The Hitchhiker's Guide to Humanity (2nd Edition)

February 20, 2022 12:25 PM

Everybody knows TVTropes is the best and most time-killing-est way to learn about the clichés and archetypes that permeate modern media. But dear reader, there is so much more. Enter UsefulNotes. Originally created as a place for tropers to pool factual information as a writing aid, the subsite has quietly grown into a small wiki of its own -- a compendium of crowdsourced wisdom on a staggering array of topics, all written in the site's signature brand of lighthearted snark. Though it reads like an irreverent and informal Wikipedia, its articles act as genuinely useful primers to complex and obscure topics alike, all in service of the project's three goals: "To debunk common media stereotypes; To help you understand some media better; To inform (and sometimes entertain) about subjects common in storytelling." Click inside for bountiful highlights... if you dare.

Main UsefulNotes Index

A small sampling from the major categories:

Geography: (including detailed subcategories for most major nations)
The Americas - Europe - Asia - Africa - Oceania - Major World Cities

Excerpts from an example subcategory:
The United States: "The general feeling among Americans about these parties is that one of them is evil, and the other is incompetent. Which is which depends on whom you ask. "
Main Index - American Political System - U.S. Presidents - U.S. States - U.S. Military - Legal System - Educational System - Newspapers - Holidays - Weights and Measures - Accents

Other major national pages:
Canada - Mexico - Brazil - United Kingdom - Germany - France - Spain - Italy - Russia - South Africa - India - China - Japan - Indonesia - Australia

Media and Art:
Artists index:

Painters - Sculptors - Photographers - Visual Effects - Mangaka - Cartoonists - Webcomic Artists

Film Index:

Early Films - Film Genres - Directors index - Silent Movies - The Pre-Code Era - The Golden Age of Hollywood - Film Noir - The Western - French New Wave - Dogme 95 - Bollywood - Nollywood - Film Formats - The Academy Awards - Box Office Bombs - Hollywood Accounting - The Criterion Collection - History of Hollywood - History of Animation

Television index:

Networks - Ratings - Prime Time - Sweeps - Block Programming - Syndication - The BBC - TV Series index

Music index:

Music Theory - Voice types - Chord Progression - Composers - Jazz - Bluegrass -  The British Invasion - Heavy Metal - Punk - Dubstep - Chiptune - Musicians by genre

Literature index:

Classic Literature - Shakespeare - Poetry - Short Stories - School Study Media - Great American Novel - Magazines - Fan Fiction - NaNoWriMo

Mainstream Media - Film & TV companies - Broadway and the West End - Kabuki - Ballet - Opera - Anime & Manga - Subcultures - Auteur Theory - Dada - Irony

Comic Books - Marvel - Ages of Superhero Comics - Newspaper Comics - Manga Effects - Webcomic Tropes

History:
Classical Mythology, the Pantheon, and Minor Deities - Trojan War - Pre-Columbian Civilizations - Economics - The Enlightenment - American Revolution - French Revolution - Russian Revolution - Weimar Republic - Fascist Italy - Cold War - Arab-Israeli Conflict - World War II - 1950s - Civil Rights Movement - 1990s - COVID-19 - Common historical settings - Undercovered periods in history

Science and Tech:
Alchemy - Bees - Black Holes - Cat Communication - Constellations - Dinosaurs - DNA - Evolution - Fermi Paradox - Genetics - Mathematics - Quantum Physics - Relativity - The Scientific Method - Solar System - Tornadoes - Volcanoes

Android - Apple Macintosh - Artificial Intelligence - The C Language - The Deep Web - Encryption - Javascript - Memetics - Microsoft Windows - MP3 - Mozilla Firefox - Python - Raspberry Pi - Smartphones - UNIX

Society and Culture:
Linguistics - Emojis - Fonts - Sign Language

Political Ideologies - Economic Theories - Economics - Capitalism - Socialism - Business organization - Bitcoin

School systems - Ivy League - Oxbridge - SATs

Oral Tradition - Mythology - Legend - Urban legends - Conspiracy theories - Fairy tales

Psychology - ADHD - Autism - Depression - Logical Fallacies - Personality Disorders

Furry Fandom - Juggalos - Nudism - Bosozoku - The Mafia

Homelessness - Funerals - Hats - Meditation - Memetics - Cultural Cringe - The Bechdel Test

Famous People:
Alexander the Great - Julius Caesar - Muhammad - Wu Zetian - Oda Nobunaga - William Shakespeare - Blackbeard - The 47 Ronin - Marie Antoinette - Louis XIV - Isaac Newton - Catherine the Great - Queen Victoria - Abraham Lincoln - Mark Twain - Theodore Roosevelt - Adolf Hitler - Albert Einstein - Joseph Stalin - Mahatma Gandhi - Helen Keller - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Desmond Tutu - Angela Merkel - Barack Obama - Historical domain characters

Military:
Militaries by Nation - Nuclear Weapons - Naval Warfare - Military Aviation - Modern Battlefield Weapons - The Laws of War - Wars in History

Religion:
Christianity - Islam - Buddhism - Hinduism - Judaism - Shinto - Atheism - Gnosticism - Wicca

American Churches - Amish - Mormonism - Orthodox - Patron Saints - The Pope

Hindu mythology - Jewish holidays - Islamic dress - Heresies and Heretics

Sports:
American Football - Baseball - Basketball - Soccer - Ice Hockey - Figure Skating - Tennis - Australian Rules Football - Cricket - Rugby

The Olympic Games - The NFL - The Super Bowl - The NCAA - The Premier League - The World Cup - Wimbledon - Tour de France - Motorsports - Horse Racing - Fantasy Sports

Karate - Judo - Taekwondo - Capoeira - MMA - UFC - Muay Thai - Sumo - Pro Wrestling

Airsoft - Bodybuilding - Darts - Skydiving - Mountaineering - Water Polo - Robot Combat

Games:
Video Game index:

History of Video Games - Arcade Games - The Console Wars - PC vs. Console - Game Systems - Video Game Design - E3 - Professional Gaming

Metroidvania - Platform Games - First-Person Shooter - Bullet Hell - Tower Defense - MOBAs - Rhythm Games - .io Games - Simulations - 4X Strategy Games - Point-and-Click - Visual Novels - Escape the Room - Idle Games - Interactive Fiction - Fighting Games - Unity Engine - Video Game AI - Shovelware

Video Games - Roleplaying - Geocaching - Tabletop Games - Chess - Dice - Card Games

(And that's just scratching the surface...)

posted by Rhaomi (11 comments total)

[This updated and greatly expanded post part of #DoublesJubilee!]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:25 PM on February 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm really enjoying these! Love the style and all the little tidbits, like this one from Abraham Lincoln:

In 1842 Abraham Lincoln was once challenged to a duel by a political rival, state auditor James Shields. In dueling, the challenged party selects the place of the duel, and the weapons to be used. Since Lincoln felt the situation was ridiculous, he stated that he wanted to use "Cavalry Broadswords of the largest size". He also added that he wanted the duel to be carried out in a pit 10 feet wide by 12 feet deep with a large wooden plank dividing the square which no man was allowed to set foot over. Shields was going to go through with it, but then saw Lincoln clearing branches with a broadsword and realized how insane the situation had become and backed down.

lol
posted by contrapositive at 1:29 PM on February 20, 2022 [15 favorites]

Okay, no need to wonder how I'll amuse myself for the rest of today! Thank you.
posted by humbug at 1:52 PM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Holy shit. That is an ambitious FPP. In the sense of having way more links than even the most devoted reader is going to click. Interesting links that is.

Bravo.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 3:39 PM on February 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Wow. Awesome post! Weeks of material here!
posted by glaucon at 5:53 PM on February 20, 2022

I think this link got lost or mangled: Economics

way more links than even the most devoted reader is going to click

Challenge accepted!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:18 PM on February 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

This post itself is amazing and worthy of its own FPP
posted by McNulty at 11:32 PM on February 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Excellent post, but I hope people keep TV Tropes method in perspective and don't consider it a definitive source or overrely on it as the manner in which the claims are made both in its breezy style and reliance on rabbit-holing supporting concepts under hyperlinks to snarky likeness based secondary articles has some real drawbacks, even if it is more fun.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:43 AM on February 21, 2022 [5 favorites]

gusottertrout, you're talking about MeFites here...
posted by wenestvedt at 7:44 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fun! Thanks. Spot checking a few articles about things I actually know about, they occasionally don't use the words I would have chosen for some things, but nothing's wrong in a misleading way. Which is at least as good as wikipedia and better than the New York Times. (They sometimes swap mass for density, and seem to be assuming the only possible version of the Copenhagen interpretation is a many-worlds interpretation. . . but, it's close enough for media commentary work.)
posted by eotvos at 8:05 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed the section on Irish accents which correctly identified the Tipperary accent as the ideal ;)
posted by fallingbadgers at 11:57 AM on February 21, 2022