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Still, let's give this review a shot.
Title: Everything; alt-text: I wanna hold your hand so I don't fall out of your gyrocopter.
I honestly can't tell if this is really sweet or really cold. On the one hand, he's saying, "I know I'm not hopelessly and delusionally in love with you, but I still love the things you do." On the other hand, it also sounds like, "You really mean nothing to me personally, but at least you're entertaining." I think Randall's going for the first, but it comes off as more of the second.
Either way, what it boils down to is that Randall has absolutely no filter between his mind and his mouth, whether it's concerning his odd fetishes (which should be kept inside his head to spare the rest of us), his views of other sciences or professions (which should also remain under wraps because they make him look like an arrogant dickhead), his ideas about relationships (which bare his creepiness to the world), or how he honestly feels about people (because, believe it or not, tact is a virtue).
Some might say that this is just a persona of Randall's creation, or his characters talking. I say that when you present the same mindset frequently and consistently over the span of six years (or whatever it's been), especially with as little self-awareness as xkcd has, you can no longer pass it off something fictional. That's YOU, whether it's intentional or subconscious. Randall's an ignorant, arrogant, tactless creep.
Who knew, right?
P.S. Some people say this is a reference to one of Shakespeare's sonnet's, but that can't be right. Do you really think Randall would soil himself with the liberal arts?
Naaaaaah.
Think this is supposed to be codifying "geek love". Or "nerd love". (cf. xkcd 747)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like truly platonic pandering.
If you're going to reference a sonnet, you'd better damn well do it in iambic pentameter. This is probably too difficult for math-genius Randall though.
ReplyDeleteOne time I tried to write some sonnets for my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time and I was still trying to woo her or whatever) and it was hard... in fact I did it completely wrong but was ok because it just ended up being a really strangely structured bastard child of limerick, sonnet and free verse... anyway... point is, in poetry it's the thought that counts and Randall should have put more thought into this one.
ReplyDeleteHere's my edit: http://xkcdprime.blogspot.com/2011/10/xkcd-968-everything-aesthetics.html
Still wracking my brain trying to come up with something to do with 969.
Ah, Randall's forays into literature. He memorably exhibited the perils of a lifetime of disregard for liberal arts in 794, where he stated what he obviously thought was a clever insight into historical literature, but which is in fact exceptionally obvious—not only to English majors and the like, but really to anyone who reads literature at all.
ReplyDelete