Interstellar traffic

It is a curious coincidence that the event often described as having belatedly begun the twentieth century (the First World War) and the one often thought to have prematurely ended it (the fall of the Berlin Wall) were both commemorated this week, as the latter's 25th anniversary coincided with the day to mark the former's ending (Armistice Day). The theme of beginnings and endings as one was further elaborated by the 100th anniversary of the war's start, which fell in July this year.

For the full top 25 list, see WP:TOP25. See this section for an explanation of any exclusions.

As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of November 9 to 15, 2014, the 25 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Views	Notes
1	Interstellar (film)	2,567,100	The debate just won't stop. Is this a cosmic masterpiece on the level of its inspiration, 2001? Or an exposition-laden string of trite scifi concepts that fails to reach its own goals? The critics aren't sure (Interstellar has the lowest RT score of any Nolan film to date) and neither, it seems, is the public (the film has yet to break $100 million domestically in its second week, despite strong overseas grosses), but nothing brings views to Wikipedia like debate, and this movie remains Wikipedia's no 1 talking point for the second straight week, with views up 60%.
2	Thanksgiving	1,626,523	This beloved holiday has been very ill-used by Wikipedia viewers. Every year, when it comes around, immediately money-spinning spammers start flooding Wikipedia with fake views for this article, thus forcing us to remove what should be a perfectly acceptable annual addition to this list. But now the mobile fraction is high enough (about 5%) to suggest that, were it not being obviously pumped up, it would still appear somewhere in the top 25, though exactly where is an open question. So in the name of seasonal good cheer, I am pardoning this turkey. Is it not, after all, in the Thanksgiving spirit to be overstuffed?
3	Philae (spacecraft)	1,462,564	Well, it may not have achieved what it set out to do, but ESA's plucky fridge-sized lander still managed to send back enough cool pictures from its unique position on the surface of a comet this week to win the hearts of the public. And who knows? The comet it's riding is still approaching the Sun. Philae may yet wake up when its solar panels are tickled.
4	Berlin Wall	1,223,551	It's odd to think, for me at least, that a fair portion of the people reading this weren't even alive when this came down, 25 years ago this week. To be fair, I was just a kid at the time, and barely understood the significance of what was happening as it unfolded on cable news. And really, no one truly grasped the magnitude of the structural collapse this crumbling wall would trigger. 26 months later, the Soviet Union was gone, the Cold War was over and we were left struggling to grasp what kind of world would replace the one we were born into. It's fair to say we still don't know.
5	Marvel Cinematic Universe	1,076,501	Its mobile percentage is suspiciously low (2.85%), but it's only natural that people would be interested in Marvel Studios' announcement of the third and longest phase of its ongoing cinematic saga, which has so far spanned six years, ten films, $1.7 billion in budgets and $7.1 billion in revenues. With two more films to go in phase 2, and a whopping nine for phase 3, the slate's booked til 2019, and it will be interesting to see if Marvel's so-far successful formula of risk-taking and artistic commitment will hold until then.
6	Veterans Day	803,419	The eleventh day of the eleventh month, when peace was declared after the hell of World War I, has been recognised for decades as a time to remember the dead of war. In the US, it is known as Veterans Day, while in the Commonwealth, it is known as Remembrance Day (see below). This year's carried a special poignancy due to its coinciding with the centenary of the start of World War I.
7	Victor Zsasz	746,943	One of the more disturbing villains in Batman's rogues' gallery (and that's saying a lot), Victor Zsasz is a serial killer who carves scars into his flesh for every successful kill. His story has been somewhat retconned for the new TV series Gotham where he has been recast as the pit bull for Carmine Falcone. Interest in this character spiked this week with the newest episode, the first since his introduction.
8	Myles Munroe	661,095	A Bahamian Evangelical preacher who caused a ruckus with his opposition to gay rights earlier this year, and then capped it by dying in a plane crash this week.
9	Facebook	651,716	A perennially popular article, as it is the second most popular website in the world, after Google.
10	Big Hero 6 (film)	604,591	The public seem to have taken to the first Disney/Marvel crossover, (an anime-inspired superhero comedy based on an obscure Marvel property) as it has so far made a respectable $110 million in 10 days and looks set to at least equal its ersatz predecessor, Wreck-It Ralph, at the box office.

Interstellar traffic

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