Claims extracted
25
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
3 of 25 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
My wife thinks I’m funny, which is about as close to a joke as I get these days.
asserted
I → think → joke
Unless, of course, you consider my bank account, which is hilarious to everyone but me.
asserted
which → consider → me
This is all to say that while my years of improv comedy did nothing to sharpen my sense of humour, they did wonders for me as an open-minded traveller, and it all comes down to this golden rule.
asserted
it → say → rule
Yes, and …
The cornerstone of any good performance, ‘yes, and …’ is about more than accepting the offer, as it’s known in the parlance.
asserted
it → accept → parlance
It’s about creating a scene where there are no closed doors and no dead ends.
asserted
It → ’ → scene
Although it’s been a long time since I’ve done any actual improv comedy, you’d be amazed at how much this rule has echoed through my travels, where invitations are accepted and going off script is all part of my poorly laid plans.
asserted
going → do → plans
To get the obvious out of the way, if you say yes to everything, you’re likely to end up wearing fluffy handcuffs in a Hiroshima hostess bar at two o’clock in the morning.
asserted
you → get → morning
And while this might sound like fun to some (it was), the bill that you get at the end of the night is less amusing.
uncertain
you → sound → night
Think of “yes” as a form of acceptance, not literally saying yes to every tout who tries to sell you something on the beach.
asserted
who → think → beach
The latter is wildly impractical, given that there are only so many pairs of fake RayBans one can fit in their backpack.
asserted
one → give → backpack
It’s more about being open to whatever a trip throws at you, be it an invitation, an opportunity or a chance to deviate from the expectations of your travels.
asserted
it → ’ → travels
Let’s use my following morning in Hiroshima as an example.
asserted
’s → use → example
I accepted that yes, I was far too hungover to drag myself to the Peace Memorial, and I decided to make amends for this by coming back and spending a whole month in the city, which turned out to be one of the best months of my life.
asserted
which → accept → life
Or it could be my trip to Myanmar, where my friend was tasked with booking our domestic flights.
uncertain
friend → task → flights
Everything was fine, he assured us.
asserted
he → assure → us
He had it under control, until he finally got around to booking the flights and they were full.
asserted
they → have → flights
It would have been easy to cancel my friendship with him, but instead, we went on Facebook, found a dude with a van, and paid him $1000 to drive us around the country for two weeks.
asserted
we → cancel → weeks
This definitely wasn’t in our script but I’ll be damned if it didn’t heighten the scene, and make our trip look so much better on the stage.
asserted
trip → heighten → stage
This is what makes the “and …” so important.
asserted
and → make → ?
It’s how you pursue the unexpected and transform the mundane into the magical.
asserted
you → ’ → magical
It’s easy to think of the 15th hour into what was supposed to be an eight-hour bus ride as torture.
asserted
what → ’ → torture
It’s a lot harder to treat that torture as an opportunity to befriend fellow passengers, accepting that even the best-laid plans are no match for a bus timetable in Laos.
asserted
plans → ’ → Laos
I’m not saying that you should start watching reruns of Whose Line Is It Anyway? to make yourself a better traveller, although there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.
asserted
yourself → say → afternoon
I’m saying that when you accept your role as a player in this performance we call travel, then you become more than just a passenger on a trip.
asserted
you → say → trip
And while no good travel story ends with “and everything went according to plan”, I can think of quite a few that started with “yes, and…”
uncertain
that → end → yes
The Aporia
