Sunday, October 11, 2009

Dead parody sketch

Dead parrot [With thanks to Monty Python]

I continue to be amused at Conservapedia and its unintentionally hilarious entries. Did you know that the Nobel prize is an "often-politicized award that is criticized for increasing evidence of bias and possibly even corruption"? Also, did you know that "it has been ostensibly given for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature, and peace"? "Ostensibly?" Gee...last I knew, it was considered to be one of the highest honors in the world. Hmm, I wonder what changed? One of the things the entry mentions is that the award is never given to those who question evolution. That's because any scientist worth his or her salt knows that good science supports evolution! Gahhhh.

Although Conservapedia reads like a parody website to many of us, it isn't. However, there are some fun and notable such sites out there that use the same Wiki platform as Wikipedia, with user-generated content. I present to you some of those I found (along with some random excerpts), with a couple of them being non-parody sites...but like Conservapedia, they can also be unintentionally funny. I think what is even funnier is that there are some people that think these are real. As one article about parody websites observed, "You either know the facts to be able to laugh and enjoy these parody websites, or you have been duped and taken in by them." A friend on Facebook often posts articles from the Onion, and invariably one of his friends will write something like, "That's horrible!" or "How can anyone do such a thing?" Then he has to explain that it's from the Onion, it's not real, blah di blah blah. I get the impression that some people are just missing the satire gene, or have microscopic senses of humor.

Warning: Some of these sites contain a lot of foul language and are not for the fainthearted or for those at work who are playing on the Web rather than doing actual work.

Encyclopedia Dramatica First up is Encyclopedia Dramatica, with the motto "In lulz we trust." They focus especially on Internet culture, but include entries on current events and topics. I'm not easily offended, but there is really some nasty stuff here! Some is genuinely funny, but some is groan-worthy, as in, "Ohhh, did you really have to say that?" On their main page, they include a section called The Moar You Know, with tidbits like "Did you know...that you'll need at least two sticks of butter and two ounces of cream cheese for a Paula Deen recipe?"

Random page:

Twice is defined as once more than once and once less than thrice (also called "three times"). If you've done something twice you're either a big fan of it or just really stupid. Twice can also be used as an intensifier for threats, especially if you're an Internet tough guy: "Listen, asshole, if you cross me again I'll kill you - twice."

Bigipedia is not really an encyclopedia website, but a UK radio show based on a fictional website, a parody of Wikipedia. On the main page, there is a section titled the BigiMedic questionnaire, an automatic diagnosis hotline.

Just simply complete the questionnaire. Answer truthfully - if you lie we will know.

First question - Are you conscious?

Thank you. Are you -

  • at home
  • not at home
  • at knifepoint
  • half in and out of a car
  • next to a war

Deletionpedia Deletionpedia is actually legitimate. It is the repository for the things that get deleted from Wikipedia. I have to wonder...why would you want to read stuff that has been deemed irrelevant, boring, or untruthful? Just read Sarah Palin's book when it comes out! Hahaha! I couldn't resist.

Random page:

Freddie's Master Plan, real name Gulliver Martin, is a London based solo rock artist who was also one of the founding members of the Mental Melons and Ruptured Duck in the 90's. Deleted because Band is unsigned, according to their Myspace page; no evidence of notability.

Ouch, man!

Uncyclopedia Uncyclopedia bills itself as the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. I find this one genuinely funny and well-written, with some pages containing warnings that "this entry may be Overly British" or "this entry may contain factual material." Many contain bogus Oscar Wilde quotes. The entry on "People" wonders if you may have arrived there accidentally.

People

Whoops! Maybe you were looking for Assholes?

Whoops! Maybe you were looking for Soylent Green?

Random page:

Bacon fat is fat derived from bacon. During World War II, the Allied forces discovered that it carried unparalleled incendiary properties, and successfully deployed it to undermine the German V2 rocket program.

To obtain and conserve the precious commodity, a major propaganda campaign was undertaken within Allied countries and airdropped into enemy territory, such that fear of the substance would reduce the need for its actual use.

Stupidedia Stupidedia pretty much says what it is, with its logo stating that it's the encyclopedia without sense.

Random page:

Gorillas (latein: Jelena) sind gelatinöse Lebewesen, die im Regenwald leben und wie die Schimpansen ihre eigenen Kinder fressen. Ihre Existenz ist allerdings bis heute umstritten.

Oh, did I forget to mention that it's in German?

Devil's Wiki The Devil's Wiki is not about stripping down to the Devil's Pajamas (i.e., your birthday suit) and dancing around a bonfire while someone strikes you about the torso with a live chicken. I'm sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the Devil's Wiki. (That was some vivid imagery running through my mind for a moment there.) This site is intended to be an update of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, and some of you may remember that I'm a big Ambrose Bierce fan. Mark Twain was witty and cutting; Ambrose Bierce could flay you alive with his words. Ambrose Bierce was a human ginsu knife. This site has potential, but is poorly written and has very few entries. I hope it gets expanded.

Not-so-random page, with apologies to my conservative friends:

Conservatism is a term used to describe the practice of ignoring newly discovered reason and logic. The term has become synonymous with factors such as white superiority, military power and corporate greed. It is used as a political platform as a means of false promises.

Christopedia To counteract the Devil's Wiki, we have Christopedia. This one isn't a parody, but like Conservapedia, has its humorous moments. For example, the writeup of Barack Obama includes this:

Obama is the first mulatto, and first person having ties to a known terrorist, to win enough support for the presidential nomination of any major American political party, and to be elected President of the United States. As winner of the U.S. presidential election of November 4, 2008, Obama was sworn in as America's first Affirmative Action President on January 20, 2009 in a lavish inaugural ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. Although it is claimed that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii this has been widely disputed.

Mulatto? Who even uses that word anymore? "Affirmative Action" President? That's not all that funny...that's actually pretty offensive. And since when was an inauguration not a lavish event? Of course, they had to throw in some birther lunacy for good measure. No random pages here--they were all pretty boring, except for the ones written by hackers. Like the one on the Holy Ghost. The entry merely says, "BOO!"

Liberapedia The liberal response to Conservapedia? Liberapedia, of course! This site is half-satire, half-serious, and half-snark. [grin]

Random page, with a nice dig at Son of Schlafly:

Freedom means choosing for yourself what you do do long as you don’t do harm. Freedom means people in power can’t stop you from doing reasonable things. Freedom means living in a Democracy where you can do your bit to choose your rulers. Freedom means the state protects you from bullies. Bullies can be men who say they are men of God and think you should be punished for your sins. When the men of God do harm nobody punishes them in the United States. Bullies can mean bosses who give you hardly any pay and make you work in bad conditions for long hours. Bullies can mean other types of people as well.

Freedom means you can do edits you think are right on a Wiki that suits you. Liberals are free here. Conservatives can perhaps be free on other websites. Nobody except Andrew Schlafly is free on Conservapedia.

Illogicopedia I kind of like Illogicopedia; it appeals to the surrealist in me. However, a little goes a long way. They say their site is "The nonsensical encyclopedia that anyone can mess up. Proudly making posts vaguely more interesting and longer than Twitter since some time in the past." Some entries are complete nonsense, but the funniest ones make a little sense in a very silly way.

"Randumb" page:

Slightly Depressed Rainbows are very rare but a sight to see.

Unlike a regular rainbow which has the colors Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet; a slightly depressed rainbow has the colors Black, Blood Red, Pale Blue, Faded Yellow, Dark Turquoise, Gray, and Light Brown. Unlike a fully depressed rainbow, which is all black, a slightly depressed rainbow is a little bit happier. A regular rainbow uses the acronym ROYGBIV, a slightly depressed one uses the acronym BRBPBFYDTGLB which has been deemed a pronounceable acronym by the National Acronym Association. Speech expert Mark Stewart says it should be pronounced Brebpebfuhyeedtiggleba. If you see a slightly depressed rainbow, give him a cookie, he won't be as depressed anymore.

Encyclopedia of stupid The Encyclopedia of Stupid claims to be about "All things stupid. May include this website." Each entry begins with "[whatever] is stupid."

Random page (this really made me laugh):

Scientology is stupid.

Scientology is a cult invented by noted science fiction hack Elron Hubbard. In a drunken bet with fellow hack Arthur C. Clarke, Hubbard boasted that he could create a religion based on science fiction characters and get most of Hollywood to join it and give it money. Clarke took the bet and the rest is history.

Clarke was reportedly incensed at Hubbard's success and made a side bet with Hubbard that there was no way he could get an A-list celebrity Scientologist to kidnap and brainwash a young starlet half his age and subsequently get him to go on Oprah and dance on a couch. Hubbard took the bet, and although he died before he could witness the outcome of their challenge, in 1984 Tom Cruise succeeded in bringing it to a finale.

Wickerpedia Last, but not least, there is Wickerpedia. Yes, a Wiki devoted to wicker. There is currently only one entry, on...you know...wicker, but since Wickerpedia's launch in 2001, they've been working on 604,099 articles. Fun facts from the main page...

Did you know that American statesman John Milledge named Athens, Georgia, the city surrounding the University of Georgia, after Athens, Greece, the city where wicker was first used to make tables?

On this date in 1937, Camille Chautemps became Prime Minister of France in the second Popular Front ministry. Wicker was declared the national building material.

Who knew? Reminds me of a show in the early 80's, an all-too-brief run of a satire of police shows. The main character is walking down a dark street in the city, in what looks to be a rather seedy part of town, and walks by a "24-hour wicker store." A Silver Squirrel Award to anyone who can tell me the name of the show, and the movie franchise (three movies) based on it, as well as the silver-haired actor who played in both the TV series and the movies.

This entry was meant just for fun, but there is a deeper message here. Just because you read it on Teh Interwebs doesn't mean it's true. You know the saying "If it seems to good to be true, it probably is?" When it comes to forwarded emails or some websites, if the story seems beyond belief, outlandish, or deliberately outrageous, it's probably either false or meant to be funny. If you can't pick up on that, the joke is on you.

17 comments:

  1. What do you mean- "Just because you read it on Teh Interwebs doesn't mean it's true"?!?

    Does that mean the exiled member of the Nigerian royal family isn't sending me the sum of U.S. $17,500,000.00 after I sent him all of my account information?!? :)

    Great post. I must explore some of these "-pedias" myself.

    XOXOXOXOXO

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Beth,
    Thanks for the chuckle. I just read through Conservapedia and all I can say is, if the people who write that garbage actually believe it, they're sick. Maybe we should send them to a Pedia-trician ...
    Best,
    Marty

    ReplyDelete
  3. The name of the show was Police Squad with Leslie Neilson and I can't think off hand the name of the movies but Pricsilla Presley was in one of them, Doh!!!!!!!!!!
    Lulu

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous - the movies were all THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD!

    And it starred (sadly) Conservative Canadian actor Leslie Nielson, and was produced by the comedy team of Zucker, Abrams and Zucker - before one of the Zuckers went all Right Wing and wrote and directed the exerable anti-Liberal so-called "comedy" AN AMERICAN CAROL (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617 )....

    ReplyDelete
  5. i think the term 'conservative canadian' just means they eat their fries without the ketchup and mayo mixed together.


    will have to check some of these out- already know and love the onion page.

    xxalainaxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wasn't it 2004 that Tom Cruise did the couch dancing thing? Cool post though, I knew about the Onion but will have to check the other ones out soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, who knew there were so many -Pedias?

    I'm PediaSure I'm Pedia'd out!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you put uncyclopedia there. That's a hilarious site.

    I also recommend dickipedia.org.

    As a counterargument to Christopedia, there's wiki.ironchariots.org.

    And for Zappa fans like myself, there's wiki.killuglyradio.com :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm going to guess Leslie Nielsen and Police Squad for that 80's show. But, that's just a guess, and surely someone else might have the answer.

    As for the Wiki-work, I think you covered most of them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh. I now have that Police Squad opening theme running through my head. It's freakin' awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I know those pedia stuff are starting to feel more invasive than the Home Depot and Starbucks of the world. But something needed to happen to the format of instruction. People are challenging the Academic and The libraries with the internet. And that is a good thing, at least I think so.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think you need to add "comedian" to "hot" and "intelligent". This is funny, and it obviously took a lot of research to come up with all those -pedias. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beth, thanks for putting all the work into this. This will provide laughs for weeks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, Dan - then this is for you!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4hZmKj-CiM

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is a better transfer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm_t3g4RhpY .

    I remember THE VILLAGE VOICE television critic of the time referring to the POLICE SQUAD! theme as "sounding like it was composed and performed by a SWAT Team"....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Very cool collection. I didn't know any of these existed. It looks like I need a new folder in my favorites list. Thanks for collecting the data.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, this entry is so Wiki-bad. Hard to believe there are people that get drawn in hook-line-and-sinker (that is a fitching reefer :o)

    ReplyDelete

I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?