Penny Arcade Speaks at MIT

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Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 23, 2006 @09:41PM from the little-dose-of-humor dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade recently gave a talk at MIT. One attendee recorded the event and has made available a transcript of the talk, in which the guys talk about the comic and various related topics. The Penny Arcade crew always puts on a good show with their own brand of witty humor and disarming personalities and this is certainly no exception. If you have never seen them talk in person it may lose a little in the translation from speech to text, but still a funny read in any case."

43 of 88 comments (clear)

In the absence of a hyperlink... by FalconZero · 2006-01-23 21:44 · Score: 5, Informative

www.penny-arcade.com
C'mon guys, its easy <a href="...">...</a>

--
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1. Re:In the absence of a hyperlink... by digitaldc · 2006-01-24 00:34 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  C'mon guys, its easy ...
  
  It's really strange, but when I click on that link I always get an Ellipsis.
  
  --
  He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
2. Re:In the absence of a hyperlink... by drinkypoo · 2006-01-24 07:30 · Score: 1
  
  A perfect example of when Taco's rules-of-hyperlinking don't work.
  
  I know I shouldn't feed the cowards but you, sir or madam, are a dumbfuck.
  
  He said that you shouldn't link to a site AND to an article on the same site. This is a link to an article on a different site, and the story is about Penny Arcade, so linking PA would have been entirely reasonable. Go back and read what he wrote.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
PA -spoke- at MIT... by itscolduphere · 2006-01-23 21:46 · Score: 5, Informative

...back in September. So in other words, just about forever ago.
1. Re:PA -spoke- at MIT... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · 2006-01-23 22:06 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ...back in September. So in other words, just about forever ago.
  
  This is all part of Taco's new system, whereby dupes are avoided by delaying the breaking of stories by several months. That way, ScuttleMonkey's short term memory loss won't be an issue!
  
  --
  May the Maths Be with you!
2. Re:PA -spoke- at MIT... by tolan-b · 2006-01-24 00:00 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The talk was a long while ago, but the guy that did the transcript only just put it up. It was mentioned on PA late last week, so /. isn't that late.
3. Re:PA -spoke- at MIT... by RidiculousPie · 2006-01-24 00:27 · Score: 1, Offtopic
  
  You could use a greasemonkey script, searching for all links containing the text compare prices, then removing them.
  
  I'm no javascript programmer, but it should be able to handle that fairly easily.
  
  --
  ah, mod points ... now where is my crack?
4. Re:PA -spoke- at MIT... by Tsaot · 2006-01-24 01:15 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  PA did speak back in september, but the transcript was just recently released. One of the students there at MIT recorded the event and spent hours of his time transcribing it on his own, in his own free time.
Coming soon ... by SpooForBrains · 2006-01-23 21:47 · Score: 2, Funny

Weebl and Peabo lecture at Cambridge University ...

--
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
Re:Penny for your thoughts? by arb · 2006-01-23 21:47 · Score: 4, Funny

Sorry, haven't gotten First Post in ages

You'll be pleased to know that you haven't broken your streak yet. ;-)
Book launch more the point by doctela · 2006-01-23 22:15 · Score: 5, Interesting

I think that the recent launch of the Penny Arcade book, Penny Arcade Volume 1: Attack of the Bacon Robots! is more the point of the article than the transcript of last September's MIT visit.
1. Re:Book launch more the point by drinkypoo · 2006-01-24 07:33 · Score: 1
  
  I think that the recent launch of the Penny Arcade book, Penny Arcade Volume 1: Attack of the Bacon Robots! is more the point of the article than the transcript of last September's MIT visit.
  
  If that is the point then it is a crap article, because it spends about 95% more time on the MIT visit than on the book release. I suspect that you have actually missed the point, and the fact that the book is being released just paves the way for releasing the transcript. Or bringing attention to it. I can find out that the book it out from the PA website. I can't read the transcript there. (There might be a link to it from there by now though...)
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I've wanted to do this for a loooong time... by XaXXon · 2006-01-23 22:19 · Score: 5, Funny

COCKTHIRSTY!!!
1. Re:I've wanted to do this for a loooong time... by roertel · 2006-01-24 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  And another one: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/06/17/
2. Re:I've wanted to do this for a loooong time... by m50d · 2006-01-24 01:44 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Am I alone in being rather unwilling to click that link?
  
  --
  I am trolling
Related comic strip by roxtar · 2006-01-23 22:25 · Score: 2, Informative

Associated comic. Happened a long time ago.
Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by gihan_ripper · 2006-01-24 00:13 · Score: 4, Informative

Links to pictures:

"Tycho" (a.k.a. Jerry Holkins)

"Gabe" (a.k.a. Mike Krahulik)

Couldn't find pictures of better halves though.

--
Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
Tycho really DOES talk like that... by Johnny+Sailor · 2006-01-24 00:48 · Score: 2, Informative

Wow, so Tycho really speaks like that in real life. I figured he sat there writing his post with a thesaurus website opened up in the background!
1. Re:Tycho really DOES talk like that... by 0xdeadbeef · 2006-01-24 02:06 · Score: 1
  
  Wow, anti-intellectualism even on Slashdot... welcome to George Bush's America!
2. Re:Tycho really DOES talk like that... by Johnny+Sailor · 2006-01-24 02:23 · Score: 1
  
  Nice troll. Don't assume I mean that like it's a bad thing. Truth be told I'm envious that he's got such a great vocabulary that he can use in daily conversation.
3. Re:Tycho really DOES talk like that... by John+Muir · 2006-01-24 09:36 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah ... I find myself doing the good old command+control+D trick (onscreen dictionary in OS X) as often at Penny Arcade as I do the most technical of sites. Quite something for a comic strip and games blog.
  
  Of course I think he's at his best when using expletive combos!
4. Re:Tycho really DOES talk like that... by hobbesx · 2006-01-24 11:50 · Score: 1
  
  It's mentioned late in the session that he does keep the thesaurus around for potential polysylaballic post polishing.
  
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Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-01-24 01:02 · Score: 5, Informative

Brenna : http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/tycam.jpg http://www.penny-arcade.com/wombean.jpg She's cute... most of us geeks should be so lucky.
Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by Babbster · 2006-01-24 01:35 · Score: 4, Insightful

It's one thing to take potshots at satirists who have demonstrated they're always up for a fight and often do assholish (but IMO funny) bits in their comics. It's quite another to take shots at their wives. The fact that the above people who did so posted anonymously shows cowardice, though maybe it shows shame as well which would at least indicate the presence of some kind of conscience. In any case, it's completely uncool.
Am I ... by sabit666 · 2006-01-24 01:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

.. the only one, who doesn't find Penny Arcade funny?
1. Re:Am I ... by slungsolow · 2006-01-24 02:18 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  no
2. Re:Am I ... by koltrane · 2006-01-24 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  Not by a long shot. I got over giggling at copious profanity in high school. It's amazing to me that what used to be deemed juvenile humor is now considered the pinnacle of intelligent satire. Here's to MIT's lofty standards. I imagine Kevin Smith is up next on the agenda.
3. Re:Am I ... by koltrane · 2006-01-24 04:16 · Score: 1
  
  If having a modicum of taste and demanding that humor contain more that random sophomoric observations punctuated by a proliferation of off color language constitutes being, "stuck up", the yes - by your definition.
4. Re:Am I ... by Warped1 · 2006-01-24 04:30 · Score: 2
  
  Everyone has different tastes. That's expected. However, being "stuck up" refers to looking down upon others for not liking the same qualities as yourself - generally when that person thinks their own opinions are the pinacle of achievement.
5. Re:Am I ... by Taulin · 2006-01-24 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  That pic of Thomas looks like John Stuwart in a gray wig.
6. Re:Am I ... by drinkypoo · 2006-01-24 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  Yes! Well, no. But lots of us like it. In fact, I still haven't found another webcomic I can stand, besides that one about final fantasy. Black Mage is my favoritest comic character ever. Even if he doesn't count as a minority.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Don't look!!! by Paradise+Pete · 2006-01-24 01:52 · Score: 2, Funny

It will forever ruin you penny-arcade experiance.
I thought that came pre-ruined.
Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by Babbster · 2006-01-24 01:59 · Score: 1

Oddly enough, I frequented that forum back then (assuming you're referring to the same incident a couple [few?] years back) and, in fact, was banned for a short time because I took a shot at Kara and chose my words poorly. The fundamental difference to my mind was that I was actually responding to something she did or said (it's been so long I don't remember the details) and wasn't just trying to be an asshole.

I actually thought about that after I wrote the above post and realized that I probably should have mentioned it "in the interest of full disclosure." It just didn't occur to me right away because I find the two instances to be very different, and, of course, in that long-ago incident I wasn't talking "behind [anyone's] back" - just as now, my name (both handle and real) is right there. Ill admit, though, that my horse is not too very high and my home, though mostly solid, has plenty of glass.
Regular Guy + Anonymity + Audience by Anonymous Coward · 2006-01-24 02:03 · Score: 1, Funny

SHITCOCK!
1. Re:Regular Guy + Anonymity + Audience by Guysmiley777 · 2006-01-24 06:55 · Score: 1
  
  Who'd think you could define Slashdot with such an elegant formula?
  
  --
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Since when.... by slapout · 2006-01-24 02:07 · Score: 1, Insightful

...is saying @#$@#$ all the time "witty humor" ?

--
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Re:Have You Seen What These Guys Look Like ? by 0xdeadbeef · 2006-01-24 02:24 · Score: 1

Oh God, their necks... they're not slender!!!
Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by arexu · 2006-01-24 04:43 · Score: 1

Oh, bite me. Who realistically expects comic artists to look like models, rock stars (other than Keith Richards) or Movie Stars. Potshots those were not. And "taking shots at their wives?" Yeesh. Let me go look, I'll bet I can find a stupid picture of your wife, and I KNOW I can find some of me and mine... so posting a picture of Brenna in a wombat suit can't be a terrible crime. ME in such a suit, certainly, but on her, it's just geek cred. +5 Insightful -- no. +5 knee-jerk hypersensitivity.

--
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Re:What a pity... by m50d · 2006-01-24 08:32 · Score: 1

Yes. I was attempting a humorous mockery of the prevalence of dupes on slashdot, by duping a comment about dupes. Never mind.

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I am trolling
Re:Have You Seen What These Guys Look Like ? by snuf23 · 2006-01-24 08:33 · Score: 1

Something Awful did a hilarious (or offensive) piece on just this topic.
Of course it's not really any more offensive than anything else on Something Awful.

--
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Re:Have You Seen What These Guys Look Like ? by John+Muir · 2006-01-24 09:30 · Score: 1

Nice link, my good Troll...
Actual appearances to one side, I've always been surprised by the scale of PA's graphic evolution. The strip could really be *the* case study for comic artists starting out, trying to find the right way for themselves.

Besides, I'm sure you have a pencil neck and extra head-height hairdo to match!
Re:The funniest thing about penny-arcade EVER is.. by JahToasted · 2006-01-24 11:38 · Score: 1

I remember Tycho explained that originally the two characters in their strip weren't supposed to be them, just two guys that played a lot of video games. Over time they started notice that the personalities of the characters start to resemble theirs, then the rest is history.
Not sure what the story on their GF's are.
Re:Penny for your thoughts? by billstewart · 2006-01-24 12:35 · Score: 1

Yup. And the actual first post was actually on topic and informative :-)

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Bill Stewart
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