Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Comic 784: Just Take a Dirt Nap


[Alt: Sweet unintersecting dreams!]

It appears that poor Randall is having some trouble with his love life. Either he has been participating in some unhappy relationships, or, like me, has been out of the love game so long that he has become bitter and disenchanted with the concept of romance. Contrast recent strips like 770 and today’s with the sappy shit he used to produce. For example, take this strip , which is so glurgy and saccharine that I just vomited a rainbow.

Given my (and many of you guys’) distaste for xkcd’s usual tack of “look how quirky and sweet our relationship is, aren’t we just the cutest couple on earth” crap, you’d think this sort of thing would be a welcome change. It isn’t. The whole “look how bitter and jaded I am” thing is just as bad as the quirky love thing; they’re just flip sides of a coin forged of pretension. So you’re sleeping with a girl you can’t stand, so much so that you huddle on the edge of the bed? Tough cookies. Kick her to the curb, or quit your bitching.

Aside from the whiny little bitch vibe this comic gives off, it fails on a few other levels. Part of xkcd’s draw has always been relatability; as much as we mock the whole “GOOMH” thing, fans seeing a bit of themselves or their lives in a strip contributes highly to its appeal. Even ignoring the “nerds don’t get laid” stereotype, do you really see a lot of fans going “GOOMH, I shared a bed with someone I hate, too!” Even if it’s a common occurrence, which I doubt, people generally don’t like thinking about uncomfortable situations. It’s an awkward reminder, especially when coming from xkcd, which tends to be pretty light and whimsical. It’s like reading Blondie and being reminded of the time your drunk uncle exposed himself at the family reunion.

The second issue is that it isn’t immediately apparent what is going on here. Of course, initially thinking they’re in love and then realizing they’re not was Randall’s intent, but until you really scrutinize the last panel, it doesn’t hit you right away. Slowly figuring out the punchline is fine when the eventual realization is really mindblowing. Here, the payoff is just some weepy emo shit, so the fact that it doesn’t “pop” makes for a really lackluster conclusion.

Third, as many have pointed out, this is totally an A Softer World rip-off.

180 comments:

  1. Xkcd has been boring for quite some time, but lately, the comic are so bland I just can't even figure out exactly what they're supposed to mean.

    Typhon

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  2. aloria are you a lonely fat ugly british chick? that makes me sad.

    -derek "isn't" anonymous

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  3. No, I am a lonely skinny American chick.

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  4. oh sorry ann apolis is the british chick sorry i'm stoned.

    aloria IS a chick's name, right?

    derek "isn't even a good" name

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  5. why the fuck did he put so much effort into coloring this comic? of all his comics...

    also, this has to be the first time in ages that we've gotten an update the same day as the comic.

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  6. His ASW ripoffs always have "better" art. It is a sad attempt to emulate Emily Horne's photography, as if poorly drawn stick figures with marginally improved shading and no sense of cadence at all could capture the essence of ASW.

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  7. Does the girl have hands with fingers? Gross

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  8. ugh no wonder stickman wants to kill himself, he is apparently sleeping with a woman with GIANT SPIDERS FOR HANDS

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  9. Have there been ASW ripoffs before? I used to love ASW (handjob susan is one notably one) but i lost interest in it in the past year.

    Anon 5:35, 5:38, 5:47

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  10. yeah, there's been a good number of them. this is probably not a complete list, but this google search may help you find them.

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  11. I thought you were gonna give a lmgtfy link. You're a good guy Rob, say hi to your wife for me.

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  12. I hate lmgtfy unless it's a really, really stupid question. yours would have required you to know about the site: search feature, and also to know that I pretty much post 'RANDY STOP TRYING TO BE ASW' in every thread where he pulls this shit. I like ASW and it is just painful to watch Randy miss the mark so badly.

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  13. Most of those are you sucking ASW's dick. Got a crush on Emily, Rob? She's pretty cute, huh? You want her to xkc your d?

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  14. oh cuddlefish, you never fail to miss the mark so very, very hard

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  15. this will confuse me tomorrow

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  16. Rob is incapable of feeling love for another human being. In fact, he's incapable of feeling anything except hunger. Endless, insatiable hunger.

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  17. And hate. The depth of his hate and of the void he feels in his stomach is unfathomable. One of these may be a result of the other.

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  18. I keep telling you all [well, I said it once somewhere, I think] that "Rob" is a personality created by a bored housewife in Western Montana who wants to be the next Stephenie Meyer! By attacking the personality you're just giving him fuel for her trashy young adult urban fantasy novellas.

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  19. And a smug sense of self satisfaction even after he gorges himself on chicken pot pies and mead.

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  20. if i were self-satisfied do you think i would ever spend time here with you worthless fucks

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  21. I don't read Blondie, I LISTEN to it! Hooray to Debbie Harry!

    lol fail

    Comics like these show just why Randall is so shit at making comedy: he is so earnest and puts himself in his comics so sincerely that, when something like this comes along, instead of being deliciously cynical and subversive (like, say, A Softer World!!), it is simply a whiny, obnoxious piece of shit, like Randall is so completely inept at relationships that he wants his readers to share his negative views on romance and justify his ineptitude. He is a loser and wants to feel proud about it.

    To do comedy, you have to detach yourself from your jokes somehow -- EVEN if you want to humour your own condition, so that you become the butt of your own joke. Randall does the contrary of that; he puts himself into the joke to become THE STAR of his show. So when this garbage comes out, it's just him being hopelessly cynical and unfunny. The only thing that "hits hard" in this comic is how serious Randall is about it.

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  22. I really like that there's a number of particularly idiotic cuddlefish who think that comparing Randy's ASW ripoffs to ASW is somehow undesirable. Perhaps they think the best way to criticize an inferior copy is not to explain how it failed when compared to the original?

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  23. People... you're over-thinking it. It's just an Internet comic. If you don't like it, stop reading it; what is achieved by going on a 426-word tirade about a twenty-word, three-panel comic published to the Internet?

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  24. Even if ASW is a steaming pile of shit, it just means that Randall chose to rip off a steaming pile of shit. And managed to make it even shitter.

    Like ASW is the food going into the first segment in the human centipede and today's xkcd is what comes out the third segment.

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  25. DKqwerty: making idiots like you repeat the same obvious statement over and over again as if it's the first time anyone has ever said it. HOLY SHIT, NO ONE HAS EVER MADE THAT ARGUMENT BEFORE. SHUT DOWN THE BLOG YOU GUYS

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  26. what's the point of doing a word count on a blog post, then a word count on the comic, and then somehow managing to miscount the number of panels in the comic, just to complain about the fact that someone on the internet wrote something you don't agree with?

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  27. Additionally, for something you claim to be as inconsequential as a twenty word, three panel comic, you sure did go out of your way to defend it.

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  28. 1. it's fun. this is really all you need to know. randall and his fans are so above mocking anything ever so i wouldn't expect you to understand this.
    2. you learn things.

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  29. also why are fans of such a supposedly smart comic so afraid of criticism? shouldn't it be able to stand up to rational thought, analysis and comparison?



    i'm not really expecting an answer.

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  30. I was all for vehemently disagreeing with y'all and posting some flame-y thing about how harmless xkcd is and how bitter you guys are and fuckshitfuckblah. Then I realized I was being stupid. I'm going to go have dinner. Enjoy your lives.

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  31. Aloria: You're lonely because you're smart. Men don't want women who are smart. We want ones who giggle a lot and make *us* feel smart.

    ISTM that Randall must know that his pictoblog is losing its appeal. He managed to get popular by hitting a few out of the park early on, and he parlayed that into a career selling tee shirts.

    Now he's out of ideas. He's shoveling crap down the hatch to keep the fire lit, but he knows that his material sucks and he needs something new.

    So he thinks to himself "I need to get all edgy and emo, my stuff needs to become a *biting commentary* on life! Then I'll get some accolades from the artsy people and go to comicon and eventually get hired at the New Yorker, or maybe the Village Voice."

    The problem is that he's a prig.

    You don't notice that when in his older stuff where he's focusing on being lighthearted and quirky. But when he decides to get *biting,* he really just turns into a smug douchebag who mocks anthropologists.

    PS: I figure there's a 80% chance that that statement about men preferring airheads who giggle will be an xkcd in the near future.

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  32. that's very refreshing to hear wes

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  33. Nobody in particularAugust 25, 2010 at 9:50 PM

    The big big big big problem is just how damned melodramatic he's being here. "Leave the world behind"? "All the incentive I need"?

    Where have I heard this stuff before? I don't...let me see...oh yes, high school poetry class.

    In a second, he's going to start talking about his "Soul" and how "wracked with emotion" he is.

    It's not that it's a change in tone, it is simply that the new tone is done poorly. Drama is a subtle thing to complete. It's not a collection of bitter one liners. Randy doesn't have the narrative competence to do anything close to that, so he must rely on overstating the point.

    Besides. Why is this guy writing high school poetry about his lady? Why doesn't he say it to her face?

    Answer: No sack.

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  34. Just read the first forty-something "a softer world" comics...and didn't find any humorous. Maybe that's not representative and it gets better? Who knows, because it was getting too boring. At least xkcd *used* to be good.

    Also, I guess I'm just going to have to get over the reuse of the acronym "ASW" for some pictoblag, in spite of how much less cool it becomes...thanks, people.

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  35. First you say it's based on his life, then you say it's a rip-off of another comic? Make up your mind.

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  36. Jesus Christ 10:05 learn to read.

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  37. Take a five minute break from being a retard and consider the fact that it's entirely possible to base a comic off one's life while ripping off the rather unique format of another.

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  38. By the first sentence I could tell this was an aloria post. Where is Carl?

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  39. Is it a "vacation because we don't know why is isn't posting right now" or a real vacation. :P

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  40. I killed him so I could take over the blog. That post he left on the sidebar about being gone for a week is totally just to cover up my crime.

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  41. It's a "he handed the reins over for a week" vacation. He does it periodically. He's not necessarily away, he just needs a break sometimes.

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  42. "Just read the first forty-something "a softer world" comics...and didn't find any humorous. Maybe that's not representative and it gets better? Who knows, because it was getting too boring. At least xkcd *used* to be good."

    ASW was never a comic which was primarily intended to be funny. this should have been immediately apparent.

    "Also, I guess I'm just going to have to get over the reuse of the acronym "ASW" for some pictoblag, in spite of how much less cool it becomes...thanks, people."

    as opposed to what exactly?

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  43. Don't worry, anon 10:02. I, too, think A Softer World is mostly shit. And yeah, I get that it's not "primarily intended to be funny."

    I will say it DOES have some quite clever juxtaposition between the background pictures and the text as well as just completely going a different direction than the reader was expecting and it can be mildly amusing sometimes.

    Just not often enough to deserve the reputation it has. It's basically the Patton Oswalt of webcomics.

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  44. see, there is a difference between someone being stupid enough to think that you're supposed to find them hilarious and not really enjoying the style.

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  45. Rob, XKCD was never a comic which was primarily intended to be funny. this should have been immediately apparent.

    Although, once you hit comic "5" he starts trying to be funny, so man that argument sucks. You know, reading this as a unit from the start and ignoring that 400-or-so-comics phase where he actually made a habit of posting "jokes" every day [well, except for the odd weird emo one], it really is just a picto-blog of what he hates that day or what he feels at a particular day. Ignoring those large "poster" comics that look like a lot of effort and inevitably turn into [imagine this:] posters, and ignoring specific updates [I'm not using "comics" anymore in this situation]... and, well, you're ignoring a lot, really. But, if you can ignore the bear in your bedroom, then you can get to sleep. Well, until the bear starts mauling your favourite things. Then you just have to sing to yourself, cover your ears and turn out the lights, waiting for sleep to come to you. It does come eventually if you let it. You know, if you just grin and bear with the situation.

    What do XKCD and a bear have in common? They're alright in principle, but that doesn't mean we want them in our personal space.

    Mostly just looking for an excuse to link to this. Maaaaaaaaaaaan. Totally badass

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  46. rob i'm late for work but i would like to apologise for hurting your feelings last night. please take back calling me a cuttlefish.

    derek

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  47. why do people assume that when I think they are morons that they have offended me somehow? I honestly just think you're an idiot. really.

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  48. Long time reader, first time commenter...

    I remember reading a discussion a little while ago about how new Random() (look nerd humour! if you get it you are special) should handle corrections. Today I was reading one of my favorite blogs (coincidentally also about making fun of comics) and I think the way he handled the correction is a good approach.

    http://joshreads.com/?p=7349#comment-866633

    Would it be so hard to reply to a forum post and admit a mistake?

    PS Sorry for beating a dead horse, but seeing that comment made me think of the matter again.

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  49. "They’re just flip sides of a coin forged of pretension"

    This is probably one of the greatest lines I've ever read here.

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  50. 784 is obviously a continuation of 182. Being with that chick is torture, but she acts so lovey-dovey that he'd feel like a complete asshole if he left her.

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  51. Don't worry Rob, I'll always like you.

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  52. if only i didn't abhor you :(

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  53. Are any of you ever curious about anal sex? I don't mean finding someone willing to take one up the bunghole, I mean... you know, being on the receiving end? I mean, of course I've tried using dildos to get some idea of what it's like but it's not really the same thing as a true organic phallus being directed by some powerful being.

    I don't know. Just a bit curious is all. A bit scared to try.

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  54. If Randall was really dumped recently or has been such a failure in the love side of his life, then I think he should make some effort in separating his life from his comics.

    Now I'm sincerely HATING Randall's use of coloring. It's not that I don't like the addition of coloring and shading to the comic, but I would be much more approving of it if I didn't know that by next strip Randall will just ditch it out and go with his shitty black stick figures on white void again. When the best temporary improvement you can make is add color and simple shading, it's a sad statement about the quality of your art...

    Also, re: hands with fingers: that's just her grabbing the pillow, the wrinkles look like fingers, but we just know Randall wouldn't achieve that level of detail, right? He doesn't even draw hair on males!

    And I won't even comment on the... argument of the strip? I don't know how to call it, it's not a joke and it's not a plot. Anyway, it's fucking sad, and even sadder that people think GOOMHs should apply. Unless they're just joking. I'll give them that...

    And the alt-text is just pure shit.

    Mole

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  55. Well, I was looking at some past comics and I can tell by this one http://xkcd.com/157/ that he knows he is drawing worthless shit. Is that a good point for him or not?

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  56. Anon 5:20 - I think that is less of an admission that he draws worthless shit and more about ridiculing another shitty webcomic.

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  57. How could he kick her to the curb? She prolly owns the house.

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  58. Anon 5:20 - See the alt-text. He's taking the piss out of Megatokyo. God forbid Randall ever acknowledge his OWN shittiness.

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  59. Yup he's draining the piss straight out of Megatokyo's metaphorical bladder there.

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  60. Okay, my bad. I guess that was just too far-fetched.

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  61. Anon447: Disregard everything you've ever heard about relationships, or what Randall keeps telling us, because finding someone to violate you like that.... that's what love is.

    From a forum discussing webcomics: "I know the guy who does XKCD. Or did. He was in a couple of my math classes in high school. Needless to say, we all hated him because he f*cked the curve on everything he touched.

    Nice guy, though."

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  62. Rob wrote:
    >> "Just read the first forty-something "a
    >> softer world" comics...and didn't find any
    >> humorous. Maybe that's not representative and
    >> it gets better? Who knows, because it was
    >> getting too boring. At least xkcd *used* to
    >> be good."
    >>
    >> ASW was never a comic which was primarily
    >> intended to be funny. this should have been
    >> immediately apparent.

    Ok, you've already stated you believe xkcd is trying to be funny (regardless of whether it is; that's not the point), and I would agree. Now people are claiming xkcd is trying to rip off "A Softer World", which I haven't seen you disagree with. If this is true, Randall must find "A Softer World" to be funny, and you almost certainly recognize that he does. This was the assumption I was going on when I was linked to the ...can I call it a comic? whatever.


    -anon 10:02

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  63. Rob wrote:
    >> as opposed to what exactly?

    Eh, I was just agitated and shouldn't have posted that. But, if you're still curious:

    http://www.google.com/search?q=asw+site%3Aen.wikipedia.org

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  64. raven are we going to trust the word of every forum user ever

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  65. Well I mean, that's where I get my news from. Why shouldn't I just trust them for everything?

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  66. Hey i know this might be a reaaally long shot but i think this comic might be an inception reference. Hear me out.
    So yea, the first two panels are 'it's so much easier to fall asleep beside you' and then the alt text is 'sweet unintersectig dreams'. K wait, i'll type out the explanation as if xkcdexplained did it:
    "The author just watched inception and has been trying to get trippy dreams with lopsided walls and topsy turvy worlds where the liquid in glasses of water is slanted. In order to accomplish this, he uses the woman under the cover on the other end of the bed to keep the covers taut to ensure he doesn't fall off the bed so he can sleep kinda slanted instead of horizontal (assuming he sleeps on his back). The author is trying to show how quirky he is because he (presumably) loves this woman he shares his bed with but it's more important to have a trippy, inception-type dream than it is to ensure this woman knows he loves her (by cuddling with her)"

    Again, i know it's a long shot but i'd love for someone to explain why this interpretation is wrong. And p.s. of all people, i'm not an xkcd apologetic but then again maybe this is just a desperate attempt to cling to the hope that xkcd comics still have layers of complexity beyond the obvious!!

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  67. @joel According to the alt text, he's going to have sweet, uninteresting dreams. Therefore, any notion that he wants to have a crazy inception dream, which would be interesting, is not possible. You're reading too much into something which really shouldn't be given that much time.

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  68. @Joel: I'm not going to say your interpretation is wrong. I will however say that you're extrapolating pretty damn far. If you want to go with your interpretation, that's great (Read: Death of the Author), but I don't think for a moment that's what Randy was going for.

    It seems clear you're defending XKCD more to yourself than to us. If that's really what you want to do, more power to you. If you want to add layers of complexity to the comics that don't really exist, as long as you enjoy it, then go nuts. But I wouldn't bet on that being Randy's intent. No, I'd bet Randy got randy with a girl he doesn't actually like that much, and made a comic about it.

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  69. "According to the alt text, he's going to have sweet, uninteresting dreams."

    He wrote "sweet uninTERSECTing dreams", not "uninteresting".

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  70. Side Note: XKCDexplained has made me sad lately. Not as subtle as it used to be, not as much written as there used to be... one could argue that's because there is less to say about the most recent comics because they are so mind meltingly shallow, but it seems like they are just getting tired of writing things about XKCD. I suspect they are just pumping something out for the sake of having something out on time...

    The irony of that didn't sink in until after I had written it out.

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  71. Wow Aloria, you manged to say your a single women on the internet with out being barraged by a million rampant men. Either your vitriolic posts are as a shield, or all men who hate XKCD are very happy and content.

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  72. Or she's slept with all of us already. The harlot.

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  73. I work with these two different guys. They sit in cubicles directly adjacent to me. One of them, whenever his girlfriend calls, puts on this ridiculous baby-talk voice throughout the entire conversation. It's horrible.

    One time I was out having a smoke with the other guy, and mentioned something about my girlfriend, and he, out of the blue says "I haven't had a girlfriend in 6 years." He sounded like Eeyore.

    Basically, I work with Randy Munroe split into two people.

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  74. @Anon958 I laughed pretty hard at that

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  75. I'm just going to point out that the girl appears to be trying to smother herself with the pillow in panel 2 and leave it at that.

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  76. the red matches the colour of the red spiders
    her spider hand enforces this

    the red spiders are women, especially around menstruation. red is the symbol of blood and of the full moon (once a month) and their limbs represent their clinginess and inability to let go

    in xkcd 8 ( http://xkcd.com/8/ ), the red spiders invade and conquer the cubes on sketch paper, representing randall's love of math being overtaken by women. early xkcd was randall's mind, just him and his opinions and tastes and ideas.

    in xkcd 43, ( http://xkcd.com/43/ ) the red spiders build something using math. they are bastardising randall's male only profession and using his own strength against him. he weakens.

    also note that in 47 ( http://xkcd.com/47/ ), randall sends a lot of (all male) stick-figures as a counter offensive to stop them. the symbolism is so rich.

    there's also 427 ( http://xkcd.com/427/ ) which is so obvious i shouldn't even have to explain.

    the red spiders have won and have made randall's life a misery, sapping his love and knowledge of math to grade school basics.

    man, randall really is deep.

    or not

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  77. basically women are the reason why xkcd sucks now and have been tormenting randall munroe for his entire life. i don't see why he feels the need to defend them so much.

    "and of the full moon"

    uh, their circle bodies.

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  78. Fuck, for a bunch of people who call Randall autistic at every possible oppurtunity you sure do like to overanalyze shit.

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  79. oh and look at megan's hair and tell me those don't look like spider legs

    anon i'm not actually being serious about this

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  80. What, you thought I was serious? Man, you're even more retarded than I thought.

    (See how this can work both ways?)

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  81. Except, anon1211, it was clear R was being sarcastic. You, on the other hand, showed no signs of sarcasm.

    you lose and you are awarded no points.

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  82. I was clearly being sarcastic too! Maybe you just don't know sarcasm when you see it!

    Sheesh, no wonder you devote so much energy to hating xkcd, you get so worked up over dumb internet argumentsl ike this.

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  83. i miss the good olde trolls of yore
    sorry anon, you tried your best and that's what matters

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  84. @ Anon 9:57

    I'm willing to bet that the sort of people who go "ZOMG ZOMG gurl on intarweb pics pl0x" are very often the same sort of people who appreciate XKCD. On the other hand, maybe we just all think that having a girl's name and calling yourself a girl means jack squat on the internet. Finally, it's possible that people think (as I do) that it makes absolutely no difference what a person's gender is; here on this blog, they're just another faceless text generator.

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  85. isn't there a comic where randall blatantly punishes and derides someone for doing that?

    also a monty python comic but that hasn't stopped them

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  86. I would totally hit on aloria and ask for her pix, but as I've already seen her penis I'm uninterested.

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  87. @ R.

    There is:
    http://xkcd.com/322/

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  88. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  89. @Gamer_2k4: I'm willing to bet that the sort of people who go "ZOMG ZOMG gurl on intarweb pics pl0x" are very often the same sort of people who appreciate XKCD.

    You missed an important point there. They would do that in an attempt to be ironic. You know? Like, they'd say it and try to act like they were joking and being ironic because no one of their undoubtedly good breeding would possibly be seriously asking for a girls on a message board. The problem of course would be that they were simply using this mask of "irony" (they'd call it that, I wouldn't) to cover up the fact that they really do want to see pics. The objective being to hide this reality from others, and from themselves... because that would shatter their fragile egos when they realize they are nothing more than the bottom feeders of the internet. No one else will call him out on it either, because not only do they too want to see the pics, calling someone out risks being called out on something similar they may have said. It risks having the entire society of lies and pseudo-maturity they've built come crashing down around them. And so silence remains the standard and girls pics can continually be asked for as if the group was more mature than anyone else on the internet.

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  90. wow... people pictures of pretty girls??? and seeing tits???? what freaks!!! creepy weirdos!

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  91. "Ok, you've already stated you believe xkcd is trying to be funny (regardless of whether it is; that's not the point), and I would agree. Now people are claiming xkcd is trying to rip off "A Softer World", which I haven't seen you disagree with. If this is true, Randall must find "A Softer World" to be funny, and you almost certainly recognize that he does. This was the assumption I was going on when I was linked to the ...can I call it a comic? whatever."

    is everything a binary with you? either this comic tries to be funny 100% of the time or it doesn't? did you miss the word 'primary' in the post you quoted? like, why is this so hard to understand?

    Randy primarily attempts to be funny. this isn't to say he doesn't have the occasional foray into something which isn't trying to be funny at all. indeed, one of the more common cuddlefish complaints about our reviews is that some of the comics aren't supposed to be funny.

    notice the word "some" here! Randy, by and large, still tries to tell a joke, and it's the dominant assumption. this doesn't mean that he always does. but the primary intention of XKCD is to tell jokes.

    that has never been the primary intention of ASW. it is a comic which has jokes sometimes. Randy attempts to rip them off quite a bit lately--sometimes he tries for jokes, sometimes he doesn't.

    maybe if you were capable of figuring out what a "style" is, you would understand, but since you seem to think that people either tell jokes 100% of the time or don't tell jokes ever, there's really no helping you.

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  92. I am pretty sure there are several cuttlefish here but every time I see back-to-back "Anonymous" posts I imagine some guy arguing with himself.

    Also, the secret to being a girl on the internet is to pick sexually ambiguous names like "Aloria" [derived from the Latin "Hot and Steamy"] and flirt with everything that moves. That'll keep 'em guessing. Alternately, proclaim you like Twilight and people will no longer really care about you.

    Captcha: Vuganony. Slavic exorcism, obviously.

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  93. Yeah, when I read it I figuredit was an Inception reference too, given the "unintersecting dreams" thing. Presumably he's sleeping so far from her out of paranoia that their dreams would intersect if they were too close.

    Which is stupid and not how the movie worked, but yeah. Still think it's an Inception reference.

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  94. so is emily using a sarcastic tone to disagree that soliciting nude photography from total strangers is creepy, or is she just really, really surprised about this? i must know

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  95. WOW THAT'S FUNNY ROB I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD READ HAHAHAHA GET IT YOU'RE NOT SMART

    or is that carl that we're supposed to hate? i'm new here sorry :\

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  96. well, carl probably gets most of the hate, but my trolls are the most devoted. I appear to inspire a uniquely visceral loathing in my fantrolls. I've got a few theories but they don't explain all of them.

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  97. A lot of people are unable to stop themselves from personally identifying with the things they love. If they read criticism of whatever that thing is, they internalize the criticism and take it to mean that something must be wrong with them.

    Also, if someone likes something that's pretty obviously bad, they tend to realize that they're defending the indefensible at some internal level, causing a massive amount of projected rage.

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  98. Rob have you ever considered the explanation that you're a pedophile white supremacist?

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  99. this is also a community that rejects the idea of creator worship, so it goes to the other extreme.
    carl and rob are easy targets.

    (because they're so fat get it)

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  100. yes. that doesn't explain why the pedophile white supremacists have a particular vendetta against me

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  101. you obviously give them a bad name

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  102. which is to say, another theory needs to be required to explain their special hate for me

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  103. I am confused on syntax. Are they supremacists that think white pedophiles are the greatest or are they white supremacists who also happen to be pedophiles? This is an important distinction.

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  104. Felt kind of like an SMBC wanna-be joke, where you have something completely normal if not good, with a horrible caption or just something completely against what you were thinking.

    ex. http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=726#comic

    Couple wanting a baby? Normal. Until you realize they're stealing it.

    Couple in love sleeping together? Oh wait, he hates her.

    Call me crazy, but I like the SMBC one way more than Randall's. I feel like the pattern is similar, but if that's the pattern you want, SMBC blows XKCD out of the water. I'm sure there's plenty of other webcomics that would too.

    captcha, "Cogries"- "congress" pronounced with a mouth full of marbles, which of course is a requirement for citizenship on the docket. Don't believe me? What lies has the man been feeding you lately? And do those lies taste like marbles?

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  105. http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs182.snc4/37463_131495590220751_100000809326742_139316_940583_n.jpg

    kbye

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  106. The comic strip in question is just a joke. It's just a lame joke. It's supposed to be all "aww romantic" at first and then it's revealed to be an insult. xkcd has done this crap before and it sometimes is/was funny.

    Like the "Miss your loved ones? Now you don't have to." joke. With the laser scope whatever-the-thing-was-that-I-don't-remember.

    I understand that you don't like xkcd, but every time I read about an individual comic being bashed on this site, it's being bashed for all the wrong reasons. This article starts with a personal attack on the author and then tries to over-analyze simplistic, half-hearted filler. You pretty much just wasted your time writing this.

    It's definitely got that "A Softer World" vibe, however, so you get points for that.

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  107. or, you could be reading it wrong.

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  108. Does the new comic exist solely for the MC Aphasia joke? I think it does. He probably just watched one of the episodes of House that has it.

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  109. No, it also exists for the Quine joke so computer geeks can feel superior for getting it.

    Jon LaJoie did this joke better with his "WTF Collective" song.

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  110. it's pretty ballsy for randall to go out and mock bad observational comedians
    since his observational comedy is about 1,000x worse than anyone else's

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  111. "Does the new comic exist solely for the MC Aphasia joke? I think it does. He probably just watched one of the episodes of House that has it."

    Or maybe it was entirely for the yo mama joke.

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  112. Didn't get strips 1 and 4, strip 2 was actually pretty okay Mr Hat but probably would have done better as a standalone, not part of this potpourri. Strip 3, lame (haha quine).

    On another note, what the hell happened to xkcdexplainedexplained? Hasn't updated for several strips.

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  113. The Quine reference is from mathematical logic, most computer geeks would have no clue what it is. (Until today. Today the Wikipedia page on W.V.O. Quine will tell the world that he was mentioned on XKCD.)

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  114. Computer science geeks will know quine as a program that prints its own source code out. That's what the stupid strip is getting at. Of course, instead of making a clever joke about it, Randall just jammed in a reference because that's good enough for his pandering audience. References will always be mistaken for humor, which is why writing xkcd is the easiest job in the world.

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  115. Please, Aloria of the sweet areola, I don't care how long you've been out of the game. I just want to taste your delicious genitalia and show you how good it can feel to feel good.

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  116. So there are two "My name's Maya Tim-Tums, and I'm here to say" jokes, and two recurring character jokes. Each one is GOOMHbait for a different sort of XKCD nerd.

    I liked the implication that the audience were normal people and didn't think the 'jokes' were funny. I also liked that Randall saved up multiple jokes, for once.

    I think Randall's being self-deprecating here. He's admitted that the GOOMHbait is just like middle-of-the-road observational comedy. Both are successful, but both also require a certain amount of creativity to be funny beyond the "ha ha, yes I have noticed that" reaction.

    It is bloody difficult to have good observational comedy within the medium of the comic strip, particularly if that strip consists of stick figures and unrealistic dialogue.

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  117. Fuck, I'd never heard of aphasia but now I have and am able to classify my communication difficulties as an official disorder! It's not simply that I'm socially inept, there's a clinical explanation! People will be able to accept me now!

    Thankyou, XKCD. Thankyou.

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  118. Rob:
    "or, you could be reading it wrong."

    No, I read it a few times. I like to do that to make sure I didn't miss anything. It's still an over-analysis of a shitty stupid webcomic entry.

    I mean... there's nothing to say. It's just so bad I don't know why anything needs to be said. You might as well have just said "This comic is stupid" and any intelligent person would've accepted that.

    Unless you're telling me I read XKCD wrong, and that all those slightly deeper meanings seen in it were ACTUALLY there... but would you really defend the comic just so you could say that it was legitimately bashed? Do you really think Randall put THAT much thought into that entry?

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  119. yes, I'm telling you you are reading XKCD wrong. see, I'm very familiar with the style that he's going for. I've spent a fair amount of time writing it and when it's done well some of my favorite writing falls under that particular style.

    which is to say, it does not require that much effort to write, especially when it's this shitty. if Randy had put effort into it he might have actually managed to capture the style. but this is not a joke in the same vein as "miss your loved ones? now you don't have to!" because it's not a joke at all. it's a subverted expectation, yes, but not all subverted expectations are funny--indeed, tragedy is often built on subverted expectation.

    so yeah, you're reading the comic wrong because you apparently don't understand the style and the genre he is going for. and here's a tip: just because someone disagrees with your poorly thought out interpretation of the comic doesn't mean they "over-analyzed" it. "over-analyzed" is usually code for "I don't know how to think and take everything at the most superficial possible level."

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  120. I'm drubk right now. Alcohol is cool.

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  121. Thank you for clarifying that for me, Rob. I see what you mean. I'm also impressed by your patience. I take back that it was over-analyzed.

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  122. Okay am I the only one who can't get alt-text on the new comic?

    Not that I'm complaining, it's a blessed relief.

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  123. caught me on a good day, I guess.

    this is one of those situations where I like for the analysis to at least be on the right genre. making fun of something which wasn't supposed to be funny for not being funny is like complaining that 300 had too much violence and not enough political intrigue. (I had someone make that complaint once.) and in the case of XKCD it's easy to read it with the wrong genre in mind. (amazing, the power of perception.)

    you could argue that this one had a joke, or at least that it was inclined to make someone laugh, but the primary intention is not the "slapped in the face" of a punchline so much as the "punched in the gut" of a tragedy.

    I'm still mostly convinced it's a suicide/death reference. I will give you that, if this was intended to be funny and I've missed the mark, it is infinitely more shitty (not least because so many people read it otherwise).

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  124. xkcd already did aphasia before: http://xkcd.com/604/ (which also contains a classic line "what an adorable stuffed giraffe!")

    yo mama joke was dumb

    quine reference was dumb

    beret is attempting blubcheese-esque "humor", so I can't be too hard on him.

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  125. ha! It's funny because they're all white!

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  126. In the alt-text Randy is one step shy from telling an airplane food joke. I never actually thought that it would get this bad.

    Also, Panels one and three went totally over my head, panel four is just typical Beret guy being wacky and panel two is Randy, for the second time in two comics, being shit at subverted expectations.

    It would have been much better if it had read "She finds herself wishing she'd finished her degree so then she might have created something she's proud of". The way he has it goes on too long and by the time the punchline rolls around, you're already privy to the subversion so it's not as funny.

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  127. Please aloria, don't put words into Randall's mouth. He never said "look how bitter and jaded i am". He said "it's so much easier to fall asleep with you beside me" and so on. Just because you can sum up the comic in one sentence doesn't necessarily make it a bad comic. Please, only use quotation marks when you're quoting someone. I'm sorry I just really hate when people do this.

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  128. poor anon 5.53. with their allergy to scare quotes they are unable to survive in the wild for long

    Alt-text of newest one is pretty much the auld observation that bands who had a really successful debut album tend to release a second album which is about touring and being in a band.

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  129. M.C. Quine was quite funny; the rest of 785, not so much.

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  130. randall's demographic means he's more likely to complain about cafeteria food. it's more relevant to them.

    "Ever notice how the more successful observational webcomics become, the more their jokes focus on fucking and highschool?

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  131. one of the ads below this site.
    "Dog Eating It's Own Poo? Buy Stool Repel Um & Wormers To Help Control This Awful Habit"

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  132. That's a very poor example of "aphasia" (and so is pretty much every "aphasic" patient on "House" by the way). But Randall probably considers speech language pathology a soft science.

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  133. Sorry, that was supposed to be soft "science" for the proper Munroe attitude.

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  134. "M.C. Quine was quite funny; the rest of 785, not so much."

    QFT

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  135. Actually, I really liked MC Aphasia. It's a clever conceptual joke, executed straightforwardly -- which is as much as I ever ask for when I'm reading comic strips (that aren't Calvin and Hobbes, anyway).

    The rest was fecal-matter icing on that pretty tasty cake. MC Quine wasn't bad, but it was basically the same joke as MC Aphasia, and less "surreally funny" and more "I know computer science, please be my friend"

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  136. In attempting a cheap C.S. joke, Randall produces a quine that is NOT A QUINE.

    Way to go, Randall.

    Captcha: Hesse. Yeah, he didn't laugh at that one either.

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  137. @R.: The ads are smart and are commenting on your recent page views. Mine is telling me about cheating on my spouse, restoring comic books, and becoming a med. technician, for example. So I don't know what you've been up to.

    @785: meh. I assume he thought along the lines of "people really liked that 'XKCD at the airport' one, how can I capitalize on that idea again?". Next up, 'XKCD at the theatre!' [[that sounds familiar, does that exist? I don't want to look that up....]]

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  138. To make a quine, you need instructions on reproducing the *entire* text. Simply repeating something does not create a quine.

    For instance, this is a quine:

    Write the text between quotes twice, putting quotes around the second occurrence. "Write the text between quotes twice, putting quotes around the second occurrence."

    If you follow those instructions, you'll get exactly the same text as above. Randall got the 'repeating something with quotes the second time' bit of a quine... but he missed the whole um, point of a quine.

    Also: So what way is the first panel funny in a way that's not horribly offensive. So are we laughing at mental disabilities now?

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  139. Well to be fair we do that on this blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

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  140. Man, I really liked this update. I like the colors, and it made me laugh. That hasn't happened for me from xkcd in a while.

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  141. So, this comic finally establishes once and for all the character of Beret Man: He has no consistent character trait at all.

    I say that Beret man is Randall's response to youth's subverting of the "I" to their context (IE. Internet) culture.

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  142. someone asked before if i was being sarcastic when i said, "wait, people like looking at pictures of pretty girls???" - no comment

    anyways though, people like to bash and look down on guys who say "pix pls" when there is a *gasp* GIRL on the internet. Like it is terrible and reveals the guy to be a creep. This makes NO SENSE TO ME AT ALL. It is human nature to be curious and interested. When I hang out with my female friends and one of them has a new boyfriend, we all immediately ask to see a picture of him or ask if he is cute, what he looks like, etc. Does that make us creepy???

    can you people honestly say you're not at all curious what people look like when you talk to them over the internet? if i posted a picture, would you just ignore it because you're too good and non-shallow to bother? PLEASE.

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  143. I look like Thor, the norse god of thunder.

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  144. "When I hang out with my female friends and one of them has a new boyfriend, we all immediately ask to see a picture of him or ask if he is cute, what he looks like, etc. Does that make us creepy???"

    Emily is clever. She knows that one way of WINNING THE ARGUMENT! is to use a rubbish analogy that makes it look like you're right. eg:

    "I don't like xkcd."
    "Let's say that instead of you not liking xkcd, you'd said you didn't like black people. Is that a reasonable thing to say???"
    "Er, that's somewhat different..."
    "You RACIST"

    In this case the difference is the switch from "random person on the internet who you know nothing about apart from that they are a girl" to "new important person in the life of one of your best friends". Cunning. But not cunning enough.

    Oh, and it does at least make you shallow ZING

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  145. Emily: Are you fishing for a catcall or what?


    The truth is that yeah, men like to look at naked women. People also like to look at sleeping cats.

    But as it turns out, naked women and sleeping cats are both *very* well photographically represented on the internet already. Internet users feeling in the mood to look at some don't have to go begging random women/cat owners to take some more photos.

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  146. "anyways though, people like to bash and look down on guys who say "pix pls" when there is a *gasp* GIRL on the internet. Like it is terrible and reveals the guy to be a creep. This makes NO SENSE TO ME AT ALL. It is human nature to be curious and interested. When I hang out with my female friends and one of them has a new boyfriend, we all immediately ask to see a picture of him or ask if he is cute, what he looks like, etc. Does that make us creepy???"

    are you asking because you are hoping they are hot so you can masturbate to their picture later, like all the dudes who demand pictures of everything they think might be female?

    "can you people honestly say you're not at all curious what people look like when you talk to them over the internet? if i posted a picture, would you just ignore it because you're too good and non-shallow to bother? PLEASE."

    I know I don't particularly care what people look like. the only time I look at pictures are if someone expressly links to them (because I assume they have a reason for it) or if the thumbnail for their avatar is so weird I have to see what the fuck it is. neither of those have anything to do with "GOSH I WONDER WHAT THIS PERSON LOOKS LIKE."

    you might notice that nobody ever demands pictures of males on the internet. this is because "pix plz" is not just curiosity as to what people look like, but a sexist and creepy thing that nerds do in order to make sure nobody forgets that the nerd stereotype exists for a reason--they are lonely and never interact with females, and they like to harass girls that enter their boys-only clubhouse (the internet).

    demanding pictures is a really good way to harass a girl. it's pretty much a no-win situation for her--if she's pretty she's objectified, if she doesn't live up to the nerd's standards of attractiveness she's called ugly. it's kind of a big thing in western culture--female body image issues and sexism in general--and it is nowhere more prevalent than on the internet. (cf. John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory)

    I'd like to point out how sad it is that I am apparently more knowledgeable of feminist issues than you, though if you're the same emily who thinks that making fun of people for lacking machismo is a totally non-sexist thing I'm really not surprised.

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  147. Naked pictures of woman are galore on the internet, but there's a certain distance from them. Getting photos of someone you actually "know," even if only via the internet, provides a completely different feelings. It's like watching a video of a woman strip vs. going to a strip club. There is a reason why guys solicit women for photos.

    That being said, I absolutely agree that it's a sexist practice. What's shocking though is the rate of adaptation by women. "Popular" women on the internet are typically attractive, "slutty," and willing to share photographs with males quite easily (by slutty, I mean willing to tease and flaunt their sexuality, in a way that men are typically not expected to; I don't want to get into a conversation on the word slut). I won't go so far as to say they are degrading themselves, but I feel that some definitely are in order to fit in, in internet culture.

    That being said something more interesting - to me - is the homophobia in the internet. You'll never see guys solicited for photos, but there are gay guys on the internet (I have seen women solicit, but as with most things in life, MEN are expected to ask first, and in the case of soliciting photos it's no different. Not that I'm complaining, just saying that internet norms are dependent on "RL" norms). If a man was to solicit another man for pix, this would be interpreted as that man trolling or just being silly, otherwise that man would obviously be a "fag." Anyone who has taken even 2 minutes to look on 4chan will note that word is probably the only word used more often than "nigger" or "pedo".

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  148. Rob is only jealous because he is too fat to post his pics on the internet.

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  149. UndercoverCuddlefishAugust 27, 2010 at 11:39 AM

    if you walked down the street and asked every girl you saw to show her your tits you would probably be either arrested or hospitalized fairly quickly which is really the problem here

    i can sort of sympathize with emily here because i too am kind of tired of dudes who pretend that wanting to see pictures of girls on the internet is some sort of perverted deviant behavior that you should be ostracized for when in truth the white knights decrying such behavior are every bit as misogynistic as their opponents

    but my sympathy ends there because virtually every time you come across "pix plz" or "tits or gtfo" the guy is just being a worthless asshole and is about as ironic as my left nut (my left nut is the sincere one) so the practice really just needs to be retired i think the internet is old enough for that now

    re:the new comic

    there was literally no emotional response from me when i saw this one i wish randall would produce something that could actually make me laugh but at this point i am willing to settle for him making something that pisses me off because this comic is just mediocre now and i literally cannot find anything interesting to say about it

    fuck you randull "i still need an editor and possibly some hallucinogenic drugs you guys" mundane

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  150. well here is where i offer something of a surrender: I guess my problem is that I occasionally lazily assume people think like I do and not in some weird way. I personally cannot fathom masturbating to some random person's picture i met on the internet - sure, i guess i will judge a person to be attractive or unattractive based on the pic but that doesn't influence at all whether i like them or want to be friends with them or not. In fact, i kind of find unattractive people to be endearing because i think being strange or ugly or quirky, etc. makes you unusual and i find unusual people using have a more interesting take on life - attractive people who know they are attractive and exploit that attractiveness for personal gain can be obnoxious and boring. (sorry brief tangent).

    as far as you being "more knowledgeable of feminist issues" than me... let me put it this way, Rob. As I mentioned above, I seem to have a mental block when it comes to this stuff... I view feminism on a personal level to be something that has already been achieved and transcended. I have EMBRACED my femininity and cherish it and love it and feel it empowers me to be a strong person. If I am objectified because i am cute or judged negatively because of my appearance, i don't view it as an attack on me, i view it 100% as an indictment towards the person doing the judging, NOT a reflection of me.

    I am who I am. I will overcome all obstacles. If/when I am faced with absurd sexist/bigoted barriers, I will smash through them! Nothing can stop me.

    well maybe that makes me unsympathetic to the cause and to sisterhood, etc. and i recognize my point of view is definitely not representative of my gender, so with that in mind, yeah. You're right. You are more concerned with feminism than I am - I think it is every person's responsibility to stand up for their own rights and their duty to make sure they are strong enough to not be defeated when the petty idiots of the world try to take them down. I encourage that attitude in my friends and family. Maybe I am wrong, but that is how I feel.

    And as I stated in our previous argument, I used "machismo" incorrectly. I apologize for my miscommunication. The idea that i was attempting to convey was that courage, personal strength, ambition, moxie, etc. are important traits that should be valued. If someone lacks those traits, I feel they need to either nourish them inside themselves or find a partner that has them to "complete" them and find balance. Do you want to dismiss my opinion of that? Go ahead.

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  151. I actually have no issues with this strip, except maybe that it's a bit whiny. Taken with the rest of his relationship comics, I suppose I can see why people might be tired of the tone, but whatever. At least it's not being smug superior bullshit, which is about infinitely more terrible and I expect that on monday.

    But really, even among those who aren't trying to take it for more than what it is, you're taking it for more than what it is. The alt-text (in this case) is not a part of the strip, so it's text should not be considered. The strip is saying "It's so easy to fall asleep with you because I want to get the fuck away from you." It's subverting expectations, usually people say "I love sleeping with you because you're so comfortable." Then the alt text comes in and throws in a mild inception reference, basically saying "Thank god we aren't together in my dreams too."

    Yeah, it's pretty shitty, and I'm not sure if Randy is trying to be funny, or cute, or tragic, or what. But I have much less of a problem with this one than other recent ones (including todays). I don't think it's an improvement, just a meh.

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  152. @Anon 8:49: Um, yes. People have been laughing at mental disabilities since time immemorial, and "MC Aphasia" isn't even on the level of "I bowled like I was at the Special Olympics" in terms of offensiveness. It's a silly, geeky conceptual joke. If you can't laugh at something for fear it might be offensive, get your head out of your ass.

    Sincerely,

    Bitchy McCunterson

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  153. Oi, I thought that there was a glitch that had sent me back to one of the older, better comics when I checked Xkcd today. Cuz this one was actually funny!

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  154. UndercoverCuddlefishAugust 27, 2010 at 1:23 PM

    for very liberal definitions of funny

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  155. its not even MEANT to be funny, is it?

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  156. dude, references are hilarious, don't you know that?

    APHASIA

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  157. "(my left nut is the sincere one)"

    pix pls

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  158. you come across a fork in the road...

    one testicle tells only truths, the other only lies.

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  159. @ Emily:
    "can you people honestly say you're not at all curious what people look like when you talk to them over the internet?"

    Yes, I can honestly say that. Somewhere above I refer to people on the internet as "faceless text generators," and I said that because that's really how I feel about them. I'm not here to make close friends. I'm not here to see what everyone looks like. I'm here to put in my two cents, and if anyone responds, I'll follow up if it's worth my time. The name above the text posted on blogs and forums is only useful for following conversation flow, nothing more.

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  160. God, Emily, if you're that naive men must take advantage of you every day unless you're totally ugly.

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  161. UndercoverCuddlefishAugust 27, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    @anon1:33 i took a few pictures for you but the sincerity in all of them was too blurry for me to bother uploading any sorry

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  162. I want to see pictures of Emily's breasts please.

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  163. What the shit is up with today's comic?

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  164. I used to think like Emily. It's a really good way to avoid getting outraged or hurt by the crazy amount of societally-sanctioned sexism, but it is kind of naive and can possibly make you complicit in some rather unpleasant behaviors (ex: asking for pictures of girls on the internet).

    However, I honestly think I was happier when I thought like that... I don't know. It's just so difficult to see sexism absolutely everywhere, when no one else even thinks you should care. Saying "I'm not gonna interpret this to be sexist" is one strategy for staying sane.

    It's a pretty understandable way to deal with a difficult issue, is what I'm saying.

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  165. Oh, I get it. The person with a language disorder wanted to be a rapper for some reason. And they wanted their rapper name to personal, but they couldn't think of anything clever so they just named themselves after their disorder.
    And they can't freestyle. And apparently rap has regressed back to the 90s where most lyrics were things like, as Mike Birbiglia says, "Ribbity-rap rap rap raptastic"

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  166. Never before has Randall's decision to portray his characters as having soulless, white expanses of emptiness for faces been more appropriate.

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  167. I was totally going to objectify aloria based on her photo (I was going to say she had nice lips and chubby fingers) but then rob called me out on it before I did it and now I feel bad on the inside.

    emily you're not genetically female can I have pix of you so I can masturbate the pain away?

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  168. Nobody in particularAugust 27, 2010 at 5:52 PM

    In today's comic...

    "Existential" means "Makes mainstream pop culture references" and "Doesn't know what women are".

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  169. "God, Emily, if you're that naive men must take advantage of you every day unless you're totally ugly. "

    As we were saying, about loser guys on the internet and their limited interactions with women.

    LOL

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  170. "anyways though, people like to bash and look down on guys who say "pix pls" when there is a *gasp* GIRL on the internet. Like it is terrible and reveals the guy to be a creep."

    It is, and it does. Objectively and empirically.

    "This makes NO SENSE TO ME AT ALL. It is human nature to be curious and interested."

    Curiosity makes you human. Derailing all conversations everywhere because you can't control your compulsion to ask for titties so you can jerk off makes you a dick.

    "When I hang out with my female friends and one of them has a new boyfriend, we all immediately ask to see a picture of him or ask if he is cute, what he looks like, etc. Does that make us creepy???"

    Are the pictures of his wang?

    "can you people honestly say you're not at all curious what people look like when you talk to them over the internet? if i posted a picture, would you just ignore it because you're too good and non-shallow to bother? PLEASE."

    Why would you post a picture of yourself, and why would anyone care? I can guarantee you that if I or any other guy posted a photo, no one would give a shit, and we would be rightly ridiculed for transparent narcissism. If a woman did so, no one would say anything, as they would be too busy mashing "save as..." before the person posting came to their senses and deleted it.

    And then they would masturbate, furiously.

    All of this was probably covered already, so apologies

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  171. I am no one special, believe you me. I'm a normal guy who is learning all the time about new things. The one thing I've never needed to be told was that you should respect people. If someone holds a door open for me, I say thank you, if someone lends me a dollar I promise to pay them back and if someone shows me something creative they made that I dislike, I hold my opinion, perhaps I even say I like it. I don't look at them and laugh at their petty attempts at creativity, I don't mock them for trying to be creative and I certainly don't describe to them exactly why their so pathetic each and every other week day. Have you done anything, anything, that you can say makes you honestly superior to any human being? If you aren't Abe Lincoln, Gandhi or Mother Theresa then no. I have no trouble with you disliking something, that's fine. But to openly mock someone who was just trying to be creative is pathetic.

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  172. so there are only two people in the world who have ever done anything worthwhile?

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  173. (the joke being that women aren't people)

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