I don't get yesterday's Penny Arcade

[Rigamarole]

I’m mildly connected to the game world though I don’t fanatically follow all of the tidbits Penny Arcade often references. But I’m curious what this strip is about. I remember the recall of LittleBigPlanet because of a verse from the Qur’an in one of the songs, but I’m not sure if that’s what this is referring to or not. It seems like there is something else going on here.

[Marley23]

Looks like it’s explained in the news entry.

You may not be aware that both Fisher Price and Nintendo are colluding with Muslim terrorists to ensnare the young, which might make it difficult to understand today’s comic. You may not think that unintelligible samples or scarves are an effective weapon for global jihad, but that just means you’re a part of the problem, Mohammed.

[borschevsky]

A mom bought the game “Baby Pals” for her daughter. It contains a bunch of sound samples of gibberish baby talk. She claims that one of these is actually saying “Islam is the light”. The same lady also claimed a while back that a baby doll said the same thing.

They usually post a bit about each strip, and there’s a link there to a news article about this.

[Captain_Amazing]

That’s why you need to read the daily comments that go along with the strip:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/2/2/

[Rigamarole]

Ah, I only ever look at the comic when I’m cycling through my favorites list. :smack:

That’s bizarre. (But listening to the audio it sounds more like meaningless baby-babble to me, though I can see how it could be interpreted that way. Like the “Benny Lava” video taught us you can hash together all sorts of vaguely coherent sentences from vocal sounds)

[Brainiac4]

Only… look… at the COMIC? Dude. Or Dudette. Penny Arcade is far more about Tycho’s newspost than the comic. If you’re just looking at the comic, you are missing the best part. Jerry ‘Tycho Brahe’ Holkins is one of my favorite writers.

[Orbifold]

@Brainiac4

Only… look… at the COMIC? Dude. Or Dudette. Penny Arcade is far more about Tycho’s newspost than the comic. If you’re just looking at the comic, you are missing the best part. Jerry ‘Tycho Brahe’ Holkins is one of my favorite writers.

I tend to find that his writing style encourages certain bad habits in my own prose. The struggle to prevent my own writing from being overcome by a certain, shall we say, flamboyance after reading too many of his posts can be downright herculean.

[panamajack]

Here’s video of the Fisher Price baby:

Doll saying 'Islam is the light'

Apologies if this should go in GD for witnessing.

[Zebra]

It certainly sounds like the baby is saying that.

[Hoopy_Frood]

@Orbifold

I tend to find that his writing style encourages certain bad habits in my own prose. The struggle to prevent my own writing from being overcome by a certain, shall we say, flamboyance after reading too many of his posts can be downright herculean.

Yeah, my girlfriend was an English Lit. major as an undergrad. While she enjoys Holkins commentary, she can tell he hasn’t really had any significant formal training in composition. I believe the words she used was “tries too hard”. Though, he is better than he was when he started out.

[Brainiac4]

@Hoopy_Frood

Yeah, my girlfriend was an English Lit. major as an undergrad. While she enjoys Holkins commentary, she can tell he hasn’t really had any significant formal training in composition. I believe the words she used was “tries too hard”. Though, he is better than he was when he started out.

I’ll take natural talent over formal training, though. I really enjoy his writing. I know it’s way too floral and overblown, but I really enjoy getting lost in his parenthetical references.