MetaFilter posts tagged with story

Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E!

Artw — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:26:43 -0800

How to Tell a Story

Mike Buechel — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:57:22 -0800

How to Tell a Story. "The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate art-- and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it. The art of telling a humorous story--understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home." That Itchy Chick | You Should Have Seen The Old Man Brother Theodore Christopher Walken's The Watch

Fifty-Two Stories

backseatpilot — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:24:30 -0800

Fifty-Two Stories - one short story per week, for free. (via)

“So happens this dog achieved the rank of colonel in the United States Army.”

grobstein — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:12:25 -0800

They were in the stairwell that led down to the commode, a dangerous place in its time, the Grand Central Station Men’s, but for different reasons. I saw the dirt tracks leading there, and I left the monkeys in the chandelier and followed them. I kept to the tracks careful as I could. There were pits and corrugations everywhere in the old tile, any one of which could hide a man killing gob of explosive. At my back I heard Spot complain: “Leave ‘em be, Blacks. We’ve warned ‘em, ain’t we? If they blow themselves up, it ain’t on us.”

UXO, BOMB DOG by Eliot Fintushel (single-link short fiction)

When Steam Wasn't Punk.

The Whelk — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:41:54 -0800

The Brazen Android by William Douglas O'Connor, is a 19th century science fiction story based on the myth of the Brazen Head, a steam-powered head that told fortunes. It's available as an audio book from the Internet Archives. (Via)

2081

Joe Beese — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:25:43 -0800

Kurt Vonnegut's perennial 1961 story "Harrison Bergeron" has been given a new film adaptation. (via)

Live it, for a while.

Mitheral — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:31:45 -0800

Real time Dracula "Experience Bram Stoker's Dracula in a new way -- in real time. Dracula is an epistolary novel (a novel written as a series of letters or diary entries,)" Whitney Sorrow is posting each entry in real time starting on May 3rd the date of the first diary entry. [via]

The Giving Tree

the_bone — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:21:11 -0800

The Giving Tree (1973), animated short based on Shel Silverstein's 1964 children's story and narrated by the author. Once you're done crying, here are a few related links: The Giving Tree: A Symposium (a collection of thoughts on the story by some American religion scholars.) The Misgiving Tree (a parody) A couple of parody videos: "The Really, Really Giving Tree" and "The Taking Boy"

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist

chunking express — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:03:54 -0800

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist.

At A Deadly pace

The Whelk — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:10:41 -0800

The Invasion From Outer Space: Steven Millhauser gives The New Yorker a short, unsettling sci-fi story.

But don't break anything. The furnishings are fra-gee-lay.

miss lynnster — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:40:50 -0800

Make this Christmas special. Spend it in Ralphie's house! Bunny suit and Lifebuoy soap included. For an extra fee, the owner will convince you to lick a metal pole and then shoot your eye out. Schedule & Activities

DECEMBER 23:
Winner and guests arrive in Cleveland (Time TBD)
3pm: Check into a suite at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel
Visit the former Higbee’s Department Store Window (next to Renaissance Hotel)

DECEMBER 24:
10am: Personal behind-the-scenes tour of A Christmas Story House & Museum
Ride in family car (weather permitting) and receive bars of Lifebuoy Soap
Try on original costumes from the movie
Read through the costume “bible” that includes photos and notes from the production
2pm: Check into A Christmas Story House
Large FRA-GI-LE Major Award crate delivered to the front door of the house (yours to keep – provided by A Christmas Story House). Crow bar provided to open.
Go out to check the mail for Decoder pins delivered to mailbox (one for each guest and yours to keep - provided by A Christmas Story House)
Climb under the sink just like Randy
5pm: Chinese Turkey Dinner at Pearl of the Orient
7pm: Back to A Christmas Story House to watch “A Christmas Story” in the house it was filmed (25th Anniversary DVD is yours to keep; popcorn and sodas provided)
9pm: Spend the night in A Christmas Story House sleeping in Ralphie and Randy's bedroom!

DECEMBER 25:
8am: Open presents in A Christmas Story House living room
Continental breakfast basket provided by A Christmas Story House
Presents included: 2 BB guns (behind the desk), blue bowling ball, can of Simonize, and a bunny suit, 4 Christmas Story House shirts. (provided by A Christmas Story House)
Bring your own presents to unwrap as well
Shoot BB guns in the back yard (provided by A Christmas Story House)
1pm: Check out of A Christmas Story House and return to Renaissance Hotel (Room is reserved for you)
5pm: Enjoy Christmas dinner at Sans Souci, an award-winning, fine-dining restaurant in the Renaissance Hotel

DECEMBER 26:
By 12pm, check out of Renaissance Hotel
Return flight departs (Time TBD)

Games that Never Existed

flatluigi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:13:59 -0800

The Loneliness Engine and other invisible games.

A three minute fairy tail

oxford blue — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:14:58 -0800

Boy meets girl, you know how it goes. The catch? They're made from Myriad Pro. This short TED talk by someone called Rives was cute, and whimsical enough to make me smile. I hope it makes you smile as well.

The noble lies vs the crushing reality

oxford blue — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:49:44 -0800

Election woes: Or, why not to discount 26 year old lawyers.

“The fact of storytelling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to tell.” –Ben Okri

iamkimiam — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:08:55 -0800

"Political content aside, the discussion provided a lovely example of how a term from literary theory has established itself in American political discourse." via Language Log

"We may expect the following. Language will be carefully crafted. Advertisements will focus on personal narratives. The campaign will employ “attack” advertisements that emotionally sway voters. Policy will be sketchy with vague descriptions that emotionally satisfy Americans while offering scant details. The emphasis will be on creating narratives that resonate with the values, beliefs, and identities of prospective voters."
– Literary Gulag, on Lakoff, Nunberg, Westen, and the narrative of the 2008 presidential election. "Party operatives have complained, again and again, about the absence of a compelling narrative. Stanley Greenberg, Democratic pollster, has credited Republicans with a “narrative that motivated their voters.” Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, has called for a “new narrative.” Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?, has acknowledged that Republicans have “captured the narrative of social class.” Robert Reich has stated that Republican success in “the art of political narrative” has “exiled Democrats from politics itself.” Or as James Carville, lead strategist for the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign has noted, “They produce a narrative, we produce a litany” (14), For more than thirty years, Nunberg contends, Republicans have diverted class resentments rooted in economic inequalities to debating “values,” thereby ensuring that moral issues become part of the “core vocabulary of American political discourse” (15-16)." And of course, what post would be complete without a Wikipedia link about this new word for the old story.

Flowers For Algernon - The Blog

Asparagirl — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:41:08 -0800

Daniel Keys' classic 1959 Science Fiction story "Flowers for Algernon", which takes place in a series of diary entries, has been posted online as a blog. Of course, you'll need to read it backwards, from the earliest entry to the latest, to avoid giving away the ending... [via]

The City So Nice They Named It Twice

WCityMike — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:39:16 -0800

Thirty New York city residents pooled their strength yesterday and hoisted a wrecked school bus into the air to rescue a pregnant traffic warden trapped beneath the five-ton vehicle. Donnette Sanz, the victim of yesterday's accident, could not be saved, but her son was delivered safely at a nearby hospital. "[A] van driven by a 72-year-old man - whose driver's licence listed 20 suspensions - slammed into her. Sanz was knocked into the path of an oncoming school bus, which was not carrying any passengers. [...] The driver of the van, Walter Walker, is being held on charges of criminally negligent homicide. "Walker told reporters that he was driving without a licence because of unpaid parking tickets but claimed that faulty brakes had caused the accident. 'I feel bad, terrible,' he said."

Jerry Clower: A superb Southern storyteller

Daddy-O — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:33:44 -0800

Jerry Clower (Wikipedia article) started telling his funny stories to boost sales when he was a seed and fertilizer salesman. He went on to become a successful comedian and Grand Ole Opry star. Here are some of his stories (all YouTube links): A Coon Hunting Story On the Jerry Reed Show (check out Jerry's collar!) The Burning Building A New Bull Fishing with the Game Warden Examples of a Redneck (Shame on you Jeff Foxworthy!) Bird Huntin' At Uncle Versies Wanna Buy a Possum? (with bizarrely unrelated video)

This is an intense love story.

divabat — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:25:31 -0800

How have you been burned by love?

Demolition

Pater Aletheias — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:49:12 -0800

Kajima's floor-by-floor slow demolition is one of those rare things in life that leaves you truly speechless....After all, seeing the video of a 20-floor building submerging into the asphalt as if it was liquid is something that belongs to a sci-fi movie. Kajima informally calls this the daruma-otoshi method, after the old Japanese game consisting of a daruma doll made of stacked pieces that players knock out one by one without toppling the doll.

The blah story.

LSK — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:02:59 -0800

Blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah.

Tales of the City

loquacious — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:20:49 -0800

In 1974 - or 1976, depending who you ask - Armistead Maupin began writing "an extended love letter to a magical San Francisco” in the form of a serialized, fictional drama published originally in the Pacific Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, originally called "The Serial" which then became collectively known as Tales of The City. It is a suprisingly beautiful, deep, emotional, cosmopolitan and lasting tale about life in San Francisco in the turbulent, heady days of the 1970s and 1980s. Widely credited with and cherished for helping spread a little of the openess, tolerance and acceptance that San Francisco is now famous for. It then became a series of books - Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You - and lastly, the spin-off tale of Michael Tolliver Lives. Almost exactly twenty years after first publishing, it then became an excellent miniseries from the United Kingdom's Channel 4, which aired in the United States on PBS, but not without protest or limitations. San Francisco... this post is for you. All of you. More than the Mission burritos, more than the diverse weather, more than the beautiful, breathtaking views and the odd experience of falling deeply in love with a place - and only slightly less than the many real people I've met - this has touched me the most. Thank you. (Get your YouTube samples here.)

Write Me Stories

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:39:55 -0800

Paulo in London asks musicians to write him a story on an index card. For example, the Polyphonic Spree's Michael Musick and Bryan Wakeland, Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry, Jens Lekman, Sufjan Stevens, and the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne.

Classic Tales and Fables

Kattullus — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:41:39 -0800

Over 2000 classic tales and fables including Aesop's Fables, Bulfinch's Mythology, Indian "Why" Stories, tales by Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum and Harriet Beecher Stowe and stories about Abraham Lincoln, Robin Hood and Baron Munchausen. And more! The folk and fairytale collection is particularly rich, with hundreds of stories from all over the world.

Best Story Ever

cog_nate — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:58:21 -0800

Best Story Ever is a series of clips featuring various celebrities -- Henry Rollins, Lewis Black, Dee Snider, Chuck D, Ron Jeremy, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and many more -- telling their best stories. Some are lame, some are funny. But hey, what's your best story ever? (It can't be lamer than Alan Thicke's, can it?)