Man creates online shrine for favorite cookie fortune
Bob Bjarke likes the fortune he got in his cookie (from a recent dinner at Papajin in Chicago) so much he created a website called www.thebestfortunecookieever.com to show it off.
Previously on Boing Boing:
• Dumpster filled with fortune cookies
• Fortune-cookie writer has been blocked for a decade
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I've had a better one (if you include the standard fortune cookie suffix)... "You cannot please everybody. Please yourself first."
My favorite fortune cookie ever is just too great not to share... "You are not illiterate."
priceless.
I've had this exact fortune before. It's right up there with a fortune a friend of mine got "you enjoy horse-racing and gambling in moderation"
I hate the ones that smoke around the edges as they turn to ash,with "Die Foreign Devil!" written on them
. . . in bed!
OH MAN a girl I once dated got this, only in a different form: "maybe one day you live on moon!"
It's not a fortune: it's a hope, and not one she necessarily shared. Suffice to say, she was very pissed.
I've worked at a Chinese restaurant for the past three years, so I've accumulated quite a collection of fortune cookies. The moon one is my second favorite after "There is a nice cake waiting for you." Oh, the cake is such a lie.
A few more highlights: "You will have a party."; "You look pretty."; "May you have a good appetite."; "The job is well done."; "A carrot a day,may [sic] keep cancer away."; "You are going to have some new clothes."; "It tastes sweet."; "We are very happy together."; and "In god we trust;all [sic] others must pay cash."
My collection also has a gift from my girlfriend, which is the absolute craziest one of all: "Here we go. 'Moo Shu Cereal' for breakfast with duck sauce."
maybe use the Olympics as a way to export fortune cookies to China? any suggestions for one-liners?
"You are going to have some new clothes."
I got this one once and guess what? It came true!!
Just for reference, Papajin is one of the best Chinese places in Chicago. The food is great (try the black bean chicken) and the prices are reasonable. It's nice inside, and they deliver.
And no, I don't work for them, but I've always been satisfied there.
"In god we trust;all [sic] others must pay cash"
What's that even supposed to mean!?
No one will believe this, but the best fortune cookie I ever got read, "You will be assigned to a diplomatic post involving a lot of Kzin."
Just the essentials on that website, eh?
Frames, a Google Analytics "Urchin" counter, and even a touch of content.
Eight years ago I got "You will be invited to a karaoke party", and it hasn't happened yet.
A former roommate also got the "You are going to have some new clothes."
It also came true for him.
Incredible.
My favorite ever... "Your greatest virtue is your modesty"
I have it posted on my office wall as a warning to visitors that I'm utterly lacking in virtue. :)
I got one once that read, You are interested in forward thrust and the future (in bed!)
2 weeks ago I got the following.
: ) The Chinese ancient civilization attracts you. : )
NPR had an interesting story on fortune cookies recently, in connection with Jennifer 8 Lee's book about them.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19200355
My personal favorite fortune is pinned to my cubicle wall at work: "If it feels like the fates are against you today, they probably are." Such a nice, cheerful message to get from one's pseudo-Oriental food.
#11 - "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" is a slogan seen on a cutesy sign hanging behind many a bar. It's a play on the slogan "In God We Trust" which adorns United States currency, and means that they don't extend credit to (i.e. "trust" that they will be paid back by) anyone except God.
Got this one- really:
"Everything will now go your way."
assumetehposition: I would be scared if it didn't ;)
my favorite,
"Alas, the onion you are eating is someone else's water lilly"
Last year my girlfriend got the following fortune in a normal chinese restaurant cookie: "You will get money back from BT" [British Telecom].
Seriously. How is that possible??
I dislike the trend of fortune cookies to stray from what could reasonably be considered "fortunes". Platitudes, generic pleasantries, and pseudo-Confucian quotes have ruined too many a potential fortune.
I mean, come on. "A friend is a gift that you give yourself"? Really?
@ #8 Takuan: maybe use the Olympics as a way to export fortune cookies to China? any suggestions for one-liners?
"Your voice is just as important as any Communist party member."
"Give me liberty or give me death."
"You deserve a living wage."
"When you take over as world leader please be nice to the Americans; most of them meant you no harm."
IN BED!
I have bad news for some of you eating Chinese...
http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fortunexv6.jpg
Read the famous Wal-Mart internal memo concerning the fortune cookie: A NICE CAKE IS WAITING FOR YOU
Nothing beats the best fortune I've ever seen:
"Ignore previous fortune."
Dude... metafortunes? Crazy.
My favorites:
"Your sweetheart may be too beautiful for words, but not for arguments"
"The greatest danger could be your stupidity"
"Our first and last love is self-love"
I've gotten the nice cake one, too. I'm still waiting.
The most inspiring fortune evuh is taped proudly to the device in front of me:
"Go for the gold today! You'll be the champion of whatever."
I can't tell you my best fortune, but it's way better than that one.
a friend of mine once received the fortune "Think about Charleton Heston today".
My favorite WTF?! fortune was:
"You may think it is a secret, but it never was one."
So creepy and insidious.
I got one that said, "Dog who eats table scraps, gets splinter in tongue."
Of course, the obligatory, ...in bed.
I keep my fortune cookie fortunes in an Altoids tin. I have this moon one too. Another favorite of mine is "You love chinese food."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85755611@N00/902489010/
I've had that one too! My favorite fortune though was "Miss the bus on purpose."
I didn't. It was too cold.
My favorite, which I saved somewhere:
"your opposite sex is your best friend."
Yeah-- nowhere near as good as the other ones listed here.
I hope it becomes possible for me to live on the moon much sooner than that! (Not that I'd necessarily want to move there, but it would be nice to be able to go for a vacation.)
On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to expect to still be alive in the next century.
My most unusual one ever (still have it on my desk) was:
"Customer service is like taking a bath. You have to keep doing it."
As a married man, the funniest one I've ever received was:
"Use caution in new romance."
Pretty sage advice there...
Like #25 didymos, I bemoan the proverbs and advice instead of a real fortune. I have been known to refer to those as 'Unfortunate Cookies'.
But recently I got one that said:
"Don't forget to order carry-out"
That was the worst.
(but at least it also had a lucky number and a chinese word translated so I can learn Chinese)
OH MY GOD, i was there when he got this fortune. sitting at the next table, i mean. he was there with a girl whose accent -chinese, japanese?- made reading it aloud sound like the best sample ever. seeing this on BB is oddly meta. -st andrew
my best ever was:
"Your love of gardening will take on new meaning in your life."
I held onto it for long time before sadly losing it. So far its not true but I was always happy that they went out on a limb and actually offered a fortune.
My favourite of all time was "Beware of cookies bearing fortunes." Best. Metafortune. Ever.
The next best was "You will get a great deal on a cellphone at [the cellphone shop next to the Chinese restaurant]." Product placement in fortune cookies? Whodathunkit?
And who can forget "You will find true love on flag day."
"the other cookie was the antidote"
I still love the one I carry in my wallet for luck:
Ask not what your fortune cookie can do for you, but what you can do for your fortune cookie
I got one that said: "It's time to go collect the goods."
HELL YEAH! I don't know what goods I need to collect, but I'm ready.
My favorite, and most confusing, was "Your luck has been completely changed today." I thought I'd been having a pretty good week so I wasn't really sure what to expect next.
Second favorite was "Years for a tree to produce nuts may not be true for family tree."
My current fortune is "Sing and rejoice, fortune is smiling on you." I figure it's payback for the first one. :)
"That wasn't chicken"
hehe i love that one, to this day.
Lilah, yeah!!! I got almost the same fortune, but with a bizarre grammatical twist:
"It's time to collect those goods."
The slightly more definite article (Adjective?) really made it .. strange.
I just got a fortune that posed a challenge (and had a nice line break):
"You are capable, competent, creative, and caring.
Prove it."
Rather than "in bed," this fortune needs to end with "Bitch."
"a friend of mine once received the fortune "Think about Charleton Heston today"."
Do I know you?
Mine said, "Confucius say Think about Charlton Heston today"
It's on the fridge, what else could I do with something like that? And what the heck does he have to do with Chinese food?