This comic feels like something written for a sitcom - I'm not talking about the specific, ha-ha-steve-jobs-has-a-terrible-illness-and-maybe-will-die part, just the rhythm of the joke. Simple "Hey did you hear the news" set up and then "ha ha, witty retort" response. It's like something David Letterman or Jay Leno would do. Actually, now that I think about it, what it feels most like is Frank and Ernest. Which is not to say it's a bad joke (it didn't suck as hard as some recent ones) as much it made me roll my eyes and go "ok, we get it, what's next..."
I also was annoyed at the alt-text because as we established the last time Randall talked about DRM and Apple, he doesn't know shit about the topic and Apple has been selling non-DRM music for a long time now. Knowing Randall, he'll probably take credit for this "new" development.
In any case, this gives me a great excuse to link to this video from I guess January 2008 and say the best apple-products-are-thin-what-if-they-were-like-people joke is this one.
This one just made me feel sort of dirty. It was kind of morbid and creepy, but not so much that it crossed the line twice, like the first ever Something Positive.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I think this was the best one I've seen in a long time. It got a chuckle out of me! A legitimate chuckle!
ReplyDeleteI admit that I laughed at this one, then felt really dirty for laughing. But honestly, at this point Randall ruins the joke with the alt-text more than he makes it. We need to stage an intervention.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I didn't know Steve Jobs was sick. Now I get the comic.
ReplyDelete... wow. That's actually pretty fucked up.
Why did black hat deliver that joke? It's a bit out of character for him. If he would have been behind Jobs's sickness in order to set up that joke, on the other hand...
ReplyDelete"Knowing Randall, he'll probably take credit for this "new" development."
Confusing Randall with his fanboys again, are we?
And about that earlier drm-free music from apple... Only a limited part of Apples music library were released DRM-free. IMO it makes very much sense that Randall ignored that the last time but mentions this now.
ReplyDeleteSo you're attacking him for talking about current events, yet yesterday you made a dig at him in your last paragraph because he was talking about something that hasn't really been in the news recently? Hypocrisy, I love you!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a person who considers themselves to be rationally and reasonably opposed to DRM, I am extremely aggravated when people act like frothing-mouth lunatics on the subject. Randall has done me no favors in that regard, cf. comic 448.
ReplyDeleteIt also pains me how the alt-text has been getting worse at a faster rate than the comic itself. Reading the alt-text for the past couple of weeks without looking at the comics is a painful, humorless exercise.
I didn't say a single thing about the fact that this was current event. I am not in any way attacking him for talking about current events.
ReplyDeleteYour post is entirely false and you, my dear cuddlefish, are dumb.
So you criticize him for being topical, then you criticize him in the previous one for not being topical... not to mention linking to another post that mentions Randall being hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the series of contradictions would be amusing if you were just trolling a forum or something, but with the whole air of "hurf a durf, srs bsns comedic quality control" that this blog has, it just seems like terrible writing.
Apologies, did not see your reply in the comment thread before I posted my own. However, your second paragraph makes it read as if that it's topical humor you're criticizing.
ReplyDeleteNope. Just the way the joke is set up structurally. I would be a very stupid person to dismiss topical humor as a genre, especially given my love of The Daily Show and the Onion.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it becomes a problem when the topical humor is morbid and creepy.
ReplyDeleteDEATH TO THE CUDDLEFISH
I dunno. I think if this were entirely fictional, it would be funny... It's hard to tell if I'm just being over-sensitive (I'm one of those people who won't use words like "retard" or "gay" as an insult... yeah, you know the type).
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a voodoo doll is amusing, but not enough to save this comic from its level of, um.. quite-hateful levels.
M7S, didn't your name use to have a 5 in it somewhere?
Uhhh it is a "new" development. Apple had previously only been selling some of it's music at a higher price non-DRM for "a long time now" but now they've announced over the next few months they are switching everything over to non-DRM.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should do your research so you don't look foolish next time.
Nah, this one was fine. In fact, I was overjoyed when I read it. It's a joke! Not just a reference, an actual joke! The joke didn't make me laugh but if I was more of a computer nerd, which XKCD's target audience mostly is, then I would've laughed.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Steve Jobs crack is acceptable, because a) it's Black Hat, b) all it is is close-to-the-knuckle humour, no different to the swathes of Stephen Hawking gags that one finds lying around in comedians' acts, and that sort of thing can work if you deliver it right, which IMO Randall did, and c) seriously, it's Black Hat.
CAPTCHA: uradunb. If only that n was an m, it would have been a lovely Cuddlefish-style criticism of your post, Carl.
No, Amanda, no 5 in my name. I've simply taken the consonants of my first name and changed a t to a 7 (sinse MtS already were taken on a forum I frequently used many years ago). I still use MtS without a 7 if I'm gaming, though, because many gamers still seems to believe 1337-speak is "kewl".
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I thought this was funny in a black comedy kind of way.
ReplyDelete... and I am posting on this thread a week late because I just found out that Steve Jobs is resigning until June, which indicates that this hormonal imbalance thing might actually be kind of serious...
which is sad. I can't laugh at that joke anymore.
That is all.
Kevin Nalty has more talent, wit, and humor in the fingernail of his pinky finger than Randall Monroe will ever have.
ReplyDelete