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Reviews

Review of "Even Grues Get Full"

by Illiad

reviewed by George Woolley

Even Grues Get Full
The Fourth User Friendly Collection
By Illiad
August 2003
0-596-00566-0, Order Number: 5660
144 pages, $12.95 US, $20.95 CA, £8.95 UK

Notes:

  • Published by O'Reilly.
  • The information above is taken from the O'Reilly catalog entry.
  • The spelling of Illiad is intentional.

Short Review & Recommendation

Excellent. Really, really funny.

This book is the fourth in a series of collections of User Friendly comic strips. It's filled with geeky humor about a cast of characters connected with Columbia Internet, a fictional ISP.

Is it for you? Reflect on the following questions:

  • Would you consider taking the Geek Test?
  • Do you enjoy "open sores" as a pun on "Open Source"?

If your answer to either of these questions is yes, I suggest you get this book.

As an alternative to going right out and buying this book, you could waste some of your precious time and actually (gasp) read my longer review -- and then buy the book.

George Woolley of Oakland.pm

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Books in the User Friendly Series

Notes:

  • All four books are published by O'Reilly.
  • To see catalog entry for a book, click on cover image.

Characteristics of Grues

In Zork, grues are subterranean predators. Here's some of what I've read about grues:

  • Grues have voracious, insatiable appetites. Their diet consists of adventurers, enchanters and hitchhikers. They have sharp claws, razor sharp fangs and ravenous jaws to support their eating habits.
  • Grues are constantly slavering and gurgling.
  • Grues loathe and avoid sunlight and even moonlight. Generally they lurk in dark places.
  • Grues are sinister, evil creatures. They are extremely touchy. Actually, there is no creature more foul-tempered than a grue.

Generally grues are to be feared and avoided.

User Friendly Site

Notes:

  • On the web, you can checkout UF cartoons to your heart's content.
  • The earliest strip in the archive is dated November 17, 1997.

Some Related Pages

Notes:

  • I got the link to the Geek code site from the UF site.
  • Many UF characters have Geek codes.
  • I got the Geek Test link from the O'Reilly user group newsletter.

Some Weird Questions

  • Do you believe in the Greek gods?
  • Do you believe in geek gods?
  • Do you own a gecko?
  • Does a gecko own you?
  • Are women mythical creatures?
  • Why is there something, not nothing?

Note:

  • As far as I know, these questions serve no useful purpose here.

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Contents

Notes:

The Title and the Series

Grues: Let's see

  • 1. In French, grues means cranes.
  • 2. In Zork, grues are vicious ravenous predators.
  • 3. In philosophy, there is a mischievous definition of grue that says an object is grue if it is first observed as blue before a certain date or if it is first observed as green on or after that date.

The intended meaning appears to be:

  • 2. vicious ravenous predators of Zork.

If you have an insatiable hunger for more information about grues, see the section in the left column entitled Characteristics of Grues.

Get: The relevant meaning seems to be something like "manage to become".

Full: The relevant meaning appears to be something like "containing as much as practical". But which container? Stomach, I'd say.

Even: The way I understand "even" in this context is fairly complex. It implies to me:

  • Many things get full.
  • Grues are (or might seem to be) among the least likely things to get full.
  • Nevertheless, grues get full.

User Friendly Series: The User Friendly Comic Strip is about the saga of a cast of characters who work at or are somehow involved with Columbia Internet, a fictional Internet Service Provider. The three earlier books in the User Friendly series were about these same characters.

The strip has been characterized, with good reason, I think, as "a light-hearted look at the world of the hard core geek".

How well does the book fit the title and the series?: I'll leave the judgment as to how well the book fits the title to the reader. However, I will say this:

  • One of the characters actually says "Even grues get full."
  • Another character is afraid of grues.
  • And there are characters in the strip who sometimes exhibit grue like behavior.

The book certainly is a collection of User Friendly strips, as the subtitle implies. The book is a worthy continuation of the series. And that's enough for me.

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About the Reviewer

According to the Geek test (see link in left column), I'm categorized as a Geek. I fell short of Total Geek, Major Geek, Super Geek, Extreme Geek, Geek God, and Dysfunctional Geek. So in considering this review, keep in mind that there is significant reason to suppose I'm a geek but not an über geek.

Do you really need to know anything else?

Well, if you do want to know more, how about the following, which, alas, is only an approximation.


-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1
GO d-@ s+:-
C++@ UL++@ P+++ L+++@ W++@ w---@ PS+++@ PE
t+ R+++ !tv@ DI++@ G e++ h@ y++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
my geek code decoded

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The Characters

In an earlier review, I reviewed the first User Friendly compilation, and I listed Dust Puppy, Crud Puppy and Pitr as three of my favorite characters. You can read what I said about them there, if you like. Here I'll add two characters to my list of favorite characters: Miranda and Cthulhu.

Miranda is exceptionally competent and also exceptionally sexy. Geek guys lust after her -- well, except for Pitr, who thinks she is evil. Check out the rather extensive entry for Miranda in the User Friendly character gallery.

Cthulhu is a fearsome malevolent and powerful ancient monster with (very roughly) the head of an octopus and the body of a man. For ages, Cthulhu was said to slumber in a sunken city somewhere in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. But Cthulhu has awakened and now appears wearing a suit in User Friendly. Beware.

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The Humor

Hm. How would I characterize the humor?

  • geeky
  • irreverent
  • off beat
  • Dilbert like, but for geeks

Gripes

Most of the time I could follow what was going on quite well. But occasionally I was clueless. So, I'm wondering, what else did I not really understand?

Some really great characters are not listed on the cast page, and, sadly, do not have geek codes. :(  I'm thinking particularly of Crud Puppy and Cthulhu. See them together at the local watering hole where Crud Puppy Drowns His Sorrows (2002-01-17). Crud Puppy and Cthulhu both exhibit exemplary grue like behavior and, surely, deserve inclusion on the cast page.

Also, where has Crud Puppy gone?

Final Thoughts

Will you like it? I don't know. If you actually got through this review, I'd say yes. Hey, why not go for it?

If you want to explore further, there's a link to the User Friendly site in the left column. Or if that's too much trouble, click here or there.

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Notes:

Last Updated: 2003-09-24