LL70: For the LLamas

[econgator]

Another day, another question shy of a six pack! And I so wanted to write down Verizon, knowing it was the major telecomm provider around here, but I talked myself out of it, thinking the name Verizon was older than that and that this must have been some intermediate provider. Having missed both spiders and HP the day before, I was sure the correct answer must have some connection to NYNEX/GTE/Bell Atlantic. I kicked myself all day for that one. It turned a win into a tie, but less painful than a loss, I guess.

Oddly, I got this through my Formula 1 interest. My favorite team is McLaren, who prior to working with Honda again was Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes. Vodaphone was the UK company to merge with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon.

[BennyBXB]

Figaro not so magnifico yesterday....

Mamma mia, mamma mia...

[hbomb1947]

Thanks to those on this board who said Astroboy for the Godzilla FJ a few days ago - that is why I threw it out as a guess on the manga question yesterday. It got me the 9(6) and the win.

Me too! My first 9(6) ever!

I can only wonder what would have happened if I had watched Tuesday's J! episode before last night, which would have led to me seeing the Astro Boy discussion prior to playing yesterday's question set. As of when I submitted yesterday, I had NHO Astro Boy. That was the only MD20 question I missed, and I ended up tying 6(5) - 6(4). (Adding insult to injury, the tie was to someone below me in the standings who got questions right in areas he's normally weak in; but that's the kind of tough-luck season it's been for me. Going into today, I'm in 18th place, and the 7th place person in my rundle has the exact same number of TCA's and CAA's and a lower DE than I do. I have high hopes for LL71, though. )

[patkav]

I put Mega Man for Astro Boy.

Well, it seemed like it was possible you might know something about manga. Who knew?

[seaborgium]

In my west coast experience, I remembered AirTouch being a new thing (spun off from Pacific Telesis) which then became (part of) Verizon, so when my first inclination was to guess Verizon, I wondered if the answer was actually AirTouch. Luckily I listened to my first instincts and decided that an existing company was more likely to be the answer. I think I could have pulled out Astro Boy without the FJ discussion, but that certainly didn't hurt. Knowing it only as a cartoon, I am amused to see that question put into the Literature category.

[Rusty's in the club]

Imagine my surprise when a complete SWAG came home.

Looking at the painting, I had no idea what to answer. Didn't even look like a "table" to me, and I was getting dizzy with the whole cubist patchwork. I spied that little section on the right that had the diamonds in alignment. Being a card player, I thought how the pips on a number card get arranged. Since there was nothing else that came to mind, and running towards the submission deadline, I put down "playing card" thinking it was just another wild stab.

Little did I know it would help power a 7(5) win.

Even the blind squirrel gathers some acorns. Add in my recent trip to Indochina and Thailand and things keep dropping into my wheelhouse. But I'm waiting for the bottom to fall out in the next four matches.

[OSXpert]

I also only won yesterday because I decided that I saw playing cards on the table. That was less about trivia and more like a Rorschach test... but I'll take it.

[mikeyb]

I also only won yesterday because I decided that I saw playing cards on the table. That was less about trivia and more like a Rorschach test... but I'll take it.

I often look at the question on my phone in the morning (or the night before, if I'm up late enough) so that I can ponder them on the way to work. When I looked at the painting at home on my phone, I could have sworn I saw faces. When I looked at it on my full-size screen at work, I couldn't see them anymore. That didn't stop me from putting self-portrait as guess!

I almost out-thought myself on Orpheus. My mind went to him first, but then I realized I was thinking of Gluck's "Dance of the Furies," which got me thinking I might be mixing up Orpheus and Orestes. And remembering that the music I most associate with Orpheus comes from Offenbach didn't help! Fortunately, I stuck with my original guess, and it turns out "Dance of the Furies" is indeed from "Orpheus and Eurydice."

[Woof]

I was gobsmacked to see Oroheus on the reveal as I'd never before considered him to be a prophet and had been racking my brain for well-known prophets who were operatic subjects (and I knew the two operas in question, to boot). That was balanced by a lucky WAG. I mistook the painting for Braque's violin and candlestick but couldn't find evidence of a violin so put candlestick. Better to be lucky than good sometimes

[MarkBarrett]

I went through the questions and thought I saw diamonds on the painting, so my answer was playing cards. I went through the questions to assign defense, looked at the painting again, and thought the tip of the candlestick was a pawn or bishop and that other parts of the work were the board. I changed to chess.

At least my 6(4) was enough to win the match. 3 for Bull Moose?

[patkav]

My only consolation in the 2(3)-4(4) beating boson delivered is that we both played perfect defense.

I shall see you again in LL71, sir!

[StevenH]

For the third time this season I came so tantalizingly close to drinking my first ever beer. I didn't recognize the painting, but from looking at it I thought I may have saw playing cards or a mushroom. I went with mushroom Art is usually a good category for me but I never bothered to learn anything about Braque other than that he was that other Cubist.

Also, I nearly found myself in a RTFQ moment. I saw "Canto" and originally put Ezra Pound. Luckily I reread the question before I submitted and realized my mistake. It was a good thing, because I would have gone from a win to a tie.

[StevenH]

I was gobsmacked to see Oroheus on the reveal as I'd never before considered him to be a prophet and had been racking my brain for well-known prophets who were operatic subjects (and I knew the two operas in question, to boot).

That also threw me off for a second, but I didn't see what else it could be. And I actually guessed "Orfeo" instead of Orpheus, but was given credit.

[Vermonter]

I mistook the painting for Braque's violin and candlestick but couldn't find evidence of a violin so put candlestick. Better to be lucky than good sometimes

Same exact process here! Those 3 points turned out to be the difference against a fellow College Champ.

[Blue Lion]

I made a WAG of "candlestick" on the Braque question, which salvaged a 7(5)-7(5) tie. Didn't come up with "Orpheus", didn't even come close.

[This Is Kirk!]

I saw something round in the middle of the painting and figured it was either an apple or an orange. I went with orange. The playing cards are fairly obvious after seeing the answer, but the candlestick is still a stretch as far as I'm concerned!

[boson]

My only consolation in the 2(3)-4(4) beating boson delivered is that we both played perfect defense.

I shall see you again in LL71, sir!

Thanks for the match - and see you next season!

I was lucky to get Neruda... Gabriella Mistral is also a Chilean poet who won the Nobel, and I was debatoing between the two. Though she was also a diplomat, wikipedia doesn't call her a "leftist". Short of actually knowing what they wrote (which some might think is important, but I think is overrated ) it is tough to distinguish them.

[barandall800]

Kicked myself repeatedly for overthinking the Chilean poet question and going with Gabriela Mistral (who did win a Nobel Prize for Literature, but well before 1971), instead of Neruda, who is one of my all-time favorites. I even saw "Il Postino" in my Spanish Lit class last year, which heavily alluded to his political leanings. Sigh...

On the bright side, a WAG on iron oxide got me 3 points on that question (thanks to my very low science percentage), and helped carry me to a 4(3)-4(4) tie, so there's that.

[hbomb1947]

I was gobsmacked to see Oroheus on the reveal as I'd never before considered him to be a prophet and had been racking my brain for well-known prophets who were operatic subjects (and I knew the two operas in question, to boot).

That also threw me off for a second, but I didn't see what else it could be. And I actually guessed "Orfeo" instead of Orpheus, but was given credit.

You had to be given credit, bc the operas by Monteverdi and Gluck are both named "Orfeo."

I only knew him as a musician rather than a poet or a prophet, but I knew Monteverdi had an "Orfeo" opera (I didn't know about Gluck's), and it seemed worth taking a chance on.

[econgator]

I was lucky to get Neruda... Gabriella Mistral is also a Chilean poet who won the Nobel

Thankfully, I only know Neruda, so my choice was easy.

At least in our rundle, this was a very easy set to defend. Of the 20 scores, 14 were perfectly defended.