explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

919: Tween Bromance

2014-01-08T07:29:35Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 919
| date = July 1, 2011
| title = Tween Bromance
| image = tween_bromance.png
| titletext = Verbiage. Va-jay-jay. Irregardless.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The title text should be mentioned at explain.}}
This comic is playing off the fact that people have words that drive them crazy or gross them out. In this comic, [[Cueball]] seems to be dictating a "tween bromance" story or novel to [[Megan]], who is possibly typing it up. Cueball is including all the words that get to Megan in a sequence (including the final 3 words in the title text). The 3 words in the title text are said after Megan says "STOP IT! STOP IT!"

Supplementary Explanation:

Cueball's sentence is packed with words that are known irritants. Virtually every noun, adjective and adverb in his sentence is a well-known "irritating word." Cueball has constructed a complete, coherent sentence using only those words. The title of the comic, "Tween Bromance," provides two more "irritating words." Megan begins to react halfway through Cueball's sentence, and breaks down at the end, finally not able to take any more. The joke is that of {{w|Schadenfreude}}, since Cueball knows these words irritate Megan, and has created a sentence designed to pique her irritation to the maximum.

Her reaction is not unreasonable.

Tween: A contraction of "in-between," as in, between childhood and adolescence. This term refers to children between the ages of 10 and 12 or so. People hate this word because kids aged 10 to 12 should be called "kids." There is no reason to call them something else.

Bromance: A portmanteau of "Bro" (itself a slang term) meaning a close personal ally, and "romance," depicting a strong bond between two men without any implied sexual component. People hate this word because it cuts both ways: it connotes a homosexual relationship, but that is not part of the relationship type it describes.

Guesstimate: A portmanteau of "guess" and "estimate." People hate this word because it improperly interpolates two conflicting terms. A guess can be pulled out of thin air; an estimate must rely on some kind of measurable quantity to be estimated. Thus, "Guesstimate," to most people, means, "I don't know what I'm talking about, but I want you to pretend I do."

Frenemy: A portmanteau of "Friend" and "Enemy." People hate this word because there is never a reason to use it. You might refer to an acquaintance as a friend, or as an enemy, or as neither one; but you would never refer to them as a frenemy. In The Godfather II, Michael Corleone said, "Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer." He was talking about frenemies, in a concrete and specific way. You know what he didn't say? Frenemy. You know why? Because it's a stupid word.

Yiffed: I've been doing this "people hate this word because" thing, and so far I think it's worked. But "yiff" is not a word people hate, mostly because they have never heard of it. It refers to a sexual practice among furries. Googling the sexual practices of furries is left as an exercise for the reader.

So Hard: This is an adverb that in itself is not creepy, but in context becomes creepy. On its face, it is a generic intensifier like "really" or "literally." But it's kind of out there, socio-linguistically. For example, "I love you" is fine. "I really love you" is also fine, if a bit desperate. "I love you so hard" is creepy. On the other hand, "My men have been working so hard, they deserve a break," has no creepiness to it at all. So we toss our hats to the wind on this one.

Moist: This is one of the most-hated words in the English language. No one knows why. The comments section is down there, go nuts.

Taint: The reference is to the perineum, the small patch of skin between the genitals and the anus. People hate this word for several reasons. Some hate it because it has to do with a body part they'd rather not think about. Some hate it because it identifies that part incorrectly, and unscientifically. Others hate it because it implies that biologists have nothing better to do with their time than come up with Anglo-Saxon terms to define body parts. It doesn't matter; the word "taint" here is meant to make you crinkle your nose, and that's all.

Panties: Womens' underwear. Like "Moist," this word is a target of hate, without a clear reason.

Preggers: A euphemism for "pregnant." This term is undesirable on its face because a slang term ought naturally take less time than the word it's standing in for. "Pregnant" and "Preggers" have the same number of syllables, so why have it?

The title text gives a few more examples of words that "twitch" people, like Megan.

Verbiage: No one wants to have their text referred to as "verbiage," (because no one will read it). Also, no one wants to read "verbiage," (because it's a waste of time).

Va-Jay-Jay: A jocular reference to the vagina. Pause for big laughs.

Irregardless: Not the worst offender, grammar-wise, but the one everyone knows about from Saturday Night Live.

==Transcript==
:[All of Cueball's lines are overlaid over the entire comic; the panels listed are merely the ones directly under each sentence fragment.]
:[Cueball is standing smugly behind Megan, who is seated in front of a computer and typing.]
:Cueball: By my guesstimate,

:Cueball: my frenemy yiffed so hard

:Cueball: her moist taint made
:[Megan's eye twitches.]

:Cueball: her panties preggers!
:Megan: ''STOP IT STOP IT!''

==Trivia==
*Like this comic fills a sentence with (gross) neologisms, [[550: Density]] crams a sentence with memes.
*The first four words are {{w|portmanteaus}}:
**“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tween Tween]” means a pre-adolescent.
**“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bromance Bromance]” means a close non-sexual friendship between two males.
**“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=guesstimate Guesstimate]” means an estimate made with very little information.
**“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=frenemy Frenemy]” means a mixture of a friend and a rival.
*“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yiff Yiff]” is a word invented by the {{w|furry community}}, derived from the sound a fox makes during mating.
*"{{Wiktionary|moist}}" is an ordinary word, but one that many people find mildly creepy. Especially in this context.
*“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=taint Taint]” is the part between the genitals and the anus in slang.
*“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=preggers Preggers]” a slang term for being pregnant.
*“{{Wiktionary|verbiage}}” is a fairly new usage of an older word, meaning too many words used to explain a subject.
*“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=va-jay-jay Va-jay-jay]” is just a way of saying “vagina”.
*“[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Irregardless Irregardless]” is a {{w|solecism}}.[http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0037-irregardless.htm Or perhaps this portmanteau.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Furries]]

653: So Bad It's Worse

2014-01-08T00:57:48Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 653
| date = October 23, 2009
| title = So Bad It's Worse
| image = so_bad_its_worse.png
| titletext = You think it's so legendarily bad that you'll torrent it and sit through it just for the kitschy nerd cred. I, too, once thought as you did.
}}

==Explanation==
The graph in the comic shows the enjoyability of movies - going from good to okay to bad, then popping back up with "[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoBadItsGood So Bad It's Good]". The term is used to describe movies that are so terrible that, for a variety of reasons, watching them can be considered an enjoyable experience. The comic lists ''{{w|Plan 9 from Outer Space}}'' and ''{{w|The Rocky Horror Picture Show}}'', two widely known films of this type.

However, the graph warns of showing ''The Star Wars Holiday Special'', as it manages to wrap back around from "So Bad It's Good" to being bad again. ''{{w|The Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' is a prime-time comedy special based on ''{{w|Star Wars}}''. It is widely known for its terrible quality, and has never been fully released (although an animated segment that introduced {{w|Boba Fett}}, which {{w|George Lucas}} has approved of, has been released as a bonus feature on a DVD).

The bottom of the comic shows [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], and [[Ponytail]] watching a movie with alcohol - first enjoying it, then merely watching, then not watching it and unhappily drinking.

The title text refers to {{w|BitTorrent (protocol)|torrents}}, which are a way to obtain large amounts of data over the internet. According to [[Randall|Munroe]], he had torrented a copy of the film and intended to watch it in its entirety, in spite of its terribleness, just to cement himself as a nerd. However, he underestimated how bad it really was, and could not make it all the way through.

It should be noted that while it is impossible to view the ''Holiday Special'' otherwise, torrenting films this way is usually considered piracy and is thus illegal.

The title text may also contain an subtle play on a line of Star Wars dialogue. In {{w|Return of the Jedi}}, {{w|Darth Vader}} says to {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, "''Obi-Wan once thought as you do''. You don't know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master." The implication here being that "kitschy nerd cred" is the "dark side" being served by those who would sit through a torrent of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

==Transcript==
:Protip: Even at "Bad Movie Night," avoid the Star Wars holiday special.

:[A graph plots movie enjoyability against movie quality. It drops steadily through points marked "Good Movie" to "Okay Movie" to "Bad Movie," rises up again for "So-Bad-It's-Good (Plan 9, Rocky Horror, etc)," and then drops off the bottom of a graph with an arrow pointing to where "Star Wars Holiday Special" would be. There are three mini-panels below the graph, arranged from "Good" to "Bad" along the movie quality axis.]

:[Three friends are on a couch, drinking and gesticulating enthusiastically.]
:[The same three are sitting quietly, with a bottle on the floor.]
:[The three are sitting around a table, drinking and looking miserable.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

339: Classic

2014-01-08T00:19:32Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 339
| date = November 7, 2007
| title = Classic
| image = classic.png
| titletext = Someone get that Pachelbel's Canon kid a recording contract, stat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] has noticed, while listening to/watching {{w|Stairway to Heaven}} by {{w|Led Zeppelin}}, that (at least some of) the music of the {{w|Baby-boom generation|Baby Boomer generation}} is lyrically better than current music.

The title text refers to {{w|Pachelbel's Canon}} and probably {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} whose [video][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJXC5WqbeU] was a {{w|YouTube#Social impact|hit on YouTube}}.

The implication here is that when young viewers who come across older, established, and even legendary artists that have been posted on youtube.com; they don't really get the concept, and just think of them as any other "youtuber". When they see the high level of artistry, skill and "depth" that these great artists exhibit in relation to the webcam videos posted by young people who are mainly singing in their bedrooms; their limited experience leads them to believe that those "baby boomers" are really bringing their A-game when it comes to creating home made youtube clips. Younger Youtubers will need to improve their efforts if they hope to match the skill of those older posters, and stop getting their asses kicked.

;An alternative explanation:
The 1960s and 70s were an interesting period for popular music. Many new sub-genres were developed, such as psychedelic rock, heavy metal, punk rock, county (or southern) rock and blues rock. Not only that, the artists from that era tend to remain the outstanding exemplars of these types of music, leaving one with the impression that those artists were rock and roll geniuses and later artists are talentless hacks by comparison.

That is to say, for every outstanding Generation X or Y musician (e.g., Nirvana), there are ten outstanding Baby Boomer musicians (e.g., The Who, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead). This is not necessarily true, but it is true that many of the outstanding musicians of the baby boomers' generation remain popular and influential, while few musicians from later eras do.

The title text refers either to {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} or a young French guitarist named Mattrach [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owAj5LiXG5w], both of whom are widely known for excellent speed-metal versions of Pachelbel's Canon. The implication is that in order to compete artistically with the baby boomers, younger people need to support talented musicians from their own generation.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in front of a turntable, listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.]
:Song: And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul

:Song: When all is one and one is all, to be a rock and not to rooooll

:Song [fading away]: And she's buying a stairway to Heaven

:Cueball: Man. The Baby Boomers are kicking our ASSES.
:Cueball: We need to get it together, guys.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Music]]

User:Smallberries

2014-01-03T12:07:04Z

Smallberries: Created page with "In order to demonstrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, the ancients first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their own states, they first regulat..."

In order to demonstrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, the ancients first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their own states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

From the Sons of Heaven down to the mass of the people, the cultivation of self is the root of everything besides.

666: Silent Hammer

2014-01-03T11:49:12Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =666
| date =November 23, 2009
| title =Silent Hammer
| image =silent_hammer.png
| titletext ='I bet he'll keep quiet for a couple weeks and then-- wait, did you nail a piece of scrap wood to my antique table a moment ago?'
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The Skeptics Society has to be explained. Note, I've added a section on the A.S.S. (great acronym!) for review.}}
[[Black Hat]] has created a set of tools that work in complete silence so that he can go to the house of the chairman of the {{w|The Skeptics Society|American Skeptics Society}} late at night, do some rearranging of walls and moving of windows, just to screw with him in typical Black Hat fashion. A {{w|skeptic}} is someone who questions knowledge, facts and beliefs, especially of supernatural phenomena like the existence of poltergeists which Black Hat is trying to imitate with his rearranging and scratching noises.

The American Skeptics Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting skeptical and critical thinking in education and public discourse. The executive editor, Michael Shermer, is a leading proponent of skepticism, and has written many books and articles debunking pseudoscience, fringe science, quack medicine, alien abductions, conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena. The Skeptic Society website [http://www.skeptic.com] and Skeptic magazine feature a lot of material debunking anecdotal accounts of these phenomena, explaining how events like "hauntings" could have occurred without supernatural intervention.

One of the premises of modern skepticism is that the supernatural is not rejected out of hand; if a skeptic ever encountered an event with no possible explanation other than a supernatural one, he would be forced to acknowledge the existence of that type of supernatural force or entity. Skeptics maintain that no such event has ever occurred. Black Hat's prank is designed to give Mr. Shermer a seemingly supernatural experience that he would not be able to debunk, so he would have to accept a supernatural explanation, to the detriment of his life's work and that of the society he runs.

In the title text Cueball realizes that Black Hat has (probably intentionally) ruined his antique table by demonstrating his silent hammer.

The number of this comic (666) just happens to be {{w|The Number Of The Beast}}, or the "devil" number (the devil being a supernatural entity, which skeptics believe to not exist).

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is hammering something on a table.]
:Cueball: What—
:Black Hat: Silent hammer. I've made a set of silent tools.
:Cueball: Why?
:Hammer: ''woosh woosh woosh''
:Black Hat: Stealth carpentry. Breaking into a house at night and moving windows, adjusting walls, etc.
:[He takes his silent hammer over to a tool bench with other things on it. Two boxes underneath are labeled "Drills" and "Non-Drills."]
:Black Hat, narrating: After a week or so of questioning his own sanity, the owner will stay up to watch the house at night. I'll make scratching noises in the walls, pipe in knockout gas, move him up to his bed, and never bother him again.
:[The events he's describing are shown in two mini-panels below.]
:Cueball, off-panel: Nice prank, I guess, but what's the point?
:Black Hat: Check out the owner's card, on the table.
:Cueball, off-panel: Chair of the American Skeptics Society? Oh, god.
:Black Hat: Yeah, this doesn't end well for him.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

666: Silent Hammer

2014-01-03T11:47:18Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =666
| date =November 23, 2009
| title =Silent Hammer
| image =silent_hammer.png
| titletext ='I bet he'll keep quiet for a couple weeks and then-- wait, did you nail a piece of scrap wood to my antique table a moment ago?'
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The Skeptics Society has to be explained. Note, I've added a section on the A.S.S. (great acronym!) for review.}}
[[Black Hat]] has created a set of tools that work in complete silence so that he can go to the house of the chairman of the {{w|The Skeptics Society|American Skeptics Society}} late at night, do some rearranging of walls and moving of windows, just to screw with him in typical Black Hat fashion. A {{w|skeptic}} is someone who questions knowledge, facts and beliefs, especially of supernatural phenomena like the existence of poltergeists which Black Hat is trying to imitate with his rearranging and scratching noises.

The American Skeptics Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting skeptical and critical thinking in education and public discourse. The executive editor, Michael Shermer, is a leading proponent of skepticism, and has written many books and articles debunking pseudoscience, fringe science, quack medicine, alien abductions, conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomena. The Skeptic Society website [http://www.skeptic.com] and Skeptic magazine feature a lot of material debunking anecdotal accounts of these phenomena, explaining how events like "hauntings" could have occurred without supernatural intervention.

One of the premises of modern skepticism is that the supernatural is not rejected out of hand; if a skeptic ever encountered an event with no possible explanation other than a supernatural one, he would be forced to acknowledge the existence of that type of supernatural force or entity. Black Hat's prank is designed to give Mr. Shermer a seemingly supernatural experience that he would not be able to debunk, so he would have to accept a supernatural explanation, to the detriment of his life's work and that of the society he runs.

In the title text Cueball realizes that Black Hat has (probably intentionally) ruined his antique table by demonstrating his silent hammer.

The number of this comic (666) just happens to be {{w|The Number Of The Beast}}, or the "devil" number (the devil being a supernatural entity, which skeptics believe to not exist).

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is hammering something on a table.]
:Cueball: What—
:Black Hat: Silent hammer. I've made a set of silent tools.
:Cueball: Why?
:Hammer: ''woosh woosh woosh''
:Black Hat: Stealth carpentry. Breaking into a house at night and moving windows, adjusting walls, etc.
:[He takes his silent hammer over to a tool bench with other things on it. Two boxes underneath are labeled "Drills" and "Non-Drills."]
:Black Hat, narrating: After a week or so of questioning his own sanity, the owner will stay up to watch the house at night. I'll make scratching noises in the walls, pipe in knockout gas, move him up to his bed, and never bother him again.
:[The events he's describing are shown in two mini-panels below.]
:Cueball, off-panel: Nice prank, I guess, but what's the point?
:Black Hat: Check out the owner's card, on the table.
:Cueball, off-panel: Chair of the American Skeptics Society? Oh, god.
:Black Hat: Yeah, this doesn't end well for him.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

666: Silent Hammer

2014-01-03T11:14:36Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

254: Comic Fragment

2014-01-03T11:05:15Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 254
| date = April 27, 2007
| title = Comic Fragment
| image = comic fragment.jpg
| titletext = No one wants an explanation more than us. Except Ms. Garofalo.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
In this comic [[Randall]] has gone missing from the office, and his 'editors' have found only this panel from an unfinished project (of which Mr Munroe seems rather proud). The panel depicts an amalgam of science fiction disasters.

* A crippled space station falling from orbit.
* An exploding volcano.
* Rampaging dinosaurs.
* A lone hero in what appears to be a hopeless situation.

{{w|Janeane Garofalo}} is an actress and comedian associated with strong feminist roles and opinions. She is an unlikely choice for an action hero but has fringe appeal. It should be noted that in the panel it is Janeane Garofalo herself on the motorcycle, not a character played by Janeane Garofalo.

Randall is parodying a mode of self-indulgence common among artists and writers, particularly those who have been prolific and have gained mass appeal. A writer might have a project he thinks of as his "best idea ever," but upon examination it is just a mish-mash of ideas the writer thinks are cool, which don't add up to a coherent story.

This type of project is self-indulgent because it allows the writer to feel like he's exercising creative impulses he can't use in his regular work, even though the actual project has little artistic merit and is unlikely to appeal to a popular audience.

In this strip, Randall winks at a lot of the hallmarks of this sort of "project":

* It is unfinished. The point of such a project is not to complete it, but to have a place to set down all the fun ideas you never get to use, so you can feel like you're using them. But elements like these are found throughout xkcd, so the joke is that it's absurd to need a separate outlet for them, but he has one anyway.

* He keeps it in a folder labeled "My Best Idea Ever." A writer might think of such a project as his "best idea," but it's unlikely anyone would use that phrase as a working title. Using it so baldly here emphasizes the self-indulgent nature of the enterprise.

* It includes a ton of scattershot, disconnected ideas that are all cool individually but form an incoherent mess when put together. Some of the ideas (dinosaurs, spacecraft) are derivative of Randall's prior work; others (volcanoes, Janeane Garofalo) are not. It is telling, though, that the closeup inset of the woman on the motorcycle, while referred to as Janeane Garofalo in the text, looks an awful lot like [[Megan]].

* Good judgment and artistic sensibility are suppressed in favor of heightened coolness. (Janeane Garofalo is cool. Janeane Garofalo on a motorcycle is cooler! With tranq darts! On a spaceship! Etc.) The comic takes this to an extreme. Every element in the comic is there because of its awesomeness; no other aesthetic principle is being exercised anywhere.

The title text is written from the 'editors' perspective, expressing their extreme puzzlement - outshone only by Ms. Garofalo's confusion.

Later on, in December 2007, [[Randall Munroe]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=7m15s suggested in a speech at Google] that a motivation to draw this comic was to put an end to reenactments of his comics (such as the [[225: Open Source|Richard Stallman]] and [[239: Blagofaire|Cory Doctorow]] comics which {{w|xkcd#Inspired activities|inspired real-life happenings}})... or challenge anyone to reenact such a complex one:
:''I've been doing these comics and people have a habit of acting out the comics. I first — I did a comic about Cory Doctorow; you know, he wears red cape and goggles when he blogs and a week or so later, he was given an award. And he went up on the stage; they presented him with a red cape and goggles. I have done a comic little before that about Richard Stallman suggesting that he sleeps with the katana, you know, just in case. And, sure enough, they sent him, some fans pitched in together and sent him a katana. He had never heard of the comic. He was very confused. And I decided, okay, this is going to get out of hand. So, shortly after all that, I did a comic about Janeane Garofalo jumping a motorcycle off of the International Space Station as it crashes over an island with a volcanic eruption and Tyrannosaurus. And I said, okay, if someone can make ''that'' happen, but until they do that...''

==Transcript==
:Editor's note: Mr. Munroe has been missing for several days. We have recieved no submissions from him for some time, but we found this single panel on his desk in a folder labeled 'MY BEST IDEA EVER'. It is clearly part of a work in progress, but we have decided to post it in lieu of a complete comic.
:[Single panel illustration in color with one small panel embedded within, showing a zoomed-in version of Janeane Garafolo on a motorcycle. The background is a gray landscape beneath a falling space station, a large volcano with smoke rising the only discernible feature of the landscape below.]
:As the damaged space station fell deeper into the atmosphere and started to break up around her, Janeane Garofalo tightened her grip on the motorcycle.
:The volcano was looming ahead, and her tranquilizer pistol only had six darts left - barely enough to bring down even one Tyrannosaur.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

437: SUV

2014-01-02T20:00:37Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 437
| date = June 16, 2008
| title = SUV
| image = suv.png
| titletext = Electric skateboards, by cost, get the equivalent of about 300 miles per gallon. Lithium batteries just need to get cheaper.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is one of a series of [[My Hobby]] comics. Here [[Randall]] describes a "hobby" of confusing self-righteous hybrid car drivers by creating situational irony.

There are many anecdotal instances of drivers of "green" vehicles both criticizing owners of less fuel-efficient vehicles (such as SUVs) and for taunting them about how much more they are paying for fuel. Randall is reversing this by taunting/criticizing the owner of a Prius hybrid vehicle as though their roles were reversed. The owner of the hybrid car is irritated and does not understand what is being said.

The title text, rather than being a joke or additional punchline, seems to be a serious opinion about how much more efficient electric vehicles are compared to gas-powered vehicles; they would be a far superior form of transportation if only they weren't so expensive to make.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby:
:Renting an SUV and confusing the hell out of hybrid owners
:[A Prius Driver is pumping gas into his car at a gas station. The prices can be seen in the background, and read:]
:$4.08
:M: $4.38
:P: $4.51
:D: $4.85
:[Cueball drives up alongside in an SUV and leans out the window.]
:Cueball: Check out those prices! Your Prius ain't looking so smart now, huh?
:Prius Driver: It's ... wait, what?
:Cueball: Maybe you'll go green next time, asshole!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

339: Classic

2014-01-02T19:15:39Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 339
| date = November 7, 2007
| title = Classic
| image = classic.png
| titletext = Someone get that Pachelbel's Canon kid a recording contract, stat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] has noticed, while listening to/watching {{w|Stairway to Heaven}} by {{w|Led Zeppelin}}, that (at least some of) the music of the {{w|Baby-boom generation|Baby Boomer generation}} is lyrically better than current music.

The title text refers to {{w|Pachelbel's Canon}} and probably {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} whose [video][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJXC5WqbeU] was a {{w|YouTube#Social impact|hit on YouTube}}.

The implication here is that when young viewers who come across older, established, and even legendary artists that have been posted on youtube.com; they don't really get the concept, and just think of them as any other "youtuber". When they see the high level of artistry, skill and "depth" that these great artists exhibit in relation to the webcam videos posted by young people who are mainly singing in their bedrooms; their limited experience leads them to believe that those "baby boomers" are really bringing their A-game when it comes to creating home made youtube clips. Younger Youtubers will need to improve their efforts if they hope to match the skill of those older posters, and stop getting their asses kicked.

An alternative explanation:

I don't think this comic has anything to do with Youtube, but rather with the apparent difference in quality between the music of the baby boomers and that of later generations. It has often been noted that the popular music of the 1960s and early 1970s is, by and large, superior to the popular music that came later. The comic uses Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven as an example. [[Cueball]] realizes that his generation (presumably generation X) has come up short in comparison, and laments that fact.

The 1960s and 70s were an interesting period for popular music. Many new sub-genres were developed, such as phychedelic rock, heavy metal, punk rock, county (or southern) rock and blues rock. Not only that, the artists from that era tend to remain the outstanding exemplars of these types of music, leaving one with the impression that those artists were rock and roll geniuses and later artists are talentless hacks by comparison.

That is to say, for every outstanding Generation X or Y musician (e.g., Nirvana), there are ten outstanding Baby Boomer musicians (e.g., The Who, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead). This is not necessarily true, but it is true that many of the outstanding musicians of the baby boomers' generation remain popular and influential, while few musicians from later eras do.

The title text refers either to {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} or a young French guitarist named Mattrach [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owAj5LiXG5w], both of whom are widely known for excellent speed-metal versions of Pachelbel's Canon. The implication is that in order to compete artistically with the baby boomers, younger people need to support talented musicians from their own generation.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in front of a turntable, listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.]
:Song: And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul

:Song: When all is one and one is all, to be a rock and not to rooooll

:Song [fading away]: And she's buying a stairway to Heaven

:Cueball: Man. The Baby Boomers are kicking our ASSES.
:Cueball: We need to get it together, guys.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Music]]

339: Classic

2014-01-02T19:15:25Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 339
| date = November 7, 2007
| title = Classic
| image = classic.png
| titletext = Someone get that Pachelbel's Canon kid a recording contract, stat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] has noticed, while listening to/watching {{w|Stairway to Heaven}} by {{w|Led Zeppelin}}, that (at least some of) the music of the {{w|Baby-boom generation|Baby Boomer generation}} is lyrically better than current music.

The title text refers to {{w|Pachelbel's Canon}} and probably {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} whose [video][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJXC5WqbeU] was a {{w|YouTube#Social impact|hit on YouTube}}.

The implication here is that when young viewers who come across older, established, and even legendary artists that have been posted on youtube.com; they don't really get the concept, and just think of them as any other "youtuber". When they see the high level of artistry, skill and "depth" that these great artists exhibit in relation to the webcam videos posted by young people who are mainly singing in their bedrooms; their limited experience leads them to believe that those "baby boomers" are really bringing their A-game when it comes to creating home made youtube clips. Younger Youtubers will need to improve their efforts if they hope to match the skill of those older posters, and stop getting their asses kicked.

An alternative explanation:

I don't think this comic has anything to do with Youtube, but rather with the apparent difference in quality between the music of the baby boomers and that of later generations. It has often been noted that the popular music of the 1960s and early 1970s is, by and large, superior to the popular music that came later. The comic uses Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven as an example. [[Cueball]] realizes that his generation (presumably generation X) has come up short in comparison, and laments that fact.

The 1960s and 70s were an interesting period for popular music. Many new sub-genres were developed, such as phychedelic rock, heavy metal, punk rock, county (or southern) rock and blues rock. Not only that, the artists from that era tend to remain the outstanding exemplars of these types of music, leaving one with the impression that those artists were rock and roll geniuses and later artists are talentless hacks by comparison.

That is to say, for every outstanding Generation X or Y musician (e.g., Nirvana), there are ten outstanding Baby Boomer musicians (e.g., The Who, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead). This is not necessarily true, but it is true that many of the outstanding musicians of the baby boomers' generation remain popular and influential, while few musicians from later eras do.

The title text refers either to {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} or a young French guitarist named Mattrach [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owAj5LiXG5w], both of whom are widely known for excellent speed-metal versions of Pachelbel's Canon. The implication is that in order to compete artistically with the baby boomers, younger people need to support talented musicians from their own generation

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in front of a turntable, listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.]
:Song: And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul

:Song: When all is one and one is all, to be a rock and not to rooooll

:Song [fading away]: And she's buying a stairway to Heaven

:Cueball: Man. The Baby Boomers are kicking our ASSES.
:Cueball: We need to get it together, guys.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Music]]

339: Classic

2014-01-02T19:12:13Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 339
| date = November 7, 2007
| title = Classic
| image = classic.png
| titletext = Someone get that Pachelbel's Canon kid a recording contract, stat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] has noticed, while listening to/watching {{w|Stairway to Heaven}} by {{w|Led Zeppelin}}, that (at least some of) the music of the {{w|Baby-boom generation|Baby Boomer generation}} is lyrically better than current music.

The title text refers to {{w|Pachelbel's Canon}} and probably {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} whose [video][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJXC5WqbeU] was a {{w|YouTube#Social impact|hit on YouTube}}.

The implication here is that when young viewers who come across older, established, and even legendary artists that have been posted on youtube.com; they don't really get the concept, and just think of them as any other "youtuber". When they see the high level of artistry, skill and "depth" that these great artists exhibit in relation to the webcam videos posted by young people who are mainly singing in their bedrooms; their limited experience leads them to believe that those "baby boomers" are really bringing their A-game when it comes to creating home made youtube clips. Younger Youtubers will need to improve their efforts if they hope to match the skill of those older posters, and stop getting their asses kicked.

An alternative explanation:

I don't think this comic has anything to do with Youtube, but rather with the apparent difference in quality between the music of the baby boomers and that of later generations. It has often been noted that the popular music of the 1960s and early 1970s is, by and large, superior to the popular music that came later. The comic uses Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven as an example. [[Cueball]] realizes that his generation (presumably generation X) has come up short in comparison, and laments that fact.

The 1960s and 70s were an interesting period for popular music. Many new sub-genres were developed, such as phychedelic rock, heavy metal, punk rock, county (or southern) rock and blues rock. Not only that, the artists from that era tend to remain the outstanding exemplars of these types of music, leaving one with the impression that those artists were rock and roll geniuses and later artists are talentless hacks by comparison.

That is to say, for every outstanding Generation X or Y musician (e.g., Nirvana), there are ten outstanding Baby Boomer musicians (e.g., The Who, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead). This is not necessarily true, but it is true that many of the outstanding musicians of the baby boomers' generation remain popular and influential, while few musicians from later eras do.

The title text refers either to {{w|Lim Jeong-hyun}} or a young French guitarist named Mattrach [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owAj5LiXG5w], both of whom are widely known for excellent speed-metal versions of Pachelbel's Canon.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting in front of a turntable, listening to Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.]
:Song: And as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our soul

:Song: When all is one and one is all, to be a rock and not to rooooll

:Song [fading away]: And she's buying a stairway to Heaven

:Cueball: Man. The Baby Boomers are kicking our ASSES.
:Cueball: We need to get it together, guys.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Music]]

339: Classic

2014-01-02T18:05:15Z

Smallberries: /* Transcript */

254: Comic Fragment

2014-01-02T12:14:12Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 254
| date = April 27, 2007
| title = Comic Fragment
| image = comic fragment.jpg
| titletext = No one wants an explanation more than us. Except Ms. Garofalo.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
In this comic [[Randall]] has gone missing from the office, and his 'editors' have found only this panel from an unfinished project (of which Mr Munroe seems rather proud). The panel depicts an amalgam of science fiction disasters.

* A crippled space station falling from orbit.
* An exploding volcano.
* Rampaging dinosaurs.
* A lone hero in what appears to be a hopeless situation.

{{w|Janeane Garofalo}} is an actress and comedian associated with strong feminist roles and opinions. She is an unlikely choice for an action hero but has fringe appeal. It should be noted that in the panel it is Janeane Garofalo on the motorcycle, not a character played by Janeane Garofalo.

Randall is parodying a mode of self-indulgence common among artists and writers, particularly those who have been prolific and have gained mass appeal. A writer might have a project he thinks of as his "best idea ever," but upon examination it is just a mish-mash of ideas the writer thinks are cool, which don't add up to a coherent story.

This type of project is self-indulgent because it allows the writer to feel like he's exercising creative impulses he can't use in his regular work, even though the actual project has little artistic merit and is unlikely to appeal to a popular audience.

In this strip, Randall winks at a lot of the hallmarks of this sort of "project":

* It is unfinished. The point of such a project is not to complete it, but to have a place to set down all the fun ideas you never get to use, so you can feel like you're using them. But elements like these are found throughout xkcd, so the joke is that it's absurd to need a separate outlet for them, but he has one anyway.

* He keeps it in a folder labeled "My Best Idea Ever." A writer might think of such a project as his "best idea," but it's unlikely anyone would use that phrase as a working title. Using it so baldly here emphasizes the self-indulgent nature of the enterprise.

* It includes a ton of scattershot, disconnected ideas that are all cool individually but form an incoherent mess when put together. Some of the ideas (dinosaurs, spacecraft) are derivative of Randall's prior work; others (volcanoes, Janeane Garofalo) are not. It is telling, though, that the closeup inset of the woman on the motorcycle, while referred to as Janeane Garofalo in the text, looks an awful lot like [[Megan]].

* Good judgment and artistic sensibility are suppressed in favor of heightened coolness. (Janeane Garofalo is cool. Janeane Garofalo on a motorcycle is cooler! With tranq darts! On a spaceship! Etc.) The comic takes this to an extreme. Every element in the comic is there because of its awesomeness; no other aesthetic principle is being exercised anywhere.

The title text is written from the 'editors' perspective, expressing their extreme puzzlement - outshone only by Ms. Garofalo's confusion.

Later on, in December 2007, [[Randall Munroe]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=7m15s suggested in a speech at Google] that a motivation to draw this comic was to put an end to reenactments of his comics (such as the [[225: Open Source|Richard Stallman]] and [[239: Blagofaire|Cory Doctorow]] comics which {{w|xkcd#Inspired activities|inspired real-life happenings}})... or challenge anyone to reenact such a complex one:
:''I've been doing these comics and people have a habit of acting out the comics. I first — I did a comic about Cory Doctorow; you know, he wears red cape and goggles when he blogs and a week or so later, he was given an award. And he went up on the stage; they presented him with a red cape and goggles. I have done a comic little before that about Richard Stallman suggesting that he sleeps with the katana, you know, just in case. And, sure enough, they sent him, some fans pitched in together and sent him a katana. He had never heard of the comic. He was very confused. And I decided, okay, this is going to get out of hand. So, shortly after all that, I did a comic about Janeane Garofalo jumping a motorcycle off of the International Space Station as it crashes over an island with a volcanic eruption and Tyrannosaurus. And I said, okay, if someone can make ''that'' happen, but until they do that...''

==Transcript==
:Editor's note: Mr. Munroe has been missing for several days. We have recieved no submissions from him for some time, but we found this single panel on his desk in a folder labeled 'MY BEST IDEA EVER'. It is clearly part of a work in progress, but we have decided to post it in lieu of a complete comic.
:[Single panel illustration in color with one small panel embedded within, showing a zoomed-in version of Janeane Garafolo on a motorcycle. The background is a gray landscape beneath a falling space station, a large volcano with smoke rising the only discernible feature of the landscape below.]
:As the damaged space station fell deeper into the atmosphere and started to break up around her, Janeane Garofalo tightened her grip on the motorcycle.
:The volcano was looming ahead, and her tranquilizer pistol only had six darts left - barely enough to bring down even one Tyrannosaur.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

653: So Bad It's Worse

2014-01-02T09:27:07Z

Smallberries: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 653
| date = October 23, 2009
| title = So Bad It's Worse
| image = so_bad_its_worse.png
| titletext = You think it's so legendarily bad that you'll torrent it and sit through it just for the kitschy nerd cred. I, too, once thought as you did.
}}

==Explanation==
The graph in the comic shows the enjoyability of movies - going from good to okay to bad, then popping back up with "[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoBadItsGood So Bad It's Good]". The term is used to describe movies that are so terrible that, for a variety of reasons, watching them can be considered an enjoyable experience. The comic lists ''{{w|Plan 9 from Outer Space}}'' and ''{{w|The Rocky Horror Picture Show}}'', two widely known films of this type.

However, the graph warns of showing ''The Star Wars Holiday Special'', as it manages to wrap back around from "So Bad It's Good" to being bad again. ''{{w|The Star Wars Holiday Special}}'' is a prime-time comedy special based on ''{{w|Star Wars}}''. It is widely known for its terrible quality, and has never been fully released (although an animated segment that introduced {{w|Boba Fett}}, which {{w|George Lucas}} has approved of, has been released as a bonus feature on a DVD).

The bottom of the comic shows [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], and [[Ponytail]] watching a movie with alcohol - first enjoying it, then merely watching, then unhappily drinking.

The title text refers to {{w|BitTorrent (protocol)|torrents}}, which are a way to obtain large amounts of data over the internet. According to [[Randall|Munroe]], he had torrented a copy of the film and then watched it, in spite of its terribleness, just to cement himself as a nerd. It should be noted that while it is impossible to view the ''Holiday Special'' otherwise, torrenting films this way is usually considered piracy and is thus illegal.

The title text also contains an extremely subtle play on a line of Star Wars dialogue. In {{w|Return of the Jedi}}, {{w|Darth Vader}} says to {{w|Luke Skywalker}}, "Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master." The implication here being that "kitschy nerd cred" is the "dark side" being served by those who would sit through a torrent of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

==Transcript==
:Protip: Even at "Bad Movie Night," avoid the Star Wars holiday special.

:[A graph plots movie enjoyability against movie quality. It drops steadily through points marked "Good Movie" to "Okay Movie" to "Bad Movie," rises up again for "So-Bad-It's-Good (Plan 9, Rocky Horror, etc)," and then drops off the bottom of a graph with an arrow pointing to where "Star Wars Holiday Special" would be. There are three mini-panels below the graph, arranged from "Good" to "Bad" along the movie quality axis.]

:[Three friends are on a couch, drinking and gesticulating enthusiastically.]
:[The same three are sitting quietly, with a bottle on the floor.]
:[The three are sitting around a table, drinking and looking miserable.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Protip]]