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Xkcd's Long-running "Time" Comic: Work of Art Or Nerd Sniping?
Fortran IV writes "Randall Munroe's xkcd webcomic has done some odd things before, but #1190, 'Time,' is something special. It's a time-lapse movie of two people building a sandcastle that's been updating just once an hour (twice an hour in the beginning) for well over a month (since March 25th), and after over a thousand frames shows no sign of ending; in a few days the number of frames will surpass the total number of xkcd comics. It's been mentioned in The Economist. Some of its readers have called it the One True Comic; others have called it a MMONS (Massively Multiplayer Online Nerd Sniping). It's sparked its own wiki, its own jargon (Timewaiters, newpix, Blitzgirling), and a thread on the xkcd user forum that runs to over 20,000 posts from 1100 distinct posters. Is 'Time' a fascinating work of art, a deep sociological experiment — or the longest-running shaggy-dog joke in history? Randall Munroe's not saying."
Sure, the author of XKCD might have a sarcastic streak, but even if part of the reason is a shaggy-dog joke, I'm sure part of the reason is also art.
I mean, it's not an either-or situation, and setting it up as a false dichotomy isn't going to generate meaningful discussion.
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
If anything, it shows how bored we are with the internet and that ANY new content sparks interest, however trivial.
Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
I looked at it. Big black flat space with two stick figures. The Economist cares about this why?
because it's updating? the wiki has a history to browse through... not that exciting even then though, but I guess if you're a really hardcore xkcd fan you'll check every frame if there's god in them or something... what's good about this is that the artist didn't use the main strip for all of this, tbh. so I suppose economist is out of stories, any what-if would make for a better story.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
He's reminding us all that we have too much time on our hands. (And I was sure that I had posted a longer post before this one, but it appears not to be showing. In it, I also mentioned a forum that is also a long running joke on it's participants...)
HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
Watch the video. It's basically a (low framerate, very slowly downloaded) animation. Without sound. Very "Randall." No reason to obsess, just enjoy every couple months as it gets updated.
Art is defined by the artist. Everything else is interpretation.
You mean that there are people that don't consider most of xkcd a piece of art?
Anyway, of all the amazing, insightful, and informative things things that are in xkcd, probably the one that impressed me more recently was one in What-if, explaining whats the worst that could happen missusing pressure cookers, few days before Boston bombing. That it remains there is a big message.
I see something different in the story being told. The characters spend a bit of time building something amazing, and then worry that it's going to be taken away from them. They set out to figure out the reason for that.
Maybe because I've read his blog, or just because of http://xkcd.com/931/ that I see something darker in the story he's telling. Maybe it's just a metaphor, all good stories are. But that, as of now, the characters are almost visually back to where they started seems . . . poignant.
Sure, things date. I saw Fantasia just once, on the big screen at a film festival. And because the festival were good about putting the film in context of it's achievement, I could appreciate it for what an achievement it was when it was made.
It's a bit like Laurel and Hardy. It doesn't make many people laugh out loud these days. But you can still appreciate how it had people rolling in the aisles at the time.
I wonder what people will make of our best, innovative stuff in 70 years time?!