1013: "Wake Up Sheeple"

[SirMustapha]

...
Babble, get out of my head! I was TOTALLY going to say that.
...

Well, Sir "Uniqua" Mustapha is not entirely a Grinch, or Oscar the Grouch, after all (to mix children's television metaphors)...

He is also not entirely Uniqua -- he's Austin.

Yeah, I have kids.

If the smarty-pants was trying to bait-and-switch me into a "LOL I TROL U" moment by deliberately getting the characters' names wrong, then it backfired beautifully. Otherwise, this goes to show the effect of Randall rarely ever bothering to get his facts straight before making an alleged joke.

The joke of the last panel is that it's only megahorn guy who doesn't get it. The woman next to him, the people in the background all act as if this is natural. It's not just a stick figure yelling "Oh god oh god oh god" it's the "Why did you do that!" part that's important, the idea that megahorn guy obviously should have known better, whereas his reaction is basically what ours would have been.

But it's a completely lame execution, besides of being a completely absurd anti-climax to, after a really cool representation of the "Sheeple" rising and a pretty neat close-up of its eye (RANDALL DREW AN EYE!!), write up some tiny lines of "dialogue" with lines pointing outwards. It's like the "Drama" comic in which Randall depicts the sudden, violent outburst of "drama" all over the place with an insipid graph. It is lame and inept, and honestly, it doesn't seem like that's the focus of the joke at all, with lines so vague like that ("All is lost"? Really?).

In short: the last panel establishes megahorn guy both as the Only Sane Man and the character the reader (in a small way) relates to.

No! Don't link to TV Tropes! That will cause a huge eruption of Cleverness By Golfing links with wacky titles pointing to Random Articles Of Awesome, and everyone will go Smash The Window With Your Face as the world turns to I Didn't Know Breathing Was An Option. Thanks to you, the Dirty Tampon Character will Step With Your Left Foot First Dammit and Bucket Of Paint On A Hospital Bed arrgh make it stop Lolworthy And Gravitalicious Chopin Was A Sysadmin Awkward Goatse Mother Moment

Without the last panel, the comic is simply "weird", with it, the comic is "absurd". There's a difference, (look up absurdism and the "theater of the absurd") and I think it's better because of it.

Yes, I've watched my tiny share of Ionesco and we read a bit about it on my theatre classes, and I think it's pretty fair to say that the execution can make, say, Rhinoceros range from genius to garbage. You may have a good joke in your hands, but if you don't deliver it well, you waste it.

[babble]

yeah. The guy being the only one who never heard of the sheep monster isn't funny. so the last panel is still pointless & distracting. waking the monster would be equally as funny without its existence being common knowledge. it's slightly lamer, in fact, if he is the only one who's never heard of it, because then we have to start wondering why on earth this would be.

also, such a shame that goatkcd isn't up for this one in particular.

[chrth]

Oh No! Hes summoned Eldest Gruff!

If you're referencing the Dresden Files series, that is most definitely not Eldest Gruff. Not to mention, where's the donut?

[Red Hal]

In Thomas' Hummer, silly!

[dp2]

British Modern English has seen some changes, but it's getting better. All the time.

It can't get no worse?

I used to get mad at my school
the teachers who taught me weren't cool
they're holding me down
draggin' me 'round
filling me up with their rules*

Huh ... that's a limerick!


*Apologies if I got any of the lyrics wrong, my hearing isn't the best

Is that so much better than the similar:
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control...
Hey, teacher! Leave them kids alone!

Anyway, my reference to 80s Brit-pop was apparently too obscure. Or I'm too old for this forum.

[Rotherian]

Yes, I've watched my tiny share of Ionesco and we read a bit about it on my theatre classes, and I think it's pretty fair to say that the execution can make, say, Rhinoceros range from genius to garbage. You may have a good joke in your hands, but if you don't deliver it well, you waste it.

I may just have a couple of possible solutions for the problems you seem to have with the comic:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+delete+an+internet+bookmark
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+unsubscribe+from+a+RSS+feed

Since you apparently don't enjoy the comic, and from what I've seen, you haven't really enjoyed them for quite a while, might as well clear up a little space. That way, you can go on with your life, and those of us that actually enjoy the comic can continue doing so without you trying to wizz all over our sunshine.

[chrth]

Since you apparently don't enjoy the comic, and from what I've seen, you haven't really enjoyed them for quite a while, might as well clear up a little space. That way, you can go on with your life, and those of us that actually enjoy the comic can continue doing so without you trying to wizz all over our sunshine.

Wasted bytes. He's only here because he hopes someone might click a link in his sig.

[chrth]

Is that so much better than the similar:

One, yes, it is, because as much as I love Pink Floyd (PS: Another Brick in the Wall pt 2 was actually released in '79), they don't compare to the Beatles. Unless there was another reference you were making?

Two, whether or not you meant to reference ABitW2, "getting better all the time" is the lyric from Getting Better; intentional or no you quoted it.

[dp2]

Is that so much better than the similar:

One, yes, it is, because as much as I love Pink Floyd (PS: Another Brick in the Wall pt 2 was actually released in '79), they don't compare to the Beatles. Unless there was another reference you were making?

Two, whether or not you meant to reference ABitW2, "getting better all the time" is the lyric from Getting Better; intentional or no you quoted it.

I was quoting Modern English's "I'll Stop The World". The phrase "Modern English" being the focal point of the now pulverized joke.

[SirMustapha]

I may just have a couple of possible solutions for the problems you seem to have with the comic:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+delete+an+internet+bookmark
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+unsubscribe+from+a+RSS+feed

I doubt that would work. I tried closing my eyes to make the world disappear, but it didn't work, either.

EDIT: Honestly, if you want to "save up a little space", why not ask to end the fruitless, cyclical holy wars on the threads for comics such as "Adam and Eve"? If there's ANYONE here who seems to be letting xkcd interfere with his life, it's the guys arguing whether atheists have bigger dicks than christians, not me. But thank you for your concern.

Since you apparently don't enjoy the comic, and from what I've seen, you haven't really enjoyed them for quite a while, might as well clear up a little space. That way, you can go on with your life, and those of us that actually enjoy the comic can continue doing so without you trying to wizz all over our sunshine.

Wasted bytes. He's only here because he hopes someone might click a link in his sig.

Well, some people did that, in fact. But now you blew up my whole masterplan for world domination. Gee, thank you!

[chrth]

I was quoting Modern English's "I'll Stop The World". The phrase "Modern English" being the focal point of the now pulverized joke.

And melt with you? Yikes, man. But I do understand the reference now.

Beatles still win.

[dp2]

I was quoting Modern English's "I'll Stop The World". The phrase "Modern English" being the focal point of the now pulverized joke.

And melt with you? Yikes, man. But I do understand the reference now.

Beatles still win.

Well, it fit the discussion better than the more recognizable lines.

[NumberFourtyThree]

One thing bugs me, though. There weren't any sheep 10 thousand years ago, were there? There were wild goats that might have been in the process of being domesticated, and would eventually be bred into what we know as sheep today, right?

What? No! Goats didn't become domesticated into sheep, goats and sheep are two different species!

Here's some wild sheep for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bighorn_sheep here's some domestic sheep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep here's a wild goat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_goat and here's some domestic goats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat

Though they are closely related, Bighorn Sheep aren't the ancestors of domesticated sheep. Here's a link to their actual ancestor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouflon

[savanik]

Yes, I've watched my tiny share of Ionesco and we read a bit about it on my theatre classes, and I think it's pretty fair to say that the execution can make, say, Rhinoceros range from genius to garbage. You may have a good joke in your hands, but if you don't deliver it well, you waste it.

I may just have a couple of possible solutions for the problems you seem to have with the comic:

*snip*

I put him in as a 'foe', which makes none of his posts appear. My slice of the world is a better place. Mind you, it does make the fora a little more confusing when I see others arguing with someone who doesn't appear to be there.

[kuttaka]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

[whateveries]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Yes, but judeo-christian is a thin way of desribing the mythological background for the humour, considering of course that the judeo part has much older influencs and the christian part has influences from outside of it's supposed judeo orgins, you kind of should be calling it a babylonic-egypto-judeo-mithraic-druidic-budhist-christian reference, perhaps jfor the sake of simplicity just call it a mythological reference.

But last I checked these creatures existed not in the Bible but in things like RuneQuest RPG. which to some also constitutes a form of devotional worship.

It aslo makes it a chaosium reference.

Which also makes it an important text for you reading list.

Hence the yes.

[dp2]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

As for required reading, whatever your beliefs, the Bible is pretty significant to Western literature*. If you want to consider yourself well read in that arena, then darn right, you should know it as well as you know Greek mythology.

* before anyone misquotes me again, I did not say that the Bible *is* Western literature.

[whateveries]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

As for required reading, whatever your beliefs, the Bible is pretty significant to Western literature*. If you want to consider yourself well read in that arena, then darn right, you should know it as well as you know Greek mythology.

* before anyone misquotes me again, I did not say that the Bible *is* Western literature.

someone misquitoed you?

[shirosuzume]

Oh No! Hes summoned Eldest Gruff!

If you're referencing the Dresden Files series, that is most definitely not Eldest Gruff. Not to mention, where's the donut?

I thought he was referencing The Three Billy Goats Gruff... trip trap trip trap...

But they were goats instead of sheep. This guy could certainly vie for the biggest, baddest Gruff, though.

[dp2]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

As for required reading, whatever your beliefs, the Bible is pretty significant to Western literature*. If you want to consider yourself well read in that arena, then darn right, you should know it as well as you know Greek mythology.

* before anyone misquotes me again, I did not say that the Bible *is* Western literature.

someone misquitoed you?

Well, misunderstood a quote.

Good God, do I now have to explain the chain of posts explaining my joke?

[whateveries]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

As for required reading, whatever your beliefs, the Bible is pretty significant to Western literature*. If you want to consider yourself well read in that arena, then darn right, you should know it as well as you know Greek mythology.

* before anyone misquotes me again, I did not say that the Bible *is* Western literature.

someone misquitoed you?

Well, misunderstood a quote.

Good God, do I now have to explain the chain of posts explaining my joke?

oh I should think so, no harm can come if explaining a joke. surely.

[hyplar2000]

We have to use the Mint Jelly!!

[Pfhorrest]

EDIT: Honestly, if you want to "save up a little space", why not ask to end the fruitless, cyclical holy wars on the threads for comics such as "Adam and Eve"? If there's ANYONE here who seems to be letting xkcd interfere with his life, it's the guys arguing whether atheists have bigger dicks than christians, not me. But thank you for your concern.

I dunno, some people seem to find those long tangential debates the most interesting part of the xkcd forums. Can anybody say the same about your criticisms?

Anybody?

Bueller?

[Kisama]

EDIT: Honestly, if you want to "save up a little space", why not ask to end the fruitless, cyclical holy wars on the threads for comics such as "Adam and Eve"? If there's ANYONE here who seems to be letting xkcd interfere with his life, it's the guys arguing whether atheists have bigger dicks than christians, not me. But thank you for your concern.

I dunno, some people seem to find those long tangential debates the most interesting part of the xkcd forums. Can anybody say the same about your criticisms?

Anybody?

Alright I'll take it. I am entertained by some of SirMustapha's critical posts, and also by some of the long tangential debates. I just skim or skip either of them if I'm not interested.

Naturally, I am completely in favour of recursive criticism so people should go ahead and criticise SirMustapha's criticisms, and then others can criticise the criticisms of SirMustapha's criticisms, and lets see how deep it goes before we run out of critical stack space.

New corollary of Godwin's Rule: First recursive critic to reference Inception or Xzibit automatically loses.

[jpk]

New corollary of Godwin's Rule: First recursive critic to reference Inception or Xzibit automatically loses.

That'll be you, then. Thanks for playing.

[Pfhorrest]

Alright I'll take it. I am entertained by some of SirMustapha's critical posts, and also by some of the long tangential debates.

Then how about we have a long tangential debate about art criticism?

(Oh wait, we already did that).

[J Thomas]

I think spelling "you" as "U" actually makes a lot of sense - it creates a pleasing symmetry with the word "I".

Personally I am more fond of the phonetic symmetry between "you" (second person plural) and "we" (first person plural). From the "yy" to the "uu" in "you", the lips more forward and narrow as though gesturing at the second person; from the "ww" to the "ii" in "we" they reverse that motion, retracting and widening, as though gesturing at one's self and one's cohort.

So in place of "you" you'd rather say "ye"?

Didn't people used to do that some? I wonder why it died out. Outside of ye olde Renfaires, I mean.

[Kisama]

New corollary of Godwin's Rule: First recursive critic to reference Inception or Xzibit automatically loses.

That'll be you, then. Thanks for playing.

Oh snap. Also, no one must say "Jehovah", or they shall be stoned to death.

[SirMustapha]

I dunno, some people seem to find those long tangential debates the most interesting part of the xkcd forums. Can anybody say the same about your criticisms?

Well, in a couple of threads, my posts yielded dozens of replies. I guess some people think they are interesting enough, though they may not necessarily say it.

Oh! And I also distinctively remember some people saying they really do like to read my posts -- even when they are being condescending about it.

[eran_rathan]

I dunno, some people seem to find those long tangential debates the most interesting part of the xkcd forums. Can anybody say the same about your criticisms?

Well, in a couple of threads, my posts yielded dozens of replies. I guess some people think they are interesting enough, though they may not necessarily say it.

Oh! And I also distinctively remember some people saying they really do like to read my posts -- even when they are being condescending about it.

I generally file your posts under "High quality troll", personally. They're usually well-written, and force me to think about why precisely I like or dislike the comic. Far better than the simple, "lol these suck" posts most trolls come up with.

[dp2]

Good God, do I now have to explain the chain of posts explaining my joke?

oh I should think so, no harm can come if explaining a joke. surely.

Alright, do over!.......

Modern American English and Modern British English are entirely independent from one another. Modern American English at its roots stems from Early Modern English, which you will find is not the exact same thing as British English, and especially not the same as Modern British English.

British Modern English will stop the world and melt with you.

See? More recognizable, less likely to be confused with a Beatles song, but doesn't fit the quote about the evolution of English the way the "seen some changes" line does.

[Rotherian]

New corollary of Godwin's Rule: First recursive critic to reference Inception or Xzibit automatically loses.

That'll be you, then. Thanks for playing.

Not necessarily. The corollary's wording could be interpreted to mean that either of two conditions (to wit, reference of A or reference of B) results in automatic loss, but that the combination of the two does not have the same result. In other words:

Code: Select all

bool loss = false;
if ((criticReference == A)  && (criticReference != B))
{
   loss = true;
}
if ((criticReference == B)  && (criticReference != A))
{
   loss = true;
}
   else
   {
      loss = false;
   }

I'm not stating that the above is necessarily the case, just that it is a possibility.

[jpers36]

or != xor

Although I guess dyslexia could play a role, seeing as how the or is right next to Xzibit.

[Ronsonic]

We have to use the Mint Jelly!!

This!

[Alaska Girl]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

That would be the alt text, actually. "You will be led to judgement [sic] like lambs to the slaughter." I believe it's quoting one of the Old Testament prophets.

We have to use the Mint Jelly!!

"That mint jelly on your lamb is my own creation." /obscure movie quote

[dp2]

This is the third Judeo-Christian reference he's made in 3 comics. Is this on the required reading list to understand the humor?

Are you referring to the "Heaven forgive us" or the "Oh God Oh God"?

That would be the alt text, actually. "You will be led to judgement [sic] like lambs to the slaughter." I believe it's quoting one of the Old Testament prophets.

Well, maybe. But does one really have to be versed in the Torah / Old Testament to know that phrase or what it means?

[PM 2Ring]

[stuff]

I generally file your posts under "High quality troll", personally. They're usually well-written, and force me to think about why precisely I like or dislike the comic. Far better than the simple, "lol these suck" posts most trolls come up with.

Agreed. SirMustapha is xkcd's Statler and Waldorf.

[eran_rathan]

[stuff]

I generally file your posts under "High quality troll", personally. They're usually well-written, and force me to think about why precisely I like or dislike the comic. Far better than the simple, "lol these suck" posts most trolls come up with.

Agreed. SirMustapha is xkcd's Statler and Waldorf.

Statler: This show is awful!
Waldorf: Terrible!
Statler: Disgusting!
Waldorf: See you next week?
Statler: Of course.

[RogerB]

...
No! Don't link to TV Tropes! That will cause a huge eruption of Cleverness By Golfing links with wacky titles pointing to Random Articles Of Awesome, and everyone will go Smash The Window With Your Face as the world turns to I Didn't Know Breathing Was An Option. Thanks to you, the Dirty Tampon Character will Step With Your Left Foot First Dammit and Bucket Of Paint On A Hospital Bed arrgh make it stop Lolworthy And Gravitalicious Chopin Was A Sysadmin Awkward Goatse Mother Moment
...

Thank you so much for making those links fake links. It's already 15 minutes after the official end of my lunch break, what if clicking on one of them had worked?

[RogerB]

...
No! Don't link to TV Tropes! That will cause a huge eruption of Cleverness By Golfing links with wacky titles pointing to Random Articles Of Awesome, and everyone will go Smash The Window With Your Face as the world turns to I Didn't Know Breathing Was An Option. Thanks to you, the Dirty Tampon Character will Step With Your Left Foot First Dammit and Bucket Of Paint On A Hospital Bed arrgh make it stop Lolworthy And Gravitalicious Chopin Was A Sysadmin Awkward Goatse Mother Moment
...

Thank you so much for making those links fake links. It's already 15 minutes after the official end of my lunch break, what if clicking on one of them had worked?

It wouldn't have made any difference, I have just spent the last 15 minutes looking up "malamantau".