So once again I had the fun privilege of representing Tucson at the eighth annual Geeks Who Drink Geek Bowl trivia competition held in Austin, TX on the 25th of January 2014. After skipping last years festivities only to see an inferior Tucson team place 4th, come back to Tucson, crow about a non-podium finish and proceed to demand homage from the local quiz venues — all the while getting stomped by my team every venue they showed up at in their “victory” lap (Editor Note: If you can’t defend your own home turf, don’t brag about winning a bottle of Manischewitz), I vowed this year to make it once again to Austin and see how I could do this year. The Chemist. Austin. Science vs Hipsters with BBQ. It’s on!!
Again for 2014, I originally was hoping to pair up with a Tucson contingent but due to various issues I was reluctantly relegated to being a ronin quizzer in search of some teammates.
Enter Lincoln Hamilton.
Lincoln is the captain of the Dallas-Fort Worth team “Worse Than Juggalos” and his team just happened to have one extra spot on their squad perfect for a ronin quizzer. Moreover, they were a quality team, runners-up in the Texas region GWD “Rumble in the Pub” to the on Friday night, he let me know of a Denver all-star team that was desperately in need of a sixth man to round out their team. It turned out to be a wise decision to part with my unformed team (“The Charles Whitman Celebrity Pro-Am Shootout”), as I was cheerfully welcomed aboard by team “Unicorn Bukakke” (not kidding…that was the team name). So away we went to compete with the best-of-the-best….the creme-de-la-creme…the ne plus ultra that the pub trivia world has to offer.
The format of Geek Bowl VII pretty much was a carbon copy of what I recall from 2012. was pretty standard like most of the weekly quizzes that Geeks Who Drink put on at the local bars and pubs. But since this was the Big Game so to speak, there was a little more panache and flash. Each team had its own small table, with 6 chairs, a name placard of the team, score sheets with the rules of the game, and a flag of the state from whence the team hailed. (Note: I did take the Arizona flag off of my original table and took it with me to join my new Texas compatriots). There was even a six-pack of cupcakes at each table awaiting quizzers who needed to gorge on a pre-game sugar-rush of processed food and icing.
The festivities started off with an bang as the quizmasters performed a skit with Tucson’s own Caribbean Joe in the lead role as the Mayor of Quiz Bowl. of quizmasters from the various cities, each welcomed into the arena by the PA announcer akin to the Parade of Nations seen during Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Each city was holding up a placard made especially for the event. My personal favourite was a sign from the Colorado Springs contingent that read, “Greetings from the Tiny, Racist Village of Colorado Springs.” Ahh….gotta love that one. A close second was a sign from the self-described “passive-aggressive wood elves of the Pacific Northwest” (Seattle) that said, “Our sign is homegrown, locally produced, organic, and gluten-free which means we’re better than you.” After the Parade of Venues was over, all the quizmasters gathered on stage and welcomed the quizzers to Austin. How? With open arms and a reassuring pat on the back? Hell No! It was a gauntlet thrown down so to speak when the quizmasters gathered and performed the Maori Haka wardance. Nothing like a little pre-game warchanting to get the blood flowing to the brain. And away we went into the game.
In general, various quizmasters from different venues read questions from the stage. At the same time, the questions were also projected onto large screens throughout the venue. Once all the questions in a round were asked, a two minute timer started, by the end of which you had to have turned in your answer sheet to one of the roaming quizmasters. The game consisted of 8 rounds, each with its own theme. Most rounds contained 8 questions and each question is worth one point, so there’s a maximum possible score of 8 points for each round. However, some rounds offer extra points. For example — as all serious Geeks know – Round 2 is traditionally a music round with 8 songs played. One point each is awarded for naming the title and artist of the song. In a regular GWD pub quiz, it is only Round 2 and Round 8 (always the “Random Knowledge” round) that offer 16 possible points. However, in this year’s Geek Bowl, two other rounds were upgraded from 8 potential points to 16. Lastly, teams can choose one round to “joker”, meaning that it earns double points for that round if they circle the joker icon printed on the scoresheet. The smart teams save that joker for a 16 point round to get a possible 32 points. All in all, a maximum of 112 points were available in this year’s Geek Bowl.
So to give you a feel for what happened at the Unicorn Bukkake table, I’ll give you the questions and some commentary in brackets from my perspective about how/what our team did on them. The answers are at the bottom of the page. No cheatsies!
AND AWAY WE GO…..
Round 1: These Team Names End Tonight (a round on those overplayed and overused team names we all hate).
1. Your grandmother can’t wrestle but you should see her box. If your grandmother weighed 125 lb, what boxing weight classification between bantamweight and lightweight would she fight in?
2. He is a cunning linguist. Famed linguist Noam Chomsky was born near the end of what decade? [Cake.]
3. Who wrote the theme to Austin Powers, 30 years before the movie came out? [Our first inclination was Burt Bacharach due to his cameo appearance in the movie, but the prevalence of horns and jazzy sounds made us reconsider to the correct answer.] 4. Ryan Good rocked the Twitter-verse by announcing that he was resigning as what musical artist’s “swagger coach”? [Yeah…that kid needs some swagger alright! Nailed by Diana at the table.] 5. Jane Austen wrote two novels with one-word titles. For one point, name them both. [Diana got one and I chipped in here with the other. This is fun!] 6. How many yards is an NFL team penalized for excessive celebration after a touchdown? [All of us are Broncos fans and all of us know football. Again some fine tasty cake!] 7. Spelling counts for this question: What is the first name of President Obama’s former economic advisor Mr. Goolsbee? [Obviously it was a variation of spelling Austin. We guessed “Austen.” Close! But wrong!!!! Denied the perfect round!] 8. Tawûsê Melek is a peacock angel in the Yazidi religion of what ethnic group of Russia and northern Iraq? [Some discussion about the religions of the area followed by the realisation they wanted the ethnic group! D’oh!! OK Team, let’s rethink this one. And rethought it we did to get the correct answer.]
[Our score for this round: 7]
Round 2: Sexy Songs of Sex
[Music rounds during GWD quizzes usually have some theme or other. They play slips from 8 songs and teams must usually name the song title and the artist of each song. Geek Bowl is the same but with more style. For the third year in a row, GWD powers that be spared no expense and brought out the live music. Austin bills itself as the “live music capital of the world” and so the quizmasters this year again brought in eight different musical artists, one for each question.]
1. A xylophone and marimba group playing “Girls” by The Beastie Boys. (this same song was featured in the music round on the quiz I played just the Wednesday before Geek Bowl I played in Breckenridge, CO) [The lyrics were a dead giveaway so two points here.]
2. A cello quartet covering “Push It” by Salt-n-Pepa. (You have not lived until you have heard SnP on cellos).
3. A afro-reggae funk band covering “I Got Stripes” by Johnny Cash. [Totally clueless on this though I did say in my head that it sounded like it could be a Johnny Cash like song.] 4. An air guitarist and air drummer “covering” “Hot For Teacher” by Van Halen. [Swish! ] 5. A classical string quartet covering “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters. [One of my favourite FF songs and it sounds rather haunting when played solely on strings. Bazinga!] 6. A local theater group doing an a capella version of “The Money Song” from the Broadway musical “Avenue Q”. [Dammit dammit dammit!!!! I went and saw this musical at Grady Gammage at ASU last year. I own the CD. But all I could come up with was “Avenue Q” and not the title. We put down “Helping Hand” thinking it a possible clever pun on the helping nature of donating money and they fact that puppeteers have their hands up the puppets’ butts the whole show. Nice idea. Totally wrong.] 7. A country/bluegrass band playing “Too Drunk to F*ck” by the Dead Kennedys. [Buh-buh…..buh-buh Buh-buh….buh-buh. Ay ay ay ay……] 8. The Capital Cities Men’s Chorus (some 50 members) strong doing an a capella version if “I Wanna Sex You Up” by Color Me Badd
[Our score for this round: 11, giving us a total of 18. We were kind of alarmed at this thinking we’d be doing a bit better at this point.]
Round 3: Lather and Rinse, But There Will Be No Repeats (a 50:50 round on hygeine)
[Round 3 during a regular quiz is often some version of 50/50 chance questions like true/false or multiple choice with only 2 choices, etc.]
1. Is Smithers closer to a 0 or a 6 on the Kinsey scale? [We guessed the right direction on this one.] 2. Who first coined the phrase “vaginal orgasm”, Sigmund Freud or Margaret Mead? [Our answer in the words of John McLaughlin….WRONG!!!!!!] 3. Who did Frank Sinatra bone first, Ava Gardner or Mia Farrow? [+1 for Ol’ Blue Eyes nailing Ava. -1,000,000 for nailing Mia] 4. Who released the song “Let’s Talk About Sex”, TLC or Salt-n-Pepa? [A no-brainer here] 5. If you were tying up your partner for some traditional Japanese bondage, what sort of rope would you use: jute or sisal? [There was some healthy debate by the team here in this one. I voted in favour of sisal thinking that jute was native to South America so what would the Chinese have anything to do with it. Also there was some thoughts that sisal was close etymologically to “silken” which is most definitely Chinese. In the end we were totally wrong.] 6. If you’re a dacryphiliac, which one are you turned on by: yelling or sobbing? [Guessed wrong here, though. We reasoned that “lacrym-” has to do with tears, therefore “dacrym-” must be something else. Nope!] 7. In the 19th-century Japanese woodcut by Hokusai called “The Dream Of The Fisherman’s Wife”, is she getting it on with the crew of a fishing-boat or with octopi? [I like Hokusai woodcuts…though I’m more turned on by the “Great Wave off Kanagawa” than by this one.] 8. What was the power source of the first known vibrator: wind-up or steam-powered? [Steampunk sex toys or wind-up sex toys? Choose…but choose wisely. We didn’t here.]
[This round had a bonus 9th question, a speed round worth 8 points in itself, making the round worth a total of 16.]
9. In three minutes, name the eight characters besides Carrie Bradshaw who have appeared in more than 20 episodes of “Sex And The City“. First names are sufficient. [7 of these were right one was wrong: Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha, Mr Big, Tyler, Stanford, Aiden,and Steve. That we got that many was completely unattributatble to me in any way, shape or form.]
We decided to joker this round thinking we were confident of at least a 14. [Our score for this round: 11, bringing our total to 40.]
SCORING BREAK INTERMISSION — we were tied with others at 25th place out of 147.
Round 4: I Went To Geek Bowl, and All I Got Was This Lousy Anal Probe — a round on the Supernatural
[This round was a straight-forward eight question round on all things occult, supernatural, or otherwise wholly unbelievable).
1. A philosophical principle for selecting the simplest answer as the correct one chooses a 90′s wheeled kid’s toy.
2. A 2100-year-old armless statue of a hottie goes on an adventure with a pug puppy and his kitten pal.
3. The English monarch who went on the Third Crusade helps Debbie Harry with her fragile cardiac organ.
4. A teaching strategy devised by Plato’s mentor educates a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan. 5. An ancient Greek’s machine for moving water somehow helps Samus Aran destroy enemies. [Jason Mueller’s encyclopaedic video game knowledge got the second half of this one for us.] 6. Dickens’ only novel featuring a female narrator depicts what Kid ‘n Play get up to when their parents aren’t around. [A funny answer and my favourite to the round.] 7. An award-winning play about Sir Thomas More introduces some new biker characters from a drama series on the FX channel. 8. Two Brazilian ladies eat poo from a dome-like architectural structure atop a larger dome. [I’ve never seen the movie and pretty sure I don’t want to.]
[Finally a perfect round score! Our 8 on this round gave us a total of 48.]
Round 5: A Pervert’s History of the United States
[Round 5 of GWD is always a visual round. In the regular pub version, this consists of a half-sheet of paper with 8 pictures on it. At Geek Bowl, it was augmented to be worth 16 points. In this round a series of images of famous people in history were projected onto the screen. The trick was to identify each pair for two points each. However…the people were “linked” together by their genatailia (NSFW…nothing too graphic mind you). However what made this round was the attention to detail. The round was presented in the genre of a Ken Burns film. Every detail was planned out by the Geek writers. The background music….yeah Ken Burns’ “Civil War”. The font…Ken Burns’ “Baseball”. Such a filthy homage. I loved it. Take a look at the round for yourselves.
1. Image: a picture from a Dr Seuss book. Question: What Dr. Seuss book is this image taken from? [Answer: Hop On Pop] 2. Image: An assassin in a black hat and cowl. Question: In what movie did Doc Hopper hire this assassin to eradicate a certain amphibian? [That question to me was like floating a 75 mph fastball to Barry Bonds. I crushed it with impunity.] 3. Image: 3 different pictures of hips, decorated variously. Question: To what performer do all these hips belong? [Answer: Shakira] 4. Image: The painting “Night Hawks” by Edward Hopper. Question: What is the name of this famous painting by Edward Hopper? 5. Image: A vaguely C-shaped organ. Question: This was ripped straight out of somebody’s head. What in the hell is it? [Hips and Hops people…there’s a clue in the round name.] 6. Image: Some hops. You know, the plant. Question: What variety of hops are these? Hint — they happen to be named after a city in Texas. [It’s called “GEEKS WHO DRINK” for a reason. And the reason is I like beer and these hops as well.] 7. Image: Close-up on a male statue’s groin. Question: These famous hips belong to what statue? [Answer: Michelangelo’s David] 8. Image: An African-American guy from the 1980s. Question: This man is sometimes called the Grandfather of Hip-Hop. Name him. [Answer: Afrika Bambaataa. Major kudos to Jason Mueller on this one. Mostly we were leaning towards “Grandmaster Flash” for this answer, but Jason noticed that the man pictured was wearing Zulu Nation garb which was much more aligned with Afrika Bambaataa than GM Flash. Good save by Jason here!]
[Another perfect round! Total = 56.]
Round 6: No Straight White Males Were Harmed In the Making of This Round
1. The National Women’s Hall Of Fame is located in what central New York town, which was also the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention? [Basic US history. No problemo.] 2. What model of Pontiac did Oprah give away to every member of her audience in 2004? [we went around and around naming every model of Pontiac…save the correct one. On a personal note, I don’t watch Oprah. I work.] 3. Manon Rhéaume, the first female goalie to play in the NHL, was signed to what expansion team in 1992? [I recalled this moment in hockey history. I also recalled she played for the Atlanta Knights in the IHL. The I remembered the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators were the expansion teams in ’92. So Atlanta is much closer to TB than Ottawa. Gots to be Tampa Bay. Total neural processing time to figure this answer out by me: 4.34 milliseconds.] 4. Future coin star Sacajawea was a member of what Native American tribe? [Again another exercise in name all of the tribes possibly encountered by Lewis and Clark. We were lucky to guess correctly here.] 5. On October 1, 1989, Axel and Eigil Axgil entered into the world’s first legal civil union for a gay couple, in what Scandinavian country? [Toss-up between three countries on this one, and we guessed wrong going with Sweden. I guess we were thinking that the Swedes are more progressive than other Scandanavian countries. Hey…I learned something out of this question.] 6. Reggie and Cheryl Miller are basketball-playing siblings who played for what two rival universities? [It’s like NBA Jam here. FROM DOWNTOWN!!!! BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!!!! Wheelhouse, bitches! I’m a Pac-10 alum. So I’ve learned to hate these two schools and all their alumni.] 7. In her book “Pornography: Men Possessing Women“, what feminist argued that pornography incites men to rape? [Huh?!?! This one was so far from my wheelhouse that all I could do was to stand by mutely while the other better-read teammates puzzled through this one to get the right answer.] 8. Fill in this 4-word quote from Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing: “I’m just a struggling black man trying to __________ in a cruel and harsh world.” [I’ve seen the movie but don’t remember the quote. In the end we filled in “do the right thing” thinking it could be a clever thing to be the eponymous source of the movie title.]
[This was a bit of a struggle. 5 points scored, bringing our total to 61.]
Round 7: A Movie Round About Pizza!
[In regular GWD, Round 7 is a second audio round. It’s often movie clips, but can be a wide variety of other things, like clips from NPR interviews or 1980s commercials. In Geek Bowl, though, Round 7 seems to have solidified as a movie round, with on-screen movie clips. The twist this time was that 16 points were available. Each clip contained a 1-point question and a 2-point question. You had to answer one or the other — answering both would net an automatic 0 points.] 1. Video: Party aftermath scene from Sixteen Candles, with a pizza on the turntable. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Where does Jake find The Geek? [We answered the 2-pointer] 2. Video: This. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: What movie did the director make immediately after this one? [We answered the 2-pointer guessing incorrectly it was “Age of Innocence”.] 3. Video: This, stopping at about 0:26. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Name the director, a famous b-movie maker who helped launch the careers of Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, and Robert De Niro, among others. [We answered the 2-pointer.] 4. Video: This, stopping at about 0:32. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: How does Pizza The Hutt die? [nailed it for 2 points. It was funny that I recalled even that Dom DeLuise was Pizza the Hut.] 5. Video: This, stopping at about 0:22. And, obviously, sans the top and bottom text. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: What is the name of the fat kid who burns the vampire with garlic pizza? [We answered the 1-pointer. Great job Preston on getting that one.] 6. Video: This, stopping at about 0:22. 1-point question: What is Wayne’s last name? 2-point question: What Pepsi slogan does Wayne recite at the end of this scene? [We fumbled around getting most of the slogan right. we were hung up on was it “a” or “the” in the slogan. I talked the team into going for “a”. Go for big points or go home was the thought at this point.] 7. Video: Navin and Marie eating “Cup-O-Pizza” in his trailer. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Give the last name of the director, which he shares with his son, director of “The Princess Bride.” [A rather easy hint for a two-pointer when compared to the other 2-pointers.] 8. Video: This. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: In what New York City borough does this scene take place? [We answered the 2-pointer after I pointed out that in the movie one of Travolta’s buddies dies by falling off of the famous namesake bridge and that he’s was walking down Flatbush in the scene. Again…go big or go home.]
[Great movie round. We scored 13 points, for a total of 74.]
Round 8: Random Knowledge
[Round 8 of GWD is always a smorgasbord or random nuggets you dredge up from the nether reaches of one’s brain, and always worth 16 points. Usually, the point distribtion is random too, with some questions worth 1 point and some worth as many as 4. However, during Geek Bowl VI this was not the case — each question was worth 2 points.]
1. Exact answers and first names required. For 1 point each: Name the author of The Princess Bride and the author of Lord Of The Flies. [Slightly smarmy to ask for two so-similar answers, but nailed them both. Full disclosure…I watched Princess Bride a week before Geek Bowl.] 2. In 2003, Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the NFL MVP award. The last time that happened was 1997. For 1 point each, name the two players who shared the award that year. [We knew both without hesitation.] 3. Unlike headhunting, head-shrinking has only been found on one continent. For one point, name the continent. For another point: the process uses herbs containing what organic compounds, also found in red wine and tea? [Chemistry…and geography in one question. It’s like the two categories that I like the most. Thank you GWD question writers!!!] 4. For one point each: in the acronym HDMI, what do the M and the I stand for? [Got the I without much discussion but not the M. we spent most of the next few minutes hashing through several possibilities. In the end, I mentioned that HDMI is used for Blu-Ray, DVD, X-BOX, Playstation…basically many media systems…Hmm…many. Media. Many + media in one word would be…..EUREKA!!!] 5. Famous Browns. For one point, who preceded Gordon Brown as prime minister of England? For another point: The landmark Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board Of Education overturned what controversial 1896 decision? [Bazinga x 2] 6. Three installments of the Final Fantasy series were released for the Playstation: VII, VIII, and IX. Each of these games has a central protagonist. For one point each, name any two of them. [Jason got one and close to the second. Alas we did settle for a single point here.] 7. Scientists with effects named after them. Question 1: The effect that causes water to swirl counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere is named after what scientist? Question 2: Christian Doppler, discoverer of the Doppler effect, was born in what Austrian city, also the birthplace of Mozart? [ Yes. And Yes. I watched “Amadeus” about a month ago. And did I mention I was a scientist?] 8. After Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti, who has won more Grammy awards than anybody else with 31, the 2nd and 3rd place record for most Grammys are held by a 78-year-old producer and a 40-year-old bluegrass singer and fiddler. For one point each, name them. [We guessed wrong on the bluegrass artist (heck..the only fiddler I know is Charlie Daniels) but….producer…nah….they wouldn’t put him as an answer twice in the game? Or would they? Heck…go for it, team..put the Q down again!]
[A solid way to finish up with 14 in round 8 to bring us up to 88/112 for the match.]
. .
And now…
THE ANSWERS:
Round 1: Austin-tatious, a round about Austins and flamboyance 1. What is the name of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s trademark finishing move? The Stone Cold Stunner 2. What fancy-ass palace was built by Louis XIV of France on the site of his dad’s hunting lodge? Versailles 3. Who wrote the theme to Austin Powers, 30 years before the movie came out? Quincy Jones 4. Ryan Good rocked the Twitter-verse by announcing that he was resigning as what musical artist’s “swagger coach”? Justin Bieber 5. Jane Austen wrote two novels with one-word titles. For one point, name them both. “Emma” and “Persuasion” 6. How many yards is an NFL team penalized for excessive celebration after a touchdown? 15 yards 7. Spelling counts for this question: What is the first name of President Obama’s former economic advisor Mr. Goolsbee? Austan 8. Tawûsê Melek is a peacock angel in the Yazidi religion of what ethnic group of Russia and northern Iraq? The Kurds
Round 2: Music [Answers are in the questions.]
Round 3: Geek Me, baby! A 50/50 round about sex. 1. Is Smithers closer to a 0 or a 6 on the Kinsey scale? 6 (exclusively homosexual) 2. Who first coined the phrase “vaginal orgasm”, Sigmund Freud or Margaret Mead? Sigmund Freud 3. Who did Frank Sinatra bone first, Ava Gardner or Mia Farrow? Ava Gardner 4. Who released the song “Let’s Talk About Sex”, TLC or Salt-n-Pepa? Salt-n-Pepa 5. If you were tying up your partner for some traditional Japanese bondage, what sort of rope would you use: jute or sisal? Jute 6. If you’re a dacryphiliac, which one are you turned on by: yelling or sobbing? Sobbing 7. In the 19th-century Japanese woodcut by Hokusai called “The Dream Of The Fisherman’s Wife“, is she getting it on with the crew of a fishing-boat or with octopi? Octopi 8. What was the power source of the first known vibrator: wind-up or steam-powered? Wind-up 9. In three minutes, name the eight characters besides Carrie Bradshaw who have appeared in more than 20 episodes of Sex And The City. First names are sufficient. Samantha Jones, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbs, Mr. Big, Steve Brady, Stanford Blatch, Trey McDougal, Aidan Shaw
Round 4: High-culture/low-culture Before And After 1. A philosophical principle for selecting the simplest answer as the correct one chooses a 90′s wheeled kid’s toy. Occam’s Razor Scooter 2. A 2100-year-old armless statue of a hottie goes on an adventure with a pug puppy and his kitten pal. Venus de Milo & Otis 3. The English monarch who went on the Third Crusade helps Debbie Harry with her fragile cardiac organ. Richard The Lionheart Of Glass 4. A teaching strategy devised by Plato’s mentor educates a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Socratic Method Man 5. An ancient Greek’s machine for moving water somehow helps Samus Aran destroy enemies. Archimedes’ Screw Attack 6. Dickens’ only novel featuring a female narrator depicts what Kid ‘n Play get up to when their parents aren’t around. Bleak House Party 7. An award-winning play about Sir Thomas More introduces some new biker characters from a drama series on the FX channel. A Man For All Seasons Of Anarchy 8. Two Brazilian ladies eat poo from a dome-like architectural structure atop a larger dome. 2 Girls 1 Cupola
Round 5: Hips and Hops 1. “Hop on Pop” 2. “The Muppet Movie” 3. Shakira 4. “Night Hawks” 5. Hippocampus 6. Amarillo hops 7. Michaelangelo’s “David” 8. Afrika Bambaataa
Round 6: No Straight White Males Were Harmed In the Making of This Round 1. The National Women’s Hall Of Fame is located in what central New York town, which was also the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention? Seneca Falls, New York 2. What model of Pontiac did Oprah give away to every member of her audience in 2004? The Pontiac G6 3. Manon Rhéaume, the first female goalie to play in the NHL, was signed to what expansion team in 1992? Tampa Bay Lightning 4. Future coin star Sacajawea was a member of what Native American tribe? Shoshone 5. On October 1, 1989, Axel and Eigil Axgil entered into the world’s first legal civil union for a gay couple, in what Scandinavian country? Denmark 6. Reggie and Cheryl Miller are basketball-playing siblings who played for what two rival universities? USC and UCLA 7. In her book Pornography: Men Possessing Women, what feminist argued that pornography incites men to rape? Andrea Dworkin 8. Fill in this 4-word quote from Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing: “I’m just a struggling black man trying to __________ in a cruel and harsh world.” “keep his dick hard”
Round 7: A Movie Round About Pizza! 1. Video: Party aftermath scene from Sixteen Candles, with a pizza on the turntable. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Where does Jake find The Geek? [We answered the 2-pointer] Movie: Sixteen Candles, of course. Jake finds The Geek under the coffee table. 2. Video: This. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: What movie did the director make immediately after this one? Movie: Goodfellas. Scorsese directed Cape Fear immediately afterwards. 3. Video: This, stopping at about 0:26. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Name the director, a famous b-movie maker who helped launch the careers of Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, and Robert De Niro, among others. Movie: Rock And Roll High School, directed by Roger Corman. 4. Video: This, stopping at about 0:32. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: How does Pizza The Hutt die? Movie: Spaceballs. Pizza The Hutt dies by eating himself. 5. Video: This, stopping at about 0:22. And, obviously, sans the top and bottom text. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: What is the name of the fat kid who burns the vampire with garlic pizza? Movie: The Monster Squad. Character’s name is Horace. 6. Video: This, stopping at about 0:22. 1-point question: What is Wayne’s last name? 2-point question: What Pepsi slogan does Wayne recite at the end of this scene? Wayne’s last name is Campbell, and at the end of the scene, he says, “Pepsi: The Choice Of A New Generation.” 7. Video: Navin and Marie eating “Cup-O-Pizza” in his trailer. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: Give the last name of the director, which he shares with his son, director of “The Princess Bride.” Movie: The Jerk. Director’s last name: Reiner. 8. Video: This. 1-point question: Name the movie. 2-point question: In what New York City borough does this scene take place? Movie: Saturday Night Fever, which takes place in Brooklyn.
Round 8: Random Knowledge 1. Exact answers and first names required. For 1 point each: Name the author of The Princess Bride and the author of Lord Of The Flies. William Goldman wrote “The Princess Bride”, and William Golding wrote “Lord Of The Flies”. 2. In 2003, Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the NFL MVP award. The last time that happened was 1997. For 1 point each, name the two players who shared the award that year. Brett Favre and Barry Sanders. 3. Unlike headhunting, head-shrinking has only been found on one continent. For one point, name the continent. For another point: the process uses herbs containing what organic compounds, also found in red wine and tea? Continent: South America. Compounds: Tannins 4. For one point each: in the acronym HDMI, what do the M and the I stand for? “Multimedia Interface” 5. Famous Browns. For one point, who preceded Gordon Brown as prime minister of England? For another point: The landmark Supreme Court Case Brown vs. Board Of Education overturned what controversial 1896 decision? Tony Blair preceded Gordon Brown, and Brown vs. Board of Education overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. 6. Three installments of the Final Fantasy series were released for the Playstation: VII, VIII, and IX. Each of these games has a central protagonist. For one point each, name any two of them. Cloud, [which was the one we got] Squall, and Zidane. 7. Scientists with effects named after them. Question 1: The effect that causes water to swirl counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere is named after what scientist? Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis Question 2: Christian Doppler, discoverer of the Doppler effect, was born in what Austrian city, also the birthplace of Mozart? Salzburg 8. After Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti, who has won more Grammy awards than anybody else with 31, the 2nd and 3rd place record for most Grammys are held by a 78-year-old producer and a 40-year-old bluegrass singer and fiddler. For one point each, name them. The producer was Quincy Jones. [Yes, again. Thos tricksies quizwriters used the Q twice! This answer even had a parenthetical comment: “(That’s right, two Quincy Jones questions!)”] The fiddler is Alison Krauss. ________________________________________________
All in all a blast and happy we finished in 5th place. Though if we had jokered Round 8 to get 28 points, we’d have finished in first place with $5000 burning a hole in our pocket. Instead, “Independence Hall & Oates” from Charlottesville, VA (with five superfluous hangers-on from Philly) won in a tie-breaker over “Team Dong” from Austin, TX with 93 pts. Next year…Swanson. Next year.
jeffthechemist 
