Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Comic 709: An Affront To God

I Am....pissed

So there's a real weird story with this. In the minutes before this comic was uploaded, I was googling around about xkcd, as I so often do. I somehow came to a url by the name of biblequizzingwebsite.com . I was curious, so I clicked it. It was - and still is, as far as I can tell - simply a copy of xkcd. See for yourself. Isn't that weird? It is weird as fuck. But that is not the point.

The point is that at the time, xkcd.com itself had not yet updated (for me at least) but biblequizzzingwebsite, I guess because it had never before been loaded on my computer, did have the new comic. So I see it, and my first thought is "well that's weird. it's just some strange religious parody of xkcd. they sure got the random nerd references down." But then I was like, wait, this is too close to real. What is this website?

I still, of course, have no clue. But I am sad to say that it appears this bullshit is indeed a real xkcd.

what.

the.

fuck.

Where can I even start with this? No one can even figure out what the joke is supposed to be. One popular theory is that it is a joke on the time Ewoks thought C-3PO was a god in RotJ. Some people think that it's a joke on droids being named with letters, as god is with YHWH (or YHVH). Some say the same thing but with LOM. Others say it has to do with Anthony Daniels recording a version of the bible (except: he didn't.) Some people think it is just a contrast between a grandiose introduction in panel 1 and a nerd reference in panel 2. this guy, astoundingly, thinks it is about the LHC. In short, you've got readers - loyal, xkcd loving readers - completely disagreeing about what this comic is supposed to be.

Now on its own, this fact is a problem. If you have a joke you want to tell, the point of the comic is that you are expressing that joke through words and images, ideally in the clearest and funniest way. If your readers (your readers! you, Randall! I am talking to you! this is not hypothetical!) can't figure out what the joke is, then you have failed. It's not the worst thing in the world, I guess, but if it happens a lot, you've got a real problem. To be fair, this is not a problem that xkcd has all that often (the problem tends to be the quality of the jokes themselves, not their presentation). But it's part of the growing collection of signs that xkcd is really, truly, objectively, sucking.

Did you think I had gotten to the core of why this comic is terrible? I did not! See, these complaints are just the outskirts, the economically depressed suburbs surrounding Shit City. See, the problem is not just that all the readers came up with so many different explanations for what this comic is supposed to be. It's that none of them make any fucking sense.

NONE OF THEM MAKE ANY FUCKING SENSE.

NO MATTER HOW YOU TRY TO EXPLAIN THIS COMIC
NO MATTER HOW STRAINED A JUSTIFICATION YOU HAVE
THEY ARE ALL STILL SHIT

First off, the ones that deal with the name of god. "Elohim" and "YHVH" would all be perfectly ok names to make jokes off of, if he had used them, which he didn't. For example, had the first panel been "I am YHVH, blah blah blah, and this is R2-D2" then it would have made some fucking sense. Because the droids in star wars all go by letter or number names, all spelled out like that, and it's not totally inconceivable to imagine a droid named Y-HVH or YH-VH or something. BUT RANDALL DIDN'T DO THAT.

Is the joke about how Ewoks thought threepio was god? I hope not, because as I recall, he was not exactly insisting that he was. His attitude was what you would call bewilderment and not exactly imposing. Not exactly much in common besides the notion of some sort of supernatural power. Anyway, R2 had nothing to do with that scene (right?) and it's not like threepio was even introducing himself to the ewoks, so if you wanted a good threepio line to make god say, it wouldn't be "and this is my counterpart, R2-D2" it would be something like "I command you to release master luke" (which even works with the comic, as Bible God asks Moses, in this scene, to ask pharaoh to free the israelites, so you've got a common theme there).

If Anthony Daniels had just recorded an audio version of the bible, then it would be funny, because hearing the bible in his voice might make one append c-3po quotes to bible verses. BUT HE DIDN'T DO THAT so it's just stupid. In a further example of Randall's so-close-and-yet-so-far syndrome, James Earl Jones actually did record a version of the bible, so making a Vader joke may have worked here. May. But hey, randall, it's not like you tried, so whatever, fuck it!

Was this comic supposed to just contrast God's super-grandiose introduction with C-3PO's epically mild one? If so...do I even have to explain? Can I trust that you are all intelligent enough people to see that that is a stupid fucking piece of shit? Here, I'll use a mocking tone of voice to make fun of the thought process that might have created that nonsense. "What are two things I can mash together? I know! I'll do a joke about how friggin crazy god is when he introduces himself! Or wait...could I make a joke about humble c-3po is when he introduces himself?" HINT: THOSE IDEAS BOTH SUCK DELIRIOUS QUANTITIES OF ASS. "Why, who cares, I'll instead make a joke about both of them! What if one spoke in the words on another? How very...incongruous! yes, it must be so."

I know there are other little theories about what this comic is supposed to mean. They are all even worse than the ones above. Nothing works. Nothing makes sense.

Lastly, look. I complain a lot about what we call reference humor, itself a subcategory of fan service. It's where instead of telling a joke, you just make a reference to something. It's not a joke about the thing - star wars, in this case. You can make good star wars jokes. That's fine. But if you just say "star wars" or "kessel run" or "this is my counterpart, R2-D2" then you aren't making a joke, you are merely referencing something. Now if your audience likes star wars, as I do, then perhaps they will enjoy this reference. After all, we like to be reminded of things we enjoy. And if fact, that sort of pleasurable feeling - which the reference is not responsible for, the referant, if you will, is responsible, the thing to which we are referring - can simulate the pleasure that comes from reading a good joke. But they are not the same. They are not the same.

Just sticking in a Star Wars reference is not a signal that you are creating anything of quality because you aren't actually doing any intellectual work. A computer could spit out pictures of star wars characters and audio clips from the movies. And that is of exactly the same nature as this comic. But some people don't seem to get that.

In fact, combine a lack of a joke with a star wars reference and smack the xkcd label on it, and some fucktard is bound to like it. Some fucktard like this fucktard. Also this guy, he is also a fucktard. As long as we have to deal with shitty people like that, xkcd will always be able to get away with bullshit. A lot of people called him on it this time - which is really encouraging. And hopefully some of those people will learn to use at least a slightly critical eye in the future. But the people who don't care, who gladly swallow shit and ask for more, they are the ones we have to reach.

176 comments:

  1. Ah, I see the joke.

    The joke is that this is an incredibly popular webcomic. That this specific comic exists is the joke: xkcd is no longer a webcomic of jokes, but a joke in the form of a webcomic. In other words, the joke is the existence and popularity of xkcd.

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  2. 'bleep bloop' translates to "Please tear me up and shit on the remains, rather then let me live on in the purgatory of this steaming abortion of a comic". /qyf

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  3. Equating god to c3po doesn't really make sense to me. I'd like to know how he came up with this, because I'm sure that this all *somehow* makes sense and is obvious in his disturbed mind. Also, Carl, I don't see why this is fucked up. Unless you're religious I guess. I just see it as a retarded abortion of a comic with no trace of an attempt at humor that anyone would find funny.

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  4. AUGH!

    ...

    AUGH!

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  5. I don't really get it, but hey, at least the art isn't awful this time.

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  6. Still funnier than Carl's redu strips.

    And anyone who holds a god higher than C3PO (or any children's fantasy character) is seriously fucked in the head.

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  7. > I don't really get it, but hey, at least the art isn't awful this time.

    The second part of that sentence made me laugh.

    By the way, first time comment on this Blog for me. Just another indicator of the awe.. I mean awfulness of this comic.

    Can someone please explain what this comi.. I mean doodle wants to say?

    My first thought was "WTF".
    My second thought was "Maybe this is because R2-D2 is one of the most liked Charakters in Star Wars, so he's liek... God?".
    My third thought was "WTF?!".

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  8. It made me chuckle. That's all I expect from a comic I pay nothing for.

    *puts fireproof suit on*

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  9. http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=57180#p2034101
    at least a few people agree that this comic sucks...
    the others are trying to find the joke
    "surely it can't be just this?"

    also the pavlovian process at work
    "I just had to drop in and say I couldn't stop cracking up at this one.
    I'm not entirely sure why, even... but I haven't laughed this heartily for a long time."

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  10. Nothing about this makes any sense whatsoever.

    It's as if Randall decided to "go out in a blaze of dadaist glory".

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  11. randomness as a joke (it is not an acceptable substitute)
    references
    mindless juxtaposition of one nerdy/popular/well-liked thing and one well-known thing

    this is definitely an xkcd all right

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  12. http://goatkcd.com/709

    THIS IS THE BEST THING
    IN THE HISTORY OF THINGS

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  13. New International Bible: Exodus 3:13
    Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

    14 God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

    15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

    The joke is that the quote from the Hebrew Bible seen in some translations, "I Am that I Am," resembles "IM that IM," which has enough letters that it sounds like the name of a protocol droid, like C3-PO.

    My opinion is, "*groan*, really?"

    Also, I had to switch browsers in order to post here. Has anyone else had this problem?

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  14. Terrible comic.

    Just throwing it out there though:

    The part in return of the Jedi where the Ewoks think that C3PO is their god.

    A what if we were the Ewoks in a Judeo-Christian sense.

    It's not even about poor execution here. My friends, the Randall idea well is so dry today, that he just served up a heap of decomposing sediment.

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  15. inb4 "MOAR LIEK EVERYDAY, AMIRITE!!!"

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  16. Three theories seem to be on the forums.

    1. C-3PO is worshiped as a god in RotJ, so the joke is that he is God, making God's counterpart R2-D2 (xkcd explained uses this theory).

    2. Elohim sounds sort of like LO-M, which could be a droid designation.

    3. God's name in Hebrew is YWHW which could be a droid designation.

    TJSomething's explanation I guess makes sense too.

    I still maintain there is no joke though. Because all of those explanations are really stupid.

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  17. Nate: Quoting from the xkcd forums does not a post make. And trying to equate the comparison through Jewish tradition (G-D YHWH, etc.) is waaaaaay off the mark. Of course none of those theories make sense.

    Why don't you let xkcders stay in their yard and we'll stay in ours. If you don't have anything meaningful to contribute besides quoting a bunch of lackwits, then shut the fuck up.

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  18. anon, you suck. Nate, I think 1 might be the closest to the mark, only because 2 and 3 refer to names for god that are not actually mentioned in the comic (though one is in the alt-text, but that is read after the punchline).

    No one seems to have mentioned my own theory yet, which is that it's just sort of based on how c3po introduces himself very humbly ("I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart, Artoo-Detoo."), and follows it with an introduction of his counterpart. The humble introduction is contrasted with the extremely unhumble introduction god gives in panel 1 (also in, you know, the bible). So...I don't know, somehow this all makes sense in my head.

    But the I am:IM::See-Threepio:C-3P0 thing may be right too - only he should have gone for simplicity and parallelism and used "artoo" in panel 2.

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  19. Nate said...
    >> I still maintain there is no joke though. Because all of those explanations are really stupid. <<

    Not that stupid, just the level of humor your average Nerd can comprehend. Why waste time on setting up a joke or even think about a punch line - it's way more fun to just play with words and throw in some out of context characters. It's like watching a Buster Keaton film backwards.

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  20. I didn't know about that Goatkcd thing....

    It works. It really works.

    Capcha: Dinner. As in "I wonder what's for..."

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  21. flabbergasted.


    no matter which of the suggested 'jokes' randy intended, they're all way too obscure for the setup he presented.

    the simplest most obvious most direct interpretation here is RANDUMNNESS HUR HUR and that's just...



    because randomness is not necessarily the sad gambit of the humourless. monty python does it all the time.
    but you can't just mash two things together and bingo you got the funny.
    it's absurdity and the mad internal logic of the comedic universe that make apparent randomness funny.
    compare today's xkcd, and that scene at the end of The Life of Brian, where the crack suicide squad comes out of nowhere to save the day.
    both are "what the hell is this?" but one is absurd (->funny) and the other is just...randomness.




    tldr: randy fails at basic joke comprehension.

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  22. I don't know, I didn't hate this one. XKCD's main crimes lately have been /extreme/ laziness in art, PPD, and a joke that's lazily cribbed from whatever's a bit vogueish in the internetosphere at the time.

    In this one, he doesn't labour explaning himself, and he's (god forbid) done something a bit different with the art for once. It's weak, but it's nowhere near as lazy (on several fronts) as that pisspoor sysadmin one.

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  23. You know I kinda wish he had gone out of his way to make this one as offensive as he possibly could. I mean, it wouldn't be funny, per se, but at least it'd be recognizable as an attempt at humor.

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  24. ^A completely inept attempt at humor, but at least "lol im edgy" is closer to most humans' understanding of humor than whatever the hell this is.

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  25. You guys win.

    You were obsessed with tearing this webcomic down long before you should have been but after todays comic (and a few other recent ones) I'm done defending him.

    Even if this is a free comic and I don't have to visit his site, he can do better than this. Jim Davis has done better than this everyday for 32 years. Jim Davis!!

    I think Randall used to be funny and I don't care what any of you have to say about that. But those days are gone.

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  26. Spudly: on the contrary, most of us think that Randall was funny at one point. The only real difference is when people think that point was.

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  27. OK new theory: Randall has become aware of Goatkcd, has become resigned to the fact that it's way funnier than anything he'll ever make, and has decided to start making terrible XKCD's to serve as setups for awesome Goatkcd's.

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  28. @Spudly: I agree with Sam. I think that that it causes a lot of the frustration here, because we feel that Randall was once funny and is now unfunny, but instead of actually examining the comic and finding it unfunny, the xkcd fans go "It's funny because it's xkcd."

    That is, at any rate, why I dislike xkcd at this point.

    As for the comic, I think Randall is trolling everyone and is going to start making gradually more nonsensical comics and laugh at the people trying to explain them. (I don't really think that, but what if, eh?)

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  29. First time post here and maybe last time post. I just pointed xkcd.com to localhost. Too often that comic just makes me feel ill.

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  30. Noone else seems to think so, but I think the joke is that in Star Wars, R2-D2 is overpowered. He can fix ships, work all electronic systems, understand all languages, destroy buzz and battle droids, find and deliver a message to a single person in the huge universe, fly an x-wing, repair hyperdrive, etc etc.

    So Randall, I think, trying to joke about that by hyperboling even more, comparing him to god.

    (Still terrible of course.)

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  31. I sat there trying to think of ways this was funny. If it turned out god spoke with the same voice of c3-p0, that could be pretty funny. I chuckled at the idea. BUT IT WAS MY IDEA. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE COMIC TO SUGGEST THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE JOKE.

    I thought of a bad Star Wars fanfiction where it turned out God had placed himself in the body of c3-p0, and Luke had just found him and they had some whacky adventures. I laughed at what the whacky adventures could be. BUT THEY WERE MY WHACKY ADVENTURES THAT I MADE UP.

    Not only had Randall turned to saying "hey everyone knows Star Wars right?", but HIS CHARACTERS ARE TOO! R-2! GET IT? THAT'S A RANDALL JOKE RIGHT THERE!

    This shit pisses me off so god damned much. This is something Family Guy would do, and people would laugh just because it's Family guy and not because it's actually funny, which it's not. Family Guy also pisses me off so god damned much.

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  32. Seriously. The art here is very cool, but the argument is abysmal. I'll let Randall go on the grounds of "at least this comic is not incredibly lazy as hell".

    And welcome, Spudly.

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  33. It's weak, but it's nowhere near as lazy (on several fronts) as that pisspoor sysadmin one.

    Which makes me wonder, which is the worst of the three: a comic with a horrible joke, a comic with a good/decent joke told horribly, or a comic with no joke at all?

    the xkcd fans go "It's funny because it's xkcd."

    Every once in a while I'll see a post where someone says "I don't get the joke, but I still laughed!" Talk about Pavlovian responses.

    @Carl:

    Hmm, that theory makes sense too. It's more subtle but I suppose it works. The fact that there's now multiple theories for what the joke is supposed to be is a pretty telling sign of the quality of this comic.

    Though I did like the idea someone had of Anthony Daniels having done an audio book of the Bible. That would almost make the comic funny.

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  34. I didn't really understand 709 but then again, what with English not being my native language I probably might have missed the joke here anyway. I did recognize the bible setup but couldn't make any sense of the second panel - sure, there we have god, and that's R2, and, well, uhm. But it seems that was exactly what other people felt like... so yeah.

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  35. Elvn for what it's worth I'm a native speaker and I don't have any more of a clue than you do.

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  36. Damn you. Hope this mistake isn't that common for my name. E V L N please!

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  37. this is retarded. I'm beginning to think Randall is too. Like, actually mentally impaired.

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  38. Okay, now I'm not sure if this comic is a reference to the Original Trilogy or the New Trilogy. It seems to refer to the Original Trilogy on the "C3PO was worshipped" and dialogue structure Nate presented, but it also might refer to how R2D2 is overpowered on the New Trilogy(he can FLY, damn it!).

    Not that any are that funny, anyway. Maybe Randall just wanted an excuse to have R2D2 on a strip, and thought we might not care if he threw in some flashy images.

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  39. The only "joke" I can see is "Here's something serious, followed by a pop culture reference! They sound like they don't fit together! Isn't that wacky?"

    So, basically, it's on the level of the laziest Family Guy jokes.

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  40. Carl shouldn't post strips to discuss before he reviews him. At least *I* don't like it. Tthe comments are just an afterthought to Carl's posts. The main reason I come here by far is to hear Carl.

    And one of the reasons I keep coming is I am waiting for another angriest rant.

    Oh, and this comic is irreverent and not funny. I suppose he thinks that it's funny just because it's irreverent. Honestly, Randal is just trolling.

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  41. goatkcd could have made this better swapping the first panel with the goatass, in my opinion.

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  42. Did you all forget that in ROTJ, C-3PO was seen as a god by the ewoks? And by the way, perhaps you should all take a look at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitleq40okv0trw6h?from=Main.ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike

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  43. Did you all forget that in ROTJ, C-3PO was seen as a god by the ewoks? And by the way, perhaps you should all take a look at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitleq40okv0trw6h?from=Main.ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike

    Wow it's like you didn't even read any of the dozen or so comments that speculate EXACTLY THAT.

    Also,

    This shit pisses me off so god damned much. This is something Family Guy would do, and people would laugh just because it's Family guy and not because it's actually funny, which it's not. Family Guy also pisses me off so god damned much.

    Quoted for truth.

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  44. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitleq40okv0trw6h?from=Main.ComplainingAboutBlogsYouDontLike

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Hypocrite

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  45. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MysteryScienceTheater3000

    something you tvtropes fanatics love

    explain difference

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  46. http://xkcd.com/653/
    randall munroe can laugh at bad things but we can't...

    seriously think before you post

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  47. Anon >
    If it is about C-3PO being seen as a god by the ewoks, how is that funny? And why not feature C-3PO instead of R2-D2.

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  48. I REALLY don't appreciate making fun of the Torah.

    (Also he should have put G-d because the full spelling shouldn't be used)

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  49. My guess is the "joke" is supposed to be simply that it would be wacky and hilarious if God was friends with R2D2.

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  50. TJ, the actual quote that includes all the stuff in the comic is before yours.

    from my 708 post:
    Exodus 3:6
    I am the God of your Ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

    Ok, so this means that Randall is mixing his verses? Come on that's annoying

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  51. Next xkcd comic: Jesus is nailed to the Incredible Hulk instead of a crucifix. No explanation for this is given.

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  52. lol i like the star wars

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  53. I'll admit it I'd laugh at Anon 10:31's comic more than any XKCD in at least the past year.

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  54. >Anon 9:33

    must... resist... religion troll...!

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  55. I'm not even religious and this comic has offended me.

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  56. evln: You have to admit, your name could easily look like "elven" at first glance. I actually think "Evelyn" when I see it.

    It's similar to how Rinnon rules her life like a fine skylark. Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win?

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  57. Also, I like Timofei's explanation the best.

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  58. http://img.blorgblorgbl.org/images/bexkcd.jpg

    i r funnie

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  59. Okay, I'm using a handle for the first time.

    xkcdexplained is going with the ewok-god interpretation. But I think its actually the even worse wordplay joke spelled out in the alt-text (wookiepedia says LOM is a kind of protocol droid.)
    LOM sounds like elohim, which is one of the thousand or so hebrew names for god.

    So we have a pun. about a kind of droid you have to read star-wars books to know about. and hebrew.

    I can't believe people are saying the art is good. The art is NOT good, its just more detailed than the past dozen comics or so. Notice the most detailed thing (R2D2) is someone else's design. As for the grey shadows, amaturish.

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  60. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
    Sometimes a comic that has no joke has no joke.
    Sometimes xkcd sucks. Scratch that, xkcd sucks.

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  61. @9:33AM anonymous: Isn't one of the main reasons for writing G-d that it's wrong for His name to be thrown out, and that most paper ends up that way? I'm not sure it applies to comments on the internet, since it's very unlikely anyone will ever print this.

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  62. I have written GOD/LOM/YHWH on a piece of paper and wiped my arse with it, and THEN I threw it out.

    Is god pissed?? Let's see him come down here and do something about it!!

    Btw, I also understood this as "imagine what it would be like to be an Ewok in that scene".

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  63. Okay, I know that R. already ripped on the anon that linked to tvtropes, but I have a few things to say:

    "Complaining About Shows You Don't Like" refers specifically to doing it within the wiki. It even has written near the bottom that if you want to complain, go to the forums. So... maybe read your arguments before posting them? Kinda makes for an egregious example of "I Thought It Meant," eh?

    As you might guess from reading this, I am a "tvtropes fanatic." But R., please, PLEASE don't lump people like me with idiots like that anon, who don't even read the pages that they try to use in arguments. Freakin' idiots, giving us tropers a bad name...

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  64. Did anyone explain the joke yet? Because if not, just go to the xkcd forums about this topic.

    I didn't get it either to tell you the truth.

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  65. But yeah, you should've tried to find out what the joke was before calling it shitty. I understand if you still think it's bad, but the way you treated the comic was no where near impartial. And a critic forming a critique that isn't impartial is just silly. The faults should be objective.

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  66. "As you might guess from reading this, I am a "tvtropes fanatic." But R., please, PLEASE don't lump people like me with idiots like that anon, who don't even read the pages that they try to use in arguments. Freakin' idiots, giving us tropers a bad name..."

    Sorry about that. I meant that Mystery Science Theater has a large following there. Didn't mean to offend you.

    And I do enjoy reading it from time to time.

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  67. From an analytical standpoint, there is little reason this comic should be funny. There's a joke, but it requires a working knowledge of Star Wars to fully understand, and even then, when distilled and explained, the execution means that most of the humor is removed by then, and still makes very little sense. It's enough to make even the normal xkcd fans angry.

    So why am I one of the only ones who genuinely found this funny? At the risk of sounding like another belligerent cuttlefish, for me, it's the only thing I've seen on xkcd in a long while that's actually made me laugh out loud.

    I'd say it was a subjective thing, but as Carl is fond of reminding his readers, some humor is not subjective. Any ideas?

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  68. Rioghasarig, if you have to TRY TO FIND OUT WHAT THE JOKE IS, it is by definition already shitty.

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  69. @Anon 2:40. The people who got it seemed to find it funny. There seemed to be a few xkcd fans that didn't get it,and as a result, didn't like it. I never watched Star Wars, so this was kinda meh to me. But if I had, the unexpectedness yet relevance of the punchline would've made me life. A lot of jokes work by throwing a curveball you didn't see coming. And a lot of those are funny.

    But Anon 2:48. You're just plain wrong. If you don't get the joke, you don't get the joke. If I told a joke to an Albanian about the U.S. president that required some knowledge of his practices he probably wouldn't get it. Because he lives in a different section of the world from the U.S. It has no impact on how funny the joke is. Jokes are not universal. And Carl lives in a different section of the world from Star Wars geeks. Though, I wouldn't blame him if he thought he understood the comic and thought it was supposed to be merely random. As that would be a rather terrible comic.

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  70. @ Anon 1:03:

    Isn't one of the main reasons for writing G-d that it's wrong for His name to be thrown out, and that most paper ends up that way?

    I'd heard that the reason for the "G-d" thing was that in the Hebrew text, the verse that says "Don't take the Lord's name in vain" says something more along the lines of "Do not pronounce the name of God" or something like that. Hell if I know, it's just what I've heard.

    But if that's true, that's stupid. Saying God's name is "God" is like saying Obama's name is "President."

    @Rioghasarig:

    The people who got it seemed to find it funny.

    You're referencing xkcd fans who, as I said before, have been known to say "I don't understand the comic, but I laughed!" Their laughter as I stated before is a Pavlovian response. They just think "xkcd is funny" so when they see a comic they laugh at it, regardless of how shitty or terrible it is. Kind of like how Pavlov's dog salivated when he heard a bell, even if he wasn't getting fed.

    A lot of jokes work by throwing a curveball you didn't see coming. And a lot of those are funny.

    But then we're back to the Family Guy example mentioned before, where the jokes are "I remember this one time..." and then something RANDOM AND UNEXPECTED happens and it's not funny.

    Jokes rely on a lot more than random unexpected shit. I also notice you said "a lot of those" and not "all of those." So then even you admit there are jokes that throw unexpected curveballs that aren't funny. And this is one of them.

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  71. Rioghasarig, xkcd fans are usually the kind of people who laugh at things just because they got the joke, not because it is FUNNY. You know, the thing I usually call the "you-and-me-know-something-in-common laughter", not an actual "this-is-funny laughter". I know it by own experience.

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  72. Plus if you reference something as well-known as Star Wars and your fans have a thing for nerdy in-jokes and a lot of them still don't get it you've probably done something wrong.

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  73. The explanation at explainxkcd.com (which I seeked out in an attempt to find the joke) was possibly worse than the comic.

    "It is possible the plant at the end of the tunnel could be a burning bush."
    That's a tunnel? I assumed it was meant to be light and fire and etc.

    "The tunnel could signify the Large Hadron Collider and the search for the "God" particle. The two particles falling behind the character in the first frame seems to signify that."
    This just finds references where there are none.

    My conclusion is that if there was a joke, it was incredibly bad and the link to Star Wars is tenuous at best.

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  74. I dislike xkcd, but I've never actually hated it until this comic. It's even worse than 631.

    Randal has stooped low before, very low, but never has he stepped THIS freaking low. Is this funny because being offense is always funny? IS this how you think . . .

    Premise 1: Offense things are funny
    Premise 2: This comic is offense
    Conclusion: This comic must be funny

    I mean, there's really no joke. There's NO joke. It's just irreverence. You can try to act like it's a pun, but it's not. It's nothing. It's a huge rubber-band ball of irreverence that contains nothing but it's own void of piety.

    No Randal.

    NO

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  75. @Professional-Mole: I agree. I do the same thing. Sometimes, it's fun to be included in something. Though, I can usually accept it if someone else states the joke wasn't really all that funny.

    @Nate: Of course I wouldn't say that ALL unexpected things are funny. That's not true. I agree it has to be more than unexpected. I'm not sure all the criteria that goes into it. I suppose it should be relevant at least. I suppose something that helps is when you think "That seems like something I could've of thought of."

    @Anon: no. he did nothing wrong. It was directed at star wars fans. A star wars fan would've gotten that. Well, he may or may not have found it funny, but they would've at least understood it. So, really, nothing wrong at all, at least in the sense you're thinking.

    @ the last guy. Your conclusion ignores the fact that several people got it. And I don't think it requires a photographic memory of star wars to get it. It seems like it'd be pretty easy to remember.

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  76. I don't know how to edit my post but "the last guy" was actually "Sam" at the time I tried to post this.

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  77. Rioghasarig:

    I've seen Empire Strikes Back hundreds of times. I watched the Star Wars movies on repeat all the time as a kid. I read almost every book in the Expanded Universe in high school. I am a huge fucking Star Wars fan...and I still didn't get the joke.

    Randall fucking failed. Stop trying to defend this shitty-ass comic, because there is nothing good about it, at all.

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  78. Wow... you know, I thought this website was just someone trying to be cool and edgy...

    But as the number of chuckles that I got from XKCD dropped (and I didn't even really realize it until I thought about it), I started to rethink this.

    But today, XKCD Sucks has been proven as fact.

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  79. Also, "some people got it" - the plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence", so don't cite this as though it makes the comic objectively good in any way. Unless a vast majority of people in the target audience get it, with only one or two outliers, then I'd agree with you. When more than 20% of the targeted subgroup of your fan base (i.e. Star Wars fans) don't get the joke, you wrote a fucking terrible joke.

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  80. xkcd comics are fragile beings. they can be destroyed by even the smallest ounce of critical thought.

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  81. Ok, the comic doesn't work, but the XKCD forums are hilarious, in a tragicomic way.

    - "I think you all missed the LO-M bit. Here's my take on it:
    I Am = I M = High M (the entity which is high in the sky)
    LO M = Low M (the entity which is low on the ground)."

    - "I definitely lawl'd. Haven't out loud in a while.
    LO-M got me. That was good."

    - "Alright, I'll say it - 'Get out of my head!' "

    - "I just had to drop in and say I couldn't stop cracking up at this one. I'm not entirely sure why, even... but I haven't laughed this heartily for a long time."

    - "Are you kidding? God probably is laughing his ass off at the moment. Up-thumbing it."

    - "I like anything with Star Wars in it. This has now been proved."

    (Is the last one actually a critique..)

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  82. Wow... the "I Am = High M" thing was just... stupid. And I thought xkcd fans would at least bother looking at Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_that_I_Am) for reference!

    Also... "Get out of my head"? What, you were one of these days thinking how God and R2D2 are counterparts? What?!

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  83. The only thing worse than 709 are the people taking offense because of their religion. Kill yourselves.

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  84. @ProMole:

    "GOOMH" doesn't really mean that the person was thinking the same thing Randall was thinking in his comic. Even tangentially-related thoughts qualify as "GOOMH." In that person's case, it means "I was thinking about Star Wars" or "I was watching Prince of Egypt." If Randall made a comic with a character eating Froot Loops someone would inevitably say "GOOMH RANDALL I ATE FROOT LOOPS FOR BREAKFAST" or "GOOMH RANDALL I SAW A COMMERCIAL FOR FROOT LOOPS ON TV YESTERDAY." Hell they might even say "GOOMH RANDALL I WAS AT THE ZOO AND I SAW A TOUCAN."

    But as I've said before on this blog, "GOOMH" isn't even really a sign that the person was thinking about anything related to a comic, it's just an e-penis competition so people can say "Look, I'm just like our god Randall! I think like him! Bow to my awesomeness!"

    "I like anything with Star Wars in it. This has now been proved."

    So that guy likes the Star Wars Holiday Special? But didn't xkcd say that it was horribly awful and bad even for a bad movie night? That's not even counting things that aren't official Star Wars material but reference it anyway.

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  85. 2nd panel. Head/Body disconnect of epic proportions.

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  86. my god, every single one of you is a fucking moron.

    Carl is the only one who got the joke. The. Only. One. Everyone else? went through tortuous antilogic chains to try to explain something so goddamned obvious, in such a way that affirms their hate of randall.

    This is only solidifying my belief that the people who follow this blog are even more perfect examples of simpering cuttlefish than any of the fuckers at the xkcd forums.

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  87. or may the joke is so retarded that it takes 50 people to try and guess what the "joke" is.

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  88. There are instances in the Bible where God shows up with companions. So why did Randy go with an instance where God appears alone, when his intent was to shove in a companion?

    Also... what the bloody hell is going on with the strobe beam weapon burning bush? Randy could have at least read the passage he's using as a base first.

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  89. My first reaction to this comic was: oh great, another geek culture reference.

    But after reading the bizarre reactions both here and at the xkcd forums, I've decides that I like the comic after all. I even find it chuckle-worthy.

    It's just surreal humour, people. It'd not bloody complicated.

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  90. It's offical, Randall is just fucking with us know.

    Also, 10 bucks says this ends up as a shirt

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  91. @Joal:

    So you're basically saying you like it because no one else does?

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  92. Anon... Sorry, even if Carl is right on what the joke should be, IT'S STILL NOT FUNNY. Look there's A standing next to B. Ahahahaha... No well written joke needs to be analyzed and discussed to the extent that this is. You didn't see a lengthy discussion about a Mel Brooks movie as to where the jokes where, and why they were funny.

    ----
    Well, by saying it's good to be the king, is he referring to Burger King, a dog named king (as he did urinate outside), or some sort of generic king in time. If it was a generic king in time, what time period, and what part of the world was he representing. Personally, I think he was actually making a refernce to Krang from TMNT, as Krang had no physical strength of his own, but instead used a mechanical suit for strength, or in this case, the military.
    ----

    See, sorta loses it's humor if you need to over think it to realize what the joke was. And in the case of XKCD 709, there really wasn't much of a 'joke' to begin with.

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  93. @Anon 7:48:

    Everyone else? went through tortuous antilogic chains to try to explain something so goddamned obvious, in such a way that affirms their hate of randall.

    Oh? So then explain the xkcd forums where RANDALL'S FANS are all debating what the joke is you fucking dolt. That's why I said when the people who LIKE his comic are trying to figure out the joke, IT IS A SHITTY JOKE.

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  94. @Nate:

    The xkcd forums are like that just because the xkcd forums are filled with idiots. What you seem to be missing is that the populace of this blog is just as stupid, simply in a different fashion.

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  95. Who tries less, the fool, or the fool who critiques him?

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  96. Guys the joke is obviously Randy = Carl

    how else do you explain a non-joke comic and a non-post blog post occurring at the same time

    At the very least they're co-conspirators.

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  97. Wow....just wow. I thought about it and actually being Jewish and knowing Hebrew allowed me to "get" the joke.

    First off I didn't find it offensive probably because it wasn't even saying anything.

    And holy crap I didn't think XKCD could dig itself into a deeper hole but man Randall seems determined to hit China here.

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  98. @Anon 9:34:

    Hmm. I'm not sure if you're the same as Anon 7:48. I'll assume you're not though.

    I don't think the entire populace of this blog is stupid, I think it's just that guys like me are massively so that it just appears that everyone is.

    I think I see what you're saying though. The forumites "went through tortuous antilogic chains to try to explain something so goddamned obvious," in such a way to affirm their love and adoration for Randall. Whereas we did the exact same thing, only for us it was to affirm our hatred.

    Still, the implication in the post was "You're all morons for hating the comic, the guys on the forums may not have gotten it either but at least they don't hate it so they're better than you." In fact looking back at the post, the last line especially seems to reinforce that.

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  99. Theoretically, there is a joke in this comic. It's a very, very oblique Star Wars joke. But here's the problem: I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan. I've watched both the original and special editions of RotJ (and the rest of the trilogy). I've read most of the Star Wars books out there. I've probably read most reference books about Star Wars cover to cover. And I STILL didn't get this comic. Who in the hell is supposed to be able to get it?

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  100. 'tortuous antilogic chains' aren't really required for this comic to be not very funny...

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  101. Anon 7:48/9:34 - If that's true, then I also read Carl's comment and got the joke hours ago. Quoth myself: "Okay, now I'm not sure if this comic is a reference to the Original Trilogy or the New Trilogy. It seems to refer to the Original Trilogy on the "C3PO was worshipped" and dialogue structure(...)". It's still not worthy, though.

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  102. What... what is this supposed to even mean...

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  103. I'll throw you poor shmoos a bone. The joke is found in the alt-text but it does require a certain amount of education and biblical literacy to get it. Clearly, Randall, on his road through higher education, took a few theology courses. The joke is very good.

    Throw out your KJVs (widely acknowledged as the worst translation) and get yourselves a REAL Bible. Read it. You will begin to...

    Aw, who are we foolin'? Not a one of you has read, nor will ever read the Bible. You blokes need to have things read to you.

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  104. I've read genesis 1-revelations 22, bitch.

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  105. oh anon 4:45 is so wise. We can all only aspire to be like him and be snooty about reading the bible.

    And really, the joke is in the alt text? Because a bunch of people are saying the joke is in the comic itself. Clearly it wasn't very well done if people can't even spot where it is.

    Unlike Ewok camouflage, which is very well done. No one can ever spot them.

    NOW LAUGH YOU FUCKING NERDS I JUST MADE A STAR WARS REFERENCE.

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  106. "The joke is found in the alt-text but it does require a certain amount of education and biblical literacy to get it. Clearly, Randall, on his road through higher education, took a few theology courses. The joke is very good."
    I got the joke, which sucked, and the only knowledge required to get it I learned on the Internet. Good effort, though!

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  107. Hey anon 4:45, if you weren't paying attention, there are people on here who have bibles so I have to ask, what's your bible that is considered a real bible the Good News bible? Gideon's? And who, except yourself, claims that King James' version is the worst translation ever?

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  108. Cam, actually, I've heard lots of people claim that KJV is a horrible translation. It was highly politicized for the time. Such passages as "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" aren't accurate translations.

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  109. Translations are for pussies anyway. Anyone who REALLY cares learns Greek and Aramaic.

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  110. Would have been funny if this was drawn like the Perry Bible Fellowship.

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  111. 7:48
    nah, we all got the "joke". it's just that it's awful. so awful it's got to be something more, you know? randall can't possibly think this lowly of his fanbase

    great selective reading though. if you still like xkcd, no wonder why

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  112. @Anon 4:45 Hey there I'm Jesus, just came back from the dead and shunted my Second Coming forward several hundred years just to say that I, too, don't get the joke.

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  113. Is anon 4:45 serious? What a douchebag.

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  114. Nice one anon 4:45!! Only someone who has read the Bible will understand THAT quality joke.

    On a serious note, did anyone else notice that the stick figures are drastically improved just by adding that grey shading to their heads?? Stick a few lighting effects such as shadows and stuff into your work Randall, it looks good. That is the only praise I can give this comic.

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  115. yeah, I'm in agreeance with both Mike and Boeing (anon 7:37) because a) I was aware of passages that are kind of "wtf? who wrote this shit? Oh right, the King of England had the final say for this" and my minister has said many times how inaccurate it is in terms of actual theology, but since anon 4:45 was being such a cunt about it I was curious if they were reading some other watered down version of the bible and trying to pass it off as they're better than us here on the blog because they read a bible and read about the controversy of KJV on wikipedia.

    Also, yeah Boeing has a point, don't read modern translations, read the original stories that were printed by the Greeks :D

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  116. Anon 4:45:

    Oh my god read the fucking thread! The alt-thread has been discussed. LOM, we get it. Still a shitty, unfunny joke.

    Theology classes are the equivalent of Twilight fanfic dissection classes.

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  117. @Cam: Yeah, just let me brush up on my Greek and I'll get right on that...

    @Anon903: Ouch! Though that begs the question what university YOU go to that offers Twilight Fanfiction dissection classes!

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  118. yeah, in my Classics class my prof takes the time to explain why Twilight is so shitty EVERY LECTURE. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Frankly I'm getting kinda annoyed by it, but whatever :/

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  119. Hey, leave Hollywood Upstairs English College out of this! HUEC make me the man I is Today!

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  120. bleep bloop blorp i am a robot look at me

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  121. and then it turns out i'm GOD!!!

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  122. Didn't see that coming, did ya?

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  123. Or maybe you're just the remains of a satellite that collided with god!

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  124. this is just like that time on Family Guy where they cut away to some random pop culture reference!

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  125. Trying to look smart by demonstrating all your Bible knowledge is kinda like showing how athletic you are by doing arm curls with a bowl of Doritos.

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  126. @Cam: I think I'd get sick of that after a few lectures of it. It's cool if it happens like once a month... but there IS too much of a good thing.

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  127. This review sounds almost complimentary.

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  128. @Way Walker:
    "think "Evelyn" when I see it."

    Yeah.

    "It's similar to how Rinnon rules her life like a fine skylark. Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win?"

    1. I don't get it.
    2. Isn't Rinnon male?

    @Anon:
    "The joke is found in the alt-text"

    It is not. The main joke never is in the alt-text. Sometimes, the alt-text will repeat or explain the main joke but it never is the only source to get the joke from. I'm almost sure this applies to any xkcd.

    "Clearly, Randall, on his road through higher education, took a few theology courses. The joke is very good."

    Clearly, you are worshipping Randall.

    "Aw, who are we foolin'? Not a one of you has read, nor will ever read the Bible. You blokes need to have things read to you."

    1. Didn't read the full thing back then, true.
    2. I'm not interested in reading it anymore.
    3. The last sentence is true for too many people I have to work with. Just wanted to say.

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  129. I love how all the xkcd fanboys are like "what?!? you don't get it? well everybody knows that in star wars, c3p0 was seen as a god by the ewoks. *scoffs* and you call yourself worthy to read xkcd."

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  130. hehehehehehe. Cheap laughs from the forums
    "xkcd is the only comic I read where half the time I have to go and do research to get the joke. And that's one of the reasons I love it.

    How many other comics can you laugh at multiple times on multiple levels. The forums are fantastic too, providing additional insight and potential meanings I hadn't thought of. My thanks to everyone who chimes in with a tidbit of info or possible other angle.

    Randall, please continue to only use your brilliance for good. Or intellectual amusement, that works too."

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  131. Regarding the whole KJV thing, on the other hand you have this "KVJ only" movement, which states that the KJV is the ONLY version of the Bible that is correctly translated and inspired by God.

    I learned about this mess from Jack Chick tracts. But I wouldn't recommend going and looking up Jack Chick unless you want your mind to explode from the rage of how fucking stupid he is.

    The KJV-only people even then have weird subsects, such as those who think the KJV is the most accurate translation but other translations are okay too, to people like Chick who think the KJV is the ONLY divinely inspired translation and all other translations are forgeries created by Satan. Then you have the REALLY bizarre and crazy ones who say that the KVJ Bible was written by God himself and given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (complete with New Testament) and they believe that ancient Hebrew is really English. Yeah, they're out of it.

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  132. Wow. This ain't a research paper, folks. Christ...

    Also the fifth anon in this comment thread had good point.

    But today's comic was crappy. I didn't get, then, I didn't get, and after that, I didn't get it. To right this moment, I still don't get it. What the fuck?

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  133. @Evln:
    ""It's similar to how Rinnon rules her life like a fine skylark. Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win?"

    1. I don't get it.
    2. Isn't Rinnon male?"

    1. I also don't get it and I can't tell if it's a compliment or not.
    2. I am, in fact, male. Though... open question: What is it that seems to make people on here think I'm a girl? Is it my name, or my manerisms, or a combination of the two? I've never had this problem on other websites before.

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  134. Obviously it's your sizable breasts.

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  135. I kinda like this one. Mostly just because it's making fun of the bible and entitled-religio-normative douches will claim they don't get it and THAT'S funny to me. Beyond that I guess it is kind of a weak joke in that it's largely a lame "didn't see that coming did you?!" randomness gag which is possibly about all it's intended to be but when C3PO says "And I am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg Relations. And This Is My Counterpart R2D2." it's a totally nonsensical-sounding response that only makes sense within a fantasy framework. Whether randal meant to or not he's making fun of the bible for absurd dialogue. Pretty fucked up, huh?

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  136. @Scott: Oh yes, THOSE. I had those added a few years back. They're pretty fun.

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  137. guys

    guys

    why are you still arguing about what the joke here when the second comment clearly lays it out for you

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  138. i don't see anything anti-religious about the comic, unless you're a devout fundie.

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  139. Rinnon: It's because your name is similar to Riannon, and because you're a massive fucking attention whore.

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  140. WAH WAH WAAAAAAAAAAAAH

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  141. @Anon 2:19 PM
    Eh, the fanboys kind of have a point there though...

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  142. Anon433: Who's Riannon?

    And yes, yes I am. I stated as much the moment I joined up here.

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  143. So are we all settled on that the joke is the whole Ewok thing then?


    Well I honestly can't tell which angered me more: the original thought I had that the comic made hardly any sense at all, or the new thought that Randall thinks taking a god of massive power and influence and changing a singular trait to one from a god of pathetic power and influence constitutes a joke.
    It's like if you had a comic where you had Thor, God of Thunder come down from the skies, and be all Thor-like, only where the joke was that his name is Obama.

    ......and the fact that many political strips actually do something like that makes me depressed.

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  144. Hold on a sec, all this time I thought Rhianna was posting in the comment section of this blog, and now I find out it's a guy?

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  145. "And that seed has just taken root permanently in my head. If I weren't entirely snowed in today, my xkcd appreciating students would be catching exactly those sort of lines thanks to you. "Hi class. Since we have missed so much school, you may have forgotten me. I'm Mr. Rice... and this is my counterpart, R2-D2." My past frequent references to myself as seeking the status of classroom deity would make it all the better. I doubt Randall intended that take-off, but I'm lovin' it."

    Is it just me or did God send a snowstorm to save these poor children from a fate worse than xkcd?

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  146. Oh and trust randall to make a burning bush that is indistinguishable from messy pubic hair.

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  147. The good news is that today's xkcd was relatively good. The bad news is that anything would be relatively good compared to the last three comics.

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  148. I think Randall forgot an "if" in his explanation. Made more sense to me with another if in there :/

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  149. You know, now that I thought about it some more, one item of the burning bush comic is amusing. I'm not even sure if it's intentional.

    The Ewoks, a primitive people, considered C3PO to be a deity mainly because he was SHINY.

    Biblical manifestations of god, especially in the old testament, are very often assumed to be divine for precisely the same reason.

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  150. Oh, Jesus.

    Am I the only one that caught that the joke is that both God and C3PO have long-winded introductions?

    It's not a very good joke, but that's the joke.

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  151. He tried to make a meme.

    Thats.

    It.

    No answer to this otherwise then that. Thats it.

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  152. Anon 10:50
    "I am C3PO, human-cyborg relations" is a long winded introduction?

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  153. "I am C3PO, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over six million forms of communication, and can readily..." blah blah blah. Lots of information about C3PO that no one really gives a shit about, which is why he pretty much never finishes the introduction before someone interrupts him. Kind of like, "I am the LORD your God and the God of your Fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob." It's not necessarily long-winded, but both introductions involve extraneous information about the speaker.

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  154. Evln & Rinnon: The joke is that he was quoting lines from the Fleetwood Mac song "Rhiannon".

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  155. I thought the comic was referring to theories about R2D2 being some kind of all-knowing mastermind behind the rebellion, or God.
    I didn't even think of C3PO until I saw this.

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  156. Hey Carl, can you do the same as for Wednesdays comic, and make a placeholder for the new comic, so that we have an appropriate place to discuss it while you put together the full review?

    Every one of them sucks these days, so I think we need that.

    And this new one sucks too. First of all that's the cheapest possible joke on mathmaticians. Second, I am much more interested in to hear what the theory actually states, I am in his stupid joke. Third, looking up the theory, it turns out that it probably takes less than a minute to perform the described task. I hope his friends doesn't give up on him that fast.

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  157. I am in his - than I am in his

    mathmaticians -> mathematicians

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  158. It only takes 'less than a minute' if you've started with a nice low number. And I reckon that the picture together with what explanation is given is enough to figure out the full conjecture.

    That said, the comic is still poor - as you say, it's a cheap joke, not to mention non-sensical...you're not going to gain a huge amount of insight into the problem by throwing more numbers into the machinery. Presumably it's a 'maths fan' rather than a mathematician featured.

    I liked the title-text though, which is something. Slightly different joke which actually resembles how stronger/weaker conjectures work.

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  159. "It only takes 'less than a minute' if you've started with a nice low number. And I reckon that the picture together with what explanation is given is enough to figure out the full conjecture."

    Fair enough. The numbers he chose are low enough that it would be very fast, but of course there are numbers outside the screen too.

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  160. @Rinnon, I get what the person was referencing. They were quoting the Fleetwood Mac song "Rhiannon", although poorly. I guess they had only heard the song and didn't know how to spell "Rhiannon"?

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  161. @Hunter&Anon1144: Ah, I see. Did not catch that reference. It all makes sense now.

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  162. Wait, I have a better version of this same joke...

    "I am xkcd, a webcomic that has seen it's better days, but as I wallow deeper and deeper into mediocrity, my fanboys get more and more vocal.

    And this is my counterpart, Pluggers"

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  163. Or maybe I was suggesting that the name Rinnon looks like the name Riannon, which is a real name and exists outside of a fucking song.

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  164. Dang it, I was looking forward to a new "Angriest Rant."

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  165. So I tried searching for "biblequizzingwebsite" on the xkcd forums, and it returned the error "The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: biblequizzingwebsite."

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  166. THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. what is up with this??

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  167. I'd guess an active user links to it in their signature.

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  168. I posted a question on the xkcd forums, and got an answer. (http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57365&p=2052898&hilit=biblequizzingwebsite#p2052898):

    "ROFLOL!

    So I've been working on and off for a website for bible quizzers and still don't have it in production state yet. That's why I bought the domain name, and that's why it doesn't actually have any content yet.

    Meanwhile... I was explaining to a fellow geek how DNS works, and wanted to show how I could point biblequizzingwebsite.com to any site -- so I naturally chose 72.26.203.98 (xkcd.com).

    Lol,

    I had absolutely no idea that anyone at all in the world would even notice or care! =D"

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  169. i am so glad to have that cleared up. I guess it's just a coincidence that I happened to find it when there was a bible-type comic, which is weird on its own, but ok.

    i hope i don't have to make a "bible quizzes suck" blog...

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  170. There's a lot of effort to interpret this comic in a way that makes it funny, and none of it works, but I do think there's a simple explanation that allows for a bit of a chuckle, at least. Two very prominent examples of a character introducing himself with the phrase "I am" are God and C3PO. Mash it together, and you get this. It's the same joke as the LOTR/Beyonce comic.

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  171. Eh, I personally think that All introductions can be made funnier by the addition of the Dialogue in panel 2, but I'm a huge inside joke person, meaning that this would be a dumb joke made for a couple chuckles, most mine, and I have a tendency to make jokes far past their expiration date.

    That Said, I like this joke, but not many other people would find it as funny as me. It's actually more lulzy to me. Eh. Whatever.

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  172. How is c-3po's introduction "prominent" ? is it really more prominent than, say, the introduction of the character V in V for Vendetta?

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  173. I guess it's the fact that the "I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart R2-D2." is repeated several times throughout the movies, and it's a well known line, as well as being one of the best ways that George Lucas actually made the point that C-3PO was a robot, with having that stock introduction "program".

    But yeah, that's what I think he meant by "Prominent". Personally, I don't quite remember V's introduction, but I only saw the movie once. It's certainly much more of a mouthful, and fewer people have seen V for Vendetta, so I'd say that the C-3PO one is more well known.

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