1009: If you're annoying enough...

Comic 1009:

title: Sigh; alt-text:"If you're annoying enough, you can get them to respond with an involuntary second sigh and get a rhythm going."

This comic managed to inspire me to make another post... just because I got to use a piece of the alt-text as an appropriate blog entry title. Sorry for the brevity.

1006: You're a douche and I don't care

Alt-text: Roger Ebert once called you directionless and unwatchable.

Hello, dear readers, I'm back after two long weeks of no posts. Yay. The reason for this absence is that the last few strips were pretty meh and I couldn't find anything the least substantial to say about them (and apparently I'm the only one who posts reviews here anymore). Not today, though, because we have a doozy that needs to be taken care of.

So this comic is Randall's commentary on the countless "if they made my life into a movie" jokes, as well as a standard "smart female pwns dumb male" strip. It's strange that the person delivering the verbal smackdown here is a man, but on the other hand since the Featureless Stick Figure screams "author avatar", I can't help but wonder if Randall has unwillingly gotten into a conversation where this line has been said and he only thought of a snappy comeback a few hours later, so he turned it into a comic. See? That's what happens when you draw such a minimalistic comic; people fill the blanks with their own theories.

Although I called the comeback "snappy", it's pretty weak when you think about it. Nobody in movies talks like in real life, and for a good reason, and that includes movies based on real stories. Furthermore, it's ironic that this comment made it into one of the few xkcd strips that actually contain somewhat realistic speech.

The alt-text only reinforces my belief that there actually is a real short-haired, goatee'd man that should feel insulted by it. As it stands, it's decent (for once), but Randall just comes off as a jerk. For that reason, I offer an alternate one: "They probably should've left this scene out."

Honestly, this strip might've been good, but the problem is that the only thing I had been thinking after reading it was "You're a douche and I don't care". That, and it's not that funny, clever, or original.

1001: The real 1000

SinbadEV said...

1001 is hilarious... still laughing at it. Sorry, I'm sure there are ways it could be criticized but I'm not gonna look for them.

Don't worry, man, I got this.

***

Alt-text: 'ARE YOU TURNED ON YET?' 'I DON'T THINK SO--ARE YOU?' 'MAYBE A LITTLE!' 'OK, FIVE MORE MINUTES.'

Okay, as SinbadEV said, this is actually a pretty decent comic. It does have a fair share of problems, but it's still an appropriate "real 1000th strip".

What I like the most about it is its perfect pacing and execution of the joke. The first three panels depict the consequences of a stupid decision (a man and a woman spinning on a bed a bit too fast) and the last panel reveals the decision itself (to build said rotating bed at home after seeing one on TV). Randall even managed to avoid all the usual pitfalls. No post-punchline dialogue, no banner that says "PARTY", no unrealistic speech. Well, okay, it seems a bit stiff to me, but not nearly enough to ruin the comic for me.

The art is pretty good, too, at least for xkcd's standards; I have to point out the ripples in the sheet and the screams of "AAAAAAAA". On the other hand, it isn't very well depicted that the bed is, in fact, spinning, apart from a mediocre blur effect, and the big faceless heads in the first two panels really seem out of place, like in just about any other well-drawn xkcd strip ever.

The weakest past of the comic, though, is the alt-text. It's not funny, it's just really, really stupid. Shame, especially since there are many things that the alt-text could say that would fit the comic a lot better. Here, let me try: "An unidentified flying object has been sighted near Boston. One of the passengers of the circular spinning vehicle has been reported to say 'WHEEEEE!' ".

All in all, this is probably one of the best strips Randall has drawn in years, and I'm glad that it has come right after the horrendous 1000 "comic". Please keep the quality up, Randall.

1000: Why?

Alt-text: Thank you for making me feel less alone.

Today is a big day for Mr. Randall Munroe. His influential webcomic has just hit the big 1000, and he's celebrating it big style - by drawing a big number 1000 comprised of stick figures that represent the past strips, plus a lame "programmers only know 1024" joke.

...

Alright, I'll try to keep this short, so that the others can state their own opinions. To be honest, I was kinda hoping that Randall would come with something big for his 1000th comic. You know, large format, colors, all the recurring characters (all two of them), maybe a return to the very first strip... But instead, we get this. I have never seen an anniversary webcomic strip this self-congratulatory. Sure, many webcomics love to celebrate regular anniversaries (see every 100th episode of Order of the Stick, a vastly superior stick comic), but this is the first time such a comic basically says "Ooh, look at me, I can shit out a crappy drawing three times a week for six years straight, aren't I a cool guy?"

Acosta02 said in the comments for the last article: "XKCD number 1000 can literally only be interpreted as a self-parody, right down to the title text." I wish I could say that I agree, but the way I see it, there is a very real possibility that Randall meant this comic completely seriously.

P.S.: I'm only including the "Mr. Hat" label here because I found him included in the second zero (he's on its 2 o'clock). I didn't find Beret Guy, but I'm sure he's there somewhere, so I'm including him, too.