Hey there --
After five fun-filled months in Athens doing Bobcat things, I'm back in Akron doing slightly fewer Bobcat things and not really sure what's going to be happening next.
I should probably resume regular blogging, just to give myself some kind of structure. I mean, I have months' worth of Pub Quizzes to document! However, it's much easier to be super-lazy and just post to Facebook. Part of it is that I'm on mobile devices more -- as opposed to having to sit at a computer with full keyboard for 8 hours a day -- and part of it is that there's other fun stuff to do on FB. (If by fun you mean "looking at the photos of random friends-of-friends for a few hours," because again: Sorta stuck in neutral.) I guess I could do some digging to figure out the code for making blog posts appear on FB or vice versa, because I'm pretty sure I know some other people who make that magic happen, but ... yeah.
Anyhow: This week is the MAC tournament and St. Pat's in the Flats. I'm going to tonight's OU-Akron game, since I had to miss last night's win over Miami due to a freak blizzard. Watching it on the giant big screen TV at home was better than being stuck in a traffic backup, I guess.
I was reading some old posts about my tournament experiences, and it was kind of fun to look back. I've been doing a lot of looking back, because I'm trying to organize elements from the OU Women's Club's archives into a coherent display for the club's 75th anniversary celebration at the historic Silver Grille at the Higbee Building downtown. I really need to quit slacking on that, because there are a lot of other moving pieces that I'm in charge of, or in charge of finding other people to be in charge of. I'm still kind of worn out from all the craziness of my last two weeks in Athens (see FB for mildly incriminating photos!), but I've had a week at the 'rents (aka the best vacation spot ever, according to my almost-BIL) to kind of rest up and recuperate, so I'm running out of excuses to not get my rear in gear.
Meanwhile, I'm way behind on my TV watching. I've been having some nutty dreams again, which is what usually happens when I don't dull my senses with enough pablum from the idiot box. I'm trying to keep up with American Idol, although none of the contestants really seem to be grabbing me this season. Then again, there are two or three that I would be sorry to see go, but they're not super-impressive at this early stage. I am enjoying the new judging panel and reduced (on-screen) role of Randy Jackson, though, so it's not all bad.
I'm also behind on my spring training games. I listened to maybe half of Indians game using my MLB At Bat app, and I'm missing out on all the winning going on. I know the games don't really mean anything, but when it's going from 57 to, like, 7 degrees within a few hours, it's nice to hear Hammy call some home runs.
Showing posts with label Pub Quiz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pub Quiz. Show all posts
Apocalypse Avoided
Well, we didn't win Pub Quiz last night, so the world didn't end. (You're welcome.)
I did, however, show off my knowledge of octothorpes, the words behind the acronym OPEC, and the cast of Dynasty, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
But then again, I shamefully let down the side with my inability to recall basic Central American geography or tell time: I totally missed the first round because I was geeking around writing yesterday's blog post and because I couldn't remember what time the quiz started. I was a half-hour early for Monday night's quiz, and a half-hour late for last night's because I thought Monday's started at 7 and Wednesday's started at 7:30 — wrong on both counts!
I did, however, show off my knowledge of octothorpes, the words behind the acronym OPEC, and the cast of Dynasty, so I have that going for me, which is nice.
But then again, I shamefully let down the side with my inability to recall basic Central American geography or tell time: I totally missed the first round because I was geeking around writing yesterday's blog post and because I couldn't remember what time the quiz started. I was a half-hour early for Monday night's quiz, and a half-hour late for last night's because I thought Monday's started at 7 and Wednesday's started at 7:30 — wrong on both counts!
Blogtober?
So, Brave Astronaut has declared this to be Blogtober, and he has announced his goal to blog every day this month. I took issue with this, but mostly only because I feel guilty about not posting over here very much.
As I may or may not have said before, and as you may or may not care, most of the things I used to post about here I now post to Facebook, or I have second thoughts about posting anywhere at all, because it's too much work to craft appropriately snarky/cool commentary that eloquently captures my frame of mind and personal connection to whatever it was I saw online/did in real life and felt a deep and overwhelming connection to, one so massive I had to share it with the world, or at least the roughly 52 people who see my FB posts and/or cruise by here looking for photos of Ryan Gosling naked.
For example, Present & Correct, a UK stationery and sundry shop that I want pretty much one of everything from:
This Dilbert cartoon about editing that is funny because it's true:
Bert and Ernie in desktop wallpaper form:
This hilarious and great mystery novel I just finished reading, Don't Ever Get Old :
Although, come to think of it, I did post the Butterbeer thing to Facebook. Whatever: The point still stands.
In other news, it's almost time for pub quiz. My team came in first at Monday night trivia, thanks to my intimate knowledge of the finer points of Hoosiers despite never having actually seen the movie. If we win tonight, the world will probably end — we're pretty sure that's what the Mayans predicted.
Although the upside to the world ending is that I won't have to waste time/energy worrying over blogging or not blogging, or eating right and exercising, or cleaning my apartment and doing my laundry. So ... Come on, apocalypse!
As I may or may not have said before, and as you may or may not care, most of the things I used to post about here I now post to Facebook, or I have second thoughts about posting anywhere at all, because it's too much work to craft appropriately snarky/cool commentary that eloquently captures my frame of mind and personal connection to whatever it was I saw online/did in real life and felt a deep and overwhelming connection to, one so massive I had to share it with the world, or at least the roughly 52 people who see my FB posts and/or cruise by here looking for photos of Ryan Gosling naked.
For example, Present & Correct, a UK stationery and sundry shop that I want pretty much one of everything from:
This Dilbert cartoon about editing that is funny because it's true:
This Harry Potter-inspired Butterbeer lip balm that I totally want:
Bert and Ernie in desktop wallpaper form:
This hilarious and great mystery novel I just finished reading, Don't Ever Get Old :
Although, come to think of it, I did post the Butterbeer thing to Facebook. Whatever: The point still stands.
In other news, it's almost time for pub quiz. My team came in first at Monday night trivia, thanks to my intimate knowledge of the finer points of Hoosiers despite never having actually seen the movie. If we win tonight, the world will probably end — we're pretty sure that's what the Mayans predicted.
Although the upside to the world ending is that I won't have to waste time/energy worrying over blogging or not blogging, or eating right and exercising, or cleaning my apartment and doing my laundry. So ... Come on, apocalypse!
Google Doodles for the Win
Last night at Pub Quiz I left the Flying Monkeys to their own devices and joined We All Have Sleeves (aka the leper colony, minus one of the key lepers, who seemed to be home sick ... perhaps from not wearing sleeves during this string of somewhat balmy days we've been enjoying).
I feel a little nervous sometimes when I sit in with them, afraid that I'm going to drag their average down and make them lose. However, we came in first and had the joy of (a) beating Team 11 (which technically was missing some of its regular members, but who cares) and (b) splitting $165 among the seven of us — although given the modest entry fee and my bar tab, I only actually made $1 for contributing such shiny nuggets of random knowledge as "The Charlotte Bobcats have the worst record in the NBA right now" and "Patrice O'Neal is not Irish; he is dead" and "Eddie Van Halen formed the band Mammoth in 1972 with his brother Alex."
During the picture round, I also correctly identified several of the people whose birthdays were commemorated with Google doodles, including this one for Freddie Mercury.
I couldn't remember the name of the guy who drew those goofy Mr. Men/Little Miss characters, though. I never read those books as a kid, but I vaguely remembered that they existed. If you're a fan, apparently there were more than a dozen different illustrations: Google Doodle Honors 76th Birthday of 'Mr. Men' Author Roger Hargreaves
Other items of note:
I'll leave you with the following commercial, which was a big hit during the video round and is too hi-larious not to share . . . I believe it falls into the category of "It's Funny Because It's True."
I feel a little nervous sometimes when I sit in with them, afraid that I'm going to drag their average down and make them lose. However, we came in first and had the joy of (a) beating Team 11 (which technically was missing some of its regular members, but who cares) and (b) splitting $165 among the seven of us — although given the modest entry fee and my bar tab, I only actually made $1 for contributing such shiny nuggets of random knowledge as "The Charlotte Bobcats have the worst record in the NBA right now" and "Patrice O'Neal is not Irish; he is dead" and "Eddie Van Halen formed the band Mammoth in 1972 with his brother Alex."
During the picture round, I also correctly identified several of the people whose birthdays were commemorated with Google doodles, including this one for Freddie Mercury.
I couldn't remember the name of the guy who drew those goofy Mr. Men/Little Miss characters, though. I never read those books as a kid, but I vaguely remembered that they existed. If you're a fan, apparently there were more than a dozen different illustrations: Google Doodle Honors 76th Birthday of 'Mr. Men' Author Roger Hargreaves
Other items of note:
- Besides the "Irish or Dead?" round, the "1990s One-Hit-Wonder Audio Round" was pretty fun, if only because Mike D had a question about the Macarena but didn't dare play a clip. We didn't get as lucky with Mambo No. 5.
- It was probably the first month that the leper colony had ever scored as many points (8) in the sports round as in the world history round.
- There weren't a lot of snarky answers, but the team did get a bonus point when Kevin (aka Beardy) suggested "Labradoodle" as the only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible. Then Mike D cracked us up by intoning, "A letter from Paul to the Labradoodles . . ."
I'll leave you with the following commercial, which was a big hit during the video round and is too hi-larious not to share . . . I believe it falls into the category of "It's Funny Because It's True."
I Totally Want This: Late Night Snack
Hmm. Chocolate-covered potato chips in vanilla ice cream with a salty caramel swirl? I enjoy most of the things in that list, but not all mashed together like some kind of Best of Bootie mix. (Speaking of, I downloaded the 2010 edition over the weekend and added it to my iPod. It adds a little zazz to the workday.) But I am a fan of Ben & Jerry's flavors created for late-night hosts, so I'm sure I'll be sampling it at some point in the near future.
In other news, Emilio Estevez washed his hair. <--- That was my favorite of the many Charlie Sheen-related team names at pub quiz the other night. I have had several requests to get off my lazy a-dollar sign-dollar sign </Principal Figgins> and resume my recaps, so I will get on that forthwith. Right after I finish doing freaking math to update the suggested responses in this stoopid econ lesson on the CPI.
In the meantime, may this fulfill any tiger blood needs you have:
(I haven't actually watched it yet, but it was highly recommended to me over lunch. I saw Jimmy's tweet about how much he looks like CS, but I will wait to watch the episode in its entirety on Hulu later tonight. So, you know, something to look forward to . . . )
From First to Worst
Can we just pretend that the last half of pub quiz never happened?
It started off so well: Cathy and I teamed up with Mike D's parents and assorted librarians to totally rock the opening rounds. I displayed my sadly encyclopedic knowledge of TV shows by getting a majority of the first-round questions and correctly identifying most of the kids' shows depicted in the picture round. On top of that, we managed to get a perfect score on the color round and not disgrace ourselves too badly in whatever the other category was.
So, I knew we were in good shape, but imagine our shock and delight — to say nothing of the disbelief and dismay expressed by everyone else in the place — when we discovered that we were in first place by two points at halftime. Sigh. It was glorious.
Our joy was short-lived, however, because we totally bit it on useless knowledge, "sports," the video round, and the missing link. Garfing up the missing link was a particularly bitter pill to swallow; if we had gotten more than four of the questions right, I probably would have figured out that they were all titles of Beatles songs. But noooo, someone has to ask about stoopid Josh Hartnett movies about vampires in Alaska and Adam Carolla roles in crummy "adult" cartoon shows from the mid-two-thousandsies. Ugh.
However, since the actual last-place teams had vacated the premises by the time the final scores were announced — to be fair, it was getting late and there were three tie-breaker rounds to determine the top-ranking teams — we were in the running for the traditional last-place prize of instant lottery tickets.
We had to have another tie-breaker round, though, to determine the last-place "winner," and I was the only person left from my team. However, the other team was the Jellybrains, and the question was about who wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U," so I took home the tickets, a case of candy canes, and a The Expendables tattoo (shown below). Awesome! Every month I say we should answer everything wrong and take home the last-place prize, but this was the first time I actually did it. So, you know, 2011 is off to a great start!
It started off so well: Cathy and I teamed up with Mike D's parents and assorted librarians to totally rock the opening rounds. I displayed my sadly encyclopedic knowledge of TV shows by getting a majority of the first-round questions and correctly identifying most of the kids' shows depicted in the picture round. On top of that, we managed to get a perfect score on the color round and not disgrace ourselves too badly in whatever the other category was.
So, I knew we were in good shape, but imagine our shock and delight — to say nothing of the disbelief and dismay expressed by everyone else in the place — when we discovered that we were in first place by two points at halftime. Sigh. It was glorious.
Our joy was short-lived, however, because we totally bit it on useless knowledge, "sports," the video round, and the missing link. Garfing up the missing link was a particularly bitter pill to swallow; if we had gotten more than four of the questions right, I probably would have figured out that they were all titles of Beatles songs. But noooo, someone has to ask about stoopid Josh Hartnett movies about vampires in Alaska and Adam Carolla roles in crummy "adult" cartoon shows from the mid-two-thousandsies. Ugh.
However, since the actual last-place teams had vacated the premises by the time the final scores were announced — to be fair, it was getting late and there were three tie-breaker rounds to determine the top-ranking teams — we were in the running for the traditional last-place prize of instant lottery tickets.
We had to have another tie-breaker round, though, to determine the last-place "winner," and I was the only person left from my team. However, the other team was the Jellybrains, and the question was about who wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U," so I took home the tickets, a case of candy canes, and a The Expendables tattoo (shown below). Awesome! Every month I say we should answer everything wrong and take home the last-place prize, but this was the first time I actually did it. So, you know, 2011 is off to a great start!
Geek Bowl 2011
Just the idea of this cracks me up. I'm tempted to vacation in Denver this January . . .
On Saturday, January 29th, Geeks Who Drink is proud to present:
Geek Bowl 2011
The Largest Pub Quiz in the US (seriously!)
It's our 5th annual cash-prize quiz that has sold out 4 years in a row. Due to demand, we've increased capacity and have relocated to The Fillmore Auditorium!
Quiz starts promptly at 7:00 PM; doors at 6:00 PM.
Compete against Geeks Who Drink quiz teams from Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and dare we say it, Arizona.
Cash prizes will be awarded to at least the top three teams!
Lindsey Lohan's Cell Mates
Since Christine wasn't going to make it, Cathy and I joined forces with Mike D's parents and their friends on Wednesday night to create what we hoped would be a superteam capable of changing the Pub Quiz status quo (namely, toppling the hated Team 11). Sadly, we came in ninth and they came in first, so that hopey-changey thing didn't really work out for us.
The Lohan team name was Mike D's mom's idea, and we ran with it, since I was too consumed by the day job to think up any alternatives in advance. (I did remove my nose from the grindstone long enough to look up the answer to this month's secret question, however.) There were some amusing monikers in the crowd, including something along the lines of We Didn't Know It Was Legal for Mike D to Get Married in the State of Ohio. I can't be sure of the exact phrasing since I stayed late at work and then went right to the bar without stopping at home to pick up an appropriate notebook.
The A, B, or C? category that is the bane of true trivia fans everywhere — since, it was pointed out to me, it rewards guessing over knowledge — reared its misbegotten head in the first round: Facebook Group, Afterschool Special, or Miley Cyrus Song? You'd be surprised how many Afterschool Specials sound like Facebook Groups, and vice versa. (Although, I agree with Cathy: I kind of do want to watch Bonnie Raitt Has Something to Talk About. Sadly, I cannot locate any snippets online, so you'll have to make do with this review from the New York Times and imagine what could have been.)
We managed to get a perfect score on the video round (the first time that's ever happened to a team I've been on) and the picture round (state flags) but totally bit it on the science/nature and useless facts rounds. I did ok on the music and literature questions, and at some point Mike D's mom said that she likes being on my team because I know my ass from a hole in the ground. This announcement was followed by a hilarious skit in which she and Mike D's dad pretended to be confused about what constituted a hole in the ground and what could be considered one's ass. Maybe you had to be there, but it was a hoot.
What else happened? The leper colony was there for the first time in a few months; their presence usually ups the number of funny answers and improves the overall level of emcee/crowd interaction. It was super-hot and stuffy in the bar, so much so that the most coveted Pub Quiz Raffle Prize was not the limited edition I [shamrock] [Guinness glass] t-shirt but the limited edition battery-powered personal fan bearing a message promoting some movie I've never heard of. The video round closed with the hi-larious SNL Digital Short "Great Day," featuring Andy Samberg, whom I heart. Enjoy.
Geek Overload
I like to bring some sort of reading material to Pub Quiz — usually something amusing I can flip through while I wait for the rest of my team to arrive, or that we can mock as a group while we're waiting for the halftime and final scores.
This month, we came in fifth — as per usual! — and I brought Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd for our mutual enjoyment. In particular, the comic strips were a big hit.
To maintain my nerd cred, last night I went to this event at the Twinsburg Public Library:
The Future of Books, Libraries and Reading
We’ve made it through 100 years, but what comes next?
Join our panelists, including Liz Murphy from the Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Donald Hassler, professor at Kent State University, and Ed Rossman, author of Castles of Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments and librarian at Shaker Heights Public Library, for a lively discussion of current and future trends in literature and reading. Book and technology-lovers alike will be curious to see what is coming around the bend.
It was somewhat interesting, although at times it devolved from a moderated panel discussion into rambling monologues about kids these days and their online virtual words, brief rants about kids these days and their L337 speak, and shameful confessions about being a kid these days who plays World of Warcraft and once cited Wikipedia as a source for a college term paper. It felt like I was back at the office listening to the nuns be amazed by the wonders of teh interwebs and the magic sparky boxes called "computers" and/or back in college at a party where everybody else is already super-high and thus convinced that what they're saying . . . very . . . slowly . . . is . . . a great . . . revelation . . . and an amazing . . . insight . . . that nobody . . . has ever articulated before. Ugh.
The more relevant parts for me, professionally and personally, were some of the comments from the librarians about the (seemingly insatiable) consumer demand for electronic versions of the same content that is available in the traditional printed form. At work, we're in the process of revamping all of our print content for digital formats, so it was helpful to have confirmation of some things I already knew about consumers' needs/decisions in that area. On the flip side, whenever I visit my parents, my mom usually kvetches to me about how the library never has the books she wants to read 1 but they're wasting her taxpayer dollars on DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, ebooks, blah blah blah . . . somewhat like the crabby librarian in today's Unshelved:
I also took part in several interesting post-event conversations that involved some schmoozing on the part of my recently-graduated-from-librarian-school pal who is avidly seeking a job in an actual library . . . and then we hit the Dairy Queen before heading home, so the night wasn't a total loss.
Stella!
Overview
Starchy Little Sticks of Satan 1 were thisclose to our usual comfy fifth-place berth, but we managed to eke out three more points and land in fourth . . . which means we still didn't actually win anything, despite managing to figure out the missing link after the second question.
The only other score that matters is Team 11's 89 points, which was so close and yet so far to earning them first place. They lost by a point to We're Having an Orgy and We'd Like You to Come (who are not the same guys as My Grandma Can't Wrestle But You Should See Her Box or Betty White Is a Wildcat in the Sack).
Anyhow, enjoy your napkin holder,2 Team 11, because I won a super-awesome raffle prize. No several-weeks-too-late Mardi Gras beads/t-shirt combo or bar mat/napkin dispenser set for me; I cashed in my ticket for two (count 'em!) Stella Artois glasses like the one shown below. Too bad they didn't come with any actual Stella . . . .
Scores & Standings
Round 1: Terrible Television — 10 points
Round 2: Famous Peoples — 8 points
Round 3: Musical Noise Round of Fun — 10 points
Round 4: Know Some Ireland Stuff — 6 points
Picture Round: Famous Irish Places — 6 points
Round 5: Useless Facts — 6 points
Round 6: Sports Crap — 9 points
Round 7: Video Round — 4 points
Round 8: Missing Link — 19 points
At halftime we were tied for fifth with Grandma, just behind Makin' Bacon and Nick Sorenson's Fine Bromance. We should have put "Mike D" and "obvious" together to come up with "Irish-related questions in honor of St. Patrick's Day" earlier, because our last-minute pre-quiz cramming via iPhone/Wikipedia was useless.
Quotable Quotes & Notable Notes
I'll Take Fake Answers for $1000, Alex
1 Cathy's name for french fries 2 And unnamed amount of cash for coming in second
Starchy Little Sticks of Satan 1 were thisclose to our usual comfy fifth-place berth, but we managed to eke out three more points and land in fourth . . . which means we still didn't actually win anything, despite managing to figure out the missing link after the second question.
The only other score that matters is Team 11's 89 points, which was so close and yet so far to earning them first place. They lost by a point to We're Having an Orgy and We'd Like You to Come (who are not the same guys as My Grandma Can't Wrestle But You Should See Her Box or Betty White Is a Wildcat in the Sack).
Anyhow, enjoy your napkin holder,2 Team 11, because I won a super-awesome raffle prize. No several-weeks-too-late Mardi Gras beads/t-shirt combo or bar mat/napkin dispenser set for me; I cashed in my ticket for two (count 'em!) Stella Artois glasses like the one shown below. Too bad they didn't come with any actual Stella . . . .
Scores & Standings
Round 1: Terrible Television — 10 points
Round 2: Famous Peoples — 8 points
Round 3: Musical Noise Round of Fun — 10 points
Round 4: Know Some Ireland Stuff — 6 points
Picture Round: Famous Irish Places — 6 points
Round 5: Useless Facts — 6 points
Round 6: Sports Crap — 9 points
Round 7: Video Round — 4 points
Round 8: Missing Link — 19 points
At halftime we were tied for fifth with Grandma, just behind Makin' Bacon and Nick Sorenson's Fine Bromance. We should have put "Mike D" and "obvious" together to come up with "Irish-related questions in honor of St. Patrick's Day" earlier, because our last-minute pre-quiz cramming via iPhone/Wikipedia was useless.
- We were the first team to sign up, making it the only time all night that we were in first place.
- Mike D had some special announcements at the start of the quiz: This is the five year and two month anniversary of pub quiz, and to mark the occasion he wore a new shirt that is almost an exact replica of his other one.
- Mike D's mom drew some lovely sketches while the answers to the last few rounds were revealed. One appears below, along with her annotations. (His hair really was extra sticky-uppy yesterday; not quite a fauxhawk, but not quite the full Seacrest. I think the meanness refers to his repeated pleas to the audience to not buy his mom any more shots.)
I'll Take Fake Answers for $1000, Alex
- Charro, Dave Coulier, Flava Flav, Jose Canseco, and Erik Estrada have all graced what show with their presence? Masterpiece Theatre (Source: Christine) [Real answer:The Surreal Life]
- George Harrison heavily financed what street-singing religious group? New Kids on the Block (Source: Leper Colony) [Real answer: Hare Krishnas]
Second Verse, Same as the First
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, faithful Pub Quizzers flocked to P.J.'s last night. We were following our instincts, since there was an appalling lack of e-mail reminders and Web site updates to remind us to show up. (Mike D's excuse for this seemed to have something to do with the fact that it snowed on Monday. Unless he has a third job as a snowplow driver, I'm not really sure what the amount of frozen precipitation received in the region has to do with the price of tea in China, but since I, too, live in a glass house called the Procrastination Palace, I will put my stones down and quietly back away.)
Ahem. Where was I?
Oh, yes: Also like migratory birds following a centuries-old homing instinct, Cathy and Christine and I once again found ourselves in the comfortable confines of fifth place. We did manage to figure out the missing link, but not fast enough to get more than four points for it. So, even though Cathy earned two bonus points for her correct placement of the umlauts in the name of everyone's favorite '80s-hair-metal-act-cum-"celebreality"-fodder, Mötley Crüe, things like not knowing what Zimbabwe's flag looks like or what the two main constituents of bronze are or WTF drupaceous means conspired to prevent us from scoring the additional points that would have been necessary to unseat the annoying Team 11 from first place . . . and, perhaps less importantly, net us $200.
Bummer. There's always next month . . .
Mike D's Stunt Double
I ended up running some errands after work last night, lost track of time, and got to Pub Quiz partway through the first round, so I missed some of the backstory on why Mike D's parents had a not-quite-life-sized dummy version of Mike D set up at their table.
Apparently it was all part of celebrating his birthday, which also seemed to call for tasty cupcakes bearing slogans like "You Suck" and images of raised middle fingers. (Seriously. I'm sure there will be photos on his site.)
Since I had been deserted by my team (they were, like, working late or networking or some such nonsense), I invited myself to join the host's parental units and their friends. I neglected to pay my $5 (Scandal!), but it worked out okay because I didn't win any money. We came in seventh, tied with . . . wait for it . . . TEAM 11!!!! Excuse the marketing-esque exclamation points, but it's kind of a big deal.
The big winners were the team with my friend Matt's favorite name, My Grandma Can't Wrestle, But You Should See Her Box, closely followed by the Leper Colony, which was using some other completely random alias that I've totally forgotten, because — brace yourself — I didn't take any notes this month.
Suffice it to say, some categories were super-easy (to wit, our perfect score in literature) and others were characteristically hopeless (to wit, our dismal score in the missing link).
Apparently it was all part of celebrating his birthday, which also seemed to call for tasty cupcakes bearing slogans like "You Suck" and images of raised middle fingers. (Seriously. I'm sure there will be photos on his site.)
Since I had been deserted by my team (they were, like, working late or networking or some such nonsense), I invited myself to join the host's parental units and their friends. I neglected to pay my $5 (Scandal!), but it worked out okay because I didn't win any money. We came in seventh, tied with . . . wait for it . . . TEAM 11!!!! Excuse the marketing-esque exclamation points, but it's kind of a big deal.
The big winners were the team with my friend Matt's favorite name, My Grandma Can't Wrestle, But You Should See Her Box, closely followed by the Leper Colony, which was using some other completely random alias that I've totally forgotten, because — brace yourself — I didn't take any notes this month.
Suffice it to say, some categories were super-easy (to wit, our perfect score in literature) and others were characteristically hopeless (to wit, our dismal score in the missing link).
About Frakkin' Time
O joy! O rapture!
Greetings boys and girls of summer! This just in: Wednesday, September 2nd at PJ McIntyre's:
Signup is 6:30pm - 7:30pm . The quiz will start sharply at 7:30pm.
$5 per person, teams of 1-8 people
1st Place - 50% of the door, 2nd place - 25%, 3rd place - PJ's Gift Cards!
Visit www.mikedPubQuiz.com for this month's "secret" question, sign up for free and get a 2-point coupon!
Questions, concerns, comments or crayon-based drawings of you and sheep, email me!
Sincerely,
miked
www.mikedpubquiz.com
To be removed from this email list, please reply to this message with REMOVE in the subject, and a box of kittens in the body of the email.
And in reference to the latest entry on the Mike D Pub Quiz Interwebs Site, I think our name this month is going to be Team Consonants.
Anxiously Awaiting the Return of the Wednesday Quiz
OMG, this Monday night quiz is killing me.
First we couldn't get the total number of spots on a Twister mat (apparently it's 24) and then we talked ourselves out of the right answer when it came to identifying the oceans around New Zealand, and then I totally blew a third of the music round because I'm unfamiliar with the complete works of Everclear and Good Charlotte. Recognizing the Clash cover of "I Fought the Law" and the Aerosmith cover of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" was cold comfort.
After that I headed home and fired up the second disc of my complete set of The West Wing DVDs. (Faithful readers of this blog may remember that I bought this last October. That's right: I'm just now getting around to watching it.) I started with the first season on Sunday evening, and I'm loving it. Charlie shows up for the first time . . . C.J. and Danny . . . Donna and Josh . . . squee! Only forty-three discs to go!
Free Beer and $15? Now We're Talkin'
So, Steve talked me into going to another quiz night last night. It was at the Harry Buffalo in Lakewood, which I've been too oodles of times but apparently not since February, which is when they started having a Trivia Tuesday.
Jamie, the quiz hostess, explained the (somewhat more complicated than your average bear) process, but I'm still not sure I completely understand it.
For each round (there are six), she names three categories — stuff like Movies, TV, Video Games, Sports, History, Geography, or Science. There will be a question from each category, and you're supposed to decide how many points you want to win for each question. In the first three rounds, the choices are 1, 3, or 6 points; in the last three rounds, 2, 5, or 7 points. So, you can bet heavy on your strong subjects, cleaning up by identifying the general subject area of the bookstore Hugh Grant's character runs in Notting Hill (travel) and the California band whose song "Fight Like a Brave" is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and avoid being penalized for not knowing the baseball player who titled his memoirs Wizard (Ozzie Smith) or the country that is home to the most types of poisonous snakes (Australia).
Once she reads a question, you write your team name, point bid, and answer on a little slip of paper, which someone from the team takes up to Jamie. Teams have about two minutes to figure out an answer while she plays some music. When the music stops, she'll announce the right answer and which teams got points.
After each round, there's also a bonus question; teams have the chance to win not only points but also a pitcher of beer. On top of that, there seemed to be some additional bonus questions before halftime and after the final round. Plus, if you're really hurting, you can buy her shots and score a point or two for each one.
We did pretty well in the first few rounds, but our failure to name all eight of Jon & Kate's kids for the pre-halftime bonus signaled a sharp decline in our point-scoring abilities for the rest of the evening. However, we did win a free pitcher of beer after the second round, so I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
We must have managed to answer at least a few right in the second half, though, because we came in second (I think) and won a $15 Harry Buffalo gift card. Woo hoo!
As an added bonus: I got to use the timely team name "Andy Rooney Is Next." I would have used it at the next Mike D Pub Quiz — carrying on the grand tradition started by "Betty White Is Next" — except that it's not until September and everybody will have forgotten about Walter Cronkite by then.
Heaven IS Too Far Away
Ugh. The music round at last night's Pub Quiz was Power Ballads, and now I have Warrant stuck in my head.
Here, I'll share the pain. (If you only want to hear a snippet of "Heaven," fast-forward to about the nine-minute mark.)
What's worse, nobody on the Flying Monkeys knows Power Ballads from Polka, so they pretty much handed the answer sheet to me and said have at it. I could come up with the majority of the titles, but amazingly enough couldn't remember musical juggernauts like Europe, Mr. Big, and White Lion to save my life. There should have been some Bon Jovi or Def Leppard or Van Halen in there, damn it; I knew the Poison, Motley Crue, Skid Row, and Whitesnake songs. Grr!
Anyhow, it was totally frustrating because I'm sure that I heard all of these songs a jillion times during junior high/high school but I got only four points. I think it's high time to institute a half-point option if you can name the song title but not necessarily the artist.
Despite the fact that the Monkeys probably wouldn't have gotten any points in that round without me, I still feel as though I dragged them down to at least fifth place, if not worse. Luckily for them, I have something else to do next Monday night.
What's worse, nobody on the Flying Monkeys knows Power Ballads from Polka, so they pretty much handed the answer sheet to me and said have at it. I could come up with the majority of the titles, but amazingly enough couldn't remember musical juggernauts like Europe, Mr. Big, and White Lion to save my life. There should have been some Bon Jovi or Def Leppard or Van Halen in there, damn it; I knew the Poison, Motley Crue, Skid Row, and Whitesnake songs. Grr!
Anyhow, it was totally frustrating because I'm sure that I heard all of these songs a jillion times during junior high/high school but I got only four points. I think it's high time to institute a half-point option if you can name the song title but not necessarily the artist.
Despite the fact that the Monkeys probably wouldn't have gotten any points in that round without me, I still feel as though I dragged them down to at least fifth place, if not worse. Luckily for them, I have something else to do next Monday night.
Alt-Quiz Night
So, for the second week in a row I went to the other Pub Quiz. This time I played with Mike D's parents, AKA the Flying Monkeys.
The host of this quiz, Jeff, is celebrating a birthday tomorrow, so MD'sP put together a special "All about Jeff" quiz, full of brain-teasers like "How many pints tall is Jeff?" and "How long can Jeff hula hoop?"
The twenty-questions part of the regular quiz was relatively easy — What country gave us the Statue of Liberty? What are the three NBA teams based in Texas? — but I had no clue about some of the music questions, so it was a good thing Heidi knew the last four or five songs. (In my defense: Who listens to Daughtry?!)
There was a two-way tie for first place, which meant it was time for the physical challenge: Sidewalk cornhole. Our representative did totally awesome in the practice throws and then went for strategery (trying to knock the other team's bags off the board) instead of simply getting his bags in the hole, so that kind of backfired and we lost. Bummer.
Yellow! Per Capita! Dog!
Overview
We tried to come up with a clever, celebrity-death-related team name, and settled on "Bubbles Inherits Everything!" Apparently Mike D also thought it was hi-larious, because he was telling his parents' team about what a funny name some team had. I'm sure he was totally disappointed when they broke the news to him that it was us.
We didn't win best name of the night, though. I believe that honor goes to "Macaulay Sleeps Alone Tonight," who finished in second place, beating Team 11 in a tie-breaker. That's right: The arch-nemesis of the entire bar came in third! Suck it!
Of course, we finished seventh and thus didn't win anything, much less gift cards to P.J. McIntyre's, so I'm not sure what I'm so stoked about. And now that I actually know about half of Team 11, having met and chatted with Mike D's aunt and uncle at his mom's birthday party and again during halftime last night, it's kind of hard to maintain an appropriate level of mock hatred. I'll do what I can, though.
Scores & Standings
Round 1: Arts and Literature — 9 points
Round 2: Popular Geography — 8 points
Round 3: Music Round of Doom! — 5 points
Round 4: Science Time, Kiddies — 5 points
Picture Round: Bodies of Water — 7 points
Round 5: Worthless Knowledge— 11 points
Round 6: Animals, Vegetables, Minerals — 3 points
Round 7: Video Round — 10 points
Round 8: Missing Link — 9 points
We were tied for fifth place at halftime, as usual. We were kind of stoked about doing so well in the literature round, but it was pretty much all downhill from there.
On the plus side, there were a ton of bonus point opportunities within each round. He also took a page from the papal playbook and sold indulgences. In support of his friend's fundraiser for the Hospice of Medina County, a team could get one bonus point for every $10 donation. (Mike D: "If you can't win 'em, buy 'em!") Cathy bought a point on our behalf, which brought our grand total to 69. (Dirty!)
Quotable Quotes and Notable Notes
- Christine's birthday was a few weeks ago, so Cathy and I came bearing gifts: the lovely tome Saint Misbehavin': Modern-Day Saints You've Never Heard Of and a DVD box set of Dennis Miller's HBO specials (so she and I can memorize some new bits).
- I was quite pleased with myself for eventually coming up with the name of the angel in It's a Wonderful Life (Clarence). I was also one of the very few who knew what product Windell Middlebrooks is a spokesman for (Miller High Life), and I knew the decade in which Krispy Kreme Inc. got its start (1930s). So, yay me for watching lots of television and eating junk food?
- Mike D wasn't kidding about it being a music round of doom — WTF is up with these completely random audio clues? Not only are the song snippets composed of teensy bits of instrumental noodling, with nary a lyric much less an entire chorus (Seriously! Thow us a bone here!) but who the hell knows obscure album tracks off of the second Genesis record anyway? (Although that answer, "The Brazilian," did lead to this delightful comment: "It's not a wax, Mom, it's a song!")
My answer to every "Name the band and song" item was "Mike D! You Suck!" In a similar vein, his mom's default answer to every item was "Devo! Whip It!" Thus, we were all quite delighted by the extended technical difficulties preceding the last song clip, when Mike D was forced to crawl around the stage unplugging and replugging cables while mumbling "Total Failboat!" under his breath and asking "Who sucks, Mom?" (His mom: "You do!")
- The "Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals" round, despite the clever juxtaposition of a photo of Stephen Hawking under "vegetable," was actually another science round in disguise. Unfair! Especially after the debacle that was question 7 in the initial science round: What was the first mammal sent into space?
Pretty much the entire room wrote down "dog," only to react strongly to his "correct" answer of "(flying) monkey." I Googled it during the break, and when he came around to collect the answer sheets I mentioned that pretty much the entire Internet disagreed with his answer. He said something about how everybody thinks it was a dog because they've heard of the dog.
Christine: Oh, so it's a secret monkey?
Mike D: Yes!
Me: Well, you're a secret asshole!
He did, however, later rectify the situation by announcing that he had awarded a point to teams who answered "dog," so I am somewhat mollified.
- We actually figured out the missing link: Beer. However, by the time we tumbled to it, the answer was only worth 3 points thanks to this new scoring scheme.
That being said, I do kind of like the new system: If you correctly guess the missing link after one question, it's worth ten points. After two questions, it's worth 9, et cetera and so on, until it's only worth one point.
I'll Take Fake Answers for $1000, Alex
- Where would you find a Kuiper Belt?
On my Kuiper Pants [Source: Team Corner Gas] (outer space)
- A pangolin most closely resembles what animal(s)?
a panda and a penguin [Source: Cathy] (anteater, armadillo)
- What is the most popular orange member of the Umbellifarae family?
Carrot Top (carrots)
- The largest of its kind at the time, what sank suddenly on November 10, 1975, in Lake Superior?
Ella Fitzgerald [Source: Christine] (Edmund Fitzgerald)
Pub Quiz Preview
In other news . . .
- I still haven't found my notebook with the quiz notes for the last two months. I do have plenty of other notebooks, though, so I guess I'll just grab one of those for tonight.
- Tonight's quiz better be awesome, because there is no August quiz.
- I hope Christine likes her (somewhat belated) birthday present.
Incriminating Photos
I think I left my notebook with the last three months' worth of Pub Quizzes at my parents' house. Or it's in a totebag I haven't unpacked yet.
Either way, I don't have it handy to write a recap, so I'll just share a better picture of Mike D's mom and a lovely image of Cathy and Christine, both from Mike D's portfolio for last week's quiz, and call it a day.
Either way, I don't have it handy to write a recap, so I'll just share a better picture of Mike D's mom and a lovely image of Cathy and Christine, both from Mike D's portfolio for last week's quiz, and call it a day.
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