In reaction to news that Yahoo! would be moving their New York office into the old Times Building — and because Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson have a new buddy comedy about Google — esteemed East Coast publication The New Yorker took a closer look inside the inner workings of the new corporate culture, embodied by Mountain View's Googleplex. The results are some choice quotes about life in Mountain View's very own land of Oz:

“When writing the screenplay, we referred to the arrival in Northern California as entering the Emerald City,” the film's director, Shawn Levy tells The New Yorker's Lizzie Widdicombe. “I wanted to nod to the moment where it became Technicolor.” See also:

As for the company's infamous quirkiness, Levy reveals: “I could only fit about sixty-five per cent of the weird facts that I learned about Google into the movie.” Those include a real-life Quidditch game and conferences that happen on a five-person bicycle. “It’s not a gimmick,” Levy said. “Every time I’d go up there, I’d see someone on it.” They are of course, referring to this thing:

As for Google's co-founder and Chief Executive Dreamboat, Sergey Brin, Levy describes an encounter with the Great Oz himself:

“We’re in the middle of shooting by the beach-volleyball court, and this guy rides up on an elliptical StairMaster bicycle.” The cyclist wore yoga clothes, fuzzy green slippers, and Google glasses, which have a tiny computer monitor above one eye. Levy continued, “Someone goes, ‘Shawn, this is Sergey’ ”—Brin. “I go, ‘Dude—you look like I would imagine a Googler looking. Can I film you?’ ” Brin appears in the movie twice.

Quite a getup for someone who thinks your smartphone is "emasculating."

For more insights into Google's Emerald City (and their New York counterpart), the New Yorker piece makes for a good read, although SPOILER ALERT: the author reveals the outcome of the titular internship competition right there in the first paragraph.

Previously: Next Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn Flick Is A Buddy Comedy About Google
Photos: People Sporting Glass At Google I/O Conference