MetaFilter posts tagged with humor and writing

There are never enough notebooks

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:38:52 -0800

Jesus and Judas, the latest project by Avery Edison. Avery also writes an amusing twitter, an intermittent daily vlog called the Weekly Show, a serious business personal journal, and oh also a million other things as well.

Excellent fiddlesticks for the insolent rascal, and other ways to while the days

filthy light thief — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:32:57 -0800

As a belated tribute (of sorts) to Victoria Day, may you find interest in a variety of Victorina era literature, short and long. In the short category, there is Chit-Chat of Humor, Wit, and Anecdote (Edited by Pierce Pungent; New York: Stringer & Townsend (1857), who has written quite a bit of such work) [via mefi projects], and Conundrums New and Old (Collected by John Ray Frederick; J. Drake & Company Publishers Chicago, 1902) [via mefi projects] This publishing house also published The Art of Characturing, copyright 1941. If you prefer your antiquated humor with a twist, take a gander at bizarro version of Conundrums New and Old [via mefi projects]. In the category of longer works, behold the The Lost Novels of Victorian New Zealand [via an older mefi projects]. The lost novels is a free online archive of New Zealand and Pacific Islands texts and heritage materials, provided by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre, which is part of the Victoria University of Wellington. The content of the online archive ranges from novels written or set in New Zealand to shorter fiction that appeared in local pamphlets and newspaper supplements, and covers a broad range of topics. The long list of archive projects are available under various licenses, and where the original text is out of copyright it is our policy to provide the digitised version under a New Zealand Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License (CC BY-CA).

I Write, They Answer (Usually)

netbros — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:48:59 -0800

What if you wrote to Alpo to ask if they have a senior citizen's blend, or to the AARP to inquire about the living status of Abe Vigoda? And what if they wrote back? That's the purpose of Jackassletters.com, part mischief, part mayhem, from MeFi's own cjorgensen. History has demonstrated the fun of hoax letter writing, for instance Kitty Piddle Soda from Avery's Beverages. Someone has to carry on the tradition. Tweaking the noses of power and fame. (via MeFi Projects)

Too much dignity to play for small stakes

Potomac Avenue — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:29:48 -0800

Another member of the "Pants Down Republicans" in trouble: PJ O'Rourke has cancer. Whether his politics are appealing or appalling, one can't deny that his writing is hilarious and that he really does his best to bring reason and sense of life as it should be lived to everything he does, whether traveling at home or abroad, reconciling religion and science, interviewing his drinking buddies, or having serious fun.

Alright folks, let’s get this show on the road. I want to make it to Country Buffet by four.

desjardins — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:04:58 -0800

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: The Abridged Script [probably contains spoilers]

Stuff nobody likes: blogs about stuff people like

ThePinkSuperhero — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:07:36 -0800

Stuff Nobody Likes. A short list is provided for your convenience. [via mefi projects]

It's the next day!

woodblock100 — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:06:00 -0800

A grand allegorical account of the past four decades of human history - or something, is of interest mostly to those of us over forty, but anybody can use the help of The Amazing Dostoevsky machine (new and improved!), to get through Crime and Punishment. Great literature not your thing? Try one woman's elusive search for a marketable, filthy domain name, or check how long you've been on this planet. I'm up to 20284, and counting ...

It's all part of the quirky (insane?) Bonkworld. There's bound to be something here to "feast your sense organs"

Home of the picnic for detectives

gamera — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:29:31 -0800

How to build your very own balsawood crow, the poetry of Dennis Beerpint, Little Severin the Mystic Badger, plus lobster diagrams and of course the Binnacle of the Week await you at Hooting Yard. Celebrated in song and story, Hooting Yard (also a radio show and podcast) is the home of Frank Key, author of such works as Sydney the Bat is Awarded the Order of Lenin and A Complete and Utter History of Norwich.

... And a bathing suit because you never know.

anjamu — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:56:13 -0800

"Excuse me," Schwartzman said to the Home Depot man, "can you tell me where to find tar?" "Tar?" asked the Home Depot man. "What're you using tar for?" "I'm building an ark," said Schwartzman. If there was anything that two years of completing God's preposterous homework assignments had taught Schwartzman it was that there was absolutely nothing you could tell Home Depot Man you were building that would surprise him, that would get any reaction from him at all, for that matter, aside from the usual skepticism about your choice of building materials.

Shalom Auslander recasts Jewish history in short story form. Start with the aforementioned "Prophet's Dilemma," and work your way backwards to "Plagued." [more inside]

More topsoil. Videogames discussion with leading UK comedy writers

nthdegx — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 14:31:09 -0800

This is what happens when you put some of the best writers in UK comedy around a table to discuss videogames. Needless to say even the above average videogame writing gets a deserved hard time. Via the Spaced Out forums.

'The Only Man Stalin Ever Feared'

Zack_Replica — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 14:31:34 -0800

Alexei Sayle's writing for the Independent in the Motoring section. Occasionally it's about motoring, too! Also found was his "Imitating Katherine Walker" [html/pdf] and an excerpt from his book of short stories 'Barcelona Plates'. more inside

Gleemail

nthdegx — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 06:04:43 -0800

Grind. Endless drudgery. Too much in your in-tray, not enough in your out-tray. You put your headphones on, but it doesn't really help. You want a distraction - just for a moment or two. "A happy employee is a productive employee" you justify to yourself, although you're not convinced. Then it happens. A 24 carat nugget of plain text escapism lands in your in-box. You're an alt-tab, double-click away from sheer bliss. DNRC; A.Word.A.Day; FlipFlopFlyin Newsletter; The Plain Text Gazette; and the previously mentioned Snowmail and Newsnight Newsletters, which take a less formal but equally sharp look at the day's news, with anecdotes and observations thrown in. What other quality plain text mail lists are around?

The Genial, Unprolific Fran Lebowitz

MiguelCardoso — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 18:42:34 -0800

The Funniest Writer Not Writing Today ...or yesterday, or last year, or even for ages, has to be Fran Lebowitz. So it was quite refreshing to find this little website devoted to her scant and miserly online presence. The latest publication featuring her name is, in fact, the menu of the newly-opened Café Lebowitz in Manhattan's Nolita. Well, the author of the two masterpieces of wit, Social Studies and Metropolitan Life, recently anthologized in The Fran Lebowitz Reader, always warned us she was pathologically lazy... But the old, occasional, lazy (but always witty) interview or odd, random quotation is no compensation. I think she's up there with S. J. Perelman. Robert Benchley or Dorothy Parker. If only she'd actually do some work! Are there any other wilfully and chronically unproductive writer you miss terribly and would force out of retirement if you could?

A Menagerie of Animals

nthdegx — Mon, 13 Jan 2003 13:07:54 -0800

Oxford's guide to collective terms for animals is a useful and fascinating although all-too-brief resource. Collective terms for birds are some of my favourites: an unkindness of ravens; a murmuration of starlings; a richness of martens. Bees and sheep seem to have a lot of collective terms. I can't imagine why. Altogether, though, I found one of the terms for for ferrets to be the pick of the bunch.

Sinner — Mon, 22 Oct 2001 14:31:44 -0800

Modern Humorist's "Rough Draft: Pop Culture the Way it Almost Was" is finally available. A few samples are here. And while I like the Modern Humorist and enjoyed their first book I'm partial to The Onion's "Our Dumb Century" as the funniest.book.ever. As I brace for the sarcastic responses, what do you think is the funniest book ever written?

wendell — Wed, 21 Jun 2000 16:10:28 -0800

Forget the water on mars, the Israeli parliament and the nuclear disc drives... Here's the news we really wanted to know:
The corporate-pawn pseudo-weblogger Net Buzz seems to have a scoop on the winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Bad Writing Contest (the entries above are NOT on the official site). These may not be for real, (the contest has never listed them in a Top 10) but they're funny enough to see me through until the real thing comes along. (#2 and #1 are kinda predictable, but #6 should appeal to all us MeFi Narcisists)