Websnark

So… I read this, and I looked through a lot of the comments...

demiurgent — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:29:00 -0400

So… I read this, and I looked through a lot of the comments connected to it….

Um….

Most of these aren’t misspellings. They’re homonyms or nearly so. Lose and loose aren’t misspelled — they’re being misused. Your and you’re. There, they’re and their, and so on and so forth. In fact, the only three spelling errors being corrected in the whole piece are weird, ‘a lot’ and definitely.

I wouldn’t normally care, but if you’re going to put out an entire strip being pedantic, try really hard to use words correctly.

(via itswallie)

So, medication change has been changing… um… me....

demiurgent — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:12:46 -0400

So, medication change has been changing… um… me. Which is a good thing. And means I can actually type something here. I’ll take that.

So… um….

Look, I hate — hate — the whole “I will never use math” thing. We learn math to be a well rounded individual. And I say this as someone who sucks at Math. But the above… um…

Well, it makes no sense. At all.

First off — people actually do cook. It is, in fact, a survival skill. Those folks who went to Home Ec (and I really wish I had) actually use home ec skills for the rest of their lives.

Second, I did play and learn music. And I haven’t actually played the tuba since my high school graduation—

What? Tuba was awesome.

Anyway — I’ve still used music for the rest of my life. The concepts I learned in music have recurred constantly. We’re surrounded by music. Knowledge of the baseline, the treble line, harmony and melody — these are all things that come up, time and again. You might not play music, but you bring your increased understanding of music to your everyday life.

And you know what? People bring arithmetic to their everyday lives too. And geometry — which at my school was learned after algebra. But the girl in the panel is right — she hasn’t in fact needed to factor equations in her life since school, barring working in a specialist field. So no, this is not an A=B=C situation. We’re taking generalist situations people do in fact use in their daily lives and comparing them to a specialist situation most people don’t use in their daily life.

As for learning a foreign language? Well, I could make an argument there, too — but it’s probably easier to point out that throughout my schooling, the recurring argument was “why do I have to learn French? I’m never going to use this.” So, um… yeah. People do in fact use that same argument with foreign languages. Often.

They also use that same argument with Shakespeare. And Western Civ. And Biology.

Point of fact, people are short sighted. They value the things they are interested in. They don’t value the things they aren’t interested in. That’s human nature, and it’s not limited to any one subject.

The thing is, Munroe values math, so he’s overly aware of it when it connects to math. But this doesn’t come across as a universal truth. It comes across as sour grapes. Heck, if I were going to caption this, I’d write “deep inside Janice, the miracle of life was busy factoring the next generation’s genetic code through algebraic expressions, but then she never used what she learned in Health Class either.”

Yes, genetics are mapped out using algebra. Startled me too.

demiurgent: Bear in mind, this could be the headaches, stress...

demiurgent — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:33:00 -0400

demiurgent:

Bear in mind, this could be the headaches, stress and brain damage talking?

But this may be the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.

I’m not ‘back,’ whatever that means in this...

demiurgent — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:49:00 -0400

I’m not ‘back,’ whatever that means in this context. Illness beat me down and then the start of the school year with its glorious 90 hour weeks and no weekends off and…

Yeah.

Though we bought a grill. It’s still in the car, mind, but we bought it. But I digress.

I couldn’t let this strip go by without making an observation, though. In The Giving Tree, the tree gives of itself, time and again. At no point does the tree get its branches or tree trunk back.

Also, whether or not the tree has a USB port, I’m relatively certain it’s not Shel Silverstein. Since the giving tree gives of itself in sacrifice, time and again, for a child who quite honestly is on the selfish side, I’m not certain the metaphor works even a little. The tree doesn’t give up a thing it bought that someone else made. It gives of its own substance. And the tree certainly doesn’t lend it.

Look, I’m all for DRMless electronic books — especially since 95% of my book purchases are electronic now. (Honestly, it’s to the point that when I get a paper book, it seems needlessly inconvenient to me.) But… this just doesn’t work. That it feels like an anvil being hammered down on top of it all and the surrealist element isn’t executed well enough to break either the willing suspension of disbelief or absurdist thresholds (a USB port in a tree? The tree is… one big flash drive? Huh?) just makes it more jarring.

It reminds me of the strip he did about Facebook privacy issues. In that one, he conflated the open source community’s dislike of Microsoft Office in the early noughts with Facebook privacy issues, along with reductionist tendencies, claiming that folks who thought the Microsoft Word format thing was overblown were often idiots who accused Open Source advocates of autism were getting their just deserts on Facebook having questionable privacy policies. Which… just kind of laid there on the ground after he posted it, smelling somewhat strange and giving the reader the sense that Munroe just didn’t get something about all this. (For the record — most true word processing programs including various Open Source ones and a surprising number of straight text editors will open .doc format files without any trouble at all. Way more, it must be said, than those that can open ODF files.)

It’s not the causes, in other words. It’s his execution of his statement. There’s a vague feeling of smug prediction that’s coupled with a sense that he hasn’t quite connected with his material that just makes it all… odd.

Honestly, it’s days like this I miss Illiad from User Friendly. He didn’t always stick the landing on his jokes, but I never got the sense he was trying to play Quake with keyboard macros set up for The Sims.

It’s been too long. Hopefully, in the coming week...

demiurgent — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:55:51 -0400

It’s been too long. Hopefully, in the coming week we’ll be back up to speed. Sorry for the delay.

But though it is late at night, I need to check in.

You see, I wasn’t particularly interested in Batwoman.

Really. I really wasn’t. I was glad she existed — we need more strong female characters and many times more strong LGBT characters in the DC Universe, but something about her didn’t click for me. It felt too… I don’t know. Twee. Or like a cynical branding exercise, with a dose of tokenism thrown in.

Then, I read 52. And I was intrigued more than I expected. And I had heard good things alongside it. But… still. If Stephanie Brown as Batgirl was transformative, the concept of Batwoman seemed… less so.

But, Batwoman: Elegy was at our nearest Borders, and we were in looking at the deep discounted stuff, and I thought “well, I should see what the shouting is about.”

It is quarter to four in the morning. I have just finished this book.

Oh. My. God.

From this day forward, if something has the name ‘Batwoman’ and the name ‘Greg Rucka’ on it, I will read it. I will read all the Detective she was in. I will read the newer J. H. Williams III-penned and drawn series on the strength of his artwork for this collection alone.

Stephanie Brown is everything I want Batgirl to be, though I’m going to give the redux-Barbara Gordon series a chance, because it’s Gail Simone. But as far as I’m concerned, Gotham City’s signature defender is the one with the red logo. That dour guy with the abandonment issues should find some other place to glower in. He can just get in Batwoman’s way.

the goggles, they do everything: Ask Chris #66 :Q: Frank Miller says that Superman and Batman would never be friends. What do you have to say to that?

demiurgent — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:33:55 -0400

the goggles, they do everything: Ask Chris #66 :Q: Frank Miller says that Superman and Batman would...

The New 52: What Wednesday would probably not buy, even if it existed

wednesday — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:31:06 -0400

I’m sure at least three of you asked yourselves after Eric’s recent posts, “yes,...

So, with all of the controversy over the New 52 and its lack of diversity, I'm curious about your thoughts on the recently revealed Peter Parker replacement for Ultimate Spider-man. We're getting a half-black, half-hispanic teen in a redesigned suit.

Spider-man is one of Marvel's most iconic characters. Hell, he's probably their most recognizable, and one of the more realistic (behaviorally, not with regard to his powers or storylines) heroes in the Marvel line-up.

As I recall, you prefer DC to Marvel, and this isn't Marvel's mainstream continuity, but I'm curious for your perspective on how this move plays off. Genuinely interesting? Belated tokenism? Too soon to tell?

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:05:53 -0400

I prefer DC to Marvel, but I’m not beholden to it. And my magical “read everything...

Twilight Sparkle kicks so much ass. Is known for ass kickings.

demiurgent — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:24:51 -0400

Folks who know me know I have a certain… fragility… of health. It stems from me being...

DC Women Kicking Ass: DC Comics makes statement on female characters, creators

demiurgent — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:45:55 -0400

DC Women Kicking Ass: DC Comics makes statement on female characters, creators:...

I’ve had 12 hour layovers (that essentially went...

demiurgent — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:00:06 -0400

I’ve had 12 hour layovers (that essentially went overnight) in the Newark Airport before. They were miserably uncomfortable affairs. I didn’t begin to plan them out as well as this.

My layovers weren’t anywhere near this adorable, either.

Buzz Dixon on writing Christian graphic novels

wednesday — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:10:00 -0400

Buzz Dixon on writing Christian graphic novels: Short, but beautifully grounded, and basically good...

The Financial Side of All Of This

demiurgent — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 08:35:05 -0400

You know, I promise at some point I’ll write about Marvel. I guess they’re just not that...

The New 52 in Review: what Eric's excited for and what he's avoiding.

demiurgent — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:25:00 -0400

I’ve been asked what I’m actually looking forward to from the New 52, since… well,...

This is another strip from back in the sands of time. I wanted...

demiurgent — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:00:06 -0400

This is another strip from back in the sands of time. I wanted to see where Kurtz was going with the storyline, and it ended up being a good one. I could discuss the nature of product placement and its appropriateness, but honestly, I thought he did it pretty smoothly. It felt natural in the narrative, and that’s most of what I want in a comic strip. Besides, it lent a certain focus to the storyline that I think was beneficial.

However, I’m mostly posting this strip because it finally answers just what the Hell Francis does at PvP. I feel much better now.

This was last Sunday’s Sinfest. There’s been other...

demiurgent — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 08:31:06 -0400

This was last Sunday’s Sinfest. There’s been other stuff to talk about and work’s been busy and also, y’know. Stuff. Things.

But I wanted to get back to this one, because… well, because it’s well done. The art is Ishida at the top of his game, and the language of movement he uses to convey the story is fantastic. Look at Fuchsia throughout the strip. The sense of comfort and acceptance she’s feeling with Criminy, reflected in her almost boneless slumber next to him. The frantic dash back to Hell, while still conscious of what she’s had to leave. Her bent over posture as she moves frantically, trying to shake B.B. out of her drug induced torpor, becoming more pronounced as she half-arches and half-bows when she realizes the Devil is there.

And then the Devil himself. His almost faceless cool. Slightly hunched forward, without significant or apparent concern. He seals off the hellmouths that are providing relief and disruption to Hell with a sense of strength and style, but very little obvious worry. He’s not happy, but he’s also not sweating this. At least, not in front of the outsiders.

Until the very last. Until he looks up and sees Criminy.

Now, for all intents and purposes, Criminy’s doing the least to Hell. He’s not blowing marijuana smoke down to help the damned and devilgirls get high and mellow out like Squigley. He’s not sending gentle rain to put out the hellfire and cool the area like Buddha. He’s just watching.

But Squigley and Buddha aren’t really doing much of anything for the Devil to be concerned about. A little rain? A little mellow? What’s that in eternity. Criminy represents redemption. He saw past Fuchsia’s demonic facade to the humanity within her. He accepted her and once challenged Hell itself — not to rescue her but to just be with her and comfort her.

That’s enough to cause a real reaction in the Devil. He doesn’t just get visibly angry — though he is far more angry than he’s been elsewhere. His back goes back, he puffs up, he hisses in warning — all signs that say get back! Get away! And he more violently slams the Earth shut.

Notice that. He doesn’t directly or verbally threaten Criminy. He doesn’t attack or damage Criminy. He’s clearly trying to scare Criminy off. For all his power and all his anger, Criminy’s the only one that worries him.

All done through expression and body language. No words are spoken (that we can read, anyhow) in the whole strip, rendered in pastels and light inkwork.

That’s really, really nicely done.

I just want to say that everything you're posting about the horrible new reboot is just amazing and so undeniably accurate. I'm only just starting to get into the comics and just as I was about to venture past my Joker collection and into other characters, they've gone and changed it all. All these classic heroes that I've watched from afar and heard about as great icons are suddenly being flipped over and butt-fucked by the guys in charge (emphasising on the 'GUYS' here.)

It's really awesome reading your blogs about the change and how it's so appalling. It's not just some guy sitting in a basement ready to hate on it, but well-researched and well-thought opinions.

PS: Got any opinion on Harley Quinn's costume change? I noticed that you mostly looked at the heroes being deformed and swapped around and was wondering what you think of some of the villains' changes (and since hers is one of the most disturbing to fans, I thought you'd have a view on it.)

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:30:39 -0400

Eric Says: Thank you for your compliments. There’s a lot of frustration going on around the...

Sexism, Courage, and Heroism: truth to power isn't bullying

demiurgent — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:16:47 -0400

We are on the far side of the San Diego ComiCon. This is a con where DC’s creators have had...

A public service message for Kindle-for-Mac users

demiurgent — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:15:33 -0400

Hello all! I have a fast message for today — one specific to those Macintosh users who also...

"When a fan commented that he was “exhausted” of reading Superman’s origin over and..."

wednesday — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:31:00 -0400

“When a fan commented that he was “exhausted” of reading Superman’s origin...