“Live Free or Die Hard may work better for an audience that doesn't know much about the series is than it will for Die Hard die hards, who will be wondering who that impersonator is and what he did with the real John McClane. The original Die Hard came out of nowhere to blitz the 1988 summer box office. The fourth installment arrives with a weight of expectations that Atlas would have trouble shouldering and, when the dust settles in September, it's unlikely that Live Free or Die Hard will be one of this year's big success stories.” KnowsYearsMayRealHardStoriesBigsDiesWonderAudienceTroubleOfficeSummerExpectationsWeightOriginalsSeriesBoxesDustSettlingFourthSeptemberUnlikelyBox OfficeAtlasSuccess StoriesLive FreeBlitzImpersonators Author:James Berardinelli
“Any story worth telling relates to real life in some meaningful way. Scifi allows you to tell meaningful stories without seeming too preachy - it adds a metaphorical layer between the story and the real world. Scifi is dismissed as ungrounded fluff, but it's actually the opposite.” WorldWayRealStoriesOppositesAddMeaningfulReal LifeRelateReal WorldLayersScifiSeemingMetaphoricalFluff Author:Jane Espenson
“Note to reporters: The sanctimony thing probably works better on someone who has never broken real stories.” RealStoriesBrokenNotesReportersReal Story Author:Colin Flaherty
“The real origin of science fiction lay in the seventeeth-century novels of exploration in fabulous lands. Therefore Jules Verne's story of travel to the moon is not science fiction because they go by rocket but because of where they go. It would be as much science fiction if they went by rubber band.” IfsRealStoriesWould BeFictionNovelLandCenturyMoonBandScience FictionLaysExplorationFabulousRocketsRubberRubber Bands Author:Philip K. Dick
“What did a happy ending even mean in real life, anyway? In stories you simply said, 'They lived happily ever after,' and that was it. But in real life people had to keep on living, day after day, year after year.” PeopleYearsMeanSaidRealStoriesReal LifeHappy EndingsHappily Ever AfterEver AfterSimply Said Book:Afterworlds Source: Afterworlds
“He lived in a fantasy world. There was not a day when he didn't add some Mickey Mouse story about a club that wanted him. First of all, he came in and told me that Arsenal wanted to buy him, then the next week it was Manchester Utd, then the next week it was Real Madrid. He made it clear that he did not want to be at the club so, in the end, there was only one thing I could do - send him to Wigan.” WorldWantFirstsMadeRealEndsStoriesWantedNextFantasyClearOne ThingWeekFootballAddClubsMade ItManagersSoccerMiceChairmanManchesterArsenalNext WeekMickeyMadridFantasy WorldsReal MadridWigan Author:Joe Kinnear
“If a large number of people who are convinced alien abductions are real are hypnotising even larger numbers of others who suspect they might be, then it is likely there will be many alien abduction narratives flying around, as, indeed, there are. Of course, this is not proof they are not true, but it does provide a persuasive context for a simple psychosocial explanation. Hypnotism is a technique that triggers a mass storytelling project in which all the stories are linked.” PeopleIfsDoeRealStoriesMightCoursesSimpleNumbersProjectsMassConvincedProofTechniqueAstronomyFlyingStorytellingAliensNarrativeExplanationSuspectsLinkedTriggersLarge NumbersPersuasiveAbductionAlien Abduction Author:Bryan Appleyard
“You know I've been in these tabloids for years now. And at some point you just become a Zen master of it all. Most of these stories, you get probably 2 percent real fruit juice and the rest is just garbage with no nutritional value.” RealStoriesValuesPercentFruitGarbageJuiceFruit Juice Author:Brad Pitt
“If a single one of these gentlemen is correct, if a believer of any type is right, the essential truth for man, the real drama of life, in comparison with which the secular story of the race, is a puppet-show and the unfolding of the universe is a triviality, is the dialogue of the immortal soul and the eternal God. Yet it seems that there is nothing in the world so hard to discover as this. The theory refutes itself.” IfsMenWorldRealSoulHardStoriesShowsSeemsUniverseRaceAtheismTheoryTypeDramaEssentialsEternalBelieverDialogueGentlemanComparisonImmortalSecularUnfoldingPuppetsTrivialityImmortal SoulPuppet Shows Author:Joseph McCabe
“It's really a lot of fun to see that this music can actually survive, that it can be concert music. My solo shows are already going along that path. You have the freedom to basically push to party, or you can tell a story from nothing with soundscapes, moving images, to a real party mood. At some concerts, people get out of their seats and start dancing after a while.” PeopleRealStoriesShowsMovingFunPartyPathDancingMoodSeatsConcertsSolo Author:Pantha du Prince
“Forget politics. The real story is the advancements being made in medicine. We're on the verge of conquering cancer and Alzheimer's and numerous other diseases. The DNA revolution has just begun. Scientific advancement usually trumps politics.” MadeRealStoriesForgetRevolutionTrumpDiseaseMedicineCancerConquerDnaAdvancementVergeAlzheimerAlzheimer'sReal StoryScientific Advancement Author:Douglas Brinkley
“All the characters are made out of words. With reading, I understand that the people aren't real but the fact that they are made out of language and are made out of words is extremely powerful to me. It becomes transformative for me. Different people have different ways of trying to make stories using language.” PeopleWayTryingMadeDifferentRealCharacterFactsStoriesReadingLanguagePowerfulDifferent WaysDifferent Peoples Author:John Green
“When I write a story, I just wanna tell you what's in my head. It can come from real life and then turn into fantasy, stuff just rhyming. And write about what you know. I just like to tell stories that have not been told or [told] from my perspective.” KnowsWritingRealStoriesTurnsStuffFantasyPerspectiveReal LifeRhyming Author:Nas
“The more people talk about eating disorders, the more people get the real story about what they're like.” PeopleRealStoriesEatingDisorderEating DisorderReal Story Author:Scarlett Pomers
“I feel real ownership in this show. I feel very invested in it. I care very much about it. I don't feel any more like a hired hand, you know? It's a strange feeling - I feel personally responsible for how the story goes. What happens. What the weaknesses are. And so in a way, some of the changes gave me an opportunity to have a voice in a different way.” KnowsWayFeelsDifferentRealStoriesShowsFeelingsHandsHappensCareOpportunityVoiceStrangeWeaknessResponsibleDifferent WaysOwnershipI Care Author:Lauren Graham
“Fiction is of the essence of poetry as well as of painting; there is a resemblance in one of human bodies, things, and actions which are not real, and in the other of a true story by fiction.” HumansWellsRealStoriesBodyActionFictionPaintingEssenceHuman BodyTrue StoryResemblance Book:The Works of John Dryden in Verse and Prose Source: The Works of John Dryden in Verse and Prose
“Are my characters copies of people in real life? ... Don't ever believe the stories about authors putting people into novels. That idea is a kind of joke on both authors and readers. All the readers believe that authors do it. All the authors know that it can't be done.” PeopleKnowsBelieveKindIdeasRealDoneCharacterStoriesNovelReaderJokesReal LifeCopies Book:Letters of Ayn Rand Source: Letters of Ayn Rand
“Someone responding to the story said 'real spies do not speak like that'. Well, I am a spy and that is how they talk. Whenever we had a debate in the office on how to handle crimes, they do not defend due process - they defend decisive action. They say it is better to kick someone out of a plane than let these people have a day in court. It is an authoritarian mindset in general.” PeopleWellsSaidRealStoriesActionSpeakProcessCrimeOfficeCourtMindsetDuesDebateHandlePlanesKicksSpyRespondingNsaDue ProcessDecisive Action Author:Edward Snowden
“I carry a strong anti-drug message, and it's important young people especially hear a "real" story about addiction and how it affects not only the addict but also the people who love him/her, rather than "just say no."” PeopleImportantRealStoriesYoungStrongDrugMessagesAddictionAddictReal StoryJust Say No Author:Ellen Hopkins
“I love it when real science finds a home in a fictional setting, where you take some real core idea of science and weave it through a fictional narrative in order to bring it to life, the way stories can. That's my favorite thing.” WayIdeasRealStoriesHomeOrderMy FavoriteCoreSettingSettingsNarrativeFavorites Things Author:Brian Greene
“In horror stories or in fairy tales, the fascination with the morbid is also, at least for me, a way to prepare for the unthinkable… That’s why it’s very important for me to show the artificiality of it all, because the real horrors of the world are unmatchable, and they’re too profound. It’s much easier to absorb – to be entertained by it, but also to let it affect you psychologically – if it’s done in a fake, humorous, artificial way.” IfsWorldWayImportantRealDoneStoriesShowsEasierHorrorHumorousProfoundTalesFakeFairyArtificialFairy TaleFascinationUnthinkableMorbidHorror StoriesArtificiality Author:Cindy Sherman
“The Pixar people continuously amaze me. They come up with something that actually looks as though it takes place in this happy, real-world. Every plot line is not just plausible, but oddly authentic. The stories are full of adventure, humor and love. The characters are written with great human dimension. I don't know how they do it but they astound me.” PeopleKnowsWorldHumansLooksRealCharacterStoriesLinesKnow HowWrittenAdventureAnd LoveCome UpDimensionsPlotReal WorldPlausiblePixarPlot Lines Author:Tom Hanks
“Motion pictures are just beginning to live up to their true potential of being immersive experience - going from beyond black and white flickering images to fully immersive 3D color high-definition. You don't even know where the real world starts and the fake world begins. And yet, none of that's going to matter unless the story and the emotions that they allow us to become invested in are something that we can recognize. Pixar is able to do this in ways that almost defies speculation.” KnowsWorldWayRealMatterStoriesAbleBlackWhiteEmotionColorDefinitionsFakeReal WorldBlack And WhiteSpeculationMotion PicturesPixarTrue PotentialHigh DefinitionFake World Author:Tom Hanks
“Real crime-beat investigative journalism does seem to be really dwindling, especially in this age with everything being centered around iPhones. Everyone's a journalist today, essentially. Every pedestrian on the street has the potential of capturing a big story on their mobile device and then selling it and making a lot of money.” DoeRealStoriesBigsSeemsAgeTodayStreetsCrimeBeatsSellingJournalismJournalistDevicesBeing RealLots Of MoneyMobileIphonePedestriansInvestigative Journalism Author:Megan Fox
“Fiction is truth. I think fiction is the truest thing there ever was. My whole effort is to remove that distinction. The writer is the midwife of understanding. It's very important for me to tell politics like a story, to make it real.” ThinkingImportantRealWholeStoriesUnderstandingEffortFictionDistinctionRemoveTruestMidwife Author:Arundhati Roy
“"Real" drawing is about specifics. It's about describing an object as accurately as possible. In a comic strip you have to draw a picture of the idea of the object. You have to draw the word that you are picturing, then you have to mix in specifics with it for it to work as a story. But you are still working with drawn words.” StillsIdeasRealStoriesObjectsDrawsDrawingComicDescribingComic StripsSpecifics Author:Chris Ware