261: Zero Punctuation: Achieving the Cross-media Transformation of Ludological Hermeneutics

Egitor

New member
Jan 28, 2010
128
0
0
Loved the article, had such a silly grin on my face that the three other people in the apartment all came up to me to check what I was reading ^^
 

ark123

New member
Feb 19, 2009
485
0
0
ssgt splatter said:
One paragraph in and I'm already bored. Too many big words.
Really, you're just going to offer up that post so maybe you'll get quoted in Extra Punctuation? DANCE, MONKEY, DANCE!
 

ssgt splatter

New member
Oct 8, 2008
3,276
0
0
ark123 said:
ssgt splatter said:
One paragraph in and I'm already bored. Too many big words.
Really, you're just going to offer up that post so maybe you'll get quoted in Extra Punctuation? DANCE, MONKEY, DANCE!
Well...that wasn't my intention but ok let's go with that.
 

B2kCyclops

New member
Apr 28, 2010
180
0
0
For the masses:
I though The Simpson were more famous.

For the intellectual and rhethorical elites:
Any individual that claims to be properly educated, whilst not being aware of Sokal...
no comment.
 

JeppeH

New member
Nov 18, 2009
68
0
0
Those who take serious articles seriously and joke articles only for the laugh - they really missed the point altogether
 

AgentNein

New member
Jun 14, 2008
1,476
0
0
Scrumpmonkey said:
For those who didn't 'get' the article, it's meant to be dense.

This is not a serious article.

It's a pardoy of over-intellectualising something that is not very intelectual i.e. a hat wearing angry sweary man who hates stuff. The language is meant to say very little but in very big overinfated words. I also detect a slight amount of self mockery of the escapist who tend to do very in depth analysis which can easily (but usually dosen't here at the Escapist, it's been very well done) stray into pointless chin stroking and posturing.
This. I was about to say much of the same but I'm glad I read ahead to see if anyone else got to it first.

The ending of the article actually made me wake up my roommate with a loud laugh as I spit hot tea onto my computer screen. Good stuff.

With all of that said, I've never ever prescribed to the idea that there's a such thing as OVER analyzing anything. Then again I analyze the hell out of literally everything, it's in my nature.
 

ark123

New member
Feb 19, 2009
485
0
0
He just wrote an article with a lot of unnecessary intellectualism so you guys would theorize on how this is funny.
But it's just not. When you have to explain the joke, you've failed as a comedian (Louis C.K.)
 

AgentNein

New member
Jun 14, 2008
1,476
0
0
ark123 said:
He just wrote an article with a lot of unnecessary intellectualism so you guys would theorize on how this is funny.
But it's just not. When you have to explain the joke, you've failed as a comedian (Louis C.K.)
Judging by the fact that some of us actually got the joke without needing it explained (and enjoyed it), maybe the failure is on some of the audience?
 

gallaetha_matt

New member
Feb 28, 2010
438
0
0
It was a funny article. I used to see stuff like this all the time in my English Lit classes. People overanalysing books and using a MS Thesaurus fed vocabulary to stuff their own ideas into it. I know because I used to do it myself.

This article gave me a good laugh - cheers!

Also Miskatonic University is a university that features heavily in H.P Lovecrafts stories. I don't know if it's a real university or not but I'm going to guess that it isn't.
 

JeppeH

New member
Nov 18, 2009
68
0
0
ark123 said:
He just wrote an article with a lot of unnecessary intellectualism so you guys would theorize on how this is funny.
But it's just not. When you have to explain the joke, you've failed as a comedian (Louis C.K.)
When you have to have the joke explained the joke was not meant for you.
 

Orange_Clockwork

New member
Oct 29, 2009
153
0
0
I get the feeling that maybe some of these things could've just been said for the novelty of saying it. I mean... It feels a little too in depth, I should say.
 

7ru7h

Avatar of The Laughing God
Jul 8, 2009
128
0
0
While I can see how some of what he said makes sense (and surprisingly, I understood it on my first read through), you can't use a single example and extrapolate the symbolism you see in it and generalize an entire series with it.

And yes, I do get that it was a joke article, I'm just feeling quite academic for once, after reading an article without a single dick joke (of its own) and made my brain actually think.
 

Stackle

New member
Dec 17, 2009
16
0
0
gallaetha_matt said:
It was a funny article. I used to see stuff like this all the time in my English Lit classes. People overanalysing books and using a MS Thesaurus fed vocabulary to stuff their own ideas into it. I know because I used to do it myself.

This article gave me a good laugh - cheers!

Also Miskatonic University is a university that features heavily in H.P Lovecrafts stories. I don't know if it's a real university or not but I'm going to guess that it isn't.
I'm fairly sure that it's not. I recognized the name instantly at the end of the article because I'd been playing Arkham Horror today.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

New member
Aug 11, 2009
3,044
0
0
I have to say, I couldn't tell up until the very end if the author was actually analyzing Zero Punctuation for reals or as an elaborate joke, but that last sentence certainly dispels any doubt. As does the bit about earning a PhD at Miskatonic University, heh. It did make me wonder though how many people just gave up trying to read that in frustration - it's obvious the goal was obfuscation, perhaps driven by a subconscious delight the author derives from forcing prospective audience members to dig out a thesaurus to decipher his work, and while I find that somewhat amusing, I used to know a guy who actually talked like this.

There was no part of his demeanor that did not shout "Yes, I absolutely think I'm way the hell better than you because I needlessly complicate simple interactions like buying groceries just to demonstrate my vocabulary, you miserable plebeian". It was exactly as annoying as I'm making it sound; At least this article was a joke!
 

gallaetha_matt

New member
Feb 28, 2010
438
0
0
Stackle said:
gallaetha_matt said:
It was a funny article. I used to see stuff like this all the time in my English Lit classes. People overanalysing books and using a MS Thesaurus fed vocabulary to stuff their own ideas into it. I know because I used to do it myself.

This article gave me a good laugh - cheers!

Also Miskatonic University is a university that features heavily in H.P Lovecrafts stories. I don't know if it's a real university or not but I'm going to guess that it isn't.
I'm fairly sure that it's not. I recognized the name instantly at the end of the article because I'd been playing Arkham Horror today.
Yeah if it existed I would be already applying to attend the place. Sure you're likely to get carried off by walking corpses, or driven mad by a nameless horror from beyond - but you gotta die of something, right?

It's for this reason that I also want to visit Derry in Maine (probably not a real place either), but I'm getting off topic...
 

AgentNein

New member
Jun 14, 2008
1,476
0
0
JeppeH said:
ark123 said:
He just wrote an article with a lot of unnecessary intellectualism so you guys would theorize on how this is funny.
But it's just not. When you have to explain the joke, you've failed as a comedian (Louis C.K.)
When you have to have the joke explained the joke was not meant for you.
Yup. I'm of the opinion that this was aimed squarely at those who've been reading the Escapist since it's early issues, because it hit home for me and made itself obvious almost immediately in what exactly it was parodying.