MeFi Projects

In the past year or so, I've added several new translations and comments on games that have mostly been left out of the history of roleplaying, story games, fantasy games, etc. Highlights include seven classical mythology games from the late Renaissance (including the mildly LARP-like "Game of Ceremonies," in which players make sacrifices to Venus and Cupid), a translation of the novel Jeux d'esprit written in 1701 by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (who gave a complete version of the collaborative storytelling game "Le Jeu du Roman," along with other games depicted in the novel), and trying out a new format, "Kriegsspiele, Parlament, and Prince Albert: light roleplaying in German, 1796-1893" (a blog post on parlor games and live action military-themed games with roleplaying elements).
posted by Wobbuffet on Dec 27, 2023 - 4 comments

I'm a storyteller and standup comic in NYC, and I just posted this standup act/story about what it was like to have to prepare for my first baby while grieving my own father - and getting some surprise inspiration from my stoner mother-in-law. I'd greatly appreciate your checking it out and sharing it everywhere if you're so moved.
posted by chinese_fashion on May 11, 2023 - 3 comments

A few months ago, I posted a rough translation of the rules to a collaborative fairy tale storytelling game more than 200 years old. I've now put that onto a Neocities site with many additional translations: a total of 5 variants of the same game re-published many times between 1801 and 1867, several variants of a game the same age that involves role-playing, and several variants of even older poetry and nonsense games related to the Surrealist game "Exquisite Corpse." There are also pages and translations explaining the history of the games' penalty phase, offering advice on running demos of the storytelling game especially using motifs from the earliest "secondary world" fantasy novel, and possible round-robin storytelling from the 1600s-1700s, as well as links to many additional sources for parlor games from 1551 to 1899.
posted by Wobbuffet on Aug 5, 2022 - 3 comments

I worked up a rough translation of one of the collaborative story-telling games linked in this post: Pre-Surrealist Games. It's called "The Impromptu Tale," and there's a lot to it that modern tabletop gamers may find familiar.
posted by Wobbuffet on Mar 25, 2022 - 0 comments

I'm a standup and storyteller in NYC - I interview someone who's had to rebuild their life whether or not they wanted to in the first place. In Season 2, I've interviewed Daily Show creator Lizz Winstead, Nigerian-American comic Nonye Brown-West about why it's damaging to say "we're not taking straight white guys anymore," and the Buddhist chaplain who performed last rites over the mass graves on Hart Island for NYC's unknown COVID victims. [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Jun 16, 2021 - 1 comment

I wrote this first-person story about what it was like to do my last weekend of shows in New York City before my album recording just prior to the COVID shutdown. I'm trying to do for unrepped bar show standup what Anthony Bourdain did for line cooks while chronicling the last days of a fertile scene that may never return.
posted by chinese_fashion on Apr 2, 2021 - 2 comments

A tiny public radio station is run by a conservative college in Eastern Arkansas. The show follows the station over a nine day period as it goes through the daily trials and tribulations of broadcasting the news, managing employees, navigating politics, wrestling with diversity, dealing with technical problems, and interacting with donors, all while trying to have a successful pledge drive it needs to meet its goal and stay on the air. All of this craziness is just out earshot of the audience and just below the surface of the staid and controlled exterior of public radio. The situations are based things that have individually or collectively happened, are happening or most assuredly will happen in the public radio. [more inside]
posted by CollectiveMind on Feb 21, 2021 - 1 comment

I'm a standup and storyteller in NYC - you may have heard my stuff on The Moth or This American Life. I've started a podcast called The Reluctant Phoenix where I interview people who've restarted their entire lives, whether or not they really felt like it. You can hear a trailer here. [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Nov 2, 2020 - 0 comments

I'm a standup comedian and storyteller based in NYC. I just came out with my second album of stories and standup - called "Why You Should Be Happy." Video of the title track here. You may have heard my work on This American Life, The Moth podcast or Risk. The record is about how I found that the world around me hadn’t been working and had to rebuild myself after trauma from out of the skies. Then there are just a lot of jokes about racism, blackface, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Southern food and broccoli salad.
posted by chinese_fashion on Jul 6, 2020 - 5 comments

Every day (M-F) I host a livestream where kids video chat in, and together we write a story on my mechanical typewriter. The stories are illustrated in real time by Cecilia Olivera-Hillway. The show is a celebration of the creativity and storytelling of children. Tune in at 4pm Eastern! [more inside]
posted by Archibald Edmund Binns on Jun 13, 2020 - 0 comments

I'm a standup and storyteller in NYC, and you may have heard my stuff on 'The Moth' podcast or 'This American Life.' I just got some good video of a new story that I'm really proud of and I'm showing it off here.

It's about a NIGHTMARE apartment hunt in NYC and a chance encounter with Ryan Gosling.
posted by chinese_fashion on Sep 18, 2018 - 3 comments

Remember this question about being a Queer Lady Magician? It's real now. Coming to a Melbourne Fringe near you. [more inside]
posted by divabat on Jul 19, 2018 - 6 comments

I've been doing standup and storytelling in NYC for ten years this month. Now I'm convinced that the big money comes from telling stories that are built out of jokes, but I'm still waiting for the data to come in.

This Is A Boring Shark Attack: 8 Rules for Fascinating Storytelling [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Mar 16, 2018 - 2 comments

My first album of standup and storytelling came out digitally in June of this year (previously) and I started an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds to press a limited edition of the record onto hot pink vinyl. That campaign was fully funded, and the records are now in production. And as of today, venerated DC punk rock label Dischord Records (Fugazi, Minor Threat) will be distributing the 12" vinyl version of my album! You can preorder a copy here. [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Aug 22, 2017 - 0 comments

I've been writing stories on demand for kids on a mechanical typewriter for years, and I've been using the stories as a way to teach STEM concepts. Lately I've begun filming and animating my interactions and the stories. This episode features a jetpack (with real flames!), the ISS, three little piggies, and a big bad wolf, to teach kids about orbit.
posted by Archibald Edmund Binns on Jul 10, 2017 - 0 comments

I'm a standup comic and storyteller in NYC, been a member of the blue for a long time. My stuff has been on 'This American Life' and The Moth's podcast - and my very first album of standup and storytelling just came out today! It's available on iTunes/Amazon/Google Play, and I'm also running an IndieGoGo to raise funds to press it on hot pink vinyl. You can also hear a sample track about my band with piano-playing chickens, and see video of another story featured on the album. [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Jun 9, 2017 - 1 comment

Hi-Phi Nation is the first story-driven, narrative podcast on contemporary philosophy. Every week we begin with compelling stories of ordinary and extraordinary human experiences, and transform them into an examination of philosophical ideas. We profile stories from war, crime, politics, religion, public health and policy, science, and history that raise philosophical questions, and we answer them with the help of contemporary academic philosophers. The aim of the show is to bring fans of the best narrative, story-driven podcasts like Invisibilia, Radiolab, 99% Invisible, and This American Life into philosophy. We're halfway through the first season, so subscribe and binge now!
posted by HiPhiNation on Mar 10, 2017 - 2 comments

These are my findings and observations stemming from my experimental writing in fiction. This is an ongoing series of nonfiction essays about writing fiction in a modern era. I am an author who noticed the stranglehold the Patriarchal style of storytelling had on fiction: a single point of view with a hero who has an evil antagonist and a supporting characters who are less interesting and capable than the protagonist. It limits what a storyteller can do, and as an author, I decided to challenge it by exploring and testing it. [more inside]
posted by Alexandra Kitty on Feb 8, 2016 - 1 comment

I'm a standup/storyteller in NYC, and I worked for a while as a kangaroo shooter's assistant in the Australian Outback. I told a version of this story on The Moth's podcast years ago, but have subsequently refined and upgraded it. I told this version of the story at the Kennedy Center on Halloween, 2015 - it was a costumed show, I did not come onstage shortly after murdering anyone. Hope you enjoy it.
posted by chinese_fashion on Jan 7, 2016 - 1 comment

I told this story at The Moth's 'Grand SLAM' in Brooklyn a while back about the time that I was just trying to take the subway home and eat an entire container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream when my groceries spilled all over the train and I got in a screaming match with a really nice lady. [more inside]
posted by chinese_fashion on Aug 20, 2015 - 3 comments

An iPhone app that lets you make stories out of photos, videos and text, and then publish it and share it. And you can read other peoples stories. [more inside]
posted by jeffamaphone on Mar 12, 2014 - 5 comments

1. Everyone has stories to tell. 2. Anyone can make a comic (even if you can't draw) 3. People often surprise themselves by rising to a creative challenge. THUS: A monthly comic book (PDF) comprising comics I've solicited from friends and acquaintances. If that's not sufficient impetus to investigate, I'll add that the latest issue's theme is "Sex", and the resulting comics are appropriately NSFW.
posted by Jonathan Harford on Feb 6, 2013 - 2 comments

Bunny and Coco podcast from an enormous bed in downtown Hollywood, California, telling weird and wild stories from the most famous neighborhood in the world. Episode four includes an interview with Julia Marchese, who started the petition to save 45mm film, and who discusses the unique pleasures of the revival house cinema. Theme song by MeFi's own frenetic, AKA Brad Sucks: It's this incredible song. [more inside]
posted by Bunny Ultramod on Apr 15, 2012 - 1 comment

Soon after 9/11 I created this online storytelling project as a way of portraying what that day was like for the millions who lived and witnessed it. But, unlike traditional "where were you when 'X' happened" sites, I wanted to focus on how our vantage point shifted when we experienced it directly or via the media. People are asked to share their story of that day from two vantage points: as "Participants" (those who lived in NYC or DC, those who were on planes, or those who had relatives or friends who were lost, etc.) or as "Witnesses" (those who experienced the events secondhand --through the media or phone calls, etc.). A story from one vantage point is paired with one from the other. Hit the reload button and two new stories come up. And there are some fantastic accounts, including one from someone who survived the Twin Towers. The site has been up for these 10 years and is still open to new stories. What's yours?
posted by Taken Outtacontext on Sep 7, 2011 - 0 comments