Editing 1036: Reviews
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are shown shopping for lamps. In the first | + | [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are shown shopping for lamps. In the first part of the comic (only first frame) it is at a time before online reviews could be looked up on a smartphone. They spot a lamp they like, check the price and agree to buy, end of story. |
But the rest of the comic shows how difficult shopping has become after reviews have become easily accessible on smartphones while standing in the store. And now this takes up the final three panels, with the result that no lamps have been acquired and they decide to sit in the dark, using the claim that their living ''room looks fine in the dark'' to avoid buying a very expensive lamp which is the only one with perfect reviews (like 100% with 5 stars out of 5). | But the rest of the comic shows how difficult shopping has become after reviews have become easily accessible on smartphones while standing in the store. And now this takes up the final three panels, with the result that no lamps have been acquired and they decide to sit in the dark, using the claim that their living ''room looks fine in the dark'' to avoid buying a very expensive lamp which is the only one with perfect reviews (like 100% with 5 stars out of 5). | ||
| − | When shopping for anything via {{w|reviews}}, whether it be electronics or even something as simple as lamps like the comic demonstrates, one negative review can spoil a lot of positive reviews. That hits home even more if the review is specific because humans attach more weight to anecdotes and specific stories. This comic points out the absurdity of paying attention to those reviews, by making the negative review itself absurd (a lamp making your cats go deaf and interfering with your taste buds would imply, at the very least, anomalous | + | When shopping for anything via {{w|reviews}}, whether it be electronics or even something as simple as lamps like the comic demonstrates, one negative review can spoil a lot of positive reviews. That hits home even more if the review is specific, because humans attach more weight to anecdotes and specific stories. This comic points out the absurdity of paying attention to those reviews, by making the negative review itself absurd (a lamp making your cats go deaf and interfering with your taste buds would imply, at the very least, anomalous radiation, and would not be on store shelves long before some kind of serious recall). |
| − | The second part of the comic starts | + | The second part of the comic starts out normal. For the lamp Cueball think is pretty Megan finds ''lots'' of negative reviews which implies the product really isn't good after all, and it was even that specific brand of lamps in general that was to be avoided. But then this proceeds to get more and more absurd all the way to the title text. Cueball is for instance looking at a lamp that someone thinks looks like a {{w|uterus}}. As normal people do not really know what a uterus looks like, and if Cueball did not find this so himself, he should ignore one persons comment. On the other hand reading such a statement will maybe make you think of a uterus every time you see the lamp. So now it may be best not to buy it, but had he not read the comment it might have been a fine lamp for him. |
| − | In the final frame | + | In the final frame Cueball has found a Swiss lampmaker with perfect reviews, but her lamps are very expensive, the most cheap are starting at 1,300 francs. {{w|Swiss franc|Swiss francs}} are the units of currency used in {{w|Switzerland}}. In 2012 when the comic was released a Swiss franc was worth a little more than one dollar ([http://www.exchangerates.org.uk/CHF-USD-30_03_2012-exchange-rate-history.html 1.1$ to a Swiss Franc]) making the cheapest lamp go for not much less than US$1450. For comparison, US$15 can get one a decent lamp at IKEA. Furthermore the lampmaker lives in the {{w|Swiss Alps}} and can only be reached via a {{w|ski lift}}. This either indicated that transportation will be very expensive on top of the high starting price or it may even indicate that they will have to go to the lampmaker personally to either acquire a lamp or maybe just to check out that they really do not look like a uterus or [http://gizmodo.com/5360742/penis-chandelieryes-penis-chandelier other parts] of the human reproductive system... |
| − | The title text is presumably the review of another lamp. When this reviewer plugged in this lamp, supposedly his dog went rigid, delivered a line of perfect Akkadian, and then was hurled sideways out the picture window. {{w|Akkadian_language|Akkadian}} is an extinct {{w|Semitic language}} that was spoken in {{w|ancient Mesopotamia}}. Even if the dog did speak a sentence of perfect Akkadian, the chance that the owner would be able to recognize it as such is negligible. The final joke is that the worst part of this lamp, was not the above | + | The title text is presumably the review of an another lamp. When this reviewer plugged in this lamp, supposedly his dog went rigid, delivered a line of perfect Akkadian, and then was hurled sideways out the picture window. {{w|Akkadian_language|Akkadian}} is an extinct {{w|Semitic language}} that was spoken in {{w|ancient Mesopotamia}}. Even if the dog actually did speak a sentence of perfect Akkadian, the chance that the owner would be able to recognize it as such is negligible. The final joke is that the worst part of this lamp, was not the above mentioned crazy effects on the dog, but that the lamp had, completely normally, the switch on the cord, as opposed to having it on the body of the lamp. A production argument about where to place such a switch, leading to someone getting fired, was part of the joke in [[1741: Work]]. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
