Difference between revisions of "428: Starwatching"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(Created page with "{{comic | number = 428 | date = <!-- Click on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left and find this comic in the list. The date is in the rightmost column, ...")
 
(Explanation: revised and expanded tag cloud defnition)
(35 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{comic
 
{{comic
 
| number    = 428
 
| number    = 428
| date      = <!-- Click on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left and find this comic in the list. The date is in the rightmost column, in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Please replace this comment with the date in Mmmm D, YYYY format. -->
+
| date      = May 26, 2008
 
| title    = Starwatching
 
| title    = Starwatching
| image    = http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/starwatching.png
+
| image    = starwatching.png
| titletext = I always figured the word &#39;blog&#39; would sound *less* silly as the years went by.
+
| titletext = I always figured the word 'blog' would sound *less* silly as the years went by.
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
This is a play on both Disney's "The Lion King" (in which Simba relates the same opening conversation with his late father, Mufasa, about the great kings of the past looking down from the stars) and xkcd #239 [http://www.xkcd.com/239 xkcd #239] in which [http://craphound.com] Cory Doctorow] visits "from the past".   The "Cory in cape and goggles" meme has [http://craphound.com/?p=2122 played out in real life] and on Doctorow's [http://craphound.com/walh/ "With A Little Help" book cover]
+
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are {{w|stargazing}}. In the first two panels Cueball references a scene in the movie {{w|The Lion King}}, where the protagonist, Simba, remembers how his father, Mufasa, explained the night sky by saying, 'The great kings of the past are up there'. The quote in last panel is derived from a scene near the climax of the movie, where the spirit of Mufasa appears to Simba in the clouds, and speaks to him.
 +
 
 +
{{w|Cory Doctorow}} is a famous blogger who features in several of [[Randall]]'s [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow|comics]]. A {{w|tag cloud}} is a list keywords on the sidebar of a blog's layout that helps a reader find posts by hyperlinking to posts associated with that keyword or category. Tags are shown in an incrementally larger typeface if that tag describes more posts than other tags.
 +
 
 +
Megan interrupts Cueball saying that she can't decide if Cueball needs to "get out more or less." If she were to say "get out more" she would be implying that he needs to spend time away from the computer so he stops seeing links between the real world and Cory Doctorow. If she says "get out less" she implies that he might scare normal people if he were to do what he does in front of them.
 +
 
 +
In the title text, Randall mentions that he feels that the word {{w|blog}}, a {{w|portmanteau}} and an {{w|Elision}} of 'web log', sounds silly, and has not become any less silly over the years, despite entering common usage.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
:Man: Just look at those stars.
+
:[Cueball and Megan are lying on the ground stargazing]
:Man: My father once told me that the great bloggers of the past are up there, watching over us.
+
:Cueball: Just look at those stars.
 +
 
 +
:Cueball: My father once told me that the great bloggers of the past are up there, watching over us.
  
:Man: High above the blogosphere, a gap opens in the tag clouds. Cory Doctorow&#39;s voice booms forth...
+
:[Cueball sits up, and then stands up, stretching his arms in the air as if to encompass the whole night sky]
:Woman: You need to get out either more or less. I can&#39;t decide.
+
:Cueball: High above the blogosphere, a gap opens in the tag clouds. Cory Doctorow's voice booms forth...
<!-- The transcript can be found in a hidden <div> element on the xkcd comic's html source, with id "transcript".
+
:Megan: You need to get out either ''more'' or ''less''. I can't decide.
  -- Tip: Use colons (:) in the beginning of lines to preserve the original line breaks.
 
  -- Any actions or descriptive lines in [[double brackets]] should be reduced to [single brackets] to avoid wikilinking.
 
  -- Similarly for {{}}. Be careful to escape multiple ~s with <nowiki></nowiki>.
 
  -- Do not include the title text again here. -->
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
<!-- Include any categories below this line. -->
+
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 +
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 +
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]

Revision as of 18:17, 29 July 2014

Starwatching
I always figured the word 'blog' would sound *less* silly as the years went by.
Title text: I always figured the word 'blog' would sound *less* silly as the years went by.

Explanation

Megan and Cueball are stargazing. In the first two panels Cueball references a scene in the movie The Lion King, where the protagonist, Simba, remembers how his father, Mufasa, explained the night sky by saying, 'The great kings of the past are up there'. The quote in last panel is derived from a scene near the climax of the movie, where the spirit of Mufasa appears to Simba in the clouds, and speaks to him.

Cory Doctorow is a famous blogger who features in several of Randall's comics. A tag cloud is a list keywords on the sidebar of a blog's layout that helps a reader find posts by hyperlinking to posts associated with that keyword or category. Tags are shown in an incrementally larger typeface if that tag describes more posts than other tags.

Megan interrupts Cueball saying that she can't decide if Cueball needs to "get out more or less." If she were to say "get out more" she would be implying that he needs to spend time away from the computer so he stops seeing links between the real world and Cory Doctorow. If she says "get out less" she implies that he might scare normal people if he were to do what he does in front of them.

In the title text, Randall mentions that he feels that the word blog, a portmanteau and an Elision of 'web log', sounds silly, and has not become any less silly over the years, despite entering common usage.

Transcript

[Cueball and Megan are lying on the ground stargazing]
Cueball: Just look at those stars.
Cueball: My father once told me that the great bloggers of the past are up there, watching over us.
[Cueball sits up, and then stands up, stretching his arms in the air as if to encompass the whole night sky]
Cueball: High above the blogosphere, a gap opens in the tag clouds. Cory Doctorow's voice booms forth...
Megan: You need to get out either more or less. I can't decide.


comment.png add a comment! ⋅ comment.png add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ Icons-mini-action refresh blue.gif refresh comments!

Discussion

An interesting interpretation. I thought Cueball was just referencing The Lion King. 184.41.49.246 00:53, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

My thoughts exactly. "Great kings of the past," "great bloggers of the past"... I don't think there was any intended reference to Christianity. 24.20.112.104 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I think the word "blog" is more an elision than a portmanteau, since it's not a conflation (e.g. mansplain, muppet, or smog) of two words, here "web" and "log," but rather a shortening (or eliding) of the same. 108.162.219.21 12:55, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Why is the transcript marked incomplete? Spongebog (talk) 16:26, 26 July 2014 (UTC)

Fixed a typo and grammar for tag cloud. It was a little cumbersome before, but I think I wound up using bigger words. The part about "or less" seems a little clunky also, but not quite sure how to fix it. Vorik111 (talk) 18:22, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

There needs to be a running count somewhere on the wiki of how many times the word blogosphere appears in xkcd and how it tracks over time. If Randall reads the wiki perhaps it will induce a spiteful uptick. AzureArmageddon 07:48, 30 September 2023 (UTC)