Editing 33: Self-reference
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
| date = November 21, 2005 | | date = November 21, 2005 | ||
| title = Self-reference | | title = Self-reference | ||
− | |||
| image = self-reference.jpg | | image = self-reference.jpg | ||
| titletext = I think about self-reference a lot. Example: this comment. | | titletext = I think about self-reference a lot. Example: this comment. | ||
Line 9: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | |||
− | {{w|Self-reference}} is a situation where something (a comic, a drawing, a musical work, a novel, a mathematical theorem) refers to itself in some manner. This can be a powerful technique in art, music, mathematics | + | {{w|Self-reference}} is a situation where something (a comic, a drawing, a musical work, a novel, a mathematical theorem) refers to itself in some manner. This can be a powerful technique in art, music, mathematics and computer science (it is the basis of recursion). |
− | + | In this comic, [[Cueball]] promises not to use self-reference for humor, and then realizes after a beat panel that, since this comic is referring to the series of comics he is part of, he is using self-reference, thus breaking his promise. | |
+ | |||
+ | Without the last panel, this comic wouldn't be funny, and therefore wouldn't break the promise about using self-reference for humor. But with it, and his realization that he is breaking his promise, it does break that promise. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And the title text is just another self-reference. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Self-references has been used most famously later in [[688: Self-Description]], but has also been used in the title text of [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]] and in [[917: Hofstadter]]. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball | + | :[Cueball standing alone.] |
:Cueball: I promise to never again squeeze humor out of self-reference. | :Cueball: I promise to never again squeeze humor out of self-reference. | ||
− | :[ | + | :[Cueball standing alone.] |
− | :[Cueball | + | :[Cueball standing alone.] |
:Cueball: God dammit. | :Cueball: God dammit. | ||
==Trivia== | ==Trivia== | ||
− | + | *This is the thirty-fifth comic originally posted to [[xkcd#History|livejournal]]. The previous was [[32: Pillar]]. The next was [[41: Old Drawing]]. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | {{Comic discussion}} | |
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]] |
− | |||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
− | |||
− |