[2011-Dec-22] Socially Awkward

[Indigo]

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db ... 2468#comic
Edit: Originally included a copy of the strip itself but as it is resized by the forum into being way too small to read, I just took it out.
The votey is Kelly scowling at Zach who proclaims, "This office belongs to Weiner!"

Panel 3 bothers me. Is the speaker attempting to make the situation more awkward by saying the group that deserve to stay instead of deserves to stay?

Also is it just me or does the speaker bear an uncanny resemblance to Zach himself?

Don't know, this one didn't do much for me. 2/10.

[Pitch Hitter]

Good review, paragraphs made out of sentences though is my only real complaint. I feel this is because of the length of the review, which was too short to go into any real detail.

6.4/10

[Sahan]

I find myself agreeing a lot with Pitch Hitter's review, but felt it was a little harsh on this obscure new member. Perhaps Indigo is a newspaper writer? Newspaper columns are usually one sentence per paragraph, however when stretched over a larger width appear to have much less substance. I personally didn't find the original review's layout too irritiating at all. A humourous effort nonetheless.

6.8/10

[Edminster]

In my years as a metareviewer, I don't think I've seen anything quite like the offering presented by Indigo here. When taken as an aggregate it seems a bit mediocre, but it does have its high points so I hope you'll indulge me as I break it down to its component parts.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db ... 2468#comic

A bold and perhaps over-ambitious decision, Indigo leads us off with a link to the comic he wishes to discuss with no preamble save the marginally cryptic subject header. Had he* made this back at the start of the LCD subforum I could perhaps laud this choice as an intriguing break from the tradition set in the old LCD thread of not linking the comic and forcing future readers to use the Archive, but unfortunately the post must now be judged in the context of the past six months and thus becomes nothing more than a derivative aping of established norms. 3.5 / 10

Edit: Originally included a copy of the strip itself but as it is resized by the forum into being way too small to read, I just took it out.

I've meditated on this line for minutes on end, trying to unlock the meaning hidden within. As we all know from various wallpaper-sized images posted over the years, the Forum categorically does not resize images. While a freshman reviewer might simply stop at the conclusion that wherever he* was attempting to rehost the image resized it, I am not so naïve as to ascribe simple misunderstanding when it is far more likely that this was a gambit to unnerve the discerning reader. Much as the Dutch Angle is used in cinema, this simple sentence conveyed a particular sense of unease into my mind in a rather subtle and unexpected way. 7 /10

The votey is Kelly scowling at Zach who proclaims, "This office belongs to Weiner!"

This line hearkens back to the days when there were multiple updates in a single day, a time when clarifying which comic you were speaking of by informing the searcher which votey it laid claim to was a boon of nearly unequalled proportions. Unfortunately it simply clashes with the presentation of a hyperlink to the comic itself; what was perhaps an attempt to raise further unease in a seasoned reader simply leaves a feeling of mild annoyance. 3 / 10

Panel 3 bothers me. Is the speaker attempting to make the situation more awkward by saying the group that deserve to stay instead of deserves to stay?

As we have all come to know, it is common for the unwashed masses to harp upon simple grammatical and syntactical mistakes as a sort of defense mechanism. It causes the accuser to feel a sense of superiority when there is no cause for one, and allows a small sliver of self-esteem in the steatopygian minds of those who contribute nothing but a feeble attempt at prescriptivist language. Aware of this common occurrence, Indigo indulges in a brilliant lampoon of these self-proclaimed Heroes of Language by presenting their mean criticism as instead an intentional stylistic decision on the part of Zach. Such sharp and precise wit is an unexpected and welcome change from the average unregistered poster. 8.5 / 10

Also is it just me or does the speaker bear an uncanny resemblance to Zach himself?

Again, Indigo makes a bold decision. Rather than change tack and perhaps confuse the reader, he* presses the attack against common posters but this time more subtly. While at first glance it appears to be an earnest question from an inexperienced reader, it is in fact a scathing commentary on prejudice ingrained in society. Where you or I simply see a man with long red hair, the othering masses see an abberation and futilely attempt to reconcile it as inseparable from the one example they know of such things. A brilliant line that would perhaps be wasted on any other forum finds its mark here. 9 / 10

Don't know, this one didn't do much for me. 2/10.

And thus, the finale. While it is common for reviewers to actually explain why they scored the object of their review as they did, Indigo follows through with the decision to leave the reader confused and angry from the very start of the review. While not an unwelcome decision, it would perhaps have been more effective to dispense with it entirely and have the abrupt end be a more effective device. 5 / 10

Overall I feel that this was a promising but mediocre effort from an up-and-coming new poster, but the beginning and the end left me cold. I'm giving it a final score of 6 / 10, with the hopes that there will be stronger showings from Indigo in the future.

*or she, I'm no sexist.

[Pitch Hitter]

Good metareview ed, I can see lots of effort

8.7/10

[Oldrac the Chitinous]

Well, I guess this was inevitable, really. 4.0/10

Well, I guess this was inevitable, really. 4.0/10

[PapaSloth]

I claim this thread as my personal territory.

I find myself sexually attracted to all of you and have a prominent erection as a result.

[Pitch Hitter]

Roll 1D20

1

A parrot attacks your erection and bites off your penis.

[PapaSloth]

Hi! My nub is bleeding! Feel free to stick around MY PERSONAL TERRITORY, if you wish. It gives me someone to rub my nub on.

[Edminster]

Whoops I accidentally pressed the 'lock thread' button HOW AWKWARD

[Pitch Hitter]

You can't claim a thread as personal territory. That as an idea is retarded. You are a retard.


And even if it weren't, your post in this thread made it shitty. You have claimed a piece of shit as your territory. I made an illustration




Stop rubbing shit on yourself, please. Or at least stop doing it here.

[Edminster]

haha wow i accidentally opened the thread long enough for someone else to point out how stupid papasloth is that is awkward as heck!!!!

i sure hope the thread doesn't get accidentally lock itse;lf because i would just about die from how awkward that would be?!

[DonRetrasado]

I'm. So. Cool.