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ITT: Original Story Ideas

Started by Cramulus, May 11, 2009, 09:40:54 PM

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Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Comedy skit: After correcting a person for referring to a whale as a "fish" a pedant is cornered by an even more pedantic biologist who starts an argument about monophyletic clades
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Rococo Modem Basilisk

A zoo experiments with teaching various types of pack animals (apes, wolves) how to use touch screen devices with a simple communication app in order to do a variation on the prisoner's dilemma. However, a bug causes the app not to distinguish between species. As a side effect, a group of adolescent chimps conspire with wolves to overthrow the dominant chimps in their enclosure, causing a cascade of deals that lead eventually to the zoo being demolished as various animal social structures undergo violent transition.


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

#1142
Some ideas:

*Comedy skit: A televangelist openly calls upon the power of mammon

*Character: A heart failure patient in ancient Greece is kept alive by a retro-futuristic life support device consisting of four copper tubes, two archimedes screws and a rotating team of slaves to turn the cranks (2 apparatuses, one goes: tube from vena cava -> screwpump -> tube to pulmonary arteries, the other goes: tube from pulmonary veins -> screw pump -> aorta)

*Comedy skit: The Count from Sesame Street ruins Halloween by accusing everyone of cultural appropriation

EDIT:

*satirical comedy skit: a group of birds are watching a news program (possibly based on one of the shows on Fox News Channel, possibly based on a normal local news program of the sort that reports semi-exclusively on murders and other felonies) hosted by scarecrows

EDIT:

*Schoolchildren bring a snowman to life by reciting a passage from the Necronomicon. Mayhem ensues
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

#1143
An Osmosis Jones-esque cartoon in which an organ transplant is a metaphor for immigration and a xenophobic white blood cell must be reined in by an anthropomorphic anti-rejection medication

EDIT:
another idea:

this is just a gag idea, not a story idea, but I'd like to see a bit in some piece set back in the early to mid 20th century in which a rotary phone is used to connect to a fictional old timey version of some modern smartphone app. Like J Edgar Hoover is on some kind of old-timey version of grindr where the portraits are replaced with a verbal description

EDIT:
another idea:

gag character: A guy who's nationalist but not racist. He goes around doing things like insisting people switch to Puerto Rican-style Spanish and ranting about how chop suey is better than authentic chinese food.
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Rococo Modem Basilisk

After being passed up for sous-chef, a line cook (in a drunken stupor) accidentally stumbles through a portal to the middle ages, where, trapped, he survives by finding an inn to make food at in exchange for room and board. (Luckily, this is a port town, so travelers come through at a high enough rate to make working at an inn sustainable.) However, because his knowledge of cooking comes from the future (at this point, of course, recipes are rare and inefficient, the importance of time is unclear, and  dishes that benefit from an understanding of chemistry not easily found by trial and error in a dirty kitchen are basically nonexistent), he is able to create dishes unlike any previously seen. While he is limited by the absence of certain technologies (precise clocks, electric stoves, teflon, refrigeration, blow torches) and resources (salt and spices are rare, ice is seasonal), his knowledge puts him in a unique position. Being a port town, travelers from foreign lands occasionally come through, and his introduction of modern styles of cooking changes demand for various resources in a way that he -- essentially not speaking the language, and disoriented from tobacco withdrawl and low-level persistent diseases to which he has no immunity -- is totally unaware of: the introduction of one line cook from the future changes history by putting new pressures on trade routes, causing wars.


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Aliens come to steal the planet's water but conveniently the amount needed to fill up their tanks is just enough to cancel out the projected effects of global warming related sea level rise. They are unexpectedly hailed as heroes.
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Chelagoras The Boulder

Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 06, 2017, 07:32:53 PM
After being passed up for sous-chef, a line cook (in a drunken stupor) accidentally stumbles through a portal to the middle ages, where, trapped, he survives by finding an inn to make food at in exchange for room and board. (Luckily, this is a port town, so travelers come through at a high enough rate to make working at an inn sustainable.) However, because his knowledge of cooking comes from the future (at this point, of course, recipes are rare and inefficient, the importance of time is unclear, and  dishes that benefit from an understanding of chemistry not easily found by trial and error in a dirty kitchen are basically nonexistent), he is able to create dishes unlike any previously seen. While he is limited by the absence of certain technologies (precise clocks, electric stoves, teflon, refrigeration, blow torches) and resources (salt and spices are rare, ice is seasonal), his knowledge puts him in a unique position. Being a port town, travelers from foreign lands occasionally come through, and his introduction of modern styles of cooking changes demand for various resources in a way that he -- essentially not speaking the language, and disoriented from tobacco withdrawl and low-level persistent diseases to which he has no immunity -- is totally unaware of: the introduction of one line cook from the future changes history by putting new pressures on trade routes, causing wars.
There's an amine that's somewhat like this, without the bits with wars. It's called Restaurant to another world, and it's about a restaurant manned by a modern Japanese chef, and the doors to this restaurant open into various places in a fantasy type world at various places and times, causing him to have a clientele of orcs lizardmen, wizards, and the like, who just lose their shot at the taste of modern spaghetti and meatballs. I highly recommend it.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."

Rococo Modem Basilisk

Quote from: Chelagoras The Boulder on August 09, 2017, 11:32:51 PM
Quote from: Rococo Modem Basilisk on August 06, 2017, 07:32:53 PM
After being passed up for sous-chef, a line cook (in a drunken stupor) accidentally stumbles through a portal to the middle ages, where, trapped, he survives by finding an inn to make food at in exchange for room and board. (Luckily, this is a port town, so travelers come through at a high enough rate to make working at an inn sustainable.) However, because his knowledge of cooking comes from the future (at this point, of course, recipes are rare and inefficient, the importance of time is unclear, and  dishes that benefit from an understanding of chemistry not easily found by trial and error in a dirty kitchen are basically nonexistent), he is able to create dishes unlike any previously seen. While he is limited by the absence of certain technologies (precise clocks, electric stoves, teflon, refrigeration, blow torches) and resources (salt and spices are rare, ice is seasonal), his knowledge puts him in a unique position. Being a port town, travelers from foreign lands occasionally come through, and his introduction of modern styles of cooking changes demand for various resources in a way that he -- essentially not speaking the language, and disoriented from tobacco withdrawl and low-level persistent diseases to which he has no immunity -- is totally unaware of: the introduction of one line cook from the future changes history by putting new pressures on trade routes, causing wars.
There's an amine that's somewhat like this, without the bits with wars. It's called Restaurant to another world, and it's about a restaurant manned by a modern Japanese chef, and the doors to this restaurant open into various places in a fantasy type world at various places and times, causing him to have a clientele of orcs lizardmen, wizards, and the like, who just lose their shot at the taste of modern spaghetti and meatballs. I highly recommend it.
I've seen it. I came up with this because I was thinking about this & the standard iisekai formula (along with precursors to iisekai like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Mr. Gone

A sailor comes back from a long voyage to discover that his house has been assumed by the government.  They haven't razed it, or done anything else physically to the house.  They simply have allowed a family of talking badgers to take up residence.  It is discovered to be a social engineering initiative to see if they can badger people out of their homes.  Furry eminent domain. 

Rococo Modem Basilisk

Elon Musk's first martian colonization ship contains two Raelians amid the rest of its ~100 crew. These Raelians end up hooking up with each other, but are also slightly more charismatic than average. The harsh martian conditions kill many of the first batch before the second batch arrives, and by the time that happens, the nascent martian culture has taken on a distinctly Raelian tinge. Over time, mars becomes a Raelian theocracy, albeit one with very little political power, but a rare mineral is found in great quantity in martian mines which causes mars to quickly become more powerful than earth (and indeed the political center of the solar system's colonized bodies, in part because martian spaceports and docking stations in martian orbit form an important travel hub between lagrange stations around earth and settlements on jovian moons).


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

Short skit: A parody of those campy old adverts for horror films that warn about test audiences having passed out from from fright and needed to be hospitalized. This one is an ad for a porno, and it warns that several members of test audiences developed priapism and had to be hospitalized. It ends with the standard viagta/cialis disclaimer, "Consult a doctor if you experience a prolonged painful erection lasting more than four hours"
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

Rococo Modem Basilisk

A farce about a green journalist sent into a war zone to cover a revolution, embedded with a seasoned mercenary who is basically calm and unflappable (to an absurd degree). Over time, it is revealed that the revolutionary force is run by an incompetent and unimaginative jobsworth, interpreting (as literally as possible) the ravings of a complete madman. The jobsworth doesn't realize the madman is mad, and it's unclear whether or not the madman knows that he is leading a revolution. The mercenary has no opinion of this situation. The journalist barely makes it out alive -- you see, the revolutionary vanguard bombed themselves because of some offhand remark the lunatic leader made months before, and the journalist and merc were in the vicinity eavesdropping while it happened -- and his story was rejected (and he was fired) because "none of this could have possibly happened".


I am not "full of hate" as if I were some passive container. I am a generator of hate, and my rage is a renewable resource, like sunshine.

minuspace

Human awakes in world where light casts no shadow and things therein, however animated, fully extended and spatially located, are entirely invariant to an observer's change in direction or orientation.

Prelate Diogenes Shandor

A strange cross of fantasy and hard science fiction chronicling the construction of a large underwater building by merfolk (or possibly deep ones). The story's main focus is on how construction methods and culture realistically would be different for a naturally aquatic race living underwater. The tower itself for example is 100 stories tall but made primarily of wood; bouyancy (combined with a lack of need to make the structure totally watertight like an air breathing race would need to) would allow wooden structures to be built ridiculously tall, provided that they could source the wood (so maybe I should go with deep ones over merfolk on this) and could stabilize it so that it doesn't snap in the current
Praise NHGH! For the tribulation of all sentient beings.


a plague on both your houses -Mercutio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrTGgpWmdZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVWd7nPjJH8


It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction as well. No sooner do we deem ourselves free from a particularly gross superstition, than we are confronted by some enemy to learning who would plunge us back into the darkness -H.P.Lovecraft


He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster -Nietzsche


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q


You are a fluke of the universe, and whether you can hear it of not the universe is laughing behind your back -Deteriorata


Don't use the email address in my profile, I lost the password years ago

minuspace

Quote from: Prelate Diogenes Shandor on August 13, 2017, 03:05:05 PM
A strange cross of fantasy and hard science fiction chronicling the construction of a large underwater building by merfolk (or possibly deep ones). The story's main focus is on how construction methods and culture realistically would be different for a naturally aquatic race living underwater. The tower itself for example is 100 stories tall but made primarily of wood; bouyancy (combined with a lack of need to make the structure totally watertight like an air breathing race would need to) would allow wooden structures to be built ridiculously tall, provided that they could source the wood (so maybe I should go with deep ones over merfolk on this) and could stabilize it so that it doesn't snap in the current
What about something like a Japanese pagoda's shinbashira qua gargantuan tuned mass damper. (I so geek)