Wiki Walk: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Liquid''': I've been up all night doing research.<br />

'''Ocelot''': Research? On what?<br />

'''Liquid''': Well, it was supposed to be on the current geopolitics of modern nuclear weaponry.<br />

'''Liquid''': I got slightly sidetracked.|''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''}}

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* The titular character of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' will occasionally fall into one of these.

{{quote| (Sub) '''Haruhi:''' Hmm... cherry blossoms... petals falling... blood splattering... dig a hole... bury... under the cherry blossom...<br />

(Dub) '''Haruhi:''' Hmm... cherry blossoms. Cherry blossom petals fluttering to the ground... blood spraying... digging a hole... burying... under a cherry tree. }}

* In ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]'', Miu had a train of thought that started with baseball and culminated with the realization that Nobue's birthday was the next day. It went something... like this (direction changed to limit confusion):

{{quote| Baseball > Broken bones > Skeleton > Ghosts > Things that disappear > David Copperfield > Burned out on magic > Reveals how tricks work > Birthday}}

* Orihime Inoue's daydream in ''[[Bleach]]'' begins with her and the main character, Ichigo, on a romantic walk in the park, which turns into a race against an African-American athlete, ending in her victory (in a ''boxing match''), and immediately followed by an attempted assassination.

** She is shown doing so from time to time. Example: once during the Rukia rescue arc, Ishida saw her crying, and she explained she was just looking at the sun, proceeding to compare the sensation to many other unrelated things - in order, sneezing, feeling like going to the bathroom while in a bookstore and feeling the gums bleeding while biting on an apple.

{{quote| "Ichigo... there were so many things I wanted to do. Become a teacher... or an astronaut... or open a pastry shop... or go to Mr. Donuts and say 'Give me one of each!'... or go to Baskin Robbins and say 'Give me one of each!' If only there were five of me! Then I could be born in five different towns, and eat five different meals, and have five different jobs. And all five of me... [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|could fall in love with the same guy.]] ... Ichigo. Thank you. [[Tear Jerker|Goodbye.]]"}}

* Yuuki from ''[[Kanamemo]]'' at one points starts rambling about sneezing caused by curses, straw dolls and wood shortage, indicating that something is not quite right with the usually quiet woman -- and she indeed collapses from high fever shortly after.

* An old man in ''[[Nichijou]]'' manages an impressive one about how miserable his life is starting with how nobody came to his online chat party, to people leaving the bus when he got on, to a goof up on a school trip, to insomnia, to gaining weight, and ending on how his last birthday present was a roll.

* In ''[[Durarara]]'', Shizuo decides to ask his new Russian [[Sempai-Kohai|Kohai]]/human encyclopedia, Vorona, about Siberia. This somehow morphs into a lecture on cakes.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Finding Nemo]]'' Dory starts to go down this path several times, but she is usually stopped.

* ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]''. The narrator at the beginning of "Scene 24."

* In "[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2147/2147-h/2147-h.htm#2H_4_0009 The Murders in the Rue Morgue]" by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], Auguste Dupin shows off his general awesomeness by tracking the narrator's train of thought through fifteen minutes of silent walking and several mental topic shifts, and saying exactly the right thing at the end.

** Later imitated by [[Sherlock Holmes]], who was tracking Watson's thoughts at the time.

* The Icelandic monk Sulien, in Dorothy Dunnett's ''King Hereafter'', takes [[Wiki Walk|Wiki Walks]] across the world. For example, in a simple trip from Scotland to Rome, he makes it to Russia, among other places across Europe. And it all seems logical at the time.

** Lampshaded by one of his friends, who notes that "Only Sulien could be shipwrecked on the east coast while sailing from west to further west."

* [[Stephen Colbert]] goes on purposeful [[Wiki Walk|Wiki Walks]] on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' using [http://wikiality.wikia.com/The_DaColbert_Code The DaColbert Code] for purposes ranging from predicting Oscar winners to solving the murder of JFK.

** To date, things the DaColbert Code has [[Prophecies Are Always Right|been right about]] include ten correct Oscar picks and a Presidential election.

* ''[[QI]]'' is more a televised, bloody funny [[Wiki Walk]] than anything else.

* Constable Frank Gladstone from ''[[The Thin Blue Line]]'' is a master of this, often omitting the intervening steps and just announcing his seemingly random conclusions to his perplexed comrades. His explanation of why fridge magnets are to blame for teen graffiti is a classic.

 

== Videogames ==

 

 

== Webcomics ==

** And as if that weren't enough... [http://xkcd.com/609/ he made the point again regarding a certain other Wiki].

** If that's not enough, there's the matter of [http://xkcd.com/1051/ being embarrassed by what you have and haven't Wiki Walked to].

* The [[Bungling Inventor]] of ''[[RPG World]]'' started repairing a broken appliance (IIRC, a toaster, please confirm), and ended up building a time machine.

* ''[[Cracked]]'' has its own name for this phenomenon: [http://www.cracked.com/funny-6646-wikipedia-freefall/ Wikipedia Freefall].

** [[Cracked]] itself can very easily become one of these due to links in the text as well as "recommended" pages at the end of the text.

* [[Less Wrong]] is one of these for those who are interested in being rational. There are links in the text of posts to other posts.

 

* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', Mr Muddlefoot does this several times through the show.

* An episode of ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' shown from Pinky's perspective (complete with his nose in the center of the camera view) reveals that his random responses to Brain's [[Catch Phrase]], "[[Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?|Are you pondering what I'm pondering]]?" are the end result of [[Wiki Walking]].<ref> Though technically it's the result of Rob Paulsen [[Harpo Does Something Funny|ad-libbing.]]</ref>

{{quote| '''Chef:''' Who's havin' buttsex?}}

* In one episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Bobby joins a school club specializing in pop culture studies, and everyone quickly realizes he's a master of pop culture quizzes. But as pop culture study becomes work rather than play, he becomes more distressed. Then, during one moment while in a shopping center, his mind suddenly starts topic-linking lots of trivia in a continuous Wiki Walk tree of thought that doesn't stop, and this triggers a panic attack that causes him to pass out.

* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Marge is trying to find a way to bring culture to Springfield

== Real Life ==

* Creating one of these is more or less the point of [http://wiki.swil.org/index.php/Telephone_Oracle Telephone Oracle]

** Variants on this game put restrictions on what you're allowed to click on. It is also known as wikiracing, when it is played in a competitive form, with the aim being to get from one page to another either in less time or less clicks than your competitors.

* [[wikipedia:Free association|Free association]] is a form of psychotherapy that, at least in one form, is essentially a mental Wiki Walk. (The game "word association" is a multi-player version of this.)