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Ph.D Webcomic Gets Adapted Into Feature Film
Technically Inept writes with the lead paragraph from a report at Comics Alliance: "To the best of my knowledge, Jorge Cham's Piled Higher and Deeper (better known as PhD Comics) is the first webcomic to be adapted into a feature-length film. After months spent on a college campus screening tour, Piled Higher and Deeper: The Movie is finally available for purchase and streaming. And, like its comic inspiration, the PhD pokes fun at the frustrations of graduate students, those noble folks who enter academia with dreams of changing the world and inspiring young minds, only to be thwarted by indifferent professors, lazy undergrads and the ever-present fear that they'll never graduate." The short review linked makes this sound like a very watchable movie.
As a former grad student, I say Bravo!
There have been other webcomics optioned, like more than 3 years ago, and may still be in development hell.
Richard is the man. Would make one hell of a movie.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
I saw this at a screening in March, and it was very good. The references to the comics would be lost on non-readers, but the movie is enjoyable even without them.
You forgot Pokey, you insensitive clod!
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
You can access a streaming version of Piled Higher and Deeper: The Movie for $10
Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/04/19/phd-comics-the-movie-video/#ixzz1spIbl05I
For one thing, they're using that Tynt garbage. For another, that's twice the price of, say, an iTunes or Google Play rental.
Don't forget smbc!
Meh. I find faux-intellectually elevated webcomics too tedious. If someone wants to impress, they have to be more than just wikipedia dilettantes.
I prefer the ones that try a bit harder. To name a few that have that extra spark I'm talking about:
Romantically apocalyptic: http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/8
Digger: http://www.diggercomic.com
Erfworld: http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F001.jpg
They are more involved but it is well worth the extra effort.
I usually find amazing superpowers to be the best of my check daily webcomics.
I guess the Hollywood treatment would be to make the movies: PhD, xkcd and Penny Arcade
Next make the movies: PhD 2, xkcd too and Penny Arcade Two
Once those are out: PhD vs. xkcd, xkcd vs. Penny Arcade and Penny Arcade vs. PhD
Finally: PhD xkcd Penny Arcade cage fight
There is a South Korean movie based on a popular webcomic here that was released last year called Moss.
Meh. Can't you enjoy all 6 for their existent value, rather than smugly putting the others down or pompously elevating your preferred tastes?
You forgot to do a couple of reboots of each.
I like (most of) the PhD Comics, but the opportunity to attend an advanced screening on my campus (MSU) came up a few months ago, I watched the trailer and was a little leery. Long story short, I wound up skipping the screening. Should I have gone? Is it a genuinely good film?
I still have my fingers crossed for a Jerkcity feature film
Are you kidding? xkcd is total shit. Let me sum it up for you: whimsical stick figures white knighting on the internet!!!!! But with pop culture references!!!!! LOLOLOLOL. Penny Arcade is better, but the blogs are frequently better than the actual strips. PhD comics is alright, but it's not exactly what I'd call great.
Let me introduce you to a real webcomic: The Parking Lot is Full.
Honorable mention to Gone with the Blastwave, Sexy Losers, and Perry Bible Fellowship, even though PBF is a pretty much a ripoff of PLIF. Still, it ripped off the best, so it gets an honorable mention.
If you're into insipid, warmed-over Monty Python references and "internet culture", then SMBC is probably what you're looking for. It's alright. It's shitloads better than xkcd, at least. And there's no desperate, low self-esteem white-knighting, which is a huge bonus. There's also Bob the Angry Flower, if you crave nerd humor that's got more substance than someone making fucking graphs.
I could mention a few others, but I was never that big a fan of Ghastly's Ghastly Comic (maybe you need to be a weeaboo to really love tentacle rape jokes... and Sexy Losers did it all first). There's also Subnormality, if you don't mind preachy, TL;DR strips about the totally wacky and off-the-wall adventures of a sphinx that -- get this -- likes to EAT PEOPLE!!!! LOL. What craziness!
But, really, xkcd is total shit.
My current ones are menagea3.net and megatokyo.com
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
But, really, xkcd is total shit.
Agree. So often I check the latest xkcd and am dumbstruck by how profoundly not funny it is. I think he should just let it die now (though I'm of course ignorant of important issues such as how much money it's raking in....)
This feature film came out a couple of months ago...
PhD comics is about grad school. In grad school you're supposed to learn how to learn what you need to know. If you lack skills when you come out, it's because you failed.
Let me introduce you to a real webcomic: The Parking Lot is Full [courageunfettered.com].
According to the site, it hasn't been published since 2002.
I'm going to watch it, but as an amateur filmmaker, I'm bracing myself after looking at its imdb listing here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2066040/ ... The actors are all not real actors. I expect it's going to be silly in a painful way. The idea behind it is great, but, for the major roles at least, you can easily find actors willing to work for free who are worlds more believable than some lab rats trying to make fun of themselves.
The career choice of attaining a PhD seems simultaneously humourous, praise-worthy, and worthy of sympathy from those on the outside. But as someone who has a CS PhD from a top-20 U.S. university and is now fast approaching 40, I can honestly say it's the single best decision I've ever made. I'm skilled in my chosen fields, make over $200K for a large Bay Area company, and can attack any new project with confidence and thoroughness (and my managers know this). My only real regret is not studying harder in undergrad to get into a top-5 PhD program.
only to be thwarted by indifferent professors, lazy undergrads and the ever-present fear that they'll never graduate
I mostly agree with the original statements. Some professors are frankly very indifferent, and undergrad students are exceptionally lazy, particularly for Spring quarter classes. However, there shouldn't really be a fear of not graduating; it's just a matter of putting together a coherent set of high-calibre research publications.
Sexy Losers was shit.
People have different tastes than me and all their tastes are wrong!
I summarized your post.
Penny Arcade would be the most difficult since it frequently rails against the tyranny of a causal universe.
Gunnerkrigg Court, Freefall, or Digger.
Can't you enjoy all 6 for their existent value
Can't you just accept an opinion?
...the Girl Genius web comic, it's from Studio Foglio. There are not many films in the steampunk style, though - maybe Spielberg could give it a fair rendition.
Shameless plug.
Of pretentious shit comics, maybe. Seriously, have you read the blog entries connected to the PA comics lately. FFS, can the guy get any more full of himself without exploding? And they revealed their industry whore nature with the whole Mass Effect 3 thing. All geek comic are total shit.
Girl Genius forever! I love you, Agatha!
No. No more adaptions. GG is one of my favorite things in the universe. Keep that cesspit Hollywood far away from it.
How about they write movie scripts with original ideas that fit a movie form and structure?
I went to a top-1 U.S. university for my PhD in chemical engineering and while I'm happy with my choice, it can be annoying to see that the much easier path available to everyone from my top-2 U.S. university undergraduate institution ("investment banking" if you haven't guessed) would have been far more lucrative.
So, wait, what are you selling again?
Didn't one of the Occupy guys have a degree in puppetry?
Is the job market a non disaster now? I also in the bay bay area and graduated with a PhD in 2008 and the job market was a disaster, and the only job I was able to get I'm still working at, and I'm making less than half of your salary.
Not exactly real in the past decade.
It sound to me like someone needs to learn the difference between objectivity and subjectivity. Google and read about them thoroughly.
It seems kind of weird that they didn't give us a free alternative for the film. Why not take advantage of sites like Hulu or Youtube? Why not put the movie on a torrent?
Puppeteers can make a lot of money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppets
Trollololololol!
I believe Undercover Brother was technically the first.
Hipsters man. Into old lame crap and all about how cool it is. Despite it being actual, old, lame, crap. Its like a hipster in a bar at the juke box.
At least my bike has gears. Oh, and brakes. Silly hipsters.
I read a lot of webcomics and I always buy the printed compilations and other goodies. So I buying the DVD a good use of money to support the art of webcomics from which I derive much entertainment. That said, in my opinion, the movie was only so-so.
Pros:
1) hit many great jokes from the strip - the conference in hawaii, Tajel's hippie-ness, lab role stereotypes, trying to secure funding, etc.
2) I thought male leads more-or-less matched their hand-drawn counterparts
3) I also thought DVD extras were entertaining, particularly the commentary
Cons:
1) the main character had two different haircuts! Thought it was two different characters at one point! I found it really distracting.
2) sound quality was awful
3) acting for the main characters wasn't great, and was flat out awful for all the non-main characters
4) the female leads were not well matched to their hand-drawn counterparts. This is more of a nit-pick than a real flaw. The girl playing Tajel was gorgeous, though!
5) I thought Tajel & Slackenery's roles were marginalized, while Cecila's romance was given unnecessary prominence. I'll agree that Cecila and the unnamed main character are the "leads", but in the comic they don't dominate like they did in the movie.
Bottom line: the movie was made by students, with students, for students. And I think it showed. I don't recommend it for people who aren't fans of the strip. But for people who are fans of the strip I found it to be a good use of an hour, if for no other reason then seeing your favorite strips acted out live.
Sinfest, vgcats, Looking for group
But there really are infinite out there
Dr mc ninja, dilbert, 8bit theatre, gone with the blast wave, goblins, order of the stick, erfworld, zap, biff...
Damn you, I'll never get those 30s back!
I honestly don't understand the response article about webcomics can provoke. I can understand different people taking the opportunity to share comics they like -- indeed, it's kinda nice -- but why so many would want to talk down comics (without, evidently, producing anything better of their own) is lost on me. Maybe it's just trolling but so much effort seems to go into it. Kinda sad. Here's something nice about most webcomics : they're free. Which means people can enjoy those they like and do not have to visit those they don't. It also means that a comic like XKCD can and does link to a comic like Perry Bible Fellowship. Even so, thanks for the recommendations. For my part : I'm having other post grad friends over and we'll make a night watching the film. Congrats to PhD comics. Hope the film's as good as the comic.
Just a heads up, [NSFW] on menagea3
You're also a lot younger than them - experience tends to result in greater pay.
Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.
So you're saying the second Penny Arcade movie would need to be a prequel?
The part that confuses me is that I got modded up.
The disturbing thing is that someone out there agrees with me, but only when I phrase it in the most trollish and asshole-ish way possible. Whoever you are, I appreciate your moderation points, but you need to take a step back and think about whether you've made the right decisions in your life. You're modding up an overt troll made by a bipolar poster who's off his medication and thinks it's hilariously funny to flame people on Slashdot. If you're OK with this, then I'm OK with it, too. But you need to think long and hard about this.
I'm partial to sinfest, myself.
Cripes. A bleeeeeeping cooler-than-thou grad student *comic strip* snob.
May thy dissertation committee complain interminably about footnotes and papers you didn't cite, for ever and ever.
I second this! Girl Genius rules!
Problem is that it has taken years for the story to advance... 2 weeks. At this rate there will never be a GG movie as the plot won't be resolved for several more weeks.. call it a decade at least.
So, your wish is granted!
Oh please. Many engineering jobs are project-oriented, a new project is often like an entirely new job, only you don't have to interview again.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Exactly. Any webcomic worth it's salt has been on hiatus for at least the last four years.
Why is the parent modded as flambait? It might be provocative, but everything in the post is essentially true. It notes webcomics of actual quality, and explains why xkcd is indeed bad nowadays.
The only weird thing about the post is, that I can't really tell whether it recommends Subnormality (even in passing) or not. For the record, it should not, Subnormality is preachy, excessively wordy (albeit well drawn) tl;dr misuse of the comics medium.
The part that confuses me is that I got modded up.
The disturbing thing is that someone out there agrees with me, but only when I phrase it in the most trollish and asshole-ish way possible.
There, you finally grasped the idea of Slashdot :-)
Not when it's a blatantly wrong opinion.
Me think these grad students have too much time on their hands.
"Get back to work!" says Prof. Smith
From what I've read of this film so far, the grad students involved would have been better served if they had worked with the experts in the field: the drama department.
Why is it that so many "geeks" think they're good at everything just because they're experts in one or two fields? No one is good at everything, so sometimes you need to swallow your pride, shelve your ego, and call in people who are experts.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
My comic is better than yours!
And it was just that: a web-comic turned into a movie. It felt like a lot jokes from the comic strips trying to be linked together by a poor story. I'm a PhD student myself, but I hardly ever found it funny, just lots of overused cliches about students. I don't think a lot of people in the audience liked it too. It's not THAT bad, but it's not something I'd ever watch again or recommend.
Only way to make it would be to clone Mr. Foglio, and have him animate it.
The part that confuses me is that I got modded up.
The disturbing thing is that someone out there agrees with me, but only when I phrase it in the most trollish and asshole-ish way possible.
There's trolling and there's trolling. The fact is that xkcd fans are basically like Ron Paul fans; you say something about their beloved comic / the Fed and they go ballistic. Are you really a troll, or are they simply a hoard of thin-skinned losers?
This is not getting a theatrical release. It is not going to be 'featured' in theaters.
I'm quite fond of Girl Genius, myself.
well in IT trades / tech schools are better college CS just covers the wrong areas and the higher up you go the less tech skills are learned so it's the schools teaching plans that failed as well as HR who says they want a BA, MA, PHD for a Trades / Tech job.
Errant Story, First Blood, Marry Me.
But... the future refused to change.
That's no fun with xkcd Hat Guy.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
I want to do PhD comics, except all the characters are gritty guns-for-hire trying to get by in an apocalyptic hellscape. I think that's the treatment this cherished favorite deserves
Any comic worth its salt can't produce content because they suck, so they go on hiatus for four years.
Maybe they just blow as much as xkcd does. Sorry for breaking it to you.
Cowboys and Aliens, after Moss, I think, well before PhD. No?!?
That's probably the most boring trailer I've ever seen. I don't even feel like pirating the movie, let alone paying $10 for it.
I don't have a sig.
Perry Bible Fellowship, even though PBF is a pretty much a ripoff of ["The Parking Lot is Full"]. Still, it ripped off the best, so it gets an honorable mention.
Are you actually serious, or have I just been trolled? I clicked the link, and they're nothing like each other in terms of humour or format (even allowing for the different artwork styles).
That "Ghastly's Ghastly Comic" one you linked to was actually pretty funny (if very NSFW)...
I actually noticed- and was pleased to see- that no-one had mentioned the once-geek-favourite "User Friendly" yet (until I opened my big mouth just then). As I once said elsewhere...
Aside from its "moderately-promising 14-year-old still showing too much influence from the Teach-Yourself-Cartooning book" drawing style, User Friendly has always relied on its geek-friendly subject matter and viewpoints to flatter the audience and obscure the fact that it's neither creative nor funny.
Here's a good example.
There's nothing creative about this. The "news" was a real-life item reported in many tech outlets about a year back [i.e. 2008]. The strip itself is just a lazy [and badly drawn] excuse to let the audience laugh again at that story- it adds nothing to it except an audience-pandering but uncreative aside."
Frankly, I'm guessing that User Friendly got popular because it came out at a time when web comics weren't ten-a-penny and was targeted towards (and pandered to) a geek audience at a time when this was still a novelty. If it had come out later, it would have been seen for what it is- mediocrely-drawn, and not actually that funny, clever or insightful in itself... and perhaps that's what happened?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
There is a surprisingly high overlap between XKCD fans and Ron Paul fans.
Managing to disparage both at once isn't the worth effort, as the gain in population of pissed-off-people is marginal, at best.
But, really, xkcd is total shit.
Agree. So often I check the latest xkcd and am dumbstruck by how profoundly not funny it is. I think he should just let it die now (though I'm of course ignorant of important issues such as how much money it's raking in....)
You called it shit, and then described it as profound.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
adjective (profounder, profoundest)
1(of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense:
profound feelings of disquiet
the implications of this discovery are profound
(of a disease or disability) very severe:
a case of profound liver failure
2(of a person or statement) having or showing great knowledge or insight:
a profound philosopher
(of a subject or idea) demanding deep study or thought:
expressing profound truths in simple language
3 archaic very deep:
profound crevasses
From the context, I thought the sense in which I was using the word would be clear. But apparently not, so I bolded it just for you. (Being not funny is a disability for a web comic, I think most people would agree. Captcha: "Afflicts")
PhD bored me, so I agreed with your post until I actually checked out your links. Your taste is way different from mine.
Things like plot, prequels, and a particular "second" movie only make sense in a causal universe. PA presumably would have none of these.