SAMPLE QUIZ #1

ROUND I: CHOTCHKIE’S

1. What children’s game prominently features a character named Cavity Sam?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Operation
   http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/operation/
2. In typesetting and word processing, the last line of a paragraph which falls onto the following page of text constitutes sloppy typography! What is this stray line (which now stands alone at the top of the page) called?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: a widow
   
3. What denomination of bill is the highest currently produced in the US today?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: $100 bill
   
4. List the 2 fruit juices contained in a Sea Breeze (1 pt. ea.).
   Click For Answer
   Answer: cranberry juice & grapefruit juice
   
5. Name the Toronto Blue Jay, and right-fielder, who, in 1993, famously hit a walk-off home run in Game 6, thusly winning the World Series?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Joe Carter

   Bonus: What team was defeated in this Series?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Philadelphia Phillies
   

ROUND II: POTATO POWER

1. On The Simpsons, what is the secret ingredient in The Flaming Moe (or The Flaming Homer, for you purists out there)?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: cough syrup
   

   Bonus: What is the name of the “show-within-a-show” on The Simpsons whose opening features host Kent Brockman frolicking with bikini-clad beauties?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Eye on Springfield
2. “All right, Mr. DeMille – I’m ready for my close-up!” This is a famous quote from what film?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Sunset Boulevard
   

   Bonus: Name the actress who spoke the words.
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Gloria Swanson
3. What TV show boasted the first inter-racial kiss on American network TV?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Star Trek
   
4. On Cheers, what was the name of the rival bar, with whom they had many competitions, including elaborate practical jokes?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Gary’s Olde Towne Tavern

   Bonus: The Cheers sign, posted outside the bar, was usually shown at least once an episode. What date does the sign list as the year the bar was established?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: 1895
   
5. Combine the titles of the two different films to form one new title for one point (ex: Gorillas in the Mist PLUS Mystery Men = Gorillas in the Mystery Men!):
   1997 sex comedy starring Jamie Foxx, who hits it off with a character named Lysterine PLUS A film which is based on a 1903 adventure novel, and has been adapted for the silver screen under the same name many times.
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Booty Call Of The Wild
   

ROUND III: BOOK LEARNIN’

1. How many U.S. states does British Columbia border (by land)?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: 4 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska)
   
2. What is the hottest planet in our solar system (NASA measures this by calculating the average surface temperature of the planet)?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Venus (Mercury does not have an atmosphere, and therefore can’t trap heat the way Venus does.)
   

   Bonus: What is the coldest planet in our solar system?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Neptune (you didn’t guess Pluto, did you? They “de-planeted” that poor guy years ago!)
   
3. Name the ancient African city, and World Heritage Site, which was the intellectual and spiritual capital of the Muslim world circa 14th – 16th centuries.
   Click For Answer
   Answer: Timbuktu (or Tomboctou – it’s in Mali)

   Bonus: What is the northernmost country in Africa?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Tunisia
   
4. “That is no country for old men” is the opening line of a poem entitled “Sailing to Byzantium,” which was published in 1928. Who wrote this poem?
   Click For Answer
   Answer: William Butler Yeats

   Bonus: Who wrote the 2005 novel “No Country For Old Men”?
   Click For Answer

   Answer: Cormac McCarthy
   
5. In what year did all of these events occur (if you even get the decade right, you’ve earned one point, and the correct year earns you two points)?
   The Hells Angels MC is founded;
   President Truman signs The Marshall Plan;
   Both Alice Cooper and Billy Crystal are born;
   Albert Camus releases “The Plague” (the book, silly!);
   33 1/3 LPs (“long playing” records) are first produced;
   The Baltimore Bullets defeat the Philadelphia Warriors in the NBA Championship;
   Mohatma Gandhi is assassinated;
   Popular movies released include Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet,”
   and “Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein”;
   Click For Answer

   Answer: 1948
   

ROUND IV: LET’S GET PHYSICAL

You perform some sort of silly physical challenge (barrel of monkeys, Tic Tac Apocalypse, Operation, etc.). It is the lowest scoring round of the night (4 is usually the maximum point value), but it still gives you a chance to catch up a bit.

*video coming soon!

ROUND V: WHAMMY!

In this round, I pick a very specific topic of inquiry. FREAKSHOW was a very popular Whammy round, as it challenged Triviologists’ knowledge of both pop culture and book learnin’. Match each freak with his corresponding skill or medical condition. 1 point for each correct match.

FREAKSHOW

1. Alligator Boy
2. Blockhead
3. Dwarf
4. Geek
5. Pinhead
6. Pickled Punk
7. Seal Boy
8. Spider Boy
9. Stone Baby
10. Wolf Boy

A. Pounds nails into head
B. Bites heads off chicken
C. Human fetus
D. Achondroplasia
E. Hirsutism
F. Ictheosis
G. Lithopedian
H. Microcephalism
I. Polymeliism
J. Syndacylism

Click For Answer

ROUND VI: I AM A WALRUS

In this round, your team guesses the answer whenever you like! The earlier you guess, the more points you could get, but the riskier it is, because you only get one guess. If you guess incorrectly you get zero points (and a DumDum pop!); if you guess correctly, you get either 3, 2, or 1 points (and Smarties), depending on when you’ve guessed.

Walrus #1:

3 pointer: This man of many talents was born in 1952 in Louisville, KY. He has published a book of his photography, written a novel entitled “Pink,” he paints, and he plays in a rock band named “Destroy All Blondes.” He said this of his most his work in his most well-known field: “I guess I’m interested in sociopathic people . . . in life and in my movies”.

2 pointer: For his film direction skills, he was nominated for an Oscar for a 1997 film, and won the Palme d’Or (the Cannes film festival’s grand prize) in 2003. His first film was an independent black & white film entitled “Mala Noche,” based on an eponymous novel by Walt Curtis. Although he has certainly worked with A-list movie stars, he commonly casts “unknowns” in starring roles, as well.

1 pointer: This director (who lives right here in beautiful Portland, Oregon!) has an amusing cameo in “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back,” in which he is counting fistfulls of cash while filming the fictional “Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season”!
Click For Answer

Walrus #2

3 pointer: This writer, and prolific literary critic, was born in 1903 in Bengal, though he grew up in England. He described his family’s economic status as “lower-upper-middle class.” From 1922 – 1927, he served as the Assistant Superintendent in the British Imperial Police in Burma; this experience has a tremendous influence on both his political beliefs and his writings. He died of tuberculosis in 1950.

2 pointer: Our walrus’ birth name was Eric Arthur Blair. He was a committed anti-totalitarian socialist, and as such, served as a corporal in the Spanish Civil War, fighting against Francisco Franco. His strongly held political belief system is expounded upon in his most famous novels.

1 pointer: Some of the most well-known characters he created are Winston Smith, Napolean, and Snowball.
Click For Answer

ROUND VII: I DON’T FEEL TARDY

In this round, I play four or five different songs. You earn one point for identifying each artist, and one point for identifying each song. I will often include TV or movie theme songs as well.

*audio clips coming soon!

SAMPLE QUIZ #2

*Check out this listing of my past lunar quizzes. Sample questions coming “soon”!