Wil Wheaton for Alpha Geek
Posted on March 13, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 71 Comments
Geek-beloved musicians Paul and Storm are running a contest to see who’s the greatest geek of them all, and after 64 competitors (one of whom WAS NOT ME, hmph), it’s come down to Joss Whedon and Wil Wheaton. And yes, fine, Whedon did Buffy and Firefly and looks vaguely like an alien to me. Fine. But does he have a black velvet painting of himself?
I think not.
Therefore, go here TODAY RIGHT NOW and vote for Wil as Alpha Geek. You know in your heart it’s the right thing to do. Look into your heart. I’m begging you. Look into your heart.
I’ve not met either, nor have I even seen them on a panel, and I’m sure that that Mister Weaton is a wonderful man and friend; but I had to vote for Mister Whedon. He has a better resume, and seems more qualified for the post. I just hope, like voting for Hoover, this doesn’t come back to bite me on the ass if he wins.
-m
You voted for Hoover?
I am going to lose any geek cred I have by asking how to vote. I see the page, but nothing I click lets me choose one of them.
Maybe it’s just me, but that link took me to the “you’ve already voted” page. I had to back track to the main page to find the vote button…
Joss is winning. There really is no God.
Not just you, Manny! You can keep your geek cred…
Chalk one more vote up for Wil. I played poker with him on PokerStars on a regular basis when he was part of Team PokerStars. I love his writing, and he seems like a great guy. As one person commented on the voting page, he’s much more of an All-Around Geek, while Joss Whedon is much more specialized (TV and Film). Much as I love Firefly and Dr. Horrible, I had to go with Wil. Plus, Scalzi likes him, so that’s gotta be worth something, right?
Julie L:
There are little radio poll buttons at the end of the entry, just above the comments.
Persia:
He’s ahead at the moment. That’s all. Soon we will swamp the poll! Bwa ha ha ha hah ha!
I swear… it had a graph showing who was leading… I know I’ve already had my coffee so it must just be my old age.
Doctor Memory for alpha geek.
Where Are They Now:
Joss: Responsible for Dollhouse (EUGH!)
Wil: Playing an Eladrin Avenger in an official D&D podcast alongside 3 of the geek lords of webcomics.
No Effing Contest.
Does Whedon have a crushed black velvet painting? Of himself? As a character he played? I think not: Vote Wheaton!
Ack! Wil is losing by nearly two hundred votes. On a Friday the 13th. I can’t vote or root for anyone. Go Cubs.
Dr. Phil
I don’t have a heart, so your pitiful cries for mercy fall upon deaf ears.
Somebody get Gabe and Tycho in on this. They like Wil and they don’t like Dollhouse. They can either win this one for Wheaton or wang the ever-loving hell out of Paul & Storm’s server if they post a link.
@PJ: “Joss: Responsible for Dollhouse (EUGH!)”
I’m sorry, I have to express my affront. Dollhouse is a stunning example of excellent TV viewing and a profound examination of…um…
Okay, never mind. Just realized I only watch it because Eliza Dushku is freaking hot.
Viva Wil Wheaton!!
Er no, I did not vote for Hoover. One of English’s great strengths is its ambiguity. What I really meant, but which is much more stuffy was: much like the people that voted for Hoover, and were subsequently appalled at the botch he made of his presidency given the promise of his qualifications, I hope this doesn’t end up biting me in the ass.
I’d probably have voted for Prez. H had I been able to vote that year.
-m
Oh, the agony of decision!
Okay, I see an aorta, a couple of valves,………
I got the “VOTE” button when I selected “load in new tab” instead of just clicking John’s link. Or maybe they just fixed it behind our backs to make us look confused.
Pff. Whedon doesn’t even Twitter. The vote obviously should go to Wil!
Or perhaps…perhaps we can merge the two into a new, more hideous greek monstrosity. You know what I speak of.
WIL WHEDON.
Er, and of course I meant a Geek Monstrosity.
*mumble*coffee*mumble*
I think if you click through using John’s link it somehow thinks you’ve voted before and gives you the results instead of the vote button. Try refreshing the page; that worked for me. Go Wil!
I love Scalzi. I love Gabe. I even love Tycho. But I dutifully looked deep in my heart, as instructed, and I saw Joss. Sorry John.
Odd that both of their names begin with a “W” also current score after i posted my vote
Joss Whedon (51%, 1,470 Votes)
Wil Wheaton (49%, 1,394 Votes)
I like Greek Monstrosity, Steph!
It could be a mythological beast with a black-velvet head and the body of a writer, clutching a 20-sided die in one clawed paw while twittering with the other, lurching through the maze of the internets and leaving nothing but geek in its path.
I would so vote for that.
# Joss Whedon (50%, 1,477 Votes)
# Wil Wheaton (50%, 1,457 Votes)
I’m not used to choosing between two excellent candidates. I’d feel far more comfortable if this were like a presidential election, where one candidate is admirable and the other has a running mate who’s one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Between the backing of you & Geekdad, Wil’s made up several hundred votes in … oh, about four seconds. The latest gap is eight.
I see Whedon as almost too hipstery to qualify for this contest.
Wheaton 1493
Whedon 1481
Scalzi stuffs the ballot box. Mwahaha …
It’s as exciting as election night, only without the downer part where you realize that the winner actually has to go to Washington and fight like hell to make the best of a messy situation, and will doubtless disappoint you on at least something.
Well, OK, but it’s a tough call. And their surnames sound almost the same, which makes it tricky. But I’ve also played poker with one of them, so I’ll go along. But only because I want to get along, you unnerstan’
You do have to go back to the main page to vote. Otherwise it just shows the results of the poll, no radio buttons.
It shouldn’t even be a contest! Go Wil!
Ooooh…. torn.
But what are their platforms? What are their goals? We needs to know.
GeekDad is also pushing this http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/ With Scary pictures too!
Wil’s winning at the moment!!!
Even if you *love* Dollhouse, vote for Wil… wouldn’t it be a shame to take Whedon away from the show in order to perform his secretarial duties?
As others have said. This is a contest?
Whedon’s geekery is sincere enough, I’m sure. But it does have the whiff of “9-5” geekery about it. A vocational geek, if you will.
Wheaton has a sentient install of iTunes, fer crissakes. With which he converses Odd Couple style. In public.
The choice is clear.
Steph @21 & Emmy @26
Oh my god, that must happen! Ideally it would be drawn by the Penny Arcade guys in order to complete the circle of geek.
It was a close call for me. They are both champion level geeks and each would be an articulate advocate for geek causes. In the end, I voted for Wil because I’d rather Joss not be distracted from making more tasty TV shows.
And because I must do the bidding of my Overlord Scalzi.
The power of grass-roots geekdom! Wil has surged to a 130+ vote lead! Long Live the Velvet Wil.
Scalzi wrote:
“Look into your heart. I’m begging you. Look into your heart.”
Now I wish John Turturro was in the tournament.
Wheaton leadin’ by 52:48 when I did the button-pushy thing. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some Whedon, I truly do – but more Alpha Geek than the guy in the really nasty clown sweater? No way. Besides, I don’t think Whedon ever wedgied someone in half for touching their dice-bag. I know that only happened in my head, but it was great. Should’a been there.
I linked, I saw, I voted.
Wheaton and his ever recursive velvet painting for Geeksident!
(Someone made a pattern from the above photo and I think it’s been slowly increasing in iterations. Could be wrong as that post is long past on Wil’s blog.)
Wouldn’t at least sixty-three of them have not been you?
It is up to 53% to 47% after I voted for Wil. I mean, Joss is a dork, but in the land of the geek, Wil Wheaton is King!
I just voted, and it’s 53% to 47% in favor of Wil (who, I of course, voted for).
I loves the the Joss, but Wil is the greater all-around candidate for Alpha Geek. He’s been Geek-man for a much longer time. He’s on Twitter, for gosh sakes! And his blog ROCKS!
(ahem) So, go vote for Wil if you haven’t done so already. It’s not voting *against* Jos, it’s voting *FOR* Wil!
Is there no possibility for a write in candidate?
They both seem too well-adjusted to be the alpha geek.
Of course I voted for Wil! But my husband voted for Joss, so our votes canceled one another out.
Of Course Wil must win. He was in the lead when I just voted.
I just now released the Twitter hordes as well. Bwa ha ha hah ha hah!
Dude. It’s Joss Whedon. I love some Wil Wheaton as well, but Joss has some major geek cred.
And don’t think you can weasel this out of me just by quoting _Miller’s Crossing_. I’m on to you.
I’m looking at the “also-rans” and now I’m just sad. What might have been–
Espana Sheriff @39: Maybe if Wil Wheaton wins thanks to Scalzi’s campaigning, he could commission a drawing of this beast from Gabe and Tycho to give to Scalzi in gratitude.
And also revenge for Black Velvet Welvis.
Josh still owes me two hours of my life back that I wasted on Serenity.
A vote against Whedon is still a vote for Wheaton, right?
But I would have voted for Bruce Campbell over either of them.
Wil totally deserves the award. Right now he’s ahead, but not that comfortably so.
Go forth ye and vote!
Wheaton seems to be running away with it at this point with a 400 vote lead – considering when I voted it was just about tied at 1400 apiece. I guess all of the Buffy/Firefly fanboys and girls voted early
Wil is …Wil. But Joss created Dr Horrible and ‘Commentary! The Musical’. The idea of having to choose between them makes my head asplode!
FYI, I never got the radio buttons the page John’s link sent me to. Had to click on home and scroll down to the entry and lo and behold there were the radio buttons.
As of 5:20pm EDT, Wil’s 1003 votes ahead! Go, Wil, Go!
If not for him, I never would have found Whatever, so it is my duty, nay, my honor to vote for him.
Wil Wheaton defeated Wesley Crusher? Oh well, I voted for him anyway.
58: “I guess all of the Buffy/Firefly fanboys and girls voted early”
I am a hardcore Firely fanboy, but Wil gets the vote. We aren’t voting for which is better, STNG or Firely, we are voting for who has a better handle on the state of affairs in American Geekdom. We are voting for the man that will represent us and protect our interests. And that man is Wil Wheaton.
If our country was suffering a critical shortage of D20s, which man would bring it to Obama’s immediate attention?
If the kobolds were encircling the Keep on the Borderlands, which man would call in the air strikes?
If terrorists brought down the WoW servers, which man would set up alternate hosts deep inside NORAD?
That man is Wil Wheaton.
Done and done!
Long live Wil!
John: I just now released the Twitter hordes as well. Bwa ha ha hah ha hah!
It was on Fark today as well. Was that you?
Currently Mr. “Velvet Crusher” Wheaton is spanking the everliving shit out of Mr. “B-b-b-b-but Firefly” Whedon.
The idea of choosing is adding greatly to my impending nervous breakdown. Joss is my Master, but Wil is just so cute and angsty (although not as angsty as he used to be).
Pikachu, I choose you!
*watches the Scalzi Metahammer slam down into the poll*
Well, I choose to believe it’s because Wil deserved to win.
Wil for the Win! Wil will win!
Wil only has a 1,600 vote lead. He’s not yet 100% ahead of Whedon. More powah!
(Thousand-vote leads can disappear on the internets easily. Vote!)
Thanks for the pointer, John.
It was an easy vote for me – I’ve never even seen anything by Whedon (no, no, wait – someone made me watch the musical episode of Buffy, which was pretty good, and now that I read the stuff over at the voting site, I see he co-wrote Toy Story, which I quite enjoyed, so I guess I have).
But I actually liked Wesley Crusher, and I really, really enjoy Wil’s writing. And I have to completely agree with those who point out that Wil’s geekery is more pervasive and well-rounded than Whedon’s.
As of right now, Wil’s way out ahead, so my little vote didn’t sway things much, but I was happy to cast it.
I went and voted for Wil. Given the arcane — to me — D&D tweets he’s wont to do, that cinches it for him.
As of my vote, Wheaton is like 2-to-1 ahead. Go Wil!