People Who I Would Like to have a Drink With Part 1

This is a list I have in my head, part of a list, of people who I would say I admire and respect for the various things they have done and their influence on me as a person.  I wouldn't say that I idolize them but I do respect them, and in most cases I don't think I would want an autograph even though that would be cool but I would just like a chance to maybe talk with one of them for a bit over a drink if we could just to say....I don't know what I would say maybe thank you to a few of them, but really it is fun thinking about what it would be like if the opportunity ever came up.  For now here are a few of the people on this list in no particular order and a smallish reason why I would very much like to have a drink with them.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson- I found Dr. Tyson randomly on the History Channel talking about what black holes are and what they would do to humans and the planet, and then later on found a bunch of videos on YouTube of him just lecturing and doing Q&As. All of them are awesome to watch, my favorite is a video called "greatest sermon ever" very inspiring for me give it a watch, it is fantastic to just listen to.  I think Tyson's passion for all things science and space exploration is very real and can't be contained but also goes beyond those two basic things, given the fact that he is very articulate and has a wealth of knowledge it’s hard to pretend to even act bored when he is speaking.  When I found his videos online it helped me through some difficult unsure times.  I would love the chance to talk to the man who has helped me understand the world a lot more then I have thought possible on a scale that sometimes sends me into a bit of a panic. It would be interesting just to hear his thoughts on things that are out there in the world or better yet the misalliance things that maybe go unnoticed.

Adam Sessler - Adam is someone grew up watching, it started with him being GamespotTV on ZDTV which then became TechTV and his show turned in to X-play(formally Extended Play).  I followed Adam to G4 and then eventually to Rev3Games (RIP), where he did not stop for me being a calm and intelligent voice in a culture that sometimes, as the current climate shows, can be horribly volatile and disgusting.  He is funny and smart and seems to love what he does even know which isn't reviewing games anymore.  I kind of miss that but I understand why he stopped, again the culture can be horrible.  He has made me look at games in different ways as well as pop culture in general and has helped me become a better game designer as well as understanding in small ways how to be a better person.  Adam I doubt you would ever read this but we are both in the Bay Area and it would be awesome to have a drink with you.

The Rock- Ok, yeah I do have a man-crush on The Rock, though I think he could easily crush me without an hesitation if I pissed him off.  The dude is freaking gigantic, and works out constantly some would cry steroids but if he was juicing I think he would be paying for it by now.  I did watch wrestling when I was a kid mostly in high school and for that time it was cool but I really haven't watched, but I have weirdly enough followed Rock's career sense he started branching away from the WWE.  All of the movies he has done for the most part have been good if not great action flicks and in all of them he looks like he has having fun while be ridiculous a bit. In  Furious 7  coming out later this year the dude flexes out of a cast! Come on! That is both awesome and ridiculous and ya know what I ain't gonna tell him he can't do it, again he could crush me.  Movies aside though The Rock is a genuine person and goes out of his way to meet and greet fans, who he is very loyal to.  I haven't really heard a bad thing about him quite the opposite really and there is something very admirable about that. Funny guy who knows how to use social media well and incredibly down to earth for how famous he is.....I wonder if he likes scotch.

Kevin Smith- I have watched pretty much all of Kevin Smith's movies and I liked pretty much all of them, others were....  Anyway besides his movies Kevin just seems more down to earth about things then anyone else I know who is in the public eye.  At his Q&As he will openly talk about subjects like anal fissures, the death of his dad which was hard to hear really cause he drags you into it with a lot of emotion, candid stories of other actors and how weird they are, how nice they are, or in some cases how much of a dick they can be.  I think it is right to say that Kevin is not part of Hollywood in anyway which is a good thing, he may enter that world from time to time but he is not really apart of it.  He is a nerd, a guy who is such a fan of Star Wars he posted a picture on instagram after visiting the set of Star Wars Ep 7 and signed an NDA so all he could share was “..this old Bantha-Tracks subscriber’s tears and a snotty nose of joy.  The Force is WITH this movie. Holy Sith…”   I don't think you could show a more honest reaction of a fan of any franchise after seeing what he saw, and it only gets me more excited about the film.  I think in all honesty if I were to have a drink with the man we could waste the day away just by talking about Star Wars, but that would be a little bit of a waste with everything else we could possibly talk about.  The one hitch I see is the fact that I don't think he really drinks, and I don't smoke weed but I like to think we could find something if I ever got the chance to talk to him.

Chris Hardwick-  Another nerd icon of mine.  Never watched Singled Out and I am kind of glad for that, I first saw Hardwick where I have seen many of my other nerd icons on G4.  He hosted the gadget segment of Attack of the Show occasionally filling in if one of the hosts were out, didn't really know who the guy was really but I liked him.  He was funny and smart and knew his shit and still does to this day, he doesn't follow the negative mandate that most self-proclaimed nerds do this day, but he is opened and cheerful and loves what he does and he did it all because he wanted to.  He tells people that if you want to do something, like start a podcast go do it it's not that difficult don't worry about how many people are listening go and do it and have a good time.  Go write a blog, a story, try stand up, all of it encouraging none of it deprecating.  It may get "stereotyped" as the host of X aftershow but he does a damn good job of it, partly because he is a good host and isn't an asshole to his guests but biggest of all his is a Fan of the show.  He knows all about The Walking Dead both TV show and comic and he gets excited like any fan should.  His excitement and his genuine attitude have inspired me somewhat, which is why I am writing this blog and which is also why he is on this list.

Terry Crews- This one is very new to the list for me, I have seen Terry Crews in a lot of movies most of the time playing either mean black guy which he does very well, or funny black guy which he also does very well.  I didn't think anything of him until he played Julius Rock on Everybody Hates Chris which was a good show and the best part of it was the fact that he didn't play a stereotype role, he wasn't a "black" father, he was just a father, he was a dad who worked 2 or 3 jobs to support his family, he was a dad that didn't say "I love you" to his kids he says "I'll see you tomorrow" which means I love you.  That pretty much sets up what kind of character he was playing and he did it well,very well. Really why I would like to have a drink with him is how in recent years he isn't afraid to say things and call out people and institutions about the wrongs in them.  He called out the bulling that goes on in Professional Football and the shit he went through while playing, and it's some pretty fucked up stuff I think.  He also calls out the masculine BS out there in the world today especially in sports and how feminism is civil rights movement and being silent about it is accepting what is going on the the world.  Most everything he says which is great is right here in an article and video and I say watch it if you are curious.  He is just an awesome guy all around and I find really cool that if he didn't go into sports he would have gone my route sort of as an artist, and if anything I would love to talk to him about that.

Jennifer Lawrence- Ok I really need to be honest with this one, I have a crush on her, I mean how the hell could you not. She is smart, funny, isn't afraid to speak her mind, doesn't care about acting the fool, and of course she is beautiful. The first time I saw Jennifer Lawrence in anything was in The Hunger Games where she wasn't put on display, they didn't give her skimpy outfits to run around in, it was shown that it was a hard life in District 12.  In fact for me seeing the movie a second time made me notice her more....like that she has curves and a nice figure as well as being a very good actor.  I'm glad I didn't notice that sort of thing in my first view of the movie I think it would distracted me from actually watching the movie as a whole.  Despite Lawrence being beautiful girl that isn't really why I have a crush on her, the reason is, as pattern would say on reading the rest on this list, she isn't afraid to speak her mind.  Most of the time I see her in an interview for whatever movie or thing she might be doing, I don't think we are getting a fake "promotional" Jennifer, a facade, we are getting a real person and her own opinions on things and I feel like that is so rare with actors especially ones that have won an Oscar.  Her reactions are real whether they are funny like this one here, or upsetting and angered like her statement after photos of her and hundreds of other female celebrities were stolen in a sex crime hacking.  She is someone who I think on some level still can't believe that he life went down this road and she is still drinking it in.  Beyond my obvious crush on her she really would be fun to hang out with and have a drink and joke around eating pizza....no I am not planning a date, I think.

Wil Wheaton-  Yet another nerd icon for me, Wil Wheaton is a nerd in every meaning of the word (I think he prefers geek but it's all the same), and like Hardwick (who he was roomates in collage with) has made a career out of it.  I did sort of grow up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation but wasn't really a fan of it.  As I have gotten older I do enjoy it and I realize the Wheaton's character Wesley Crusher was miss used which is unfortunate but I don't think he cares about that now.  He has built a career out of blogging using social media well, playing an alter version of himself in The Big Bang Theory, and making a show where he plays board games with friends of his on Table Top, one of my favorite episodes of that show was with the game Tsuro of the Seas only because the people on it along with Wil were funny as hell and you can tell that all of them enjoyed themselves. Indeed that show has had a hand in the Board Game Renaissance and that is just freaking awesome, and I am so happy that the indiegogo campaign that Wil had going made the money it did so the show can continue on.  Indeed he was shocked that in little over a month they got $1 million+ for a third season and new show that I hope we will soon see.  Wil seems like a fun guy that anyone could really hang out and his message about what being a nerd is, and I think what a person should be is very important and makes me glad that he is out there spreading the word.  Think he would be up for some Settlers of Catan or Munchkin along with some beer?

Bill Nye-  Ah Bill Nye, even as I type this now I can still hear the theme song to his show Bill Nye the Science Guy.  Remembering that brings a smile to my face because Bill has done a lot for me, he taught me more then any teacher I had when I was a kid in middle school.  He taught me things that I wanted to learn about but couldn't learn about in school because they weren't on the syllabus.  He was fun and energetic and best of all knew how to convey what he was teaching without speaking down to his audience which was me and other kids at the time.  Bill Nye got me through most of middle school when I could watch him, I never really sought to be a scientist in the literal but things like bugs and dinosaurs and space always fascinated me, and still do to this day.  I am very happy to know that he is out there still trying to educate people, whether it is in huge lecture halls with other various scientists like Dr. Tyson whom the two are friends, answering Q&As, doing podcasts when he can, or in some cases battle the science illiterate of certain news broadcasting stations, he is out there trying to educate people still though adults may be harder I think.  I would love a chance to have a drink with the man who taught me so much as a kid growing up and who made me a science literate adult today, but more importantly I would just like the chance to say thank you Bill Nye.

Anita Sarkeesain-  Anita Sarkeesain, if anyone on this list would be more controversial for my fellow nerds to understand it would be her.  Why would I want to have a drink with someone so many people hate? Well she hasn't given up even after so many horrible things have happened to her and other women with the bullshit that is GamerGate.  She has in no small way I like to think made me a better designer when it comes to understanding the role of the player more and the role of the character they are controlling and how one affects the other.  She has also changed the way I am writing stories as well, I have always liked strong women in stories but I have noticed in my own writing and in others that when make a strong women character we focus in on the fact that the character is a women more so then if they were a man, and in doing that we make it all about that and not just making a strong character in general which belittles the story as a whole. For games it is the same thing having female characters in games they are only there to fill a few roles most all of them based off the fact that they are women and are always sexualized unless they are made to be funny which in that case they end up being ugly and or fat.  Pointing all this out has made Anita a target and has amassed a crazed number of people who want to stop her and it's just stupid really.  She isn't a bad person and what she is doing isn't a bad thing it's important thing it must be put into light otherwise as a culture and society we will never really grow beyond what we are now.  Also another point Anita has never said that any of the games that she has used in her videos are bad, most of the ones she uses are pretty good in my opinion some winning Game of the Year, never really condemning the work the developers have done out right in making their game.  She is trying to point out that even in the best of things women are not treated as equals and we all need to recognize that.  To quote Jim Sterling(Jimquisition) "Anita Sarkeesain is not Magneto.....she does not have an evil sisterhood of mutants, she is not going to take your games away..."

Conan O'Brien-  Conan O'Brien is the only late night show host I really look for, and by that I mean I will go and changed the channel and watch him instead of the others that are on. Now that is not to say that the other people on late night are bad in my opinion, I think Jimmy Fallon is doing a good job with The Tonight show, but I can't really explain what it is Conan has an energy and an honesty that I don't see in other late night hosts.  I think I am still on the side that he got screwed over a while back and even though he is doing fine now it was just a bullshit thing that happened.  But besides that I like watching Conan only for the fact that I think his jokes are funnier and the bits he does in between are as well but where he really shines is when he goes off the script, I don't see most people do that.  During  the write strike he I think excelled better then the other late night hosts who can't function without their writers, it's not to say that suck but I think Conan is a natural improviser and like I said he works better off script.  While he can be funny where it counts, he knows when to be serious, when to talk people though tough times, like the death of Robin Williams or the shooting massacre in France not to long ago, these things are always hard to talk about it but unlike most people I don't get the feeling that Conan is just reciting the news like a robot.  When Robin Williams died he really did do his best to try and hold it together and while he did it was I am sure not easy for him nor would it be for anyone.  The one thing that I will always remember is his parting words when he left The Tonight Show, it was difficult for sure but he also said some amazing things that I love and think are important, like don't be cynical and if you are kind amazing things can happen to you.  Cynicism I think is out there to much in the world and I like that Conan said those things, it wasn't like he was going away for ever, I mean he was getting kicked out it sucks, but the words at least to me meant a lot.  Chatting with Conan one on one would be a treat whether on his show (LOL!) or just in person would be a great time I am sure, and I can always hope that one day I will get the opportunity.