[ALT: According to a new paper published in the journal Science, reporters are unable to thrive in an arsenic-rich environment.]
I liked this one. It's very timely (first time for everything), not particularly political or preachy (so it's just riffing on a current event instead of Having Opinions on it, and as you all know, I detest opinions in all their forms). Most of all, I liked the last panel. It doesn't spell out the joke, and has a nice moment of double-take. It's almost like Randy learned how to make a punchline or something.
So of course he goes and fucks up and explains it with the alt text. It's like Randy is allergic to doing something right. The poor fucker must live in terror that someone might not get his joke, so he makes sure to explain it somewhere. Any time he has something subtle, he pauses for effect after and leans in close and says "I don't know if you noticed, but the joke there is that X."
We get it, Randy. We fucking get it.
Rob, you clearly have misunderstood his terrible tooltip again.
ReplyDeleteFuck your misinformed opinion.
Captcha: dowedamp? Fuck no we don't, not in this house.
The only reason I didn't like this comic is I really didn't like the pun.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: carmor. A battle harness for your Prius.
Let me be the first to say that the newest comic sucks. I thought, "hey, the tooltip might go somewhere", and it looked like it sort of might, and..... then it didn't.
ReplyDeleteNote: the woman is a professional, and the man is at a loss.
The latest xkcd fucking sucks but it doesn't piss me off.
ReplyDeleteThat's a record 4 in a row.
holy shit guys
ReplyDeletemy parents had sex at some point
I... I had no idea...
I need a second.
Okay, seriously, I think the humor from this comic was supposed to be derived from making the audience envisioning their parents having sex. I'm pretty sure I've seen that joke before, and this comic doesn't really spin it in a new and interesting way, other than, "Hey, genetic tests! That's nerdy, amirite?"
"Did my genetic tests come back"
ReplyDeletei guess the terrible dialogue fits the scare quotes character scare quotes for once
alternate interpretation that if you didn't get makes you a moron: he's saying "oh my god" and wants to be alone because his parents having sex is one of his fetishes and this is roleplaying
randy writes from life
ReplyDeleteRe 830: Randy made the exact same joke in the alt text of 680.
ReplyDeleteDidn't like this comic, but the last few goatkcds have been great stuff.
ReplyDelete830: WTF IS THIS SHIT?
ReplyDeleteRANDALL I HOPE YOU AND EVERYONE YOU LIKE DIES FROM ASS-CANCER!
830:
ReplyDeleteOh for fuck's sake.
Important question! Am I mistaken, or does 829 mark the first appearance of Long Curly Hair Girl? Does this mean he's moved on from Megan and Blonde Ponytail, or that he's added another woman to his stalker's rolodex?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe that's just Weird Al.
830: Why does stick-man have lumps on his arm and wrist? Is that what happens when you want to know if your genetic tests have come back?
ReplyDeleteWhy would the scientists serve arsenic? The punchline doesn't work because the joke makes absolutely no sense-- it's not just that it's unexpected, it's that the idea of "oh well let's feed them poison" is so radically divorced from reality that the joke falls flat on its face.
ReplyDelete@KayB: Um.... I'd say it was "lol Randy forgot how to draw again" except that character is persistently lumpy. The hell, Randall? Is this relevant? Is that just the "character"? I do not know and after 5 minute I will no longer care, nor will I want to. >.>
ReplyDelete@Jasper: I suppose if we were generous we'd take your interpretation and counter with "But that is exactly how radically divorced SCIENTISTS are from reality! heyoooooo", which is enough of a cultural meme that it's half-acceptable. Not saying the comic is great, but it follows the textbook formula and comes out like a joke from an 80-year old textbook which still uses diacritic marks. "Yes," we say, "we understand that this joke is structured correctly, and upon this style a proper joke may be formulated, but a proper joke this is not, since it is only an example". So Randall has made a joke that is a template of a real joke.... so yeah, we're giving him credit because at least it doesn't have a vagina on it?
Jasper: people like you give XKCD naysayers a bad name. Too divorced from reality to be funny. Jesus fucking Christ. Do us a favour and go back to watching The Brady Bunch.
ReplyDeleteHey, I didn't get the last panel (or its connection to the title text) until I read this blog post. Thanks
ReplyDelete@Anonymous saying "RANDALL I HOPE YOU AND EVERYONE YOU LIKE DIES FROM ASS-CANCER!":
ReplyDeleteThat's harsh man. At least now we have something fun to read 3 times a week. And in case you wonder: I'm talking about this site, not xkcd. (Though I did like 829 - first time in ages)
i have sex with my parents all the time
ReplyDelete@KayB: Um.... I'd say it was "lol Randy forgot how to draw again" except that character is persistently lumpy. The hell, Randall? Is this relevant? Is that just the "character"? I do not know and after 5 minute I will no longer care, nor will I want to. >.>
ReplyDeletehe needs to know if his deformity is hereditary
You guys all remind me of Andrew Shirvell. I imagine you look and sound just like him. You have the same attitude - that of a self-righteous loser -and the same stalking issues. I can't imagine why you continue to spew here: it only makes you look pathetic, only without the, well, pathos. I'm not interested in your rationalizations of why you do this, but your psychiatric pathology is pretty interesting, in a morbid kind of way. For your own sake, consider getting a life and actually creating something.
ReplyDelete@Anon10:14—three times a week? Ha!
ReplyDeleteI've posted a comment twice, seen it successfully posted twice, and then had it disappear 5 minutes later. I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteblogger seems to have a spam filter which only retroactively catches spam, or something. unfortunately Carl won't give me admin access so I can't do anything about that.
ReplyDeleteWeird. I'm not sure what about my post would cause it to be flagged. I'll try a shorter version.
ReplyDeleteThe joke for 830 isn't that the parents had sex. It's playing with expectations. Seeing a comic about genetic tests makes you think he's going to get news about a genetic disease. Then, he's told something that would be discovered by genetic tests, but that isn't what you thought he'd be told.
I liked 829 as well, so I was hoping you'd think it was funny, Rob. xkcd has actually made me chuckle a couple times in the last two weeks. -but why are people commenting about comic 830 on the blog post for 829?
ReplyDelete@Anon220
ReplyDeleteSir Robert the Adipose is just as lazy posting as Carl was, so we have no alternative.
the new one hasn't even been up for a day yet
ReplyDeleteThat is less than an excuse.
ReplyDeleteIn an ideal world comments about a given comic SHOULD BE ON A POST DESCRIBING SAID COMIC.
Carl once caved in and gave us that post, even though the review wasn't written yet.
IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE THAT REGULARLY.
calm down
ReplyDeleteThat screws up the RSS subscribers. We go over this once every couple of weeks; it'd be nice if people could keep up.
ReplyDelete@ anon 1:07- you have changed my life with your piercing insight
ReplyDeleteplease tell me how to be like you that I might be as cool and life-having as you clearly are to waste your time complaining about a blog on that blog
comic 830: Aaaaaand we're back to the shit. Goddammit randy I LITERALLY puked blood out of my EYEBALLS
The only creation I posted here was our moon exploding, I do not know what that means from a psychiatric point of view, Anon107, but at least it's more interesting than anonymously accusing people on the internet of not having lives. ANON107, please stop and analyze your behaviour: You are a fear prisoner. Yes, you are a product of fear.
ReplyDeleteOh man I just realized something.
ReplyDeleteThe main character of the Twilight series is named Bella.
The actor who played Dracula in the old Universal Dracula movie, the guy who's responsible for the image most people have when they think of vampires, is named Béla Lugosi.
This is going to bug me all night. I mean, on the one hand, it makes sense, but on the other, I'm not sure I'm willing to believe Stephanie Meyer is that clever.
Bella Swan--> Beautiful Swan. Don't over-think it too much, this whole series did all start as some sort of weird sex fantasy in a glade. Also, Dracula clearly wasn't a real vampire --- he could never have played baseball.
ReplyDeleteShe's not. Twilight is a shitty slash fic based off a dream she had once.
ReplyDeleteOh god... the latest comic is funny too!
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening to xkcd!? This is not the comic I know!
@ThePirateKing:
ReplyDeleteWait, what? Did he put up a new extra comic today to make up for the absolute pile of steaming shit that was 830?
Don't worry ThePirateKing, you made a mistake when you thought it was funny. You forgot that we all got tired of "your parents having sex is gross" jokes a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can at least be thankful it's not another example of dishing out more "yo mama" and "that's what she said" jokes.
So are two people going to reply simultaneously to this post now? How do you guys even arrange to do that?
ReplyDeleteanon 1:07
ReplyDelete"I can't imagine why you continue to spew here: it only makes you look pathetic"
lol, same could be said about that post.
I find it hilarious that the majority of people commenting on this blog (perhaps including myself) are every bit as annoyingly elitist and unfunny as our good pal, Randy. I mean, look at all that biting smartassery. Look at it! :D
ReplyDeleteAnyway, for the record I thought this one was actually funny. Scientists make a discovery, it gets blown up by the media, and the poor scientists haven't experienced enough human interaction to resolve the situation. In trying to find a solution, they blindly follow some online tips without considering the consequences. This is comedy. As for the alt text, it doesn't so much explain the joke as use the situation to add on to it by making reference to the original predicament, in my opinion. Didn't mind it at all.
However, 430 sucks. Burn it.
Wow, did I really say 430? I shouldn't make comments at 5 AM.
ReplyDelete830* sucks. In fact, looking back, 430 is actually fairly interesting. I'm sorry, 430. Forgive me for mistaking you for your ugly, inbred cousin of a comic.
I guess you're right, XKCD is funny if you completely misinterpret it to have jokes that would require the author to be clever and have a sense of self-awareness that he clearly does not have.
ReplyDelete"I find it hilarious that the majority of people commenting on this blog (perhaps including myself) are every bit as annoyingly elitist and unfunny as our good pal, Randy. I mean, look at all that biting smartassery. Look at it! :D"
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. I was like you a few months ago and now look at me. You'll get over it.
830 looks like Randall has been reading the SMBC archives, bumped into a "parents have sex too!" comic that Zach ACTUALLY DID RIGHT and thought "Hmm, I can do that too, but NERDY!!".
@Ves: I'm not sure slash means what you think it means...
ReplyDeleteslash is that guy from guns and roses right
ReplyDeleteThat whole series was pretty damn heteronormative, thinking about it. Although if any of the characters had been gay, she would've kept bringing it up for no good reason, probably.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's really at the opposite end of the creepy chicklit spectrum from slash, into the "50's housewife" realm of grossness.
ReplyDeleteThis is unacceptable Rob
ReplyDeleteIn an ideal world comments about Twilight SHOULD BE ON A POST DESCRIBING TWILIGHT
Maybe you should give us that post, hmm??
omg Rob I can totally, like, guest-post that one. Give your hate-filled gawkers what they want or we'll keep calling you a fascist cow.
ReplyDeleteNo, give it to us and we'll still keep calling you a fascist cow. Who are we fooling. nobody.
ReplyDeleteWell I still find 830 funny. The hell with what all you think.
ReplyDeleteLook at that silly man, overreacting to this simple obvious revelation. So silly. Well I laughed at it anyway.
But I'm guessing rob won't; because it would be blasphemous to have two "this comic was sorta okay actually!" posts in a row.
"But I'm guessing rob won't; because it would be blasphemous to have two "this comic was sorta okay actually!" posts in a row."
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be, but it would be in this case because 830 is not sort of okay, it's not even slightly okay. Just looking at it makes me angry.
@Ravenzomg
ReplyDeleteCharacters is a rather strong word for what xkcd has.
And literacy is a rather strong word for what Anon 4:39 has.
ReplyDelete