Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Trivia Q&A: June 2

We had a terrific turnout for Trivia Night on Tuesday, as 21 teams came out. It was good to see so many regulars in, especially my friends known as Table One, who were gone for a few weeks. We had a good Red Sox game on, and none other than comedian Steven Wright was just a few feet away from my Q&A table at the end of the bar. Mr. Wright was listening to Trivia taking place but was more into the Red Sox game. But he did walk over to me and asked me about one of the Current Events questions after that round concluded. Nice to see him in the house.

The scores were very strong for Movie Trivia, as it appears I made the questions a bit too easy. (And it was pointed out to me that the Joe Cocker song "Up Where We Belong" was also used in the film "Moulin Rouge," so I gave the teams that put down that answer credit for it.) The numbers for The Q Train as well as General Knowledge were very good too. (Although very few could answer the "Murphy Brown's son" question correctly.)

We had a very tight race going into IQ Trivia. We had nine teams seperated by just four points going in, but the team of We Like Big Booths and We Cannot Lie, who led the entire night, wound up getting 4 of the 5 IQ questions right and wound up winning by three points. (Second place went to the team that had the "bad taste" name of the night: We're Still Waiting For the Rest of Our Team to Get Back From Their Flight to France. They were booed lustily by the bar every time I announced their name.)

Congratulations to Matt and his friends on their return to the winners circle.

Also, please keep in mind Trivia Night will be happening next Monday night, June 8th, at 9 PM, as there is a Red Sox-Yankees game on Tuesday. We will return to Tuesday night on June 16, and stay there until this coming October.

Current Events
1. Two reporters from this newspaper last week claimed to have knowledge about the Watergate break-in scandal in 1972 before Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke it open, but let it slip away.
2. Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson denied last week that his company was interested in buying this magazine, and the rumor raised the publisher's stock by 20%.
3. AOL parted company with this media giant last Thursday, eight years after acquiring them for $147 billion, and today they are worth a combined $27 billion.
4. A 4,000-year-old skeleton was discovered recently in India, and the earliest known evidence of this disease was uncovered in the skeleton.
5. Wikipedia has banned this religious group from editing the online encyclopedia after an arbitration group agreed their editing damaged Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy.
6. The web site TicketNews.com reported last week that this rock superstar will play the first three shows at Citi Field in Queens this July.
7. A 97-year-old lady named Millvina Dean passed away last Sunday in England. Why was her death so significant?

Answers: 1. New York Times; 2. Playboy; 3. Time Warner; 4. leprosy; 5. Church of Scientology; 6. Paul McCartney; 7. She was the last Titanic survivor.

Movie Trivia
1. In which film did Jim Carrey play a character named Stanley Ipkiss?
2. Which Disney film features the song "The Bear Necessities?"
3. Who played Mary in the film "There's Something About Mary?"
4. Who played Batman in the film "Batman Forever?"
5. Which film featured the Joe Cocker hit, "Up Where We Belong?"
6. In which film did the wind famously blow up Marilyn Monroe's skirt?
7. Who played the Bond girl Jinx in the film "Die Another Day?"

Answers: 1. "The Mask;" 2. "The Jungle Book;" 3. Cameron Diaz; 4. Val Kilmer; 5. "An Officer and a Gentleman" (I also accepted "Moulin Rouge"); 6. "Seven Year Itch;" 7. Halle Berry.

True or False Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Apollo was the Greek god of music.
2. The largest trees in the US are in Sequoia National Park.
3. The Marshall Space Flight Center is in Houston, TX.
4. A falconer uses his birds for racing.
5. The epic poem "Paradise Lost" was written by John Milton.
6. The chief god in Norse mythology is Odin.
7. Jack Kemp was Bob Dole's running mate in the 1996 presidential election.
8. The 2001 book "Word Freak" chronicles the lives of people obsessed with crossword puzzles.
9. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space in 1983.
10. The Cape Verde Islands are located off the coast of South America.

Answers: 1. true; 2. true; 3. false, it is in Huntsville, AL; 4. false, hunting; 5. true; 6. true; 7. true; 8. false, scrabble; 9. true; 10. false, Africa.

General Knowledge
1. What is the fastest animal on Earth that runs on two legs?
2. What was the first name of Murphy Brown's son on the popular TV show?
3. The Talmud is a collection of laws and teachings central to what religion?
4. The expression "jump the shark" was inspired by a three-part episode of what TV series?
5. The Pyrenees mountains form a border between which two European countries?
6. The TMJ is a joint located in what part of the human body?
7. Each state is represented by at least how many members of the US Congress?

Answers: 1. ostrich; 2. Avery; 3. Judaism; 4. "Happy Days;" 5. France and Spain; 6. jaw; 7. three.

IQ Trivia
1. Who was the first female host of "Saturday Night Live" in its first year, 1975? ( 4 points)
2. Before being expelled in 2002, James Traficant was a nine-term congressman from what US state? ( 4 points)
3. What classic novel opens with the line, "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents?" ( 5 points)
4. The temples of Karnak and Luxor are locted in what country? ( 3 points)
5. What Boston Red Sox player was the last player to lead MLB in both triples and home runs in the same season? ( 4 points)

Answers: 1. Candice Bergen; 2. Ohio; 3. "Little Women;" 4. Egypt; 5. Jim Rice (1978).

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