The Longest Now


Wikipedia The Movie: the maddest thing I’ve read in some time
Wednesday October 30th 2013, 9:30 pm
Filed under: Glory, glory, glory,indescribable,poetic justice,wikipedia

Wikipedia The Movie, a wiki-amusement started by Mark Pellegrini during the Chrome Age of Wikipedia, is hard to describe, and not exactly what you might expect. It is a surreal cataclysm of in-jokes pretzled together into a tilable shape. Its pieces have been polished by those who appreciate it: editors with a sense of humor, reflecting on a larger community whose relationship with humor is more nuanced. In short Dalí-scented scenes, and the language of cafeteria gossip, it captures something about the projects in a way that is honest to the madness of humanity. Enough to make any committed editor wince/smile.  It makes me wonder what a similarly frank slice of subtext would look like for other large-scale projects.

While I remember the original being written – not called ‘Episode 1′ at the time – I only discovered last year that it had been turned into a franchise, slowly unfolding year after year. And I can’t complain that I was cast as my favorite Shakespearean fragranceur.

Wikipedia the Movie

And then there is the musical version. For you who have shared the private hallucinations of those who breathe too deep of lemony Huggle vapour, give over a few minutes of your day to a stroll down memory’s phantasmagoria:

Wikipedia the Movie, Episode 1 ·  Wikipedia: The Musical


2 Comments so far
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Wow, what a beautifully written review! Even if I don’t get all the in-jokes, you’ve made me appreciate it even more than I would have if I had simply stumbled across it by some other means … and I haven’t even made it to the second Movie, yet!

Has anyone done any staged readings of any of these yet?

It would be fun to do a GNU/FSF type one of these. I already love doing movie/play scripts and integrating them in fun ways, but they are usually short little things in emails or messages to co-workers. Each week I host an IRC meeting for the Free Software Directory and each week I attempt some dramatic flare to start things off. Here is the transcript from today (complete with soundtrack linked to at the start):


<jgay> QUEUE Friday Free Software Directory Intro Music: http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/directory/th...

Stage left: our host runs out in a big horn sheep costume

<BenC__> Stage right: FSF intern runs out in a big horn sheep costume

and then we commence ramming

<jgay> RAM!!!

<BenC__> RAM!!!

*** <jgay> host loses

<BenC__> *Triumphant

*** <jgay> ashamed and defeated

<BenC__> Trotting around the stage victoriously

<jgay> Queue: from stage center.

Hello, and Welcome to this week's edition of the Friday Free Software Directory IRC Meeting

Please a big round of applause for FSF intern and his triumphant victory!</code>

Comment by jgay 11.01.13 @ 6:33 pm

Whoa.

Comment by Benjamin Mako Hill 11.03.13 @ 12:20 am



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