Thank you for playing, and thank you for your patience.
Like many of us here, I'm sure, I enjoy doing well in trivia games, but also get a lot of enjoyment out of the questions/categories on which I'm at sea. A few stumpers will teach me more than a whole game full of instagets. With that in mind, I've tried to split these questions into areas I already thought I knew, and 'known unknowns', if you will. Just a rehash of the rules, then we'll get started.
Standard TD Scoring
- Score for a correct answer will be equal to the number of people choosing that answer.
- Score for an incorrect answer will be equal to the SHEEP (most popular correct answer) plus 5.
- If you decide that you, like Ukraine, are weak, you can DROP one question, for which you will receive a score of zero.
- On the other hand, if you, like Ukraine, are strong like bull, you can choose to lift the puny SHEEP score for one question.
- Blank answers, or anything beyond the first DROP or SHEEP (why would you?) will be treated as incorrect answers.
- Lowest score wins; ties go to the earliest entry.
- No cheating, please. If you have to ask yourself if something counts as cheating, it probably does.
- If you have any questions regarding the, um, questions, please PM me or post (spoiler-free) questions in this thread. I will post answers in the clarification post below.
- Please PM me the answers by 10:00pm, Wednesday September 30th.
Question 1 - CURRENT EVENTS
The old pub quiz staple that often kicks my butt. I'm just not hep enough to what the young cats are into these days.
Name the current:
- #1 movie in the US (domestic box office for the weekend of 18-20 September);
- #1 single (title and artist) on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for the week ending Saturday, 19 September;
- title of the most-recent winner of the: Best Picture Oscar; Album of the Year Grammy; Outstanding Drama or Comedy Series Emmy; Best Musical or Play Tony awards (six possible answers);
- #1 book (title and author) on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list for the week ending Sunday, 20 September (two possible answers, in the categories of Harcover Fiction and Hardcover Nonfiction);
- team with the best record in Major League Baseball's National or American League (as of the games of Sunday, 20 September) (two possible answers);
- leader for either the Republican or Democratic 2016 presidential nomination (per RealClearPolitics.com average of national polls dated 31 August - 19 September) (two possible answers).
I can't remember yesterday (I just remember doing what they told me...), but find it easier to remember things that happened in the past. 1972 was a really good year for me, so let's look to then.
Name any one of the:
- #1 movie in US domestic box office for 1972;
- #1 single (title and artist) for the year on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart;
- title of the winner of any of the following, as awarded at the ceremonies held in 1972: Best Picture Oscar (44th Academy Awards); Album of the Year Grammy (14th Grammy Awards); Outstanding Drama or Comedy Series Emmy (24th Emmy Awards); Best Musical or Play Tony awards (26th Tony Awards) (six possible answers);
- books (title and author) to top the New York Times Fiction Bestseller list during the year (four possible answers);
- winner of the 1972 World Series (of American baseball);
- nominee for either the Republican or Democratic Party in the 1972 presidential election (two possible answers).
Maybe my strengths aren't as strong as I thought. Here's one, at least, that I could name all the answers to.
Using George Washington as #1, and Barack Obama as #44, name any US President whose place in the overall order is a prime number. Give full names where appropriate, please (14 possible answers).
Question 4 - ENGLISH/BRITISH MONARCHS
Some of my weaknesses are even weaker than I thought. I probably couldn't have named more than two of these.
From the time of the Norman conquest, England (and since 1603, the UK) has been ruled by monarchs belonging to 10 named Houses (per royal.gov.uk; 'restorations' not included as separate Houses). Name the first monarch to rule under the name of any of these Houses (ten possible answers):
- Normandy
- Angevin
- Plantagenet
- Lancaster
- York
- Tudor
- Stuart
- Hanover
- Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
- Windsor
I never can remember who was the first to get where. It seems that the explorers themselves were often unsure. Keeping that in mind:
Name any of the following:
- the commander of the first voyage to circumnavigate the globe, either when it was begun, or when it was completed (two possible answers);
- the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean, or the Mississippi River (two possible answers);
- the leader of the 1908 overland expedition to the North Pole (which is disputed), or the 1909 overland expedition to the North Pole (also disputed), or the first person to have reached both poles (mercifully undisputed, as far as I can tell) (three possible answers);
- the first mammal, human being, American or woman to orbit the Earth (four possible answers);
- the first person (or persons) to summit Mount Everest and return alive, or the first to reach the top of all of the Seven Summits (for our purposes being Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Vinson and Puncak Jaya, known as the 'Messner list') (three possible answers; only one name is required).
If we can't agree on who got there first, maybe we can agree on where 'there' is. Or maybe not.
Name one of the following:
- the aforementioned 'Messner list' is one of the two main versions of the Seven Summits. The other (the 'Bass list') differs from Messner in listing this (much shorter) mountain in place of Puncak Jaya;
- the tallest mountain in the world, as measured all the way from base to top (even if the base is underwater), or measured as the point on the surface which is farthest from the center of the Earth (two possible answers);
- the longest river (main stem length excluding tributaries) on any of the six continents (excluding Antarctica) (six possible answers);
- any of the buildings that have been recognized as the world's tallest (on the basis of 'height to architectural top', as defined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) since the construction of the World Trade Center in 1971 (four possible answers).
Groan.
Over the last 130 years, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City has performed over 300 different works. Name any opera that has been performed by the Met over 850 times (seven possible answers; the highest-ranked to fall below this is Faust, with 752);
OR
Name any opera to premiere at the Met in this century, which has had at least 15 performances (five possible answers).
Question 8 - ROCK DRUMMERS
Everybody knows singers, and guitar players, but drummers? Drummers get no respect, no respect at all (see Gallagher, Noel). Let's show them some love.
Over the last 30 years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted over 200 'performers', but only about 1/3 of those were bands that included a drummer. Name any drummer inducted into the Hall of Fame, including recipients of the Sidemen (2000-09) or Musical Excellence (2011-15) awards. (Many, many answers to choose from. Singletons for everyone! Your answer must be included in the band's official HoF citation.)
Question 9 - NON-ENGLISH LIT
What is even worse than a weakness? A feebleness? I'm sure the rest of the community will make this look easier than I think it is.
In the last 20 years, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to writers working in 11 different languages. Name any winner of the Literature Prize in this period, who writes primarily in a language other than English (14 possible answers);
OR
Name any language, other than English, which has had multiple winners of the Literature Prize during this time period (three possible answers).
Question 10 - NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL LITERATURE!
So much for the highbrow stuff. Let's wrap up with something that's a little more my speed.
Name any one of:
- the characters to appear as a Hogwarts student in all seven of the Harry Potter... books, and finish the entire series without dying (six possible answers);
- the only character to have at least one POV chapter in each of the five books (so far) in the a Song of Ice and Fire book series;
- the characters to appear in all seven seasons of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series (yeah, I called it literature!) (four possible answers).