tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post2350389291972430835..comments2024-03-17T05:03:46.056-07:00Comments on xkcd sucks: Comic 515: I wish I didn't knowCarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-12959679907864582602008-12-14T00:18:00.000-08:002008-12-14T00:18:00.000-08:00There's a whole discussion on the forums about whe...<I>There's a whole discussion on the forums about whether it's ok to make jokes about murder. I say it obviously is ok;<BR/><B>I'm of course more offended by lousy comics about murder because they're not funny.</B></I><BR/><BR/>gold.<BR/><BR/>but i actually didn't think this one was terrible, it's just not 'very good'... it's a filler comic.<BR/><BR/>i think it's a shame that i am content to see something of this quality -- it says a lot about most of his recent work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-68346258118812313942008-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:002008-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00M7S - you're right, he doesn't make the comic too ...M7S - you're right, he doesn't make the comic too political so my suggestion is, thinking back, probably not something he could have realistically done. Well he did politics <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/360/" REL="nofollow">here</A> and <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/500/" REL="nofollow">here</A>. And the 17th panel of <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/442/" REL="nofollow">this one</A>. And anything with <A HREF="http://www.ohnorobot.com/index.pl?comic=56&s=ron+paul&search=Search" REL="nofollow">Ron Paul</A>. But you could argue that those aren't really political humor, they're kind of jokes about politics from the outside looking in kind of thing. <BR/><BR/>As to my analysing powers: the third option is that I wrote it late at night and was not reading very carefully and also i am SO DESPERATE FOR LOVE AND ATTENTION that i misread it as directed towards me. Or perhaps that last sentence <I>does in fact prove that I am Randall Munroe</I><BR/><BR/>Seriously, I'm not though.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Jay: I would say that a lot of those random acts of violence are at the very least creative, and in many cases against people who deserve it (like the GRY puzzle) and a lot of the fun was that we also want to harm those people. I think the reason a lot of the violence worked was because it was cartoon violence (cutting off the arm is an exception, but most of them are like that). That's why I found this one disturbing: It was boring old murder that we don't even get to see, and it was against someone who was just standing there. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Cow: I totally disagree. Cutesy talk is completely out of their character; we've seen them alone many times and they never do this. Hell, this comic basically goes against everything in <A HREF="http://xkcdsucks.blogspot.com/2008/11/comic-506-randall-munro-henry.html" REL="nofollow">comic 506</A>, where we see them alone and they still fundamentally don't care about each other. They are acting very very differently here than we've seen them act before, including seeing them alone.<BR/><BR/>And I could totally stop whenever I wanted to...right? Maybe?<BR/><BR/>Jay is correct. This is a mission from god.<BR/><BR/>Salazar: Yes. That is also a problem.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-27587832137452351772008-12-12T19:08:00.000-08:002008-12-12T19:08:00.000-08:00"This simply isn't funny. It just doesn't have any..."This simply isn't funny. It just doesn't have anything to it. No creativity. No references. Just an oversized, bloody sack."<BR/><BR/>Ahahahahaha.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-86644586538667176832008-12-12T18:16:00.000-08:002008-12-12T18:16:00.000-08:00This simply isn't funny. It just doesn't have anyt...This simply isn't funny. It just doesn't have anything to it. No creativity. No references. Just an oversized, bloody sack.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-82754817737538805862008-12-12T13:51:00.000-08:002008-12-12T13:51:00.000-08:00I fully consider hating xkcd one of my hobbies. Ad...I fully consider hating xkcd one of my hobbies. Admittedly not a hobby I'd share with the world, but hey.<BR/><BR/><I>There's no going back now.</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-75972238559164705232008-12-12T07:38:00.000-08:002008-12-12T07:38:00.000-08:00I'll add only two points:Ms. and Mr. Hat sometimes...I'll add only two points:<BR/>Ms. and Mr. Hat sometimes talk in that cutesy lovers way, but they have a public image to keep, so they got rid of the witness. The cutesy side is a secret side you aren't supposed to know about. That's perfectly in character.<BR/>Second point. I'll just say again that this particular reiteration of the "person A acts in an uncharacteristic way when person B comes into the scene, then person A gets rid of person B" trope is... bland? Boring? Unimaginative? THAT's the real thing that isn't characteristic to the guy who used to poke holes in condoms just so that more unwanted children and unwanted HIV positives will roam the world.<BR/><BR/>I guess those were 3 points?<BR/><BR/>GUYS! I think we are over-analysing. I think we could use this time to do more interesting and/or useful stuff.<BR/>We could stop whenever we want. Right, guys?<BR/>(and gals.)<BR/><BR/>So much ink on so very bland art... The madness... the madness... THE MADNESS...cow_2001https://www.blogger.com/profile/14096806199197429766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-13153258955348600582008-12-12T03:55:00.000-08:002008-12-12T03:55:00.000-08:00I wasn't going to say anything about this comic, b...I wasn't going to say anything about this comic, but my CAPTCHA is 'mating' which is by far the most awesome captcha I've ever got, so now I have to say something.<BR/><BR/>uh<BR/><BR/>uhhhh<BR/><BR/>Well, I sorta disagree about this comic being worse than the Laundry List of Mischief we got a while ago. Sure, Randall could have added a few grisly murder panels, but what would that add to the comic? All it would do would decrease the impact - comic impact, shock, whatever - of the last panel.<BR/><BR/>This comic has... I suppose you'd call it an Abrupt Scene Change? It's not an uncommon trope, and it can work, for comic effect in this case (although murder is perhaps taking it a bit too far IMO - Black Hat's getting more and more Flanderised in every comic he appears in).<BR/><BR/>What <I>would</I> have been a bad comic is the following: first three panels the same, only going down instead of across, and instead of the last panel, a caption, something like: "They never found the body." Think about that.<BR/><BR/>hur hur hur, 'mating'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-3715773245271762312008-12-12T01:37:00.000-08:002008-12-12T01:37:00.000-08:00I guess I'm going to risk unpopularity around here...I guess I'm going to risk unpopularity around here by saying: I thought this comic was fine. I'm not exactly sure why it's fine, but it is. I have some time to kill, as always, so I'm going to try and analyze it below.<BR/><BR/>I think I liked this one because I've never actually been a fan of Mr. Hat. I've never found him creative, or funny. To me, his jokes always seem to follow one of two formulas: <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/169/" REL="nofollow">the</A> <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/146/" REL="nofollow">random</A> <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/72/" REL="nofollow">act</A> <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/64/" REL="nofollow">of</A> <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/81/" REL="nofollow">violence</A> (515 falls into this category), and another which I'll illustrate through examples.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/217/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/217/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/322/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/322/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/368/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/368/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/374/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/374/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/481/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/481/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/440/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/440/</A><BR/><A HREF="http://xkcd.com/493/" REL="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/493/</A><BR/><BR/>Look at all those comics above and you'll see they follow the same basic format. In the first few panels, we have Mr. and sometimes Ms. Hat forming a plot (and oh man, what <I>wacky</I> plots are these, guys!). In the middle panels, the Plot comes to fruition; and in the last, the victim has an exaggerated, unrealistic reaction. And then we have hilarity!<BR/><BR/>Take comic 440, for example. That last panel there is just not how a real person would react. The correct response when your computer talks out of nowhere is "what the fuck", and an immediate trip to the psychiatrist. 374 wouldn't lead to some type of all-day depression, as Mr. Hat suggests, it would lead to "whatever, asshole". Likewise with 498. You get the point.<BR/><BR/>I'm not a big fan of the random violence comics - as Rob mentioned once, they're pretty reminiscent of Ctrl Alt Del, where sociopathic abuse is the punchline to every third joke. Still, I think they're a sight better than the latter category, even though people seem to prefer those around here. The violence comics may not be realistic, but they at least make sense - if someone cut off your hand, you probably <I>would</I> scream AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, yes. We don't have people saying things like "you're horrifying", or bursting into tears when what you did was really just a harmless prank.<BR/><BR/>That's why I liked 515, or was at least neutral towards it. It's still not consistent with the characters - as Kiwi said, it would make more sense for them to be standing there coming up with creative ways to insult each other (and really Randall, you should know that) - but you don't have him hijacking bystander's voices to make his (bad) joke seem better. It's not funny, but it's not obnoxious.<BR/><BR/>Here's an exercise you can do at home: compare comic 322 with <A HREF="http://xkcd.com/163/" REL="nofollow">this</A>. They have somewhat similar premises - Mr. Hat is <I>crazy</I> in someone else's house. Which is the better comic? I think it's 164 by a mile.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>Holy FUCK that was a long comment. Maybe I should have emailed it to Carl. I hope this makes sense. <BR/><BR/>ps. I think the reason random violence works better for xkcd than other webcomics is that on the whole, xkcd is pretty lighthearted. When violence occurs it's more jarring. 515 would be par for the course for something like CAD.<BR/><BR/>pps. I don't see any captchas what <I>are</I> you people talking about.<BR/><BR/>i'm done for real now i promiseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-30443140077620813572008-12-12T01:21:00.000-08:002008-12-12T01:21:00.000-08:00Or he is trying to add mystery and intrigue to his...Or he is trying to add mystery and intrigue to his persona!<BR/><BR/>Carl, if you are actually Randall you should probably not let me talk about you with all of my rumors and hearsay. Also you should let me know because FUNNY STORY IF SO.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-23593233758203201392008-12-12T00:03:00.000-08:002008-12-12T00:03:00.000-08:00I've mentioned it before, but I guess I must repea...I've mentioned it before, but I guess I must repeat myself. Randall has promised he won't make xkcd political. Palin jokes is of the table. (That's probably why he forced one in during that comic battle, outside of xkcd domain.)<BR/><BR/>Rob: "Dear Randall, <BR/>[...]<BR/>Hurried love and kisses from Tokyo!<BR/>Love,<BR/>Rob"<BR/>Carl: "I don't think our relationship is quite at the kissing level yet, rob. Maybe soon!"<BR/><BR/>Either Carl just proved that Carl-is-Randall conspiracy theory or shown that is analysing powers isn't as flawless as he want's us to belive. :pAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-47083619050448814732008-12-11T22:38:00.000-08:002008-12-11T22:38:00.000-08:00I got a string of captchas that I found awesome an...I got a string of captchas that I found awesome and started posting them. Then other people posted their awesome captchas.<BR/><BR/>I don't get captchas anymore. Woe.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-54398364869042272182008-12-11T22:15:00.000-08:002008-12-11T22:15:00.000-08:00Yeah this was not a fun one. But regarding Mr. Ha...Yeah this was not a fun one. But regarding Mr. Hat's descent into violence, perhaps it was caused by Mrs. Hat? I mean she was pretty violent from the get-go, right..? With the mines and all.<BR/><BR/>I like your idea better, the Sarah Palin thing. Randall needs to come read this blog.<BR/><BR/>Also, is there a particular reason as to why people are posting their CAPTCHAs?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-66510890491960029872008-12-11T22:12:00.000-08:002008-12-11T22:12:00.000-08:00This comic first confused me and then, scared me. ...This comic first confused me and then, scared me. That is NOT how those characters are supposed to act. In fact, they are so out of character that something must be wrong, so I'm scared. The first panel, it's just wrong! It would fit their personalities better if they were finding ecstatic joy in insulting each other, then the guy walks in and then they kill him. Just my views.That Someone is Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04489286685372311872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-60717185297478500302008-12-11T22:05:00.000-08:002008-12-11T22:05:00.000-08:00I don't think our relationship is quite at the kis...I don't think our relationship is <I>quite </I>at the kissing level yet, rob. Maybe soon!Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-68623187738084297362008-12-11T21:51:00.000-08:002008-12-11T21:51:00.000-08:00Dear Randall,Mr. Hat has jumped an entire ocean fu...Dear Randall,<BR/><BR/>Mr. Hat has jumped an entire ocean full of sharks. They were swimming in an ocean that was covered in oil and on fire. Mr. Hat was riding the world's fastest Indian when he jumped over them. It was the worst episode ever.<BR/><BR/>It is time to stop having consistent characters. You can't do it. You just can't. Okay?<BR/><BR/>Hurried love and kisses from Tokyo!<BR/>Love,<BR/>Robrshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.com