Tuesday trivia wrap-up

So, last night was my 3rd try at hosting Hopvine trivia, and it went pretty well… but I have to remember a few things:

• Always bring a tie-breaker question! I have one somewhere, but I didn’t bring it tonight. I was getting nervous going into the last round, because two teams were tied for rounds 3 through 5… yikes. I was going to have to make up a trivia question (or questions!) on the spot, and you know that was gonna suck:  “Um… name the, uh, last 3 people to, uh, be mayor of Seattle.”
• Do your doggone research, dummy! I messed up on whether George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion or My Fair Lady. I’m a total dimwit… My Fair Lady is the movie based on his play Pygmalion. Damn! I thought I was being all crafty by referring to the Greek play Pygmalion.
• Do more research! People caught me flat-footed when I wasn’t sure whether (a) Hindi when written down becomes Sanskrit, or (b) whether the same characters in Hindi are also used for Sanskrit. I was pretty sure (a) was bullshit, but I wasn’t sure about (b).

Anyhoo, people had fun, I had beer and everyone went home without punching me! Hooray!

GBS would approve of that part, anyway…

Trivial Hopvine update

Hello, trivia fans!

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news: The earth is not currently expected to plunge into the sun, roasting us all in an agonizing hellish blaze.

The bad news: Hopvine trivia has been downsized! It’s now once a month on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. I’m alternating with Lucien, the other hoster, starting Tuesday the 13th of May. (You should go check out Lucien’s site, by the way — he shoots people!)

This is happening because the Hopvine owner found he wasn’t making as much money during trivia nights as on other nights… so if you’re playing, please be drinkin’! I’ll try to write questions that induce an urge towards bacchanalianism.

I’m still alive! Really.

I have been a negligent blogger, my ducklings, but soon I’ll be back among you, filling up your time with chaff.

I just moved to a new apartment (I have a W/D and dishwasher now, plus a view!), and my internet is down for the next week while Speakeasy twiddles their thumbs. After that happens, I’ll be back to mainlining my Google Reader, etc.

I just committed to running the Hopvine trivia nights once per month, can you believe it?! After all my complaints about how hard it was to write all those questions, I agreed to split the position. My first gig will be April 8th… please come watch if you like trivia! This time my questions will be broken into theme groups; that’ll make it easier to write ‘em. Plus I’m thinking of handing out sheets of paper with visual questions. FUN, eh!

One more thing: I oscillate between wishing Hillary Clinton would just drop out and then not minding that she doesn’t. Today I’m not worrying; I think the party will heal up just fine, and Obama will win easily in November. But you know me: I’m Mr. Rose Colored Glasses.

Oh, wait, one more thing: I’m moving my priest back to Dethecus from Lethon; now that the “new” guild is dead, she’s just sitting there doing nothing. So I’ll go back to hanging out with some old friends, doing arenas, etc… but NO RAIDING. It’s amazing how much time it frees up when I don’t raid.

Vinny out!

Trivia wrapup, finally

Hey, one more reminder that you should try to leave Tuesday night free so you can go to the next Hopvine trivia brawl. It starts around 8pm, you might want to get there early to save a seat.

Round 5 answers

• Pine trees and fir trees both have needles, but the needles are either clustered or separate. Pine tree needles are usually _________, fir tree needles are usually _________. Answer: Pine trees usually have clustered needles.
• Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies. Which is called the “Pastorale”? Answer: #6
• In what decade was the Golden Spike driven to complete the US Transcontinental Railroad? Answer: The spike went in on May 10, 1869.
• What 1962 children’s book has a character called Mrs. Whatsit and other characters that time-travel through tesseracts? Answer: A Wrinkle in Time.
• A moving van is driving down the road with a helium balloon tied to middle of the floor in the back… if the van turns left, what happens to the balloon? (I.e., does it head left, right, stay straight, or…?) Answer: The balloon will sway left. (To understand this, think of the mass of heavy air wanting to keep going straight as the van moves left. The air will push to the right, and the lighter balloon has to move left.
• Who wrote the 6-second “Microsoft Sound”, which played whenever Windows 95 launched? Answer: Brian Eno:
  • “The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I’d been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, “Here’s a specific problem — solve it.” The thing from the agency said, “We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,” this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said “and it must be 3¼ seconds long.” I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It’s like making a tiny little jewel. In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I’d finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time.” Link.
    
• Kelley Deal was a guitarist in The Breeders. Who’s her more famous twin sister? Answer: Kim Deal.
• Who directed the all-LEGO video for the White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl” Answer: Michel Gondry, as you can see here.
• Joe DiMaggio holds the record for getting hits in consecutive games, but if he’d gotten one more he would have landed a great endorsement deal. How many games were in his streak? Answer: 56. One more and he would have locked up the Heinz 57 endorsement.

After 5 rounds we had a 3-way tie for first place, so we had 3 tie-breaker questions:

• Wallace Stegner won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972 for a book called Angle of Repose, which is a term also used in engineering and geology. What is the angle of repose?
• The Hawaiian language does not contain which one of the following consonants: P, K, G, H, L
• Who were the last Australians to win Oscars for Best Actor/Best Actress?

People figured out the last two (G, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman), but the Angle of Repose question was just too obscure. I define it as “the angle where an object stops sliding downhill”, wikipedia defines it thusly. Anyway, a belated congratulations to the Time-Traveling Abraham Lincolns who won by having only 3 people on their team. Most impressive!

Now I need to come up with another blogging project… I wrung 8 posts out of this one topic.

Trivia directory: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Trivia, part 5

Round 4 answers

• How many hats did Bartholomew Cubbins have? Answer: 500! I remembered this as 501, but I was probably thinking of Spanish Verbs.
• In July of 2007, the European guild Nihilum was the first to kill what final boss in the World of Warcraft? Answer: Illidan. No one at trivia night got this right; several people chose Onyxia. Ha! As if! Noobs! etc.
• A “doubly landlocked” country is one that is surrounded by landlocked countries. There are two in the world, name one of them. Answer: Liechtenstein or Uzbekistan. This is one of my favorite geography trivia questions of all time. C.A.R. seemed like a plausible answer, but it’s adjacent to Cameroon.
• Which is furthest from Seattle: Montreal, Mexico City, Anchorage or Honolulu? Answer: Honolulu (2680 miles), next furthest is Mexico City (2340).
• If you’re standing at the corner of 1st and Pine downtown, and walk down to 1st and Madison, how many streets would you cross? (Don’t count crossing Pine and Madison.) Answer: 5 streets. Cross Pine, Union, University, Seneca and Spring to get to Madison.
• How many US states contain the letter K? Answer: 9 of them: Kansas, Kentucky, New York, N/S Dakota, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Most commonly forgotten state seems to be Nebraska!
• What 1948 Alfred Hitchcock movie is famous in part for appearing to have been filmed all in one take? Answer: Rope!
• In the 2004 Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster”, the band is auditioning for a new band member. What instrument spot did they need to fill? Answer: Bassist.
• What city in Italy do you visit to see Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper? Answer: Milan. Fun fact: It’s painted on a wall there, so it’ll be there forever.

Round 5

• Pine trees and fir trees both have needles, but the needles are either clustered or separate. Pine tree needles are usually _________, fir tree needles are usually _________.
• Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies. Which is called the “Pastorale”?
• In what decade was the Golden Spike driven to complete the US Transcontinental Railroad?
• What 1962 children’s book has a character called Mrs. Whatsit and other characters that time-travel through tesseracts?
• A moving van is driving down the road with a helium balloon tied to middle of the floor in the back… if the van turns left, what happens to the balloon? (I.e., does it head left, right, stay straight, or…?)
• Who wrote the 6-second “Microsoft Sound”, which played whenever Windows 95 launched?
• Kelley Deal was a guitarist in The Breeders. Who’s her more famous twin sister?
• Who directed the all-LEGO video for the White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl”
• Joe DiMaggio holds the record for getting hits in consecutive games, but if he’d gotten one more he would have landed a great endorsement deal. How many games were in his streak?

Trivia directory: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Trivia, part 4

Ducklings! I’m sorry I’ve been away from bloggingland, but I’ve had lots to do acclimating to my new working life. Waking up before 10:30am is HARD, you ought to try it sometime. No wait, don’t. Just keep sleeping. Tell the dream faeries Uncle Vinny sent you.

But I’ve felt bad, because I want to finish my Trivia series before it’s time for next week’s Hopvine trivia night. Surely 2 weeks is enough time to make 5 blog posts, right? 3 down, 2 to go… here we go!!

Round 3 answers

• There are 5 countries that start with a K. List 4 of them, “Korea” doesn’t count. Answer: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kiribati and Kenya. Incorrect answers: Kameroon (ha!), Kosovo, Kanada and Kampuchea, all of which are bad for various reasons.
• What actor made ads describing the “rich Corinthian leather” of the 1976 Chrysler Cordoba? Answer: “I know my own needs….” This video contains the hilarious answer.
• Which animal has the densest fur of any species? Ermine, sea lion, mink, sea otter, chinchilla Answer: Sea otter
• The first line of an enormous 1939 book is a continuation of the last line. It starts like this: “riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s …” What’s the name of the book? Answer: Finnegan’s Wake. I mentioned the author’s name during the contest, which helped some people get the answer.
• Who hosted the Daily Show before Jon Stewart? Answer: Craig Kilborne. I sometimes caught this guy’s late-night show a few years back when I had reception on my teevee; I thought he was pretty funny, in a semi-smart frat boy kind of way.
• Match the book with the Bronte sister: Emily, Charlotte and Anne. Anges Grey, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre. Answer: Once I tell you that Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, you should be able to guess the rest. A lot of people figured this out… I can never keep Charlotte and Emily straight.
• In 1996, Bill Clinton won the presidential election, but got less than 50% of the popular vote. True or False? Answer: TRUE
• What is the only US state to share a border with EIGHT other states? Answer: Bad question! This is true of both Missouri and Tennessee.
• Paul Newman’s wedding anniversary is the 29th, when he will have been married for 50 years. What’s his wife’s name? Answer: Joanne Woodward. If you haven’t seen Three Faces of Eve, you should.

Round 4

• How many hats did Bartholomew Cubbins have? (Here’s a hint!)
• In July of 2007, the European guild Nihilum was the first to kill what final boss in the World of Warcraft?
• A “doubly landlocked” country is one that is surrounded by landlocked countries. There are two in the world, name one of them.
• Which is furthest from Seattle: Montreal, Mexico City, Anchorage or Honolulu?
• If you’re standing at the corner of 1st and Pine downtown, and walk down to 1st and Madison, how many streets would you cross? (Don’t count crossing Pine and Madison.)
• How many US states contain the letter K?
• What 1948 Alfred Hitchcock movie is famous in part for appearing to have been filmed all in one take?
• In the 2004 Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster”, the band is auditioning for a new band member. What instrument spot did they need to fill?
• What city in Italy do you visit to see Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper?

Answers coming soon, plus the soulful delirium of Round 5!

Trivia directory: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Trivia, part 3

Ducklings! I have returned from the wintry world of Idaho, and have more trivia questions and answers for you. Ready?

• Name two movies that star Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Answer: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and/or Passage to Marseille.
• X was a spin-off of Y. Your choices are: Dynasty, Dallas, Knot’s Landing and Falcon Crest. Answer: Knot’s Landing was a spinoff of Dallas. I blame my ex-girlfriend for the fact that I know this.
• What 70’s variety/game show occasionally featured Gene Gene the Dancing Machine? Answer: Do yourself a huge favor and watch this video to get the answer. Click now click now do it!
• Name 6 human ancestors of Jesus Christ. Answer: As I said before, I threw out this question because it was a nightmare to grade, but acceptable answers would have included: Mary, Joseph, Adam, Eve, David, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Methuselah, Jesse, Obed, etc. The real crisis occurs when people start throwing out names like Elmadam, Mattatha and Joanan… dang, I gotta look all those up?! Plus, in my sexism I forgot to check the various wives of all the guys on the list. Interestingly, Moses was not a direct ancestor of Jesus. Moses was a Levite, David was from the house of Judah.
• If a guy says he’s going to break your patella, what’s he talking about? Answer: Your kneecap.
• Whitney Houston set all kinds of records with her cover of “I Will Always Love You”. Who originally wrote and recorded the song? Answer: Dolly Parton.
• True or False? Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was born in Chicago. Answer: True!
• Which of these companies has been part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since the index was created in 1896? General Electric, General Motors, AT & T, DuPont or Procter & Gamble. Answer: General Electric.
• Matthew Laborteaux played Laura’s younger brother Albert on the TV series Little House on the Prairie. What was the name of the early-80’s teenage-computer-hacker show he starred in? Answer: Whiz Kids, a show I really adored when I was a nerdy middle-schooler.

On to Round 3!

• There are 5 countries that start with a K. List 4 of them, “Korea” and “Kosovo” don’t count.
• What actor made ads describing the “rich Corinthian leather” of the 1976 Chrysler Cordoba?
• Which animal has the densest fur of any species? Ermine, sea lion, mink, sea otter, chinchilla.
• The first line of a 1939 by James Joyce book is a continuation of the last line. It starts like this: “riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s …” What’s the name of the book?
• Who hosted the Daily Show before Jon Stewart?
• Match the book with the Bronte sister: Emily, Charlotte and Anne. Anges Grey, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre.
• In 1996, Bill Clinton won the presidential election, but got less than 50% of the popular vote. True or False?
• What is the only US state to share a border with EIGHT other states? Note: This is a bad question. There are two states that have 8 neighbors. Name one of them.
• Paul Newman’s wedding anniversary is the 29th, when he will have been married for 50 years. What’s his wife’s name?

Trivia directory: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Trivia, part 2

Answers from Round 1, questions from Round 2

In what David Lynch movie does Everett McGill play “Tom the John Deere Dealer”? Answer: The Straight Story, a G-rated movie that I totally loved. When was the last time the US Constitution was amended: 1962, 1971, 1985, or 1992? Answer: 1992, when it was amended to say that Reps and Senators who vote themselves a pay raise have to face the voters before the raise kicks in. Seems to have had a negligible effect on the number of raises they’ve gotten over the years.

Name the movie this quote comes from: “Now, uh, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me… what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?” (I ended up not asking this question… the microphone was waaaaay too bad for such a noisy bar, no one would have figured out what I was saying.) Answer: My Cousin Vinny

There are 6 movies where Johnny Depp has acted with Tim Burton as director. Name 4 of them. Answer: Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd

True or False? The Coriolis effect causes water to rotate clockwise down the drain in the Northern Hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Answer: FALSE. Not only does the Coriolis effect have very little impact on water going down your drain, it goes the opposite direction. You can see the effect on hurricanes, just not in your sink.

Which writer for The Stranger has the same name as the 1968 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry? Answer: Anthony Hecht. Great poet (read this one), but no one had heard of him.

KEXP had a different name from 1971-2001 and rebroadcast in Tacoma/Olympia in 2004. What were the call letters of those stations? Answer: KCMU and KXOT. Some people knew both of these, but not many.

What 1990 movie contains the line “I’m talkin’ about friendship. I’m talkin’ about character. I’m talkin’ about – hell. Leo, I ain’t embarrassed to use the word – I’m talkin’ about ethics.” Answer: Miller’s Crossing, one of my favorite movies of all time. What year did Gutenberg start printing on his press? (You get a point if you’re within 25 years of the correct answer.) Answer: 1450. No one got this right. Most people thought it happened in the 1550’s or much later… Name the oldest and youngest of the 4 Beatles: John, Paul, George, ‘n’ Ringo. Answer: George was the youngest, Ringo was the oldest. Some people got this right. Tricksy, eh! George always seemed so mature, Ringo seems like such a goof.

Questions from Round 2:

• Name two movies that star Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet
• X was a spin-off of Y. Your choices are: Dynasty, Dallas, Knot’s Landing and Falcon Crest.
• What 70’s variety/game show occasionally featured Gene Gene the Dancing Machine?
• Name 6 human ancestors of Jesus Christ. Note: This was a terrible question for a trivia night. It’s got a million possible answers, and I decided that grading it was going to be a nightmare, so nobody got a point. Feel free to try to answer it if you want.
• If a guy says he’s going to break your patella, what’s he talking about?
• Whitney Houston set all kinds of records with her cover of “I Will Always Love You”. Who originally wrote and recorded the song?
• True or False? Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was born in Chicago.
• Which of these companies has been part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since the index was created in 1896? General Electric, General Motors, AT & T, DuPont or Procter & Gamble
• Matthew Laborteaux played Laura’s younger brother Albert on the TV series Little House on the Prairie. What was the name of the early-80’s teenage-computer-hacker show he starred in?

I’m going on a little trip to Idaho for a few days, so my blog might be quiet for a while… hang in there without me, ducklings! I shall return!

Trivia directory: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Trivia night was a success

Whew! That was fun, complete with a photo finish. Sentimental come-from-behind favorites were The Time-Traveling Abraham Lincolns, edging out Warhammer 401(k) and the New Originals. I saw Cap Hill Triangle peeps there, and some other people who sadly only introduced themselves once — I have a terrible memory, and need new names to be repeated 4 or 7 times.

My questions were a little on the hard side. I asked 45 questions, and the three teams tied for first with 26 points… ow! If I ever do this again, I’ll ease up a bit. After the first round I dropped a few more hints into some of my questions, but it was still too hard. Ah well, now I know.

Anyhoo! Over the next few days I’ll be posting my questions (plus some commentary and the answers) for anyone who likes trivia but couldn’t make it.

Round One

In what David Lynch movie does Everett McGill play “Tom the John Deere Dealer”?

When was the last time the US Constitution was amended: 1962, 1971, 1985, or 1992?

Name the movie this quote comes from: “Now, uh, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me… what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?” (I ended up not asking this question… the microphone was waaaaay too bad for such a noisy bar, no one would have figured out what I was saying.)

There are 6 movies where Johnny Depp has acted with Tim Burton as director. Name 4 of them.

True or False? The Coriolis effect causes water to rotate clockwise down the drain in the Northern Hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Which writer for The Stranger has the same name as the 1968 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry?

KEXP had a different name from 1971-2001 and rebroadcast in Tacoma/Olympia in 2004. What were the call letters of those stations?

What 1990 movie contains the line “I’m talkin’ about friendship. I’m talkin’ about character. I’m talkin’ about – hell. Leo, I ain’t embarrassed to use the word – I’m talkin’ about ethics.”

What year did Gutenberg start printing on his press? (You get a point if you’re within 25 years of the correct answer.) Name the oldest and youngest of the 4 Beatles: John, Paul, George, ‘n’ Ringo.

Stay tuned for the answers, yay!

Trivia directory:

Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5.

Buy locally, trivia update, etc!

Ugh! I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on my 49 trivia questions. The big event is tomorrow night, 8pm at the Hopvine on Capitol Hill. Come early if you’re coming, cuz I think it will be crowded. Am I nervous? YES I AM, thank you. I think my questions are too hard and annoying, but I hope people have fun with them anyway. I sent them out to a few friends to see what they think… the early results are basically, “Wow, that’s trivial…”

In other news, I did a little late-night shopping last night at Whole Foods, and here is my complaint: They have row upon row of sparkling Italian bottled water… why? When I was in Italy, I drank a ton of the stuff, and I know it’s great. But it’s pretty damn irresponsible to ship tens of thousands of glass bottles of the stuff around, isn’t it? Yes, yes, I know… once you start down that rabbit hole, where do you stop?  But still, it suddenly annoyed me.

Speaking of shipping heavy precious items around, I’ll be heading out later this week for a few days in glamorous Moscow, ID! Then the new job starts Monday. Oh, plus later this week I’m HurryDating, how mortifying. Still, chin up, chuff chuff, egad, what what! Righto, old boy?

Righto!

Oh, and I want to comment quickly on Schizopolis and Knocked Up. On the former, I just have to say that it barely makes any sense at all, is funny in a few places, and is (like Full Frontal) just vanity filmmaking. Knocked Up made me laugh a lot, and I kind of lump it with Superbad as a movie that features really coarse and disgusting immature guys but ends up showing their surprisingly soft human side, and they end up being pretty likeable. However, neither are movies that are going to lead to any advances in the perception of women among, well, anybody.