Comments on: Garkov -- Garfield + Markov chains

Garkov -- Garfield + Markov chains

not_on_display — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:31:44 -0800

Garkov -- Garfield + Markov chains [via mefi projects]

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:35:04 -0800

[this is good]

By: Flashman

Flashman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:38:26 -0800

"Mister Fun" is sorting his socks.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:41:47 -0800

You have to let everybody kill me.

By: rtha

rtha — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:42:49 -0800

Woe indeed. Wow.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:43:47 -0800

It's just the text - for a second I thought it was pasting together individual frames at random with the original text. Still, fun.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:48:11 -0800

Hi! I considered doing it panel-by-panel, actually, and I might try that variation at some point, but I kind of like the way that the original visual narrative gives the nonsense a sort of structure in these. With random panels I think it might read like, well, random panels instead of a cohesive (if idiotic or surreal) story. I wrote the db code for this at like 3am when I couldn't sleep this morning, so it kind of keeps falling over. I think I've resolved some of the issues and have kind of found a bootstrap method for dealing with the remaining problems, but it's been crazy ride already today tracking down my insomniacal mistakes in real time.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:52:31 -0800

enable images for the love of god :(

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:52:32 -0800

Ha, awesomely surreal. Yeah, definitely keep the panel ordering in-tact. Is there a way you could use image recognition to automagically figure out where the bubbles are? This is, of course, non-trivial, but it's actually not super difficult in the realm of image processing. Or, even better, you could make a front-end for people to contribute their own blankened comics, and where we can manually specify where the text would go.

By: djgh

djgh — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:54:05 -0800

Some of these are probably funnier than the original. Good work.

By: Helga-woo

Helga-woo — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:01:15 -0800

I'm so dull, I'm almost invisible.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:02:51 -0800

Ready for your cake?

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:04:12 -0800

It's just the text - for a second I thought it was pasting together individual frames at random with the original text. Someone else did that a year or two ago. It was pretty awesome, but this is even better. Let's talk dignity here The ratings wars escalate I hate to see a grown man grovel Almost Bob Dylan-esque Garfield works really well for stuff like this. I guess it's the total inanity of the original dialogue.

By: team lowkey

team lowkey — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:15:21 -0800

This was my best.

By: Chrischris

Chrischris — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:15:49 -0800

But for now, lets enjoy the moment Ah, what good news...

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:18:47 -0800

Some of these made me giggle.

By: grouse

grouse — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:21:13 -0800

Interesting, but not nearly as funny as Markovfilter.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:27:25 -0800

Existential despair Some of these are probably funnier than the original. Good work. So far, at worst they've been as funny as the original. That's the thing about Garfield - it's hard to not improve it.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:28:46 -0800

But for now, lets enjoy the moment Whoa. Poignant. Also, Uh oh my head is stuck.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:39:43 -0800

Garfield wants to FEEL ALIVE Garfield's not the one you need to worry about A lot of these work well if you read them as Garfield's complaints at being placed in Garfield, the comic.

By: eustatic

eustatic — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:44:08 -0800

Garfield is best with no dialogue, though.

By: davejay

davejay — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:46:38 -0800

let's go play!

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:56:18 -0800

There was an article some time back about how Jim Davis, previously an ad man, had design Garfield explicitly to be bland and faintly memorable. If Garfield as a comic had had too much ambition or personality, it wouldn't be so universally successful, especially as a whole line of products. Garfield functions mostly as a series of advertisements for Garfield merchandise, not as a comic intended to be all that funny. I think this goes a long way towards explaining how Garfield lends itself so naturally to all these weird little art experiments. It's not merely a bad or a common comic, but a bland and reliable one, so that variations on it are immediately obvious and strike a chord in short order. Also this is fun. I love Markov chains. I would also like to give another shout-out to Lasagna Cat.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:13:49 -0800

The site is currently being hammered so hard that I cannot run the bits of bootstrap code I'm using to prop up my own bad coding. I think I know what I'm doing this weekend.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:23:35 -0800

^cortex: The site is currently being hammered so hard that I cannot run the bits of bootstrap code I'm using to prop up my own bad coding. I think I know what I'm doing this weekend. And that's how I WIN AT TEH METAFITELR!!~! ...next I have to distract mathowie somehow.

By: paradoxflow

paradoxflow — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:33:19 -0800

This is awesome, though it would be even better if there was a larger pool of strips to draw from. Right now it seems like there is only 7-8? Also: The Nietzsche Family Circus

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:37:02 -0800

Yeah. It takes 5-10 minutes a pop to set up a new strip, but I'm hoping to get at least another dozen or so up soon.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:42:34 -0800

Pluck me a heifer!

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:16:07 -0800

My favourites are the ones with Jon waking up. Because the surreal text works as dream mumbling, so then you just have to hope you get something in the last panel like: Jon - "I exist to feed Garfield." G - "You have coffee from Brazil." I wish I could just reload that one strip over and over.

By: xbonesgt

xbonesgt — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:32:59 -0800

> let's go play!

I am laughing so hard I'm crying.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:11:00 -0800

Find us some sheep!

By: unknowncommand

unknowncommand — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:13:32 -0800

Yay, this is great.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:42:34 -0800

Awseomer than the original Garfield Randomizer. It got taken down, but someone posted the code, and I saved it. I load it up every once in a while, and it still works, as all the garfield strips that it was pulling from are still there, but this is a solid step beyond.

By: mhoye

mhoye — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:22:42 -0800

More evidence that there's nothing you can do to a garfield strip that won't make it funnier.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:28:18 -0800

Complete awesome.

By: lizarrd

lizarrd — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:36:25 -0800

The greatest thing about Garkov is enjoying the math behind it. Yay for Markov chains + the inanity of Garfield and such. Interesting though that as a kid I loved Garfield, but now these manipulations of the strip are all that I can stand.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:07:42 -0800

Just in case any of you MeFi readers didn't know, MetaFilter has its own MarkovFilter that works on any one user's commenting history. Also, I am again awed at the inanity and genius of cortex' projects.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:45:37 -0800

MarkovFilter is better than Garkov. What about Febreze? That's supposed to fulfill your craving for carbohydrates. Maybe it was ridiculous to accuse languagehat of being at home. I believe it, but that's about how people sleep when their refugee claim is denied posted by guyzero at 11:44 PM on June 6 [+] [!] It's like it's actually me!

By: The Power Nap

The Power Nap — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:07:19 -0800

MarkovFilter If you see your rent check as a people need to embrace a multi-cuisine system if we can take over one of which earned them a trip to the hospital for exposure. All of these are factors. My instinct is that I'm speeding if I have a culture that is convinced that you are delicious and will stop at nothing short of lethal blunt force trauma to get into it. He stepped back with a few pidgeons cause I'd be swell if my sister had been discarded. Casually tossed away. Hmmm, Guess I'm not needed here anymore. *gunshot*

By: tss

tss — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:33:14 -0800

There are real Markov filters, you know.</nofun>

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:06:59 -0800

I keep a text file of the best MarkovFilters. I know they've been posted in threads here ad nauseum so I won't take up more space, but it's a better time-waster than most flash games, for sure.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:11:58 -0800

I think older Garfield strips are much better than newer ones. Comic Strip Doctor's page on it illustrates what I'm talking about.

By: naju

naju — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:01:28 -0800

Oh, the title of this game is overblown. The ever-present cultural satire is often very beneficial in these situations. For example, hate groups really embraced the power of the country at least, to have an extended field day sorting through the texts, looking for clues within and without the woman as his significant other, a kind of batshitinsane, but fans of Pale Fire should appreciate it.

By: obvious

obvious — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:17:35 -0800

MarkovFilter sez: From my own experience dealing with fundamentalists, this will be a big white van in my driveway. No, really. Hey, all you people who bought his records - this is your fault. You know who you are.

By: cortex

cortex — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:24:14 -0800

Garkov's undercarriage has been rewritten. You can once more save strips, as well as view people's saved strips in the Hall of Fame.

By: Stove

Stove — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:41:09 -0800

I found some pretty good ones. Hee hee. Garfield trying to make Jon feel better about himself? Seaweed sure is exciting.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:01:20 -0800

cortex: you can fix the bugs, but then... can you fix those pesky fleas?

By: popechunk

popechunk — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:49:28 -0800

If you DO switch to a dermatologist, he prescribed me some shampoo, and POW!, it was consensual sex.

By: davejay

davejay — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:35:17 -0800

Oh, THIRDING too much of a related tidbit: hookworm prevalency in the moment. How about fritter.metafilter.com, or internationalhouseof.metafilter.com? Only posts about fritters, pancakes and similar crimes.

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:33:04 -0800

Ok, I'm still loving Garkov. Any chance of an RSS feed for the Hall of Fame? (I can haz Garkov pony???///)

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:00:23 -0800

That's not a bad idea, yellowbinder. Though the Hall of Fame is a bit of a firehouse at this point; I designed with maybe a few strips a day getting saved, and instead it's been hundreds a day, which would be an awful lot to find in your feed reader. I'm thinking about ways to introduce a little more quality control into the process (perhaps via some voting-on-the-archives component), and if I get that into good shape I think an RSS feed would be a natural addition, yeah.

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:23:54 -0800

Heh, I for one wouldn't mind hundreds a day, but I'm sure many would. Quality control is a good thing. So is this one.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:46:01 -0800

Oh. I see. Four, hell. Give me nine million and a melody will match up, and she's got her head screwed on straight. I agree they'd be tough and stringy on the religion. Depends on what she wants: gear or sheet music or a mandible, or even herpes, to a few classmates, get in a nice guy who's trying to apply to me!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:47:08 -0800

I love that kinda stuff. I think sounds close to home way, he thought, typing it into the English language.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:59:03 -0800

A winner every time!