Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Trivia Q&A: May 22

We had 17 teams in Professor Thom's on what was a bit of a slow night, but everyone seemed to enjoy the Trivia. The scores were strong for Q-Tip Trivia and SNL Characters Trivia (very few people knew who Leonard Pinth-Garnell was: Bad Trivia Players!) but they were a little weaker for General Knowledge.

IQ Trivia saw a little bit of controversy, as for the question about the only country outside Europe that was completely surrounded by one country, a number of my regulars swore that Swaziland was correct (as well as Lesotho). But then one of the folks came up to me and told me that he had once driven through Swaziland and crossed into Mozambique, so it wasn't totally surrounded by one country. I heard that it was a controversial border, so ultimately I accepted both countries as correct.

It didn't matter in the final end, as Rack City Bitch Rack Rack City Bitch (who also won for Best Team Name) wound up the winner with 56 points, three points ahead of Cornelius T. Wintergreen ESQ in second. Third place went to Monsiour Hollandes Opus with 50 points.

Next week is still not known yet which day Trivia will be held on. If the Celtics make it to the next round, we will have to wait until the NBA announces the schedule of games for next week. Stay tuned to this blog, and I will post the day we are doing it next week when it becomes available. The rule of thumb is always this: if the Celtics have a game next Tuesday, we will do Trivia on Monday. No game Tuesday? Trivia is on.

Current Events
1. What country recently banned Lady Gaga from having a concert there, after protests from religious groups there who thought she was too "pornographic?"
2. What Hollywood star maybe getting as much as $50 million in bonuses and other compensation for his role in his wildly successful new movie?
3. Forbes magazine selected what female pop singer as its "Most Powerful Celebrity for 2012" recently?
4. Yan Gomes, a 24-year-old infielder, was called up by the Toronto Blue Jays this past week, and became the first player from what South American country to play in MLB?
5. What eastern US state's highest court last week ruled that same-sex couples who married in other states can divorce there, even though it has no same-sex marriage provision of its own?
6. The Super Bowl ring of what troubled Hall of Fame NFL player was sold at auction this past weekend for over $230,000, tripled the price that was expected?
7. And at the same auction, a jersey from what baseball immortal sold for a record $4.4 million, the most ever for an item of sports memorabilia?

Q-Tip Trivia
1. Which of the following celebrities died while in their 30s? a. Elvis Presley; b. Marilyn Monroe; c. Kurt Cobain; d. River Phoenix.
2. Which of the following states did Barack Obama win in the 2008 presidential election? a. Pennsylvania; b. Texas; c. Virginia; d. Georgia.
3. Which MLB teams have moved from their home at least twice in their history? a. Giants; b. A's; c. Braves; d. Dodgers.
4. Which of the following cereal brands belong to Kellogg's? a. Alpha Bits; b. Frosted Flakes; c. Corn Flakes; d. Rice Krispies.
5. Which US states have less than 1 million in total population as of 2010? a. Hawaii; b. Maine; c. Idaho; d. Rhode Island.
6. Which of these US presidents once also served as vice-president? a. Thomas Jefferson; b. Theodore Roosevelt; c. Richard Nixon; d. John Tyler.
7. Which of these current actors have never been nominated for an Academy Award? a. Martin Sheen; b. Donald Sutherland; c. Gary Oldman; d. Christopher Plummer.

Saturday Night Live Characters Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Matt Foley
2. Alex Trebek
3. Roseanne Roseannadanna
4. Sarah Palin
5. Barack Obama
6. The Church Lady
7. Leonard Pinth-Garnell
8. Ed Grimley
9. Tommy Flanagan
10. Bill Clinton

General Knowledge
1. In "The Wizard of Oz" movie, what was the Scarecrow seeking? ( 1 pt)
2. What man ran as an independent candidate for president in 1992 and got 18% of the popular vote? ( 1 pt)
3. What actor was the voice of Charlie in the original "Charlie's Angels" TV series? ( 1 pt)
4. How many laps does it take to win the Indianapolis 500? ( 2 pt)
5. Bauxite ore is the main source of what metal? ( 2 pt)
6. What US city's regional magazine is called "5280?" ( 2 pt)
7. Excluding numbers, what is the most common street name in the US, according to the US Census Bureau? ( 3 pt)

IQ Trivia
1. Who was the first cartoon character to be featured posing on the cover of Playboy magazine? ( 3 points)
2. What is the most popular first name for male babies born in the United States since 1912? ( 4 points)
3. Who is the only NBA player to win the MVP Award, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year? ( 4 points)
4. Of all the world nations completely surrounded by another nation, which is the only one not found in Europe? ( 5 points)
5. Junko Tabei of Japan was the first woman to accomplish what feat in 1975, 22 years after the first man did it? ( 4 points)

Answers
Current Events
1. Indonesia; 2. Robert Downey Jr; 3. Jennifer Lopez; 4. Brazil; 5. Maryland; 6. Lawrence Taylor; 7. Babe Ruth.

Q-Tip Trivia
1. b; 2. a,c; 3. b,c; 4. b,c,d; 5. none; 6. all; 7. a,b.

Saturday Night Live Characters Trivia ("The Q Train")
1. Chris Farley; 2. Will Ferrell; 3. Gilda Radner; 4. Tina Fey; 5. Fred Armisen; 6. Dana Carvey; 7. Dan Aykroyd; 8. Martin Short; 9. Jon Lovitz; 10. Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond.

General Knowledge
1. A brain; 2. H. Ross Perot; 3. John Forsythe; 4. 200; 5. aluminum; 6. Denver; 7. Park Street.

IQ Trivia
1. Marge Simpson; 2. James; 3. Larry Bird; 4. Lesotho; 5. Climb Mount Everest.

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