
XKCD 1190 is now more individual frames than there are XKCD comics. - xmjw
http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/
======
adventureloop
If only they could find an old shed door to cross the river.

The similarities between this ongoing xkcd and _why's most recent publican are
really interesting. Thematically I find the stories very similar, they feel as
though they come from the same author to me (I know Randall is not _why).
Their choice of delivery also come to mind.

I am very happy there are more dedicated people than myself in the world,
otherwise I would miss out on these stories unfolding.

~~~
JonnieCache
_> I know Randall is not _why_

Now _that's_ a conspiracy theory I can get behind.

~~~
bitwize
That Jack Black looking dude really _is_ Jack Black. Randall hired him to play
his alter ego, _why, in public appearances.

------
Steko
The (now) 621 page thread on xkcd forums is essential reading:

[http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043)

~~~
Kurtz79
On page 1:

"What an interesting comic. This is probably the most simplistic xkcd yet..."

~~~
bicklewabbit
Also:

"I don't really get it. Nothing is happening. Yet I am sitting here, staring
at it. Thinking about what those two might be thinking about. Maybe they just
talked about something, something important perhaps. Maybe they're content
just to sit there, together in silence. Watching time happen.

Somehow, I feel that this is the strongest xkcd yet. It's in my head."

People like what they want to like, I guess.

~~~
phillmv
Well, that's the fun of art.

A lot of comes from playing with your expectations. I was expecting a somewhat
humorous geeky pun or reference; about 90% of XKCD is figuring out the
reference. What does he mean by "Time"? They're just sitting there. Where are
they sitting? What are they looking at? What's their relationship like? This
reminds me of times when I too have just sat there, with a friend or a
girlfriend or whatever, contemplating.

And in the meanwhile Randall has just made you _FEEL EMOTIONS_.

I used to live near this grafitti: <http://instagram.com/p/WcpTGfSzx1/> and I
would often go and stand and quietly contemplate it while I had my morning
coffee and cigarette. It's hard to articulate but it feels rewarding to think
about what whoever the artist is had in mind when they made it.

------
Lockyy
At around frame 170 I wrote a script[1] that grabbed the images automatically
as well as logging all of the file names. Was a very fun and perfectly timed
project for helping me learn python. I completely forgot about it and am happy
to say it's still running and has been collected the images correctly for the
past two months. I've been pushing the collection of images to github as well
in a separate repo[2] because at the time I couldn't find anywhere to one hit
download all the images. The linked viewer however is at 1354 whilst I'm up to
1355, I'm curious as to at what point I grabbed an excess frame.

[1] <https://github.com/Lockyy/newpix> [2]
<https://github.com/Lockyy/xkcdTimeImages>

------
Natsu
Some part of me wonders how he can keep up this pace and thinks that he must
have a computer program generating new frames somehow. Then I look at things
like the sand castle and doubt that a computer program could have come up with
anything like that and assume that we'd have caught on to any formulaic
repetition by now.

~~~
adeaver
That's assuming he's drawing this live. Who's to say he hasn't been planning
this from Day One and has been drawing the frames all along.

I know, it's a stretch but ... what if?

~~~
SatvikBeri
Randall has shown the capability to draw _enormous_ amounts before. Don't
forget <http://xkcd.com/1110/> . See
[http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/how-big-is-the-
xkc...](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/how-big-is-the-xkcd-click-
drag-world/) for an analysis of how big 1110 is.

------
seiji
_now more individual frames than there are XKCD comics._

That's kinda a silly claim. Most of the Time frames are part of an ongoing
scene, so each new frame is just an addition on top of the old frame. Your
Time viewer has a differential view against the next/previous frame so you can
see it in action.

Saying it's "more frames than all the other comics" is like saying one episode
of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has more frames than X. Yeah, numbers
can be bigger than other numbers, but they aren't the sameness of comparison.

~~~
xmjw
Perfectly true - it was more a point about how many drawings there are for
this comic given the total number of comics he has done. So I guess I'm
commenting on the amount of work he had to do. If you think about the massive
'pan and zoom' comic year or so ago, that was a similarly vast undertaking. I
thought it was a catchy headline, but you make a very good point.

~~~
seiji
_I thought it was a catchy headline_

It is a very catchy headline! I think that's what made me stop and consider
why it was so catchy.

The next amazing Time news would be finding out if it's still being created or
if it was made all up front. We have to watch for clues to see if it
references any current events (not created by Randy himself) that happened
after the first Time frame.

------
omegant
What´s this exactly? is this original XKCD?

~~~
dous
<http://xkcd.com/1190/> changes every 30 minutes if I'm not mistaken. The link
shows all the frames since the comic was published.

~~~
baby
When was this comic published?

~~~
xmjw
March 25!

------
Nursie
Its lack of context or goal, plus the obsession with water, is starting to
read like they're on acid

~~~
jmduke
The strongest theory I've heard is that it's a metaphor for Randall's wife's
cancer (ie "the sea" == "the C"). Lines like "the sea can't keep making more
of itself forever!" and "we don't understand how the sea works" lends a bit of
credence to that.

~~~
nwh
I suspect that Randall would prefer that at least one of his comics wasn't
interpreted as a reference to cancer. It must get tiring after a point.

~~~
freehunter
I'm not aware of any other comics being interpreted as a reference to cancer,
but there are a handful of comics directly referencing his wife's cancer. If
it is a recurring theme of his, I'd say it's perfectly legitimate for people
to consider it a candidate for an otherwise unexplained plot line.

~~~
nwh
The discussion on the xkcd forums frequently attributed every single comic to
be a cancer reference. The forums have since been removed from the main page
though. so it's not quite as visible anymore.

------
padwan
Here's an animation of all the frames

<http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1190:_Time>

~~~
taternuts
This one is nice too: <http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/>

~~~
zokier
I like this one: <http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/>

