Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Comic 556: 21st century threats require 17th century solutions

shit don't make no sense

So after my solicitation for guest posts I received exactly one e-mail with some commentary on the comic in question. But it was damn good so I don't mind. I didn't particularly like this comic, woo hoo big surprise there, but lots of usual haters did, so I guess it must be better than usual. In my opinion, the situation ("argggg killer windmills!") is a bizarre enough set-up that the punchline (hey, Don Quixote could totally fight killer windmills!) isn't funny. The situation would have to be a bit more realistic. For me, anyway. Oh and the Al Gore line is terrible.

But enough of my lame old opinions, let's see what instant blog celebrity arremmdee has to say. You'll remember arremmdee from the terrible horrible wonderful livejournal snark-off debate that will feel familiar to all those who are sympathetic to the causes of this blog. The e-mail, sort of at the author's request, has been edited for length.

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I have followed xkcd for a really long while and while almost all of the recent ones for the past few years I've easily been able to recognize where the humor is at least *supposed* to come from, Alternative Energy Revolution didn't even seem to have an actual punchline to it. So I checked the LiveJournal feed hoping to see some more 'huh, what?'s. Instead, post after post was an endless flood of 'best xkcd ever', which genuinely just confused me, and I posted asking what exactly the appeal of the comic was to these people. Ignoring the usual useless responses anyone gets whenever they question the infallible stylings of Randall Munroe, and a mindless argument with someone who thought they were in high school debate class (xkcd certainly has found its target audience), it ended up being nothing more than "there are more references to this comic, so that makes it even funnier."

At what point do any of these references actually become funny is what I don't get. By the same logic, if Randall drew the xkcd guy that wears a hat saying 'Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Cory Doctorow, and the Large Hadron Collider' it'd apparently be the best webcomic of all time. (If he said this while holding a girl's hand I'm sure some of the readers would run into the streets shouting with joy, but that's another matter.)

I'm not going to be entirely against AER though since that would be bashing xkcd solely for the sake of bashing xkcd-- if this were done by any other webcomic artist, I would probably have no problem with it. But another webcomic artist would probably drop the throwaway Al Gore namedrop, and the webcomic would probably be one like Buttercup Festival where the point of the comic is far more often atmosphere than humor. If Randall thinks he can suddenly achieve some higher level of artistic atmosphere with a stick figure webcomic by throwing in some sepia, he's really overestimating the abilities of Photoshop's Gradient Fill tool.

AER starts off with a guy and a girl staring at some wind turbines. Guy alleges that wind turbines are creepy, and then makes two references to sci-fi books. I honestly can't imagine anyone finding turbines creepy, and it honestly just seems forced so that these two sci-fi references can be shoved in (War of the Worlds continuing on and becoming the point of the alt text.) Following this reference, the wind turbines that exist in the Wonderfully Whimsical World of Randall Munroe and His Stick Figure Friends, as if having just heard these references, come alive and start attacking the city.

"Al Gore, you've doomed us all!" probably could've been the last line of this comic. Then there would've been a punchline. A really bad one, but people would laugh and say it's a wonderful xkcd. I'd be annoyed, but I'd get where the supposed humor is supposed to be coming from.

Anyways, I guess the 'punchline' for this xkcd is that Don Quixote (in the style of a sketch done by Picasso) shows up.

Props for Randall being clever enough to reference the Picasso sketch, since it only works with his stick figure webcomic, but what actually makes this funny?

Don Quixote has showed up. Alright. Cool. Am I supposed to laugh now?

I have been on the internet since 2001 or so. I have never seen anyone say anything about Don Quixote, but all of a sudden xkcd is praising their longtime hero. Kind of like when everyone suddenly thought Chuck Norris was so awesome, or any other 80s TV hero suddenly became the biggest in-joke amongst 15 year olds far too young to remember what they were pretending to laud. I don't see any more coming out of this. It's little more than a bunch of -- and I really should be careful because there's hardly that much differentiating me from these people -- socially awkward geeks high fiving themselves for catching a reference.


Full disclosure is that I have never read Don Quixote and I only recognized it at all because of a TV series for children that introduced kids to classic literature (Wishbone, I'm sure most people saw it at some point in their life if they grew up in North America), but if I remember it right, Don Quixote wasn't even all that competent at fighting the windmills, and he didn't even think he *was* fighting windmills. Right there are two potentials for jokes ("oh, wow. we're doomed." / 'i will defeat the giants!' "what giants?"; something like that) but AER ends with nothing more than Don Quixote appearing. And it's everyone's favorite xkcd. If Randall put a print of it in his store he'd make a killing.

As angry as this makes me, I don't actually see anything in this xkcd that I couldn't have done myself. I can do stick figures. I can do some Photoshop gradients. I can make just as many references in 12 panels as Randall did. Really, how hard could it be to make xkce.com? I could make a killing.

-------------

excellent points, all. arremmdee, please do stick around and join the loving family that we have here. And to the rest of you: where are your dissertations on this comic? where are they

ps:
the fact that this comic is currently listed on the wikipedia page for Don Quixote makes me literally - and i use that word literally - sick.

update: Ha, I totally forgot that a very wise man already took it upon himself to make fun of just copying other characters and their stories and calling it your own.

56 comments:

  1. I'm right with you except for 2 things:

    1. I know numerous people who think windmills look creepy. They look like odd and imposing circular saws, or something, and they really are dangerous in a windstorm. Being unable to imagine them being creepy makes part of me think that you haven't seen the sort of windmills that xkcd is talking about (there are many, many windmill designs within the classic three-blade paradigm, and some look "friendly" I guess). There are some BADASS MUTHAFUCKIN' windmills out there, man.

    2. I kind of liked the comic despite the lack of humour. This despite me not knowing Don Quixote (I didn't see that episode of Wishbone). Actually, I might not have liked the comic if I did know about that. I'd like the comic far more if it didn't have the Al Gore reference.

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  2. Carl it appears everybody was too lazy to e-mail you and we are all very sorry but we left a bunch of comments for you!

    Anyway, as someone who has not only seen that episode of Wishbone in English and then in Spanish later on and also read and analyzed Don Quijote (apparently my education has been very Don-Quijote-centric).... agreed agreed with everything arremmmdee has said.

    I didn't hate the Al Gore bit as much as everyone else, it seems, but I do think it was placed in a very awkward part of the comic.

    lol friendly windmills

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  3. Carl, I bring you good news:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Quixote&diff=278042261&oldid=277995551

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  4. The interesting thing about a lot of modern art is that once it has been done anybody could do it. It's actually doing it that is impressive.

    So, Arremddee, if you can do comics like this on a regular basis, and you post them, I'll be there. But I really think you are selling this one short.

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  5. k you guys I know I post too much but first I think we are all misspelling arremmmdee's name

    and second Carl every time I see your italicized where are they I can't help but laugh.

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  6. You misspelled "mroe" in the first paragraph. Dawg.

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  7. At first, I didn't even recognize that the stick figure at the end was supposed to be Don Quixote. I don't know what Randall was thinking with this comic.

    Oh, and in reference to your last sentence, the Bloody Mary comic also appeared on Wikipedia in the list of popular references to the myth, as if it was really that worthy of mention. Randall has too many minions zealously jumping to do his bidding, and it's honestly disturbing

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  8. Oh well.
    This comic may be the best one in last few weeks. Or maybe fortnights.

    Anyway, it's not brilliant. It made me giggle, but trying to shove such a well-portrayed character into your comics at all costs feels forced.

    Also, it completely misses the point of Don Quijote; mainly because he is notoriously known as "the one who fought windmills and failed". It is important to realise why did he do so, and that may require actually reading the book (I read only the edited 300 pages "selected stories of Don Quijote" version, which is supposed to cut some of Cervantes's cruft out...)

    All in all, most of the reasons why people find it funny is "Oh, but it's funny, it's XKCD! Dude!"

    Cheerio,
    Peter

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  9. Proof of the cuddlefish conspiracy, thankfully responsible people "removed trivial cultural references" soon after.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bloody_Mary_(folklore)&oldid=277523873

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  10. I think if you accept the "Windmills look creepy and like they might attack" premise, the Don Quixote punchline works about as well as any other literary reference. Personally, I don't think windmills look creepy at all, but I appreciated the Don Quixote bit all the same.

    The Al Gore line was heinous, and an example of how Randall likes to pack as many punchlines as possible into a single comic. I guess it's like trying to hit a bulls-eye by throwing a fistful of darts.

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  11. I had no idea that the little stick figure at the end was supposed to be "Don Quixote"... although tbh I didn't know who Don Quixote was either until I read his wiki just now. Which reminds me, we have to stop these fanboys adding XKCD to "In popular culture" sections!

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  12. When I first read this, it felt like a two-part comic, and all I could think was "no no no."
    Luckly, it turns out that it's just a terrible comic. It's just pandering. The reason there's no joke at the end is so all the XKCD fans can go "hoo hoo I know who that is!"

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  13. Perhaps off topic, but I would like to say my piece. Ultimatly, this blog is totally redundant. The issue of whether xkcd has dropped in standards or not is besides the point. Now that you have built up a reputation as "that guy who hates on xkcd" you can do nothing but criticize (validly or not) every single xkcd comic in order to keep your readership.

    What has happened here Carl is that, through being annoyed at some xkcds you have created a niche for yourself which will be impossible to get out of. Either xkcd will remain on the average level which it has done recently, or get worse, and will eventually end, in which case so will your little career as a critic. Alternativly, xkcd will have periods of very good writing again, in which case you will begin to write increasingly hollow critiques of the comics and slowly lose your credability.

    Your role here is parasitic. The only reason you have developed a readership is because xkcd is so successful, and because you are criticizing a legitimate webcomic, you can claim to be a legitimate critic.

    The pattern of criticism I see here seems to just to be comprised of "I don't find this immediatly laugh-out-loud funny and neither do some other people, therefore it fails as a comic" and "I will explain how the humour works here to make it seems unfunny (whether it was or not) and than claim victory."

    I will give credit where its due, you often have some good insights into what could have improved the weaker comics, and constructive criticism is always a good thing. The problem arises because this blog has a complete attitude problem, it's basis is just playground politics - "we don't like you, so we'll make a clubhouse and talk about you behind your back". The constant use of the shortening of Randall Munroe's name to "Randy" smacks of a lack of respect and so many comments being written in a mocking tone often seems to cross the border into, I'm sorry, a form of bullying.

    And I know what will be said now: "How could we be bullying him? It's legitimate to critisize a webcomic as media and he's got this army of fans etc etc." Well, for starters, this is the guy's livlihood, if he started to think that this blog was genuinely turning people away from his comic he would have every right to be very upset, and it seems to me that is what you are trying to do. In my mind this counts as bullying. Also, criticism is only legitimate when it serves a purpose in helping to improve the art form, all this is is, as I said, a clubhouse for people who don't like xkcd, it's mostly negative in it's approach (I mean, just look at the name) and so helps nothing.

    Finally, and I'm sure this will lead to plenty of sarky comments mentioning surprise at "cuddlefish" not being the zombies you claim they are, there can be and is plenty of critisizm of the webcomics on the fora for it. The reason you don't take it into account is because it is written by fans who essentially like the humour of xkcd, whether you appriciate it or not, and would seek to give helpful advice.

    I feel I probably need to justify myself here by saying that, though I am a fan of the comic, I have been dissapointed by recent installments. It's not the fact that you are critisizing the comic at all that I am annoyed by, it is the disrespectful and negative approach you take with it that worries me.

    Of course, this post won't change anything, and I'm sure it'll be ignored and accusations of fanboydom will be thrown. Let the hate continue...

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  14. You've only been on the net since 2001?

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  15. Was that the longest variant of the being-critical-is-morally-wrong theme? What a waste.

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  16. Thanks everyone! And as far as arremmdee/arremmmdee goes, the third m in my LiveJournal username is actually a typo (intentional but still), and it really doesn't matter what you call me. Just 'rmd' also works, and even easier is to call me Mark! I'm not going to stick to a username when blogger has a first name basis going on.

    Anyways, doing this sorta systematically;
    @Michael
    I probably could concede to the first point, I'm not so bullheaded that I'll dismiss it entirely just because I can't relate to it. But as a setup for the 'A random Don Quixote appears!' I find it really, really flimsy. If anything, I've always found them more majestic/inspiring/whatever have you than somehow creepy. I think we do more or less actually agree on point 2. Like I said, had something like this been in another webcomic, it would probably be a favorite. But that's operating on the assumption that it'd be handled with a bit more thought and effort, as well.

    @Amanda
    Thanks for the double agreement!! I think the Al Gore thing seems to just be such an arbitrary callout to 'hey audience! it's xkcd! a comic about nerd humor and stuff! al gore! ron paul!!!!' that it's just..so awkward.

    @Ted
    Your point is somewhat taken, though you did just almost liken xkcd to modern art. But the difference between the common man saying 'ha. i could do this modern art. it's just paint thrown at a canvas' and me claiming I could do xkcd is that the common man doesn't have a working familiarity with modern art and is working off really quick base assumptions, whereas I'm pretty sure I've read enough xkcd and clenched my teeth while reading enough xkcd fan responses that I at least think I know what the appeal is and what strategems to use.

    That said, it might be an issue of dignity more than anything else.

    The xkcd minus xkcd idea that you all proposed in the last entry seems like a particularly lucrative idea, by the way.


    @Second Anonymous
    Your comment isn't directly meant for me but I just wanted to say I think it's crazy to compare criticism of Randall's comics to bullying. He is apparently making a living off of these comics, and some of them have absolutely zero effort put into them, or are just Randall entertaining his velociraptor fetish. The worst thing that could possibly happen to him is the sales on his store fall.

    I shed a single tear.


    @Anonymous 3
    And the first two or three years were on AOL! I'm not sure if they should be counted.




    As a few people have pointed out, people trying to force xkcd into every single Wikipedia article has been standard fare for a while now. And it is disturbing. The current policy is, thank god, to take it down though.



    I am definitely going to start commenting regularly here, I was already reading it for a few weeks so I know the score.

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  17. Ha! Wow, I can't believe you actually used my comment as your tagline. "... vitriolic and bitter collection of unwarranted nastiness about a silly and harmless comic."

    That being said, I'm sure you know that I feel this site is no better than the vapid rantings over the latest "Britney story" seen in idiotic shows like Entertainment Tonight or Inside Edition.

    However, as several xkcd comics have been pretty darn funny lately, I came to check if you taken the nastiness down a level. No such luck. You're just as big a jerk as before. Have fun rehashing the latest comic by Randall in intimate detail like a bitter ex-girlfriend.

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  18. As much as I appreciate Carl's work in spreading the word, I do believe that, in addition to this blog, other approaches should be taken.

    Spread the meme xkcd: overrated in non-textual or very little text media. People won't have to invest so much effort into learning why xkcd: overrated and they'll have more appealing "reasons" to believe xkcd: overrated is right.

    Edit xkcd strips into amusing parodies (Carl, I remember you've already made a few. Make even more), make livejournal icons, image macros of the 4chan kind, parody songs, etc.

    I only made a very little number of edited xkcd strips which, I believe, weren't very successful in transmitting xkcd: overrated. So I'll leave this comment here and hope someone more talented will heed the call.

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  19. I looked at the XKCD forums for the new one and it's just as bad as I thought. Plenty of Randall sycophants who are all, "OMG, I have this dream all the time and I never knew anybody else had it". What rock have these people been living under? Do they NEVER discuss their dreams with other people???

    Will this be a new theme for Randall? Strips without any attempt at humor, just observations pointing out stuff (almost) everybody has experienced?

    "Didja ever notice that big warm yellow ball in the sky? It's never there at night, but it's always there during the day. Well, except sometimes during the day you can't see it cause there's grey stuff there, and when that happens water sometimes falls out of the sky. Heh, water falling out of the sky, is that weird or what, guys?"

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  20. I thought it was funny because it was unexpected. I didn't really care for the references.

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  21. About the Wikipedia page: That happens *all the time*. Remember the Wood incident? Well, all 4 references to Rickrolling in xkcd were once on the "Rickroll" wiki page, but I removed them. I too am disgusted by xkcd's huge, overzealous fan base.

    I am also disgusted by today's (Wednesday's) comic. What, now is he taking after smbc??? I am just speechless.

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  22. An "xkcd minus xkcd" treatment of this comic would probably be a much more faithful (but updated) retelling of that part of Don Quixote - perhaps it is a guy with a cardboard tube who thinks he's carrying a rocket launcher and destroying the Striders from Half-Life 2? (and having absolutely no effect, of course)

    I mean that'd still be retarded and dumb but at least it'd fit the references he's trying to make.

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  23. I think this comic is above average, precisely because it made more jokes and had better art, so it's more likely to be liked. My credibility, how it burns!

    I agree with the guest writer, Quixote's stuffed with potential for a fun line/subplot, possibly "I am here to duel Gore, king of your three-legged monsters!" Boo to any readers who fell over laughing at the comic without any real Quixote exposure. Earn your reference stripes, kids! Awareness of a wikipedia article is not true awareness!

    Captcha: "wimar," which reminds me, weimaraners are adorable.

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  24. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  25. I wish this blog would evolve into what I've seen from discussions of vgcats on other forums: editing them so that they're funny instead of terrible. But I'm not sure if that would be easy with xkcd, since it doesn't suffer from "too many panels" like vgcats. xkcd tends to suffer from "where's the funny". But at least this one had an attempt at humor and could probably be edited into a good strip.

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  26. RMD: Ah, I also enjoy the comments of teapotdome (and esp. his responses to blatant we-love-xkcd-because-we-identify readers). I remember one of you responded to someone who was like "I'm a ____ major and I still got the joke..." with something along the lines of "wow you are quite impressive and we all acknowledge that your penis is quite large." I was extremely amused.

    Long-winded Cuddlefish:
    Okay basically we are just having fun when we call Randall "Randy," it makes me feel like I am talking to him and saying "Hon I know you are sucking so maybe if you try a little harder we will love you once again okay." Also, don't end your comment with "Of course, this post won't change anything, and I'm sure it'll be ignored and accusations of fanboydom will be thrown. Let the hate continue... " because that's just the most arrogant thing anyone can say. Okay maybe not the most arrogant, but you are indeed approaching assholery because you are assuming we are intolerant and hateful just to be hateful and that is just plain untrue. Please be less of a jerk next time you comment.

    Tagline Cuddlefish! As a bitter ex-girlfriend myself, I do not appreciate this comparison! I think that if I were to recount all the flaws in my ex they would be much more colored by my bitterness than Carl's noting of xkcd's flaws. Do not overestimate the amount of unjustified hate in this here blog because there is hardly any and when there is it is mostly in good humor.

    Where the hell is poore, I miss my Internet buddy.

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  27. I'M IN FLORIDA ON SPRING BREAK AMANDA

    On a related note, margaritas are awesome.

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  28. Hawaiians are better.

    ZOOOOOM!!!!

    Anyway, yeah. At least this one doesn't seem to have eaten anyone's babies.

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  29. OKAY FINE POORE I DO NOT MISS YOU

    I'll have you know that when my spring break starts at the end of this week I will still be here. Dedication? Or loserhood?

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  30. Spring break? What's that?

    Oh, wait, it's all coming back to me now... it's that thing I had before I got a job.

    ps. Randall get back into my head, it was more fun that way

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  31. Yeah poore that is a poore excuse for not posting more comments.

    MOAR COMMENTS

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  32. lolwut

    An entire blog of butthurts. Led by one gaping asshole and supported by his many minions zealously jumping to do his bidding.

    This blog is getting to be as bad as xkcd.

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  33. I like the romantic scenery of twilight plus those huge awe-striking windmills. That's all.

    I believe that the idea can be scavenged. An Al Gore punchline is pretty nice.
    We can drop the two love-doves and just put some crackpot old guy at the beginning which is starting to see the windmills as giant invaders from outer space and then puts on his knight hat and armor, then rides a hog with a big tripod slaying lance. Could have been nice but this isn't.

    Randy, there is no reason to call what you're parodying by name. Instead, concentrate on recreating in your comics the characters and monsters from those stories and let the readers figure out where you've taken them from. This, I believe, would have been much more powerful as a parody.

    Randy, use our help!

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  34. About the new comic:

    Get out of my head, Randall! Your dreams are my world!

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  35. What's the point if you don't UPDATE this god damn site?

    Also what happened to the old scathing attacks? Now it's just "Oh I didn't like this one", wtf?

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  36. Type A Cuddlefish: Complains that you spend too much of your free time updating this site.

    Type B Cuddlefish: Complains that the site isn't updated quickly enough.

    CAPTCHA: menapro. Sounds like a drug you'd market to middle-aged women.

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  37. Ok, so I thought AER was mildly amusing, and then I thought gee, this isn't so bad, I wonder what bile has old Carl expelled from his hateful innards this time. Turns out, half of the reasons I found the comic funny were actually non existent, the other half I've misunderstood, and if I actually read the comic in a passive, non-creative manner then it kinda sucks. It's not bad, it's not terrible, it's not annoying or beyond repair, it's the exact opposite: This is the rusting scaffold of [insert evocative high profile architectural and/or naval/aerial/cosmic project which was canceled].

    So, in light of this idea I propose a hypothesis for why otherwise ostensibly intelligent people might enjoy xkcd but be unable to supply valid justification: The comic doesn't have any funny, it's missing the funny: You fill the funny in. It's like some artist bafflingly calling a coloring book extremely detailed and very intricately colored, you take a look at the book after he's done with it and the mystery is solved!

    Oh by the way, I guess my first sentence comes off as negative, but I find this blog to be more entertaining than xkcd, especially at those times when Carl or whoever is writing is obviously putting in more work and thought in it than Randy. Which is to say... Yeah.

    In fact I always end up in a process of read xkcd, chuckle, think it's clever in a childish munchkiny squeeze-the-crafty-little-devil's-cheeks-and-tickle-his-tummy sort of way, read xkcdsucks fully expecting lots of lame, be disappointed, go back and re-read xkcd, think that gee, now that I think of it in a mature manner xkcd DOES suck, rather.

    So I guess thank you xkcdsucks, for being to xkcd what Something Awful used to be to the internet.

    Incidentally, what's the right adjective for "having to do with space"? Saying cosmic makes me feel like some dirty homeless hippy trying to sell people energy crystals.

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  38. Michael- as long as we can agree that it's not funny, i'm cool with you saying you liked it.

    Hank - ugggghhhhh why do they think wikipedia needs to know about every new comic...take over digg if you want but spare wikipedia, randall-minions!

    Alison - don't forget that the terrible Al Gore line YET AGAIN violates randy's rule about not being political. Your dart metaphor is quite apt.

    Anon- FINE i will answer you but only very quickly:
    -there are many comics i think are fine (Rob can point you to these). I refer to the author as "Randy" because that is how he usually refers to himself, or how others usually refer to him. It is an acceptable nickname, I think. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Randy is exploiting his fans by giving them crap comics and he should feel bad for making a living off it.

    Another Anon: yes, i do love "a vitriolic and bitter collection of unwarranted nastiness about a silly and harmless comic". I think it's a perfect summary of what it is we do here. You are the second person to compare my blog to a bitter ex-girlfriend, and this terrifies me.

    Amanda: are you sure your being here while on break is a function of your dedication, and not, say, internet connectivity?

    also: poore: HAVE FUN ON BREAK

    final anon: Dude, i update this site three times a week. does that sound like any other website you know? perhaps a crappy webcomic?

    Ar: thanks. I think?

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  39. Carl if "internet connectivity" is a synonym for "loserdom" (or whatever word I made up, I don't remember), then... wait how do I answer your question? Then it is the latter? Yes.

    Alison I too appreciated your dart metaphor but I don't know if I said so. So here is me saying so.

    Ar, I think "cosmic" is probably the best word. I think when you use it with words like "naval" and "aerial" it is okay and you don't sound like a hobo.

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  40. Don Quixote fences windmills.
    Voila.

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  41. I thought this one was really funny. Sorry it's not really an AHAH jock. But I like it.

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  42. "lolwut"
    "butthurts"


    Wow Anonymous, it looks like you've been on 4chan. I guess that makes you really cool.

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  43. yeah, you were able to get into 4chan? that place is supposed to be like, super exclusive. in fact, the only other guy i know there is this dude Randy, but he draws a webcomic so he's famous and important.

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  44. Re: the WP thing.
    Now you understand why I was so pissed off when he mentioned Simple English.
    Also I thought that the captcha was dicks but it was just dials.

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  45. Wow Johnny, you pointed out something that everyone noticed but nobody cares about. I guess that makes you really cool.


    Wow Carl, you repeated what someone else said. I guess that makes you [i]really cool[/i].

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  46. Wow, latest cuddlefish, you are being a douche on the internet. I guess that makes you really cool.

    Oh wait does that make me cool, too? YAY

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  47. Wow, Amanda, I think you might just be TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

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  48. wow anon, you managed to make us all even more sarcastic. that...that actually is impressive.

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  49. Carl did you post that comment on the wrong page, it has nothing to do with this post (I don't think).

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  50. ha ha WHOOPS now it won't make sense where it was supposed to go but maybe I will try anyway.

    and now i will delete all these comments to make me look less foolish!

    I HAVE GODLINE POWER

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  51. Are you upset about something latest Anonymous?

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  52. i think he's mad because all the older kids made fun of him.

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  53. I liked this comic. I think one of the funniest things is that, not only do the windmills come alive, but who could possibly defeat a rampaging alternative energy source?!
    Hark! It is Don Quixote, embarking on the call of a lifetime!
    And I believe this is different from Chuck Norris. After all, NO ONE is alive today who remembers when it was first published. I think anyone who has studied the novel has a right to claim understanding of the reference. So, maybe this isn't for everyone, but did anyone ever say it was? Back down a bit, buddy. Your point of view is so close up to the details, you haven't had the chance to step back and enjoy the big picture.

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  54. UkuleleHero, if you are going to write an analogy "your point of view is so close to the big picture" you need to actually be clever about it, instead of taking an analogy which is a universal part of the lexicon and then acting like it is something new and interesting.

    I mean, props for not saying "you're missing the forest for the trees" or something but I mean, seriously, you just aren't being clever here. I mean, even ignoring your assumption that the analogy even makes sense in this situation. Where's the originality? The brilliant turn of phrase? Don't try to reanimate a dead metaphor--it's dead, the best you get is a hideous, shambling, brain-devouring monstrosity. Bring something new into existence! Something new and creative and clever. Something visceral. Something that really transports me to the place you're trying to take me.

    And then remember that a witty quote proves nothing, and go home and cry, alone, because you weren't able to convince people to like a comic you did.

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  55. So you're an expert since you've been on the internet for 9 years! Big woop!!

    Most ppl over 12 have been on a lot longer than that!

    And I haven't been visiting that site for long at all, but I am well read, agree with the algore line, and burst out laughing when I saw the last pane, as has anyone i've shown it to.

    I agree that a lot of their stuff sucks, but this one IS killer... Killer windmills that is...
    As in this
    http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=61919

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