Welcome to the Playpen, our space for ferrety banter and whimsical snippets of things that aren't quite long enough for articles (although they might be) but that caught your eye anyway.
at 02:03 on 01-07-2010, Bryn
Tomorrow I'm planning to play X-COM for the first time. I'm going to be livestreaming it here. Would anyone be interested in this?
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at 23:10 on 30-06-2010, Arthur B
I thought the point of Poe's Law was that it's just as easy to mistake the real thing for a parody as it is to mistake a parody for the real thing. A lot of people think Fred Phelps isn't 100% serious when they first learn about his antics.
In other words, it doesn't matter how over-the-top and ludicrous a fundamentalist/white supremacist/Nice Guy position you invent, you'll always find someone who seems to sincerely believe something sillier. Likewise, genuine extremist statements circulate which are so out-there that it's tempting to believe that they can't possibly be sincere, even though they are. RationalWiki seems to have a good article on it.
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In other words, it doesn't matter how over-the-top and ludicrous a fundamentalist/white supremacist/Nice Guy position you invent, you'll always find someone who seems to sincerely believe something sillier. Likewise, genuine extremist statements circulate which are so out-there that it's tempting to believe that they can't possibly be sincere, even though they are. RationalWiki seems to have a good article on it.
at 23:03 on 30-06-2010, Alasdair Czyrnyj
It boils down to "if it doesn't make it blatantly clear that it's a joke, it's impossible to distinguish a parody of fundamentalism (Nazism, what have you) from the real thing." Not entirely sure how true it is (after all, if you're a clever enough wordsmith, you should be able to make your intention perfectly clear, camoflage be damned), but I doubt it's being invoked here.
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Poe's Law?
It boils down to "if it doesn't make it blatantly clear that it's a joke, it's impossible to distinguish a parody of fundamentalism (Nazism, what have you) from the real thing." Not entirely sure how true it is (after all, if you're a clever enough wordsmith, you should be able to make your intention perfectly clear, camoflage be damned), but I doubt it's being invoked here.
at 20:14 on 30-06-2010, Dan Hemmens
Poe's Law?
(Just making conversation, or ACTUALLY too lazy to google it: YOU DECIDE)
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(Just making conversation, or ACTUALLY too lazy to google it: YOU DECIDE)
at 19:52 on 30-06-2010, Arthur B
You know what's really nice? You know what the hallmark of a really, truly, genuinely nice person is?
Violent, murderous fantasies!
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Violent, murderous fantasies!
at 19:49 on 30-06-2010, Rami
...wow.
I wonder if he's already mentioned that he knows it's a stereotype so it's OK...
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I wonder if he's already mentioned that he knows it's a stereotype so it's OK...
at 19:18 on 30-06-2010, Arthur B
It eventually degenerates into an unfunny joke, but good Lord the first half of this one is creepy.
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at 19:10 on 30-06-2010, Dan Hemmens
If you like a girl but can't tell her break into her house!
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at 19:01 on 30-06-2010, Arthur B
Oh, hey, would anyone like a fat dollop of racism to go with the passive-aggressive misogyny? Because he can totally do that for you too, it's no problem.
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at 18:56 on 30-06-2010, Arthur B
God, it's like each comic tells you a different unappealing thing about him.
Even the art makes him look like a dick.
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Even the art makes him look like a dick.
at 18:15 on 30-06-2010, Dan Hemmens
The Nice Guy. A comic which speaks for itself.
I always get a sense of smug satisfaction when something a person writes *about themselves* from *their own point of view* makes them look like a *total dickwad*.
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I always get a sense of smug satisfaction when something a person writes *about themselves* from *their own point of view* makes them look like a *total dickwad*.
at 19:47 on 29-06-2010, Arthur B
The... weather beaten trail wound ahead into the... dust racked climes of the baren land which... dominates large portions of... the Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered... by the sifting sands of time...
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at 19:44 on 29-06-2010, Rami
Eye of Argon reading contest, in the style of Shatner! Who's with me?
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at 17:39 on 29-06-2010, Jamie Johnston
I'm inclined to blame the director: many of the Shatner pauses are because he's having to look away from the text to smoulder at the camera. Sometimes the wrong camera. And the extreme pausing in the introduction feels like the result of the autocue scrolling too slowly.
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at 14:09 on 29-06-2010, Arthur B
I approve of reading books in the style of Shatner. "My name... is... Wilkie Collins, and my... guess, since I plan to delay..."
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at 13:37 on 29-06-2010, Kyra-Wardog
Greg Wise Reading Persuasion. I think this is meant to be swoonworthy but it actually makes me giggle like a maniac. I mean, he's got a lovely voice but ... why ... does ... he ... keep ... pausing ... like ... William ... Shatner. Also the smouldering looks he keeps giving the camera ... rofl.
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at 01:13 on 28-06-2010, Andy G
Fair point, I was going to say something spoilery and then I didn't.
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at 22:56 on 27-06-2010, Dan Hemmens
For what it's worth, I think you might be being overcautious with the spoiler tags. Nothing you've said there seems to be particularly spoilery to me...
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at 16:45 on 27-06-2010, Andy G
Yay I also loved the finale.
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I think the difference was that the crazy solutions to the impossible problems were far better foreshadowed and justified, making them easier to swallow. Also, it actually involves time travel for more than just getting to the period of history where the story is taking place - unlike, bizarrely enough, any of the previous finales, or most episodes not written by Moffat.
