Of dead pools and dead judges

Summary: There was a lot going on this week: the Grammys; the Presidential primaries in Nevada and South Carolina; and the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, which provoked an entirely predictable and completely unnecessary political firestorm. But what people wanted to know about more than anything, it seems, is Deadpool; a film which, judging from the box office receipts, they've already seen. Still, that's a lot to take in, and I can't really blame people for seeking an escape.

As prepared by Serendipodous, for the week of February 14–20, 2016, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the most viewed pages, were:

Rank	Article	Class	Views	Image	Notes
1	Deadpool (film)		2,846,632		The Marvel Comics antihero film starring Ryan Reynolds (pictured) was released on February 12 to a stellar reception. Regarded as a risk by its makers 20th Century Fox, the film has earned nearly $500 million worldwide in just ten days. Reviews are surprisingly strong as well, with the film averaging 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.
2	Antonin Scalia		2,131,575		Oh dear. US politics are getting dirty again. The longest-serving Supreme Court Justice in modern history, Scalia held his position for nearly 30 years until his sudden death this week at the age of 79. Despite his rigidly originalist Constitutional stance and conservative views on homosexuality and abortion, he was apparently well-liked even by the more liberal members of the court. Even so, his death leaves the Court in an even 4–4 split between liberals and conservatives, a fact which concerns the Republican-held Senate enough that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who famously said his one goal would be to make Barack Obama a one-term president, declared that the Senate would not approve any replacement candidate Obama might put forward. Whether he will follow through with his threat, and whether voters will reward such obstructionism or reject it, remains to be seen.
3	Deadpool		1,735,849		Marvel may have disavowed their X-Men franchise until Fox gives it back to them, but their fourth wall-tickling, chimichanga-chomping, bullet-spraying loony toon obviously remains a potent force, whether they like it or not.
4	Valentine's Day		1,271,571		The annual greeting-card consumption festival got fewer views than usual this week. Typically (see 2013 and 2014 and 2015), Valentine's Day makes its annual appearance at the top of the chart. Since the 14th fell on the first day of this week's report, it didn't have the benefit of the pre-holiday views in its totals.
5	The Life of Pablo		1,060,242		The latest album from Kanye West (pictured) was released this week to positive-if-perplexed reviews and some typically unhinged comments from its creator (see #8)
6	Alexander Hamilton		1,051,465		This Founding Father of the United States, who was shot in a duel by then-Vice President Aaron Burr, is probably best known as the soon-to-be-ex-face of the ten dollar bill. Rather surprisingly, his life became the subject of a hit off-Broadway musical, the theme to which earned a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album this week.
7	Donald Trump		998,114		In the alien, non-Euclidean geometry of this year's United States presidential election, down apparently means up. It doesn't matter what Donald Trump does; engage in a Twitter war with the Pope, tell a group of veterans that he would deal with Islamic terrorists by having them shot with bullets dipped in pigs' blood, or have "loser.com" redirect to his Wikipedia page, he can't be brought back to Earth. Having secured the Republican New Hampshire primary for on February 9, he went on to win the South Carolina primary by a similar margin, despite pundits predicting that Ted Cruz would benefit from the state's large Evangelical demographic. If he pulls similar numbers on March 1's "Super Tuesday" primaries, expect his nomination to be declared secure.
8	Kanye West		833,443		It's the Grammys again, and that means it's time for another incoherent spiel from Kanye West. The previous recipient of the dubious honour of having "loser.com" redirect to his Wikipedia page managed to make, if possible, an even more insulting fool of himself this year, this time targeting Album of the Year winner Taylor Swift. After West claimed he wouldn't attend the ceremony if he didn't win said award (he wasn't nominated), Swift made an oblique reference to him in her acceptance speech, and in particular his lyrics to one of the songs on his just-released album: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous/Goddamn, I made that bitch famous." This line is presumably a reference to the time he jumped on the stage during her acceptance speech at the VMAs to tell her she didn't deserve to win. After failing to win the award he wasn't nominated for, Kanye went on Twitter to claim he was $53 million in debt and that Mark Zuckerberg should help him out. Some are beginning to wonder if hip hop's insufferable genius may be easing on the "genius" while doubling down on the "insufferable".
9	O. J. Simpson		934,959		As predicted by yours truly, the former football player, Leslie Nielsen costar and alleged murderer has become a fixture of this list, thanks to the first season of American Crime Story, the true-crime spinoff of American Horror Story, which focuses on his controversial trial.
10	Neerja Bhanot		804,187		On 5 September 1986, just two days before her 23rd birthday, this Pan Am flight attendant was shot dead by terrorists affiliated with Abu Nidal as she spearheaded an escape from the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73; an act that ultimately saved over 300 lives. She was posthumously awarded India's highest peacetime bravery award, the Ashoka Chakra. Her life and death became the subject of a Bollywood biopic this week, Neerja, starring Sonam Kapoor (pictured) in the title role.