Thirty Second Stories (.com) is ALIVE

firsties yall

stoked for the whole project- I'm assuming there will be a visual component too?

yeah, on two levels, sorta:

1) i will probably just make a jpeg for each story, something related to the specific story, or at least inspired by it, with the title overlaid. these images would change out every 30 seconds or so. i'm probably staying away with gifs for this one, just because i know some people are not into them at all, and also i don't really want to distract from the stories too much.

2) i'm extremely lucky and happy to have a good friend of mine who is a graphic designer helping me out with the user interface. we're working on it over the next 2 weeks but i think it will be a big improvement over the UX of the last few things i attempted to do myself.

these images would change out every 30 seconds or so.

this is maybe the dumbest thing i've ever written, which is a lofty achievement. they'd change with every new story. ugh ugh ugh

also jan 19th is the tentative goal for the launch

i just sent a few things
lemme know if that wasn't any good

why not gifs? even mellow subtle gifs

i would do it if i was good at the mellow subtle stuff, but i'm just not. this is mellow for me:

http://i.imgur.com/84b8aP2.gif

boogiteeboogiteeboogitee

policy on swearing

this reminds me of lots of old web 0.5 art concepts, but in a good way!

policy on swearing is to go ahead and do it if it's important for the story, i guess.

thanks, s.clover, and you should contribute a story!

i have a few in already, and up to 45 volunteers. if i can get to 60 i may do 30 stories on the day of the launch, and then have 30 more ready for the first update.

made me think of you z - http://gimletmedia.com/episode/the-anxiety-box/

I'm in for this if it's not too late to sign up.

My voice is totally shot due to illness and likely to remain shot at least up through the deadline. You can have my spot.

hahaha, listening to the anxiety box now. i do have a few unused domains that i registered, but i fully intended to use them at the time! (i.e., the permanently sidelined channel2014). i have some friends who are like that dude for real though, in terms of domain registration addiction.

crut - not too late! can you send me an email? [MODERATOR REDACTION] at gmail

how's life - if you still want to contribute something after you feel better, feel free to send it whenever because there will be an update with new stories at some point.

i'm at 57 participants now. i'm still unsure whether i should just include all 57 stories (or however many i end up getting) at launch, or to go with just 30 and then stockpile the remainder for the first update.

You've mentioned 30 before. Just out of curiosity: why that number? Would you 'curate' and pick the ones best in your eyes, or make it random? Or do you feel having nearly 60 stories on there is too much for a randomized website thing?

30 is pretty arbitrary, but it equals about 15 minutes, and that's about how much new content I'd like to include for each update. So about 15 minutes on launch day, and then for the first update, add another 15 minutes.

I'll keep adding stories as long as I get them - if there are 1000 on there that are in the random selection pool, I think that would be fantastic.

As far as curating goes, that'll change over time, I think. For this batch that I'm receiving (about 1/3 ILXors, 1/3 old friends of mine, and 1/3 people that know of me through conferencecall.biz) I'll try to include every story. If this ever takes off and strangers start submitting, I would hopefully be able to just accept the very best stories, but that of course depends on how many I receive from strangers. If I do a big call for stories and only get a handful, I would just use them all, but if I got 100 or something (yeah right, but let me dream) I would be able to pick the cream of the crop.

are you getting a story from Kai

proooobably not!

i did receive the horse_ebooks story though, so that made me feel pretty good

Clear enough ZS, thanks. Will get cracking on mine this weekend!

starting to gather around a coherent visual theme (maybe). if i can figure out how to code it, i think i'm going to switch to only one randomized element - 30 second video files - rather than layering audio tracks over GIFs. that will allow me to create short visual accompaniments that are at least somewhat relevant to the story you're hearing. videos will probably still be made up of looping elements, but having it in video format will allow me to make slower transitions, add the title on the top of the story, insert something temporarily 20 seconds into if needed, etc.

we'll see how long i stick with it but i like the idea of focusing on two elements per story. like in this case the story a history of the table purchases that this guy has made over many years, so it combines a wood texture with passing clouds. i dunno. *wings it*

http://38.media.tumblr.com/95053bfccfc1b826e0e0288bce66c52a/tumblr_ni1jen4yR51qdmmiqo2_500.gif

30 seconds is a very short time for a rambling kinda talker

yeah, i'm a rambler myself, but i finally managed to get one down to 29 seconds.

i've put up a very professional looking placeholder at thirtysecondstories.com

oops, make that thirtysecondstories.com

ha

Can I just say ZS you send the best emails and email reminders? <3

Jfc though. Thought a 213 word write down of my story would hack it. Tried recording it, reading it aloud, and didn't get any further than a fifty odd words. Insane. 30 secs is a crime! Thought I could fit way more into it than I actually can.

Condensed down to 150 words and when reading it aloud it's still a minute instead of 30 secs. Time is fucking w/ my head here.

I found no way to do this other than experimenting while recording the shortest story I could think of then going back and stripping out all the words

Yeah that's what I am doing right now. Down to 127 words, 46 seconds. Off to kill more darlings.

ZS, can I call you a "Gifted Internet-artist" online without remorse? Because I would like to tbh

Brought it down to 80 words and it fits the 30 secs. Will record tomorrow when not lol sleepy or lol drunk.

Ah OK the 80 word guide is helpful. I've gotta edit a bit and then try mine out loud.

It's a tough nut to crack when trying it out! I thought 160 words would fit in 30 secs, turns out only 80 will make it when you don't want to be sounding like a chipmunk.

I am boring but would contribute coding help if it's needed!

I am glad to see all you respectable people also procrastinated. Phew!

before this only very tall buildings had thirty second stories

and few people in buildings with at least 32 floors even VISIT the 32nd story. EVER. they don't know what they're missing.

i am trying to fix the video code and i'm having hilarious moments of ineptitude. also i have a knack for creating coding conundrums that are like UFO visits. they're fantastic and no one believes me. my current thing is that i finally figured out how to play the video full screen in the background automatically, but after celebrating for a few minutes and then reloading the page, it reduced the size of the video to half the screen, and the buttons on the website no longer work. it's baffling. so it worked perfectly, then upon every subsequent reload no longer works. i confirmed with my main squeeze that i was not insane and that it did work the first time, and never again, even though nothing changed except reloading the page.

i think the whole situation is heightened because i've been reading emmanuel carrere's the mustache and i feel like i'm the guy in the story.

also amory blaine you are way too kind and no, please do not, and if you, may you feel MUCH REMORSE!

Try clearing your cookies? It's the browser version of turning it off and then on again. Work sometimes!

yeah, i tried that! i think maybe it's the css somehow? i deleted out a few lines that were under the video tag, and that fixed it (for now).

anyway, basically i'm just dealing with a neverending series of stuff like that. but listening to neon lights so everything is good

Just pump your hands in the air like your little screen name dude and you'll make it through!

I recorded about 10 takes and sent ZS 8 of them, I could hear myself getting progressively drunker as they went on

You know what, I want to tell my one good story for this, Karl do I still email you to get instructions

I am delurking to say this project should be very fun.

I found it fairly okay to do it in 30 seconds, I did three takes and they were all in and around 30/31. My tip would be to think of it more like a haiku or something more surreal. I was surprised to feel like I could allow some space even within the 30 seconds.

Though admittedly my story was about a time I counted to 25 - after the first line it kinda told itself.

guys i worked an event tonite on the 32nd floor of a hotel

while you were up there did you hear any good...well you know

/dadjoke

silby - got your email, and I'll send you some instructions in just a bit.

a lot of my dadjokes are attempts at far side jokes but i can't quite get there

sounds like you're practicing your dad jokes!

i was going to do this but i didn't know if they were supposed to be true stories and the thought of strangers hearing my intimate true stories in my own voice made me queasy

No wait he was talking about his hairstyle over an image of his shoes

hahaha

http://i.imgur.com/bJe05yv.jpg

pert plus
buy

i don't think i ever heard ep 3 and just ran em by now
come back!

you're way too kind forks!

i am trying to figure out wtf i am doing in life right now

Making more of these, naturally

<3 these