Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

0 - we cut to aftermath Monday

4 (10.5%)

1

2 (5.3%)

2

6 (15.8%)

3

10 (26.3%)

4-5

9 (23.7%)

6-8

2 (5.3%)

9-11

1 (2.6%)

13+

4 (10.5%)

Total Members Voted: 34

[Kugai]

Hanners scrubs up goooooood 

I bet she could give Stephen Hawking a run for his money.   

[ross_teneyck]

Dang.  She DOES look great.

[J]

anyone else get the sense that jeph has been hanging around with randall munroe lately?

[snubnose]

Noooooooooooooooooooo !!! 

Hanners !

JUST HAVE FUN !!! 

[raoullefere]

Don't know why, but the shoes bother me. Other than that, though,

Look! Hanners is a girl!

seems somehow to be an appropriate reaction.

I don't know what Sven's kvetching about—he never got a ridiculous act of violence from Faye in the first place, unless his widdle ears burned too much when she was cussin' him out in the street.

Untrue! While we didn't see it, Faye did say that when Sven asked what number 69 was on The Secret Menu, she punched him in the dick.

True. I suppose I was thinking of an act of deserved or at least sopposedly punitive violence, as when Dora decked him. If we are to go by how she acted towards Marten in the early strips (which, I find as I type this, still chaps my hide), a penile punch from Faye after a bad joke may be something akin to the bites sharks give during mating, only with the genders reversed.

[Near Lurker]

Holy crap I forgot how skinny she was.

I don't think she's worn anything like that since she showed up to the coffee shop in her undies.  And that was in the days when Faye's weight was pretty much restricted to dialogue.  Now that the frames are more clearly defined, she's skinner than Dora.

[Binary]

Ha! "x = Π if dessert = true"

Does that equality hold even if dessert != pie?

[Shok Xone Studios]

Wow, Jeph's really upped the cute quotient on Hanners as of late. She looks great in panels 1 and 5 in particular. Damn she's fun to watch while in over-analysis mode.

[Carl-E]

Huh. I knew Hanners loved counting (thus her proficiency at drumming), but I had no idea she was a full-blown mathematician. Forget CoD, she should get her Ph.D. She'd feel right at home in a university math department. In fact, she'd become the go-to person among her colleagues for interaction with the outside world. Socially awkward and inexperienced as she is, if the things they say about mathematicians are true, she'd still be the most mentally stable and socially at ease of the bunch.

That's a mighty broad brush you're painting us with!  I and the rest of my department are thoroughly offended. 

Well, we would be, if we ever got out.  You know, in order to interact socially or anything. 

[pendrake]

For comic #1762...

1. Panel 1, with a full-shot of dressed-up Hanners looking both pretty and cute, was very well done.  I also greatly enjoyed formal-wear Hannelore when she applied to Coffee of Doom.

2. Poor Sven, trying to give a balanced, middle-road compliment and gets an clinical overanalysis.

3. But it could have been worse...!  http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1276

4. "Lust coefficent / (awareness)²(h+3)."  Lust would have to be a pretty big number to be effective when divided over (awareness) squared!

5. cos(flirting)^-1 = blush quotient / (smirk?)²

6. "x = pi if dessert = true."  Pi may be true, but the cake is a lie.
--> "tort theory"?  I think Jeph meant "torte" if carrying on a dessert joke.  [P.S. Edit: Oh, could be "tart theory", which also works for dessert joke]

[foolsguinea]

Monday Question:    Where will Sven first take Hanners on their date?

Some ratty dive that wouldn't pass the fire code, to listen to speed metal.    0 (0%)
The most expensive restaurant in Northampton.    5 (10.6%)
Good Burger.    11 (23.4%)
Out into the countryside to look at the stars.    2 (4.3%)
The roof of the tallest building in Northampton. (Wait, isn't she afraid of heights?)    3 (6.4%)
An art gallery.    7 (14.9%)
Sven's apartment; it has everything they need.    3 (6.4%)
A Joan Osborne concert.    1 (2.1%)
Paris.    6 (12.8%) 5 (according to J)
In the back seat, hurr durr...    2 (4.3%)
[Last minute addition] a tavern with lots of booze to get her plastered.    2 (4.3%)
[Twelve hours late, by popular demand] A cleaning supply outlet! Ooh!    5 (10.6%)
["] A restaurant designed for germaphobes? Oh, I got nothin'    0 (0%)

Total Voters: 47 46

changing it out now.

[foolsguinea]

Oh good lord my Tuesday poll is a bunch of similar phrases. I tried using color to differentiate, I'm not sure it helped.

[Akima]

Hanners looks very nice. She's got the figure to bring that dress off, and, unlike Faye, pale blue is a good colour for her. Her shoes are... OK, but that horrid green bag clashes badly with her dress. But what is it with Jeph putting his date-bound ladies in pale blue dresses with white piping? First Faye, and now Hannelore. Is it a fetish or something?

[akronnick]

Perhaps Hannelore based her wardrobe choice for the experimental date on Faye's attire.

Gotta control for as many variables as possible ya'know.

[Dickbutt]

aw shes cute

holy shit feet

[Border Reiver]

First impression was, damn Hanners was drawn really cute in today's strip.  Second impression was that Sven having exactly the right reaction - WTF?

|I'm no rocket scientist (but I can apply the data calculations they came up with for artillery shooting), but that formula looks....complex.

[frogfactory]

Is it just me, or does this strip suddenly not feel like QC anymore?

[Tergon]

Hanners looks very nice. She's got the figure to bring that dress off, and, unlike Faye, pale blue is a good colour for her. Her shoes are... OK, but that horrid green bag clashes badly with her dress. But what is it with Jeph putting his date-bound ladies in pale blue dresses with white piping? First Faye, and now Hannelore. Is it a fetish or something?

Right now Jeph is sitting in front of his computer wearing a pale blue dress and with his hair done into tiny little pigtails.  He is sobbing as he reads Akima's post and whimpering, "Don't judge me!" over and over.
HE FEELS SO PRETTY




...also good comic.  Hanners looks adorable and it's good to get the occasional reminder that she does have that big ol' brain of hers at work.  Seriously, with the possible exception of Raven's savancy or Marigold's mechanical aptitude, she's basically the smartest of the gang.  Even if she is nuttier than a bag of squirrel poop.

[Border Reiver]

Is it just me, or does this strip suddenly not feel like QC anymore?

Nope.

Completely normal situation made funny by something coming from left field - check
Lots of pretty girls - check
Men who go from composed to "WTF?" or similar - check
The thought "How could Pintsize make this better/worse/more funny?" running through your head? - check
Written, drawn and posted by Mr. Jacques?- check

[Mr_Rose]

Also on the "Hannelore is adorable" front; the bag complements her eyes. Like they're the same hue but different shades.

[Carl-E]

Looks like QC to me!  

Remember, we're just beginning an arc (or two, assuming Angus shows), and the humor development may take some time.  But even for a one-shot, this is pretty good.  

Of course, I can follow the math, which makes it funnier...

(lust coefficent)/(awareness)²(h+3) x (susp. of disbelief)/(awkwardness)  

is actually pretty damn clever - awkwardness cancelling lust, small amounts of awareness cancelling the suspension of disbelief - this is, literally, "social engineering" in its purest form!  

I know, Jeph was just throwing stuff on the board to make fun, but really, it works in a perverse way.  

overall outcome = x(happiness per [something starting with di, I hope it's not anything to do with dicks])/(actual feelings)

Isn't happiness an actual feeling?  I guess it's the other  feelings that may diminish the happiness...

And even when Sven equivocates to avoid an issue, he's charming.  

And DAMN, Hanners is cute.  White crocs and all.  

[jwhouk]

My wife has a black pair of those same shoes. They're not crocs.

EDIT: Oh, I'm pretty sure the last equation is:

overall outcome = x(happiness/disgust)/(actual feelings)

[Carl-E]

Croc makes Mary Jane styles, too.  The chunky toe and thick sole are characteristic.  And hanners would want something disinfectable! 

[raoullefere]

That would be what's wrong, all right. And thank you, thank you for adding (inadvertently, I'll admit, but still) the word croccasin to my vocabulary. As if I'd not horrors enough to contemplate already.

[Carl-E]

I fully absolve myself of all responsibility for the horrors of your vocabulary. 

The more you portmanteu...
=================@

[Shteevie]

D'aaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.........

<3 Hanners. How can anyone not? She just needs a sensitive boy to come along and monitor, but not interrupt, all her OCD subroutines. She deserves to be happy.

[Blyss]

Implied ultra-violence? I suppose that is the "Talk softly, and carry a big stick" approach.

More like smirk, whilst tossing a small tactical nuclear device in the air, and catching it repeatedly...

[Heliphyneau]

But what is it with Jeph putting his date-bound ladies in pale blue dresses with white piping?

Maybe Jeph just likes that color on ladies.  Maybe those are the colors his first date wore.  Or maybe it's an elaborate in-joke with other webcomic artists that we will never get.  I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say fashion may not really be a priority for him.  >_> 

Regarding the shoes . . . 1. They're tan, not white.  2. They may or may not be Crocs, but they're certainly Mary Janes.  I cannot recall if Hanners was present at this point on the "stupid YouTube videos" soiree, but if she saw the clip of the turtle boning the Croc, she might be disinclined to wear Crocs at all, their ability to be disinfected notwithstanding.  Maybe they're special disposable/biodegradable shoes invented by her Dad, who knows.

My favorite equation on the board is: "x = pi if dessert = true"  ^_^  It's mathelicious and puntastic.

[Carl-E]

Regarding the shoes . . . 1. They're tan, not white. 

I'm not getting a reading of tan, though on second (alright, fourth) look, they're definitely sub-white. 

Eggshell? 

My favorite equation on the board is: "x = pi if dessert = true"  ^_^  It's mathelicious and puntastic.

Definitely.  After all, dessert never lies! 

Unless it's cake. 

[bicostp]

It's probably just the way they're drawn, but they look like those shoes they make to give the wearer a little extra height. (The ones with normal looking soles but the tall sides make up for the thickness to disguise it.)

She was worried about height differences in #1760...

[Carl-E]

All that talk about the dress got me thinking - aside from the emergency skirt, has Hanners ever been in a dress before? 

There was this, but I meant in the comic...

[Varian7]

Wow Hanners is cute!

[tomart]

Aw, Hanners, "...authenticity, inherently compromised, in this specific experiment, vs artifice..."

SO Adorable & Authentic!   

[Akima]

Croc makes Mary Jane styles, too.  The chunky toe and thick sole are characteristic.  And hanners would want something disinfectable!  

Hanners might just like stylish but comfortable shoes from a maker like Zeira. Hanners might be odd, but she has a sense of style (remember her biz suit, an now this look), so I can't see her wearing Crocs on a dinner date. Mind you, Sven isn't making much of an effort. I mean, a hoodie?

Edit: I should have clicked on Carl-E's link before I posted. I didn't realise Crocs made anything other than rubber shoes.

[ysth]

Mind you, Sven isn't making much of an effort. I mean, a hoodie?

He's got a three piece suit underneath, exactly the color of Hanners's dress.

[raoullefere]

I don't think it's in Sven's interest to dress up for this. Might make it seem too real, or screw things up in some other way. A man dressing up for a date can do that

Also, I don't think Sven was expecting Hanners to dress this well, either (I know I wasn't).

I didn't realise Crocs made anything other than rubber shoes.

Who did? And they all looked pretty rubbery, or mostly rubbery, anyway, so technically you're not wrong. When will companies learn to stick with what they're good at? Croccasin, my ass.

P.S. Carl, I really think Bogey was better—or are you just trying to mess with the Duke's brain?

[akronnick]

...I mean, a hoodie?

Yeah, but it's his Sunday-go-to-meetin' hoodie!

[Tergon]

While I emphatically agree that Hanners looks good in her dress - and it is a new outfit for her - does this honestly count as her massively dressing up?  I mean that dress isn't exactly a ball gown.  Yeah, it's a bigger effort than we've usually seen on her part, but still, it's just a dress.  That's a normal thing to wear, those are normal shoes, that's a normal purse.  A very pretty-looking combination thereof, and a notch above her usual outfits, but it's not like she went to the top end of town to get specially fitted for this.  Seriously.  Hanners normally wears, what, a shirt and jeans?  Just like every other female character mostly does?  And if we slapped any other character into a nice-looking dress for a date, we'd comment that it was a bit fancier, but it's not a huge step out.

My point being that while she's made an effort to look pretty, she's not all that fancied up.  Which means that Sven wearing a hoodie isn't exactly a disaster scenario.  He's dressed slightly more casual than her, no big harm.

Hell, you want to talk about clothing conspiracies, try this on for size.  I've always put Sven in the role of being a mirror character for Marten; Hannelore has shown a borderline obsession with Marten in the past, including her first-ever flirt; Marten's most common attire is his iconic black hoodie.  So when Marten's #1 fangirl goes on a date with the anti-Marten, what's he wear?  Why, the photo-opposite of what Marten himself would wear!
Intentional juxtaposition, or Freudian slip on behalf of Jeph when he picked Sven's outfit?  You decide.

[ysth]

Intentional juxtaposition, or Freudian slip on behalf of Jeph when he picked Sven's outfit?  You decide.

Or: Jeph likes hoodies, but didn't think a dark one would work for Sven.

[snubnose]

Very throughout poll ! Thanks !

[ysth]

Sven is just good at reading people. Now, he doesn't make the best USE of his skill, but...

Sure he does, he writes country hits!

[JackFaerie]

Annnnnnd Sven reminds me once again why he's one of my favorite characters and I totally have a crush on him.

[BarGamer]

You know it's a rat, because if it was a Corgi, they woulda been cooking it.

Also, Sven should use his powers for good, and become a therapist. "The Love Doctor is IN. Your Pants."

[foolsguinea]

Tuesday question: Can we get a ballpark on ideal ratio of authenticity to artifice? (For the Sven/Hanners date, not in general.)

~50% authentic, ~50% artifice    3 (5.7%)
~33% authentic, ~33% artifice, ~33% ambiguous    6 (11.3%)

Almost all artifice, don't encourage any real feelings.    2 (3.8%)
Mostly artifice, remainder leaning ambiguous    2 (3.8%)
Mostly artifice, remainder leaning authentic    4 (7.5%)

Almost all ambiguous, leave it open to interpretation.    4 (7.5%)
Mostly ambiguous, remainder leaning authentic    4 (7.5%)
Mostly ambiguous, remainder leaning artificial    0 (0%)
Mostly ambiguous, remainder split between authentic & artifice    2 (3.8%)

Almost all authentic, Svenners is my new ship.    4 (7.5%)
Mostly authentic, remainder leaning ambiguous    3 (5.7%)
Mostly authentic, remainder leaning artificial    1 (1.9%)

Something with complex numbers    18 (34%)

Total Voters: 53

That's 9 balanced, 8 mostly artifice, 10 mostly ambiguous, 8 mostly authentic, but a slight overall lean toward authentic. Interesting.

[Tergon]

Interesting opener to the date.  Hanners outright asks Sven what he'd be doing if he was trying to get somewhere with her, and not only does he give her an (apparently) honest answer, but he then confirms he's not planning on doing so.  Which says two things: Sven has no illusions that he's a not manipulator, but doesn't seem to want to be one any more.

But if he'd only get Hannelore to push her boundaries if he was trying to impress her, and he's not, then I guess it implies that he's actually going to do his best to do things Hannelore would like for this date.  So what are the odds that he'll accidentally end up giving a date that mirrors Faye's Seducing Hannelore For Dummies guide?  Potentially high, it seems.

[Carl-E]

This is amazing -  Sven's got a pretty high level of self-awareness. 

"If you were actually into me, I could get you to push your boundaries, and you'd wind up even more into me!" is just such an amazing ... confession, really.  In a "how I do it" kind of way. 

Kinda scarey, really.  I mean, we all know he's good, but when a person's good at what they do, they often don't really know what it is that makes them so good.  Sven's spent some serious thought on how to manipulate people, which is probably why some folk think he's such a douche. 

[Mad Cat]

But, but, but... I LIKE CORGIS!

They're cute and soft and cuddly and come when you call them. I don't want them compared to rats OR cooked and eaten in restaurants.

[Border Reiver]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Her Majesty the Queen!

However, your Majesty, the Corgi can be delicious when properly prepared with slow roasting, a good chili sauce and some kimchi.  Just saying - your pack could feed a small village as well.

[Akima]

Sven's spent some serious thought on how to manipulate people, which is probably why some folk think he's such a douche.

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."

It is not widely known, but Sun Tzu was quite the ladies man. His lost work "The Art Of Dating" was very influential, but Kong Fuzi (who was a spotty nerd and very awkward around girls) famously dissed it in his Analects: "More like The Art Of Douching, amirite?"

[ysth]

Hanners outright asks Sven what he'd be doing if he was trying to get somewhere with her, and not only does he give her an (apparently) honest answer, but he then confirms he's not planning on doing so.  Which says two things: Sven has no illusions that he's a not manipulator, but doesn't seem to want to be one any more.

Or...this is meta-manipulation.

Did anyone notice Sven called himself (or rather, had an imaginary foe, I mean date, call him) a "boy" in there?

For all his self-awareness, does he even realize he doesn't need fake ID anymore?