Comments on: The First Word

The First Word

homunculus — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:25:26 -0800

The First Word. A new Electric Sheep comic by Patrick Farley on the psychedelic origins of language. [NSFW, Via]

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:34:37 -0800

Stoned Ape Theory

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:41:24 -0800

Loved Farley's The Spiders

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:55:57 -0800

I remember Delta Thrives crashing my browser. Good to see the tech is keeping up with PF's vision. I would totally hit the protohuman Delta.

By: Panjandrum

Panjandrum — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:08:12 -0800

Oh wow, I remember loving his comics ages ago, but didn't he kind of vanish off the face of the Earth for while?

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:13:12 -0800

Farley draws beautifully but he does seem to have a problem finishing things. * checks on status of 10 years late sequel to web novel

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:14:05 -0800

It always irks me when I'm making love to my SO and she screams another monkey's name.

By: victory_laser

victory_laser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:14:39 -0800

Why are media experiences on the web (beyond embedded video) so awkward? The horizontal scrolling here is kind of a pain.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:15:47 -0800

The horizontal scrolling here is kind of a pain. Holding down the right arrow key is a pain?

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:32:36 -0800

Try using an opposable thumb instead, then.

By: evilmidnightbomberwhatbombsatmidnight

evilmidnightbomberwhatbombsatmidnight — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:41:27 -0800

The First Complex Sentence: "Magic mushrooms good - make law against."

By: winna

winna — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:49:35 -0800

It is interesting to find out that language came about because ancient hominids had magical blue glowing genitalia. The things I learn on metafilter! Seriously, it was beautifully drawn and the execution was clever and the overarching concept was well served by the presentation, but somewhere about the fourth depiction of monkey love I was all meh scroll scroll scroll. It seemed to only serve to draw out the punchline at that point. Note to everyone reading this at work - with the exception of the aforementioned glowing blue genitalia the monkey sex is tastefully drawn* and apparently ancient hominid females did not have nipples. *within the confines of the concept 'early hominid intercourse', that is

By: Hoopo

Hoopo — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:53:15 -0800

So the moral of the story is that sex on mushrooms has always been kinda weird since the dawn of mankind

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:57:11 -0800

That was really gorgeous and well-executed. I still have my reservations about the Stoned Ape theory in general, but it was great to see such a vivid representation of the birth of the first word, which I agree was probably that one.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:48:02 -0800

I was going to bitch about the horizontal scrolling and then I got to the bits with parallax scrolling and was all oh, wow.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:02:56 -0800

All I did was move my mouse to the right of the screen. No clicking or pressing was needed.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:28:56 -0800

1. I have really enjoyed Farley's work in the past, and liked this as well, but he goes so long between updates that I kind of forget about him. (And also am a bit irritated at abandoned projects.) 2. This is really beautiful. 3. Despite not having language or tools, let alone exercise equipment, early hominids were remarkably buff. Curious.

By: DU

DU — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:43:03 -0800

The horizontal scrolling here is kind of a pain. Actually, I thought this was the most seamless comic navigation I've seen yet.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:43:37 -0800

HJ, early hominids had to catch their own food. There were no McDonald's or or Taco Bells in the Pleistocene. This meant their diet wasn't full of cheap synthetic carbs. And if they weren't somewhat buff, they would probably die.

By: DU

DU — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:47:57 -0800

Also, I would think that "yes" and "no" would be the first words. Especially "no". You can use it in answer to things that aren't words (like someone stealing something of yours) and it's the first word many toddlers really understand conceptually, rather than skinnerianly.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:52:36 -0800

By: Green Winnebago

Green Winnebago — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:10:36 -0800

This is great work. The endless monkey sex and magical glowing penises seemed... unnecessary, at the very least. But the panels showing the evolution of mankind, and the birth of language, were nothing short of breathtaking. Definitely worth the 5-10 minutes it takes to read.

By: mkb

mkb — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:24:52 -0800

We're all descended from Monkey Dr. Manhattan?

By: jiawen

jiawen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:30:30 -0800

I really liked the fade-to-Ice Age section.

By: jiawen

jiawen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:35:20 -0800

Also, the evolution part reminded me strongly of this sequence from Cosmos. Perhaps Farley had it in mind.

By: cmoj

cmoj — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:51:08 -0800

Do cetaceans have psychedelics?

By: Barry B. Palindromer

Barry B. Palindromer — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:24:03 -0800

Yeah, "good" seems like kind of a let down after all that set up. But whatever. My browser crashed after the first word was uttered (le petit blue screen), so I don't know if the follow up w/ Delta made up for it. Nice to see Farley back at it.

By: Hoopo

Hoopo — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:59:50 -0800

early hominids had to catch their own food It's much worse than that localroger; they had to scavenge up their own mushrooms!

By: Fizz

Fizz — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:44:01 -0800

My only question is: WHY IS THIS NOT A FILM!?

By: CBrachyrhynchos

CBrachyrhynchos — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:56:15 -0800

I'm generally a skeptic of the psychedelic model (human exceptionalism is becoming increasingly problematic) but this was interesting and beautiful.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:05:18 -0800

I was going to bitch about the horizontal scrolling and then I got to the bits with parallax scrolling and was all oh, wow. I was impressed as well. Very nice implementation, imo.

By: Tom-B

Tom-B — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:03:59 -0800

That's not drawn, that's RENDERED. I like The guy I almost was much more — it is drawn, imperfect, timeless — it could've been drawn today. These psychedelic monkeys look like a 90s trance flyer.

By: IvoShandor

IvoShandor — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:09:47 -0800

That's not drawn, that's RENDERED. #nothinggoodcomesfromcomputers ?

By: Tom-B

Tom-B — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:25:26 -0800

#nothinggoodcomesfromcomputers ? #manygoodthingscomefromcomputers, but maybe generic plastic-looking 3D rendered monkeys aren't one of them.

By: Tom-B

Tom-B — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:30:03 -0800

Here's #onegoodthingthatcomesfromcomputers, for example

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:04:42 -0800

#manygoodthingscomefromcomputers, but maybe generic plastic-looking 3D rendered monkeys aren't one of them. I'm pretty sure those aren't monkeys.

By: Tom-B

Tom-B — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:49:44 -0800

yeah ok, hominids

By: vicx

vicx — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:06:24 -0800

I thought it was shame that Farley gave up his line art style which was extremely expressive for his newer poser based style but I'm half way thru this media and I can see why he headed in this direction and it smacks of ambition. Wow. He is going for it - this would look fantastic rendered into a animation - subpixel motion to make liquid smooth scrolling.