ShanRock's Triviology – Portland Oregon » 2009

Archive for August, 2009

Kathryn Heigl’s “Ugly Truth” Is . . .

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

. . . That This Movie Sucks! I won’t disagree with that statement, but that is actually the name of the winning team at Wednesday’s Triviology quiz. We had fun with our extra Ugly Truth prizes this week, and hell, it even brought people together! A couple of rookie teams (Team Loneliness & The Battlesnakes) joined forces to put on a bit of a fashion show for us at East Burn. Lookin’ good, guys!

My next lunar quiz will be held Saturday, August 1st, 7:00 at Peter’s 19th Hole. I will be your host, but the material will be written by Brad of Junior Varsity Sports Trivia for Benchwarmers (he will also be in attendance to help me pronounce the names of Turkish and Nigerian athletes). We will maintain a format similar to Brad’s fortnightly quiz at The Tanker – here are some rounds to expect: The Mendoza Line (general sports), The Ocho (unusual sports), Off the Court (personal lives of athletes), a Presidential Challenge (feats of strength!), and a Revenge of the Nerds academic challenge!

Looking a bit farther into the future, I will host trivia at the Democratic Party of Oregon’s Birthday Bash for Obama! This free event is on Tuesday, August 4th at Backspace, and it’s sure to be lots of fun. Come on down if you’re in the mood to support the Democratic Party . . . or, if you’re in the mood to support Sewickly’s, fear not – the quiz must go on, and will do so with Scott as your host.

Before signing off, I’m looking for a bit of advice, and hoping that the folks to give it to me are on this Email list. First of all, I’ve got all of these great pictures of Triviology events, and I want to share them with the world! I used to post them on MySpace, but that website is SO two-thousand-and-LATE! Any recommendations for a good, user-friendly site on which to post these wonderful photos for you all to see? Also, I’ve just gotta get me one of those smartphone thingies! Obviously, it would be sooo handy to be able to look up things on the spot while I’m making the quizzery, especially since I don’t have wi-fi at all of my venues. Many of you seem to own different handheld devices, so I’m hoping you can help point me in the right direction. Do I go with Blackberry, with Apple’s iPhone, or with something non-fruit related? I just don’t know . . . but I’d appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks, folks – I hope to quiz you soon!

Here are the Triviology champions for the week of 7/19/09 – 7/23/09:

Sunday @ 6:00

East Burn

1800 E. Burnside
THE WISE LATINAS

Sunday @ 9:00

Ladd’s Inn

1204 SE Clay

BUTTERFACES

Monday @ 6:00

Ella Street Social Club (w/Kyle)

714 SE 20th Place

STILL, WHERE DID THE TRIVIA COME FROM?

Monday @ 8:00

Hawthorne Hideaway

2221 SE Hawthorne
FELLATIO HORNBLOWER

Tuesday @ 7:30

Sewickly’s (cash prizes!)

4901 SE Hawthorne
PAPER PUSHING PAMBY POOS

*This win was the result of a grueling three-way tie with Organic Hard Pops and Dave’s Sleazy Sleaze of the Seven Seas . . . kudos to all of you for hanging in there!

Tuesday @ 8:00

Wxyz (at Aloft w/Kyle)

9920 NE Cascades Parkway

DONYO

Wednesday @ 8:00

Peter’s 19th Hole

5701 NE Fremont

KATHRYN HEIGL’S UGLY TRUTH IS – THAT MOVIE SUCKS!!

Wednesday @ 8:00

The Hutch (w/Scott)

4606 NE Glisan
CHAPPELLE SHOW’D

Thursday @ 9:00

Kenton Club (w/Kyle)

2025 N. Kilpatrick

PIMP STICKS

Thursday @ 9:00

La Merde

301 SE Morrison
FEAR! FEAR FOR YOUR SAFETY

Thanks so much for playing my quizzery, everybody!

Your trivia jockey,

Shannon Donaldson

ShanRock’s Triviology

shanrockstrivia.com

(503) 957-7806

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

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Madame Defarge at Large!

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Madame Defarge is one of my favorite characters from literature; little did I know that someday I’d appear on the local news as an ersatz version of this great Dickens villainess. Mere hours before Triviology showtime at Ella Street Social Club last Monday, KGW called to let me know the Matt Zaffino would be there with a camera for a “Live @ 7” segment. Though I was sure that this would propel me to Q-List celebrity status, instead I think I come across as a spy from a rival pub quiz: check out the video. Zaffino was so fascinated by the fact that I was knitting . . .

. . . that he apparently forgot that this was MY quizzery! However, I’m truly grateful to have gotten this attention for my new venue, and I love lots of things about the spot. I love that Willocalypse subtly shows off their team necklaces, and better still, that they refuse to tell Zaffino their guess, for fear that another team will overhear their answer (and indeed, they won that night via tie-breaker!). I love that the cameraman pointedly averted the camera from the gropy Broners . . .

. . . after Jedediah asked Zaffino to sign his pec, and I love that I got a lover’s-eye-view of it!:

Tomorrow’s trivia night (Sunday the 19th, The East Burn @ 6:00) will have a “battle of the sexes” theme. Here’s what that means – first of all, I’ll have some sort of “boys vs. girls” Whammy round, and probably other such trivia throughout the quiz. Then, in addition to the standard $30 gift certificate to East Burn (yes, they’ve increased the winnings!) for the highest scoring team, I’ll award lots of The Ugly Truth related loot to many other players. I’ve got a few tank tops and shorts with The Ugly Truth logo (as modeled below by Boba Fett), and several free passes to a Wednesday night advance screening of the film. If you really want Ugly Truth stuff, but you can’t make the East Burn quiz, I’ll still be handing out those extra prizes at 9:00 at Ladd’s Inn, and even at Monday’s 6:00 quiz at Ella Street Social Club (it’s just that I’ll be handing out the most stuff at East Burn, thus offering you the best chance of scoring something extra). Now, just for fun, let’s play a little game with Boba Fett – how many flasks can you spot in the picture?

At Saturday’s lunar quiz, Corky smelt it, but Whaa Happened? dealt it! This team knew the most stuff about Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries; when to get a spinal pap, where Mars is, what to wear with lambswool and kahki, and why lobby foliage is dangerous. Whaa Happened? look like true champions in their victory photo, especially with “Goodwill” floating over their Corky Smells The Glove major award like a halo. I wish I’d gotten a close-up picture of this sweet trophy I made for them – you can just barely make out some of the fine details below. It’s a giant harmonica that plays “Dream On” when opened, and has accoutrements from Guest’s work affixed to it.

As for the next lunar quiz – gear up, sports fans! My good friends at That’s So Gay Trivia, have once again turned the notion of what “gay” is on it’s ear by launching a sports quiz: Junior Varsity Sports Trivia for Benchwarmers! On the 2nd & 4th Thursday of each month, JV Trivia will be at The Tanker to challenge your knowledge of the wide world of sports . . . both on and off the court. AND, on Saturday, August 1st, I will host a quiz at Peter’s 19th Hole, written by the JV sports guru Brad. If my Token Sports Question isn’t enough for you, this is your night to shine!