Best of the Web

• Posted By: Albert Lee
• Posted On: 10:01 p.m. | January 18, 2013

I love a good story. The unfolding drama, the anticipation for what comes next, the experience of learning something new and discovery — these are the elements of story that keep me coming back for more. Stories are how humanity has learned from itself. They are culture and experience distilled down and focused. Through the story, the creator, the viewer and the subjects share an experience. It is through these transcendent experiences that we relate to one another, where we gain a better idea of who we are and who we are not. As subjects in a story experience and process life, we the viewers vicariously can learn the same lessons, gaining insight on the human experience and ourselves.

This week we celebrate narrative with stories that run the spectrum of human experience.

Father Philanthropy

The Avant Garde Diaries tell the strange and delightful story of Mark Landis, America’s most prolific master forger.

In For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade

The Verge chronicles the life and death of the coin-operated arcade.

I beat Mike Tyson

Filmmaker Joshua Z Weinstein tells the Sisyphean story of a boxer who beat Mike Tyson and fights to hold on.

A Perfect Terrorist

Tim Jennings tells the story of the making of American-born terrorist David Coleman Headley, who played a major role in the 2008 Mumbai, India, terrorist attacks that killed 166 people.