Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - August 26
Ken Jennings prefaced this week's quiz with the following - "These quizzes are designed to be sort-of-hard. This isn't always Designed-To-Make-You-Feel-Smart trivia. It's not a sidebar in Us magazine. But I can promise you this: the answers are also designed to make sense. They reward a little meditation, a little lateral thinking, a little inspired guesswork. Give them each a little time to percolate and you might be surprised at just how much you actually know." I will agree that more than 50% I either know or else can narrow the feasible choices to a small set from which to guess. But others (especially the pop culture or literature questions) you either know or you don't.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. The Eclipse Awards are given for achievement in what sport? horse racing
2. What's the only mainland European capital located on the Atlantic--not a sea of the Atlantic, but the ocean proper? Lisbon?
3. What famous October 1960 incident was precipitated by a speech from a Filipino diplomat named Lorenzo Sumulong? must have been Kruschev's shoe-banging speech at the UN
4. The piano theme that accompanies the current "WB" logo at the start of Warner Brothers films is based on what classic movie song? I cannot think of the music that introduces WB movies so I will guess. Piano theme, classic movie song? I'll guess The Entertainer (The Sting). The only other classic piano tune I can think of is As Time Goes By.
5. What product was manufactured by entrepreneurs like John Underwood, L. C. Smith, Thomas Oliver, and Camillo Olivetti? Olivetti is an Italian office products company. That led me to think of typewriters, like Smith-Corona. I think Underwood was a typewriter brand also.
6. What multimillion-selling U.S. musical group is named for a central Chinese mountain range? a guess - Wu Tang Clan
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these English words: "beam," "branch," "camp," "frank," "kindred," "noel," "rice," "rider," "staples," and "town"?
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. How many holes are there in a regular Ritz cracker? No peeking! Two rows of two surrounding one row of three, so seven holes total. Two and 4/7 Ritz crackers = one golf course. correct!
2. What American played on an Olympic gold medal-winning team in 1984 and 1988, and then returned to win another gold in a *different* team sport in 1996? Karch Kiraly, who won two volleyball golds before switching to the new Olympic sport of beach volleyball. This may be our first and last ever Tuesday Trivia question about volleyball, but with ol' Karch calling Olympic games for NBC last week, I thought it might be fair game. correct but I needed help to get it
3. Officials with a "franking" privilege are allowed to do what at no charge? Post mail. Also: roast wienies. correct
4. What 1978 hit was inspired by band member Randy Jones showing songwriter Jacques Morali around a favorite NYC hangout, the McBurney Building on 23rd Street? Randy Jones, of the Village People, was showing Morali around New York's first "YMCA." Jones was the cowboy, by the way. correct
5. What's the common name for Onopordum acanthium, the national flower of Scotland? Scotland's highest honor is the Order of the Thistle. correct
6. Who achieved financial independence in the 1970s by making hundreds of prints of his famous photograph Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico? Ansel Adams, famous for his photography of U.S. national parks. Also famous for me invariably confusing his name with that of dancer Alvin Ailey. But we didn't accept "Alvin Ailey," sorry. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these performers? David Cross, Johnny Depp, Kelsey Grammer, Greg Kinnear, Janet Leigh, Cillian Murphy, William Shatner, Billy Bob Thornton. They all portrayed, to some fame, a character named "Crane" on screen or TV. IMDb can help you out if you can't remember some of them, but they're all memorable for one reason or another.
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. The Eclipse Awards are given for achievement in what sport? horse racing
2. What's the only mainland European capital located on the Atlantic--not a sea of the Atlantic, but the ocean proper? Lisbon?
3. What famous October 1960 incident was precipitated by a speech from a Filipino diplomat named Lorenzo Sumulong? must have been Kruschev's shoe-banging speech at the UN
4. The piano theme that accompanies the current "WB" logo at the start of Warner Brothers films is based on what classic movie song? I cannot think of the music that introduces WB movies so I will guess. Piano theme, classic movie song? I'll guess The Entertainer (The Sting). The only other classic piano tune I can think of is As Time Goes By.
5. What product was manufactured by entrepreneurs like John Underwood, L. C. Smith, Thomas Oliver, and Camillo Olivetti? Olivetti is an Italian office products company. That led me to think of typewriters, like Smith-Corona. I think Underwood was a typewriter brand also.
6. What multimillion-selling U.S. musical group is named for a central Chinese mountain range? a guess - Wu Tang Clan
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these English words: "beam," "branch," "camp," "frank," "kindred," "noel," "rice," "rider," "staples," and "town"?
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. How many holes are there in a regular Ritz cracker? No peeking! Two rows of two surrounding one row of three, so seven holes total. Two and 4/7 Ritz crackers = one golf course. correct!
2. What American played on an Olympic gold medal-winning team in 1984 and 1988, and then returned to win another gold in a *different* team sport in 1996? Karch Kiraly, who won two volleyball golds before switching to the new Olympic sport of beach volleyball. This may be our first and last ever Tuesday Trivia question about volleyball, but with ol' Karch calling Olympic games for NBC last week, I thought it might be fair game. correct but I needed help to get it
3. Officials with a "franking" privilege are allowed to do what at no charge? Post mail. Also: roast wienies. correct
4. What 1978 hit was inspired by band member Randy Jones showing songwriter Jacques Morali around a favorite NYC hangout, the McBurney Building on 23rd Street? Randy Jones, of the Village People, was showing Morali around New York's first "YMCA." Jones was the cowboy, by the way. correct
5. What's the common name for Onopordum acanthium, the national flower of Scotland? Scotland's highest honor is the Order of the Thistle. correct
6. Who achieved financial independence in the 1970s by making hundreds of prints of his famous photograph Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico? Ansel Adams, famous for his photography of U.S. national parks. Also famous for me invariably confusing his name with that of dancer Alvin Ailey. But we didn't accept "Alvin Ailey," sorry. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these performers? David Cross, Johnny Depp, Kelsey Grammer, Greg Kinnear, Janet Leigh, Cillian Murphy, William Shatner, Billy Bob Thornton. They all portrayed, to some fame, a character named "Crane" on screen or TV. IMDb can help you out if you can't remember some of them, but they're all memorable for one reason or another.
