike burkhart — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:17:42 +0000

I liked star trek the next generation as munch as I liked star trek the neat thing in star trek was the transpoter in the next generation it was the holodeck I thought the naked now was funny the episode I did’nt like was the one about the creatures that took over the bodies of star fleet comand officers I thought is was a rip off of Alien ask Will if he will be involved in future star trek projects or how about star wars projects

By: Ciaran Dunn

Ciaran Dunn — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:48:02 +0000

Just purchased this as a pdf and read it in a 4 hour sitting. Was very enjoyable(and yes your contribution was excellent). Now I would actually like to read not just the next one, but similar books from the rest of the cast

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:32:24 +0000

I find it ironic that Wil Wheaton’s blog is called “Don’t Be a Dick”, because that’s precisely what Wesley Crusher was. How did Wesley never get beat up by his peers for being a smarmy git?

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:28:32 +0000

I”m really glad you’re helping these guys out, first felicia day, now wil wheaton. They really could use a kick start to internet fame

By: Larian LeQuella

Larian LeQuella — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:06:39 +0000

I had a fun time explaining to my wife why Wil’s shirt totally cracked me up on the TBBT episode he was in. I guess the FruitF***er is still sort of an inernet only phenomenon?

By: alfaniner

alfaniner — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:01:19 +0000

I’m curious as to whether the price of $19.87 was chosen intentionally. (It was the year TNG began).

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:39:47 +0000

I still don’t get the Katherine Heigl reference. I guess I need to get out more…or is it stay in more?

By: Tripp

Tripp — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:04:26 +0000

Why do all nerds care about this guy and what he thinks? I’m sure he’s nice in person, but out of all the people out there in the blogging world, why does EVERYONE like this guy? I’m not trying to be a jerk here — I honestly, really do not get it, like a robot that can’t understand human emotions. No explanation makes any sense to me.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:40:20 +0000

I was totally with you reading this, until you talked about being in grad school when these episodes aired! I think I was just exiting elementary school. o.o;;

By: Ralph Johnson

Ralph Johnson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:14:46 +0000

Wil Wheaton is living in the past.

By: Roen

Roen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:06:37 +0000

I too found Wesley Crusher an unmitigated wheenie but after following your suggestion, Phil I read his blog and find him to be quite entertaining. I may grab that book of his.

By: ThatPirateGuy

ThatPirateGuy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:25:50 +0000

Is there an amazon link that will give the jref a cut?

By: Les

Les — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:25:29 +0000

Got the PDF version last week, just in time for an annoying train journey. Note to self: reading 100 pages of a PDF on an iPhone will run down battery. Giggling on trains may generate funny looks.

Loved it. Seriously funny, looking forward to the next one.

By: Ed Myers

Ed Myers — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:22:47 +0000

Not one “curse you Wil Wheaton!” in that entire entry. I think Phil is going soft.