Wednesday 20 April 2011

Comic 888: Tetris Porn

Alt-text: If you've never had sex, this is what it feels like. Complete with the brief feeling of satisfaction, followed by ennui, followed by getting bored and trying to make it happen again.

Another self-referential comic. This time it's a corollary to one that wasn't completely terrible. This one isn't utterly terrible either. It gets the point across, it's reasonably drawn, it even has colour. It's not funny in any way and no-one gives this much of a shit about Tetris (well, maybe this guy), but at least I didn't have to read a novel's worth of boring crap. It would get a passing grade...

...until I read the alt-text. Given that this is Randy, the comparison he makes is probably serious. It brings with it a veritable storm of questions. What form of sex Randall has partaken in to compare it to Tetris? Has he only had really awful sex, or does he like Tetris way too much? Is he suggesting that he has only had sex once, and is still trying to make it happen again, just like in his impossible Tetris scenario? How perfectly does he know his audience, to start the sentence with 'If you've never had sex before'? How difficult was it for me not to write a Megdall fanfic?

You have no idea.

BINGO TIME!

Thanks again to Jon Levi!


Even if he did try to cheat for a double bingo.

14 comments:

  1. Objection, Kitten(s)!

    "...it's reasonably drawn..."

    Let me put it this way... the sort of person who can't get Tetris right is the kind of person who shouldn't be allowed to get near any drawing tools. Ever.

    "...it even has colour."

    Is this a selling point now? Not to mention: color in Tetris isn't at all complex. This is not that sunset or that autumn foliage, in that at least you could tell there was some effort put into it. This is Tetris. Colored with flat colors.

    "If you've never had sex before" is mildly funny, but in a very unintentional way. Not much because I'm sure Randall is not being totally serious about the comparison, but because this is Randall Munroe talking about sex. It's so shameful it's funny.

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  2. The colour comment was mildly sarcastic, but overall this is a comic in which the artwork doesn't make me want to vomit all over it in complete loathing and disgust.

    That is a pass, in xkcd world.

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  3. In all fairness, the alt-text is aimed at xkcd fans. It's not like they'll ever find out he's wrong.

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  4. Randall Monroe has developed a perfect metaphor for his sex life: a game of Tetris in which he plays round after round after round, always passively waiting for the perfect piece -- which can never come because it's not one of the shapes the game is programed to produce.

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  5. @17:16 - That is beautiful, truly beautiful...

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  6. The alt text is terrible. "If you've never had sex this is what it's like:" is the kind of thing an insecure teenager says to impress his group of friends; it's simultaneously condescending and pathetic.

    Also the joke isn't funny, and it relies on an earlier comic to be funny (and it still isn't).

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  7. Yeah, I really don't like the wording of the alt-text. "If you've never had sex" is basically saying, "Those of you who can't refute me, this is what it's like." It doesn't take a genius to realize that the alt-text much more closely describes masturbation than actual sex (which, let's be honest, is probably as far as Randy has gotten).

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  8. So heaven is playing a pointless, addictive game over and over with barely any actual challenge to it?

    pantea: the prehistoric supercontinent on the planet of beverages.

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  9. I've done bingo for 886 if anyone wants it.

    http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/3723/bingo886.png

    I've worked out how to post links now. Yay for me!

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  10. Dear Mr Levi,

    You are an exceedingly awesome person.

    Sincerely,
    Kitten

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  11. What form of sex Randall has partaken in to compare it to Tetris?

    A four-way perhaps? Assuming he is Greek based. Which he must be, otherwise 'Quadris' would be his fungible game of choice.

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  12. @Jon Levi

    You missed "this is just trolls trolling trolls" and "your hate blog amuses me".

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  13. Re: 889: Randall discovers weed.

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  14. Thank you for being everything xkcd sucks isn't

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