Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Trivia Q&A: July 13

We had 17 teams in for Trivia Night, on a busy night with some folks in for the All-Star Game. We had the tightest round of Trivia in the four years I've been doing it at Professor Thom's.

The scores were good throughout the night, and especially for the Q Train and General Knowledge. The scores were also very good for IQ Trivia, and at the end of that round, we had three teams tied for fifth place, two tied for third, and for the first time in many months, we had a tie for first. (The difference between first place and the tied fifth place teams was just two points.)

So, we had to break the tie. The two teams were Your Mother's a Whore, Mel Gibson and We Didn't Know Steinbrenner Even Had a Heart (they were also the winners of the Best Team Name of the night, as the Boss' death earlier on Tuesday inspired many team names). The question I had saved was based on an IQ Trivia question from last December:

"Barbra Streisand holds the record for the most gold and platinum records by a female solo artist. How many did she win?" I gave a clue it was between 15 and 50, and Your Mother's a Whore, Mel Gibson guessed closest and won. (It is actually 26.) My congratulations on their back-to-back wins.

Current Events
1. Colombian authorities confiscated a duplicate of the World Cup trophy last weekend at the Bogota airport when they discovered it was made of this illegal substance, mixed with gasoline to make it moldable.
2. This pop/R&B singer has decided that his next album will be released on CD only, saying, "The Internet is over. I don't see why I have to give my new music to iTunes or anyone else."
3. A judge in Australia ruled that this Aussie pop group plagiarized a nursery rhyme with their 1983 hit song and must pay 5% of the royalties to the nursery rhyme's publisher.
4. The ex-girlfriend of this Hollywood star recently revealed that she taped the star making a vulgar and bigoted rant against her, calling her "a whore" and "a bitch."
5. This sandwich franchise opened a movable shop recently on the 27th floor of 1 World Trade Center, which is currently being built, for those working on the building, and will move up with the building as it is being finished.
6. The US swapped 10 suspected spies back to Russia last weekend, with 4 people who were convicted by Russia on espionage charges sent to the US. In what European capital did the swap take place?
7. This HBO miniseries topped the list of all shows by getting 24 nominations for the 2010 Emmy Awards, which were announced last week.

Answers: 1. cocaine; 2. Prince; 3. Men At Work; 4. Mel Gibson; 5. Subway; 6. Vienna; 7. "The Pacific."

July 13th Trivia
1. The Live Aid benefit concerts took place in two main venues on this date in 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London and in what East Coast American city?
2. The New York Draft Riots took place beginning on this date and lasted three days, protesting conscription that took place during what war?
3. This actor, who has appeared in two of the most famous movie series of all-time but has been nominated just once for an Oscar, for "Witness" in 1985, was born on this date in 1942.
4. John C. Fremont, a military officer, explorer and who was most famous as the first presidential candidate of this political party in 1856, died on this date in 1890.
5. In 1988, this baseball team fired manager John McNamara and replaced him with coach Joe Morgan, and the team won an MLB record 24 straight games at home and the term "Morgan Magic" was born.
6. The first atomic bomb was exploded on this date in 1945, in the desert of what western US state?
7. On this day in 1985, this English pop group had the first and only James Bond theme song to hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, "A View to a Kill."

Answers: 1. Philadelphia; 2. Civil War; 3. Harrison Ford; 4. Republican; 5. Boston Red Sox; 6. New Mexico; 7. Duran Duran.

AL/ NL All-Stars Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Reggie Jackson
2. Pete Rose
3. Willie Mays
4. Cal Ripken
5. Ted Williams
6. Roberto Clemente
7. Lou Gehrig
8. Ernie Banks
9. Stan Musial
10. Wade Boggs

Answers: 1. AL; 2. NL; 3. NL; 4. AL; 5. AL; 6. NL; 7. AL; 8. NL; 9. NL; 10. AL.

General Knowledge
1. What is the official language of Venezuela? ( 1 pt)
2. In geometry, how many degrees are there in a complete circle? ( 1 pt)
3. In what country did the D-Day landings take place? ( 1 pt)
4. Will. I. Am. is the singer and founder of what pop group? ( 2 pt)
5. El Salvador is considered part of which continent? ( 2 pt)
6. Who was the star of the 1980s TV series "Dougie Howser?" ( 2 pt)
7. What country was the setting for the film "The Sound of Music?" ( 3 pt)

Answers: 1. Spanish; 2. 360; 3. France; 4. Black Eyed Peas; 5. North America; 6. Neil Patrick Harris; 7. Austria.

IQ Trivia
1. Before "The Simpsons," what was television's longest running prime-time animated series? ( 4 points)
2. What liquor is made from the agave plant? ( 3 points)
3. In Greek mythology, who is the god of music? ( 4 points)
4. A person who is ecclesiophobic is afraid of what? ( 4 points)
5. What is the more common name for the American historical event called by many as "The Battle of Greasy Grass Creek?" ( 5 points)

Answers: 1. "The Flintstones;" 2. tequila; 3. Apollo; 4. churches; 5. The Battle of Little Big Horn.

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