Pickle Tales Round 3!, Vote for your favorite story! Options

[Christiana]

All right everybody, Round 3 is now online!

You can find it here:(Pickle Page)

This show features the five remaining storytellers on the theme: "And now, a word from our sponsor..."

We have:

"In Wolves' Clothing" by Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza of The Activated Storytellers

"The History of Advertising Podcast Episode 46" by Tony Mast of The Fanboy Smackdown Podcast

"War of the Worlds" by Laurence Simon of the 100 Word Stories Podcast

"Eight Hours is Eight Hours" by Phil Rossi of the Filling the Page Podcast

"Santa and the PS3's" by Will Ross of the Smart Bomb Radio Podcast

Also remember to send in your holiday stories for our Holiday Break shows! Send them to pickletales [at] gmail.com!

[dmv1066]

Where is the link to round three?

Got it
Thank you it just showed up.

DMV1066

[farscapegal]

not really sure of my favorite on this round. war of the words was very funny. you can tell a lot of work went into it. felt a little long toward the end. but the idea of orson welles reading commerical copy is funny. (like steve ely reading a commerical ;-))

the history of advertising, although a good idea, had my mind drifting a little toward the end. the voicemails were funny though.

eight hours is eight hours - this was cute, fun, and easy to listen to. the length seemed appropriate. i like that the author didn't feel the need to use the whole five minutes. i also like that he gave shout outs for the bands that he used.

in wolves clothing - thought it was a little long winded, but the voice actors are very talented.

santa and the ps3 - thought this one was really funny and i'm a sucker for the holidays. and how can you miss with elf voices? but wow, santa sounds pretty scary.

[Laurence Simon]

not really sure of my favorite on this round. war of the words was very funny. you can tell a lot of work went into it. felt a little long toward the end. but the idea of orson welles reading commerical copy is funny. (like steve ely reading a commerical ;-))

Maurice Lamarche does a killer Orson Wells imitation, and here's some of his stuff from The Critic that I watched multiple times to help fashion my own awful Wells voice:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IH1PJTY9AVA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Za3EuqU385k
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f3B3C5hR1lk

I'm surprised that I didn't wear my Citizen Kane, Third Man, and Catch-22 DVDs out on Saturday.

[Smart Bomb Radio]

BEGIN THE WEEK LONG THREAD VIGIL!!!!

Muahahahaha

[wanker]

Laurence Wil was pretty funny this week. You just edged him out on the intigration of the topic. Wil's was a bit grafted on. Both funny i mean laught out loud funny.

[Laurence Simon]

On the question why I used the beginning and the end bits but not any of the high drama/setup of the middle (besides the Grovers Mills invasion).

Didn't have the time to do it. Five minute limit.

The original outline I spitballed to myself had seven possible middle events, including smoke rising from the rubble. However, it directly depicted carnage and death. Plus, the smoke from the rubble was going to lead to a "NicoTeen - Cigarettes For Teens" bit with Orson lighting a cigarette up for a teenage radio page.

This was a case of trying to get another voice out of my strained voicebox, slipping in a fake product sponsor, and adding a character needing setup and resolution at some point.

The Wells was bad enough, the producer was the stock dweeby voice, and the announcer and narrator were me as me. Didn't have a fourth in there, and the "was that a woman or a little girl or a boy" question came from a story in round 1. Wanted to avoid that pitfall.

As for making up cigarettes for kids, I wanted to keep the three sponsors as real as possible: Culligan, Good Humor, and Vicks. (The fact that "Have It Your Way" doesn't result in a Burger King punchline is due to Burger King not being around in 1938)

Oh, and there WAS death in my piece: Martians dead from the bacteria in the final segment.

I figured kids love dead Martians. Heck, I had three in my back yard when I was growing up.

[Smart Bomb Radio]

As for making up cigarettes for kids, I wanted to keep the three sponsors as real as possible: Culligan, Good Humor, and Vicks. (The fact that "Have It Your Way" doesn't result in a Burger King punchline is due to Burger King not being around in 1938)

It was the Vicks on that made me laugh out loud. There is something about a completely deadpan reading of "Because you can't smear chicken soup all over your chest," that had me at hello, as you crazy kids say.

And there totally was death in mine, but because of the 5 minute limit we had to cut the scene where squeeker goes to work on L. Ron Hubbard with a blowtorch and a Nintendo Wi nunchuck. How I suffer for my art.

By the way, win or loose now I've gone home with the coolest prize i can think of.

STEVE FRICKIN ELY liked my story!!!! This would be the second nerdgasm I've had during this contest. (the first was when Brother Osric used the term "Touring Test" in one of his stories)

(As for the premise being tacked on, thats sort of true. The original version of this had a mean santa all the way through, and then I though, "Damn, even I can't make Saint Nick a bad guy." So during the rewrites to keep the evil santa jokes I liked AND explain why "Santa" was evil, I dropped a series of pauses where I gave information about the playstation three "which mean's you've never SEEN a more realistic zombie splatter!" "And it even comes with a button that makes your mom stop bugging you!" I like this version better.)

[philrossimusic]

Another kick ass round. I laughed out loud many-a-time.

To think, I almost had to forfeit because of a damn virus. The power DayQuil and Halls in the 11th hour - only second to rubbing chicken soup on your chest (but really, I do that for fun!)

And the chicks dig the scent. ;-)

[Laurence Simon]

To think, I almost had to forfeit because of a damn virus. The power DayQuil and Halls in the 11th hour - only second to rubbing chicken soup on your chest (but really, I do that for fun!)

And the chicks dig the scent. ;-)

Viruses... dead cats... I'm telling you, this thing is CURSED!

By the way, the chicken soup bit came from an incident a few weeks ago. I was drinking chicken soup, spilled some on my shirt, and a few minutes later one of the cats was licking that spot.

Does a cat chick count? (And, yes, that's the one that died last week... not due to the shirt-licking, I hope

[Tony - FanboySma...]

Wow.

Great stories from everyone. I listen to each one and feel honored to be in this company. And to stay in this company through each of these first few week of the competition.

I just want to say also that, as a listener, I think think the real winners are the listeners. This is a great collection of storytelling and storytellers who make each of these topics something singular and unique within each theme.

Good luck everyone... or should I say bad luck, cause I think I'm the one who is gonna need some luck this week. Good job all around!

[The Keeme]

Great challenge and even greater story tellin. It was nice to listen without shouting out "DAMN YOU! HOW DARE YOU CREATE A BETTER STORY THAN ME"... I really had fun listening. My top two choices were "Eight Hours is Eight Hours" and
"Santa and the PS3's". Dog dialog is always a hit for me but (will try not to give away too much) the twist and "zipper" effect in "Santa", along with that last second commercial spot, hit it out of the park.

I have a couple suggestions as a voter. Just an idea... Could we NOT hear what the judges have to say until after votes are all in? Not because there is no love for them but it may point something out the listener may start to focus on before the votes are cast. And maybe the final rounds let the members of the board suggest the Challenges?

[philrossimusic]

Great challenge and even greater story tellin. It was nice to listen without shouting out "DAMN YOU! HOW DARE YOU CREATE A BETTER STORY THAN ME"... I really had fun listening. My top two choices were "Eight Hours is Eight Hours" and
"Santa and the PS3's". Dog dialog is always a hit for me but (will try not to give away too much) the twist and "zipper" effect in "Santa", along with that last second commercial spot, hit it out of the park.

I have a couple suggestions as a voter. Just an idea... Could we NOT hear what the judges have to say until after votes are all in? Not because there is no love for them but it may point something out the listener may start to focus on before the votes are cast. And maybe the final rounds let the members of the board suggest the Challenges?

I'm a top choice of the Keeme! Whee!

That makes me happy.

[Laieanna]

Good job everyone...as to be expected of ya.

Laurence...fantastic as always. I giggled through out the story.

Will...I actually liked the beginning more before it was revealed that Santa was a fake. The evil Santa was great!

Phil...dangit! You made me go all girlie and I aahhed all through your dog descriptions. Obviously a dog owner myself.

Tony...I love your oddball approach to these challenges.

Activated...You guys are so lively and peppy. It makes a girl exhausted!! =)

[comedy4cast]

I'm back from vacation and this week I get a chance to VOTE! Yea! It was interesting to listen to the show from the audience side of things.

For me, it's was a tough choice between "War of the Words" and "Santa and the PS3s." However, as some has already mentioned, the "sponsor" concept seemed a bit more integrated into the Orson Wells story, so Laurence gets my vote.

Great work everyone.

[Christiana]

Hey everyone!

I didn't quite get this up in time to mention it in the show, but now that it's ready, I figured: Why wait for the results show?

You can now donate directly to the Pickle Tales Prize Fund via Paypal!

Just head to the main page, and right near the top you'll see a button that lets you donate as much or as little as you would like to the Pickle Tales winner!

All donations will go to the first-place winner, unless of course, you'd prefer to distribute it some other way, in which case, just send an email to pickletales[at]gmail.com and let us know how you'd like to do it!

Your votes and enthusiasm are already wonderful, but if you'd like to show our storytellers a little extra support, why not toss a few bucks into the prize jar?

[Anemone Flynn]

*applause*

Very nice, I had a couple favorites this time around.

I liked the "History of Advertising"; anything that mentions Shakespeare makes me happy.



And the "War of the Words" was priceless, especially coming right after "Ulla" on EscapePod. (I will never be able to read H.G. Wells in quite the same way again ...) That's always been a story I liked, and Wells was one of the first science fiction authors I read.

But making fun of scientology, Tom Cruise, and L. Ron Hubbard ... I was laughing out loud for that one. "Santa" has got my vote.

Anemone

(Steve Eley rocks!)

[Smart Bomb Radio]

363 views and 23 votes. Either a lot of people arn't voting, or us contestants are psychotic

I vote for the latter!

But making fun of scientology, Tom Cruise, and L. Ron Hubbard ... I was laughing out loud for that one. "Santa" has got my vote.

Anemone

(Steve Eley rocks!)

Thanks!

[Laurence Simon]

Hey everyone!

I didn't quite get this up in time to mention it in the show, but now that it's ready, I figured: Why wait for the results show?

You can now donate directly to the Pickle Tales Prize Fund via Paypal!

Just head to the main page, and right near the top you'll see a button that lets you donate as much or as little as you would like to the Pickle Tales winner!

All donations will go to the first-place winner, unless of course, you'd prefer to distribute it some other way, in which case, just send an email to pickletales[at]gmail.com and let us know how you'd like to do it!

Your votes and enthusiasm are already wonderful, but if you'd like to show our storytellers a little extra support, why not toss a few bucks into the prize jar?

Or Will could just post his PayPal link and cut out the middleman.

[Planet Retcon]

363 views and 23 votes. Either a lot of people arn't voting, or us contestants are psychotic

Probably 10 of those views are me, I load every updated thread once an hour or so while I'm awake, which I have been for a disturbingly long time today. 0 of the votes are me, as the episode is still sitting on my ipod waiting for the gods of the RNG to serve it up.

I will abstain on deciding your mental state.