Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

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MitchO
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by MitchO »

jeff6286 wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:38 pm

I think you're quite exaggerating how hard/obscure this was. This has mostly been said but, "Made in America" is the final episode and has one of the most famous/talked about ending scenes in 21st century television. The Pine Barrens points to New Jersey and the Italian name certainly fits with a mob show. And I'll add that I've never seen an episode of the show and didn't have an HBO subscription while it was on. One of my pet peeves is people after missing trivia questions saying "I've never watched the show". The vast majority of questions about tv/movies don't require you to have watched it, it wasn't like it asked you to name Tony's mother-in-law. I was never in the Battle of Gettysburg but I can sure answer questions about it!
Look, I didn't complain it was an awful question. I understand that there are things you know and things you don't. But you're pointing to the episode being famous and that doesn't mean people know the *name* of the episode ... that's not a common knowledge point. You're pointing to Italian fitting a mob show ... and not only is it not the only mob show, it's also not the only style show that leans heavily into Italian names, stereotypes or references.

Please don't lump me into some perceived pile of whiners when the links are relatively flimsy. I've answered lots of trivia questions in my life about shows I've never seen. This one just gave me nothin'. Which is why i came here and ASKED.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by This Is Kirk! »

jeff6286 wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:38 pm
MitchO wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:52 pm
mahatma wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:26 am
MitchO wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:03 am What the heck was supposed to help you to get to Sopranos? I looked it up after the fact, and the only character name in the titles is someone who never appears and is never mentioned again. Apparently, there are well known Pine Barrens here in NJ (I'm right near the areas represented on the show) ... but I certainly don't think of NJ in general when I think of that term. Between the Pine Barrens and the Pie reference, I guessed Twin Peaks.
I don't think it's an unfair question, although I do dread one day encountering a similar question based on episodes from, say, Gray's Anatomy. You'd have to recognize the Pine Barrens as New Jersey (which I only know about because of the show in question), add in a little bit of 'Cusamano sounds like an Italian name', and then hit on the answer.

That could be a fun round of bar trivia. Ten questions where you give three or four episode titles and they have to name the show. You could spread it out among eras/target audiences, etc and end up with a good range of scores.


See, that's just it .. I guess I'm more used to J! questions; they've certainly done episode titles as a category before and usually there's at least something. This just felt way too thin in terms of leading hints. Given minimal effort, I'm sure I could name off six to ten shows where "Italian sounding surname" could lead to that show instead. -shrug-. I just never bothered to pay for HBO.
I think you're quite exaggerating how hard/obscure this was.
The very fact that 55% got it correct is a strong supporting argument for this conjecture.
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Woof
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Woof »

MitchO wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:03 am What the heck was supposed to help you to get to Sopranos? I looked it up after the fact, and the only character name in the titles is someone who never appears and is never mentioned again. Apparently, there are well known Pine Barrens here in NJ (I'm right near the areas represented on the show) ... but I certainly don't think of NJ in general when I think of that term. Between the Pine Barrens and the Pie reference, I guessed Twin Peaks.
Pine barrens are Pavlovian for NJ. Couple that with an Italian surname and an award-winning TV show and that pretty well pins it to The Sopranos. And I say this as someone who’s never watched the show.
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MitchO
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by MitchO »

My whole life in the area, and yesterday was the first time I've ever heard of the term Pine Barrens associated with NJ. I guess that's the piece I was looking for, then. Thanks to those who actually answered my inquiry.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by jeff6286 »

MitchO wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:44 pm
jeff6286 wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:38 pm

I think you're quite exaggerating how hard/obscure this was. This has mostly been said but, "Made in America" is the final episode and has one of the most famous/talked about ending scenes in 21st century television. The Pine Barrens points to New Jersey and the Italian name certainly fits with a mob show. And I'll add that I've never seen an episode of the show and didn't have an HBO subscription while it was on. One of my pet peeves is people after missing trivia questions saying "I've never watched the show". The vast majority of questions about tv/movies don't require you to have watched it, it wasn't like it asked you to name Tony's mother-in-law. I was never in the Battle of Gettysburg but I can sure answer questions about it!
Look, I didn't complain it was an awful question. I understand that there are things you know and things you don't. But you're pointing to the episode being famous and that doesn't mean people know the *name* of the episode ... that's not a common knowledge point.
I would say it’s not on the level of “chuckles bites the dust” or “goodbye forever and amen”, but I would say for 21st-century television it’s probably in the top three for notable episodes of any show. But indeed there are a million more channels and a billion more television shows in the 21st century than there were in the 20th so episode titles are not super common trivia fodder these days, hence why Thorsten gave a whole pile of additional clues. New Jersey plus Italian name plus critically acclaimed actually is a smorgasbord of clues and you dismissing it by saying “there are lots of mob shows” doesn’t change that.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Ironhorse »

At first blush, I found the wording of the Venus question strange; it's trivial that any name would be meaningless to somebody that far back the past, with language evolution being what it is. I realized he was going for representing a concept that would have been meaningless, and put Europa.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Bamaman »

jeff6286 wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:43 pm
MitchO wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:44 pm
jeff6286 wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 1:38 pm

I think you're quite exaggerating how hard/obscure this was. This has mostly been said but, "Made in America" is the final episode and has one of the most famous/talked about ending scenes in 21st century television. The Pine Barrens points to New Jersey and the Italian name certainly fits with a mob show. And I'll add that I've never seen an episode of the show and didn't have an HBO subscription while it was on. One of my pet peeves is people after missing trivia questions saying "I've never watched the show". The vast majority of questions about tv/movies don't require you to have watched it, it wasn't like it asked you to name Tony's mother-in-law. I was never in the Battle of Gettysburg but I can sure answer questions about it!
Look, I didn't complain it was an awful question. I understand that there are things you know and things you don't. But you're pointing to the episode being famous and that doesn't mean people know the *name* of the episode ... that's not a common knowledge point.
I would say it’s not on the level of “chuckles bites the dust” or “goodbye forever and amen”, but I would say for 21st-century television it’s probably in the top three for notable episodes of any show. But indeed there are a million more channels and a billion more television shows in the 21st century than there were in the 20th so episode titles are not super common trivia fodder these days, hence why Thorsten gave a whole pile of additional clues. New Jersey plus Italian name plus critically acclaimed actually is a smorgasbord of clues and you dismissing it by saying “there are lots of mob shows” doesn’t change that.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by econgator »

Probably would have got it anyway, but I'm currently listening to the excellent Talking Sopranos podcast with Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirippa (Bobby Baccalieri), so this was a gimme.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by trainman »

I've only seen one episode of "The Sopranos," but I've played the pinball machine based on the show many times -- it includes a mention of "Pie-O-My."
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by SBurrus »

I work from home in the summer. Last summer, I forfeited 4 times, as my sleep schedule gets all messed up, the days run together and I lose my bearings. So, I log in to LL today and see that I forfeited yesterday. I could have sworn I answered the questions, but apparently I didn't. Frustrating.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by GaryG »

SBurrus wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:07 am I work from home in the summer. Last summer, I forfeited 4 times, as my sleep schedule gets all messed up, the days run together and I lose my bearings. So, I log in to LL today and see that I forfeited yesterday. I could have sworn I answered the questions, but apparently I didn't. Frustrating.
That’s bad luck. Today would have been a better day to forfeit. The site was up for a brief period early this morning but seems to be down more than up since then. I predict another one day extension by the Commissioner.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by mennoknight »

beats me, I can't login at all today.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Ironhorse »

First beer of the season. The one I was struggling with was the alliterative organism name; I was stuck on plant names, and could only think of weeping willow, which obviously wasn't going to be it. It finally came to me after 20 minutes.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by teapot37 »

The deadline for today's MD (MD19) has been extended until Saturday at noon PT (3pm ET). No discussion until then, please.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by mrparadise »

I see this notification on LL home page, and it had no effect on me, but was there an email notification?
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Johnblue »

Yes. I completed my questions after I got a text reminder that they were due by 1am EST but I did see an email notification about the delay later on.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Bamaman »

I didn’t get an e-mail but I submitted my answers early in the day.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by Johnblue »

I just went to the LL page to remind myself of the questions and there’s a notice in a red box that I may have submitted my answers too late although it lists my submission time (correctly!) as 10:28pm EST. I hope it’s just a glitch as I got either all 6 correct or 5/6 if baking soda isn’t similar enough to baking powder.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by teapot37 »

Johnblue wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:32 pm I just went to the LL page to remind myself of the questions and there’s a notice in a red box that I may have submitted my answers too late although it lists my submission time (correctly!) as 10:28pm EST. I hope it’s just a glitch as I got either all 6 correct or 5/6 if baking soda isn’t similar enough to baking powder.
Baking soda and baking powder are distinct. Powder is generally soda + cream of tartar.
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Re: Learned League 89 - May/Jun '21

Post by jeff6286 »

Johnblue wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:32 pm I just went to the LL page to remind myself of the questions and there’s a notice in a red box that I may have submitted my answers too late although it lists my submission time (correctly!) as 10:28pm EST. I hope it’s just a glitch as I got either all 6 correct or 5/6 if baking soda isn’t similar enough to baking powder.
Pretty much the whole point of that question was knowing the difference between baking soda and baking powder, so no, not similar enough. 61% correct and 29% MCWA
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