Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/October 31 to November 6, 2021

Most Popular Wikipedia Articles of the Week (October 31 to November 6, 2021)
Prepared with commentary by, , 

Movies, holidays (thankfully not Christmas yet), people, and politics. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues one tradition (topping the Report) while breaking another (getting good reviews), readers are still into Dune 56 years after its genesis (#3 and #18), and India continues to command page views (#2, #4, #5, #16, #21).


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Rank ! Article ! Class ! Views ! Image ! Notes/about Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death]]''
 * 1
 * Eternals (film)
 * 1,884,050
 * Eternal_Procession.jpg
 * The Marvel Cinematic Universe went on an ambitious route telling about long-lived, borderline immortal ancient astronauts forced to get together again to stop an ancient threat. Sadly, Chloe Zhao's epic intents are not fully realized, with mostly underdeveloped characters and the pacing ruined by too many flashbacks, and so Eternals became the worst reviewed movie of the franchise. Still, it provides enough action, humor and visual thrills to make viewers satisfied, and thus expect good box office - no matter if China won't get the movie because the director became a persona non grata - and a few more appearances on this list.
 * 2
 * Puneeth Rajkumar
 * 1,254,756
 * Puneeth Rajkumar (4).jpg
 * India still mourns this actor's death. And his status as the son of a Sandalwood star is reflected in our #1, where one Eternal passes himself as a dynasty of identical Bollywood leading men.
 * 3
 * Dune (2021 film)
 * 1,157,863
 * (ESP 060787 2600) Dunes Dubbed Arrakis.jpg
 * It might've been taken down as box office king by #1, but the 2021 adaptation of #18 is clearly resonating with audiences a lot more than the 1984 adaptation, as evidenced by the fact this is its third consecutive week on this list.
 * 4
 * Diwali
 * 1,040,927
 * DIWALI A FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS.jpg
 * Back to India, the festival of lights - something also said of Hanukkah, so Michael Scott borrowed from Adam Sandler to celebrate it with this.
 * 5
 * Jai Bhim (film)
 * 991,530
 * Lijomol_Jose.jpg
 * Still in India, a Prime Video release based on true facts, where a lawyer tries to get justice for a pregnant woman who after being beaten and detained saw her husband go through even worse police brutality.
 * 6
 * Halloween
 * 949,260
 * Montreal Comiccon 2015 - Michael Myers vs. Mad Max (19290902980).jpg
 * Halloween Kills left the list ironically in a week starting with the spooky holiday where Michael Myers usually rampages.
 * 7
 * Squid Game
 * 817,447
 * Puesto del Día de Muertos en Aguascalientes 02.jpg
 * Yes, I’m broke and it’s a damn shame. Guess I gotta play the Squid Game.
 * 8
 * Deaths in 2021
 * 800,738
 * [[File:Worms- Judenfriedhof "Heiliger Sand" (Jewish Cemetery, Worms) - geo.hlipp.de - 21386.jpg|100px]]
 * Given #1 features this song: ''[[Time (Pink Floyd song)|The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
 * Montreal Comiccon 2015 - Michael Myers vs. Mad Max (19290902980).jpg
 * Halloween Kills left the list ironically in a week starting with the spooky holiday where Michael Myers usually rampages.
 * 7
 * Squid Game
 * 817,447
 * Puesto del Día de Muertos en Aguascalientes 02.jpg
 * Yes, I’m broke and it’s a damn shame. Guess I gotta play the Squid Game.
 * 8
 * Deaths in 2021
 * 800,738
 * [[File:Worms- Judenfriedhof "Heiliger Sand" (Jewish Cemetery, Worms) - geo.hlipp.de - 21386.jpg|100px]]
 * Given #1 features this song: ''[[Time (Pink Floyd song)|The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
 * 800,738
 * [[File:Worms- Judenfriedhof "Heiliger Sand" (Jewish Cemetery, Worms) - geo.hlipp.de - 21386.jpg|100px]]
 * Given #1 features this song: ''[[Time (Pink Floyd song)|The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
 * Given #1 features this song: ''[[Time (Pink Floyd song)|The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
 * 9
 * Henry Ruggs
 * 781,176
 * Drunk-driving-40575.svg
 * Ruggs entered to a four-year contract worth $16.67 million with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, but his career has come to a screeching halt after he caused a car crash that killed a 23-year-old woman on November 2. He's been charged with driving under the influence (his blood alcohol content was 0.161, twice the legal limit) and has been released by the Raiders.
 * 10
 * Glenn Youngkin
 * 779,143
 * Glenn Youngkin (50929467053).jpg
 * Youngkin, a Republican businessman, won Virginia's off-year gubernatorial election on Tuesday. Virginia went for Biden by 10 points last year, which means a Republican victory is probably some sort of wake up call.
 * 11
 * Kal Penn
 * 700,119
 * Kal_Penn_in_Town.jpg
 * Penn, an actor who also served in the Obama administration for a few years, came out as gay while promoting his upcoming memoir on October 31; he's currently engaged to his partner of 11 years. Penn's performance was one of the few things I enjoyed about the otherwise dreadful Designated Survivor, and I provide my congratulations.
 * 12
 * Colin Kaepernick
 * 691,270
 * Colin Kaepernick (5099200496).jpg
 * The former National Football League quarterback who famously knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality in the United States is now the subject of a Netflix docudrama, Colin in Black & White, that he created with Ava DuVernay. The series doesn't touch upon his protesting all too much, instead focusing on connecting his life in high school athletics to black history.
 * 13
 * Day of the Dead
 * 668,491
 * Dia De Los Muertos.jpg
 * November 2, as put by Manny Calavera, "It's the festival of the Day of the Dead. Really more of a living person's holiday, but we play along."
 * 14
 * Army of Thieves
 * 632,364
 * MJK_33812_Matthias_Schweighöfer_(Medienboard-Party_2019)_cropped.jpg
 * Army of the Dead was derided for trying to not just be a heist movie in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, but seemingly throw anything Zack Snyder could think of, to mixed results. So focusing on only one aspect was the salvation for this prequel, as it's only a heist movie where safecracker Ludwig Dieter (whose portrayer Matthias Schweighöfer also directed the movie) hops around Europe breaking through seemingly unbreachable safes.
 * 15
 * 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election
 * 628,703
 * 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
 * Why did the Democrats lose Virginia? Is it because national Democrats are too progressive and alienating rural folk? Is it because Democrats are too conservative and aren't getting anything done? Is it because teachers are corrupting children with critical race theory? Was it swung by the Lincoln Project who, at the last minute, paid some guys to dress up as Unite the Right guys and pose by a Youngkin campaign bus, revealing it was a false flag only hours later? Feel free to choose your own political discourse.
 * 16
 * ICC Men's T20 World Cup
 * 618,729
 * Cricket kit bag at Epping Foresters Cricket Club 1.jpg
 * India's national pastime, cricket, is having the latest edition of this tournament (#21) in the Arabic peninsula.
 * 17
 * Critical race theory
 * 611,273
 * Rage Against Racism (33129946670).jpg
 * The debate over whether this theory should be taught in classrooms may have played a big role in #10 winning #15. For those who aren't well-versed in the current state of CRT in the United States: one side argues that teaching it in classrooms will cause irreparable damage to America's youth and discussion of racial history. The other side argues that not teaching it in classrooms will cause irreparable damage to America's youth and discussion of racial history.
 * 18
 * Dune (novel)
 * 552,874
 * Arrakis Canopus III.jpg
 * On the surface, it's a story about people fighting over sand. Underneath, it's a story about religion, politics, humanity, and all sorts of important things. Right now? It's the source material of #3.
 * 19
 * Elon Musk
 * 549,636
 * Elon Musk - Caricature (51085170766).jpg
 * I'm going to have to write about Mr. Musk on here a lot now, aren't I.
 * India's national pastime, cricket, is having the latest edition of this tournament (#21) in the Arabic peninsula.
 * 17
 * Critical race theory
 * 611,273
 * Rage Against Racism (33129946670).jpg
 * The debate over whether this theory should be taught in classrooms may have played a big role in #10 winning #15. For those who aren't well-versed in the current state of CRT in the United States: one side argues that teaching it in classrooms will cause irreparable damage to America's youth and discussion of racial history. The other side argues that not teaching it in classrooms will cause irreparable damage to America's youth and discussion of racial history.
 * 18
 * Dune (novel)
 * 552,874
 * Arrakis Canopus III.jpg
 * On the surface, it's a story about people fighting over sand. Underneath, it's a story about religion, politics, humanity, and all sorts of important things. Right now? It's the source material of #3.
 * 19
 * Elon Musk
 * 549,636
 * Elon Musk - Caricature (51085170766).jpg
 * I'm going to have to write about Mr. Musk on here a lot now, aren't I.
 * 19
 * Elon Musk
 * 549,636
 * Elon Musk - Caricature (51085170766).jpg
 * I'm going to have to write about Mr. Musk on here a lot now, aren't I.
 * I'm going to have to write about Mr. Musk on here a lot now, aren't I.

Since every little thing Musk does causes a media firestorm that produces dozens of articles from news outlets, I'm just going to focus on the most recent little thing he did that caused a media firestorm that produced dozens of articles from news outlets. On November 6, Musk held a Twitter poll asking if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, and the answer was a resounding "yes". According to CNBC, he's currently facing a $15 billion tax bill, so he was likely to sell the stock regardless of whether Twitter told him to.
 * 20
 * 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election
 * 528,977
 * Philip D. Murphy.jpg
 * In another American gubernatorial election, incumbent New Jersey governor Phil Murphy won re-election to a second term, fending off Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. Murphy, however, won by a pretty slim margin, and Ciattarelli is contesting the results and has not yet conceded. We've seen this go well in the past, of course.
 * 21
 * 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
 * 509,154
 * Cricket ball at Highgate Cricket Club, Crouch End, London 01.jpg
 * While big views in cricket-related articles are due to India, the country couldn't get into the semifinals of this championship, which instead has three other anglophone countries (England, Australia and New Zealand) and neighbor Pakistan.
 * 22
 * Antonio Conte
 * 496,775
 * An Evening with Antonio Conte (32932764062).jpg
 * The Italian footballer and manager who popularized the 3–5–2 formation was appointed as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. on November 2. His predecessor, Nuno Espírito Santo, was fired just four months into what was supposed to be a two-year tenure after Tottenham lost four in six Premier League games. (Ironically, Santo received the Premier League Manager of the Month award for his Tottenham coaching in August!)
 * 23
 * Charles K. Kao
 * 491,866
 * Charles K. Kao (22 Oct 2003).jpg
 * Like last week's Claude Cahun, Kao made his way onto this week's report thanks to being honored with a Google Doodle on November 3. Known as the "father of fiber optics", Kao's contributions to the development and use of fiber optics in telecommunications helped lay the groundwork for the modern-day internet. So without him, you probably wouldn't be reading this report right now.
 * 24
 * Alpo Martinez
 * 485,402
 * Chalk Outlines (40113200965).jpg
 * Martinez was shot and killed in Harlem on October 31. For the uninitiated: he was one of NYC's biggest drug dealers in the 1980s and evaded spending the rest of his life in prison by testifying against his associates—an act that's said to have made him a marked man in the criminal underworld. He had been living under a federal witness protection program in Maine before his return to Harlem, which appears to have led to his murder.
 * 25
 * The Harder They Fall (2021 film)
 * 480,462
 * Cowboy 20060805173639.jpg
 * (Or is it The Bigger They Come...?)
 * Alpo Martinez
 * 485,402
 * Chalk Outlines (40113200965).jpg
 * Martinez was shot and killed in Harlem on October 31. For the uninitiated: he was one of NYC's biggest drug dealers in the 1980s and evaded spending the rest of his life in prison by testifying against his associates—an act that's said to have made him a marked man in the criminal underworld. He had been living under a federal witness protection program in Maine before his return to Harlem, which appears to have led to his murder.
 * 25
 * The Harder They Fall (2021 film)
 * 480,462
 * Cowboy 20060805173639.jpg
 * (Or is it The Bigger They Come...?)
 * 480,462
 * Cowboy 20060805173639.jpg
 * (Or is it The Bigger They Come...?)

The feature directorial debut of Jeymes "The Bullitts" Samuel, this Revisionist Western features an A-list, predominantly black cast including Kang the Conquerer, Bloodsport the Assassin, and Domino the Mutant in a fictional story about real cowboys. It premiered last month but started streaming on Netflix on November 3, which is why you're seeing it listed here.
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