254: Comic Fragment - Revision history

38.90.133.253: /* Transcript */ Typo

2025-08-19T16:45:51Z

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172.69.134.21: /* Explanation */

2024-08-08T20:27:30Z

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FaviFake at 16:49, 28 August 2023

2023-08-28T16:49:16Z

172.71.82.41: /* Explanation */

2023-05-06T11:45:42Z

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172.71.150.131: /* Explanation */

2022-10-13T22:18:37Z

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Qoiuoiuoiu at 20:33, 8 June 2022

2022-06-08T20:33:50Z

Davidy22: Reverted edits by Explain xkcd server admin (talk) to last revision by Natg19

2022-05-21T02:50:59Z

Reverted edits by Explain xkcd server admin (talk) to last revision by Natg19

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Explain xkcd server admin at 23:59, 20 May 2022

2022-05-20T23:59:29Z

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Natg19: Undo revision 270735 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

2022-05-20T23:58:54Z

Undo revision 270735 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

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Explain xkcd server admin at 21:23, 20 May 2022

2022-05-20T21:23:19Z

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@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 ==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.
+:Editor's note: Mr. Munroe has been missing for several days. We have received 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.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 :* Why does a motorbike exist on a small spacecraft?
 :* The aircraft and its rider both require an amount of air pressure.
-:* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough wind friction to fry the motorcycle and its rider.
+:* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough air compression to fry the motorcycle and its rider.
 :* What keeps the motorcycle on the falling spacecraft?
 :* How is Ms. Garofalo supposed to survive the impact?

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-In this comic, [[Randall]] has gone missing from the office, and his 'editors' have found only this panel from an unfinished project (of which he has labeled 'best idea ever'). The panel depicts an amalgam of science fiction disasters.
+In this comic, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] has gone missing from the office, and his 'editors' have found only this panel from an unfinished project (of which he has labeled 'best idea ever'). The panel depicts an amalgam of science fiction disasters.
 * A crippled space station falling from orbit.
@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 * 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 she 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, meaning she ''is'' the character.
+{{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 she 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, meaning she ''is'' the character. 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 comic, 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 labelled "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 boldly here emphasizes the self-indulgent nature of the enterprise.
 * It includes a ton of scattershot, disconnected ideas that are all cool individually, but are likely to require massive amounts of suspension of disbelief when combined:
 :* Why does a motorbike exist on a small spacecraft?
-:* The aircraft and its rider both require an amount of air pressure
+:* The aircraft and its rider both require an amount of air pressure.
-:* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough wind friction to fry the motorcycle and its rider
+:* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough wind friction to fry the motorcycle and its rider.
 :* What keeps the motorcycle on the falling spacecraft?
 :* How is Ms. Garofalo supposed to survive the impact?
-:* Dinosaurs and spacecrafts should be tens of millions of years apart from each other
+:* Dinosaurs and spacecrafts should be tens of millions of years apart from each other.
 :* If the volcano explodes: Will the dinosaurs still attack her and not just flee?
@@ Line 42: / Line 33: @@
 * 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.
 ==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:45, 6 May 2023
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−	The title text is written from the 'editors' perspective, expressing their extreme puzzlement - outshone only by Ms. Garofalo's confusion.	+	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:		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:

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 * It includes a ton of scattershot, disconnected ideas that are all cool individually, but are likely to require massive amounts of suspension of disbelief when combined:
-* Why does a motorbike exists on a small spacecraft?
+:* Why does a motorbike exist on a small spacecraft?
-* The aircraft and its rider both require an amount of air pressure
+:* The aircraft and its rider both require an amount of air pressure
-* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough wind friction to fry the motorcycle and its rider
+:* On a falling spacecraft that air pressure would amount to enough wind friction to fry the motorcycle and its rider
-* What keeps the motorcycle on the falling spacecraft?
+:* What keeps the motorcycle on the falling spacecraft?
-* How is Ms. Garofalo supposed to survive the impact?
+:* How is Ms. Garofalo supposed to survive the impact?
-* Dinosaurs and spacecrafts should be tens of millions of years apart from each other
+:* Dinosaurs and spacecrafts should be tens of millions of years apart from each other
-* If the volcano explodes: Will the dinosaurs still attack her and not just flee?
+:* If the volcano explodes: Will the dinosaurs still attack her and not just flee?
 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]].