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Title: Hurricane Names; alt-text: After exhausting the OED, we started numbering them. When overlapping hurricanes formed at all points on the Earth's surface, and our scheme was foiled by Cantor diagonalization, we just decided to name them all "Steve". Your local forecast tomorrow is "Steve"
Hey guys, did you know that funny == random? Randall sure does! Just throw in some words like "eggbeater" (itself HILARIOUS, provably hilarious) and call it a day! Why waste time with a joke when you can just say, "Oh man, if there were too many hurricanes, the naming conventions would break down and suddenly become WILD AND WACKY"?
To be fair to Randall, Hurricane Irene is still around, so he's at least topical this time. (More like TROPICAL, right? Tropical storm? ...Guys?) Given his past record, I honestly would've expected a comic like this to show up sometime in December. Guess he's improving.
However, that doesn't excuse the flaw mentioned above, or the secondary flaw of just being too darn wordy. Happily, he's buried most of the superfluous text in the alt-text, because by the time you've finished reading through it, the joke has been murdered and dismembered. It's dead. It's like saying, "Why did the hamster cross the road? Because it was tied to the chicken! Ha! Haha! ...You see guys, this particular hamster had been the subject of an awful twine accident involving an underpaid farmhand, a jug of moonshine, and an excess of free time. It all began when..."
Great, we get it. It's not funny anymore. Just tell the joke and call it good, Randall. Quit while you're ahead (or at least not so far behind).
P.S. I've already received one "xkcd Sucks Less" submission for this strip, and, as expected, it does indeed suck less. Great! Keep them coming, people! If you've got an improvement to a particular comic, just email it to me or post it in a comment.
In the "less sucky" comics the Alt-text is a witty afterthought, a joke about the creative process of coming up with the strip, or maybe something funny that's in the same vein but didn't fit in the strip. In the case of 944 he just ran out of room for text in the frame.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny* about this strip is revealed by the accompanying blog post where it becomes apparent that Randall is just mocking the lack of professionalism of the people in the National Weather Service.
*(not funny "ha ha", the other kind, as in "my bathroom smells funny")
This blog needs more love. Or at least one more comment.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that they would name hurricanes after random English words is stupid. Because really, 'Eggbeater'? Give the badass killer storm some dignity!
What should happen is that hurricane naming committee would get their hands on this Random Name Generator, which should give at least a million combinations.
So the Atlantic hurricane season for 2064 would have names like this...
Tropical Storm Aspiaxee
Hurricane Dranje (category 1)
Tropical Storm Fladloa
Hurricane Heuveeva (category 3)
Hurricane Bieloi (category 1)
Tropical Storm Freermpo
Hurricane Swuxee (category 5 - 9400 dead in Florida)
I object to your reasoning for the Hamster joke being un-funny. That is exactly how my jokes go. I explain the bad ones until the explanation is funnier than mt mediocre jokes, and then I just have a sub-par joke. I find it quite useful, because then some people laugh with you, and some laugh at you, iiregardless (yes, I'm just being a prick now)everyone is laughing.
ReplyDeleteWhat? I... I don't even know what Randall is trying to do in this strip.
ReplyDeleteRandall's been watching the news, I can tell.
ReplyDeleteTest for if you believe Random = Funny.
ReplyDeleteStep 1: Search "Chef Brian" on the popular webcomic controlaltdelete.
Step 2: Read every comic that features him.
Step 3: Choose the subset which you belong in
Are you:
a) Rolling on the floor in fits of uncontrolled laughter?
b) Rolling on the floor foaming at the mouth with condensed rage.
In either case, I suggest going to the doctor to review your spastic movements.
This comment brought to you by:
GAMERULES ROBDROOLS.
I was c)"What the hell is this boring %*1@?!"
ReplyDeleteChef Brian is the best part of CAD... but that's not saying much.
ReplyDelete".....this particular hamster had been the subject of an awful twine accident involving an underpaid farmhand, a jug of moonshine, and an excess of free time....."
ReplyDeleteIt was no accident. And it was a flagon of ale, not a jug of moonshine.
"==" means you're asking whether it is equal dumbshit.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it does. Looking back, the wording should have been "random == funny", but it amounts to the same thing.
ReplyDelete(I don't actually hate you; I only appear to do so because it's cool, like making fun of Rob's obesity)
ReplyDeletesometimes verbose humour is the funniest kind. not all jokes need to be a single sentence long.
ReplyDeleteNo, but they do need to be funny.
ReplyDelete945: Doesn't need the explanation at the bottom, but is otherwise quite decent. Colour me surprised.
ReplyDeletePlease see my comic strip response to XKCD #944:
ReplyDeletehttp://icanbarelydraw.blogspot.com/2011/09/trust-nothing-that-comic-strip.html