[Alt: I'm not listening to you. I mean, what does a SQUIRREL know about mental health?]
I'm going to have have to side with xkcdexplained on this one, their policy of drawing dicks on people aside: This comic completely reeks of someone who just saw Inception, and has been contemplating its dream-within-a-dream themes. If Inception wasn't totally taking the internet by storm these days I'd have a little less sympathy for that complaint, but I've read the sentence "I heard you like dreams so I put a dream in your dream so you can sleep while you sleep" or some variant so frequently that the notion of hallucinating a hallucination is utterly boring to me.
Of course, there's also the problem of the fact that the logic in the comic doesn't make sense: How is it "sane" to have a hallucination so extreme that it generates its own meta-hallucination? That's not sane at all. What's sane is not hallucinating.
Anyway, then you find out that no, he is not sane, he is hallucinating for some reason and there is a talking squirrel. The joke is: He thinks he might be crazy, but he might not be, and then it turns out he is crazy. Ha!
Perhaps I've mentioned before that bad exposition - in anything - really bothers me. This happens all the time in movies and TV shows, and it generally bugs me when it's so noticeable. So, needless to say, the first panel of this comic is about as bad as you can get on that point. "The sleep deprivation madness worsens," with 3 little bubbles of some kind above his head (the bubbles represent the fact that he is tired, apparently). Generally we might want to know why this fellow is sleep deprived; the reason might even be funny. But we don't get that, we get: He is tired - accept it. I think it's the word "worsens" that is bothering me - it makes me feel like there is a backstory that we don't know. And it's unnecessary! If he had said "God, I haven't slept forever. I'm so tired." Not great, but at least it's not implying that this is Part II to a sleep deprived adventure.
Ah, for the good old days of sleep deprived comics...
=====
The Overcompensating book came in the mail the other day but I haven't had time to review it. Hopefully soon! The book is very strange.
Of course, there's also the problem of the fact that the logic in the comic doesn't make sense: How is it "sane" to have a hallucination so extreme that it generates its own meta-hallucination? That's not sane at all. What's sane is not hallucinating.
Anyway, then you find out that no, he is not sane, he is hallucinating for some reason and there is a talking squirrel. The joke is: He thinks he might be crazy, but he might not be, and then it turns out he is crazy. Ha!
Perhaps I've mentioned before that bad exposition - in anything - really bothers me. This happens all the time in movies and TV shows, and it generally bugs me when it's so noticeable. So, needless to say, the first panel of this comic is about as bad as you can get on that point. "The sleep deprivation madness worsens," with 3 little bubbles of some kind above his head (the bubbles represent the fact that he is tired, apparently). Generally we might want to know why this fellow is sleep deprived; the reason might even be funny. But we don't get that, we get: He is tired - accept it. I think it's the word "worsens" that is bothering me - it makes me feel like there is a backstory that we don't know. And it's unnecessary! If he had said "God, I haven't slept forever. I'm so tired." Not great, but at least it's not implying that this is Part II to a sleep deprived adventure.
Ah, for the good old days of sleep deprived comics...
=====
The Overcompensating book came in the mail the other day but I haven't had time to review it. Hopefully soon! The book is very strange.
I am speechless after reading #68
ReplyDeleteOne shouldn't capitalize on Inception. The only reason the movie is doing well is because of the little "THE END...?" twist at the end makes pseudo-intellectual hipsters talk about its implications... and its only competition was that fucking Airbender abomination.
ReplyDelete@8:35 what
ReplyDeleteno inception is doing well because it is imaginative for the most part (even though nolan traded in mindfucks for explosions at the climax) and deals with some pretty compelling themes in an interesting way
i am sorry that you are too jaded to enjoy decent movies these days
Inception isn't a movie that appeals to hipsters. Hipsters generally avoid blockbusters (in my experience, especially the pseudo-intellectual ones), and stick to the indie and art house films that actually produce films which are genuinely weird and confusing.
ReplyDeleteInception is a movie that appeals to people who think that the Matrix is a mindfuck, or that the idea of a "dream within a dream" is somehow unique. It's Mindfucks For Dummies entertainment--the sort of thing that a person can watch and feel as if they are intelligent and sophisticated for enjoying it. After your garden variety American consumer watches it, they can have a fake intellectual discussion about it, and then promptly forget about it as a movie. They may get it or rent it when it comes out on DVD, but it feels unlikely.
Hipsters don't enjoy that sort of movie. They instead enjoy writing irascible, dismissive rants about how excited everyone gets over a concept that has already been explored by much more interesting directors with much more compelling art styles.
shut up rob you fucking hipster
ReplyDeleteAlso "The Other Guys" came out. Haha, Mark Wahlberg makes me laugh. The other guy not so much, except for that one time he said "Gater needs his gun, punk-bitch!" exactly correct.
ReplyDeleteOh, I enjoyed Inception -- it was well-made. I don't understand why people think it was a "mind-fuck"... after the first 15 minutes they explain everything for you so you don't get lost. Explain succinctly*, too, to avoid as Carl is preaching "bad exposition".
I bet those same people who contemplate the value of either possible ending think that the kid in The Giver finds what he's looking for at the end of the book, as opposed to dying and hallucinating it.
I didn't see Airbender, should I not? I also am only vaguely curious in that new elevator-shaft-five-people-zomg M. Night movie coming out.
xkcdsucks: now with movie critiques.
ReplyDeleteI just figured, we compare what we do to movie critiques so often, we might as well start critiquing movies
ReplyDelete@Undercover Cuddlefish
ReplyDeletelolwut?
The only time it managed to pull a mindfuck in the entire movie was in the beginning when you had no idea about how the dreams worked and so all you knew was that really cool special effects were happening.
Also, what themes does it have? You mean how it introduces plot elements that don't go anywhere? Or how it relies on plot points that don't make any goddamn sense based on what's already established in the movie? Or how the main protagonist is a completely unrelatable douche-bag that we're expected to feel sorry for and gets everything he ever wanted in the ending? Or are we supposed to explore 'the nature of reality and happiness' because the top doesn't fall at the end because you're a sucker for pretentious bullshit? I'm not jaded, your standards are just too goddamn low.
@Rob
You overestimate hipsters.
no I just actually know what the word means.
ReplyDeleteBut rob, all you did was insult hipsters and non-hipsters. If that's what you think a movie critique is then your comparison of yourself to movie critics makes WAY more sense now.
ReplyDeleteSide note: do you always take the sidelines in culture clashes? Now I see why you got so rage-y in that fundie debate.
I liked Inception. But enough about that. It looks like Randy went out and decided that he needed to beautify himself by cleaning his pores and then thought it would be hiiiiiiilarious to do a strip about it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned you don't need to take anything away from Inception outside of the fact that watching someone fight in zero gravity because in the reality the person is dreaming in they are in a state of free fall creating an environment of zero gravity in their dreams, and someone folding a fucking city block in their dream and then them walking on it as if normal is FUCKING AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteForget story, that right there is all you need to know to know that Inception is an awesome film and if you can't respect the awesomeness of that, then you should go back to watching the news
I agree with Steph. Let's discuss this most recent XKCD.
ReplyDelete-Randy decided to clean his ugly ass up because he's lonely and desperate.
-Realized those pore strips hurt.
-Probably thought "It felt like it was going to rip my skull out! OH MAN I BET NO ONE HAS THOUGHT THAT BEFORE."
-Or, alternatively, "I bet everyone has thought that before. I better draw a comic about it to get more GOOMHR. My stock is low and it's making it hard to jack off to myself in the mirror.
And thus he gave us this shit comic. Thanks, Randall.
that wasn't rage. I've been trolling fundies of all sorts since I was like 17 and have honed it to an art form. the atheist ones are more fun to troll these days (but that is a discussion for another time).
ReplyDeletewhen I am not just attacking the very idea of a movie I write actual critiques of it. Inception bothers me on a conceptual level, mostly because of the reaction it's getting. I'm sure it's possible to enjoy it legitimately, but the hype rings hollow.
in this particular case I'm not really taking the sidelines, but yes, I generally think that both sides are being idiots.
Carl, is it okay to thank you for mostly remaining above such cheap and immature jokes as the dick jokes that xkcdexplained has recently stooped to?
ReplyDeleteLatest comic: The second half of the alt-text was reminiscent of some of the genuine GOOMH comics back when xkcd was good. Everything else about the comic is boring, except for the art which just looks weird. Why does a stick figure need pore strips? It can't possibly have pores, seeing as how it has no face.
@Rob
ReplyDeletePerhaps if the idea of hipsters hasn't evolved since the 1940's, you'd have a point. But it has, so you don't.
Now people in XKCD have skulls with eye sockets and teeth. I know those are necessary to make that object recognizable as a skull... but it raises too many questions.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, what is with xkcdexplained and the drawn-on dicks? I want to believe it's meant as some meta commentary on how lazily-done art is easily modified, but suspect it's just a juvenile version of what they used to accomplish via wit.
ReplyDeleteHey, where are those edits of xkcd that had the pussy comic and instead of showing the vagina there was a picture Randall Munroe? btw I hate xkcd more than Satan hates me.
ReplyDeletepicture of Randall Munshitcockfuckfacecuntiwanthimtobesenttoadimensionofeternalsufferingand/orbeunmadefromexistencepreferablybothroe*
ReplyDelete@8:35: uh, except I'm talking about hipsters as in the contemporary subculture. it is pretty much defined by being anti-mainstream. unfortunately, like many things the subculture is into, hipster backlash (originally a phenomenon more or less exclusive to the subculture) has gone mainstream, and people such as yourself adopt it without actually understanding any of the elements of the subculture.
ReplyDeletethese days the subculture is more characterized by irony and smug sarcasm (often called "snark," another word ruined by mainstream writers writing about something they don't understand), but the core of anti-mainstream has always remained. while it's possible to argue that many elements of the subculture have gone mainstream, the common stereotype of the hipster is that as soon as the mainstream likes something they're into, they drop it like a bad habit, as indicated by the common phrase, "I liked it before it was cool."
there is really nothing more mainstream than a blockbuster movie, and hipsters really don't make up enough of the population to propel a movie to blockbuster status. nor are they internally coherent enough even if they were. as a subculture that cares deeply about their tastes in movies, music, and literature, the hipster's list of likes and dislikes is highly personal, if frequently affected. if a band or movie ever became too obvious of a choice (with the possible exception of a few of the great classics), its mainstream qualities would drive many away, cause still others to only enjoy it in secret or (claim to) enjoy it ironically, and leave those who remained publicly liking it prefacing it with self-depreciating comments like "I know it's trashy, but..." etc.
but yeah, I'm sure your understanding of the subculture I've been following since before the word "hipster" went mainstream is a lot better than mine. that must be why you're using it to mean the exact opposite of what it actually does.
@anon8:35 i never said there were any actual mindfucks in the movie i claimed that nolan traded them in (as in the potential for them) for explosions in the films climax
ReplyDeletethe movie certainly could have been better but i am pretty sure you hate it more than is justified just because it is popular
re:777 today randall realizes that sitting in front of the computer eating junk food all the time is bad for his complexion and buys a pack of pore strips to help deal with the problem
he is surprised that the process is uncomfortable but equally surprised to find that they actually work and decides to turn his comic into a completely unfunny advertisement for them
it must be terrible to be that unhappy rob
ReplyDeletemaking people think you are insightful won't help you.
Rob, you think about hipsters too much.
ReplyDeleteFAR too much.
(a) i am perfectly happy actually
ReplyDelete(b) that's the problem, it doesn't require any thought. it's something I grasp intuitively.
I was disappointed that Inception wasn't nearly as confusing as I was hoping it was going to be.
ReplyDeleteCAN'T WE ALL JUST HAVE THAT OPINION?
Thanks for the link back to xkcdexplained. Looking at their recent posts, it appears that they are pissy about these recent comments.
ReplyDelete"He thinks he might be crazy, but he might not be, and then it turns out he is crazy. Ha!"
ReplyDeleteand people reading that comic becomes nuts too. Humor doesn’t means complicating.
Found this amateur comic other day www.fullbc.in , liked it because it was plain in thoughts and didn’t because latest of its strips are talking more of sex then information.
Sadly, Rob, intuition is no replacement for experience or knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBut good luck with that.
I guess it is a good thing that I intuitively grasped the knowledge I've gained from experience, then?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 8:35
ReplyDeleteI wasn't crazy about Inception, but you're just being an ass. You're really accusing the main character of getting everything he wants? The only thing he got was he finally got to move back in with his kids. His wife's still dead and many people probably believe he killed her. Plus the whole thing was obviously a dream since the perpetually spinning top is physically impossible so there's also the fact that his life isn't even real.
We're not expecting this movie to be the greatest thing since [insert favorite movie here]. But it was damned good for a mainstream movie.
@ Anonymous 11:13
ReplyDeleteAt least that comic's funnier than XKCD!
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
But honestly, I had no idea what was going on in most of those comics and the ones I did get were pretty unsubtle.
777: pretty good goatKCD. nothing more really to say
ReplyDeleteI liked inception- but I wouln't call it intelligent.
ReplyDeleteIt's more like a stylish method of delivering massive explosions and gunfights in as many varied environs as can be expected.
I liked the way they managed to keep up the suspense at the climax, it's rare that happens with me.
Also, I burst out laughing @ cob's OH JESUS CHRIST when his _______ ______s off the ________.
He sounded like he just stood in a bee's nest.
Anyway- thanks to youtube, I saw a video of performance art where this girl opened a can of spagetti-os, smeared the on her shirt, used scissors to cut open the crotch of her jeans, do a little pee on the floor and insert spagetti-os up her vagina.
I'm serious, I'll post the link once I'm home from work.
Oh yeah, new comic sux- the art makes me want to cry blood.
what the fuck is going on in mspa i have no idea what is this i dont even
ReplyDelete1) Buy shares in a variety of cosmetics companies
ReplyDelete2) Create comic extolling virtues of pore strips, said comic being aimed at a constituency particularly notorious for being acne-ridden
3) Profit!
(i now fully expect some cuddlefish to turn up brandishing Randall's bank details to prove that he doesn't own ANY shares in cosmetics companies ACTUALLY
ReplyDeleteO NO my reputation)
Hey, has anyone noticed how Randall has finally updated those five little thumbnails below the comic?
ReplyDeleteGonna get laid tonight, boy howdy how I'm gonna get laid. Can't wait ;)
ReplyDeleteBy the way did you guys know that the beautiful and intelligent Michelle Phan just recently released a YouTube tutorial for homemade pore strips? It's sad to think that a person as educated and sophisticated as Randall jacks off to the same pathetic little things that I do.
ReplyDelete777 seemed very familiar, and then I remembered this:
ReplyDeleteCHURCH: The whole thing was over before it even started. Poor Jimmy was the last one to go. Tex walked up to him, pulled Jimmy's skull right out of his head and beat him to death with it.
TUCKER: Wait a second... how do you beat someone to death with their own skull? That doesn't seem physically possible.
CHURCH: You know, that's exactly what Jimmy kept screaming.
anyone noticed how little sense ripping the scull off actually makes ?
ReplyDeletethe strip would be fixed to the skin, which the stick figure seems have in the last panel, not the bone underneath. so what would be ripped of with the strip is the skin layer above the skull, not the skull itself.
that, or randal has a rare form of bone acne
Hey Rob, you seem like a well versed fellow. I notice that you appreciate Vonnegut (good man.) You talk as if you have seen Inception. I would ask you this, have you read any books by Philip K Dick? Hes like my favourite author....man. Left me underwhelmed as a film.
ReplyDeleteAlso for a film about dreams that is immeasurably better watch Waking Life. The film is mainly interesting people talking about interesting things with not much semblance of plot.
Is it wrong for me to want to murder everyone who is currently using "scull" in place of "skull"?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq7MvLgxSB4
ReplyDeleteWay better version of 777.
777: At first I thought the alt-text was kinda funny, but then I realized it was Randall doing a commercial and not the actual character in the comic talking.
ReplyDelete*pulls out skull*
"I was shocked, disgusted, and vaguely fascinated by the result."
...sigh =(
Is it just me, or could the newest comic actually work in a webcomic with actual art?
ReplyDeleteCapta: Swivel.
As in: Stop doing
As in: Stop doing capta jokes. The cool kids stopped doing them a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this comic is crap, but your complaint about the implication of a backstory is completely unfounded. It is a writing term that has been around since the Ancient greeks-- "in medias res" (which, incidentally is actually a ROMAN term for "in the middle of things"). Stories have been beginning in the middle of things for thousands of years. Get used to it.
ReplyDelete777 is horrifying, if only because of the implication that the person in the script had a working jaw and eyes are implied as well, by the eye sockets of the skull.
ReplyDeleteThis means that instead of Randall being a poor artist, he has created a universe where everybody has eyes and a mouth, but are unable to use them because of the massive layer of pure white skin covering their entire heads.
This was clearly suicide and an attempt to share the knowledge of how horrible existence truly is on the part of the person in the script. Somehow he discovered the truth and he hopes that when the medical examiners poke at his remains with their handless arms, that they too will come to understand what is really going on and spread the message, since the main character was far too depressed to do it.
Yknow what? Today's comic? Pretty damn funny. Original enough that I couldn't think of where he might've stolen the idea from, a self-contained storyline, no extraneous words butting in to try to tell us what we've been shown. Yeah yeah blah blah skulls don't work that way what-the-fuck-ever. Any xkcd that lets me shut my brain off and enjoy an amusing image is better than one that's all up its own ass with how smart it is in my book.
ReplyDeleteYep, halfway decent comic for a change. Too bad he still felt the need to royally fuck it up with three goddamn lines of buttfucker alt-text.
I was actually hesitating to move my cursor over the comic. I really, truly wanted to just leave well enough alone, let the comic itself stand as an example that it could occasionally rise to a higher level of mediocrity. But I had to see. I had to know if what was clearly felt to be an essential part of the comic was as good as the comic itself on this strange day. Hell, it could've fit in if it used an equal dose of brevity.
I didn't even read it. I just saw that it was a huge splerge of text and my illusion was shattered. Randall is like a teenager arguing with a high school science teacher who simply does not know when to shut up. Unbelievable.
Jon, the problem isn't that he's starting in the middle of things- it's just that he's doing it an a really shitty way.
ReplyDeleteFor one- the line "the sleep deprivation madness worsens" should have been aborted and burned with the rest of the medical waste.
also, he makes it as if what lead to this was VASTLY more interesting and intriguing than the shitty joke he gave us- which is like going to a star resteraunt and being served steaming shit on a plate. (well not quite, xkcd isn't a star resteraunt; zing.)
of course, the reason for sleep deprivation is probably that he wants to associate himself with the kewl nerds who stay up late.
So yeah, people have been using "in media res" for thousands of years, so when you fuck up as badly as this when using it you really have no excuse- there's generations of writers to learn from.
777 could work as a Lio comic. In fact, I vaguely remember Lio having the exact same joke once (except not with pore strips, but something else).
ReplyDeleteAlso I can totally see Randall being subscribed to Michelle Phan's Youtube channel.
When did xkcdexplained draw any dicks? I can't find the dicks. Can someone explain this to me? Thank you
ReplyDeleteSimon roberts must not be too observant if he hasn't seen any "holy shit pore strips pull HARD. HOW HARD DO THEY PULL? they pull so hard they *hilarious result*" jokes.
ReplyDeleteRead the forums. One of the posters says they had a website with the exact same joke when they were 15.
Look closer. The last two comics have no dicks. Almost all the others (with characters) have added dicks.
ReplyDeleteDicks being lines, of course.
re: dicks
ReplyDeleteMaybe since we usually can't tell if the stick-figures are wearing clothes or not, they decided to make it more obvious when they think they are not?
What with Randy's target audience, that forumite mentioning he made the joke when he was 15 could simply be talking about last month.
ReplyDelete777 is lacking a hamlet reference.
ReplyDeleteAlas poor Biore?
ReplyDeleteI think it's best not to overanalyze this new one. I'm not a cuddlefish, but Randall clearly didn't think it through very much when drawing it, and I don't think the strip requires logical thinking. I mean it is a dude ripping out his own skull.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the most clever joke (for instance, it reminded me a lot of an early Calvin & Hobbes comic where Calvin blows a huge bubble that explodes all over his face, making him think his head is now inside-out. That one was better). But let's at least attack the humor instead of the logic.
Today's comic bothered me a little because for a moment I couldn't interpret the last frame. I thought he was pulling his skin off, which, if you've ever used a pore strip, is a risk if you simply yank it off all at once. Not that you would lose all the skin on your face, but a thin layer of outter skin on your nose, making you somewhat worse off than when you had the blackheads.
ReplyDeleteBut yanking your skull out? That makes no goddamn sense. If someone even had the strength to pull a nose off, then the nose would separate from the skull; it wouldn't pull the skull out with it.
Stupid.
I think the humour comes from the absurdity of the character pulling out his skull instead of ripping off his face.
ReplyDeleteContrary to the remarks of numerous pseudo-intellectuals, Inception is not particularly hard to follow. People were talking about layers of dreaming as if it were some kind of unprecedented mind-fuck that they didn't even figure out until they got back from the theater.
ReplyDeleteHurr durpadeedurr keeping track of how deep each dream was is fucken hard man like, i had to count to 4, or something, maybe i had to count to 5? man, the point is, i haven't counted past 2 in decades.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, am I imagining this, or DID HE DO THIS EXACT COMIC ALREADY. I may be imagining it. But Im pretty sure Im not. So... yeah.
ReplyDeleteIf I am imaging it, its because my sleep deprivation has worsened.
So not having seen Inception, it's basically ripping off 13th Floor/ExistenZ, is that right?
ReplyDeleteBoth of those movies were derided as ripping off The Matrix, which is somewhat fair as they all came out around the same time, and they all explored the idea of "what if reality wasn't really real". But The Matrix was just like, OK, normal reality isn't real; here's real reality, now its time for cool ass bullet time gun battles. Whereas 13th Floor/eXistenZ had multiple layers of that wasn't real, now are we actually in reality mindfuck.
since i don't really know anything about movies, i don't actually know which directors are actual brilliant visionaries capable of deftly handling subtle themes and swiftly introducing complex elements of a world and etc. etc. etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteso i'm entirely prepared to believe that inception is just a big-budget spectacle film that's a little less hyperkinetic than its contemporaries and a little more "whoa high concept", but i don't actually know what obviously superior films it pales in comparison to
@Rob
ReplyDeleteWell, I was assuming that you understood what those words meant. Clearly, you don't, which is fair enough.
Okay, I liked this comic.
ReplyDeleteGranted I haven't seen Inception (and thus didn't read any comments because I don't want spoilers).
I have to say, the logic about hallucinating a hallucination making him sane is totally flawed, but isn't that kind of the point? He's sleep deprived and thus not thinking clearly. It doesn't make sense that he'd have logical musings. I've heard sleep deprived students say things very similar to this.
As for the poor exposition, meh, didn't really bother me. I sort of assumed perhaps this was a continuation of the Haiku prime number proof comic. XKCD isn't exactly known for good character continuity (and perhaps this comic would have benefited from some) but I'm kind of okay with it here.
I think the last line from the squirrel makes up for it. I was very amused by it.
I don't think the logic was "he's crazy, no he's not, yes he is haha!"
I think it was more along the lines of some sleep deprived person rambling in their head and exaggerating how crazy they are. Then their ramblings are stopped when an actual hallucination exists and you find out they really are crazy.
That definitely has more potential for humor. Which at least for me was acheived.
You spelled "say" as "day".
ReplyDeleteDid someone say "discussing things only tangentially related to xkcd because Randall Munroe is apparently no longer capable of creating a comic interesting enough to generate discussion, good or bad"? Cause that's what that sounded like.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, comparing Inception to The Matrix makes a lot of sense: action movies with excellent cinematography and interesting core conceits that nevertheless succeed only as entertainment due to, among other things, plots which don't make any fucking sense. This is a much worse flaw in Inception, which is, among other things, a heist movie, which means that everything needs to fit together like clockwork. And nothing does. Just off the top of my head, I can think of four major problems with the way the dreamworld works. And that's bad.
Also the last five seconds of the movie was the worst example of puerile Shyamalaning I've seen in a long time.
Could be Munroe wanted to to an Inception comic really badly but didn't want to give the overt impression that he is into something so mainstream at the moment. Or maybe he couldn't come up with any clever spin on the movie's premise. Not that lack of a clever idea has ever stopped him from doing a comic ... and not that he needs to do anything even remotely coherent to have fanboys going all GOOMHR in unison.
ReplyDeleteHe's usually anywhere between 5 and 60 years behind on current topics, so maybe he'll finally have a (not so) clever twist (or more likely, "Something that always bugged me..." -- way to tell not show Randall) on Inception cooked up for us by 2015.
Not ecstatic to play defender here but...
ReplyDeleteTo everyone criticizing the logic of pore strips pulling out your skull as opposed to ripping off your skin... Read the first panel again. "Deep cleaning". With that point emphasized, what would be the humorous sense in pore strips simply ripping your skin off?
The joke is: "Imagine if pore strips were so DEEP-cleaning that they actually pulled your skull out when removed, even though that doesn't make sense."
...oh and did you know you can make ANY joke entirely unfunny by explaining it in a simplistic manner? Neat huh.
...oh and did you know you can make ANY joke entirely unfunny by explaining it in a simplistic manner? Neat huh.
ReplyDeleteHOLY SHIT. I never noticed that. Thanks for letting me know!
"Hey Rob, you seem like a well versed fellow. I notice that you appreciate Vonnegut (good man.) You talk as if you have seen Inception. I would ask you this, have you read any books by Philip K Dick? Hes like my favourite author....man. Left me underwhelmed as a film.
ReplyDeleteAlso for a film about dreams that is immeasurably better watch Waking Life. The film is mainly interesting people talking about interesting things with not much semblance of plot. "
I haven't read a lot of Philip K Dick, but I saw A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life. the former felt too much like the latter except not as interesting. I love Waking Life though. it really takes the idea and just runs with it, artistically and otherwise.
I will definitely need to read more Philip K Dick, I just haven't got round to it.
"Well, I was assuming that you understood what those words meant. Clearly, you don't, which is fair enough. "
I guess it would help if it weren't something that I've had literally years of experience with, and you weren't drawing false dichotomies between intuitive and experiential learning, or between intuition and knowledge. (especially since, in this case, "intuition" is not as in "women's intuition" where it implies a strong hunch, but refers to "a keen and quick insight" or "immediate apprehension", an obvious contrast with the previous idea that I learned this information by thinking about it a great deal instead of merely experiencing it and grasping it immediately.)
which is to say, troll harder.
I didn't even realize this comic was referencing Inception. Now it seems even stupider.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I liked Inception, but you guys are cool if you wanna dump on it.
@anon1:37 protip it works even better when the joke is not funny to begin with
ReplyDelete777's okay for xkcd. It's nice to see him at least doing something a little different with his stick figures.
ReplyDelete"Alas poor Biore?"
ReplyDeleteAlas pore
I am honestly surprised he didn't use "Alas pore Yorick" as the alt-text.
It doesn't bastardise Shakespeare, it's short, it's a pun. It's not very amusing but it's a reference to something I know about so durr hurr hurr and it isn't the crap he actually put down.
""a keen and quick insight" or "immediate apprehension", an obvious contrast with the previous idea that I learned this information by thinking about it a great deal instead of merely experiencing it and grasping it immediately"
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you've not learned anything at all. You can't have it both ways. Either it's a quick insight, in which case it's intuition, or it's experience-based knowledge, in which case it took some time.
Lordy. Just admit you made a mistake and move on. You're allowed make mistakes, Rob. Or do you think you're above that sort of thing?
Also, why would a suirrel talk? Funny jokes are jokes that somehow manage to reveal a hidden truth. But SQUIRRELS DON'T TALK, Randall! How stupid do you have to be not to know that??
ReplyDeleteAnd also, the drawing is really bad. You can't even see the mouth and nose and eyes of the character. Is it because Randall IS TOO FUCKING LAZY to draw real persons??!
Man, XKCD sucks worse and worse each day.
He put on a pore cleaning strip, and when he tried to take it off - get this - HE TORE HIS SKULL OUT! BAHAHAHAH! Oh man, I laughed so hard my arm fell off!
ReplyDeleteOh god.
ReplyDeleteOH GOD NO!
I just noticed how similar "pore" is to "porn" (quiet you, I'm still 10 inside), so I went back and see if replacing that E with an N changed anything in the comic.
RANDALL I AM POSITIVE THAT IS WHY YOU CHOSE SUCH AN ODD PRODUCT TAGLINE!
"It seems like you've not learned anything at all. You can't have it both ways. Either it's a quick insight, in which case it's intuition, or it's experience-based knowledge, in which case it took some time.
ReplyDeleteLordy. Just admit you made a mistake and move on. You're allowed make mistakes, Rob. Or do you think you're above that sort of thing?"
or either it's something you pick up right away through experience--experiences you pick up intuitively--or something that, after experience, you still need to spend time thinking about in order to understand.
I learn intuitively from my experiences. that is to say, when I have a new experience, I have a swift insight into its connections into the existing bodies of my knowledge--or immediate apprehension. the best way to put this in terms you will understand: I don't need to practice. I just get it.
it is a different style of learning. in my case, it's a style of learning which requires no expenditure of effort. many people have to learn through trial and error or by doing research in order to make sense of their experiences.
I am more than happy to admit when I have made a mistake. this is just not one of those times. I said exactly what I meant, and you are apparently unable to grasp that some people have minds which work differently than yours. (let me guess. math or science major?)
your confusion seems to stem from a few different things. I'll try to work through the conversation, since you're at a disadvantage, what with me being clever and you being significantly less so. I'll break it down into discrete steps for you. commentary in italics.
1. this started when someone said "you think too much about hipsters, Rob." pretty straightforward, but I think you may have missed this part, because your complaints make no sense in context.
2. I responded "that's the problem, I actually just have an intuitive understanding of this information." here is where you seem to be confused. at no point did I say how I gleaned this information, merely that it comes naturally to me. if I were an insufferable nerd, I would probably say that I grok hipsters or something, but I am not a nerd. this statement of mine reflects the fact that I don't need to spend a lot of time thinking about hipsters in order to write about hipsters at great length. the implication that you would have gotten if you were capable of reading is that I am, in fact, so intimately familiar with the subculture that it doesn't require thought. you also missed some really obvious nuance, which saddens me.
3. you then made the false dichotomy "intuition is no replacement for experience or knowledge," implying that intuition, experience, and knowledge are three mutually exclusive things, rather than experience and intuition being two tools that can both be used in order to gain knowledge that are not mutually exclusive. looking back at the context here, I can safely conclude that you're just a fucking moron who doesn't actually understand how humans gain understanding of the world around them. it's possible you're just throwing out a red herring in attempt to ignore the fact that my lengthy post on the hipster subculture is, in fact, spot on, and demonstrated that you or one of your fellow cuddlefish was being an ignorant fuck, but I'm not willing to attribute complicated thought patterns to cuddlefish.
hope that was helpful! I was actually expecting to find that you'd gotten lost in the thread of conversation. imagine my surprise to learn you're just an idiot!
Whats the deal with that little algorithm riddle at the bottom of the page?
ReplyDeletethere was a weird Ask.com ad campaign which had billboards with that text, and Randy decided to put it on XKCD so if people googled it they would get XKCD instead of Ask.com.
ReplyDeleteOh please, Waking Life is a plotless mass of New Age pseudoscience and discredited philosophical theories. It's like what you would get if you tried to work the awful What The Bleep Do We Know into a traditional plot structure but failed even at that. What was the relevance of the bedroom scene, of the guy with the megaphone, to anything having to do with the main character? As one reviewer stated, it's sort of like listening to a stoned college sophomore rambling off for 85 min about what he's picked up in his PHIL 101/102/201 classes. And one of the philosophical underpinnings of the movie is the notion that man is more or less equivalent to chimpanzees in terms of scientific and philosophical ability. They go on to say that the difference between the average man and chimpanzees is smaller than the difference between average man and great philosophers. Um, right, about that...
ReplyDeletehahaha, "discredited philosophical theories." man, you really had me going for a minute.
ReplyDeletemy favorite part about the movie is reading the reviews of people who think the point is that the things the people are saying are somehow profound or interesting, and acting like there are actual philosophical underpinnings to the movie.
I'd just like to say that I am the guy who originally wrote that you think too much about hipsters. Had I known someone would spark up an argument about intuition or whatever, I wouldn't have written it.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I'd like to retract my statement and replace it with "You wrote far too much about hipsters." Because hipsters are rather boring. Just the like the argument that followed it.
man, anything you say can spark an argument on here. the cuddlefish are rabid and I like playing with them. if you are worried about that you are better off just not posting.
ReplyDeleteWell, Rob, anything except for XKCD lately... I don't think we've gotten larger than a two-post discussion in the last few weeks related to an XKCD comic unless we were forced to tie in something else.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: genis. Carl's genis is composed mainly of three-toed arboreal critters.
i live for pointless arguments
ReplyDelete"...oh and did you know you can make ANY joke entirely unfunny by explaining it in a simplistic manner? Neat huh."
ReplyDelete'What if there was a proctologist out there who's name was actually Dr. Seymour Butts?'
Nope, still hilarious.
rob you funting cuck, if you make mistakes how come we never see you admit them?
ReplyDeleteWHAT ARE YOUR ERRORS FATTY (aside from fatness, which we all know)
if he never makes mistakes then claiming that he does is a mistake in and of itself and thus the chain is broken
ReplyDeletewhat else do you need
Rob licked my testicles once. It was a big mistake but I don't think he regrets it
ReplyDeletemistakes aren't always regrets
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIs fatness really a mistake, though? How weightist.
ReplyDeleteRob's just saying that because he's a mistake.
ReplyDeleteDear xkcdexplained,
ReplyDeleteYour explanation for today's comic implies that all members of the "geek" subculture consists entirely of people who are fat, ugly or stupid. I consider myself a member of this group and I am none of the above. I am just socially retarded. Please stop spreading these hateful stereotypes.
Fuck you,
-Ben
So, seeing XKCD is only mentioned here and there in these comment threads, here's something to focus on, guys: the skull.
ReplyDeleteBefore anything, the most recent xkcd is a clear display of... okayness. It's not BAD, but it's not GOOD. It's... okay. If it had anything to do with math, sarcasm, love or languange, I'd say this was a good sign of xkcd's back to goodness, but, alas, it is not. It's just a random topic Randall thought of in the last minutes of Sunday. But, to that skull.
At first, I did not even look at the most recent xkcd(I make an effort to not read it), but when the comments here mentioned the skull, with usual human features in it, I kid you not, I was afraid I'd have nightmares with this terrifying idea: that xkcd stick people have, indeed, only pale and featureless skin over their usual human features. They're all hideous faceless mutants who'll haunt you in your dreams forever.
Jokes apart, this is, once again, one of those "I don't think Randall thought this through very well" moments. And maybe this isn't an issue that's worthy of analyzing but, then again, isn't xkcd a comic meant for clever people? "But Mole," you might ask, "how is Randall going to make this comic with a featureless skull? It'll make no sense, a white ball being ripped off another white ball!" Why, yes, that is true. The answer is: he shouldn't make it. The idea doesn't fit the internal logic of xkcd's facelessness, and I bet Randall could think of many other better ideas for a comic in the past two days before the update. Maybe they'd even have anything to do with sarcasm, math, love and language! But, then again, that wouldn't be the Randall Munroe we all know and hate, right?
So, my point is made: this skull is disturbing!
Have sweet dreams with faceless people,
Mole
Dear Ben,
ReplyDeleteby posting a rebuttal to xkcdexplained on xkcd sucks you have proven that yes, you are quite stupid, possibly so much so you are unaware of your own crippling corpulence and fugliness.
Sincerely,
Cuddlefish
eh everyone knows Randall's the one writing them both anyway
ReplyDeleteHey Carl why don't you post the OTHER thing that Ann sent you? Hmm? HMMM?
ReplyDeleteRipping one's skull out buy using pore strips is just NOT POSSIBLE, guys. Once again, Randall has proven to us that he doesn't know shit about human biology. Okay MAYBE it's THEORETICALLY possible, like in a fancy mathematical model or something. But any med student or biology student, people who know the real stuff and not pretentious geeks like Randall, will tell you that it COULD NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN!
ReplyDeleteFuck, xkcd gets badder and badder every day...
"Also, why would a suirrel talk? Funny jokes are jokes that somehow manage to reveal a hidden truth. But SQUIRRELS DON'T TALK, Randall! How stupid do you have to be not to know that??
ReplyDeleteAnd also, the drawing is really bad. You can't even see the mouth and nose and eyes of the character. Is it because Randall IS TOO FUCKING LAZY to draw real persons??!
Man, XKCD sucks worse and worse each day."
"Ripping one's skull out buy using pore strips is just NOT POSSIBLE, guys. Once again, Randall has proven to us that he doesn't know shit about human biology. Okay MAYBE it's THEORETICALLY possible, like in a fancy mathematical model or something. But any med student or biology student, people who know the real stuff and not pretentious geeks like Randall, will tell you that it COULD NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN!
Fuck, xkcd gets badder and badder every day..."
I bet you think you're smart.
I'd say it was a pretty poor strip!
ReplyDelete...at least it wasn't as bad as that savannah pun.
@anon 6:14
ReplyDeleteWould you say it was a pretty...pore strip?
i think that may have been the joke
ReplyDeleteSo hey, sleep deprevation and hallucination. Has anyone actually experienced that? I've been awake for days on end before but I never hallucinated once. Is this just something that isn't actually real but is fashionable to say you have in nerd circles? Like asperger's?
ReplyDeleteI've heard of people staying awake for over a week and seeing weird things like walls walls looking like they're melting or surfaces covered in tiny bugs, but I've never heard of anyone actually having delusions (IE actually believing what they're seeing is real).
ReplyDeleteI'm a little bit tired of hating XKCD... Does anyone want to hate SMBC instead?
ReplyDelete"So hey, sleep deprevation and hallucination. Has anyone actually experienced that? I've been awake for days on end before but I never hallucinated once. Is this just something that isn't actually real but is fashionable to say you have in nerd circles? Like asperger's? "
ReplyDeleteDingdingding~! We have a winner!
We do some occasional SMBC hate in the comments when it deserves it (for example, I personally think today's would be better without the "My God..."), 'Zach' (IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME).
ReplyDeleteAnd OH MY GOODNESS the Carl comic I remember that :D
(note: I am aware that Zach is someone pretending to be SMBC's author Zach Weiner*, but I am assuming that they do actually dislike SMBC and the name was an afterthought)
ReplyDelete*or should that be... WHEELER
Zach Weiner...
ReplyDeleteCarl Z. Wheeler...
COINCIDENCE?
WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE, "CARL"???
ReplyDeleteHoly shit a birth certificate joke
ReplyDeleteYou are as bitingly topical as randy
OMG, a joke making fun of another joke and involving Randall Munroe... HOW ORIGINAL, genius!
ReplyDeleteOh my bog sarcasm!
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen... xkcdsucks has officially hit the meta-singularity.
ReplyDeleteYou may now resume your lives.
but I am not a nerd
ReplyDeletePfffffftBAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm choosing to believe that the last panel is him going insane, and believing that what he has said makes sense. He's so sleep-deprived that he thinks it's possible to hallucinate a hallucination.
ReplyDeleteIf you imagine him saying it in an excited "hey i figured it out" voice it's almost funny.
Oh hey, more comics for high schoolers.
ReplyDelete@Ann: The "My god" is pacing. I agree it's clunky, but I can't say what would fill the gap better. Dropping it would make it worse, and turn it into an XKCD comic basically -- except, you know, with a punchline, a daily colour update, and characters that, while we may not know anything about them outside of this circumstance nor will they ever appear again, we feel we can relate to even for a brief moment as living human beings.
ReplyDeleteAlso better applications of Math, Romance, Language, and that other thing.
RE: the "scull" comic, I am with Mole on this one... the concept is pretty frightening of anthropomorphic features buried underneath a mass of white flesh.
Maybe he's actually looking for the sweet release of death; as the final panel appears, we smile in sympathy -- at last he is at peace, no longer burdened with an existence beyond the realms of human suffering.
@Ravenzomg: I reckon it would work better as a silent panel. Just the kid raising his glasses in realisation. There needs to be something between panel 2 and panel 4, and beat panels may be cliched but they're cliched for a reason, cos they work.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lmvX00TLY
ReplyDeleteGuys this is the video where the girl does a pee on the floor in the name of hipster art- sorry for late delivery
skip to 4:04 for the juicy bits
Just saying.
ReplyDeleteAnn: I'd disagree with that. But eh, the comic's good enough that I don't want to critique it to death. Said in that many words, what IS the deal with Steampunk? Also why can't I get enough of it.
Captcha: tubstinq. 'Nuff said.
re:spaghettio performance art bullshit
ReplyDeleteahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha it is amazing what some idiots are willing to accept as art these days
though i will say it seemed like a few members of the audience were not buying into it a la the awesome guy yelling "encore encore yay art" and to their credit a lot of them looked suitably skeptical even if they all applauded like dillweeds at the end
Just out of curiousity, would it be physically possible to make the most recent arc of Homestuck MORE confusing?
ReplyDeleteI bet Rob wishes he was there hanging with the hipsters he fantasizes about, but knowing how fat and un-hip he is he just feebly mocks them instead to gratify his twisted depraved ego.
ReplyDeleteand wow that skank on the video - learn to use a fucking can opener, its not like you have any other talents.
re 777:
ReplyDeletehttp://i869.photobucket.com/albums/ab259/fromcanada/funnycauseitstrue/poor_strips.png
sometimes i wish you people grasped nuance
ReplyDeletesome dumb shit i did
ReplyDeletehttp://i38.tinypic.com/1zfo4qr.png
What do you wish we grasped the rest of the time?
ReplyDeletemy cock
ReplyDeleteJon says: There is a latin phrase for it, so it can't be a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteChanged that day/say spelling thing, thanks for pointing it out.
I have given up on Homestuck for the past few weeks. If people tell me it's worth it in the end I may - may - go back and read it.
R. continues to be funnier than all the rest of you put together.
I wish I could give up Homestuck, it's just...
ReplyDeleteI... I can't stop.
I find homestuck interesting and the characters complex and deep.
ReplyDeletebut then again, I'd think the same of a cardboard cutout of Ms lohan with a motion sensor and four pre-recorded phrases.
lolasburgs