Voting season is still here! My annual trivia tournament, The Clash of the Trivia Titans, quickly approaches and I need your help. Although many trophies will be awarded to teams for their trivia prowess, it is up to YOU to decide who gets to take home several of the beauties pictured below – it’s time to take the survey! Oh, and by the way, the bald fellow on downstage right is Oscar. While I was ordering all of this gold, I decided to throw an extra one in the pot as an award for my forthcoming Oscar Night quiz and viewing at East Burn – this trophy is entitled The Peter O’Toole.

Don’t forget about the prize you can start planning for now (even though the winner will be decided at the tournament by applause) – Most Bitchin’ Costumes! During the “half-time show” between the Olympian Open and the Titan Invitational, each team will be given the floor to show off their costumes, read a mission statement, sing/dance/what-have-you. Here is the schedule for the tournament, which will be held at The Spare Room on Sunday, February 8th:

5:00 REGISTRATION
Come early and grab a good table! Team size is 5 or less, and it costs $4 per person to play.

5:30 OLYMPIAN OPEN
Absolutely anybody is welcome to play. The winning team is the wild card seed who goes on to compete in The Titan Invitational. Titans may play UNofficially as a warm-up, but will win no prizes in this competition.

7:30 NON-COMPETITIVE AWARDS (aka “half-time show”!)
ShanRock hands out prizes and trophies for the Most Bitchin’ Costumes, Best Shit-Talkers, Best Bartender, Best Bridesmaids, Favorite Venue, Favorite Foes, etc.

8:00 TITAN INVITATIONAL
Teams play by “invitation” only, having qualified by being the winningest teams throughout the trivia year (11 wins or more). I will announce the qualifying teams next week, but any team may qualify up until the last pub quiz before the tournament! If you think you are close to qualifying, but we haven’t spoken about it, let me know and we’ll tally your wins together. Olympians may play UNofficially just for fun, but will win no prizes in this competition.

10:00 FINAL AWARDS
ShanRock’s hand-knit Triviology scarves, gift certificates and more will be on the menu; I will provide more details on the prizes next week.

The material will be very much the same as a standard Triviology night, with just a couple of changes. First, I will omit the Let’s Get Physical Challenge and the Whammy round; second . . . it’ll be a bit harder! If you wanna be a Titan, try your hand at The Hutch or The Kenton Club – they’re still in the process of building up a larger trivia crowd.

Here are the champions for the week of 1/18/09 – 1/22/09:

Sunday @ 6:00
East Burn
1800 E. Burnside
BUSINESS TIME

Sunday @ 9:00
Ladd’s Inn
1204 SE Clay
DANA PLATO’S REPUBLIC

Monday @ 8:00
Hawthorne Hideaway
2221 SE Hawthorne
AWESOME SAUCE

Tuesday @ 7:30
Sewickly’s
4901 SE Hawthorne
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

Wednesday @ 8:00
The Hutch
4606 NE Glisan
BEAU BREEDLOVE WAS MY PORN NAME

Wednesday @ 8:00
Peter’s 19th Hole
5701 NE Fremont
ARETHA’S HAT

Thursday @ 9:00
La Merde
301 SE Morrison
THE WILFORD BRIMLEY EXPERIENCE

Thursday @ 9:00
Kenton Club
2025 N. Kilpatrick
THE LIST

Thanks so much for playing with me, everybody!

Your trivia jockey,

Shannon Donaldson
ShanRock’s Triviology: Willamette Week Best of Portland
www.shanrockstrivia.com
(503) 957 – 7806

“Materialism is a disease of the mind starved for ideas.” – Jacob Needleman

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce the venue for the 2009 Clash of The Trivia Titans – The Spare Room! This is actually the venue I wanted last year, but since they were on the verge of changing ownership at that juncture, I didn’t want to take a chance of the deal falling through. The Spare Room has a full bar and menu, and used to be a bowling alley – which means wide open space with plenty of tables and booths (prime real estate for Triviologists!). It’s located on NE 42nd & Alberta Ct., and conveniently located near several bus lines.

So, to sum up, The Clash OTT is on Sunday, February 8th, and just like last year, the Olympian Open is at 5:30, the Titan Invitational is around 7:30, and it’s $4 per person to play. Everyone is welcome to play in the Olympian Open, though to participate in the Titan Invitational, a team must have won 11 times in the trivia season (which is the preceding year). Titans are welcome to play along unofficially with the Olympians, and vice versa, they just won’t be eligible for trophies and prizes. Except, of course, for the Olympian champion, who is the wild card seed in the Invitational – they stand to win twice as much as anybody else!

Just to make sure that we’re all on the same page, do me a solid and take a look at the Hall of Fame – if you believe you have as many as, say, 6 wins, send me an Email to make sure that we have the same tally for you. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and check out my retired venues – those wins still count! There is still time to qualify as a Titan, with three full weeks of Triviology before the event. Your best best for raising your win tally is probably at either Sewickly’s or The Kenton Club.

Speaking of winning, the team which has won the most this year (so far!) has also just earned a special place in Triviology lore by achieving The Doppleganger – congratulations, Dr. Spaceman (can you believe they don’t have a team page, yet?)! They are the only team with back-to-back wins at my Sunday night venues, East Burn and Ladd’s Inn – these Titans are a force to be reckoned with, indeed! Speaking of Ladd’s Inn, I must say that it is a very pleasant place to be, now that there’s not a haze of smoke clouding everything. And, it is one of only two venues (the other being HawHide) which offers a second place prize as well – that’s twice the chance to win! Come and check it out.

Remember to mark those calendars for Oscar night! On Sunday, February 22nd at East Burn, we’ll watch the Academy Awards on the big screen, after a few rounds of trivia. I’m trying to get TJ BrentBird to agree to host, so that I can play, but we’ll see what happens!

Here are the champions for the week of 1/11/09 – 1/15/09:

Sunday @ 6:00
East Burn
1800 E. Burnside
DR. SPACEMAN

Sunday @ 9:00
Ladd’s Inn
1204 SE Clay
SLINGBLADERUNNER

Monday @ 8:00
Hawthorne Hideaway
2221 SE Hawthorne
NOBODY FUCKS WITH THE JESUS

Tuesday @ 7:30
Sewickly’s
4901 SE Hawthorne
DANA PLATO’S REPUBLIC

Wednesday @ 8:00
The Hutch
4606 NE Glisan
FRIENDS OF DEAN MARTINEZ

Wednesday @ 8:00
Peter’s 19th Hole
5701 NE Fremont
JIMMY HAT NATION

Thursday @ 9:00
La Merde
301 SE Morrison
FEAR! FEAR FOR YOUR SAFETY

Thursday @ 9:00
Kenton Club
2025 N. Kilpatrick
THE SADDLEBACKERS

Thanks so much for playing with me, everybody!

Your trivia jockey,

Shannon Donaldson
ShanRock’s Triviology: Willamette Week Best of Portland
www.shanrockstrivia.com
(503) 957 – 7806

“Materialism is a disease of the mind starved for ideas.” – Jacob Needleman