Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What empire was united by a king named Shaka during the early 19th century? was that the Zulu empire - Shaka Zulu?
2. In September, what graying rock band had their fifth consecutive album debut atop the charts, a Billboard record? Ken Jennings gets a lot of questions from the Billboard charts. If I wanted to do better on his trivia quizzes, I would study the charts. The graying bands I follow (REM, Bruce and the E Street Band, Flaming Lips, U2) have not released new albums lately. I don't think that Pearl Jam has released a new album lately so I'll guess Metallica.
3. Because of its famous mineral water, what British town lent its name to the chemical salt magnesium sulfate? Epsom
4. What beer was advertised by the famous "Whassup?!" TV ad campaign of 1999? Bud-weis-er
5. What's the only U.S. state on the Atlantic that also extends into the Central Time Zone? I think that a tiny bit of Florida extends into Central time. This delayed the reporting of the Florida election results since they had to wait an extra hour for the Central time polls to close.
6. What leading lady of TV and movies called her autobiography Knock Wood, in memory of her father? is this an idiosyncracy of the actress's father? a play on words? I have not heard this before. The only Wood I can think of is Natalie Wood.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these nations, and no others? Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, China, Congo, Egypt, Great Britain, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mongolia, Peru, Ukraine, Venezuela.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. Where might you commonly see the collection of characters PRND21? On the shift level (or dashboard) of a car--they're the "gears" (well, automatic transmission modes) Park, Reverse, Neutral, and so on. Your pattern may vary, depending on make and model, but it's probably not too far off. correct
2. What chemical compound found in yogurt is also the substance that causes rigor mortis in corpses? Lactic acid in the muscles is what makes a stiff, uh, stiff. close enough
3. In what African country could you take an "Alex Haley cruise" up its namesake river? In Haley's Roots, Kunta Kinte was a native of the Gambia. This one was harder than I thought. What, the kids don't love Roots anymore? Roots was broadcast in 1977. That was a long time ago to remember a singular detail.
4. What movie director has been using the same font--Windsor EF-Elongated--for the credits of all his films since Interiors? Woody Allen needs Adobe Fonts! correct
5. What American politician shares the same nickname that models Heidi Klum and Elle Macpherson have recently tussled over in the media? Macpherson was ticked when Klum started calling herself "the Body" in press releases, so the answer is Jesse "The Body" Ventura (who has not had to tussle with either supermodel yet, sadly for Jesse). after researching this "tussle," I learned that it occurred in 2006. That's not very recent. Plus Jesse Ventura's nickname does not arise from his life as a politican. Very tricky question.
6. In what field did Eugene Fodor, Karl Baedeker, and Arthur Frommer all make their fame? Travel writing--popular series of guidebooks are named for all three. correct
7. Based on the unusual distinction they all share, name a Shakespeare work that could be added to this list of plays, and tell why. The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Godspell, J.B., Man of La Mancha, Marat/Sade, The Producers, The Real Thing, The Seagull. All feature a play within a play, so we accepted Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Taming of the Shrew. In the event of a show-off, we were even prepared to accept Love's Labour's Lost, but it didn't come up. If they had included Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, I would have got this one. But I only knew The Producers out of the list.