Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What's by far the best-selling genre in American publishing, accounting for over half of all paperback sales? my first thought is romance; 2nd thought is kid's literature. But when you look at best seller lists, you see James Patterson, Dan Brown and other detective/mystery fiction authors.
2. Last week, Afghanistan officials quarantined the country's only what? I saw this in the paper - they quarantined their only pig
3. The first verse of what 1985 rap hit begins, "Well, they call me Sweetness, and I like to dance"? 1985 and Sweetness --> Chicago Bears and Walter Payton --> the Super Bowl Shuffle
4. There are two movies in which Peter Fonda plays a character inspired by a Marvel Comics character. Both those movie titles share what word in common? Peter Fonda? I can only think of Ulee's Gold and Easy Rider. Neither based on anything related to Marvel as far as I know.
5. In 1952, the landlocked province of La Pampa was renamed for what woman? La Pampa --> Argentina --> 1952 --> Eva Peron
6. Which color of visible light in the rainbow has the longest wavelength? I may have it backwards, but I believe that red has the shortest and violet has the the longest wavelength
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these fictional characters? Holly Golightly, Strawberry Shortcake, Tom Sawyer, and Yogi Bear. KJ said that Q7 this week is really easy. I will feel even dumber than usual if I can't get it, but I did find that they each are connected to a character named Huckleberry - Huckleberry Finn, Huckleberry Hound, Huckleberry Pie.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What jazzman wrote and first recorded the standard "Ornithology"? Charlie Parker. Get it, "Bird"? "Ornithology"? correct
2. What legendary character was the son of Uther Pendragon? Daryl Dragon, of the Captain and Tenille. We also would have accepted "King Arthur." correct
3. When 19th-century gangs called "crimps" kidnapped men and impressed them as sailors, their most famous and frequent destination was what foreign city? Today, this practice is commonly called "Shanghai-ing," because that's where they used to take the poor victims. yes, of course
4. The "Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications" appears on what TV series? This would have been a lot easier if I'd told you that this lengthy name is a "back-ronym" for the DHARMA Foundation, on Lost. Maybe the capital 'A' on "And" should have clued you in. I am red faced at not making the connection here. I even have a DHARMA t-shirt!
5. The last two baseball teams to reach the World Series in their first-ever winning seasons both hail from what state? The Rays and Marlins are both from Florida. At first I thought these were the ONLY two teams ever to achieve this kind of turnaround, which would have made for a better trivia question, but I forgot about the Miracle Mets. correct
6. Lomond, Ness, Awe, and Morar are the four largest what? Lochs in Scotland. Fun fact: Loch Lomond is the biggest by area, but Loch Ness holds more water, being much deeper. Even when you subtract monster volume. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these things? Bridegrooms, butterflies, ears, feathers, knots, peppercorns, spindles, turnips. When translated into Italian, these are all types of pasta. To wit: ziti, farfalle, orecchiette, penne, gnocchi, acini di pepe, fusilli, and ravioli. In the future, when Question Seven is about pasta, we can substitute a different side dish for any subscribers who are doing Atkins. Good get, Alex. I had no idea of the connection between ravioli and turnips and between ziti and bridegrooms.