November 2014 Media Thread

ArisKatsaris

This is the monthly thread for posting media of various types that you've found that you enjoy. Post what you're reading, listening to, watching, and your opinion of it. Post recommendations to blogs. Post whatever media you feel like discussing! To see previous recommendations, check out the older threads.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

Rules:

Please avoid downvoting recommendations just because you don't personally like the recommended material; remember that liking is a two-place word. If you can point out a specific flaw in a person's recommendation, consider posting a comment to that effect.
If you want to post something that (you know) has been recommended before, but have another recommendation to add, please link to the original, so that the reader has both recommendations.
Please post only under one of the already created subthreads, and never directly under the parent media thread.
Use the "Other Media" thread if you believe the piece of media you want to discuss doesn't fit under any of the established categories.
Use the "Meta" thread if you want to discuss about the monthly media thread itself (e.g. to propose adding/removing/splitting/merging subthreads, or to discuss the type of content properly belonging to each subthread) or for any other question or issue you may have about the thread or the rules.

I rate this as "sucky ripoff of the original utility monster comic" http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2569

This comic is basically a pun. I don't see why would you compare it to SMBC's one.

6gjm12y

I also rate it as pretty sucky, but I don't see that it's a ripoff of the SMBC comic or even trying to do the same thing. The SMBC comic is about a utility monster. The EC comic is about the term "utility monster". The SMBC comic asks the question "what would the world look like, if we maximized utility and there were a utility monster" (and answers it in a silly fashion). The EC comic asks the question "wouldn't it be funny to draw a comic with a utility monster that -- ahahahaha -- actually looked like a monster?" (and, perhaps unfortunately, answers yes). The SMBC comic would be exactly as interesting, and exactly as funny, if the particular term "utility monster" had never existed. The EC comic would be 100% pointless if that particular term had never existed. [EDITED to fix a trivial but boneheaded mistake.]