Talk:John Hodgman

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Wikipedian An individual covered by or significantly related to this article, John Hodgman, has edited Wikipedia as
Hodgman (talk · contribs)
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Contents

[edit] Investions?

I was wondering if it would be a valid and/or Wikipedia-worthy endeavor to post articles on several of Hodman's inventions from The Area of My Expertise. I thought there could be an article titled Hohoq (also known as Ar) that would use the Areas of My Expertise as its primary source material but which would be written in a general way so as not to commit plagiarism and to include reference to Hodgman's book and explain that the 51st state is probably fictitious or mythological.

I believe it would be a bad idea to add spurious Hodgman facts into existing articles (for instance adding some of Hodgman's facts about eels into the eel article) but there could possibly be an article on Hobo Joe Junkpan, The Hobo Wars, and the Carlsbad Guanists. The articles would explain the debt owed to Mr. Hodgman, and add they are of doubtful truthfulness, but could explain the major beliefs that a believer in such places would have.

I should note that I have a perverse fascination with the spread of misinformation throughout the cosmos. (One instance of this is the part of Breakfast of Champions which describes how many people came to believe an erroneous fact about mirrors in Bermuda based on one man's conversation with Kilgore Trout) I understand that it is against the main purpose of Wikipedia to mislead and to present untruth as truth. However, I feel that these articles would have a purpose in that the fictions of John Hodgman have a certain purchase in the minds of his fans and are beginning to have a certain reality in popular culture.

I started this talk page to ask people's opinions on creating these articles instead of going off and writing them and putting them up because this way a debate can be had beforehand and the ideas of the wikipedia community can be expressed. I suppose I, or someone else better suited to do so, could attempt to contact the actual author of the book to see what he thinks as this would be very important. I also suspect this issue has come up before. (for example, I just found a page on the Land of Oz which is an article along the lines of what I am suggesting - although the Land of Oz is much more widely known.)

--Wmblair 21:51, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I would strongly recommend adding anything related to or originating from The Areas of My Expertise within that article, to make it clear that the things described in the book are fictional. We need to very clearly distinguish between fact and fiction. For example, relating to hobos, it's Ok to mention briefly that Hodgman wrote a book that deals partly with this topic (in fact, I believe the hobo article already does this). But that's really all that's required there; Hodgman's stories and lists are simply not on topic for the hobo article itself. --MarkSweep (call me collect) 22:36, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SMILF

(The term I was actually thinking of was SMILF: “Soccer Mom I’d Like to be Friends with.” And the territory included only New England. Otherwise, thank you, internet, for posting all this accurate information. That is all.—Jh)

[edit] Time Paradox

Now, maybe my clock is wrong, but I think that the sentance "On July 20, 2006 Jon appeared as an expert on net-nutrality." is a time paradox, since I'm watching this episode right now and its only July 19th. Is someone posting from the future? 66.69.180.106 03:25, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Deranged Millionaire

I am... upset that this article neglects to mention The Deranged Millionaire responsible for the They Might Be Giants Venue Songs.--68.234.87.76 20:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. The They Might Be Giants / Venue Songs DVD is a substantial work of John Hodgman and should be included in the article. 98.210.140.26 (talk) 21:10, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Qualifications

The article mentions that John Hodgman went to Yale University, however it doesn't mention what he studied. Perhaps someone can include what he studied and what qualification/degree he got. DarthVader 07:54, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] family?

is he really the father of an actual human child?

Yes. From the bio on the TAOME paperback: "He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter on the Upper West Side."--216.165.62.36 17:37, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mac/PC

John Hodgman mentioned at a booksigning I attended that he uses a Mac. The signing took place at the Barnes and Noble on Astor Place in New York City, on September 7, 2006. Not sure how you cite that, but I just wanted to verify that it is true, and if it isn't he certainly claimed otherwise. --216.165.62.36 15:59, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

He also confirmed it in an interview (source: http://www.thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=23181&page=3)--128.176.151.190 11:44, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
His persona of "PC" in the Apple commercials have inspired me to buy another PC. Making my current total four. --The Lone Bard 19:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Appearances on the Daily Show

Wouldn't it be more easier to put them all in a list? --MonJoe 07:35, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I'll do this. Admittedly, I might be a bit bullet-point-happy. - Pronoiac 05:53, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This American Life

The episode 226 - Reruns host Ira Glass talks to a couple named "John" and "Katherine" compares and contrasts their telling of a story from John's youth. Last names are never used, but the voice is unmistakably Hodgman's. If I could find any documentation that it is Hodgman, I'd recommend adding it to the list of This American Life appearances. Andrew.langmead 01:00, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

At the end of that act, he lists the names of the couples he interviewed, and the second couple is John and Katherine Hodgman. I don't know if that's enough documentation. Rioux15 (talk) 18:45, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fake Smear/Ad Campaign

In TMBG's 4th Podcast, there is a segment on Venue Songs wich contains many (if not all) the venue songs in it. The segment is narrated by (I forgot her name) a woman in front of a live audience. However, Hodgman's influence is not neglected, as the segmant is interspersed with a man and a woman talking about John's business partners/associates and about their horrible details. They compare John to these people and (obviously) favor John. Then, at the end of each, someone says "Paid for by the friends of John Hodgman". If you are younger than, say, 14, then you probably shouldn;t read more into this because there is adult content in it. (Only slightly, though.) The ads are very humorous, to say the least.

I Wiki'd John because I was curious about him after listening to that podcast for the second time. I never thought he'd have an account... --ArtifexCrastinus 05:55, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and also because of his appearance in Wired Magazine. --ArtifexCrastinus 06:03, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] IMAGE

While the new image posted of me (a sleepy pale person, obsessed with fondling his eyeglasses) is certainly fair game, I would like to report that the image previously deleted is equally free for your use. The creator of the image is my friend, the brilliant Elizabeth Connor, who posted it and two others on my book's official website [1] precisely for use online and in the press. All of this is true. That is all. Jh —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.108.249.242 (talk • contribs) 15:28, January 27, 2007 (UTC).

[edit] ZeFrank

he was on ZeFrank today... --Plankton5005 04:20, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of Daily Show appearances

I don't think a list of every Daily Show appearance is really necessary. VanTucky 02:44, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Agreed. I would like to see it removed altogether; it is cluttered and arguably unencyclopedic. Mabisa (talk) 21:57, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Okay, so no one has objected for the long time this has been up. I'm going to remove it forthwith. VanTucky 03:32, 18 April 2008 (UTC)