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Alt-text: Of the two Garfields, you wouldn't think the cat would turn out to be the more compelling presidential speechwriter, but there you go.
Well, it's that time of the year again, when I finally have something to say about today's comic, although I'm going to address more the general xkcd suckiness than this particular one. You see, a lot of the strips lately have followed a similar formula, which was "stick figures take something far too stupid far too seriously" and they were all so bland and dumb for the same reasons, so there wasn't a lot to say about them individually. And that is one of the reasons why xkcd sucks (title drop WOOO): It doesn't evolve. While other webcomics change over time, and become better (or, in some cases, worse), Randall still draws the same shit over and over three times a week and somehow expects to be paid for it.
But back to that formula. Some of you may have noticed that it kinda resembles the formula the Monty Python's Flying Circus has used, and they are right... mostly, since that show would use the word "silly", not "stupid". What's the difference? Well, whereas the Monty Python troupe was inventive and imaginative in their choice of things to be serious about (to name just a few examples, the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Cheese Shop bit and, of course, the famous Dead Parrot sketch), Mr. Munroe is... not. Seriously, common snark and a cheesy pick up line?
Though I do have a couple things to say about today's comic as well. Some indication towards what kind of speech this is would be nice, and no, a throwaway line in the alt-text does not count. And, on the topic of the alt-text, only Randall would consider this speech "compelling", instead of what I presume would be the listeners' reaction, "I think an asylum somewhere is missing a patient".
I have complained about this before, but I think it bears repeating. After a few dozen reviews there is nothing new to comment on about xkcd. That is why people write these reviews, and it is also why people stop writing these reviews. We can only hope that this is because Randall's trying to make his webcomic as review-proof as possible, because the only alternative is so much worse.
This XKCD reminded me of that one Farscape episode where they come across a planet where it's the last day of work, and then they party all night to celebrate the upcoming holiday, and the next day they've forgotten about it and think it's the last day of work again so they're actually working every day and celebrating every night. Also, no one wants to leave there, even Dargo gets ensnared by the place.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that episode was actually interesting, the comic was not.
Also, wrt 1072: touch-tone was introduced in the 60s so the guy would probably know what it meant (even if he couldn't actually generate the tone with a rotary dial phone). And I've never, ever seen a voice mail or answering phone that required you to press a button to leave a message; they all just automatically record one. So the joke doesn't actually work the way Randall presented it.
For Randall, every day is Saturday, except for one hour a night M, W, F.
ReplyDelete