Slashdot Mirror
XKCD Invited To New Yorker "Cartoon-Off"
UnknowingFool writes "Farley Katz, who draws for New Yorker magazine, ran into xkcd.com's Randall Munroe in a grocery store. He challenged Munroe to a cartoon-off — each cartoonist to produce drawings about the Internet as envisioned by the elderly, String Theory, 1999, and one's favorite animal eating one's favorite food. In the ensuing short interview, Munroe describes XKCD as 'a webcomic about stick figures who do math, play with staple guns, mess around on the Internet, and have lots of sex. It's about three-fourths autobiographical.'"
hyperbondage
Munroe was the clear winner. 1999 *BC* was just dumb, as were most of Katz's others. The only lame one of Munroe's was the strange skateboard thing. Somewhat off topic, though it gets points for originality.
Thank you Capt. Obvious! It's not as funny if you have to call attention to the joke.
~ I am logged on, therefore I am.
Thank you Capt. Obvious! It's not as funny if you have to call attention to the joke.
I appreciate that. Being merely Sergeant Obvious was really getting old. Nothing but work, work, work.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
I don't know what's scarier, that Katz's cow drawing has too many nipples - or that I noticed the discrepancy...
I understand it's a joke, but it seems out of place. The kind of geekyness portrayed in xkcd and its forums isn't the stereotypical slashdot, basement-dwelling kind.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
It's not a Slashdot reference, it's a South Park reference.
No, I'm thinking he's done with the staple guns, now that all the XKCD fangirls are lining up to blow him.
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
I sincerely hope the expression "Pulled a Palin" becomes part of the vernacular.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
While XKCD is my favorite webcomic that I've been following for quite a long time, I have to admit that Munroe's humor lies more in his ability to crack inside jokes with the nerd in all of us. Katz tries to appeal to the more general public (it's his job at the New Yorker). I think Munroe is funnier, especially here, but his esoteric humor might lose some votes.
I take it Monroe doesn't like staple guns.
If you factor something's popularity into its worth, you're doing it wrong.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
There were two drawings showing the internet as envisioned by the elderly.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Bury a turd somewhere. Never tell anyone. The memory will always be yours alone.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
What's the deal with the pig at the complaint department saying "I wish I were taller"?
#DeleteChrome
You do realize that xkcd has never been about the art, and its author has never claimed it was?
You mad
Captain Cliche here. Can I have my insult back?
I'm a huge XKCD fan, but out of these 8 strips, it might be a reach to call 2 funny. I think they both failed.
What I'd have preferred instead of arbitrary subjects that intrinsically aren't funny, is for them to play off each other. One writes a comic of their choosing that fits within their comic idiom. The next plays directly off that comic trying to top if, within their idiom.
The back and forth would likely be much better.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
No, it means that Munroe is actually a stick figure!
Blazing Spiders
We sincerely appreciate you translating that joke for us. None of us here, I'm certain, would've gotten it if it were not for your blinding insight.
On behalf of the Slashdot community, thank you for sharing your wisdom and erudition with us.
Yeah. That's the one. It was hilarious!
This guy's the limit!
Munroe's elderly comic makes GREAT sense, but you have to get the in-joke. Have you seen the comic captioned "on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"? And if so, what magazine do you think it first appeared in? I thought it was the best one of all of them, with so many delicious levels of irony and meta-references.
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
Umm, you are aware that "99.99999% more" roughly means "slightly less than twice as much", right? As in, he reads 199.99999% as much XKCD as he does NYT.
I maintain that CmdrTaco overpaid.
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
LOL! Oh come now maxune. You don't think XKCD's nerdy stick figure girls are sexy?
Nonsense. Why would anyone's favorite animal be a cow?
In any case, how do you know who proposed each topic and where do you get off calling Katz a cheat? Where is your proof?
This is actually redundant but it was rewarded with "Funny" because it implies that Monroe has lots of sex. You guys like Monroe and heaven forbid if you could separate the moderation guidelines from your personal feelings. Therefore, this is complimentary of Monroe and gets modded up. I made a very similar post that, while intended to be humorous, could have been taken as derogatory of Monroe since it suggested that the three-fourths part did not include sex, so I get modded down into oblivion. That's alright; to be honest, in hindsight, I don't think my own post was any good and it probably deserves the moderation it received. However, this post is a carbon copy of mine and was modded up. I contend that either they are both funny or they are both redundant.
The reason why I complain about the mods from time to time is because the moderation guidelines are well-written and easy to understand, yet I never see any consistency. It seems like there's always a matter of fanboy-ism that reduces moderation to a matter of popularity (in this case, Monroe's popularity). For an unrelated example, did you know that if someone does a good deal of research, shares his findings, and explains why he came to the conclusion that he did, that he deserves an Informative mod even if you hate his fucking guts and can't stand any of his opinions? That if you want to tell him how much you hate and disagree with him, the way to do it is by posting a response and not by abusing the moderation system? I'm just not seeing that kind of maturity and that's a shame, as Slashdot is one of the few places where it could be possible.
Do I give a shit about a few points when I have more than enough karma to burn? Not really. Do I give a shit about the rampant, childish, nothing-exists-beyond-my-personal-feelings knee-jerk type of attitude that I am seeing more and more often? Yes, that one does bother me, for it tells me that the culture (be it a Web site or a nation) is heading in the wrong direction.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Not news. We already know xkcd is funny and the New Yorker isn't. Dinosaurs in 1999 B.C.? Is this guy some kind of unfunny creationist?
What you completely missed is that it's a political jab at Palin. See this if you don't get it.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Agreed. I actually really like Robin Williams a lot... but only when he's acting in dramatic roles. He was great in One Hour Photo, for example. He really is able to make me feel depressed or sad quite well.
Whenever he tries to be funny, I really think he's trying too hard, and I actually feel sorry for him. ...!
Come to think of it... he's really good at making me feel depressed or sad no matter what he's trying to do.
One of the things that makes xkcd funny is the alt-text... I missed having that here.
Katz used a GameShark to change which comics to draw. The fourth comic originally was supposed to be on animals and the early years of Bauhaus. Matz waited until Munroe had drawn his thing and than manipulated the address so the topic now was favourite foods. Clearly cheating.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Hang on, did I just offer to make some guy on the internet horny for $5? I feel so... dirty.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News