This one just doesn't do it for me. I doubt they are real figures, and even if they are, it just makes me say "so what?" And seriously, Randall? This one isn't even a chart comic. You didn't even draw anything. At all. You just put words out there. That is what blogs are for. Comics ought to at least be visual.
There's just nothing here for me to talk about. It isn't funny. And I am pretty sure none of that information is real. (It is not available on Google Zeitgeist. Google doesn't usually release this sort of data.) And the Wasilla jokes? What happened to being apolitical, Randall?
If it's fictional it's a bad joke. If it's real he didn't do anything interesting. LAME. ALL. ROUND.
Anyway, thank you all for reading. Thomas will be taking over next week. I am excited! You should all be, too. It has been a pleasure, and all of you are awesome, generally speaking. But while Rob season is over, I will always live on in your hearts and minds. And in my blog, which I won't link to because that would just be shameless. But every time you are making out in public places, think of me.
Hugs and kisses!
Isn't "I hate this website" a reference to xkcdsucks? Maybe I'm just being hopeful here.
ReplyDeleteTwo (unfunny) Palin jokes in one strip is pushing it.
I think it's internally referencing Google. Google is located in Mountain View, I believe.
ReplyDeleteThe alt-text made me throw up a little in my mouth. I mean, hey, slash is fine but wtf? Really, Randall? There's a fine line between funny sex jokes and just random sex talk that make people laugh out of sheer shock and confusion.
ReplyDeleteGood-bye, Rob, you have been good to us.
Yo Randy you've mentioned that goddam babby thing twice -- TWICE -- in the recent past. It is not funny.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I feel Randall would have to explain himself. If He'd compromised his apolitical stance for a great joke I wouldn't complain but for some cheap "Palin is stupid" jokes? I'm disappointed. Is that creepy alt text a way to keep some kind of even score between Democrats and Republicans? I have to agree with Amanda on that one.
ReplyDeleteIs it a new XKCD trend to have comics with less/no art on friday? It feels that way, but pehaps it's just me.
I find it ironic how the lovers and haters of xkcd create lulz, but not xkcd itself. Look at the bottom of Encyclopedia Dramatica's List of Unfunny Things and check ED's xkcd article for lulzy xkcd (mis|dis)?information.
ReplyDeleteThe xkcd ED article links us to a simple, intuitive and informative website quite similar to an earlier website with simple, intuitive and informative content and a similer page of the simple, intuitive and informative kind
first, cheers to rob for doing a great job these past few weeks.
ReplyDeletesecond, this comic blows. you guys all covered it.
and the raptors on hoverboards in somerville - is that where munroe is? i don't get that one..
That one confuses me. I'm pretty sure Randall is in Cambridge, MA. As is the heart of nerddom in the Boston metro. I don't know why he would pick Somerville.
ReplyDeleteLook, I realize the blog is under temporary management, but I still find it vaguely bothersome that both of you have criticized XKCD for visual laziness, while Carl has held up Dinosaur Comics as an exemplary comic...
ReplyDeleteAnd with all due respect to Amanda, the alt-text is pure comedy gold.
Ah, Pat, but DC is limited because of its (what you call) "visual laziness." This is what makes DC great--it has to be funny even with these limits, and it is! If it were the same joke everyday, that'd be different. Or if it were a different non-funny joke everyday, that'd also be different. But it's still funny, and Ryan North makes his characters look different with his different comics.
ReplyDeleteMake sense? XKCD is no more than text.
LOL captcha is "ennis." Brokeback Mountain, anyone? And with this slashy business going on...
Pat: I am criticizing XKCD for being visually boring more than visually lazy. The art does nothing for it. Dinosaur Comics has art which, despite all of its laziness, works /really well./
ReplyDeleteRyan North's simplicity is brilliant; Randall's simplicity works against him at every turn.
I mean, look. A comic which is literally just text is /not a comic./ A comic which is the same drawing every day? That is stretching the medium. He easily could have failed if he decided to change the artwork. Thankfully, he did not do so.
As an aside, I am a writer. I am not a very visual person, so I am very easy to please, visually speaking. If you still manage to bore me visually, you are DOING IT WRONG.
Captcha: phone. How appropriate, because Randall totally phoned it in here.
ReplyDeleteWell, firstly, is it obvious, to an American, that the mention of Chicago, IL is a reference to Obama? Stop me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that Chicago was quite a big place. And secondly, all the other things that are wrong with this comic. (Alt-text was funny, though.)
And yeah, the Dinosaur Comics obsession does get a bit much, sometimes. Because while it is funny, it is the same joke every day: basically North takes something which is unfunny and WRITES IT IN ALL CAPS AND OMITS THE FULL STOP
and it becomes funny. How on earth does that work?
google actually does release this data, via google trends.
ReplyDeletehere are the actual top cities:
installing ubuntu: san francisco, ca
running for president in 2010: n/a
lincoln fan fiction: n/a
raptors on hoverboards: n/a
how is babby formed?: n/a
i hate this website: n/a
so yeah just in case this was really in any doubt, it's just a bunch of bad memes accompanied by non-jokes. the men kissing thing is true, though.
Ah, thank you for the information! Yeah, this is not funny in the least.
ReplyDeleteI don't dare to brave the forums. Anyone? Are they accepting it as Gospel truth?
No, most of them (most of them) are being rather sensible. Although there's some pretty poor limericking goin' on goin' on in that thread.
ReplyDeleteFor a strip that doesn't like to be political, he sure is pushing it. Also, Palin jokes were a lot better when she was actually important. All of us were making those back in, oh, september. But it's nice that you are trying to catch up, I guess?
ReplyDeleteOn the alt-text here: I found it pretty gross but I must admit that "formed a more perfect union" was good.
Wooooo we are on encyclopedia dramatica. That means we're important!
I guess I am the only one who thought this comic would have been funnier if he had found actual ironic google trends? I don't know how many of them there would be, but as it is we just have "ha ha, here's what some people are really like, contrary to their well-known stereotype!"
Fun fact: top searches for "xkcd" is....cambridge, MA! Now how on earth would that make sense....
hehe.
ReplyDeletei see the palin jokes are getting old, but wouldn't the lincoln fan fiction refer to obama? to balance the tables out in a way?
I think if he wanted a joke that was really obscure but also much funnier, he would have made it "Doris Kearns Goodwin" fan fiction, because it felt like 90% of references to Lincoln were about how he put his rivals in his cabinet and that in turn meant everyone was quoting Goodwin's book Team of Rivals. But no, out level of depth here is just "ha ha, Obama is gay for abe lincoln!"
ReplyDeletepoint taken. but if it had sunk to palin levels, gay obama almost evens it out...
ReplyDeletethough a joke about florida's nurising homes and mccain would round it out nicely.
you are all stupid. you cant simply understand the xkcd cuz u have no sense of humors. maybe if you had a soul you could understand. but without it you have too much trouble. one day i will have babby with xkcd
ReplyDeleteaw crap they figured us out
ReplyDelete