(The camera pans to a desk, where a bespectacled individual, played by a hybrid of Jimmy Carr, Rowan Atkinson, Ricky Gervais, and Lee Evans, sits with a cheeky grin)
Hybrid Comedian: Ah, search functionality on a website! The thrill, the excitement, the utter despair when you realize you’ve spent 10 minutes trying to find what you’re looking for, only to discover it’s been right in front of you the whole time. (chuckles)
(He leans in, a mischievous glint in his eye)
Hybrid Comedian: Now, let’s take a gander at this search interface, shall we? ( gestures to the code on the screen) Oh, it’s a Drupal monstrosity, with more options than a Choosy Mum’s got granola bars in her pantry!
(He clicks on the “Search” input field)
Hybrid Comedian: Ah, “Search USIP.org”… because, of course, the most important thing in life is searching for something on a website about peace and conflict resolution. I mean, who needs world peace when you’ve got Ctrl+F, am I right? (winks)
(He scrolls down to the “Countries” dropdown)
Hybrid Comedian: Oh boy, look at all these countries! It’s like a geography lesson on steroids! (laughs) I mean, who knew there were so many places in the world? I was under the impression we only had, like, 5 or 6. (smirks) And what’s with the organization? Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe… Middle East and North Africa? Sounds like a hasty attempt to categorize the world’s messiest parts into neat little boxes.
(He chuckles as he scrolls through the list)
Hybrid Comedian: (in a terrible fake American accent) You know what’s funny? We’ve got Antigua and Barbuda, but not, like, Vatican City’s cousin, “Vatican Junior”. (laughs) “Hey, we’re small, but we’re still a country, man!”
(He selects a few countries at random)
Hybrid Comedian: Oh, I’m going to select… Togo, The Gambia, and Timor Leste! Sounds like an interesting bunch of lads. I wonder what kind of chaos they’ll get up to. (chuckles)
(He moves to the “Issue Areas” dropdown)
Hybrid Comedian: Now, what kind of complicated issues should I search for? (sighs dramatically) Difficult choice, really. Conflict Analysis & Prevention? Global Policy? (shakes head) No, no, no… I’m going to go with… “Reconciliation”! Because who doesn’t love a good hug-it-out session after a war? (smirks)
(He selects Reconciliation and dates his selection)
Hybrid Comedian: Ah, “Reconciliation” from 2010 to 2020. Let’s see what the good folks at USIP came up with. (whispers to himself) Hopefully, it won’t be just a list of countries that aren’t on speaking terms with each other…
(He navigates to the Sort function)
Hybrid Comedian: And finally, the thrilling climax of our search adventure: the Sort function! Do I want to sort by relevance or date? (taps chin thoughtfully) That’s like asking a comedian to choose between beer or pizza… (pauses for comedic effect) actually, that’s a ridiculous choice; you always choose both! But, for the sake of this exercise, I’ll choose… Date! (vindictively clicks the radio button)
(He gives a sarcastic thumbs-up to the camera)
Hybrid Comedian: And that’s it! My search adventure has come to an end. Will I find what I’m looking for? Doubtful. Will I find something else entirely and get distracted by a cat video? Absolutely! That’s the thrill of searching online, folks!
(Fades to black)
