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The List App Archive (Page 13)

The List App, later rebranded li.st, was a short-lived social media app from, of all people, B.J. Novak of The Office fame. A friend of mine who’s way more looped in to this kind of thing than I am sent me an invitation during the pre-release beta period, when The List App was tiny and finding its footing.

The app was something like twitter for lists of things. There were lists, likes, re-lists, and trends. But the content of a post was always a list—bulleted, numbered, reverse-numbers, but always a list of things. I think Novak envisioned things like “My favorite restaurants in LA” and “Best albums of the year” or whatever, but TLA pretty quickly turned in to a weird sometimes beautiful place where a core of likeminded and somewhat bookish people shared things that made them happy, gave encouragement, and evolved a subculture. It was fun while it lasted (and it did not last long).

When the app shut down I archived all my posts because I’m a digital hoarder. You can find them all here.

My Lists

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Things That Are Underrated

Thanks @mianguyen for the suggestion. Of course it is harder to be constructive than to complain so this list took a lot more thought than THINGS THAT ARE OVERRATED. But that’s good because it made me happier in the end. Read more…

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Moments in Shakespeare When Someone Should Have Said "Wait a Minute"

  • The Pedant in Taming of the Shrew when Biondello hatches his plan.

    Biondello approaches a stranger and asks where he’s from. “Padua,” he says. “Ack! Don’t you know the duke has declared that anyone from…uh…Padua is to be executed? But don’t worry, I’ll disguise you and keep you at my house so you’ll be safe. You even look a lot like my dad.” “Oh thank you,” says the old man. And then Biondello says, “Hey by the way, my girlfriends dad is going to ask you to approve my marriage and gaurantee my dower. Pretend to be my dad and say ok.” [WAIT A MINUTE]

  • Juliet in Romeo and Juliet when Fryer Lawrence hatches his plan.

    “Here’s an idea. You drink this potion and it’ll basically make you die and then you can wake up in the tomb in the middle of the night and go be with Romeo.” [WAIT A MINUTE]

  • Read more…
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Things That Are Overrated

Time to make some enemies on List App. Read more…

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A List of Interesting Things Well Explained

  • The singular Vi Hart’s beautiful three part exposition of the Fibonacci sequence, culminating in a clear explanation of why it shows up in plants. (Hint: It’s not magic.)

    Part 1: Link Part 2: Link Part 3: Link

  • This bygone film from Chevrolet explaining with incredible clarity the mechanics of the differential in your car.

    Link

  • Read more…
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A List of Encouraging Letters

  1. Letter from Stephen Fry to a fan suffering from depression.

    Link

  2. Letter from Carl Sandburg to his 10 year old daughter at the start of a long battle with disease.

    Link

  3. Read more…
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Smart Answers to Stupid Questions

  • @ChrisK ’s three guests at a literary dinner party

    Virgil, Dante, and Dan Brown because it would be interesting to watch Virgil get all embarrassed about being in Dante’s Inferno and watch Dante get all embarrassed about being in Dan Brown’s Inferno and watch Dan Brown get embarrassed about what an awful writer he is. And then Virgil would write an epic poem about Dan Brown and the cycle would be complete.

  • Chris Pratt’s advice to a guy who wants to be an actor

    Advice for being an actor is this: figure out whether or not you believe in yourself, and if you don’t, find a way to. Because even more than you want it, you must believe it.

  • Read more…
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Questions for List App Pros

  • What’s up with list title input when it puts things you did not type all around your insertion point?

  • Who agrees that we should have a “reverse numerical” list type?

  • Read more…
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A List of Funny Letters

  1. Letter from Tom Hanks to the producers of the “Nerdist” podcast cursing their ingenuity in securing him as a guest.

    Link

  2. Letter from Raymond Chandler parodying the Science Fiction genre and inadvertently inventing the word “Google”.

    Link

  3. Read more…
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A List of Sad Letters

  1. A letter to the family of a Lockerbie bombing victim from the family on whose property his body landed, four years on.

    Link

  2. A letter from a 16th century Korean widow to her recently deceased husband.

    Link

  3. Read more…
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Simple Lines That Make a Great Point

  • When you think that you’ve lost everything you find out you can always lose a little more.

    Bob Dylan in “Trying to get to Heaven”. — A simpler version of Edgar’s harrowing “O gods! Who is’t can say ‘I am at the worst’? I am worse than e’er I was. And worse I may be yet. The worst is not So long as we can say ‘This is the worst.’” from King Lear.

  • No. And yes. It’s always sudden.

    Tara from Buffy on whether or not her mother’s death was sudden.

  • Read more…
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Things My 17 Year Old Child Isabel Is Obsessed With

Well Sophie’s list was popular so now I feel like a jerk for favoring my wild spunky kid over her quiet delightful sibling. At the risk of sounding like one of those insufferable parents, here’s what my other child is like. They’re their sister’s polar opposite, but equally awesome. Read more…

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How to Build the Next Facebook

  • Be smarter than you are.

  • Work harder than you will.

  • Read more…
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Covers That Are Better Than the Original➕

  • Bridge Over Troubled Water / Johnny Cash

    I never liked this song until I heard Cash’s version. Now it moves me deeply. Link

  • Every Grain of Sand / Emmy Lou Harris

    I loved the original but Emmy’s is more haunting. Link

  • Read more…
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A List of Fascinating Letters

  1. Contingency speech written for Richard Nixon in the event that the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the moon during their historic moon landing.

    Link

  2. Letter from the widow of Aldous Huxley to his brother describing in detail his recent death.

    Link

  3. Read more…
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Signs I'm Slowly Becoming an Old Man

  • My barber has always trimmed my eyebrows and nostrils. This last time she did something with the trimmers in my ears.

  • I’ve begun to think there might be foods that “tear me up inside”.

  • Read more…
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Gross Things I Kind of Like

  • Chocodiles

    I hate twinkles but Chocodiles are kind of yummy.

  • Salsa Verde Doritos

    The first one tastes so gross. The second one is like eh, not so bad. And then they become delicious. This effect lasts for about an hour.

  • Read more…
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Things in Shakespeare That Literally Make No Sense

If you think Shakespeare is a little hard to understand you’re not alone! These are passages nobody understands. I love that given all that’s been written about Shakespeare, and his continuous popularity since he was alive, there can still be a little mystery. Read more…

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Good Songs That Are Really Mostly Just Someone Talking➕

I’m a sucker for a story-song. They don’t even have to be singing. Read more…

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Times Cleopatra Got a Little Bawdy

Antony and Cleopatra may be my favorite play by Shakespeare, and not just because of all the funny innuendo. But here’s a list of the more obvious ones. For the middle school crowd + me. Read more…

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Words Cormac McCarthy Sent Me to the Dictionary For

Some people say Cormac McCarthy is a pretensions poseur. I’m not sure this list will help but I love that he writes unapologetically in language relevant to the time, place, and circumstance of the story. Harold Bloom calls Blood Meridian one of the great American novels, equal to Moby Dick. It is well worth the time. Just bring a dictionary. Read more…

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Planets, Ranked

I love them all but here’s my attempt at a ranking. Read more…

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Things I'm Embarassed to Admit Made Me Cry

I’m sentimentally challenged which made reading to my girls difficult. Read more…

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Fun Things to Do in Phoenix

Just kidding I kind of love our backwards little city. Read more…

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Things Tom Waits Thinks the Moon Looks Like

Tom Waits loves the moon (don’t we all?) By my count he has mentioned the moon in a song more than 80 times. Here’s all the things he says the moon is like. Read more…