The Best Things in the Washington Twitterverse This Week (So Far)

One of the great joys of Twitter is not simply that the 140-character limit to posts forces brevity and wit. It's that the form allows users to seize on a concept, wring all the humor and energy out of it, and let pass on when it's done.

 So it was today with #wookieeleaks, joking tweets that mashed up the oversight concerns represented in Wikileaks' release of 92,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan, and the glorious nerd pastime of speculating about the Star Wars universe (debates about the governance of the Galactic Republic made the Atlantic Wire this week). After a summer of bad news, tense political and ideological debates, and the looming silly and sour season that is the midterm elections, it's nice to kick off the dog days of August with tweets like National Review correspondent Jim Geraghty's tweet that "Defense contractor ignored warnings on AT-AT, AT-ST walker balance issue," or the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder's "I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this E3 PFC." Elite Washingtonians may be derided as out of touch with everyday Americans, but at least for today, many of them made common cause with the average geeks across the country who spent last weekend at or riveted by news out of San Diego Comic-Con.

And closer to home, the Twitter handle workoutwemple, a fake account for Washington City Paper-turned-TBD editor Erik Wemple, deserves more than 52 followers. The account, inspired by a sweaty and aggressive photo of the local news startup's leader is a funny mix of insider local politics and journalism jokes and exhortations to stay tough. And that plan for pickup basketball with members of the DC city council sounds like pretty good entertainment, too.

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Alyssa Rosenberg