1190: "Time"

[AluisioASG]

Welcome back ChronosDragon! So glad you could make it. I truly love the idea of Wait Not in Vain.

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Hmm, I'm not getting that on any browser. Can you post a screenshot?

The bug is on the <table>

I'm taking a look at the CSS. Also, the DOCTYPE should be simply html, not html5.

[lovepirate]

One aspect of being cataclysmically shy: I'm constantly worried about offending people.

I should compliment BlitzGirl for that. But will she think I'm just riding her coattails? And if I do, will Yappo be offended that I didn't mention him? And what about Angelastic? and mscha? and──

And, dithering even though I know it's silly, I wind up saying nothing at all to anyone. But I've read every post for the last day and a half with unusual care, and I value every single one of them. Seeing how many people care about the comic and the thread, reading how you all feel, helps me feel, well, not better about "The end," but less lost. Thank you all for every single post, even the bickering ones. You're bickering because "Time" is something you care about. And to those people who've sent thanks to me ─ I only wish I'd had time to do more.

If you ever think, "Why didn't someone respond to that?": Please, please be sure that I read it, and laughed or sniffled or grinned or said, "Chirp yeah!"

I wish like crazy I could give every single one of you a hug. Stick around the OTT; we're a long way from giving up.

I'd like to 2nd this (or 3rd or 4th or wherever we are by this point). This is exactly how I feel. Well said, and thank you to you for saying it better than this cataclysmically shy person ever could!

[jeffallen55]

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm not going anywhere. I likely won't post much, because I'd rather read what you all have to say. But I'm definitely excited to see where we take things next. All works of art end eventually. Even The Simpsons will one day have a final episode. That doesn't mean that those brought together because of their mutual interest should split up. No OTTers are allowed to leave. We have plenty of basement space left. We have rope too, and it is indeed strong enough.

Molpy hug time!

Spoiler:

[yappobiscuits]

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Oh, yeah, I'm getting that too (in Firefox). The text box in fact COMPLETELY obscures the buttons for me so I wasn't even aware there WERE buttons until you pointed it out!

ETA: Tried it out in Safari and it worked ok there. I think just because Safari has less stuff at the top of the window. So yeah now I've checked out the rest of what's there so far and it's looking like it could be REALLY neat!

Also adding myself to the pile of folks who sympathise with jjjdavidson

Ok, actually molpy down for reals this time.

[ChronosDragon]

Welcome back ChronosDragon! So glad you could make it. I truly love the idea of Wait Not in Vain.

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Hmm, I'm not getting that on any browser. Can you post a screenshot?

Wait Not In Vain.png

I'm taking a look at the CSS. Also, the DOCTYPE should be simply html, not html5.

Oh, quite right. That was my attempt at getting the footer to stick to the bottom, guess I should have tested more thoroughly (instead of just copying snippets I found on google...)

I'll fiddle with it and see if I can get something that doesn't do that but also stays at the bottom of the page.

[BlitzGirl]

Book rONG:



!!!

[pelrigg]

One aspect of being cataclysmically shy: I'm constantly worried about offending people.

Spoiler:

I should compliment BlitzGirl for that. But will she think I'm just riding her coattails? And if I do, will Yappo be offended that I didn't mention him? And what about Angelastic? and mscha? and──

And, dithering even though I know it's silly, I wind up saying nothing at all to anyone. But I've read every post for the last day and a half with unusual care, and I value every single one of them. Seeing how many people care about the comic and the thread, reading how you all feel, helps me feel, well, not better about "The end," but less lost. Thank you all for every single post, even the bickering ones. You're bickering because "Time" is something you care about. And to those people who've sent thanks to me ─ I only wish I'd had time to do more.

If you ever think, "Why didn't someone respond to that?": Please, please be sure that I read it, and laughed or sniffled or grinned or said, "Chirp yeah!"

I wish like crazy I could give every single one of you a hug. Stick around the OTT; we're a long way from giving up.

I couldn't agree more. But wait, what about all those other heartfelt comments I never replied to...

Yeah, even with that little made-up example of mental dithering I worried, Should I mention pelrigg? or ChronosDragon? or──

I'm really a shy person in the Outside World, too.

Spoiler:

Usually I'm the one over in the corner looking around and not saying anything. Yet here I am posting like crazy some days. So that's another thing I should be proud of, I guess. That you folks have gotten me to open up. I wish I could thank and hug and shake hands with all of you, too.
And jjj, I hope you don't mind if I borrow that smiley, do you?

Hey do remember that Jimmy Stewart/Henry Fonda quote you put up a long time ago? I got that immediately. I saw the movie when it came out and I have it on DVD.

Holy mustard, I'd completely forgotten I ever posted that quote. That was nearly three months (and over 450 posts) ago. Even if I don't blitzgirl the entire OTT, I should at least look back over my own posts, and the posts that triggered them. I might surprise myself.
More hugs!

More agreement about that dithering thing. Yesterdip I pounded out some Big Thank You's to a bunch of folks, and then made another one a little while later; and the whole time I'm worried someone will take offense because I didn't Thank them personally or didn't say "thank you for..." on all them. Worried they'd be thinking "Why I quoted you plenty and you didn't thank me" or "Well what all the Times I did this..."

I don't know if you actually went back and looked at that post with the quote, but htom was on-line that night and I told him enough about "The Cheyenne Social Club" that he said he'd like to check it out. I wonder if he did?

[k.bookbinder]

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Hmm, I'm not getting that on any browser. Can you post a screenshot?

Hm. It suddenly occurs to me that the issue I am seeing may not be Chrome, but may be my screen resolution (I am currently using an laptop). I shall post a screenshot, nevertheless.

Screenshot:

Spoiler:

Redundant:

Spoiler:

[ChronosDragon]

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Hmm, I'm not getting that on any browser. Can you post a screenshot?

Hm. It suddenly occurs to me that the issue I am seeing may not be Chrome, but may be my screen resolution (I am currently using an laptop). I shall post a screenshot, nevertheless.

Screenshot:

Spoiler:

Redundant:

Spoiler:

2013-07-28 00_01_09-Wait Not In Vain.png

Yeah, saw that right before you posted (thanks to AluisioASG)

I really shouldn't take my giant screen size for granted...I didn't even think to resize the window just in case while I was doing layout! My FTP is a little bogged down at the moment but I'll fix it ASAP.
No wonder people were misinterpreting the site...the fourth frame wasn't even accessible!

[ucim]

The End of the OTC
To the tune of The End of the Innocence

When We Go
an ottification of When You Go by Jonathan Coulton

link to youtube version

Very touching, both. Thanks.

@ChronosDragon: Welcome back! I like the idea of our own OTTC! Randalspeed on it!

Or, as they say in Italian Opera - "In the mouth of the wolf!" (Of course, they say it in Italian).

Yeah, I've already talked to him about it. I think our projects are slightly different in nature, and anyway it's always good to have redundancy!

Will there be kitties?

Jose

[Goggalor]

So I'm a little doped up on phenergan thanks to a little stomach virus I'm dealing with, but I just had inspiration strike and I present my first artistic contribution to the OTT (I used an old wallpaper as a starting point, so the frame itself is a bit small).

I just noticed the OTColored wiki page, but I'm too tired to make a standardized version of this frame tonight. I'll get on it sometime soon though. Molpy down!

redundant spoiler:

Spoiler:

open me in a new tab for full-sized glory!

[BlitzGirl]

Ooh, that's really treeish*, Goggalor!


*neat

[jjjdavidson]

I know what I worked the hardest on, it was my first creative contribution to the thread, The Alt-Text, OTTification of The Raven. Although overtaken by events (the alt-text did "update" eventually; one must assume that Poe's raven must have died or flown away eventually too) it holds up pretty well. But it's not what I'm proudest of, because the hard work shows.
　　[snip]
The one I'm proudest of is the Starry Starry Night filk. Couldn't get it out of my own head for days afterward. That doesn't mean it's good, just that it affected me in some strange ways, which include being irrationally proud of it.

And ultimately, the one that seems most likely to be remembered is my "running faucet" manip.

Although there were literally dozens that I admired and enjoyed, these two were among my favorite ottifications across the entire OTT, partly because the originals are favorites of mine, but also because of the quality of your adaptations. Thank you for both of them! (And for the faucet, too; never neglect the healing power of a chirping good laugh!)

I don't know if you actually went back and looked at that post with the quote, but htom was on-line that night and I told him enough about "The Cheyenne Social Club" that he said he'd like to check it out. I wonder if he did?

Yes, htom, not seen since July 1. And cmyk, and Helper, and how many others? Spill a drop for absent friends...

Spoiler:

ETA: Impressive manip, Goggalor, and very effective in grayscale. Should I know that rock?

[pelrigg]

@BiltzGirl; re: memory lane rONG.

Hey, look Cueball I "borrowed" this. I hope it can help us out.

But we never did find out what his "Um" was about, did we?
"Um, you shouldn't have done that." or "Um, well I took something too."

(Maybe in the sequel we'll get those questions answered.)

Any way I must Molpy Down.
(I was going to do an rONG, but BlitzGirl got this hours.)

Keep your spirits up and continue to Wait For The Blitzers and the other Lost Ones.

Good nip, one and all.
I'll be back in my morning, but I don't think I'll be able to stay all day like I have been todip and last nip.
("You'll still be here when I wake up?" Name that quote and correct it if I said it wrong.)

edit in
Wow, Goggalor, Wow.

[jjjdavidson]

[Since there's no direct contact link on xkcd.com, I'll post this in the OTT in the hope that the artist really does have spies here. OTTers, read this if you like, but please don't reply; this is for the artist, not for us.]

An Open Thank-You to Randall Munroe

Thank you, Mr. Munroe, for creating a unique and original and quite beautiful work of art, that had to be experienced in a unique and original and beautiful way. Within "Time" I found moments of peaceful contemplation and edge-of-my-keyboard suspense, laughter and wit and sadness, anticipation and surprise, mystery and wonder and discovery ─ once, to my huge surprise, I even predicted exactly what the next few frames would be! Above all I found two surprisingly engaging characters, two seemingly young people whom I wanted to follow on their explorations and adventures ─ two people I still want to follow. That's the first sign of the success of "Time": how many of its followers desperately want it to continue.

(Wait ─ did you just create the Firefly of webcomics?)

Spoiler:

Of course, you didn't make it easy on your audience: giving no clue as to your intentions beyond "Wait for it," updating day and night without regard to human frailty, spreading dialogue across hours, using visual effects and tiny shifts of detail that virtually required your readers to manipulate and compare the images to understand them, tossing in an olla podrida of technical information and counting on your readers to draw meaning from it.

Furthermore, you forced readers to choose whether to commit to "Time" without giving us any knowledge of how long we were committing for: a day? a week? the rest of our natural lives?

The first five days were brutal, updating every half hour. I've read of, in the British Navy, having someone punished by being awakened at every turn of the glass (every half hour day and night). Without the swift rallying of your readers to a common cause, "Time" would have become incomprehensible very quickly. Was forcing your readers into such a community effort part of your plan? If so, it was brilliantly conceived.

Thanks for the opportunity to experience something unprecedented, something that may well be one of those things that people talk about in decades to come. "Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say, 'These wounds I had on the first day of xkcd's "Time".'" I was there on the first day, fairly early on. I can't remember what the first frame I saw was; I didn't expect that four months later I would be trying to remember that morning, and I wasn't taking notes. I know it was Monday morning, less than twelve hours in. I think it was when the girl first sat up from her first nap, before she brushed the sand out of her hair (before 9:00am my time), but that may be wishful remembrance. I'm almost certain it was before she first began to pile up the sand (before 10:30am my time). On my computer at work I saw the first tower's early stages. By the next afternoon I had a script capturing new frames.

And I was there right to "The end," an experience never to be recreated, a truly once-in-a-lifetime happening. Even with the help of the remarkable community that's developed around "Time", it's been exhausting trying to keep up with it. Now that the first shock of "The end," has worn off, there's a certain amount of relief mingling in my reactions (I can have my evenings back!) but I wouldn't have missed "Time" for anything.

I'll say, though, that I don't hope for or particularly want to see "Time 2". There's certainly more story you could tell, but I feel certain that there are other directions your remarkable talent has still to lead you, creations as original and unexpected as "Time" or "Click and Drag". And I'd hate to think that those directions went unexplored because your fans convinced you to do a sequel to "Time". Like Scott McCloud you've stretched the boundaries of webcomics, but I believe they're still a long way from breaking.

(So if one day I see "Time 2" appear on the xkcd front page, I'll just assume you planned it that way from the first, and I'll gleefully dive back into the madness.)

Thank you again, Mr. Munroe, for four months of a unique experience. It's been an unforgettable wait, the most remarkable and enjoyable wait of my life.

[k.bookbinder]

Well good nix all! Keep the faith!

Keep the faith...
Keep the faith...
Keep the faith...
Keep the faith...
Keep the faith...

Molpy down!

Spoiler:

[ChronosDragon]

@BiltzGirl; re: memory lane rONG.

Hey, look Cueball I "borrowed" this. I hope it can help us out.

But we never did find out what his "Um" was about, did we?
"Um, you shouldn't have done that." or "Um, well I took something too."

I interpreted it as sort of "Um, wow, that might not be a good idea to steal all those things."

[42 guests]

Blind posting from several newpages back without time for a proper ketchup.

Will be leaving for a wix, and wanted to thank everyone here in the OTT now, lest there be more attrition while I am gone.

Lurk you soon!

42 guests

[elangeland]

Something I would treasure would be an Annotated Book of Time.

I have in mind something like a book where each right-hand page shows just one frame of Time, with the left-hand page containing curated annotations taken from the OTT as they occurred when the facing frame was current - some edited version of what the OTTers were speculating, predicting, filking, punning,... what religions were arising and a-falling (or is that apalling?) right at that time.

Anyone up for helping with it? If we each do a couple of pages a day it shouldn't take more than... oh... 4 months?

A very similar idea was proposed, if not started, a very, very long time ago (everything old is new again). Struggling to find it though.

I have followed the OTC and OTT from the first day of Time; I can't believe that I didn't get around to posting before the end of Time. I'm sad to see it end - especially so suddenly - but part of me is also relieved to see it end seemingly happily.

I would love to see an Annotated Book of Time - actually any published version of the OTC would be great, or even a movie version. If that comes to pass then we'd need to do a Pop-up-Video style annotated version. Unfortunately, life doesn't leave me much time to help (two kids at home with a third on the way, and my job as a SysAdmin leave little spare time to spread around), but I would be happy to proofread, if nothing else.

I wonder if it's a coincidence that Time ended on SysAdmin Day (Google it - I can't include a URL yet)?

[BlitzGirl]

Yeah, I've already talked to him about it. I think our projects are slightly different in nature, and anyway it's always good to have redundancy!

Will there be kitties?

Redundant:

Spoiler:

redundaperhaps.png (180.76 KiB) Viewed 15677 times

Keywords: redundant redundakitty perhaps noms somebody say will work BGUM redundancy

[Opiboble]

Yeah, I've already talked to him about it. I think our projects are slightly different in nature, and anyway it's always good to have redundancy!

Will there be kitties?

Redundant:

Spoiler:

redundaperhaps.png

Keywords: redundant redundakitty perhaps noms somebody say will work BGUM redundancy

redundantnoms.png

I like kitties.

[capnbuckle]

Blind posting from...I don't know how far back.

I was reading was NetWeasel said about the End of Time being so sudden...and similar reactions from others. The whole "We cared for these characters and we have no idea if they landed somewhere safe. And that sucks." sentiment.

I _think_ I know how to solve that. Basically, relate the exploration of the new land to the dialog G1071-G1073

Cueball: We can't go back. We don't understand everything yet.
Megan: "Everything" is a little ambitious. We barely understand anything.
Cueball: Yeah. But that's what the first part of understanding everything looks like.

Which also implies a connection to G1006:

Cueball: Yeah. But that's what the first part of not ending looks like.

This would resonate with the idea that the OTC and the story it tells _never ends_. It certainly keeps going, but we can't continue to follow it. We say our goodbyes, here, knowing that whatever new challenges our friends face, they will be OK.

(I admit, it would have been nice to have a couple frames of dialogue similar to this, explicitly bringing the story full circle. But that doesn't appear to have been the artists vision...)

[taixzo]

Hey everyone! I'm back! Did you miss me? I had a little computer trouble...
In the meantime, I was incredibly put off by the end of Time. I still don't really believe it...I've had the tab open ever since, just in case... Anyway, idle hands do Basement Cat's work, so I put together a little something to keep us going and hopefully breathe some life into the OTT. So without further adieu, in honor of my 888^th post (8 is my favorite number), I present to you:

===================================================================

Wait Not In Vain
A webcomic about life, the universe, and the OTT

Spoiler:

- What is WNIV? Is it a replacement to Time?
No, in fact my original plan was to create something a little more homestuck-esque, hence the text below each frame. Still not sure whether I'll keep that or not, but I think it would add something to whatever narrative we end up creating. Either way, creative and efficient as we are, I am doubtful we could produce enough content for a frame per newpix, so we'd have to have a one or two per day model.

- Are you trying to be Randall, foolish mortal?
Quite the opposite. I am fully aware of my mortal being, and as such humbly request YOUR assistance in continuing with this project! I made a submission page for people to submit potential frames or frame sequences for the comic, but that's only the beginning. There are better web coders on this forum than I, and more creative artists as well - This project will continue evolving as, hopefully, more people get involved. Or everyone will ignore it and it'll die. I dunno! We'll have to wait (for it) and see.

- Hey, can you add <feature name here>?
Contact me via PM for specific feature requests, as though I've read the entire thread so far, I'm not always the most careful reader and may miss your feedback!

====================================================================

I love you guys, and am firmly in opposition of abandoning the OTT! If this doesn't work out, I'm sure we'll find some other project to concentrate our creative powers on, though I really do hope this works out.

If there's a specific thing I need from anyone here, it's a more permanent place to host this. I'm hosting it on my own website for the time being, hence the strange aperture-logo favicon, but my website's going to be falling apart soon and I don't want this to suffer from administrative negligence, especially as I'm heading off for a lengthy family road trip in a wip or two. I'd also like volunteers for a few responsible comic-masters who can control which frames get published to the main page - there's no interface for that yet, but it's next on my todo list. AluisioASG and Latent22 get first dibs as they had an extremely similar idea and were eager to support this project!

Anyway, much apologies for my having been so infrequent here lately - I was busy with my summer class, but that's done now, and I've done my 888 post gimmick, so I'll be back to my usual posting habits Happy Waiting all, and may all your rafts giraft (or something of that nature).

That is awesomeful! I hope to see more frames soon! (And perhaps I might even contribute one eventually!)

Welcome back ChronosDragon! So glad you could make it. I truly love the idea of Wait Not in Vain.

One note: I do not think Chrome likes the site. The text box at the bottom of the page is obscuring the navigation buttons below the frame.

Hmm, I'm not getting that on any browser. Can you post a screenshot?

Wait Not In Vain.png

I'm taking a look at the CSS. Also, the DOCTYPE should be simply html, not html5.

I have the same issue; screen resolution is 1024x1366, which should be big enough to display most things.

@BlitzGirl: I love the way the OTT added a scrollbar in your redundant attachment:

[Exodies]

And seeing as nobody got this:

Also, if anyone can figure out which real-world mountain I based the shape of the main one (the one with the castle) on, you get a prize (probably cake-based).

(it was a long shot anyway)...

Spoiler:

It's Skiddaw, here in the Lake District. Fourth highest mountain in England (the top 10 highest in the country are all in the Lake District). It's a long ridge sort of shape, so when viewed from the south (end-on) it has a more typical mountain peak shape, but when viewed from the west (side-on) like here it has a flat-looking top with a shoulder to the north and a subsidiary peak (the "Little Man") to the south. You can see it from my house - I took this photo from the small hill next to my village, looking out east:

skiddaw.jpg

{P1135}
I'm from Manchester so I'm not sure mountains exist.

Other than that I seem to be having a monologue here; I hope you'se guyse are refraining from replying to my messages because they are flung from so far in the past rather than that they are as dull as ditch water. Know that I do eventually get to them and would appreciate a remark or two, even if it's "Shut up Exo. Your posts are like a thorn in the stem of the Tread"

I'm currently enjoying the decrypting of the Librarian in the crypt in case you had forgotten page 1135.

[kasmeneo]

Just a quick photo manip I wanted to contribute, in honor of a slightly outdated papal decree from mscha. Photo is from my trip to Madagascar 5 years ago.
Frames 1525/1526 would also fit the same photo.

Spoiler:

Edit: uploaded a demustarded version. First was transparent everywhere, even in Cuegan's heads and bags.

[Latent22]

So we all need to MOLPY UP and start recording voices That especially means you Yappo and Val!

When I click on the link to record other parts of the scripts, it takes me to buffygirl's profile. Is that right?

If you want to record something just go to this Dialogue link.
Pick a voice and record all the frames for it.
I think you would make a great Bunny!

Some have suggested you try Rosetta which will be a lot harder to do. As we are not 100% sure how to do her yet.

[ChronosDragon]

Just a quick photo manip I wanted to contribute, in honor of a slightly outdated papal decree from mscha. Photo is from my trip to Madagascar 5 years ago.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Baobab_Markings_Frame-1513_riverish.jpg

Wow! That's really treeful! Was that too obvious?

[BlitzGirl]

I was going to go with "treeish," myself. Nice work, kasmeneo!

@BlitzGirl: I love the way the OTT added a scrollbar in your redundant attachment:

Spoiler:

Tag-team redundakitties! I love it!

{P1135}
I'm from Manchester so I'm not sure mountains exist.

Other than that I seem to be having a monologue here; I hope you'se guyse are refraining from replying to my messages because they are flung from so far in the past rather than that they are as dull as ditch water. Know that I do eventually get to them and would appreciate a remark or two, even if it's "Shut up Exo. Your posts are like a thorn in the stem of the Tread"

Shut up Exo. Your posts are like a thorn in the stem of the Tread*


*Kidding, of course. It's nice to get them and see where you are in relation to us!

[Zorin_75]

This is the song that I immediately had to think of when seeing "Time - Wait for it" for the first time mips ago...
I don't think anybody's mentioned it yet, but then it's from a probably rather obscure band outside their home country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJkKo5oyVsE

Probably would lend itself to an ottification by one of our more creative members, although to me it feels quite fitting already...

[rvloon]

To begin with, can any of you genuine musician types recommend a microphone? I could use an affordable, hobbyist-level digital mike, preferably one with built-in recording capacity so I don't have to record next to my 60dB computer. I'm not interested in voice acting ─ I might do narration or audiobooks, but not individual character voices ─ but I do sing, and am reasonably popular as an SCA bard. I'm a baritone, with a reasonably good ear and a folk-singer's voice.

I use a Shure C606 which is basically the affordable version of the famous SM58, and is still an excellent mic for half the price. (There isn't really such thing as a digital mic though, I'm not sure what you mean by that... they're all analogue really, and then your computer's sound card turns it into a digital signal...) but if you want something with built-in recording, you'll want something like a Zoom H1 (cheapest) or H2 (bit higher up the range) or H4 (top-end).

ETA: Don't forget you also started the trend of double dactyling!

No, you don't. Build quality is not really up to par, and IMHO, if you want one of those, go for the Sony PCM-D50, which is much sturdier and has better built-in mics, with the option to add external (well, the zoom does as well, but they have an amp problem resulting in a nasty buzz at certain frequencies). The D50 can usually only be found in overstock and has been superceded, but I don't know the newer version. Just my opinion. Not that the Zoom is necessarily bad, but the D50 is better.

Ronald

[jeffallen55]

Pretty neatONG


Applies to the river, the OTC, and the OTT.

In other news, molpy down

Spoiler:

[markhb]

Thread-wise, I'm still a heretical week behind (which is over 100 pages); OTC-wise, thanks to geekwagon and the Font of Time Itself, I'm fully ketchup'd. Time has ended before I was even able to create an avatar

Regarding The End, while I was disappointed we never got a final, triumphant kiss between Cueball and Megan (Cueball needs to get his head in the game... Meg's all over him and he's way behind), I thought the final lines were reminiscent of the ending of Calvin & Hobbes, where Calvin says, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... let's go exploring!"

[ChronosDragon]

Thread-wise, I'm still a heretical week behind (which is over 100 pages); OTC-wise, thanks to geekwagon and the Font of Time Itself, I'm fully ketchup'd. Time has ended before I was even able to create an avatar

Regarding The End, while I was disappointed we never got a final, triumphant kiss between Cueball and Megan (Cueball needs to get his head in the game... Meg's all over him and he's way behind), I thought the final lines were reminiscent of the ending of Calvin & Hobbes, where Calvin says, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... let's go exploring!"

The comic may be over, but the thread isn't! Get yourself an avatar, get a hat too (DragonDashery is always open ) and come on in, we won't be done here for a while yet!

[Exodies]

I'm already shocked at how far this has gone, given that prior to this, Randall only had to do three strips a week, and now, he's producing over 170 frames a week.

Before he had to come up with a witty new strip thrice a week, now he additionally procures a few simple narration frames, too. I'd say most of the time goes into coming up with a new, interesting observation, inventing a facepalmating graph, or something - this is arguably easier.

{P1136}
Don't forget all the tee shirt transfers he has to iron on, posters to print, tawdry jew-jaws he has to wrap up and post, speeches to write and deliver. He's prolly also the HR department for his team of sysadmins and forum moderators - hiring, firing and paying their salaries, social security, health care, pension. And don't get me started on all the work involved in paying taxes, complying with environmental regulations, health and safety in the workplace laws, copyright infringement avoidance. Then there's the constant barrage of malicious court cases from people who wished they had said that and got themselves a shyster lawyer to prove they did. And all for what? A miserable pittance. The square root of diddlysquat. Kudos, sure, by the bucketload, but that won't put cake on the table or pay for a livoried attendant in his private elevator.

I don't know how he does it. I barely have time to read the bloody Tread.

[BlitzGirl]

I thought the final lines were reminiscent of the ending of Calvin & Hobbes, where Calvin says, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... let's go exploring!"

Yeah. I think the general "let's go exploring!" is somehow more satisfying than "let's see what's through here!" as a final line, though. Not completely sure why.

But I'm with you all the way about Cuegan. So unsatisfying!

(Would it be impolite of me to remark that a Time after Time would be a wowterful way to fix both these issues?)

[Sciscitor]

Spoiler:

I use a Shure C606 which is basically the affordable version of the famous SM58, and is still an excellent mic for half the price. (There isn't really such thing as a digital mic though, I'm not sure what you mean by that... they're all analogue really, and then your computer's sound card turns it into a digital signal...) but if you want something with built-in recording, you'll want something like a Zoom H1 (cheapest) or H2 (bit higher up the range) or H4 (top-end).

ETA: Don't forget you also started the trend of double dactyling!

No, you don't. Build quality is not really up to par, and IMHO, if you want one of those, go for the Sony PCM-D50, which is much sturdier and has better built-in mics, with the option to add external (well, the zoom does as well, but they have an amp problem resulting in a nasty buzz at certain frequencies). The D50 can usually only be found in overstock and has been superceded, but I don't know the original. Just my opinion. Not that the Zoom is necessarily bad, but the D50 is better.

Ronald[/quote]

I own a Zoom H2 and can say that it is quite nice and for my field recording trips really adequate. But then again I don't have really high audio standards with those.

[BlitzGirl]

Final frame of dialogue rONG:



You go, Megan, always leading the way...onward into the Future!

[Exodies]

Who votes we freak out all the blitzers and change our avatars and signatures to say that time ended?

{P1139}
NSA? Red flag this one. He's a troublemaker.

[jabelch]

I do hope those who delurked will re-post if they don't get thrown forward. (And, if you haven't delurked yet, why not?)

You're right SBN. Why not delurk? I always felt the urge to join in on the fun but never did. I feel like I've missed a boat that's come into port for the last time. I just hope the party keeps going for awhile and people aren't too tired to go home for good. I suppose I can never attain the same level of friendship that you all have but I would be a fool if I never tried.

Today I'm letting go of the diode (#814)

[Tatiana]

The Great Lord Randall is not your bitch (Yes, unlike the original, I'm using sentence capitalisation because that's what I was taught to do for titles which are complete sentences)
An ottification of George R.R. Martin is Not Your Bitch by John Anealio

I got an e-mail from a reader
who said he loved an artist
who wrote comics like the sea¹

He asked me if I thought the artist
should feel he should restart this
a sequel just for me

and this is what I said:

Spoiler:

The Great Lord Randall is not your bitch
no matter how much you gripe
The Great Lord Randall is not your bitch
so you might as well go get a life

I said: If you think that Time was entertaining
it's best to stop complaining
writers just aren't machines

Although he once worked building robots
they weren't for comic slow-plots
so find something else to read

Check out the book wiki

The Great Lord Randall is not your bitch
no matter how much you gripe
The Great Lord Randall is not your bitch
so stop waiting and go get a life

So great, Angelastic! And so true. It was good to have a heartfelt laugh in the midst of all the sadness of the last two days. Thanks!