Difference between revisions of "428: Starwatching"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(Explanation: Grammatical and editorial changes and corrections)
(Transcript)
Line 16: Line 16:
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
 
 
:[Curbar and Megan are lying on the ground stargazing]
 
:[Curbar and Megan are lying on the ground stargazing]
 
:Cueball: Just look at those stars.
 
:Cueball: Just look at those stars.
Line 24: Line 23:
 
:[Cueball sits up, and then stands up, stretching his arms in the air as if to encompass the whole night sky]
 
:[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...
 
: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.
+
:Megan: You need to get out either ''more'' or ''less''. I can't decide.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}

Revision as of 02:22, 27 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

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Edit for accuracy and grammar. Add other references for making fun of the word blog in comics
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

It's night and Megan and Cueball lie down on the earth while looking into the sky. Cueball tells a story. Cueball says all dead bloggers are in the sky watching them, and above them all there is the master blogger, Cory Doctorow. The story is interrupted when Cueball goes on to say that the Tag cloud opens, and Cory Doctorow speaks. Megan interrupts, telling Cueball that he needs to "get out more or less. I cant decide". This means he should be away from the computer more, so he doesn't connect everything to Cory Doctorow, but Megan is afraid that if he does, he will creep people out.

Cueball is referencing the movie The Lion King. The first two panels reference a scene 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 last panel is from a scene near the climax of the movie, where a the spirit of Mufasa appears to Simba in the clouds, and speaks to him.

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. This is a common theme in Randall's writings and comics. For example xkcd's blog is called "The blag of the webcomic", in mockery of the word blog.

Transcript

[Curbar 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)