Foregoing the traditional review here for obvious reasons.
This one comes at a time when I actually had a post queued up about the picto-blag. It was in response to this article, where a man wrote the bot described in this comic, and despite it being an unwanted XKCD reference in my daily reading, it didn't make me all stabby. The primary reason is this: while not the best idea in the universe, it's a reasonably clever idea for someone who has some income to try out. Randy has plenty of these--it's why the Illustrated Picto-Blag idea came up in the first place.
And then Randall announces that he won't be trying for regular comics, but will try to have something to fill the space with something interesting. This could be a turning point where he finally stops trying to make comics and starts just going for picto-blag posts. I think he could be a lot more successful this way. That's basically it!
====
On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to note that I've never been so proud of the commenting community as I have been lately, watching you eviscerate noted illiterate fuckhead and pseudo-intellectual "Mr. Pitchy." Keep being you.
Friday, November 12, 2010
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This comic is a paradigm shift, and here’s why. Previously, Randy had a blag which he was unable to update with any regularity. He also had a comic which he arbitrarily forces himself to update 3x a week. This created a scenario where, in order to fulfill his arbitrary guidelines, he would post blag-worthy ideas in comic form as Randy Monroe’s Pict-O-Blag, which was recognized by haters but not by Randy himself.
ReplyDeleteHere, Randy has taken broken down the wall and decided that instead of having a comic and a blag, he would recognize that he could publish his blag as a comic and fulfill his 3x per week quota, ultimately resulting in less work for him. I’m sorry that Randy has a sick family member (something which happens to everybody multiple times in their lives), but mark my words: long after his friend dies and this “ordeal” is over, his comic will continue to have similar “comics” which are not funny and would work word-for-word as a blag.
His family member is about to die, but his blag already has.
Dear God I hope this is a paradigm shift.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in addition to hating on the "illiterate fuckhead", xkcd sucks also had a RECORD NUMBER of comments on that last post. 250 comments is a pretty fucking remarkable feat in my book.
I have never seen that comment before.
ReplyDeleteWe've gotten more than that a few times. Specifically 631, the XKCDsucks book drama, and that "anthropologists sucks" comic.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I am gay.
ReplyDeleteyeah, usually it takes a particularly loathsome comic to get it up to 250. you should all still be proud of yourselves and all that
ReplyDeleteActually didn't Ryan Learn get us that high as well?
ReplyDeleteI think so. I can't quite tell if 817 got us to 250 because of our collective evisceration of Pitchy or because the comic is just that bad.
ReplyDeleteRandall really needs to learn to communicate more effectively. I mean, first he says that he's not going to force himself to stick to a schedule, yet then he says he's still going to put something up every M/W/F. Which, you know, sounds like sticking to a schedule. I was really unsure of the purpose of his message..."I'm not going to stick to a schedule except actually I'll still be putting something here as often as usual"? If that's the case, what's the point of announcing it? Basically he's just saying everything is going to go on as usual.
ReplyDeleteI guess the consensus is that he means he'll still be putting *something* there every M/W/F, but it just won't be a comic. But I didn't get that from what he said. Especially since he said he "likes to draw," implying that the things he puts in that space WILL in fact be comics in some form. Well, maybe I'm the only one who was confused here and I'm just complaining too much about his little picto-blog post.
But wouldn't it have been better to just put a permanent textual note at the top of the main page, saying "I have an illness in the family so I won't be able to make as many comics as usual. Read my "blag" for more information."? Why turn his message into a "comic"? And anyone who misses this comic won't even have any idea what's going on, since there's no permanent note on the site about it.
It was Pitchy (is that what we're calling him now?); almost none of the comments actually pertained to 817 after his "I write better than you" thing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Chaos, and everyone else attacking him for the apparent contradtion, the comic didn't say "I'll be making a new comic every Monday/Wednesday/Friday", it said, "I have a lot of doodles that you've never seen, and hopefully that will tide you over while I get things sorted out."
Wow, reading comprehension fail. Scratch Chaos off the "everyone else attacking him for the apparent contradiction" list.
ReplyDeletewell, you can call him what you want, but I like my demeaning nickname for him
ReplyDelete#817 is so much funnier if you interpret the characters' positions to mean that:
ReplyDelete-The girl has given up on life. This is saying that women are so co-dependent and are reduced to pathetic, sobbing bags without men.
-The boy is just very cold and would like a sweater or a jacket. This is saying that men are just horny fucks who want a woman to "hug" them.
...Nah.
And dear god, I hope this is not a paradigm shit. I fucking hated Final Fantasy XIII.
captcha: comase
xkcd leaves me COMAtoSE.
Dang, Pitchy's really getting under Rob's skin.
ReplyDeleteis he? I hadn't noticed
ReplyDelete@Anon 6:25
ReplyDelete#817 is so much funnier if you read my edited version.
Wait, you guys are still talking trash about someone who's going through a family crisis like that? Fuck you guys. Watching a family member deal with a serious illness is a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteok
ReplyDeleteYeah don't you know that when people's family members get sick they become infallible and any criticism against them is retroactively a crime against humanity?
ReplyDelete@6:54
ReplyDeleteWho here is talking shit about Randall? I'm not really sure whose post you're responding to.
Captcha: biast
Anon is biast against the xkcdsucks community.
@7:06 is right. I read that on the intartubes somewhere and it must be true.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:06, you are obviously a troll. It is intarWEBS, you foolish person!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, I don't see any 8:06 post!
ReplyDeleteAlsworth has the mystical power of seeing secret hidden comments!
That is the only believable explanation.
...why do you guys hate me so much...
ReplyDeleteThe only believable explanation is that I am the illiterate fuckhead.
ReplyDeleteAnd then John was a zombie.
1: People do not become immediately immune to criticism because they are going through hard times
ReplyDelete2: What illness requires 99% of someones time? Watching over a sick person has a LOT of down time. Yeah, it's not pleasant time at all but much of the time is spent trying to find ways to distract yourself from the horrific reality before you. He keeps asking for distractions via e-mail (games) when if he REALLY LOVED DRAWING as much as he admits he'd be just as easily able to distract himself that way. If anything this is the PERFECT TIME to bang out some awesome comics. Really flesh some ideas out, spend hours drawing them etc etc.
3: blah blah blah
I know people will start hating you a whole lot less if you start posting under your new name Mr. Pitchy.
ReplyDeleteI know that I will also accept PitchPork as a viable alternative. But I'm just an anonymous, unfunny, fuckwit, redux fanboy posting on the internet.
Also, the 818 redux post was really bad. It could have been funny, but it really wasn't. Stay classy tan and orange hate blog, stay classy.
"But wouldn't it have been better to just put a permanent textual note at the top of the main page, saying "I have an illness in the family so I won't be able to make as many comics as usual. Read my "blag" for more information."? Why turn his message into a "comic"? And anyone who misses this comic won't even have any idea what's going on, since there's no permanent note on the site about it."
This. This so hard.
@Capn
ReplyDeleteI agree about the 818 redux post. It really seemed dragged out and boring. Redux can be really hilarious when they're reviewing a comic where randall's trying to be funny, but I felt like the 818 and even the 817 posts there were quite disappointing.
Fuck man, the blog was bugging you. You guys were even having an argument about semicolons at one point, and i chimed in with my 2 cents about semicolons.
ReplyDeleteMy post was lost in the sea of piss created by pitchfork i'm afraid. Semicolons are like a knife; if you use them wrong, its fucking painful, but if you use them correctly you get neatly chopped carrots. Wait...
heheheheheheh
ReplyDeleteMan, the mention. I just knew it would happen. Hahahaha.
I knew it from the beginning: I'd gain notoriety and cause much anxiety in the xkcdsucks society with my games. That they'd call it imbecilety, and lack of propriety, and quite a variety of unpleasant names!
But it has always been my decision to offend all your presuppositions!
Oh, the world seems in tune on a Fall afternoon when I'm paltering plebians in this place.
Eh, you're no Ryan Learn.
ReplyDeleteyou people are harsh
ReplyDeleteoh god, Rob is proud that we destroyed pitchfork and showed him to be a fucktard
ReplyDeletesuch low expectations, like the father who scoffs when his wife suggests saving money for college
"like there's anywhere that kid would be let in"
I love you Rob.
Pro Tip: Butchering Tom Lehrer never makes you look smart.
ReplyDeleteYou know, pitchface, you were misusing "thine" pretty hard in your poetry session on the previous entry. I don't think this is a path that works well for you. You should stick to quoting lukewarm science fiction movies to express your feelings.
ReplyDeleteLol@ the latest pitchy post. Whenever someone is made to look like an idiot assbag on the internet, they feel like it's a clever response to be all "LOL GUIS I WAS TROLLING ALL ALONG!!" when really all that does is prove that they are indeed an idiot assbag.
ReplyDeleteDoes this ring a bell?
ReplyDeletehttp://lol.i.trollyou.com/
Yeah, I bet it does.
I wish you guys had less of a sense of morality and etiquette, that way we could flood his "blag" with awful insults on his family and sex life.
ReplyDeleteImagine it. He comes to check the comments to get his daily dose of ego and sees shit about his loved ones and Megan dying. Hilarious.
@anonymous
ReplyDeleteIn case you noticed, xkcdsucks did not take the obvious tack of treating #818 as a comic, eviscerating it like it was supposed to be a comment, and otherwise completely continue to trash Randall. In fact, it appears to have taken a much more reasonable and moderated course.
Anon9:31
ReplyDeleteMaybe so, but I'd venture to say that it's rather difficult to write FUNNY COMICS when you're all depressed about family troubles.
I thought the redux post was funny.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, Randy said in his "blag" that someone is sick but everyone is going to be fine, so it doesn't sound like anyone's dying. So I don't know why people are running around acting like Randy's whole family is dying or something.
Also, I think semicolons are fine; there are times when it's good to use them.
And what the hell did Kurt Vonnegut have against hermaphrodite transvestites (or in more polite terms, intersex crossdressers) anyways?
protip: just because he wrote a few great novels didn't make Kurt Vonnegut the ultimate authority on everything that is writing.
ReplyDeleteSemicolons are great if used properly, but you have to know when to use them. (which is not all the time)
And I think the American Society for Transgender Semicolon Users is going to have serious concerns about that comment.
Really, I could write my entire post replacing periods with semicolons; as you can see, it makes complete sense; the ideas are adjoined by a common idea, the idea being that periods are interchangeable with semicolons; it is clear that despite the lack of common use of the miraculous semi-colon, it clearly has the ability to be used anywhere deemed appropriate by the writer; as they say, a writer writes his work, right?;
ReplyDeleteThat's correct, I ended a paragraph with a semi colon after using a question mark; clearly I'm a paragon of literary genius;
clearly shut up
ReplyDeleteIf Randall really liked drawing he would use drawings in his comics instead of a few squiggly lines.
ReplyDeleteProtip: If someone puts a protip in front of his advice, then it's not actually a protip.
ReplyDeleteAnd what the hell did Kurt Vonnegut have against hermaphrodite transvestites (or in more polite terms, intersex crossdressers) anyways?
ReplyDeleteAre you people REALLY not getting this simile? Do we need to make this, like, a math joke?
Define (x,y) s.t. x= number of actual/apparent male organs, y = number of actual/apparent female organs. Define cross-dressing as a function, "C" from the Real set of numbers (ℝ) to the Dressing As set of numbers (ℂ), s.t. C(x,y) ={(1-x,1-y) | x,y∈ℝ; (1-x),(1-y)∈ℂ}. Define point H as (1,1). Take |ℂ(H)|. That is how often you should use a semicolon, according to what's his face.
And if math and language both evade you, then maybe XKCD is not for you, my friend.
For the record, I like semicolons as much as colons, and just as sparse or else you sound like a moron who doesn't know how to segregate his thoughts.
Um, Raven, it might be best to stop embarrassing yourself. It looks like you aren't very good with mathematics.
ReplyDeleteFine, I am convinced. I shall compress my expansive vocabulary into something you plebeians can understand.
ReplyDeletePerhaps someday we can even be - not to sound too pedestrian - "friends".
Hitler's parents died and to this day, people are still talking shit about him and saying he was so bad and evil.
ReplyDeleteThankyou anon, I now have the authority to tell the lot of you to shut the hell up.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this blog can be harsh at times, XKCDsuxredux really took it too far. I've lost quite a bit of respect for that site.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, this whole Pitchfork thing is completely stupid. He's a random user who thinks he's intelligent, seems to have a big ego and likes to get into arguments. Giving him this recognition is the dumbest thing about the whole situation.
this blog is built on ripping people apart and Randy isn't giving us anything interesting. we need to make fun of our stupid trolls.
ReplyDeleteDammit, I'm tired of people having a hissy fit over Redux's post.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit, I didn't find it funny. I thought it was pretty lame actually.
But I'm not OFFENDED... they were making a joke. I felt it was actually very reserved, for a redux post. They could have said Randall is a cross-dressing pedophile rapist serial killer, like they have in previous posts, but they didn't. Showed some ability to laugh at themselves and the blog, too.
It was an okay post, even though I didn't really find it that funny.
That's |C(H)| obviously; I obviously must have used ℂ again because of my subconscious Freudian sexual deviancy.
ReplyDelete@Ernesto: That [severely flawed] mathematical mess is only for people who don't get similes. If you get the simile, you can move on. If you don't get the simile, then either you don't know what a "hermaphrodite" is, or you're functionally illiterate -- in either case, I don't really care.
I only really studied applied Mathematics in university -- never cared beyond basic proofs and theory. Also, no: I won't stop embarrassing myself. This is the Internet.
And Rob, just admit that your feathers have been ruffled so we can all move on to the grim future.
Wow, I just went over to Redux to see what all the drama is about... and why does anybody read that blog?
ReplyDeleteRobbie doesn't have feathers. He's not a bird, silly!
ReplyDeleteif my feathers are ruffled, it is only because people think that Mr. Pitchy has ruffled my feathers. of all the trolls we've ever had I think I care the least about this one--I just happen to find the community's vivisection of him highly amusing.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Vonnegut was saying that you should NEVER use semicolons, as he said "do not use semicolons" and said that they "stand for nothing." The reason the simile doesn't make sense is because intersex crossdressers (hermaphrodite transvestites) DO stand for something.
ReplyDeleteMany people who were born intersex identify both their gender and their sex as INTERSEX, and NOT as either male or female. Which, you know, makes sense, considering that they were not born either male or female.
Therefore, an intersex person (who identifies as intersex) dressing in a man's suit or a woman's dress would be crossdressing. An intersex person dressed androgynously would NOT be crossdressing.
Some intersex people do choose to crossdress, even though they identify as intersex. I think it's fairly safe to say that Vonnegut was just displaying his ignorance by adhering to the standard gender binary, believing that "male" and "female" are the only two genders; it didn't occur to him to realize that there are actually MANY other genders that people identify as.
Crossdressing isn't as simple as "man dressing as woman" or "woman dressing as man." People identify as other genders such as neutrois, gender queer, intersex, etc. Any of these non-binary gendered people can crossdress by dressing in a stereotypically masculine or feminine way.
That's the most retarded thing I've ever read, Chaos.
ReplyDeleteJust found this place. It's like a breeding ground for trolls or something. Love it.
ReplyDeleteWell, you can think it's retarded all you want, but that's not going to change the fact that there ARE people who are born intersex (hermaphrodites) who consider themselves neither male nor female. And it's not going to change the fact that there are lots of other people who consider themselves neither male nor female.
ReplyDeleteYou can think they're stupid as much as you want, but that's not going to change the fact that they DO exist, and that therefore they can crossdress. So however stupid you may think that is, it doesn't change the facts of my post.
Hermaphrodites are a question of sex (or rather, both of them) not a question of gender identity. Whether or not you choose to accept this doesn't change that you jack off every night to how totally PR you are for making up fancy words to define people's daddy issues.
ReplyDelete@Chaos, Hermaphrodites have BOTH genders. I'm looking at him and thinking he does not give a shit about the TLBGetcs and was speaking from the four options given male/female organs [assuming only max one of each, I guess]. I do not care what they consider themselves as, they possess both male/female organs. Possessing both "genders" ---> nowhere to cross-dress to, because "cross-dress" by definition is "dressing as the other gender", and since there is no other gender if you can physically identify as either, any deviation from that is just regular dressing or pan-dressing, whatever, but definitively not CROSS-dressing. IE: This man hates semi-colons (as you concluded, but by using weird-ass logic that doesn't seem to make sense and contradicts your own [if correct] conclusion...?)
ReplyDeleteFuck Randall and what he has done to this meaningless discussion thread.
Captcha: Mobbim. Let's Mobb 'im for dis.
XKCDsucks has been derailed!
ReplyDeleteRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
I keep getting emails along the lines of "You'll never believe how easy it is to make [[weirdly specific number of dollars and cents]] per hour!", saying that I can make this number with just 20 minutes of "work" a day, and citing a pair of newlyweds who did this and now own a Porsche. "All from the comfort of [my] home!"
ReplyDeleteIs this a scam, or are they just trying to get me into pornography? I don't want to click the link, but realistically I suppose you COULD make [[weirdly specific number of dollars and cents]] with just 20 minutes of "work" in that medium.
@Alsworth: When has XKCDsucks ever been on the rails? Remember that thread where we talked about Twilight? Or that one about semi-colons?
Would it be that hard to say something supportive? You criticise the guy who draws it for being insensitive. God, the only reason you want him to keep on putting up comics is so you can make fun of them. It's one thing to laugh at a stupid webcomic, but this is a person who's sick. Urg...and I hate XKCD.
ReplyDeleteI assume UglyBird took note of the blog's URL, noticed that there was a post for Friday's "comic", and went into his righteous screed without reading a word of it.
ReplyDeleteOr he read a comment and said to himself, "This particular commenter represents the community as a whole! I am a scientist and this is how extrapolation works!"
ReplyDeleteITT: Some loudmouth doesn't understand the demarcation between sex and gender.
ReplyDeleteYour options are to educate yourself, continue making yourself look like a fool, or stop being so loud.
but being a loud idiot is what the Internet is for
ReplyDeleteMy translating dictionary doesn't differentiate between "gender" and "sex" so that means they are synonymous because like Hell am I buying a better/bigger/more official book.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Anon904, if you're looking for proper and serious debates on sex then I would suggest closing your computer right now. Right now. Yep, just go ahead and do it, because those serious and proper debates are not here and I really don't know why you think they are.
Raven, you are a corporate whore and functionally illiterate.
ReplyDeleteYou actually rose to that? Damn, trolling is easy. Poor XKCD guy though.
ReplyDeletethey rose to it? i've seen matzo that rose more than that
ReplyDeleteJEWISH PUNNERY
ITT: Some loudmouth doesn't understand the Jewish religion.
ReplyDeleteYour options are to educate yourself, continue making yourself look like a fool, or stop being so loud.
ITT: Anonymii use the phrase ITT entirely too often.
ReplyDeleteThere are better ways of being a passive-aggressive prick. Try some, at least for variety's sake.
the plural of anonymous is anonymodes, ves.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was anonymice
ReplyDeleteAnonymites?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe anonyminions.
The problem is Anonymous isn't a traditional noun, but an adjective. So it doesn't have any rule on a plural form. You're all correct, and you're all wrong. How quantum!
ReplyDeleteI shall go with the fish rule. Anonymous as it's own plural forum. It also fits well with the names actual meaning. How can you differentiate one unknown from another? I suppose it fits well with all that "Anonymous is legion" stuff as well, but that's kinda out of context.
Yes, but how do you differentiate between someone using "anonymous" as a plural and simple bad grammar?
ReplyDeleteTo quote Ves's post as an example: "[Anonymous] use the phrase ITT entirely too often."
Now it's not entirely clear whether that's a plural or whether someone forgot to put an S on the "use".
So maybe a group noun? Like, "a gaggle of anonymous" or something like that?
this is why we have the word 'cuddlefish' people
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDelete"A school of cuddlefish" has a nice ring to it too.
It seems like everything started going downhill immediately after Carl left. I think this further reinforces the point that Carl *IS* Randall.
ReplyDeletewho the fuck is carl
ReplyDeletecaptcha: hacks
@Rob
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking you should find someone to help you write this blog, if anything just to have a newbie as fodder for the carl-was-better crap.
It would also be interesting to see some more variety in xkcdsucks blog post authorship.
i welcome guest posts
ReplyDeletealso aloria will probably be doing some more posting in the near-ish future
ReplyDeleteHAH! YOU IDIOTS WHO BELIEVED IN THE RISE OF RANDY'S PICTO-BLAG WERE WRONG!!!
ReplyDeleteWHERE IS YOUR CARL, NOW?!
captcha: graplaba
Sounds like a load of graplaba to make an xkcd strip.
819: so he spent more time drawing these comics than usual?!?
ReplyDelete"Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes."
ReplyDeleteSo...exactly the same as before?
Now we know that Megan was in Randy's bio class, in addition to Spanish and 11th grade homeroom.
ReplyDelete@9:05 ZING!
ReplyDeleteI hope megan pulls through this herpes outbreak.
Actually most of these 819 comics were... decently funny. Jupiter? A pony?
ReplyDeleteClassic!
Also, is anyone else noticing that Randall is tending to update at closer to 11 PM nowadays?
Maybe he thinks updating early will make his comics better.
Oh wait... east coast... duh...
Well now I have revealed to everyone that I am a midwesterner.
Ick! It's so UGLY when women on magazine covers are airbrushed to look PRETTIER! That's not what a REAL woman looks like. Am I right, ladies? Will you please have sex with me now? And wear my shirt afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI like the last strip in 819... Maybe it's because I still like JtHM. Otherwise it seemed like a lot of non-sequitur. Also, I'll be a bit of a grammar Nazi and say his first sentence fucked up. I think the sentence reads better if the second comma were moved two words over.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.webcitation.org/5uFchzVgS
I smirked at most of it, and actually laughed at the final panel of the last one.
ReplyDeleteSo, um, Randall is getting better IMO. A-, keep up the good work.
Quick reviews for the comics in 819 (each review was written and edited in less than five minutes!):
ReplyDeleteJupiter - meh, saw the punchline coming from a mile away. Although the post-punchline dialog might actually enhance the humor (which is derived from extending the awkward conversation), it's still not very funny.
Well - Randall decided to delve into the dark humor, and unfortunately takes it one panel too far. I'm serious, it would have been better without the last panel. Again, not really funny, but I didn't see the punchline coming, so that's a plus, I guess.
Nature - Okay, this one I just didn't get (a damned shame, because this is the only one the alt-text references). Moving on...
Yo Mama - Randall's already played with the "your mom" formula enough for this one to feel bland, even by xkcd standards.
Bach - I laughed at this one, if only because the caption makes it clear that Randall realizes how absolutely terrible it is, and the fact that it is absolutely terrible is what makes it humorous.
Hotness - Yes, Randall, we know you like nerdy girls! You don't need to remind us again! The only reason he drew this one was for the "girl wearing your mom's skin" bit, which wasn't really funny anyway.
The last one (couldn't think of a title) - Didn't really get this one either, other than "lol maths and country music don't mix well AMIRITE". So, maybe kinda funny except not really?
Overall - I guess for a comic that took him less than three-quarters of an hour to conceive and make, it was mildly okay, but enough of it felt like he was cashing in on his standard formulas. Which might have been okay, because these are five-minute comics, and we've seen him deal with these formulas in his regular stuff too often for it to be funny anymore.
Also, is it just me or did her head change shape after having sex with randall?
ReplyDeleteMust have been... *puts on sunglasses* mind-altering.
They are all decent except for the last one. That one is terrible.
ReplyDeletexkcd's future looks bright. (Not sarcasm.) Let's hope more Munroes get syphilis.
Nono, NaïveCuddlefish: This week we are getting comics that took less than five minutes to write/draw because of FAMILY ILLNESS, whereas we usually get comics that took less than five minutes to write draw because of REGULAR COMIC [UPDATES]. Same product, different cause; that is no typo.
ReplyDeleteThat, or Randall seriously did fuck up, but you have to admit that it'd be really funny if it was intentional [which it sadly and probably isn't]
And hope that one particular Munroe dies from it.
ReplyDeletecaptcha: version
I like this version of xkcd more.
@ThePirateKing
ReplyDeleteI posted several reviews =(
Alsworth: the last one is based off Johnny Cash's song "a boy named sue"; and 'Trig' is the name of one of Sarah Palin's children.
ReplyDeleteI laughed at it.
shufti: i'm pretty sure he's just concern trolling anyway
ReplyDelete@Schust: OH RIGHT sorry I forgot and didn't realize you were shufti.
ReplyDelete@Rob: I have never heard of the term 'concern trolling'.
What I guess I meant was it would be nice to see some more authors who have their name at the bottom. Because it still always says "posted by Rob". I guess it doesn't really matter.
Does anybody else here feel like the quality of 819 is just shy of the rest of Randall's comics?
ReplyDeletei'm trying to get carl to give me admin access. he does not seem to be into the idea
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:44 - the art quality is just a bit lower, but the joke quality, on average, is higher. GO figure.
ReplyDeleteMan I assumed you already had it.
ReplyDeleteWhy would he be opposed to the idea? He has pretty much abandoned this blog.
thanks for reminding us once again that there is an illness in the family, randall.
ReplyDeletemy theories: Carl is lazy and/or doesn't want to give up the adsense revenue this blog is still giving him.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe he is worried that at some point you'll take down the webcomics.me plug at the top, thereby draining that blog of its sole source of users.
ReplyDeleteHe'd still... get the revenue though, wouldn't he?
ReplyDeleteAlso, definitely think that those (except the single panel ones which just do not seem to work) were better than typical xkcd even if there wasn't as much 'nerd humor.' Unfortunately, they work like that because they're bite-sized; sort of like chainsawsuit, they just feel like breaks and not main meat.
That said, three of those every update instead of one comic that will still not be funny?
Sold
(I would also like to add that I like chainsawsuit but it's obviously just when Kris Straub has a spare five minutes and a quick idea, not like main comic material)
ReplyDeleteif i had admin access it would be a pretty trivial matter to change the adsense over to my account or just take them down, depending.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell, the art today is indistinguishable from the normal comics, and those only took 5 minutes or less? I hate you, Randall.
ReplyDeleteBut ... Mozart wrote "The Magic Flute," not Bach. That panel could have been slightly less terrible!
ReplyDelete@Anon 10:12
ReplyDeleteThe only major difference is that the panels aren't straight lines (or anything close to it).
wait since when are there ads on this site
ReplyDeletedid he take them down? I have adblock. but carl had adsense up for a while, and made enough money off it that he could use it to give away about $200 of prizes to contest winners
ReplyDeleteNo, the ads are still here.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there were any ads either until someone mentioned that the t-shirt ads were getting lewder. (I assume it was snorgtees)
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck? There are five comics there that in ordinary circumstances he would have passed off as regular comics, except they're kind of funnier than what he would ordinarily pass off as regular comics. That's a week and two thirds worth of updates wasted in a single day of a period in which it's supposed to be difficult to produce new material.
ReplyDeleteI really, truly like 819. Reminds me of the old days. That pony one was pretty great.
ReplyDeleteI like it how the comics were all done in 'less than five minutes' yet the quality is no worse than normal.
ReplyDeleteBy this I calculate that Randy's work week is less than 15 minutes long.
I really like 819 as well. Some of those comics might not work as well as standalones, but putting them all together and releasing them as "just some doodles that took 5 mins each" works for some reason (anyone care to explain?).
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are the pony, the wolves, Bach/Wagner and A Boy named Trig. I think those he could have released as standalones, and they would have improved my image of xkcd. The others maybe not so, but like I said, they're all right when they come in a bundle. And I actually like the fact that the last strip starts off with a douchebag who sees his chance to show the world what he thinks of its obsession with beauty, but turns around in the middle and doesn't actually turn that into some lame joke. (I'm not saying it doesn't have a lame joke, mind you.)
Honestly, I'm not sure why people like 819 so much, though I admit I didn't actually get like half of them, so it could just be me.
ReplyDeleteJupiter: The joke is that Jupiter is offering hand jobs because of the "pull" of the gravitational slingshot, right? I dunno, I just don't find that funny.
Pony: I guess some people find "random and dark" to be funny, and it can be sometimes, but this seemed more "so random it's just not funny" than "so random it's funny" to me.
Computer thing: I'm not much of a computer nerd, so I didn't get this one. Maybe it's funny to people who get it.
Yo Mama: I actually thought this was kind of funny just for the subversion of expectations.
Trig: I immediately got the reference to "A Boy Named Sue," but I thought the "trig" was just a random math reference. I didn't know Palin had a kid named Trig. It doesn't seem funny either way to me.
Classical Music: Didn't get this one because I DETEST classical music. It literally gives me a headache to listen to it. I looked it up on Wiki, so now I get it...I dunno, maybe it would have been funny if I'd gotten it right off.
Hotness Ratings: Is the whole point just to make a reference to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac? I thought more of Silence of the Lambs, though I really know nothing about JtHM. Anyways, this seemed like more "hey it's random and dark" stuff to me.
I actually liked these. They're not all classics but there isn't actually anything particularly wrong with them.
ReplyDeleteThough - perhaps they'd all be disappointing if they were each the subject of a single update. So yeah, maybe this is the way forwards?
Chaos, how did you possibly interpret that to be a joke involving handjobs? I mean... randall makes some ridiculously stupid jokes sometimes, but COME ON.
ReplyDeleteThe joke is that Jupiter comes up to them and says "'sup?" It is silly. That is all.
Also do you really detest classical music so much that it impeded your ability to recognize the names Bach and Wagner?
ReplyDeleteYou misinterpreted the classical music one too. The whole point is that it is terrible/ridiculous. You do not have to get classical music to see that the comic is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI am nerdy enough to understand what he's talking about in the server-room one and I still didn't get the joke. I guess maybe it would be funny if there was a type of computer program called a "reintroduction program", but as far as google tells me, there's not.
I found the "Trig" one funny because Randall seems to be implying that Trig is a worse boy's name than Sue. Which I agree with.
Maybe Randy should do this every week, and cherrypick the best ideas and build on them. It seems like usually he takes a crappy idea and runs with it, rather than making a careful decision.
I recognized the names Bach and Wagner, but I didn't know about "Ring Cycle" and "Magic Flute." So to me it was just like, "OK so some guy who made classical music is riding on something called a "Ring Cycle" and then some other guy who made classical music has a magical flute." It's not just totally random- the joke relies on knowing that "Ring Cycle" and "Magic Flute" are references to classical music pieces.
ReplyDelete"I am nerdy enough to understand what he's talking about in the server-room one and I still didn't get the joke. I guess maybe it would be funny if there was a type of computer program called a "reintroduction program", but as far as google tells me, there's not. "
ReplyDeleteIt's referring to programs (not computer programs) to reintroduce species' that have been driven out of their native habitat, the idea being that wolves are inherently native to the environment of a server room.
It's not particularly funny, but on the whole I enjoyed 819 more than any xkcd for the past several months. Pony comic made me chuckle, at least; that's the kind of joke I really appreciate, though- Subverted expectations and anti-joke ending.
@Ravenzomg
ReplyDeleteI'm not looking for those debates nor do I think those debates are here. I just think you're fucking stupid for thinking that gender and sex are the same thing.
That's all.
~Anon 9:04am
Randall posts five minutes worth of work. Aparrently five minutes worth of work is like, five comics. Does this mean he picks the first (sometimes shitty) idea that falls into his head and then spends thirty hours drawing and redrawing the same joke in photoshop getting the lattering just right so his fanbase don't desert him?
ReplyDeleteI laughed at one or two of the jokes, the pony one and the hotness one.
Although the shameless "celebrieties are not as hot as real women" nerdery tainted it a little.
I think the whole thing was helped by the manic energy of the posts, though sometimes I had difficulty figuring out what was going on.
It's 5 minutes per comic, not 5 minutes for all the comics.
ReplyDelete'Although the shameless "celebrieties are not as hot as real women" nerdery tainted it a little.'
Is that really nerdery? I thought it was well-accepted fact.
i dunno most of the chicks on the covers of magazines are airbrushed to hell but still much hotter in person than your average "girl in bio class"
ReplyDeleteit is only hopeless nerds who feel the need to romanticize approachability since they feel that they have a better chance with the girl in bio class than the girl on the magazine cover
they are probably right but keep in mind that their chance with either woman is still basically nil
some guy who is not completely fucking worthless and actually knows how to make women happy will end up fucking the magazine cover girl then marrying the bio class girl and the nerds are all going to wonder where they went wrong
Mark this as the first occasion I've read "Part 1" as a threat.
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, as someone who has lost several family members, I wish whichever Munroe is ill a speedy recovery.
I think some of you guys are looking into this a bit much, he's admitted he's just going to post random crap for a while.
ReplyDeleteThat said, some of his random crap appears to be better than regular comics.
I think the 5 minutes per comic constraint produces better comics especially if they are released en masse. Something for everybody and all that shit.
ReplyDeleteThey are much harder to read, but if we all knew the constraint before hand, and no one pretended that he didn't take more than five minutes to produce a comic than the criticism would be much more forgiving.
BUT ... I'm surprised no one has mentioned this:
A girl is much sexier to Randall after she agrees to have sex with him. Take that people who uphold Randall as a feminist!
I actually thought most of the 819 comics were better than most of what he's released in the past year. I thought the Jupiter one was pretty good
ReplyDeleteWHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK?
ReplyDeleteWHY ARE YOUR FUNNY COMICS THE ONES YOU DON'T PUBLISH?
@UndercoverCuddlefish
ReplyDeleteWhoah, you mean like some kind of WIZARD?!
I don't know, I definitely don't think it's just nerds who romanticize approachability. The idea of thinking "oh I totally have a chance with X celebrity" pretty much borders on insanity. So uh... at least we know that's one kind of insanity Randy doesn't have?
Yup, 819 is his best work in a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that any of the comics is particularly funny, but the standards of humour are different when you're working under the constraint of improvisation. If you've ever seen improvisational theater then you'll know that you can basically get away with anything; a straight-faced nonsequitur (which is what most of these are) can seem hilariously funny in the right context. Prepared comedy is held to a much higher standard.
From now on, I think Randall should stick to five-minute comics. They'll seem funnier, he'll have an excuse when they're not funny, and he can produce five a week _and_ get a damn job.
819 is actually pretty funny. Some of the strips are a hit and miss, but I did get a few chuckles-which is saying something.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only person that learned the classical use of semicolons in literature from high school? They aren't some pompous thing to be swung around like 5 dollar words, its just a grammatical tool.
ReplyDeleteThe time to use a semicolon is when you have an independent clause that supports the idea of the previous sentence, but NOT the topic of the paragraph. This means that the semicolon paragraph guy up there is just being facetious and/or completely wrong. The whole point of a semicolon is to extrapolate the idea of a sentence, but not start a new paragraph or wander off the paragraph's topic.
Now, there are many ways to use a semicolon, but the way i've just described is the way you will see it used in literately the vast majority of the time.
As a side note, a common high school grammar mistake is a fused sentence. This is when two independent clauses are stuck together with no punctuation. What is the solution? Most of the time it is a semicolon; the student only fused the clauses because he/she felt they shared the same topic and belonged together forever.
nobody here doesn't know how to use semicolons. the debate is on whether or not they're necessary (hint: they're not).
ReplyDeleteI; do; not; give; two; shits; about; semicolons;
ReplyDeleteteebhs it is worth remembering that kurt vonnegut not a dude known for being SUPER SRS
ReplyDelete(much like rob in fact, as cuddlefish are slow to notice)
Not absolutely necessary, but damn useful.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, I had a terrific love affair with semicolons back throughout highschool. Was a habit I had to break in a hurry, as my final year literature teacher was none too pleased.
ReplyDeleteI still use them, but quite sparingly.
yeah, they are sometimes useful, I guess, maybe, but mostly where you want to use them you are better served with a full stop, or sometimes, very rarely, throwing a conjunction in there.
ReplyDeleteI guess it really boils down to your style of writing, I tend to find they suit non-fiction better.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but roll my eyes when an entire page is littered with the remains of winking faces, though.
the biggest problem I have with them is they are functionally identical to a full stop: they separate two independent clauses. the difference is mostly that a full stop is trim and efficient, and the semicolon looks like you're trying to sound smart/academic/whatever.
ReplyDeleteunfortunately it doesn't actually succeed at making you sound smart/academic/whatever--but it sure makes it look like you're trying.