Trivia Q&A: October 17

On the off-night in-between games of the ALCS, we had an understandably lighter crowd in Professor Thom's on Wednesday night for Trivia. At first it looked like we might have to cancel it for this week, but fortunately we had enough teams by 9 PM to get going, and we eventually had 10 teams take part.

This may have been one of the best nights ever in terms of teams rolling up points. You can say the questions may have been easier (which I really don't think was true) or the players were much brighter than the usual crowd we get (that's debatable). The toughest category was the Name That Year one, but all the scores were still pretty respectable.

I thought IQ Trivia would be the toughest one overall, as I thought I came up with some really hard questions. But seven of the ten teams got at least 3 of the 5 questions correct. And the team called If You Haven't Heard, Our Teammate Was On WNYC Today won by three points, and they actually led the contest from start to finish. Nice job, guys.

Trivia Night will return to its usual day and time next Tuesday, October 23 at 9 PM.

Current Events
1. President Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama today, and angered this country by doing so.
2. This rap mogul was involved in a fistfight in a Manhattan nightclub last Saturday night, but there is a chance that no charges maybe filed in the case.
3. This TV personality announced yesterday that he is a candidate for President of the United States, and he made the announcement on his own TV show.
4. The LAPD are investigating whether a car crash involving this actor last Friday night was actually a hit-and-run he was involved in.
5. The wife of Vice-President Cheney says that her husband and this presidential candidate are actually distant eighth cousins.
6. Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson all won the Nobel Prize in this field it was announced today.
7. This country recalled its ambassador to the US after the House Committee on Foriegn Affairs passed a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide.
8. A live-action TV series spinoff is currently in the works based on this extremely successful movie franchise, it was announced yesterday.
9. Oil prices surged to this record price per barrel today.
10. This comedy film, which was just released last Friday, was the number one film in America at the box office for the week.

Answers: 1. China; 2. Sean (Diddy) Combs; 3. Stephen Colbert; 4. Orlando Bloom; 5. Barack Obama; 6. economics; 7. Turkey; 8. "Star Wars;" 9. $89; 10. "Why Did I Get Married."

Name That Year
1. World War I comes to an end.
2. Ronald Reagan is first inaugurated as president.
3. "The Godfather" is first released in theaters.
4. The Berlin Wall is officially torn down.
5. A strike cancels the World Series for the first and only time.
6. The Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks.
7. Elvis Presley dies in Memphis at the age of 42.
8. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King are both assassinated.
9. Alan Shepard is the first American in space.
10. Madonna released her first, self-titled album.

Answers: 1. 1918; 2. 1981; 3. 1972; 4. 1989; 5. 1994; 6. 1912; 7. 1977; 8. 1968; 9. 1961; 10. 1983.

True or False ("The Q Train")
1. A pimiento is a type of pepper.
2. According to Greek legend, Gordius, king of Phrygia, devised a famous knot.
3. For over 10 years, best-selling author John Irving also worked as a hotel owner.
4. A mortarboard is worn over the top of the head.
5. In Spanish, the word "pollo" means pork.
6. Paul McCartney never sang the title song for a James Bond film.
7. The Seattle Space Needle appears at the center of the "Starbucks" logo.
8. Pediatricians specialize in treating children.
9. The art of arranging and gluing images and objects to a surface is called collage.
10. Steve Rubell was an owner of a famous New York nightclub called The Copacabana.

Answers: 1. true; 2. true; 3. false, he was a wrestling coach; 4. true; 5. false, it means chicken; 6. false, he sang "Live and Let Die;" 7. false, it's a mermaid-like creature; 8. true; 9. true; 10. false, he owned Studio 54.

General Knowledge
1. What talk show personality appeared in the John Waters films "Hairspray" and "Cry Baby?"
2. Biologist Alfred Kinsey rose to fame in the 1940s for his studies in what field?
3. Joshua Bell is known as a virtuoso of what musical instrument?
4. On the 1980s TV series, "Hart to Hart," what are the first names of the lead characters, the Harts?
5. The Mensheviks were a political party during the revolution in what country?
6. The home movie camera of Abraham Zapruder captured what famous event?
7. In the 1999 animated film, "Tarzan," what actress supplied the voice for the character Jane?
8. What name was given to post-Civil War Northerners who moved South to get involved in politics or business?
9. A fogged-over bathroom mirror is an example of what phenomenon?
10. What kind of creature is a John Dory?

Answers: 1. Ricki Lake; 2. human sexuality; 3. violin; 4. Jonathan and Jennifer; 5. Russia; 6. JFK assassination; 7. Minnie Driver; 8. Carpetbaggers; 9. condensation; 10. fish.

IQ Trivia
1. In German legend, who is the beautiful siren of the Rhine River who lures boatmen to their death? (6 points)
2. Whose famous poem states that "Beauty is truth, truth beauty?" (5 points)
3. The North American Vexillological Association is concerned with what? (5 points)
4. Which US state is the home of the Olympic mountain range? (4 points)
5. In a common phrase about impending disaster, the sword of whom is said to be hanging over your head? (5 points)

Answers: 1. Lorelei; 2. John Keats; 3. flags; 4. Washington; 5. Damocles.