tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post7486729561861156025..comments2024-03-17T05:03:46.056-07:00Comments on xkcd sucks: Comic 502: Another WACKY Beret-based adventure!Carlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-17474027065444979532010-10-27T20:45:54.140-07:002010-10-27T20:45:54.140-07:00I couldn't agree more. The existentialist was ...I couldn't agree more. The existentialist was my favorite xkcd character and i had hoped we would see more of him. Now that he's been back a few times, seeing him just makes me sad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-51594850121884786272010-09-17T23:12:04.494-07:002010-09-17T23:12:04.494-07:00i lost my mom a long time ago when i was 13. if y...i lost my mom a long time ago when i was 13. if you still have your mom, the comic may seem stupid or morbid. the "intelligent" part of the comic is regarding the theory. the sad part, which is obvious, is sad. the hypothesis that a supermassive object is pulling everything to a central universal point is no more arbitrary or ridiculous than mr. beret's mom going to heaven to be with god. this is my favorite of all the xkcd comics. one theory is just as good as the next until it's disproved. cheers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-35156171166042424662009-12-10T11:21:43.132-08:002009-12-10T11:21:43.132-08:00No, more like "I'm not a native English s...No, more like "I'm not a native English speaker and I don't exactly know how to express myself in a better way".<br /><br />I think the type of joke is not the problem, only the very joke itself, which is simply not very funny.<br /><br />(By the way, your response implies that you haven't heard of IT Crowd. You should really watch it, it's hilarious.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-46208936736143496412009-12-08T17:00:02.790-08:002009-12-08T17:00:02.790-08:00The scare quotes indicate that "classical&quo...The scare quotes indicate that "classical" is here being used to mean "idiotic."rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-73677772852958620602009-12-07T06:14:30.581-08:002009-12-07T06:14:30.581-08:00It's not meant to be "suddenly serious&qu...It's not meant to be "suddenly serious".<br />Do you know that episode from "The IT Crowd" at Denholm's funeral? Denholm's son shows up in a very dramatic way, tries to hide his tears and screams "FATHARRR!!!" with a dramatic gesture.<br /><br />This is kind of a joke like that, only more subtle. Yes, you laugh about a person who is sad, but you're not laughing about the REASON why he's sad, you're just laughing about his way of expressing it.<br /><br />To me this seems like a very "classical" joke.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-20867452527662689022009-11-22T01:30:52.797-08:002009-11-22T01:30:52.797-08:00perhaps. and perhaps this is one of those comics t...perhaps. and perhaps this is one of those comics that is really not meant to be funny. But it seems like that excuse gets used a LOT - far more than it should be. But again, this may be a case where it's justified.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-25093599779829759002009-11-21T19:47:02.367-08:002009-11-21T19:47:02.367-08:00Personally, I liken it to The Raven by Edgar Allan...Personally, I liken it to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Hopefully, you've read it (in my school, I even had to memorize it). If not, go do that now.<br /><br />In a way, this is extremely similar. The narrator in The Raven is not extremely dumb, is he? He can at least "[ponder] over a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore." He is not exactly insane, either; he obviously knows that the raven’s answers have no meaning: "what it utters is its only stock and store." Nevertheless, he continues to ask it questions regarding the afterlife despite knowing that its answers are meaningless.<br /><br />In that case, the narrator is not exactly insane, but so jarred at Lenore's death that he somewhat tries to delude himself into believing the raven. He even gets angry at the raven after it constantly spouts out "nevermore" even though he previously realizes that it says the same thing anyway.<br /><br />It is essentially the same thing here. The beret guy is so extremely saddened by the death of his mother that he sort of mentally deludes himself into believing that the other guy's answer actually has some value to it. He is not exactly dumb or insane, but just so extremely distressed that he is willing to latch onto any hope handed out, in this case that the other guy really does mean his mom is pulling the galaxies, and in The Raven that the bird really does know the truth about Heaven.<br /><br />Perhaps this comic is not meant to be a joke. It uses humor, I will not argue that, but it does so for the greater message. The joke is not that the guy is dumb or “HIS MOM DIED, LET'S LAUGH AT HIM.” Like The Raven, although perhaps not as well expressed, he is merely making a point about how great an impact sadness can have on our minds.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-3872913159515899192009-11-03T19:59:48.861-08:002009-11-03T19:59:48.861-08:00If the joke is "he is sad" then that is ...If the joke is "he is sad" then that is just evil. "HIS MOM DIED, LET'S LAUGH AT HIM." Maybe that would fly on Cyanide and Happiness but not here. Randall just isn't that bad a guy. The joke is that he is so dumb he thinks the guy is not making fun of him.<br /><br />Tell us more about your school.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-76903287654973047752009-11-03T19:15:45.879-08:002009-11-03T19:15:45.879-08:00the SAME THING happened?? are you fucking serious...the SAME THING happened?? are you fucking serious? someone looked up into the sky and asked for his mother because some jackass told him a "your mom" joke that he was too dumb to get?<br /><br />anyway how is "an insensitive jab at the scarred person's emotions" a joke?Amandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11192581573588205095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-89192276204161655062009-11-03T14:14:23.404-08:002009-11-03T14:14:23.404-08:00in your faq you claim to "get" these jok...in your faq you claim to "get" these jokes. well YOU"RE A FUCKING RETARD FOR SAYING SO!!! The joke isn't that Beret Guy's an idiot, it's that Beret Guy's lost his mother, and is so sad he would delusion himself to believe that his mother may still be out there, thus making the clearly unaware other guy's immature yo mama joke an insensitive jab at the scarred person's emotions. The same thing happened at my school once.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-47125362810941410002008-11-13T15:09:00.000-08:002008-11-13T15:09:00.000-08:00I can see why this one wouldn't be funny, I just f...I can see why this one wouldn't be funny, I just found it amusing. Maybe because this is the sort of creepy and morbid thing that I do all the time. You want to alienate someone...rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-74724424529939685662008-11-13T01:21:00.000-08:002008-11-13T01:21:00.000-08:00Well, Beret guy used to be the Existentialist. It'...Well, Beret guy used to be the Existentialist. It's not just bakeries you know.<BR/><BR/>I didn't mind this one, either. Although that might just be because it was so much better than the three or so previous XKCDs, and indeed better than the day's Overcompensating, which usually trounces XKCD in terms of chuckleworthiness.<BR/><BR/>(That's not to diminish OC, though - in fact, the next comic is quite relevant to this place, especially the third panel:<BR/><BR/>http://overcompensating.com/posts/20081112.html<BR/><BR/>)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-74504693282672649752008-11-13T00:50:00.000-08:002008-11-13T00:50:00.000-08:00I doubt it. Mr. Hat is clearly a recurring charact...I doubt it. Mr. Hat is clearly a recurring character, and there are at least a few comics where Mr. Beret has some continuity (the bakery stuff, I guess, is the only one, but still) and making different characters look identical is just horribly and needlessly confusing. At the least he should give them different colored hats, or some other distinctive characteristic.<BR/><BR/>So little visual distinction between characters is going to make it hard for him to do more long form stuff, as he's trying to do.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-45206938925259836002008-11-12T17:55:00.000-08:002008-11-12T17:55:00.000-08:00I think you are taking Beret Man a little too seri...I think you are taking Beret Man a little too seriously. Randall probably just likes drawing berets and probably doesn't really expect someone to catalog all of the character's appearances, despite how nerdy they are. <BR/><BR/>For the most part, it's not even a continuous strip. You can jump in anywhere and not be lost.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-26138956006801267972008-11-12T14:38:00.000-08:002008-11-12T14:38:00.000-08:00hm. That's good to know. I can clearly see that mo...hm. That's good to know. I can clearly see that most of my regular readers did like this comic. I will add an update I guess.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-77618637142287481072008-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:00I think with this review you alienated a few peopl...I think with this review you alienated a few people who sympathize with your cause but still also like the comic sometimes. This one was a good strip if you took the time to think about it without a negative bias to the entire webcomic. <BR/><BR/>In my opinion this post seemed just slightly more of an attack on the comic than a well thought out critique that I've seen from you in your past posts. Keep up the good work over all though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-46242313220965342612008-11-12T13:27:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:27:00.000-08:00Weird, people I usually agree with seem to all lik...Weird, people I usually agree with seem to all like this one...makes me feel awkward. Anyway, I agree with poore, and I'll add that given the other contexts in which we see Mr. Beret it's also a little schizophrenic.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-83967073021266504082008-11-12T11:09:00.000-08:002008-11-12T11:09:00.000-08:00Mr. Beret's mother is dead. He is contemplating th...Mr. Beret's mother is dead. He is contemplating the possibility of the afterlife, that, even after death, there may still be a chance for him to see her again. I.E. - "Your mom." "Oh God, is it possible that even beyond death the entity of my mother might still exist somewhere beyond this universe?!"<BR/><BR/>I felt this comic was an attempt at sentimentality that just comes off as morbid and sad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-32348137803920201402008-11-12T00:46:00.000-08:002008-11-12T00:46:00.000-08:00I don't know, I liked this one. I couldn't tell yo...I don't know, I liked this one. I couldn't tell you why, but I smirked at least.rshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828938843801425383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-76454127495469587052008-11-11T21:26:00.000-08:002008-11-11T21:26:00.000-08:00Anon - I'm pretty sure he did. I mean, the non-ber...Anon - I'm pretty sure he did. I mean, the non-beret'd man suggests that his mom is out there pulling everything towards her, and then he contemplates that in panel 3, and then he hopes his mom will pull them all faster so he can see her again. If he isn't taking "your mom" seriously, then what the hell is he doing, and why is it funny?<BR/><BR/>Sarah - I think Randall does poignancy well on occasion, but not nearly as often as he thinks he does. This one doesn't work for me just because it's hard to imagine Mr. Beret (i have got to start being consistent with his name) being so stupid that he takes it seriously. Especially after the "zing." And given his somewhat psychotic stapling frenzy and lugnut eating, it's also hard for me feel any empathy for the guy. Like when <A HREF="http://xkcdsucks.blogspot.com/2008/06/comic-432-sucks-ass.html" REL="nofollow">Mr. Hat was depressed</A>.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01074589998141327538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-40868450903467237762008-11-11T19:55:00.000-08:002008-11-11T19:55:00.000-08:00I dunno, I kind of liked this one. I mean, it's so...I dunno, I kind of liked this one. I mean, it's sort of a thing with Randall to "take an unfunny joke completely literally, thereby making it a little more funny/poignant", which is what he's doing here. I think the timing is pretty good, too.<BR/><BR/>But yeah, I can see why some people wouldn't like it, but I do.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16010740125071866268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-3681345330417389052008-11-11T18:56:00.001-08:002008-11-11T18:56:00.001-08:00I think you missed the mark on this one. I just do...I think you missed the mark on this one. <BR/>I just don't get the feeling that Mr. Beret took the your mom joke seriously.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714810984552499396.post-48800362277671269912008-11-11T18:56:00.000-08:002008-11-11T18:56:00.000-08:00I think you missed the mark on this one. I just do...I think you missed the mark on this one. <BR/>I just don't get the feeling that Mr. Beret took the your mom joke seriously.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com