ha ha, computer people waste time! that's how good they are at their jobs, they do them so fast that they can afford to waste time.
I found the first two panels basically worthless, the third to be mildly clever, and the last to be far too smug. I usually like meta-humor (see: the meta box on the left panel of this blog). But has xkcd ever done it before? I feel like in many ways it takes itself a little too seriously to do, say, something like this. Not a problem on its own so much, but out of character. Can anyone find anything else like it in the archives?
lots of points to the forumite who wrote "get out of my head! i was just reading a webcomic!"
that is all.
I found the first two panels basically worthless, the third to be mildly clever, and the last to be far too smug. I usually like meta-humor (see: the meta box on the left panel of this blog). But has xkcd ever done it before? I feel like in many ways it takes itself a little too seriously to do, say, something like this. Not a problem on its own so much, but out of character. Can anyone find anything else like it in the archives?
lots of points to the forumite who wrote "get out of my head! i was just reading a webcomic!"
that is all.
You just don't "get it". Randall is speaking to my generation, a generation ready to break free from sending each other the latest Dilbert strip, guffawing at how it expresses our inner pain at being paid to work in cubicals. Please don't take this second and only outlet for us away with your biting wit.
ReplyDeleteI mean, nothing earth-shaking, but I did enjoy working out how to pronounce HaikuML. It's more or less on-point as far as the hacker mentality.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the joke is not really about how good we are at our jobs. I mean, sure, we're killing machines, but it's not really relevant. "Points for degree of difficulty" is just a concept that's ingrained into the mentality.
I'm part of your generation, so does that mean I can say it sucks now? Because it does.
ReplyDeleteOh, and xkcd is our generation's Dilbert.
ReplyDeleteUsually you point out that Munroe is making the same jokes over and over, and now you object to a new direction? I mean, if you want to say that it is not particularly funny I agree, its far from first-class meta-humor, but I don't see why you would just challenge the idea that the comic should even branch out.
ReplyDeleteWow. People do things at work that aren't work sometimes.
ReplyDeletePeople who use computers at work do these things with computers.
NOT THAT FUNNY
I feel like I'm always parroting myself, but this is pretty much the "observation =/= humor" problem again, especially that last panel. The haiku thing was a bit of a movement toward an actual joke, but it just wasn't that funny.
Crisatunity, I really hope you were being sarcastic. Otherwise, I weep for the future of humanity.
This comic was already done much better by xkcd with the "compiling!" comic. (It wasn't about programmers not having enough work, but it was about programmers wasting time at work.)
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: lancome. Is Google corporate sponsored now?
poore: I was pretty sure Crisatunity was joking the first time I read his comic, but now I'm not so sure, leaning towards no. :(
ReplyDeleteThis one isn't that bad, in the context of the rest of the recent xkcd's. Just forgettable.
ReplyDeleteToday's, however, is quite dreadful. The worst one since, well, 551, of which it is reminiscent in its total isolation from humor, neural impact, or artistic merit of any other sort. I hope you skewer it appropriately.
Your meta box is supposed to be humorous? What is the joke or humor? It's just a bunch of blogs you or your fans made referencing this blog/xkcd.
ReplyDeleteI mean it -might- -maybe- be humorous if you had a long list of meta-meta-etc. blogs and then had a funny non-sequitur blog at the end of the list that was not meta, or was meta in an unexpected way... But right now it's worse than Randall's comics by far.
So, let's see. You've now got people parroting your opinions from the blog, you've started insulting xkcd for branching out rather than sticking to the tried-and-true formulas you so hate...
ReplyDeleteI think it's official now, xkcdsucks has jumped the shark.
Come on, everyone, let's create an xkcdsuckssucks blog, and comment on how this blog isn't good anymore.
IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE.
ReplyDeleteReally, you're just parroting other cuddlefish who've said that. I think you've jumped the shark.
Umm no the meta blogs are actually quite amusing, did you actually read them?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the meta-blogs are pretty fucking lame, I don't know how Carl can call it 'humor' when he riles xkcd for not having proper punch lines or actual jokes. Not that xkcd does.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you that cannot recognize sarcasm, shame on you. Quite pathetic.
ReplyDeleteSure it was sarcasm. Way to try to pretend it was so you can get out of not looking stupid and then insult people. It didn't work.
ReplyDeleteoh noes, the cuddlefish are trying to make everyone mad! BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
ReplyDeleteNicho: My goodness, what a hypocrite I would be I said xkcd is too repetitive and then when it did something new I got mad. Luckily, that's not at all what I did. In fact, I said the meta-humor was "not a problem." What is a problem is how you got from that to "now you object to a new direction?" which is THE OPPOSITE of what I wrote. good job,
I can see how your phrasing might confuse. "I usually like meta-humor. But has xkcd ever done it before?"
ReplyDeleteThe HTML Haiku thing really bothered me about this comic. Not so much the joke itself, but how it was received. It spawned a little html-haiku contest over on reddit, and I'm sure everyone thinks it's brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI see this as part of a trend where Randall has some wacky idea and depends on his fans to flesh it out and make it into a meme. He did the same thing with the "playing guitar in the shower" thing. It's kind of the opposite of "get out of my head Randall!" He doesn't say what people are thinking, he says something, and people absorb it into web-culture.
It's the kind of joke that's only interesting because Randall has such a huge fan base.
Haha, xkcdsucks, lampooning xkcd for jumping the shark, has jumped the shark.
ReplyDeleteJust a note, this one rang pretty true for me, b/c panels 1 and 4 (obviously) are actual conversations from my workplace. Panel 3 is just silly.
I say nice job Randall, I liked it a lot.
I just looked at the meta xkcd sucks sucks (etc) blogs and spent the last five minutes laughing. Those are hilarious. XD
ReplyDeleteThe joke isn't wasting time, the jokes are the super-obscure things coders (supposedly) do when they have nothing better to do.
ReplyDeleteNow that I wrote it down it sounds like rather petty humour, but I really liked this comic.
Justin: Um. You're serious?
ReplyDeleteLike, seriously serious?
You found this one funny because you have had the conversations in panels 1 and 4?
Really?
Really?
Panel 1 reads 'I'm almost up to my old typing speed in Dvorak.' There are plenty of geeks out there who have taught themselves Dvorak, for various reasons. He isn't saying anything new here, just that geeks have done it.
Panel 4 reads 'Hey! Have you guys seen this webcomic?'
EVERY SINGLE FUCKING HUMAN BEING THAT HAS EVER READ A FUCKING WEBCOMIC HAS HAD THAT CONVERSATION.
How the FUCK can you like it for that panel because you've had that conversation? Everyone has had that conversation. Everyone, ever. It's not clever. It's not original. It's vaguely self-referential but not in a way which is clever or original or even remarkable. It's just there.
The haiku bit bothers me primarily because 5/7/5 haiku is not, actually, required for English language haiku, but it was vaguely clever in a 'that does not make for a good comic' sort of way.
How can you guys not remember http://xkcd.com/33/ ? or http://xkcd.com/45/ ?
ReplyDeleteI mean the answer to "But has xkcd ever done it before?" is really obvious... and you guys should have been able to remember those off the top of you head.
I dunno what to say about this one. Thank goodness I don't run this blog, lately none of the comics spark anger (also none of them spark humor)... it is mostly a feeling of "blah."
ReplyDeleteI thought the haiku was kinda clever... but I dunno. I think I might have liked this one more without that damn last panel. Agreed with Rob about the last panel. That is not a sign that coders don't have enough work to do, that is a sign that ANYBODY WHO SAYS IT doesn't have enough to do. Or isn't doing enough work, whichever fits. Conclusion: last panel sucks!
@all: I suppose I should point out that gopher should also be somewhat amusing. If you don't know what gopher is, pretend it says "punch cards". anyway...
ReplyDelete@ch00f: Point the first: I think people are maybe familiar with the concept of haiku, and there's no need to credit Randall with popularizing it. I think it's an otaku thing, or something... Point the second: I'm not sure you can accuse him of "not fleshing things out" when he provides an example. Also wetriffs was genius.
@cuddlefish: Look, I know we all love the phrase "jump the shark", because it has sharks in it (just like shark-fin soup!), but it's a little, how do I say this... overplayed. I've been telling Carl he's jumped the shark since day one... then he started to convince me... and then he lost me again... so I'm not sure where I'm going with that, but it's more fun to let it play out.
The correct rejoinder, if you must know, is "I'm not really into backlash phenomena."
ARGH PAT you said it again! you know I hate that phrase! i hate it because it is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAnon - those are in fact good self-reference examples; all I can think is that those early ones tend to be a little all over the place and random and aren't really what xkcd quickly became. But yeah, I should have thought of them anyway.
Loving the new meta links Carl, it's come a long way from...a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI liked the haiku part of this, but the other parts were just..."meh". One out of 4 ain't bad, I suppose.
Carl, you referenced chainsawsuit, and I was looking back through, and a few pages from the most recent is this one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chainsawsuit.com/20090223.shtml
Completely irrelevant, but interesting that xkcd had already done something along these lines...
David
Can't disagree there, david. Not that I thought either of them were funny, but xkcd did do it first.
ReplyDeleteOh my god, Shadenfreude's right. I /have/ jumped the shark.
ReplyDeleteQuick! Someone start an "Anonymous Sucks" blog!
"Two Mirrors" is just kind of silly (although I think Randall's a little slow on the uptake to be joking about that particular urban legend), but I find the alt text grating. Wanna make a cutesy joke about Douglas Hofstadter, eh Randall? I bet it burns you up that he's cleverer and funnier when asleep than you are when awake, doesn't it? Are you maybe hoping that if you invoke his name, some of the funny will rub off on you?
ReplyDeleteUrban Space Cowboy: lol! Actually I'm thinking the alt text was what he originally wanted the joke to be, but couldn't figure out how to draw it.
ReplyDeleteCuddlefishes! You should all ban together and make a Cuddlefish blog! But then you wouldn't be anonymous anymore... you'd have.. names.
It can be called "Weird Fishes."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that there's some commentary on the most recent comic at the bottom here, but it'd be cooler if there was an authored post. If you need ideas for a critique all you have to do is read about Douglas_Hofstadter.
ReplyDeleteBIGOD HE'S RIGHT SOMEONE WRITE THAT POST
ReplyDeletebut - but who could do such a thing??
ReplyDeleteoh right me. I'll do it later, people.
Did he say 'an authored post later'? DID HE CARL?
ReplyDeleteCarl what is your post titled?
ReplyDeleteI BELIEVE IT SAYS "GET BACK TO WORK"
So.. yeah!