Wil
Wil old city
Country Switzerland Canton St. Gallen District Wahlkreis Wil 47°28′N 9°03′E / 47.467°N 9.05°E / 47.467; 9.05Coordinates: 47°28′N 9°03′E / 47.467°N 9.05°E / 47.467; 9.05
Population	18,167 (Dec 2011)[1]
- Density	2,384 /km2 (6,175 /sq mi)
Area	7.62 km2 (2.94 sq mi)[2]
Elevation	571 m (1,873 ft)
Postal code	9500
SFOS number	3425
Mayor	Bruno Gähwiler (as of 2008) CVP/PDC
Surrounded by	Bronschhofen, Jonschwil, Münchwilen (TG), Rickenbach (TG), Sirnach (TG), Uzwil (SG), Wilen (TG), Zuzwil
Twin towns	Dobrzen Wielki (Poland)
Website	www.stadtwil.ch SFSO statistics
Wil
Location of Wil

Wil is the capital of the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St. Gallen and Rapperswil-Jona, a twin city that merged in 2006.

In 1984, Wil was awarded the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage.^[3]

Geography[link]

Lake in Wil

Wil has an area, as of 2006^[update], of 7.6 km² (2.9 sq mi). Of this area, 32.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 13.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 53.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.7%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).^[4]

The municipalities of Bronschhofen and Wil are seeking approval from the voters to merge on 1 January 2013 into a new municipality which will be known as Wil.^[5]

Coat of arms[link]

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Bear rampant Sable langued and in his virlity Gules and in sinister chief a letter W.^[6]

Demographics[link]

Wil has a population (as of 31 December 2011) of 18,167.^[1] As of 2007^[update], about 25.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (as of 2000^[update]), 272 are from Germany, 776 are from Italy, 1,876 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 135 are from Austria, 309 are from Turkey, and 578 are from another country.^[7] Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (85.1%), with Albanian being second most common ( 4.5%) and Italian being third ( 3.0%).^[4] Of the Swiss national languages (as of 2000^[update]), 13,943 speak German, 60 people speak French, 488 people speak Italian, and 26 people speak Romansh.^[8]

The age distribution, as of 2000^[update], in Wil is; 1,639 children or 10.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,836 teenagers or 11.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 2,286 people or 13.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 2,629 people or 16.0% are between 30 and 39, 2,314 people or 14.1% are between 40 and 49, and 2,022 people or 12.3% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,621 people or 9.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 1,268 people or 7.7% are between 70 and 79, there are 678 people or 4.1% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 98 people or 0.6% who are between 90 and 99, and 1 person who is 100 or more.^[8]

In 2000^[update] there were 2,829 persons (or 17.3% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 4,034 (or 24.6%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 7,421 (or 45.3%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 954 (or 5.8%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 79 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 90 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 174 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 811 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.^[8]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 31.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (21.9%), the SP (14.9%) and the FDP (12.5%).^[4]

In Wil about 69.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[4] Out of the total population in Wil, as of 2000^[update], the highest education level completed by 3,538 people (21.6% of the population) was Primary, while 6,179 (37.7%) have completed their secondary education, 2,158 (13.2%) have attended a Tertiary school, and 818 (5.0%) are not in school. The remainder did not answer this question.^[8]

Heritage sites of national significance[link]

The Hof, former seat of the Prince-abbot

The Baronenhaus at Marktgasse 73, the Dominican Abbey of St. Katharina and the Hof (the former seat of the Prince-abbot) are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.^[9]

The old city of Wil is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.^[10]

Transportation[link]

It is a railway node, being located on the train line from Zürich-Winterthur to St. Gallen and connected with lines to Frauenfeld, Weinfelden-Konstanz and Wattwil - Nesslau (Toggenburg) or Rapperswil.

The city is close to the border with the Canton of Thurgau.

Economy[link]

As of 2007^[update], Wil had an unemployment rate of 2.87%. As of 2005^[update], there were 82 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 19 businesses involved in this sector. 2,454 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 177 businesses in this sector. 8,025 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 934 businesses in this sector.^[4]

As of October 2009^[update] the average unemployment rate was 4.7%.^[11] There were 1099 businesses in the municipality of which 154 were involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 934 were involved in the third.^[12]

As of 2000^[update] there were 3,873 residents who worked in the municipality, while 4,695 residents worked outside Wil and 6,368 people commuted into the municipality for work.^[13]

Religion[link]

Church interior in Wil

From the 2000 census^[update], 8,817 or 53.8% are Roman Catholic, while 3,561 or 21.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 6 individuals (or about 0.04% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith, there are 473 individuals (or about 2.89% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 265 individuals (or about 1.62% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 10 individuals (or about 0.06% of the population) who are Jewish, and 1,433 (or about 8.74% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 116 individuals (or about 0.71% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 1,138 (or about 6.94% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 573 individuals (or about 3.50% of the population) did not answer the question.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wil

• http://www.stadtwil.ch (German)
• Wilnet - Stadtlexikon der Stadt Wil (German) city encyclopedia

v t e Municipalities in the district of Wil, Switzerland Bronschhofen | Degersheim | Flawil | Jonschwil | Niederbüren | Niederhelfenschwil | Oberbüren | Oberuzwil | Uzwil | Wil | Zuzwil St. Gallen | Districts of Canton St. Gallen | Municipalities of the canton of St. Gallen

Wil Wheaton
Wheaton in May 2011.
Born	Richard William Wheaton III (1972-07-29) July 29, 1972 (age 39) Burbank, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Anne Prince (m. 1999)
Children	Two stepsons, one adopted[1]
Website
wilwheaton.typepad.com

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers. As a writer, he is best known for his blogs Wil Wheaton Dot Net and WWdN: In Exile.

Early life[link]

Wheaton was born in Burbank, California, to Debbie (née O’Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton, Jr., a medical specialist.^[2][3] He has a brother, Jeremy, and a sister, Amy. Both appeared uncredited in the episode "When the Bough Breaks" of Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[4]

Career[link]

[edit] Star Trek and early career

Wheaton made his acting debut in the 1981 TV film A Long Way Home, and his first cinema role was as Martin Brisby in the 1982 animated film The Secret of NIMH, the movie adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. He had a minor role in the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter. He first gained widespread attention in 1986 as Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me, the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Body. In 1991, he played Joey Trotta in the film Toy Soldiers.

From 1987 to 1990, he appeared in the role of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation throughout its first four seasons.

Although his Star Trek character, and by extension Wheaton himself, was disliked by a vocal group of Trekkies during TNG's first run, he commented about his critics in an interview for WebTalk Radio:

Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who've e-mailed me at my web site and people who I've talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in the last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character.^[5]

After leaving Star Trek, Wheaton moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work for NewTek, where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000, doing product testing and quality control.^[6][7] He later used his public profile to serve as a technology evangelist for the product.^[8] Wheaton said this was a period of growth in his life, and living out of Los Angeles helped him deal with anger issues. He came back to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, then re-entered the acting world.^[9][10]

Wheaton's popularity among Star Trek fandom is covered in a number of web comics. ArcaneTimes of March 25, 2005 offers a sympathetic position.^[11] Something Positive presents a range of opinions as part of the storyline Mike's Kid.^[12] Abstruse Goose tries to distinguish between the character and the actor.^[13]

He was a contestant on a 2001 episode of The Weakest Link featuring Star Trek actors as contestants to win money for a charity each had chosen.

[edit] Post-Star Trek

In the late 1990s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the award-winning The Good Things, in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker;^[14] it was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in Jane White Is Sick & Twisted.

He has worked as a voice actor in many original series, video games and anime, which started as young Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH when he was 10 years old. His most noteworthy credits include the roles of Aqualad in the cartoon Teen Titans, the voice of radio journalist Richard Burns in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,^[15] Kyle in the Nickelodeon cartoon, Kyle + Rosemary, Himself and various other characters on both Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the episode "Fall of the Blue Beetle!", Yakumo in Kurokami: The Animation, Menma in Naruto, Hans in Slayers Evolution-R and Aaron Terzieff in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.

Wheaton has performed improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions.

Wheaton at San Diego Comic Con 2010

He appeared as himself in a skit on nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot's album Final Boss attempting to be a rapper, whose rhymes only involved shellfish. He later collaborated with Frontalot on "Your Friend Wil", a track from the album Zero Day on the subject of Wheaton's Law. Wheaton and Frontalot have both appeared at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

From September 2006 to September 2007, he hosted a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and veteran host Hahn Choi.

Wheaton's more recent acting work includes guest appearances on the November 23, 2007 episode of the TV series Numb3rs, and the October 22, 2008 episode of the series Criminal Minds. He has also appeared in Internet presentations, including a cameo in a comedy sketch ("Lock Out") for LoadingReadyRun ^[16] (and a reprise of the same the following year in CommodoreHustle 4), and the May 30, 2008 episode of the Internet series Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.

Wheaton appears in seasons three, four and five of the web series "The Guild" as Fawkes, the leader for a rival guild known as Axis of Anarchy.^[17] He also appears in seasons two, three and four of the TV series Leverage, as rival computer hacker Colin "Chaos" Mason, antagonist to Leverage team hacker Alec Hardison.

He appeared in "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" (2009), the fifth episode of the third season of the situation comedy The Big Bang Theory, playing a fictionally antagonistic version of himself, as the focus of Sheldon Cooper's ire for not having attended a Star Trek convention at which his appearance was scheduled.^[18] He later appeared on the show in episodes "The Wheaton Recurrence", which involves a bout at a bowling alley,^[19] and "The 21-Second Excitation" at a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Wheaton returned in Season Five of The Big Bang Theory in the episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction".^[20] In it Leonard gets invited to Wheaton's house-party and Sheldon is angry because of this. However, his conflict with Wheaton is brought to an end when Sheldon turns up to the party and Wil gives him a signed Wesley Crusher action figure which Brent Spiner opens, causing Sheldon to put Spiner on his list of "Mortal Enemies". He also makes an appearance in the episode "The Stag Convergence" as a guest to Howard's bachelor party.^[21]

Wheaton has done the reading for the audio CD of Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham, which was released on December 8, 2009.^[22] as well as the audio CD of Ready Player One written by Ernest Cline.

Wil is one of the three headline acts of the w00tstock shows, appearing in nearly all of them when his filming schedule has allowed.

Starting in the July 23, 2010 episode, Wheaton has appeared in a recurring, guest-starring role on Eureka, playing Dr. Isaac Parrish, the head of the Non-Lethal Weapons Lab at Global Dynamics and a thorn in Fargo's side.^[23]

Writing[link]

Wheaton runs his own weblog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net.

Between 2001 and fall 2004, he operated a message board, known as "The Soapbox" or "Paracosm", as part of the blog site. Two collections of writings taken from postings to the message board have been published, titled Boxer Shorts (ISBN 1-932461-00-0) and Boxer Shorts Redux (ISBN 1-932461-03-5).

He contributes regularly to the Los Angeles-based Metroblogging site. In June 2005, he became that month's featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire.^[24] He had a monthly column, entitled "Wil Save," in the Dungeons & Dragons-based magazine Dungeon; in May 2005, he ceased writing it. From January 2005 to October 2006, he wrote a column for The Onion AV Club about early video games, called "Games of Our Lives." On December 12, 2008, he returned to his role as Geek in Review editor,^{[clarification needed]} with his editorials being published every second Wednesday of the month.

Wil Wheaton (left) meets Tim O'Reilly at the 2003 booksigning of Dancing Barefoot at Powell's in Portland, Oregon.

In spring 2003, he founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a memoir entitled Dancing Barefoot. Monolith Press was "founded on the idea that publication should not be limited by opportunity."^[25] Most of the entries are extended versions of his blog entries. Dancing Barefoot sold out three printings in four months.

In winter 2003 Wheaton signed to publisher Tim O'Reilly with a three-book contract. O'Reilly acquired Dancing Barefoot, and published his extended memoirs, Just a Geek, in summer of 2004. He has since written about his bitterness regarding how the book was marketed, believing it was pitched as a Star Trek book when he intended it as more of a personal memoir.^[26]

In February 2009, Wheaton released Sunken Treasure: Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler. As a chapbook, it contains several small extracts of various different projects, including two short stories from Ficlets, an ACME comedy sketch, and a Criminal Minds production diary. Instead of using traditional publishing, Wheaton decided to self-publish using Lulu Publishing, something he has continued to do with all his publications since. Since publishing with Lulu, he has made all of his books available as both paperbacks and digital downloadable files.

Later that same year, Wheaton released Memories of the Future: Volume 1, a humorous critique of the first thirteen episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Memories features a review of each episode, as well as an account of Wheaton's own experiences with and memories of that episode.

Closing up 2009, Wheaton published "Happiest Days of Our Lives", and his son, Ryan, contributed by writing the afterword.

Wheaton has also recorded several of his non-self-published books as downloadable audiobooks. These include Just a Geek, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and his Criminal minds diary from Sunken Treasure. He also released excerpts of Memories of The Future: Vol 1 as free podcasts.

Politics[link]

Wheaton described himself as a liberal in 2005.^[27] In September 2006 he criticized George W. Bush's plan to permit torture of unlawful combatants: "Shame on President Bush. Shame on his Republican allies in Congress."^[28]

A column that he wrote for Salon.com in 2005, The Real War on Christmas, attacked commentators like Bill O'Reilly and detailed his arguments with his conservative parents over current political matters.^[27] Wheaton's parents were very offended by the article, and he posted a lengthy apology on his site and an interview in which his parents clarified their political views.^[29]

On August 24, 2007, he gave the keynote for the yearly Penny Arcade Expo, which was subsequently made available online.^[30] He stepped in following a public battle between the formerly-scheduled keynote debate participants, noted anti-games activist Jack Thompson and Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA). Much of Wheaton’s address focused on the debate over violence in video games. He also gave the keynote at PAX East 2010 in Boston, MA.

He supported Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election^[31] and opposed Proposition 8, calling it "nothing but hate and discrimination".^[32]

Games[link]

In 2003, Wheaton mentioned his love for the game of poker on his blog. The following year, he began writing more extensively about his poker-playing experiences, including stories about playing Texas hold 'em tournaments locally and in Las Vegas. Eventually, he worked up to regular play, including a run at the 2005 World Poker Tour Championships. On June 23, 2005, Wheaton accepted an invitation to join Team PokerStars.^[33] He went on to play in that year's World Series of Poker and was the guest speaker for the 2005 B.A.R.G.E Banquet. In June 2007, he announced he would no longer be on Team Pokerstars due to changes in the U.S. legal system that would cause poker sites to have to focus on European and Asian markets^[34] and held a farewell Pokerstars tournament on June 5, 2007, which he titled So Long and Thanks for All the Chips.^[35]

Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player,^[36] and played during the PAX 2010 and PAX 2011 events using the 4th edition rules. Wheaton, along with webcartoonists Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade, and Scott Kurtz of PvP, played in front of a live audience. The game was hosted and recorded by Wizards of the Coast with Chris Perkins as the dungeonmaster.^[37]

Comic book[link]

Wil Wheaton made a guest appearance in the comic book PS 238. He appears as himself, but with the power of telekinesis. A PS 238 teacher, Alloy, is his adoring fan.

Wheaton's debut comic book "The Guild: Fawkes" which he wrote alongside Felicia Day was released on May 2012.

Audiobooks[link]

Wil Wheaton narrates many audiobooks, including Ready Player One by Ernest Cline^[38], "Fuzzy Nation" by John Scalzi^[39] (and other Scalzi works), and "Byways" part of METAtropolis: Cascadia by Tobias Buckell^[40].

Wheaton's law[link]

During his keynote speech at the 2007 PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), Wheaton made a note about sportsmanship when playing games online. It has since become known as Wheaton's rule or law, which states "Don't be a dick!"^[41] This was intended to apply to life in general, not just online gaming.^[42]

A revision of Wheaton's law is an expansion by comics artist and writer Bill Willingham, which states: "Don't be a dick, but it's okay to play one on TV."^[43]

Personal life[link]

Wheaton was roommates with Chris Hardwick for some time.^[9][44] They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.^[9]

Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. They and Prince's two sons from a previous relationship, Nolan and Ryan, live in Arcadia, California.^[45] When Ryan was 19, he asked Wheaton to legally adopt him, which he did.^[46]

Wil Wheaton has been friends with writer and radio-host Lazlow Jones, as revealed in The Lazlow Show in several episodes in both anecdotes from the hosts and in Wil's participation as a guest.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

• Meat Puppet (1980)
• A Long Way Home (1981)
• The Shooting (1982)
• Highway to Heaven (1985)
• St. Elsewhere (1986)
• The Defiant Ones (1986)
• Long Time Gone (1986)
• Family Ties (1987)
• Young Harry Houdini (1987) (ABC)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
• My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? (1989)
• Family Double Dare (1990)
• Monsters (1990)
• The Arsenio Hall Show (1991)
• The Last Prostitute (1991)
• Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991)
• Tales from the Crypt (1993)
• It Was Him or Us (1995)
• Mr. Stitch (1995)
• The Outer Limits: "The Light Brigade" (1996)
• The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
• Diagnosis: Murder (1998)
• The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998)
• The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
• The Invisible Man: Perchance to Dream (2001)
• Twice in a Lifetime Episode 22 "The Choice" (2001)
• Weakest Link (2001) (Star Trek-themed edition)
• Beat the Geeks (2002)
• A&E Biography: "Eclipsed by Death – The Life of River Phoenix" (2002 - narrator)
• Walking the Tracks: The Summer of "Stand by Me" (2002) (Stand by Me documentary)
• Arena (2002) (also as writer)
• Favorite Stars: Then & Now (2003)
• Book of Days (2003)
• The Screen Savers (2003, 2002)
• Call for Help (2004)
• Teen Titans (2004–2005) (voice of Aqualad)
• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2005) (voice)
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005)
• I Love the '80s 3-D (2005)
• I Love Toys (2006)
• Legion of Super Heroes (2006) (voice of Cosmic Boy)
• Ben 10 (2007) (voice)
• Ben 10: Alien Force/Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (voice of Mike Morningstar/Darkstar)
• Numb3rs: "Graphic" (2007) (as Miles Sklar, 1 episode)
• What I Learned From the Movies (2007)
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008) (as Blue Beetle/Ted Kord)
• I Love the New Millennium (2008)
• Criminal Minds (2008) (Episode "Paradise" as Floyd Hansen/Wayne Dryden)
• Kyle + Rosemary (2008) (voice)
• Family Guy (2009 & 2010) (voice) (Episodes "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" and "Partial Terms of Endearment", as himself and a protester)
• Naruto (2009) (voice of Menma)
• Kurokami: The Animation (2009) (voice of Yakumo)
• Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2009) (voice)
• The Big Bang Theory (2009–2012) ("The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary", "The Wheaton Recurrence", "The 21-Second Excitation" , "The Russian Rocket Reaction" and "The Stag Convergence" as himself)
• Leverage (2009-2012) ("The Two Live Crew Job" (2009), "The Ho Ho Ho Job" (2010), and "The Last Dam Job" (2012) as Chaos)
• Slayers Evolution-R (2010) (voice of Hans)
• Naruto Shippuden: The Movie (2010) (voice of Taruho and Shizuku)
• Eureka (2010) (Season 4) (as Dr. Parrish)
• Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2011) (Episode 3: "Ghost of Laplace") (voice of Aaron Terzieff, Additional Voices)

Movies[link]

• The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
• Hambone and Hillie (1983)
• The Last Starfighter (1984) (scenes deleted from film but included as DVD extra)
• The Buddy System (1984)
• Stand by Me (1986)
• The Curse (1987)
• She's Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited cameo)
• Toy Soldiers (1991)
• December (1991)
• The Liars' Club (1993)
• Pie in the Sky (1996)
• Boys' Night Out (1996)
• Mr Stitch (1996)
• Trekkies (1997)
• Flubber (1997)
• Tales of Glamour and Excess (1997)
• Fag Hag (1998)
• Foreign Correspondents (1999)
• The Girls' Room (2000)
• Deep Core (2000)
• Python (2000)
• Speechless... (2001)
• The Good Things (2001)
• Jane White is Sick and Twisted (2002)
• Fish Don't Blink (2002)
• Star Trek Nemesis (2002) (briefly; extended scene deleted but appears as DVD extra in some regions)
• Book of Days (2003)
• Four Fingers of the Dragon (2003)
• Neverland (2003)
• Americanizing Shelley (2007)
• Star Trek (2009) (voices various Romulans)^[47]

Internet video[link]

Video games[link]

• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (2003) (voice)
• EverQuest II (2004) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (2004) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2005) (voice)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (2006) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) (voice)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) (voice)
• Fallout New Vegas (2010) (voice of Robobrain)
• DC Universe Online (voice of Robin)

Bibliography[link]

• Dancing Barefoot (ISBN 0-596-00674-8) (2003)
• Just a Geek (ISBN 0-596-00768-X) (2004)
• Stories of Strength (ISBN 1-4116-5503-6) (2005; contributor)
• The Happiest Days of Our Lives (ISBN 0-9741160-2-5) (2007)
• Sunken Treasure (2009)
• Memories of the Future Vol. 1 (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wil Wheaton

• Wil's Typepad weblog - aka WWdN: In Exile
• Wil's Reddit weblog - Posts about various topics he chooses to join discussions in.
• Wil's website - Wil Wheaton Dot Net
• Wil Wheaton at the Internet Movie Database
• Wil Wheaton at AllRovi
• Wil Wheaton at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Wil Wheaton at the Open Directory Project
• Wil Wheaton at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

Grant Imahara
Imahara in 2007
Born	(1970-10-23) October 23, 1970 (age 41) Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names	Grant Masaru Imahara (今原 真申, Imahara Masaru?) (birth name)
Occupation	MythBusters (build team), Electronics and radio control expert
Website
MYTHBUSTERS Bios Imahara's Myspace Imahara's Facebook Imahara's Twitter

Grant Masaru Imahara (born October 23, 1970)^[1] is a Japanese-American electronics and radio control expert, best known for his work on the American television show MythBusters.

Education and early work[link]

Imahara is a graduate of the University of Southern California, with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. For a time, he seriously considered switching majors, with the intention of becoming a screenwriter; he decided to stay on the engineering track after assisting Tomlinson Holman,^[2] a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and creator of the Lucasfilm THX sound system.

After graduation, Imahara was hired as an engineer for Lucasfilm's Home THX division; he then moved to the visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), where he worked for nine years. While at ILM, he was involved in films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Van Helsing, and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Imahara is credited in many feature films as a model maker. In particular, he is credited for his work in updating the aging R2-D2 robots for the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[3] As an official Artoo Technician, he makes a cameo appearance in the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome.^[4]

[edit] MythBusters

Imahara joined MythBusters on the invitation of friend and occasional employer Jamie Hyneman^[5] and former ILM colleague Linda Wolkovitch, who is now an Associate Producer of MythBusters. He joined as the third member of the Build Team, replacing former MythBusters welder Scottie Chapman. His colleagues often, jokingly, refer to him as the geek of the Build Team. He often makes the robots that are needed for the show and otherwise specializes in operating the computers and electronics for the myths.

Other work[link]

In addition to his role on MythBusters, he is known for his appearances on BattleBots, where he designed and competed with his robot Deadblow. He also had a cameo appearance on the web series The Guild. Other well-known works include: designing the circuit that creates the rhythmic oscillation of the arms of the modern Energizer Bunny;^[3] leading Team ILM to victory in an appearance on Junkyard Mega-Wars; as well as authoring Kickin' Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building Combat Robots (ISBN 0-7645-4113-7), considered to be a definitive reference in robot construction.^[3]

Imahara was a cast member, and story writer, for the short film Architects of Evil, created for the 2004 Industrial Light and Magic Backyard Film Contest.^[6] He mentors the Richmond High robotics team Biomechs #841 (Richmond Ca.) for the FIRST Robotics Competition, lending his expert guidance on how to create the right robot for the right job.^[7] Imahara was profiled in the magazine IEEE Spectrum, in an issue focusing on engineering dream jobs. The article was titled "Grant Imahara: Debunker in The Box.";^[8] he is shown in a fire resistant suit on the cover.

One of Imahara's independent projects, during early 2010, was constructing a robotic sidekick for Craig Ferguson, host of The Late Late Show.^[9] The robot, named Geoff Peterson, was unveiled on the April 5, 2010 Late Late Show episode.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Grant Imahara's autobiography on MBFC
• Grant Imahara's biography from the Discovery Channel
• Grant Imahara: Debunker in The Box
• Grant Imahara at the Internet Movie Database
• Grant Imahara on Myspace
• Grant Imahara on Twitter
• AArisings A-Profiler Interview Published March 17, 2007

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

Sean Plott
Sean "Day[9]" Plott
Born	(1986-06-27) June 27, 1986 (age 25) Leawood, Kansas
Residence	Los Angeles, CA
Nationality	American
Other names	"Day[9]", "Day[j]"
Occupation	Commentator, Host, Netcaster, Pro-gamer
Relatives	Nicolas Tasteless Plott
Website
www.day9.tv

Sean Plott (born June 27, 1986), more commonly known by his online alias Day[9], is an e-sports commentator for StarCraft II and a former professional StarCraft: Brood War player, known for his daily netcasts. Plott qualified for the World Cyber Games in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and won the 2007 Pan-American tournament. He qualified for the American finals an additional three times and was recognized as the PC Gamer gamer of the year in 2010.^[1][2] He regularly appears as a commentator at StarCraft tournaments worldwide, including Blizzcon in 2010 and 2011, the Major League Gaming professional circuit, Dreamhack and the Team Liquid Star League. In 2011, Plott was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Entertainment.^[3]

Biography[link]

Plott grew up in Leawood, Kansas, where he attended Rockhurst High School. During this time, he and his brother Nicholas "Tasteless" Plott, now a professional commentator with GOM.TV in Korea, began playing Starcraft: Brood War.^[4] After graduating high school, he attended Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, where he would graduate with an undergraduate degree in mathematics. After college, Sean would attend the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and in May 2011, earn a masters degree in interactive media.^[4] On the Day[9] Daily on May 11, 2011, he announced that he would be pursuing Starcraft II full time, however whether he meant commentating full time, or playing competitively was not clear. On May 31, 2011, during an appearance on the web show State of the Game, Plott announced that he intends to eventually stream himself laddering in StarCraft II, as soon as he is not "embarrassingly terrible".

Day[9]TV[link]

Started in 2009, the Day[9] Daily is a daily webshow based around analyzing professional Starcraft games under the tagline: "Be a Better Gamer". Initially, the Daily was a webcast focused on high level Starcraft: Brood War play; however, with the release of the Starcraft II beta, the focus of the show shifted away from Starcraft: Brood War and became fully centered on Starcraft II. The Daily currently presents itself as an edutainment webcast in which Day[9] breaks down pro-level replays of Starcraft II with the more-than-occasional nerdy joke or reference sprinkled in. The show not only helps both new and experienced Starcraft players understand the game better, but also showcases hilarious and deliberately crazy games once a week on the "Funday Monday" episode."^[5][6]

Recurring themes[link]

The Day[9] Daily has had various themes since its first episode.

• Funday Monday, where Plott accepts submissions of games played by the community that were played under various restrictions designed by Plott to make the games more entertaining/challenging. These broadcasts also typicaly include a great deal of story telling
• Newbie Tuesday, where Plott analyzes replays from lower-level players
• Friendsday Wednesday, where Plott invites a StarCraft II personality for in-depth analysis of his replays. (This theme has become less frequent since its introduction.)

Additional casts[link]

Day[9] also has recently taken up streaming other games such as Diablo III, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, accompanying his gameplay experience with commentary.

Daily #404 was a special daily, featuring an empty chair and the text Daily not found. The purpose of this was to participate in the SOPA blackout of January 18, 2012.

Professional gaming career[link]

StarCraft: Brood War[link]

Plott was a highly rated player in the western Starcraft scene, participating in many tournaments around the U.S. Playing as zerg, Plott's first major results came in 2004 when he was able to take 2nd place in the World Cyber Games (WCG) USA tournament. Plott then went on to represent the U.S. at the WCG Grand Finals where he finished in the top 16.

Plott placed 1st at the WCG USA tournament in 2005 and 2nd in 2006. As a frequent poster on the TeamLiquid Starcraft strategy forums he became a staple of the community with his willingness to share his deep understanding of the game.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty[link]

Plott continued to make the daily a focus of his life and career, but, unlike with Brood War, he made his role in the community that of a caster. Since the advent of StarCraft II, he has become the most popular StarCraft II caster outside of South Korea, especially in North America. He is a staple member of the casting team for the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit, arguably the most popular North American e-sports tournament franchise featuring StarCraft II, as well as a frequent caster of the international Intel Extreme Masters Cup. He is also very widely respected as a pundit of the game and its ever-changing strategic nuances, sharing his knowledge regularly on the daily. In addition, Plott is one of the stars of State of the Game, where he discusses notable current events within the StarCraft community with other highly regarded members of the community, such as the show's caster J. P. "itmeJP" McDaniel, co-stars Geoff "iNcontroL" Robinson, Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, Tyler "Tyler" Wasieleski, and various guest stars who also tend to be important contributors and/or figures in the StarCraft community. Plott has not played StarCraft II professionally since 2010's HDH Invitational, and for the time being focuses on his daily show and commentates at various conventions and tournaments. Plott has shown interest in returning to competitive play but has made no public appearances as a player.

Casting[link]

Plott speaking at PAX 2011

Day[9]'s StarCraft II career has had a strong focus on casting. He has been a key caster on the Major League Gaming Pro Circuit, at the seasonal DreamHack LAN, at the Intel Extreme Masters' Cup, the North American Star League, and numerous other tournaments small and large. Most notably, Day[9] was a primary caster of the BlizzCon 2011 tournament, from the regional invitational qualifiers to the finals at BlizzCon 2011. He has also cast a number tournaments he himself co-organized, like the "After Hours Gaming League" and the SC2 Beta tournament, "King of the Beta."

In 2012, Day9 appeared as a caster for the Red Bull LAN and MLG's Winter Championship.

After Hours Gaming League[link]

The After Hours Gaming League is a yearly gaming competition featuring major technology companies. In the StarCraft II tournament, the teams play a series of best of five matches. The winning team wins $5000 to the charity of their choice. Season one ran during fall 2011 and team Microsoft was the winner, selecting Amnesty International to receive the prize money. Season two started in January 2012, ending in April with the crowning of team Epic Systems as champions. The medical software developer selected Doctors Without Borders as the recipients of the $5000 prize. The inaugural League of Legends tournament began in January 2012 featuring 11 teams.

See also[link]

• Electronic sports
• Starcraft 2
• Husky (commentator)
• HD (commentator)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Day[9]'s official website
• The Day[9] Daily on Twitch.tv
• Day[9]'s main page and episode archive on blip.tv
• Episode archive for Australian viewers
• A popular fan site with textual summaries of each daily episode
• After Hours Gaming League official site

Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson in September 2006.
Born	(1964-07-14) July 14, 1964 (age 47)[1] Ames, Iowa, USA[2]
Occupation	Writer, producer
Nationality	American
Genres	Science-fiction, situation comedy, serial drama
www.janeespenson.com

Jane Espenson (born July 14, 1964) is an American television writer and producer.

She has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People". Between 2009-2010 she served on Caprica, as co-executive and executive producer for the television series. In 2010 she wrote an episode of HBO's Game of Thrones, and joined the writing staff for season four of the television program Torchwood, which aired on Starz across Summer 2011 in the US. She is currently working as a consulting producer and writer on ABC's 2011 series Once Upon a Time, and has co-written and produced her first independent original web series with co-creator Brad Bell, entitled Husbands, which premiered at HusbandsTheSeries.com on Sept. 13, 2011.

Early Life and Career[link]

Espenson grew up in Ames, Iowa.^[3] As a teenager, Espenson found out that M*A*S*H accepted spec scripts without promise of payment or future work. Though she wasn't an established writer at the time, she planned to write her first episode. She recalls, "It was a disaster. I never sent it. I didn't know the correct format. I didn't know the address of where to send it, and then I thought, they can't really hire me until I finish junior high anyway."^[2] While Espenson was studying computer science and linguistics as graduate student at University of California, Berkeley, she submitted several spec scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation as part of a script submission program open to amateur writers; Espenson has referred to the program as the "last open door of show business."^[3]

Her next break was in 1992 with a spot in the Disney Writing Fellowship,^[2] which led to work on a number of sitcoms, including ABC's comedy Dinosaurs and Touchstone Television's short-lived Monty.^[4] In 1997 she joined the staff of Ellen as a writer and producer.^[2] After a year, Espenson decided to switch from comedic to dramatic writing and applied for a position at Buffy the Vampire Slayer.^[5]

Work[link]

[edit] Buffy the Vampire Slayer

In 1998, Espenson joined Mutant Enemy Productions as executive story editor for the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Espenson wrote or co-wrote twenty-three episodes, starting with "Band Candy" and ending with Buffy's penultimate episode, "End of Days." After her role as an Executive Story Editor, she was promoted to a Co-Producer in season four. In the fifth season she was promoted again to a producer. She took up the role of supervising producer in the sixth season and was promoted once more to a co-executive producer in the final season.

She wrote episodes both humorous (e.g. "Triangle" and "Intervention") and serious (such as "After Life"). Espenson and Drew Goddard co-wrote the seventh-season episode "Conversations with Dead People," for which they won the Hugo Award for Best Short Dramatic Presentation in 2003.^[6]

In addition, Espenson is credited as the writer or co-writer of the following Buffy episodes:

She also co-/wrote several comic book stories for Tales of the Slayers, Tales of the Vampires and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, the one-shots Jonathan and Reunion and the limited series Haunted.

[edit] Battlestar Galactica and Caprica

Espenson joined the crew of Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica (BSG) just after Battlestar Galactica: Razor, BSG's first television movie, was conceived.^[7] As one of BSG's co-executive producers, she has worked on every fourth season episode starting with "He That Believeth in Me"; she was also the writer of "Escape Velocity" and "The Hub" and co-wrote The Face of the Enemy webisodes. Prior to joining the show's staff she wrote one third season episode and co-wrote another. In August 2008, the Los Angeles Times broke the news that Espenson is the writer behind BSG's second television movie, The Plan,^[8] news confirmed in her writer's blog.^[9] In January 2009 it was announced that she had joined the spin-off series Caprica as co-executive producer and would take on showrunner duties midway through the first season.^[10] Espenson later gave up showrunning duties to focus more on writing.^[11]

[edit] Torchwood

In August 2010 it was announced that Torchwood creator, lead writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies had hired Espenson to write for the show's fourth series, Torchwood: Miracle Day to be broadcast in 2011.^[12] She later confirmed that she will be writing episodes 3, 5, 7 and co-writing episode 8 (with Ryan Scott)^[13] and episode 10 (with Davies).^[14] Prior to her involvement with Torchwood, Espenson had claimed to be a fan of the series, particularly the third series, "Children of Earth".^[15] To tie in with the launch of Torchwood: Miracle Day, Espenson and Scott collaborated on the Starz produced 2011 Torchwood webseries entitled Torchwood: Web of Lies, which stars American actress Eliza Dushku.^[16] Following the broadcast of each episode of "Miracle Day" on Starz, Espenson wrote a blog on AfterElton mixing her reaction to the episode with behind the scenes information on the devising process.^[17]

[edit] Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Husbands

In January 2011, Entertainment Weekly announced that Espenson and fellow Buffy writer Drew Greenberg would be writing a pilot for Syfy's version of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).^[18] She told io9 that "The version we're proposing is quite different in tone and content from the original." She added "We took the basic premise of a Ghost Detective and his still-living partner and invented our own take on it."^[19] In 2011 she also co-wrote and produced her first independent web series, entitled Husbands, which revolves around the life of two newly married gay men.^[20] The series premiered Tuesday September 13, 2011.

[edit] Once Upon a Time

In May 2011, Espenson was brought on to the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time, as a writer and consulting producer.^[21]

Other[link]

Espenson has written episodes for several other television shows, including episode 4.17 ("Accession") of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, an episode ("Shindig") of Firefly, an episode ("The Gamble") of The O.C., and two fourth season episodes of Gilmore Girls. She has also worked on Angel, Tru Calling, The Inside, The Batman, Andy Barker, P.I., Jake in Progress, Dollhouse and is the co-creator of Warehouse 13.^[22]

Espenson is the editor of Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly (BenBella Books, 2005, ISBN 1-933771-21-6), a collection of non-fiction essays on the short-lived television show Firefly.

Linguistics studies[link]

Espenson studied linguistics as an undergraduate and graduate at University of California, Berkeley.^[3] She worked as a cognitive linguistics research assistant for George Lakoff,^[23] who acknowledged her work on the metaphorical understanding of event structure in English and credited her with recognizing the existence of the phenomenon of location-object duality in metaphors pairs.^[24] Lakoff also mentioned her year-long work on the "metaphorical structure of causation" in the acknowledgments section of Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (1999, ISBN 0-465-05674-1).

Production credits[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jane Espenson

• Jane Espenson at the Internet Movie Database
• Jane Espenson Interview at AMCtv.com