Editing 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel

This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, most depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.

The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but "{{w|I Love the World}}". The title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to this.

:A reference to comic [[239: Blagofaire]], where someone from the far future believes many people blogged from high-altitude balloons whilst wearing red capes and goggles. The flying character may be {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, who is mentioned in the comic as the only blogger to actually do this, and who also appeared in comic [[345: 1337: Part 5]] in this guise.

;Panel 5 ''I love the whole world.'' (Cueball running in large hamster ball.)  

:A reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks". This on-line behavior is something [[Randall]] comments on in several comics both before and after this. For instance in [[202: YouTube]].

:A reference to [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/bloodninja this roleplay chat transcript] (NSFW), which became an Internet meme. A user named bloodninja would roleplay as a wizard during {{w|cybersex}} (saying "I put on my robe and wizard hat" to signal this) and invariably infuriate his unwitting partners with demeaning actions. Other incidents involved him roleplaying as a rhinoceros. In the above mentioned comic [[150: Grownups]] the two characters also disappear, but in that case a big pink heart comes out of the playpen balls.   

:The recurring character [[Black Hat]] is being his usual self and causing suffering for his own amusement, as in comic [[72: Classhole]]. In this panel he is seen giving the child a package containing a bobcat, like the package in comic [[325: A-Minus-Minus]]. This would explain the lines indicating the box to be moving in Black Hat's hands.

:A reference to Randall's own hobby of [http://xkcd.com/kite/ kite photography] as well as comic [[235: Kite]].

:A reference to comic [[256: Online Communities]], featuring online communities of the time visualised as a world map, with geographic area representing their approximate membership size. There is, more directly, a pun on "internet", namely "outernet".  

:A reference to a series of comics on "red spiders:" [[8|8: Red Spiders]], [[43|43: Red Spiders 2]], [[47|47: Counter-Red Spiders]], [[126|126: Red Spiders Cometh]], and [[427|427: Bad Timing]].  

:Nothing too special, but it does embrace the "everybody joins in" theme behind the commercials. The teacher is [[Miss Lenhart]] who was first properly introduced in comic [[263: Certainty]] but may have made an appearance in comic [[59: Graduation]].

:A pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}. At this point Randall had not done any comics directly on elections but he made this after the one in 2008: [[500: Election]] and has shown his love for this subject also around the 2012 election.

:"[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pillow+talk Pillow talk]" means intimate conversations between lovers, "{{w|slash fiction}}" is fanfiction with characters of the same sex, and "Taft" is {{w|William Howard Taft}}, a US President mostly remembered for his severe obesity. It appears they are invoking {{w|Rule 34 (Internet meme)|rule 34 of the Internet}} as a reference to [[305: Rule 34]]. Weird pillow talk is also the subject of comic [[69: Pillow Talk]], while the Taft reference comes from comic [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]].

;Panel 21 ''I love the whole world'' (Roller coaster with Cueball holding chess board)

:A reference to comic [[249: Chess Photo]] which inspired an internet meme.

:The picture of the forest is similar to that in [[269: TCMP]], though it may also be a reference to comic [[167: Nihilism]], where Cueball and Beret Guy make observations about the future while climbing a tree. Later, in comic [[1322: Winter]], the two are seen walking through a forest very similar to the one shown here.

The title text continues the song, self-referentially. Self-reference is a reoccurring theme in {{w|Douglas Hofstadter|Douglas Hofstadter's}} books, notably ''{{w|Gödel, Escher, Bach}}'' which Randall reefers to directly in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]. Later Hofstadter has been referenced in other comics, such as in the title text of [[555: Two Mirrors]] and [[608: Form]] plus of course in [[917: Hofstadter]]. Self-reference as a form of humor was also [[:Category:Self-reference|explored before]], but most famously in the later [[688: Self-Description]].

:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation often from a previous xkcd strip.]

:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]

:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]

:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]

:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]

:[Black Hat giving a moving and shaking gift to a kid with party hat.]

:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]

:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]

:[Cube with red spider on top.]

:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]

:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]

:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

[[Category:Comics with color]]

[[Category:Songs]]

[[Category:Kites]]

[[Category:Food]]