« Hey, if I'd tongue kissed Bruce McCullough on multiple occasions as part of my job, I'd drink heavily too. | Main | Sure, I'm late with snarks tonight, but on the other hand, I seem to be bitter. Doesn't that count for something? »
Eric: On the other hand, there could be a line about putting tongues in tails. And it scares me I do know that reference without looking it up.
(From Irregular Webcomic. Click on the thumbnail for full sized Country Wenches!)
I like Irregular Webcomic. I like the Hamlet plotline. I like obscure references. I like puns. I like office sexual tension involving LEGO.
I've got to say -- today didn't work for me. I guess I don't like it when you need annotations. When they add something but aren't necessary. Yeah, that has bothered me in the past with Penny Arcade too, though I think P-A (and Irregular Webcomic) are usually decipherable in context. Today's....
Look, I'm a lit Geek. I've acted Shakespeare often. I've been paid to act Shakespeare before. And I'm a big fan of Elizabethan double entendre. And I didn't get this one without checking the Cliff's Notes. I think it's moderately unlikely most of Irregular Webcomic's audience did either. It's just the way it is.
Posted by Eric Burns-White at November 24, 2004 10:50 PM
Comments
Comment from: Dave Van Domelen posted at November 24, 2004 11:32 PM
Okay, for those of us without the Cliff's Notes, what exactly IS the double entendre here? I'm guessing it has to do with the first syllable of "country", but don't see a clear connection to "matters".
Comment from: Eric Burns posted at November 24, 2004 11:43 PM
Dvan -- http://www.livejournal.com/community/linguaphiles/1129209.html goes into it. It has to do with anatomy. And is indeed from Hamlet.
Comment from: tynic posted at November 25, 2004 12:47 AM
My main problem with the strip is not the obliqueness of the Shakespearian ob. ref. in itself, but the fact that the pun and reference is the only payoff, and the joke had to labour so hard to get there. I think it would be great as a sub-joke, or if there was a more natural and less contrived lead-up. But the painstaking setup to punchline ratio is right up there with 'the Ringo stole my clay bee'.
Comment from: TODCRA Productions posted at November 25, 2004 1:12 AM
I dunno -- I got the joke OK, even without the annotation, and I tend to know squat about Shakespeare or.. well, much when it comes to lit criticism type things. Although I knew about the "country matters" pun before hand, so... I just thought it was really, really lame that the "annotated" version, um, wasn't. It just seems lame to link to a damn google search; if you don't want to have a naughty word on your site, at least link to a particularly good page.
That, and, yeah, the pun/ref is the only payoff and the setup is sort of... forced, to say the least, like tynic says.
Oh well, at least PA was exquisite, and Achewood's been _really_ good lately. (Pat, what's evaporation?)
Comment from: Doug Dawson posted at November 25, 2004 10:06 AM
For what it's worth, "country matters" is one of the few examples of Shakespearean innuendo I'd probably recognize instantly. When my friends and I have discussed the subject (and yes, we have), it's always the first or second example, so it's always felt like one of the more famous examples to me.
Comment from: David Morgan-Mar posted at November 26, 2004 12:32 AM
Oh well... you win some, you lose some. The important thing is to play the game. :-)
Comment from: Eric Burns posted at November 26, 2004 12:37 AM
This is how you know, whenever I say I like the strip, I'm telling the truth. ;)
Comment from: David Morgan-Mar posted at November 26, 2004 12:44 AM
Damn. I should have said, "The play's the thing."
Comment from: Eric Burns posted at November 26, 2004 1:05 AM
You had the opening right there in front of you, and you walked into the frame.
On the other hand, I not only named a planet after you, I even set scenes there. That counts for something, right?
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)