Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What busy airport is home to the Tom Bradley International Terminal? LAX
2. The title of what 1970 move refers to two Mozart piano compositions, two Chopin compositions, and a Bach fugue? move? or movie?
3. Google made headlines this month by leaving what venerable keyboard key off its new notebook computers? I recall hearing that they were eliminating function keys
4. What TV star attended Northwestern University in real life, though his TV character of the same name is a Dartmouth grad? Trying to think of actors whose character has the same name. Jim Belushi, but I don't think his show is still on. Stephen Colbert?
5. What insect performs its most notable function using a substance called "luciferin"? luciferin sounds diabolical. Spiders?
6. Of what building did Shah Jahan write, "Should a sinner make his way to this mansion, / All his past sins are to be washed away"? Shah Jahan --> Taj Mahal
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these songs? "The Weight" by The Band, "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" by James Brown, "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" by Bing Crosby, "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan, "Your Love" by Nicki Minaj, "Who Am I Living For?" by Kate Perry, "Man on the Moon" by R.E.M., "Bullet the Blue Sky" by U2. Biblical references in the lyrics - Moses and Luke, Noah, David, St Peter, Jonah and Noah, etc.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. How many tiny reindeer pull Santa's sleigh, in the poem that begins "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"? Eight tiny reindeer--Rudolph was a later addition. correct
2. What sitcom featured a character with the very festive full name of "Christmas Noelle Snow"? Chrissy Snow, Suzanne Somers's character on Three's Company, was saddled with that wintry nightmare of a name, for which at least three different explanations were given on the show.
3. Which of the three traditional gifts brought by the three wise men has the highest market value today? Frankincense and myrrh, being nothing but tree sap with vaguely aromatic/ medicinal properties, retail for just a few dollars an ounce. Gold is about a hundred times more valuable. correct
4. Rod Carew was a Minnesota Twin, but who are the only *real* twins name-checked in Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song"? Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby. (Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish--not too shabby!) correct
5. Most commercial Advent calendars begin on what date? The actual dates of Advent move around, since the period officially begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, but the eponymous calendars typically just start on December 1. gonna remember to use this for the holiday quiz next year
6. "Christmas disease" is another name for the 'B' type of what disease, most famously suffered by Alexei Romanov? Hemophilia B was named for Stephen Christmas, the first patient in which it was identified. correct
7. What unusual distinction is held by these countries in this order, and no others? Spain, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia. These are the (modern-day) sources of the four "ethnic" dances in the second act of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker: a Spanish dance, an Arabian dance, a Chinese dance, and a Russian dance. When I first came up with this question, I thought there were a few more countries on this list, but it turns out the list just SEEMED longer when I took my four-ear-old daughter to The Nutcracker a couple weeks ago. I can probably work this into the quiz next December too

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. How many tiny reindeer pull Santa's sleigh, in the poem that begins "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"? a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer
2. What sitcom featured a character with the very festive full name of "Christmas Noelle Snow"? Christmas ---> Chris ---> Everybody Hates Chris perhaps
3. Which of the three traditional gifts brought by the three wise men has the highest market value today? gold, frankincense, myrrh. We know gold's value is over $1000/pound. No idea on the others. Where would you find a market for frankincense or myrrh to establish a price? It's simplest to guess gold.
4. Rod Carew was a Minnesota Twin, but who are the only *real* twins name-checked in Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song"? we've got Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby
5. Most commercial Advent calendars begin on what date? A great question for this time of year. Sadly, I have no idea. I don't even know how many windows an Advent calendar contains. Trader Joes used to stock advent calendars but I have not seen them recently.
6. "Christmas disease" is another name for the 'B' type of what disease, most famously suffered by Alexei Romanov? Alexei Romanov - is he the Tsar's son who was a hemophiliac?
7. What unusual distinction is held by these countries in this order, and no others? Spain, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. The late scientist Rosalind Franklin has sometimes been called the "Dark Lady of" what molecule? Rosalind Franklin provided the crucial (and unsung) piece of evidence that led to Watson and Crick's discovery of the double-helix model of DNA. It turns out that if you're a 1950s scientist who wants recognition for your work, it helps not to be (a) Jewish and (b) a woman. Why is she called the Dark Lady? For working in the shadows? That might have been a helpful clue.
2. Who was the only artist to have a Billboard #1 single during every year of the 1990s, the only time an artist has every accomplished this during an entire decade? Mariah Carey is the only person to achieve this on the Hot 100 in the rock era...and the first person period to do it since the 1920s! But even Mariah needed a little luck: if her 1993 hit "Hero" hadn't stayed at #1 for the first two weeks of January 1994, she would have had a gap that year. correct
3. America's most visited national park is named for what mountain range? Great Smoky Mountains National Park, amazingly, gets almost as many visitors as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite put together! correct
4. What famed political dynasty is currently led by the former Sonia Maino of Lusiana, Italy? The Congress Party of India is currently led by Rajiv Gandhi's widow, the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi...and her foreign birthplace is the only reason she isn't prime minister right now. (We accepted either "Nehru" or "Gandhi," if you're curious.) this is the fun fact that I learned from this week's KJTT
5. The top four most highly-paid players in major league baseball today all play for what team? The New York Yankees. (A-Rod, Sabathia, Jeter, Teixeira.) If you got this wrong, you are probably not American, but you are probably okay with that. correct
6. In what country did the popular melted-cheese dishes of fondue and raclette originate? Both are Swiss. Bonus question: what will the Jennings family be eating on Christmas Eve this year? Answer: raclette. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these films? Fahrenheit 451, Kick-Ass, Minority Report, Return of the Jedi, Sleeper, Thunderball. JET PACKS! JET PACKS! JET PACKS! Rarely do I resort to all caps for the answer of a Question Seven, but c'mon, who doesn't love movies with jet packs? Q7s about specific details in movies are really difficult

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. The late scientist Rosalind Franklin has sometimes been called the"Dark Lady of" what molecule? I don't know Rosalind Franklin or what she studied. Was she a physicist? Biologist? Astronomer?
2. Who was the only artist to have a Billboard #1 single during every year of the 1990s, the only time an artist has every accomplished this during an entire decade? the successful artists throughout the decade seem to be females - Mariah Carey, Madonna, Christina Aguilera. I'll guess Mariah Carey
3. America's most visited national park is named for what mountain range? Great Smokey Mountains
4. What famed political dynasty is currently led by the former Sonia Maino of Lusiana, Italy? In what country does this political dynasty exist? Political dynasty - I think of the Bushes, Perons, etc. Does Sonia Maino lead the Medicis? Or the Borgias? Or the Guggenheims or Rockefellers?
5. The top four most highly-paid players in major league baseball today all play for what team? NY Yankees - ARod, Texiera, Sabathia, one other
6. In what country did the popular melted-cheese dishes of fondue and raclette originate? Switzerland
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these films? Fahrenheit 451, Kick-Ass, Minority Report, Return of the Jedi, Sleeper, Thunderball.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What TV series has featured eight regular characters named Thomas, including James Frain as Thomas Cromwell, Sam Neill as Thomas Wolsey, and Hans Matheson as Thomas Cranmer? If you're like me, you might remember some of these names from a ninth-grade Western Civ class. If you're not like me and get Showtime, you might remember them from various seasons of The Tudors.
2. What kind of consumer product was long made from the "Manilkara chicle" tree of Central America? Chicle is the (now-replaced-by-synethics) stuff that makes chewing gum chewy. correct
3. What 2010 film was based on the best-selling book Between a Rock and a Hard Place? It's one of those VERY LITERAL titles: this was Aron Ralston's book about being trapped under a boulder while hiking in Canyonlands National Park, and the subsequent James Franco movie is called 127 Hours. I have heard of this movie, but have not paid enough attention to the releases this year to think of it.
4. What European country has a higher population density by far than any other nation on earth? Tiny Monaco is more than twice as dense as runner-up Singapore, with a whopping 43,000 people per square mile. (The Vatican was a good guess, but not many of its denizens live
on-site apparently. It's dense, but like a tenth as dense as Monaco.) correct
5. What controversial 1988 novel is named for an alleged text allowing prayers to be offered to three pagan goddesses: Allat, Uzza, and Manat? Those are the so-called "satanic verses" that, in some legends, the devil tempted Muhammad to include in the Qur'an. (plz no Tuesday Trivia fatwa thx!) correct
6. What are Zener cards used to test for? ESP or telepathy. These are those cards you see at the beginning of Ghostbusters, with the circle, wavy lines, etc. I guess my Spidey sense is not well developed since I did not think of this.
7. What unusual distinction do these famous people have in common? Salmon Chase, Terry Chimes, Bob Cousy, Barry Gibb, Dick LeBeau, Michael Palin. Okay, this is a little goofy, but try to follow along: these people all have the *same initials* as the group to which they most famously belonged. To wit: Supreme Court, The Clash, Boston Celtics, Bee Gees, Detroit Lions, Monty Python. Clever. I like this question even if I did not see the pattern until now. In contrast to some other Q7s, this really is a "unique distinction."

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What TV series has featured eight regular characters named Thomas, including James Frain as Thomas Cromwell, Sam Neill as Thomas Wolsey, and Hans Matheson as Thomas Cranmer? is it a current show? Law and Order?
2. What kind of consumer product was long made from the "Manilkara chicle" tree of Central America? chicle --> chewing gum
3. What 2010 film was based on the best-selling book Between a Rock and a Hard Place? I did not know that movies were made based on anything other than fairy tales, comic books, graphic novels and other movies.
4. What European country has a higher population density by far than any other nation on earth? Vatican is not a country, right? Based on the number of high rises I saw, I would guess Monaco.
5. What controversial 1988 novel is named for an alleged text allowing prayers to be offered to three pagan goddesses: Allat, Uzza, and Manat? a guess - The Satanic Verses
6. What are Zener cards used to test for? I think those are used to test for allergies
7. What unusual distinction do these famous people have in common? Salmon Chase, Terry Chimes, Bob Cousy, Barry Gibb, Dick LeBeau, Michael Palin. Each was a member of a well known team of people. But I cannot find a more distinct connection. I had not previously heard of Terry Chimes, but he preceded Topper Headon in The Clash.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. In the last year, Lady Gaga and Beyonce have collaborated on two hits both named for what kind of device? "Telephone" and "Video Phone" are two songs that are both about telephones. "Smooth Operator" and Lionel Richie's "Hello" are two songs that are NOT about telephones.
2. Scientists recently discovered that the human lungs are home to one of the five types of what structure, found in great numbers (as many as ten thousand) elsewhere in the body? Your lungs have tastebuds in them! Just the bitterness-tasting kind, for some reason. Maybe that is part of the attraction of smoking. If so, the tastebuds in my lungs will be forever unsatisfied.
3. "Dirty Harry" Callahan is a cop in what city's police department? San Francisco, as you might remember from watching Zodiac if you're too young to remember the Dirty Harry movies. correct
4. What's the maximum number of sharp (or flat) symbols that can make up a key signature in music? Seven sharps (C#) and seven flats (Cb) are possible, though they're not used much, since there are similar enharmonic ways to represent the same key.
5. Jammu is the southwesternnmost part of what disputed region? The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir comprises much of the Kashmiri territory disputed with Pakistan. close enough
6. What former British prime minister headed his family's namesake publishing house in the 1970s, after he left office? The venerable Macmillan Publishers was founded by the same family that later produced British PM Harold Macmillan. I think they also had something to do with the TV series McMillan & Wife. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these TV series? Desperate Housewives, I Dream of Jeannie, Monty Python's Flying Circus, My Three Sons, The Nanny, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Partridge Family, The Rosie O'Donnell Show. They all have animated title sequences. I'd like to see that Partridge Family peacock hanging out with the animated Barbara Eden, Rosie O'Donnell, and Fran Drescher from their respective shows. Especially if they then all got stomped on by a big Terry Gilliam foot. correct. I too would love to see the Terry Gilliam foot stomp especially if accompanied by a Splat.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. In the last year, Lady Gaga and Beyonce have collaborated on two hits both named for what kind of device? I concede on any questions about Beyonce or Lady Gaga. Device? How about an iPod.
2. Scientists recently discovered that the human lungs are home to one of the five types of what structure, found in great numbers (as many as ten thousand) elsewhere in the body? Structure? What is he talking about? A Frame?
3. "Dirty Harry" Callahan is a cop in what city's police department? San Francisco
4. What's the maximum number of sharp (or flat) symbols that can make up a key signature in music? I also concede on any questions about musical notation.
5. Jammu is the southwesternnmost part of what disputed region? A guess - Kashmir.
6. What former British prime minister headed his family's namesake publishing house in the 1970s, after he left office? Harold Macmillan
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these TV series? Desperate Housewives, I Dream of Jeannie, Monty Python's Flying Circus, My Three Sons, The Nanny, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Partridge Family, The Rosie O'Donnell Show. I am of course intrigued by the inclusion of Monty Python. But I would not need that clue to guess an answer. The opening credits for all are some form of animation.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What modern country was called the "jewel in the crown" of the British Empire? British India was the figurative jewel in Victoria's crown. correct
2. A month ago in Saitama, the last Japanese factory closed that was still producing what electronics product that debuted in 1979? Sony Walkmen had a good run, but they're no longer being made...in Japan, anyway. Believer it or not, some Chinese factories still make them for other markets. Hey, Sony kept making Betamax products until 2002. correct
3. The Freedonia Gazette was the longtime fan magazine devoted to what comedy team? Freedonia is the tiny nation where the movie Duck Soup takes place ("the land of the spree and the home of the knave") so the answer is the Marx Brothers. correct
4. Before 1913, the U.S. Department of Labor was a part of what other Cabinet-level department? It was briefly the Department of Commerce and Labor. But you know how commerce and labor NEVER end up getting along... correct
5. The "Up Your Nose with a Rubber Hose" Game was a board game released in 1976 as a tie-in with what TV series? Masterpiece Theater. No, wait. Welcome Back, Kotter. I always get those confused. correct
6. What's the only currently married couple in which both partners have won all four events in tennis's Grand Slam? The Andre Agassi-Steffi Graf marriage is also a pretty solid mixed doubles team. MUCH better than Pete Sampras-Bridgette Wilson. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these birds, and no others? Bird of paradise, crane, crow, dove, eagle, peafowl, swan, and toucan. They'are all found in the night sky: these are the only birds that are also constellations. (Well, real-life birds. There's a phoenix up there as well.) A toucan constellation?