Monday, 4/4

I might want to join Instagram just for this one page.

While reading the paper Sunday morning (yes, I still read those mythical things called “newspapers”, even if it's the New York Times on a laptop) I came across an article on a very strange Instagram page called “the Depths of Wikipedia”. It was started by a University of Michigan student during Covid lockdowns, and highlights some of the strangest things you'll ever find on Wikipedia.

And some of it is hilarious.

Now, I've laughed my head off at Wikipedia entries on my own. After all, when you have a crowd-sourced encyclopedia, you're bound to find strange and unusual stuff, like the time I was looking up hockey player Jaromir Jagr for Loraine and read in the “personal facts” section of his entry that he had just married a goat. Sports and political figures have the most snark and inaccuracies in their entries; probably not surprising when you consider all the fandom and political agendas out there.

But the cake was probably taken by one of the Wikipedia pages showcased in the article, a page for a song called “The Most Unwanted Song”. It's an actual tune from the mid 90s put together by two avant-garde artists and a composer. When I saw the description of the song I literally did a spit take (I usually drink tea while reading my newspaper, after all). It's not snarky and, as far as I can tell, there's nothing fake about it. Apparently, the song is just this bizarre---

“The song was designed to incorporate lyrical and musical elements that were annoying to most people. These elements included bagpipes, cowboy music, an opera singer rapping, and a children's choir that urged listeners to go shopping at Walmart.”.

Does that sound like a good song or what? And here's the topper—it's 21 minutes long. Yes...almost a third of an hour of aural irritation. So, for your listening pleasure...

Let me guess—you didn't make it through even the first minute, right? Don't worry; neither did I. But thanks, “The Depths of Wikipedia”. Now I at least know something like that exists.

I appreciate it.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)