Penny Arcade Holiday Strip Series #2

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Penny Arcade Holiday Strip Series #2

Posted by Zonk on Monday December 20, 2004 @07:25AM from the bleach-their-bones-and-watch-them-gleam-fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la dept.

We're happy to bring you more work from Gabe and Tycho, the co-authors of Penny Arcade and organizers of the Child's Play charity. This week the Holiday strip series continues with Page 2 of the story.

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Whoah by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 07:36 · Score: 3, Funny

That looks like my ex-girlfriend...
1. Re:Whoah by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 07:43 · Score: 0
  
  That actually happened to me once. I was ice skating, and all of a sudden Cthulhu popped up.
  
  The date didn't end well.
2. Re:Whoah by Destoo · 2004-12-21 04:43 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Funny because it's what it's meant to be.
  
  Cthulhu is HP Lovecraft's representation of the female organs.
  
  He always was a party animal.
  
  --
  Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
3. Re:Whoah by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-21 05:47 · Score: 0
  
  You skipped the middle step in your little Freudian postulate, which is that Lovecraft had a deep loathing of seafood. From there, some people like to take a hop, skip and a jump to the pussy; usually people who have never been near one themselves. Which, from a cursory glance at your homepage, almost certainly includes yourself, Party Animal.
4. Re:Whoah by Destoo · 2004-12-21 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  you're right.. silly homepage. I should make something out of it.
  
  And the theory is not mine.
  It was related to us by a litterature teacher in a sci-fi/horro around 1990. He probably mentionned seafood but I have no recollection of it. But I do remember that HP, in a letter, did mention something to that effect. Along the lines of : when you have read everything that has ever been written about sex at age 10 and about love at age 12, these things don't make any sense anymore.
  
  Then again, I might be wrong.. My college years are pretty fuzzy, and taking physics at univ was a good move, but I lost a lot of my litterature lore in the process.
  
  --
  Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
5. Re:Whoah by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-21 09:03 · Score: 0
  
  I was just being an asshole. Sorry about that.
  
  Anyway, I've heard that theory, but don't find that much vaginal imagery in Lovecraft's work. Except maybe for the gugs and their gaping vertical mouths...
  
  Now racist imagery, you can make a hell of a case for; I love Lovecraft's writing but he was a very racist fellow.
  
  But the worst case I think you could make for Lovecraft's view on women was that it was outmoded and anachronistic. He was married, after all (his wife described him as an "adequately excellent lover," although it may be she was just being charitable), and lived with his mother and them some aunts -- which, from reading his biographies, seemed agreeable enough. The worst you can probably say is that about the only female character he ever had in his stories was Asenath Waite, and she was a villainness. So women don't so much seem an object of horror as to, well, not exist.
  
  I've personally never bought into the loathing of fish == loathing of vaginas, personally, and I think it's a hell of a leap to make, but I've seen that theory around.
6. Re:Whoah by UrgleHoth · 2004-12-21 11:36 · Score: 1
  
  Is that with or without the beer goggle?
  
  --
  
  Dogma - "let's just say we'd like to avoid any empirical entanglements."
Well gee by Holi · 2004-12-20 07:51 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Since you posted the comic to slashdot why would I bother to go to penny-arcade.

--
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
1. Re:Well gee by Methuseus · 2004-12-20 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  well, you may be interested in the first couple pages of it... as you can see these are pages 3 and 4.
  
  --
  Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
2. Re:Well gee by Holi · 2004-12-20 07:59 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  Actually I check penny-arcade every day, I just think the comic shouldn't be posted to slashdot. But if it's ok with Tycho and Gabe then it would be ok with me. I just wonder if it's ok with them.
  
  --
  Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
3. Re:Well gee by Temporal · 2004-12-20 08:04 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Gabe personally thanked Slashdot in his post to PA's front page last Friday. Apparently the whole idea here is that Slashdot is "mirroring" these because PA's bandwidth has gone to shit recently and there's a lot of overlap in readership, or something. Personally I think the idea is pretty silly, but, yes, Gabe and Tycho approve.
4. Re:Well gee by fireduck · 2004-12-20 08:04 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  click that second link in the story, the one that links to the previous slashdot story with pages 1 and 2. you'll notice the blurb points out that slashdot is helping alleviate some of PA's bandwith demand by hosting the cartoons here as well.
5. Re:Well gee by smoondog · 2004-12-20 15:29 · Score: 1
  
  Do the image tags on penny-arcade point to slashdot? That would be an easy way to reduce bandwidth...
6. Re:Well gee by Wandering+Wombat · 2004-12-21 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  It's the least Slashdot could do, since PA's readership tripled with that first link a month or so back, and when 6000 people go through 6 years of archives all at the same time, ISP's tend to get pretty pissed off. PA plans to get a much higher-bandwidth provider in the New Year with whatever they can embezzle from the poor sick kids.
  
  --
  I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
South Park by spencerogden · 2004-12-20 07:53 · Score: 1

Reminds me of the last South Park, Dr. Seuss rhyming, evil creatures,etc. It always amuses me how Cthulu and the rest are so well known in open source circles, but just get blanks looks from most computer geeks, let alone normal people!

--
Spencer Ogden
1. Re:South Park by elmegil · 2004-12-20 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  I think you undergeneralize. Cthulu is well known in gaming geek circles, period. Just because there's a significant OSS -> Gaming overlap is no reason to claim "most computer geeks" don't know the Ancient Ones.
  
  --
  7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
2. Re:South Park by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 08:51 · Score: 0
  
  That's because most computer geeks and normal people realize Penny Arcade is crap. Just my two cents, but there are many webcomics out there that are much better.
3. Re:South Park by kLaNk · 2004-12-20 12:08 · Score: 1
  
  Ever listened to any of the good Metallica? Just a bit of the old Cthulu there. Yeah, I wouldn't classify them as geeks either (although they have rather gone to shit in the last 10 years or so).
4. Re:South Park by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-21 04:46 · Score: 0
  
  Just name them, then.
it's cool by Bishop · 2004-12-20 08:06 · Score: 1

See
The Newspost by feidaykin · 2004-12-20 08:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

Tycho comments on the whole death of suprnova thing, and one of things he says is:
There are conversations to be had about the morality of file sharing, but until those stern words are able to project a "morality field" that causes those in their radius to behave honorably such dialogues fall into the "adorable but irrelevant" category.
Wow. I think he just summed up an entire form of slashdot subculture... in a single sentence. That's awesome!

--
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
1. Re:The Newspost by e2mtt · 2004-12-20 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  Tycho has a way of doing that... in one single intricately crafted sentence he will boil down the absolute essence of idea, game review, or personal opinion.
  
  However, quite often the sentence will require multiple readings to grasp the full meaning. He is an amazing writer.
2. Re:The Newspost by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 15:01 · Score: 0
  
  Thanks mom!
  
  -Tycho
  
  (...not really)
3. Re:The Newspost by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 15:34 · Score: 0
  
  I think he has a way of writing that _seems_ lofty and will have others agreeing with him in order to seem lofty by proxy.
  
  Let's analyze what he says. Boiling down his "intricately crafted sentence" even further we arrive at something like "Talking about file sharing is irrelevant until you can project morality fields which imbue honor among the participants."
  
  What does it mean to "behave honorably?" Behave honorably as file sharers? Behave honorably as participants in the discussion? Behave honorably as internet citizens? Behave honorably in your projecting of the morality field?
  
  Let's say you behaved honorably in any of those senses. Would it make the conversation about file sharing any more relevant? Any less adorable?
  
  Saying something is "adorable but irrelevant" is just being snarky. Anyone who didn't understand the words coming before it will instantly latch on to the sentence as a whole thinking they've just witnessed something "intricately crafted." It's low-attention span code for "I just said something witty."
  
  Anyone else feel this way? Maybe it's just me.
4. Re:The Newspost by SetupWeasel · 2004-12-20 17:17 · Score: 1
  
  However, quite often the sentence will require multiple readings to grasp the full meaning. He is an amazing writer.
  
  Not to blast Tycho, but good writing is easy to understand. An "amazing writer" does not hand you a scrambled Rubik's Cube and ask you to solve it.
5. Re:The Newspost by SetupWeasel · 2004-12-20 17:48 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, I agree. That sentence is horrible. There are many big words and not much content.
  
  Tycho's sentence:
  There are conversations to be had about the morality of file sharing, but until those stern words are able to project a "morality field" that causes those in their radius to behave honorably such dialogues fall into the "adorable but irrelevant" category.
  
  This reads to me as follows: "Untill people listen to them, discussions about the morality of file sharing are pointless."
  
  He tries to say more, but there are phrases like "behave honorably" that don't connect to anything, as you said.
6. Re:The Newspost by LastToKnow · 2004-12-20 19:17 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I disagree. I rather like Tycho's writing style; it reminds me of Douglas Adams and others who take the time to play with the language and create sentences that not only get the point across, but are a joy to parse.
7. Re:The Newspost by Swanktastic · 2004-12-21 01:21 · Score: 1
  
  An "amazing writer" does not hand you a scrambled Rubik's Cube and ask you to solve it.
  
  Well put. I couldn't agree more. I love Penny Arcade, but Tycho's writing is self-indulgent and oblique. Sometimes I think he checks every adjective for a possible thesaurus substitute.
  
  It reminds me of the witty banter that characters zip back and forth in shows like Dawson's Creek and Gilmore Girls-- SAT words get blasted around at 6 per minute, and they barely pause to think before rattling off a seemingly brilliant observation that is really quite ordinary.
8. Re:The Newspost by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-21 03:43 · Score: 0
  
  I'm really interested in who you consider an "amazing writer". Most highly hailed authors have many levels to their work... that's why people praise it so.
  
  Now I'm not trying to compare Tycho to Shakespeare, but try reading Hamlet and understanding every aspect of it in one go.
  
  In my opinion, there are two kinds of great writers: Ones whom can tell a tale that you can't stop reading. This type can get away with simple write writing (that you understand immediately) because their plots and whatnot are so good. The others are ones who are simply language artists. Tycho is the sort who, as mentioned before, plays the English language like his own instument. Granted he's not always on fire, but he usually impresses me.
  
  As for Tycho's choice of words, as he's mentioned he doesn't bother with reading thesauri... He just eats them for breakfast.
9. Re:The Newspost by SetupWeasel · 2004-12-21 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  That is bullshit. Read Douglas Adams. He is never that confusing. Parsing is NOT a joy, ever.
10. Re:The Newspost by SetupWeasel · 2004-12-21 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Regardless of how many "levels" a story has, you should be able to understand each individual sentence. Depth is not brought about by confusion.
  
  I've read Tolstoy (an "amazing writer"), Douglas Adams (ditto), as well as college physics textbooks (NOT amazing for the most part). The great writers convey their thoughts nearly effortlessly. Physics textbooks, more often than not, force you to read sentences and paragraphs over and over to gain any meaning at all.
  
  Tycho isn't the worst I've seen, but the particular sentence quoted is a horrible, twisted mess.
11. Re:The Newspost by jackbird · 2004-12-24 08:14 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, I agree. That sentence is horrible. There are many big words and not much content.
  Which 'big words' were tripping you up? With the cutoff at 6 letters you get:
  conversations
  morality
  sharing
  project
  honorab ly
  dialogues
  adorable
  irrelevant
  category
  are those really that hard?
Mirror by Andy_R · 2004-12-20 08:14 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Here's a Mirror

--
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
1. Re:Mirror by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 08:39 · Score: 0
  
  You sir, are moderately funny.
The Grammar could use a little work... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 08:17 · Score: 0

Typical Americans - it should be "nicely" not "nice".
/Grammar Nazi.
1. Re:The Grammar could use a little work... by UWC · 2004-12-20 09:00 · Score: 1
  
  If you've read much of Tycho's writing, you'll realize that the only reason English grammar is compromised in the strip is for the sake of rhyme. And just in case you're also a Composition Nazi, I apologize (Or would you prefer I use "apologise," as you tend to hold Americans' collective grasp of English in such contempt?) for using the passive "is compromised."
  
  --
  Honor Among Slackers. A veri
2. Re:The Grammar could use a little work... by Cabriel · 2004-12-20 10:09 · Score: 1
  
  To be fair, a period after the second and fourt lines might have been nice, but it's still a nice rhyme. ^_^
3. Re:The Grammar could use a little work... by Atrax · 2004-12-20 11:18 · Score: 1
  
  > To be fair, a period after the second and fourt lines might have been nice
  
  PA needs Mr Period
  
  (hope I got the right URL, PA seems to be flattened right now)
  
  --
  Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
4. Re:The Grammar could use a little work... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 16:53 · Score: 0
  
  Sorry - I didn't intend it to come across as harshly as it appears to have done :)
  
  It was just a throw-away comment about a pet peeve I have- and the bit about Americans is just because it seems that dropping the "-ly" seems to be endemic on American TV programmes (yeah, I know that doesn't say much).
  
  I promise to be play nicer in future - and put more smilies in my posts :)
  
  (And, for the above hideous sentence constructions, I'll now turn in my Grammar Nazi badge, and refrain from taking comic strips to task ever again!)
  
  PS. I really do enjoy Penny Arcade...even if I prefer Ctrl-Alt-Del :)
Re:You might need to update your webcomic more if, by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 08:25 · Score: 1, Informative

They have new comics monday, wednesday and friday but with the bandwith hit they have been taking with the Child's Play charity Slashdot is hosting the comics to allievate some of the load.

Maybe you should know what the hell is going on before you decide to hit that Reply button.
Does this really let up the load? by metroid+composite · 2004-12-20 08:42 · Score: 1

Y'know, I realize that these articles are here to try and help keep PA from being slashdotted by the charity links and all that, but these slashdot articles are reminding me that I'm a month behind in the PA comics, and that I ought to go browsing right now....
Wonder if the /. mirroring is actually helping their server overload....
1. Re:Does this really let up the load? by Wampus+Aurelius · 2004-12-20 09:02 · Score: 1
  
  Wonder if the /. mirroring is actually helping their server overload....
  
  I think it's actually making the server load worse. Slashdotters who don't normally go to PA are mindlessly clicking on the links Pavlovian style despite the fact that the comic is right there. And PA readers are clicking on the link to RTFA from Tycho. Today and Friday PA has been waaaaaaay slower than usual.
2. Re:Does this really let up the load? by hemebond · 2004-12-20 11:10 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Probably not. Penny-Arcade would be better of coding their site properly. They could cut their bandwidth in half. Then there's the number of requests they make to the database. Yeesh.
Nice comic and all, but... by fondue · 2004-12-20 11:17 · Score: 1

Um, what does this have to do with games again?

--
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
1. Re:Nice comic and all, but... by Synkronos · 2004-12-20 20:34 · Score: 1
  
  It's a gaming webcomic. And the reason /. said that they were prepared to host this comic is because of the great work PA are doing in their Child's Play charity, where they are raising money to donate game consoles to childrens' wards for long-term illnesses. So: Cthulhu, nothing. PA, everything.
  
  --
  Playing poker with a joker and some Uno cards
OH BOY, CANT WAIT TILL THE NEXT PAGE! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-20 13:07 · Score: 0

How gripping! Such a page-turner! Oh wait, we only get a page at a time.
1. Re:OH BOY, CANT WAIT TILL THE NEXT PAGE! by Destoo · 2004-12-21 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  That's TWO pages at a time.
  
  Left and right.. 1-2, 3-4..
  
  I bet we'll get 5-6 on friday or something...
  
  O.. Spirit of Continuity..
  
  Anyone know how many pages they plan for this drama?
  
  --
  Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
Re:You might need to update your webcomic more if, by RalphBNumbers · 2004-12-20 15:45 · Score: 1

meh, some people have no sense of humor (plenty of mod points though)

--
"The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
Re:Man, oh man! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-21 15:49 · Score: 0

Stop it, you are probably turning Gabe and Tyco on with that!
Cthulhu and Open Source by dreadclown · 2004-12-21 22:14 · Score: 1

If you consider how H.P.Lovecraft and his fellow writers collaborated, it's no surprise that there's an open source connection. They were constantly (snail)mailing each other their latest works, incorporating and elaborating each others' ideas in one of the first really successful shared fantasy worlds.
A pity Arkham House went all Disney on licensing, but I guess they had to stay in business somehow.
The unfunniness of PA by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-22 02:43 · Score: 0

makes baby Jesus' eyes bleed.