OOTS #314 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[LostInBrittany]

Wonderful!

497 blah, Elan is my new hero! :)

In other order of things, I hope everything is ok for you and I give you my condolences.

[Mute]

"You're going to suck it up and swallow your character development like an adult already." ;D

One of the best lines ever.

But don't get back to adventuring too soon, I really enjoy our recent exposure to plot. Great work, Giant!

[AmoDman]

But now who will do it 498? Duh duh duuuuuuuuh!

[Glorfindel]

Nice comic! Good to see OotS speaking again :P

Blah blah ... blah (500 times)
Yes! I beat Elan's world record ;)

I wonder if Elan is smart enough to count to 497 ...

1st page BTW!

[KayJay]

Woohoo first page :) Will read the strip now :)
Edit: Great punch line! Nice little touch on the semi-transparent speech bubbles for Haley's speech :)

[Lord Herman]

Brilliant! Now for breaking Glorfindel's record...

[wodan46]

awesome comic as always, any comic where someone who is saying blah blah blah in the background really is saying blah blah blah is an awesome one.

[armatil]

ah, more snappy humor :)

imagine that; haley is so worked up in denial she would imply elan could "figure it out himself"... sure, that'll happen. :D desperate times i suppose :)

(and the bit about getting back to adventuring is so true)

[Aurorax]

Wonderful yet again. Great job.

Wonder if it will be more than 497 strips before Haley gets the guts to kiss Elan.

[Lianae]

Nice job! Just kiss him already Haley!!

[Sol]

great as always giant! thanks for getting it up as soon as you could!

[Dispozition]

Blah 497 times...I have got to try that some time.

Great comic giant, keep up the good work.



Blah blah blah blah...

(first page...WOOT)

[Lauren]

Beautifully done and very amusing! New Year's Eve is always a good kissing excuse. Not that I would know of course :P

Oh, and edited to add that Elan reminds me far too much of my fiance at times...

[Helios]

Ha haaa!

Great punchline, I laughed out loud. (Good job I'm in the house alone...) ;D

[Signmaker]

YES! World Record!

;D

Let's hope we see those Belkar oriented insults one day..

[Dave_L]

Ha haaa!

Great punchline, I laughed out loud. (Good job I'm in the house alone...) ;D

Heh - I laughed out loud at work - oops! ;D

[Doompuppy]

Great comic, as usual =)

I really do like Haley's interaction with her loathing self, and Elan's characteristic cheerful cluelessness =)

[Nikolai_II]

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah BLAH! Yes! A new world record.

;D

[Xarian]

I loved Haley as a goth that one time when she was talking to Roy about the teenage goblins. Good to see her back and cranky again ;)

Now go and damn well kiss that blonde bard!

[DarkCorax]

lol ^_^ great!

"Right next to the part of the brain that comes up with snipy insults"

great comic, Worth the wait!

BLAH!

Edit: for spelling

[Antina]

"Blah" - a new world record!
THAT is SO GREAT! ;D

THank THou MR. Giant!!! :)

[Artector]

Good job giant!

Wonder how many people Haley has in her head?

[Gnorosch]

Yay, new comic. And the "blah world record" was truly unexpected, I already started being annoyed by the "blahs" when they became funny.


Wonder how many people Haley has in her head?Haley? At least a dozend if you ask me. I hope we will meet the others too. :D

[Xarian]

Wonder how many people Haley has in her head?

I figure she has PMS instead of MPS ;)

[Bret_Hawkeye]

LOL@ Blah! ;D

Go Haley Go :-* :-* :-*

[Single Shot Zombie]

Doesn't Elan get thirsty, blahing like that for so long?

And doesn't Haley's self-loathing get bored of counting all those blahs?

[brummeren]

I laughed out loud over this one, and i've only done that once before, to the "up a level, down a level"-gag. Brilliant comic!

[Delgarde]

Was going to say "blah blah blah", but that's obviously not the most original response. So I'll just say this is another great strip - Haley arguing with herself, and Elan being, well... Elan..

[Albion]

497 blahs LOL. ;D Elan is great for this kind of stuff.

Nice going.

[RAMPAGE]

Yahoo! Friday updates are back(a least for one week) ;D
Great comic

[Seff]

Am i the only one that noticed that, after the gothy self-loathing ghost said "497", Elan said "Blah" another 3 times. So, tecnically, he said it 500 times in a row, not 497.

Just stating.

[Delgarde]

Good job giant!

Wonder how many people Haley has in her head?

Well, I take that comment as a reference to the phrenology maps in #303 - one personality from whatever brain section covers self-loathing, another representing the part responsible for snappy insults, etc.

[Dark_Stalion]

Beautifully done and very amusing! New Year's Eve is always a good kissing excuse. Not that I would know of course :P

Oh, and edited to add that Elan reminds me far too much of my fiance at times...


Heh, proof of Haily-Elan feasability. ;)

[Darius Midnite]

Woho! I badly needed my Oots fix, thank you oh great Giant... ;)

[Kanashimi]

ha ha ha ha ha!

Okay, so I was so focused on the "internal" dialouge from Haley that I didn't even really register what elan was saying. I thought it was mindless pratter, but not THAT mindless!

Go Giant!

And good to see you're back.!

[garylian]

Brilliant, Giant!

At least, I thought so. 'Course, my wife had a baby a few days ago, and I can't seem to think straight, I'm so tired. lol

Still, I loved it, especially the "throw away your character development" bit.

[Jacklu]

Great comic Giant. I still can't believe Elan beat my record! Better get going again, Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.........

[Keldar]

And doesn't Haley's self-loathing get bored of counting all those blahs?


Am i the only one that noticed that, after the gothy self-loathing ghost said "497", Elan said "Blah" another 3 times. So, tecnically, he said it 500 times in a row, not 497.


I just figured that Elan had said offscreen before this comic started "Hey! I bet I could say 'blah' 497 times in a row and set a new world record! Let's see! Blah blah blah blah blah...."

Well, okay, probably something like 20 or 30 panels offscreen depending on how many blahs he managed to stuff into each one, but you get the idea.

Personally, though, I think the most astonishing thing about it is that, given Elan's generally abysmal attention span, he actually managed to count that high without getting bored.

[haelyn]

for(int i=0;i<501;i++)
printf("blah\n");


heh, new world record...


coat? No, thanks, it's warm outside...

[Lightman]

That was the funniest comic in a while.

[Serina_Spellbinder]

Haley need to just kiss him. Elan has about as much chance of figuring it out on his own as Janet Reno has of becoming a stand-up comic.

EDIT: Page 3. Whoopee.

[DArKandEViL]

Blah blah blah... :D Another great Comic!

[The_Weirdo]

GREAT comic! I never thought I'd see a joke of this kind! :D

[HabbakukUnknown]

awesome comic, great jokes- BLAH!!!

Left myself on the page, 1 refresh later theres a whole new page.

[Nighthawk4]

Hehe - well worth the wait Giant.


I assume Haley is actually just thinking those comments, although they do look like speech bubbles, rather than thought clouds? ;)

[Grunjon]

I was thinking about how, if New Year's Eve is a good excuse for kissing Elan, it's also a good excuse for the restoration of Haley's voice (if it works).

"Hey, my voice is back! Er, it must have been a spell that wore off as the year changed..."


;)

[paul_brown_1973]

Heh - I laughed out loud at work - oops! ;D
Yep - just done that and I don't care. Everyone else reads OotS too, so they won't be far behind me.

Nasty spoilery thought: if Haley has deniability, doesn't that raise the same issue as saying that she loves Elan when she knows he won't understand? I suspect that she'll have to do it again at 0:01 to be cured.

Does anyone know how to do proper invisible spoilers btw?

[avalon_redmoon]

LMAO! Egads, is Elan ever stupid! *sigh* That's what I love about him, though. He's so funny! He happens to be my very FAVORITE member of the Order of the Stick.

Reading this comic was a wonderful way to start out my day:) (Hey, that rhymed...Creepy.) Thanks for another great comic! :)

[Blaznak]

I liked the comic. However, I'm worried about the so called "resolved love" drop off.

TV shows are never the same once the hero kisses the girl. Moonlighting, Cheers, Land of the Lost (Hmm... ), 60 Minutes...

Well, I have faith in the Giant to over come that media curse! I can't wait :)

Later!

[Max_Sinister]

Giant, the "saying Blah blah 497 times" joke was simply fantastic! I was almost proverbially ROTFL. A completely new approach to "blah blah" saying characters. :)

[soozenw]

hehe...awesome! :-*

[Reko_]

Great comic. I didn't scroll down fully before reading the top, which made it even better to read because I couldn't catch any glipses of what happens at the end.


I don't think the plan Haley's self-loathing describes in #314 (http://giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=314) will work. If Haley only plans to explain it away after getting her voice back, then she's still keeping Elan in the dark and 'safe from telling him anything', which is the reason she kept speaking gibberish in #311 (http://giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=311). Right?

[McHarty]

I hope that the Giant will have a time off of those unfortunates event... Not for OOTS, but for is own sake and moral. I may be an OOTS fan, but humans come ahead in my priority list.

That said...

Mind if I beat you ?


for(int i=0;i<501;i++)
printf("blah\n");


heh, new world record...


coat? No, thanks, it's warm outside...


for int i=0;i<WORLDRECORD("Blah").count()+1;i++)
printf("blah\n");

[GypsyThorn]

Two thoughts:
Enjoyed the comic. It's nice having more than one point to laugh in a strip.

I wonder how many ranks Haley has in the skill "Deny", and its subskill "Deny to self"? Or is that just a part of the "Bluff" skill? "Bluff to self"?

[Setsu]

Great comic Giant! Hehe gotta love Elan for that one. :)

Oh and by the way...




for int i=0;i<WORLDRECORD("Blah").count()+1;i++)
printf("blah\n");



Pff...

for(; ; )
printf("blah\n");


There. ;D

[Bozidar]

New comic is up.
CLASSIC!

Great strip, Giant. Welcome home.

[ekedolphin]

That was brilliant, especially the blah blah thing, which could only have been done by Elan.

[OldFart]

As much as I like the Giant's plots and punchlines, it's the subtle humor of this strip that always gets me.

For example, poor Haley. Her only conversational companions are her imaginary goth teenager self and Elan. For most of the comic, she is "blocked" in the middle.

Trapped between the blase and the blah-say.

[luilupino]

Yes, that craked the top 10 for sure.. Never laughed so loud about a comic like that

I understand Haley's pain, sometimes is too difficult to reveal our fellings for someone you care

But anyway, GO HALEY !!!

[Aurorax]

TV shows are never the same once the hero kisses the girl. Land of the Lost (Hmm... )



Huh? I thought the original was Brother, Sister and Dad (Ewwww.....). Then they did Brother, Sister and Uncle (Ewwww.....). Unless you mean Sister and that grey sleestack (Ewwww....). Maybe I can set the record for Ewwww's.

Ewww, Ewww, Ewww.....

[U2QueenBee]

Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss the oblivious bard already!!

<3 Elan...bless. I expect he'd get a bit hard on the nerves after a while, but in small, comic-sized doses he's just adorable.

[Drerek]

My favorite line is the reference to getting back to adventuring. Nice tip of the hat to us hack/slash guys Giant.

[thatwolfguy]

...blah, blah, blah....497!

wonderfull...i chuckled audibly

[novastrike]

This comic was totally Genius!!! ;D

[Thortok2000]

That punchline deserves a good ROFL.

I mean, I have a tendency to 'accidentally' skip ahead to the last panel when I'm about halfway through a strip (when they're long like that, it's kind of hard to keep my eyes under control) and I saw 'world record' and was like, huh? So when I go back to reading it normally and it gets to the alt-haley part, oh man that was great.

Other good lines in the strip, but that was just a zinger.

[Morchaint]

maybe this comic can back to adventuring or something
ROTFLMAO. ;D :D very very funny.

[Flak_Razorwill]

Aw, crud! That's what blah means!

I thought a romance would be a good thing here! With this many problems, there has GOT to be disaster lurking...

ALSO:

In MASH, Hawkeye kissed Houlihan during an artillery barrage when they were stuck in a hut behind enemy lines.

They got out of that situation. Why shouldn't these folks?

[fall_ark]

blah blah blah....blah blah! Oh, I'm trying on a new record! Do not interrupt me please! blah blah blah...;D

[n11]

Will the other 445 blahs be published in the fourth book? ;D

[Elvis]

Ok, I don't often post here... but I had to say, 314 actually made me laugh out loud ;D

and earned me a funny look from my sister... ah well :P

[DragoonStar47]

Blah blah blah blah..... hilarious!

[Tsuki]

Dang. Nikolai II beat me to it. Poor Elan, he'll have to try again!

[sugarmouse121]

heeheehee... I really liked the "blah"s! It made me think Haley just wasnt paying attention, until the end! Great comic (again) Giant! I liked the fact that her imaginary persification of her self loathing hung around, and you made it sound as if Haley's head was like a mini-town, with that bit about "living next door to Haley's insults"! I think Haley should do the plan!

[Zann]

Boo-yah! Go Giant! Go Giant!

*does happy dance*

[jmaccabeus]

I wonder how many of you responded to that comic by not merely typing a large number of "blah"s, but actually saying a large number of "blah"s? I know I did, and I feel silly for doing so. :-/ ;D

[Nerd-o-rama]

At last, the whining ceases...until Sunday or so.

Great stuff, Giant. And where else would your self-loathing live but next to the part of your brain that comes up with snippy insults?

Also, I love your ability to put a punchline even in comics with no immediately apparent joke. Blah blah blah blah...

[Eutheos]

A brilliant strip today. Well worth the wait, and I hope everything is fine with Giant :)

[Eriol]

As others have said, we already know Elan can't count correctly (OTOOPCs proved that), so it's VERY likely that he actually said quite a few more "blah"s than 497. Almost double in fact.

And again, as has been mentioned, I agree with the opinion that doing a "denyable" kiss is just as deceitful as saying her love KNOWING it won't be understood.

Just sucks that it's likely that we won't know until next wednesday (or later) as The Giant is alternating scenes...

[Xenon]

he actualy said.... uhuh. okay then. right....

i beleive we now need some belkar stabbing goodness to counterblance this stupidity. let the stabbings begin!

now what can we get him to stab....

[Gary_Howard]

I particularly like the one at the end where he gets a concerned look on his face, like.. "Ok, I can get through this set... Ok!"

[Holy_Knight]

he actualy said.... uhuh. okay then. right....

i beleive we now need some belkar stabbing goodness to counterblance this stupidity. let the stabbings begin!

now what can we get him to stab....


Well whatever it is, I'm sure he'd stab it 497 times! You know, because it hadn't been done before...

Anyway, cute comic, and I still feel bad for Haley. I'd say more, but it would get into spoiler territory... so I'll just say that I hope things go well for her soon. :)

[battleburn]

So if we go back to comic 303. We see the image of a brain.
Which of those parts houses the Haley that comes up with snippy insults??
All usefull skills probably. So if she lives next to "all usefull skills. What does that make her?
Spoilers... Nah
More sex... Nah
Puppies... Yay.
Self loathing lives in the puppies part. That makes sense :D

[Deuce]

So if we go back to comic 303. We see the image of a brain.
Which of those parts houses the Haley that comes up with snippy insults??
All usefull skills probably. So if she lives next to "all usefull skills. What does that make her?
Spoilers... Nah
More sex... Nah
Puppies... Yay.
Self loathing lives in the puppies part. That makes sense :D

Or it turns out that neither snippy insults nor self-loathing are all that useful, and that both reside in/on the left-rear quarter of the brain - which is not shown on the chart.

Puppies and self-loathing just don't mix - look at Thog, self-loathing would just confuse him . . .

[battleburn]

Or it turns out that neither snippy insults nor self-loathing are all that useful, and that both reside in/on the left-rear quarter of the brain - which is not shown on the chart.

Puppies and self-loathing just don't mix - look at Thog, self-loathing would just confuse him . . .

I don't agree, i would loath living in a place dedicated to puppies

[Alfryd]

New comic is up.
Better. Definitely better. Moving on.

[phlip]

And the archive's been updated too, new comic titles :D

[The_Kobold_Hero]

One word: Blah. ;)

Nice job Giant.

[Felinoid]

Okay, so who was right about the comic going up on Friday? ;)

Loved the blahs. Whenever Elan did that I always assumed he was just going on about something unimportant. Looks like I'll be re-reading the old strips in a new light now. ;D

Spoiler: Deniability is only a trick by goth-Haley to get real-Haley to kiss him the first time. Then after Elan says comething along the lines of an oblivious "Hey, thanks." or something, goth-Haley will smack real-Haley in the back of the head, propelling her into another kiss that she can't just explain away.

[TheWanderingLlama]

The blah thing was the most unexpected joke in quite a while... most of the joke of late have been more predictable (but still funny.) I'm rather glad this comic came out on friday, less of an insane wait until the next one. I want them to kiss already!

You know I'm obsessed with something when I'm willing to use a Mac in order to post on the message board about it.

[Melnor]

All right, Giant!
You actually had me chuckling on the last panel!
Actually, the whole comic was unusually clever(cleverer?)
Nice work!

[saraswati]

gv gv gv!

Nice! IMHO if someone does slapstick really well, I will never get tired of it. If the timing is good you can slap that guy upside the head with a perch and I will LOL every time.

OOTS has made me realize that really good meta-jokes are the same for me. If the gag is good, that "breaking the fourth wall" will make me bust up!

I did not see that blah blah blah joke coming! Pow! Yay!

Now, of course, I keep thinking of Greg the Bunny. I am hoping Elan develops some sort of strange verbal tic and adds "Blah" to the end of every phrase and clause.

[Elurindel]

Blah! I did not see that one coming. Pure genius! The Giant always finds a new way to make us all laugh. or simply an old way that looks new, as per the slapstick style. And the great thing is, he can pull it off with a flourish like no other. Kudos Giant ;D

[SimonMoon5]

Eh, Elan's dialogue was kind of "blah". :(

;) ;D

[RemoJr]

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah! 498 times. i am the champion of blahing!

[humanpylon]

gv gv gv!

Now, of course, I keep thinking of Greg the Bunny.

"We can sing and dance, and we don't wear pants, we're just like you. We have regular jobs just with low doorknob we're just like you."

Love Greg the Bunny. Actually Elan does kind of remind me of Greg the Bunny with his innocence.

[Krytha]

Yay! A comic on friday and another one on monday! Its almost like 3 times a week! ...

Maybe MF is a better schedule...

[Hithrome]

Funny how hypocritical "Dark Mistress Shadowgale" is. First she chides Haley for her use of sophistry then a few strips later, she engages in it herself. I suppose it makes sense. After all, we know that Haley herself does it, why would a small piece of her not do it? But then one has to wonder if Haley's self-loathing would get a visit from her *own* self-loathing for engaging in the behavior she's there to complain about? And if so, what would it look like? Her dad maybe?

My wife practically woke me up early because this strip was up. So help me, Giant, if you ever post a new strip at 5AM on Saturday and I lose sleep over it because it's so funny my wife feels compelled to wake me up to read it, I'm coming for you.

Seriously, this was great. I've had whole conversations with people using nothing but the word "blah." ...actually, now that I think about it, maybe likening myself to Elan isn't the most flattering thing I could do. Maybe soon I'll get a visit from my *own* self-loathing.

Thanks again. It was great.

[humanpylon]

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah ...........blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah! 498 times. i am the champion of blahing!

Blahbbermouth! ;D

[Solmage]

Funny! :D

"Maybe this comic can get back to like adventuring, or something" ;D

Now, on an unrelated note, it seems we're back to our Friday comic schedule huh? ::hides::

[prettyripples]

The 'blah' joke was wonderful, you got me laughing out loud. Thank you.

[snelson66]

I vote to keep Haley's self-loathing personification a permanent member of the OotS. Sort of like the anti-Yoda.

Kudos again, Big G. Thoughts are with ya.

[Nasrudith]

Great comic giant.

[humanpylon]

I vote to keep Haley's self-loathing personification a permanent member of the OotS. Sort of like the anti-Yoda.

Kudos again, Big G. Thoughts are with ya.

I wonder what prestige class she would be? She'd have a Life Cynicism feat and skill points in gloom-mongering.

[Pheldagriff]

does anybody know "the demented cartoon movie"
I wonder why Elan's head hasn't popped off yet

[warmachine]

According to the cleric who made the prognosis, Haley must be "...truly willing to reveal the truth about any such lies." I don't think planning to kiss Elan on midnight, so she can deceive him with an excuse if needed, counts as truly willing.

I'm getting this horrid thought that Haley's self-loathing is using Haley's cleverness against herself. A sophisticated form of fooling yourself. The cleverer a person, the more sophisticated the techniques they can use to hide the truth from themselves. Poor Haley.

[humanpylon]

Of course all this assumes the cleric wasn't full of cowpies and that it will actually work.

[fithi]

Haley, just kiss him already :P

And 497 blahs? Yikes!

[Mute]

does anybody know "the demented cartoon movie"
I wonder why Elan's head hasn't popped off yet


He'll be all right as log as he doesn't say Zeeky boogy Doog.

[Thief-Wizard101]

bla bla bla bla bla (i thought he was actualy saying stuff at first just nobody was listening.) any ways great comic ;)

[RBloom0566]

Just curious. Will there be a Friday comic since Wednesday's was Monday's?

[The Glitter Ninja]

It's sad but, when I saw Elan saying "blah", my first thought was that he was really saying the word "blah". Do I know my Elan or what? Great strip.

[Master_Kindel]

hehe...i love it ;D

[lunar]

Best punchline in a long time! ;D LOL! In fact, I'm still laughing.

[Kish]

Haley's resistance to the idea of kissing Elan, even at midnight, is the best argument that it would work, I think. She wants to keep hiding. If it would let her continue to hide, 1) it wouldn't work and 2) she'd be willing to try it.

[Gunslinger47]

Just curious. Will there be a Friday comic since Wednesday's was Monday's?
You should read the news page (http://www.giantitp.com/index.html). There is a post there discussing Friday comics.

[saraswati]

On further reflection, there is actually a pretty good "in-comic" explanation for Elan's Blah-riffic monologue.

Put yourself in his shoes; you have spent the entire evening having dinner with someone who is either silent or blurts out "fejoign fjio cjijf fi!" at random intervals. Why wouldn't you happily abandon all attempts at communication and just begin blathering? Especially if you could make a game out of it? Especially if you are Elan?

I firmly believe that Elan is blah-ing just because it makes a great joke. But it was fun thinking up a rationalization for it anyway. :P

[BlythraB]

I still hope she just grabs him and kisses him

[Elcaz]

I see a minor flaw in Haley's plan. If it doesn't work, how is she going to explain why she kissed him?

By the way, great punchline, great comic.

[Varian7]

I love the personification of Haley's self-loathing, and I hope she sticks around even after Haley kisses Elan. I also loved the part where she refers to the comic in objective terms, Good going Giant!

[Krytha]

In the case that Haley ends up kissing Elan and things progress, I wonder if the issue of her not even being completely *BLANK* comes up. (That being the secret that not even V knows...)

[Euphemism]

Trapped between the blase and the blah-say.
Ow. Just... ow. Also: Ow.

[RBloom0566]

The News Page is usually my last stop in the search for answers. I usually just stop in and ask the geek squad here my questions and the answers are usually forthcoming. Ala, yours.

No offense intended. I'm a comic geek, too. *S*



You should read the news page (http://www.giantitp.com/index.html). There is a post there discussing Friday comics.

[NyteExodus]

So, when I read about your crazy life making the edition late, my only thought was ..."why is he apologizing to me? His stuff rocks! I'm just glad is does it." ~kindly pats to artist's shoulder~Good work!

[CelestialStick]

New comic is up.

Wow! You sure were up early this morning, Rich! :o

[CelestialStick]

Nice job! Just kiss him already Haley!!

I concur, Lianae! I'm getting so impatient for her to kiss him already that if she keeps up this internal dialogue much longer I might just jump into the comic and push their lips together! ;D

[Ing]

*Sung*
"FALALALALALALALALALALALAL KISS THE Dude"

(from little Mermaid song....seems to fit the mood)

[DASLAYARGH]

Yes! Finally! I was waiting for another great comic, and i got it! Good job! :)

[Jorb]

while(printf("blah\n"));

[CelestialStick]

*Sung*
"FALALALALALALALALALALALAL KISS THE Dude"

(from little Mermaid song....seems to fit the mood)


Heh. Maybe Elan need to inspire some courage in Haley. "Kiss, kiss, kiss the foolish bard!" ;D

[Master_Kindel]

Can haley actually do it? Or will she chicken out? Oh the anticipation!

[CatBoris]

:10
ECHO "Blah"
GOTO 10


Chucklerific.

[Fale]

I've only read the first page of this thread, so I'm sure it has already been brought up. Elan has trouble counting in Orgins, so I'm guess his record would be a little (or more likey a huge) number off the number he was aiming for.

Anyway great comic as always. The last panel was funny as hell!

Blah, blah, blah, blah...

[Symian]

EDIT: Yeah, ok, so apparently I wasn't the first one to write a small script to print out the required blah's.

[Gnorosch]

Heh. Maybe Elan need to inspire some courage in Haley. "Kiss, kiss, kiss the foolish bard!" ;DYeah, we'd just need another bard who lacks the feat "improved obliviousity towards Haley's advances".

[Gamefreakguy]

Amazing! Blah blah blah was kinda funny but then having him really say it was just too much... :P In a good way.

And of course no one will see this post since no one ever reads all the way through any of these... except a few...

[Bilbo27]

I see the end is near for Haleys problems.blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah...hahaha

[RBloom0566]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
The restaurant strip was from Wednesday last ( 5/3 )?
The "blah" strip was from Monday ( 5/8 )?
There has been no 2nd strip this week due to Rich going out of town?
There will BE no 2nd strip this week?

[The Glyphstone]

The restaurant was (I think) Monday - the Blah comic was Wednesday's, late due to the funeral.

[LE4dGOLEM]

Pfah, codes and Scripts. that is just cheating really. You've got to do it manually:
"blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH! 499!"

Okay, yeah, i used copy and paste, but hey, at least I did it, y'know, without, y'know, using a computer. Kinda :D

[Seserlyn]

Manually, blah. To properly do it, you need to automate it in a way that will take advantage of today's multiprocessor systems. I give you the fork blahmb:

while (1) {
fork();
printf("blah, ");
}

[D.F.]

Blah blah... ... ... Blah? Giant, this was one of the funniest ever! Long time lurker, first time poster, I just had to register to say this strip rocks! (I have been close to do so on Elan's showtime with Hinjo at the carnival. Bardic POWER!)

[rebellioussong]

Wow this was one of the funniest comics of all time. If only twice a week means we get comics like this, take all the time you need. So many jokes... so little time....WOW

Keep up the great work

[Baloo]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
The restaurant strip was from Wednesday last ( 5/3 )?
The "blah" strip was from Monday ( 5/8 )?
There has been no 2nd strip this week due to Rich going out of town?
There will BE no 2nd strip this week?

Last Wednesday: Buffalo wings.
This Monday: Roy & Celia, silent.
This Wednesday, delayed: Blah blah blah.

[Enno]

I give you the fork blahmb:

while (1) {
fork();
printf("blah, ");
}

So, how many blah's did you get with that before it blew up?

[Symian]

I think the IO buffer is the limit in that script, not the speed of the processor/s. :-)

[infiniteviking]

Blah.

In the best of all possible ways, of course. Only Elan would do that. And it looks like Blah Blah Blah has joined Gv gv gv gv gv in the lists of instantly identifiable OotS quotes!

I see the Personification of Self-Loathing can't take a break even in a good cause. 'If he freaks out or recoils in disgust'... yeah, that's real encouraging. (/sarcasm) But I love how Elan, in the fifth panel, turns around and tries to include Haley in the wonderful world of blah.

Nice, Giant! Looking forward to the next step in Haley's journey of self-discovery.

And thanks for keeping us in mind during these hectic months.

[Kruul]

"back to adventuring" that DOES sound like a plan to me... Aren't they ITCHING to get back into initiative?
Or is it only Belkar and me?

[jwildstr]

I think the IO buffer is the limit in that script, not the speed of the processor/s. :-)


Wandering WAY off-topic, it's neither. It depends what the limit is, but if there's not something that stops the forking at some point (maximum number of processes, etc.), it'll eat all the memory on the machine, all the space in the process table, etc...and either bring the machine to its knees or crash it.

OK, I'll go blah away now.

[Barry]

First post. Please be gentle. :)

OK, I have to know. Why is there a "C" on Haley's Personification of Self Loathing? Its in both #314 and #310, just to the left of her eye. Is it supposed to be a piercing?

[Kish]

Yes, she has an eyebrow piercing.

[EmeraldFire]

i wonder what her other "ghost selves" look like to her, something to think about :)

[The Giant]

OK, working to try to get the comic done, I may miss the midnight mark, but it will be up within the next two hours.

[SumGuy]

OK, working to try to get the comic done, I may miss the midnight mark, but it will be up within the next two hours.


Take your time Giant! Pressure makes diamonds, but it also makes garbage more compact ;)

[Finwe]

Pressure takes millions of years to make diamonds, too.


Giant, so help me, if the next OotS isn't done before the sun goes super nova...

[Efogoto]

FIN-WAY (Am I the only one who's read the Silmarillion?)
I read the whole disjointed thing.

Christopher Tolkein is the reason I haevn't read anything by Brian Herbert or Jeff Shaara.