# Trust me! The story's better than it sounds! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141 "2010-07-09T19:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/81 "2010-07-12T14:27:34Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > Funny, but after that I’d like to give those books a go. I’ve seen them in the store and, despite being a fan of some of Cook’s other series’, those books never really grabbed my attention. > Thanks. You’re welcome - and they \*are \*brilliant books, although the first one is perhaps the weakest. It’s only when the midden really hits the windmill that the series becomes seven kinds of awesome, and that takes some setup time. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/82 "2010-07-12T14:46:13Z")
My Dad trying to sell his 11 year-old son on _Raiders of the Lost Ark_: “I want to take you to this movie. A guy at work said it’s really good.” “What’s it about?” “An archeologist. He’s looking for the lost ark of the covenant.” “What’s that?” “It’s the box they but the 10 commandments in.” “grooooannnnn… really? a scientist looking for biblical artifacts? :rolleyes: sounds enthralling dad.” ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/83 "2010-07-12T15:23:32Z")
My wife doen’t have any interest in movies, except for the occassional romantic comedy. At any given time she has no idea what’s showing. But every once in a while a fella wants to take his wife to a movie, ya know? Several years ago… **Me** : Let’s go see a movie. **Wife** : What movie? **Me** : I don’t know. Let me check the paper (rustle rustle rustle)…Hmmmm, nothing much looks any good. How about _Batman Begins_? Supposed to be good action; heard some good things–shouldn’t be too violent. **Wife** : I would hate that movie (scrunches up her nose–I can tell I need to find another movie quick) **Me** : (noticing something for the first time)–Hey! How about **March of the Penguins**! Oh, man, I heard about that! I really want to see that! **Wife** : March of the Penguins? What is it? **Me** : Well, see, there’s this penguin. And it has an egg. And, and, well, it’s cold because they live on the ice. But sometimes they swim away from the seal that’s trying to eat them. And I think they have to move to another spot. And, uh, did I mention there’s this egg? **Wife** : What was that other movie again? Sigh ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/84 "2010-07-12T15:53:49Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > Wife: March of the Penguins? What is it? > Me: Well, see, there’s this penguin. And it has an egg. And, and, well, it’s cold because they live on the ice. But sometimes they swim away from the seal that’s trying to eat them. And I think they have to move to another spot. And, uh, did I mention there’s this egg? You tried to describe **March of the Penguins** without using the word “documentary”? ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/85 "2010-07-12T16:16:39Z")
Oh, I probably mentioned it was a true story. A nature film. It was 5 years ago and I’m paraphrasing from memory. But it wouldn’t have mattered in my description. My wife likes nature about as much as she likes vampire / robot / kill movies. Which is to say, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/86 "2010-07-12T19:13:37Z")
_In the Garden of Iden_, by Kage Baker. “Well, there’s these immortal cyborgs, see, and they’re in England during the reign of Bloody Mary and trying to collect plant specimens for a corporation in the future… No really! Come back!” I’ve gotten many sneering responses when I’ve suggested it. It’s a good book! No really! Come baaaaaack! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/87 "2010-07-12T19:48:59Z")
> [@](#): > > My Dad trying to sell his 11 year-old son on Raiders of the Lost Ark: The problem there is that he neglected to mention the Nazis. Take that description, and add that the Nazis are trying to find the Ark first to use its power to conquer the world, and the movie suddenly gets a lot more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/88 "2010-07-12T20:01:15Z")
I put off reading the Dresden Files for a long time based on the name: I figured it was going to involve horrific firebombings of entire cities, or at least the aftermath, and I wasn’t in the mood for something so grim. When I finally found out it was a comic series about a wizard detective who fights vampires, it sounded way too cornball to be good. I didn’t count on how ridiculously fun the books are. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/89 "2010-07-12T20:03:57Z")
Oh, good one, **LHOD**! I thought the same. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/90 "2010-07-12T22:34:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > People didn’t know what _The Wizard of Oz_ was about? **American** people? Well, it’s pretty easy to explain: [transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.](http://www.marinij.com/ci_4635479?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/91 "2010-07-13T00:21:18Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Well, it’s pretty easy to explain: [transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.](http://www.marinij.com/ci_4635479?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com) Your link leads nowhere, I fear. And Dorothy never meets the Witch of the East anyway. Anyway, here is[Captain Amazing’s god-damn-brilliant explanation of the movie in question.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10682551&postcount=10) ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/92 "2010-07-13T01:22:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Your link leads nowhere, I fear. And Dorothy never meets the Witch of the East anyway. > > Anyway, here is[Captain Amazing’s god-damn-brilliant explanation of the movie in question.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10682551&postcount=10) …the hell? It was supposed to go to a genuine appearance of it in TV guide listings, from the NJ Marin Independent Journal…well, now it seems to be working again. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/93 "2010-07-13T03:40:27Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Well, it’s pretty easy to explain: [transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.](http://www.marinij.com/ci_4635479?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com) I prefer: In an effort to gain absolute power, a purportedly “good” minor ruler of a northerly backwater province connives to use a lost child and her three sidekicks to overthrow the existing power structure of her kingdom, leaving her the only one in charge. Fortunately, we are not shown the depressing and horrific aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/94 "2010-07-13T04:21:19Z")
I can’t ever tell anyone what happens in Curb Your Enthusiasm in a way that makes a single episode sound funny, but they are. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/95 "2010-07-13T13:26:39Z")
The premise of The Big Bang Theory was so hackneyed that none of the initial reviewers held out any hope for it. "Hot chick moves in apartment across the hall from two nerds. "Yeah, like that hasn’t been done about a billion times before. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/96 "2010-07-13T18:26:29Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Funny, I was thinking of starting a thread like this myself. The nefarious **Skald** no doubt stole the idea from my head using some sort of mind-reading device. > > My personal #1 example is the (out of print) fantasy novel _Gossamer Axe_, by Gael Baudino. When I have reason to refer to this I usually say it’s about a traditionally trained Celtic harpist who takes up the electric guitar and forms an all-female rock band. Even THAT sounds pretty ridiculous, but the stuff I’m leaving out sounds a lot worse. > > Like the part about how the heroine is traditionally trained because she was trained in traditional times – she’s actually a pre-Christian Celt who’s traveled through time to the present day. She’s hoping to rescue her lover who’s been held captive by the elves for hundreds of years. I forgot to mention she’s a lesbian. A time-traveling Celtic lesbian rock musician. Who can do magic using music. Oh, and this book was published in 1990 (just before the grunge explosion) so the band is actually a hair metal band and most of the references to contemporary music are also about hair metal. > > All of this sounds ridiculously awful, but it is IMHO a pretty good urban fantasy. It has a feminist and gay-friendly bent and had some “message” subplots, but overall doesn’t feel too preachy. It does very much romanticize the Celts, but it’s hardly a unique offender in that area. The author is also obviously enthusiastic about rock music and I liked the music-based magic system. I do feel kind of bad for her that she wasn’t writing this book in a different time, though. Not only was hair metal on its way out as a genre, but the genre and especially the associated “look” (there are a number of references to spandex and hairspray in the book), has since been considered a huge joke in a way that most other dated genres are not. Umm… this sounds ridiculously awesome and cries out to be adapted into a graphic novel series by Oni Press. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/97 "2010-07-13T18:53:07Z")
“Well what’s the show about?” “It’s about nothing.” “No story?” “No forget the story.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/98 "2010-07-13T19:04:57Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > My personal #1 example is the (out of print) fantasy novel _Gossamer Axe_, by Gael Baudino. When I have reason to refer to this I usually say it’s about a traditionally trained Celtic harpist who takes up the electric guitar and forms an all-female rock band…a time-traveling Celtic lesbian rock musician… I can’t believe I just ordered this. ;)😃 I am a sucker for attempts at rock books. So many are so bad, but I keep going back…at least this sounds a bit fun… ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/99 "2010-07-13T20:12:13Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Actually, forget that. I haven’t read it in a long time. Missing fingers are an important part of the plot. DING! Knew it. Sandman… It’s not a story about some pasty white god-things. It’s a framework for telling stories _about_ stories. In nearly all of the best issues, Dream barely shows up- and never as the protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141/100 "2010-07-13T22:21:37Z")
So Elvis is living in an East Texas nursing home, where his only friend is JFK (who is black: “The CIA made me this color…_ALL OVER_!”), who convinces Elvis that there’s an Egyptian mummy around, sucking the souls out of the old folks. [Really!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/) It _is_ pretty good! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trust-me-the-storys-better-than-it-sounds/546141.md?page=6)