Does anyone have "hidden camera" footage of people from the 1950s and before having candid conversations? When they're giving prepared/on-camera remarks in any footage I watch, people seem very very stilted - like unskilled actors. I'm wondering if this was just the style of the "public voice" at the time, or if people actually talked to each other in day to day conversations this way [more inside]
posted by crayz on Nov 25, 2009 - 14 answers

I want to donate my car to a charity, specifically for breast cancer, how do a choose and how do i know they are for real? [more inside]
posted by matthelm on Aug 5, 2009 - 5 answers

Did they really get the bright idea to host a college football game in Soviet Russia, and then have to cancel it because they couldn't sell enough vacation packages? The Wikipedia entry about the Glasnost Bowl has a bunch of outdated angelfire pages as its sources. The 1989 New York Times article that mentions it doesn't treat it as very interesting. I think it would make a publishable journal article if it's real and am looking for more info.
posted by srs on Jul 4, 2009 - 1 answer

Help me re-develop personal discipline without tearing myself to pieces. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Oct 26, 2008 - 12 answers

Are those "person on the street" quotes in magazines ever real? [more inside]
posted by krippledkonscious on Mar 26, 2008 - 28 answers

wanted: help with the source of and exact wording for a quote. [more inside]
posted by ancamp on Oct 28, 2007 - 3 answers

I'm looking for writing on or examples of "irony"/hipsterism and taste/authenticity/postmodern self-consciousness, etc., or alternatively, historical writing on atomization and society. [more inside]
posted by kensanway on Apr 7, 2006 - 15 answers