Anyway, back to the post.  Here are the answers to the (quite difficult, I admit) questions posted in yesterday’s Don’t work… too hard.

I wrote a bit about the concept of ‘quiz knowledge’ yesterday.  To flesh this out a little more, my point is that all knowledge is (or should be) valid.  It’s just a case of a situation arising where the more (shall we say) ‘obscure’ bit of your knowledge become useful.  But… shouldn’t the probability of any particular question coming up be identical across all fields? *

It isn’t. I knew almost nothing in the Popular Culture round below but that has never really mattered before.  99% of the time, in Irish table quizzes, questions like these never, ever, come up.  Is that ‘right’?

Consider the flip side: you might know someone who would do very well in the round being discussed but, if you asked them, would tell you that they are “terrible” at table quizzes and never take part in them. Surely there’s a flaw here?

By which I mean: is there a flaw in the way most Irish table quizzes are created? Do question setters, perhaps, consider their potential crowd and then design a quiz to suit them more than to really test them? Probably not consciously but almost certainly.  To take it further, is there a vernacular in the Irish table quiz world? Could the spectrum of knowledge tested at table quizzes be considered a ‘specialist subject‘ in-and-of itself?

This is a disquieting notion.

Answer: When the winning table scores 49/100.

That’s right, just 49%. And there was a playoff.

The night before its students decided to abandon Rag Week, NUI Galway played host to yours truly on the microphone, calling out questions in the back room of the College Bar.  I created three of the rounds used on the night (one of which you can see below).  The others were created by the members of my regular team so it was a rare occasion in that all four of us were at the top table, with the others collecting and correcting at various times.

Knowledge, or what one could consider ‘useful (quiz) knowledge’, is subjective and differs from person to person.  Even with my own abilities, this quiz featured a round I would have scored 2/10 in.  Of course, I’ve also included that for you to have a go.

All that being said, it turned out to be an exciting quiz, with two teams finishing on the aforementioned 49 points.  If we’d had one strong team amongst the competitors, who were able to handle these questions, they’d have had a bit of a Rory McIlroy in the US Open stroll to victory, and what fun would that have been for the room in general?

Popular culture round *:

1. What is the name of the act that was eliminated from last weekend’s (October 16th) X-Factor?
2. PS, I Love You was the debut novel by Cecilia Ahern. What was the title of her second?
3. Which of the following is not a hair-removal technique: Threading, casting or sugaring?
4. What does the ‘A’ stand for in MAC Cosmetics?
5. What are the names of the 2 main characters in the movie The Notebook?
6. Who is the father of Jordan/Katie Price’s first child Harvey?
7. In Sex and the City, what is Mr. Big’s actual first name?
8. Which shoe designer is known by the trademark red soles on their shoes?
9. How many calories are there in a can of diet coke: 0, 7 or 70?
10. A baby born today (October 17) would have which star sign?

All kinds of everything:

1. In the novel Around the World in Eighty Days by French writer Jules Verne, which character sets off to circumnavigate the globe?
2. Name the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, known for her distinctive hair braid,  who was sentenced to seven years in jail last week.
3. Which common Irish bird is officially known by the Latin name ‘Troglodytes troglodytes’?
4. The Quinn Group was formed in 1973 by Sean Quinn. By 2008 they produced cement and glass, provided insurance and owned hotels but in what business was the group first involved?
5. The ‘All Whites’ is the nickname for which national football team?
6. If someone was to call you by a hypocorism, what type of name would they be using?
7. Which famous actor was presented with a Special Tony Award in 1985, honoring his 4,525th performance in The King and I on stage?
8. The Pomengranate gets its name from two Latin words, which mean “seeded [what]“?
9. Rod Stewart blamed what hobby, which takes up an area 23 foot by 124 foot in his LA home, for contributing to the end of his second marriage?
10. The world’s first recorded currency dates from around 3,000 BC in Mesoptamia.  Its name is still used today by one country as its currency.  Name either the currency or the country that uses it.

Picture round – Where were they born? **:

What the heck, here’s one more.

Sport round:

1. Who is the captain of the Connacht Rugby team for the 2011/12 season?
2. Paul Cook is the manager of which league of Ireland team?
3. In GAA, which county won The Irish Press Cup in September 2011?
4. What game is played on a court with a protruding buttress at one end and is fully enclosed by walls, three of which have sloping roofs known as penthouses, under which are openings for spectators? ***
5. Which famous Australian horse race is billed as The Race That Stops A Nation?
6. The 1995 Rugby World Cup Final was played in Ellis Park – in which city?
7. What was unusual (physically) about George Eyser, who won six medals in Gymnastics in one day at the 1904 Olympics?
8. Founded in 1869 the the Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first fully professional team in which sport?
9. Ireland has won (and kept) Olympic medals in four sports.  Athletics and Boxing are two; name the other two.
10. Who are the current Galway Senior Hurling Champions?

Give those four a go.  If you score more than 20, well then last Monday night was probably a missed opportunity for you as you’d almost certainly have defeated every one else in the NUI Galway College Bar!

Update:

Here’s the audio round from the quiz.

Answers tomorrow – along with a post on a quiz I took part in last Friday night.

Footnotes:

* This is the one.  Almost every weak spot I have – in one round of quizzing.

** Just answer these 1-A, 2-B and so on.

*** After calling out this epic question on Monday night I added: “… and a net in the middle”. Consider yourself clued.

So come one, come all.   First prize is €200 and the night will also feature a raffle and, as the poster proudly proclaims, free food!  Admission is €20 for a table of four.

Few other things:

• After the Fact, my new quiz show on Claremorris Community Radio, is now three weeks old.  You can listen back to all the episodes by using the big button on the right of the page or by visiting www.mixcloud.com/claremorrisfm/playlists/atf/
• I was quizzing on Friday night.  Yet another one point defeat. As I was preparing for tonight’s quiz, I haven’t written up a report yet but you can check out this little Audioboo I recorded on the night.

It’s a good job I typed up yesterday’s post when I did as I have since lost the piece of paper on which the featured questions reside.  Thus, I will have to do the round all over again.  That said, it is a lot easier when you’ve heard the answers within the past week!

The final round:

1. Who played the part of the vampire Jerry Dandridge in the original Fright Night? A> Chris Sarandon
2. Who has, in his career, been killed on-screen by a terminator, a predator and an alien? A> Bill Paxton
3. Who played the part of the “last American hero” in the 1971 film Vanishing Point? A> Barry Newman
4. What cover company does James Bond and his fellow 00 agents purport to work for? A> Universal Exports
5. What phrase stops the robot Gort in the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still? A> “Klaatu barada nikto“
6. What was the name of the superhero alter-ego of Dom DeLuise’s character in Cannonball Run? A> Captain Chaos
7. Peter O’Toole was nominated for an Academy Award for which 1980 film? A> The Stunt Man
8. What film was directed by Wim Wenders, starred Mel Gibson and was written by Bono? A> Million Dollar Hotel
9. The character of Lili von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles was based on which actress? A> Marlene Dietrich
10. What engraving is on the lighter George Smiley lost to a Russian agent in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? A> “From Ann, with all my love” *

Some other questions:

1. What was the name of the criminal gang in the 1991 film Point Break? A> The Ex-Presidents **
2. What 1945 film featured the first ever scene of human actors interacting with animated characters? A> Anchors Aweigh
3. In what year does the film Super 8 take place? A> 1979
4. On what date do the characters in One Day meet every year? A> St Swithin’s Day (July 15)

Identify the film from its tagline:

1. In Space, no-one can hear you scream. A> Alien
2. Eigth legs, two fangs and an attitude. A> Arachnaphobia
3. Crime is a disease. Meet the cure. A> Cobra
4. Neo-Tokyo is about to explode. A> Akira
5. Mischief. Mayhem. Soap. A> Fight Club
6. He was dead but he got better. A> Crank: High Voltage
7. Love means never having to say you’re sorry. A> Love Story
8. Resistance is futile. A> Star Trek: First Contact
9. Trust me. A> Liar Liar
10. He spies, he flies, he death-defies. A> Condorman

Picture round (five actors, five films):

1. Charles Grodin
2. John Belushi
3. Michael Fassbender
4. Shirley MacLaine
5. Zhang Ziyi
6. 30 Minutes or Less
7. The Duchess
8. The Maltese Falcon
9. Thor
10. Vicky Christina Barcelona

That’s a whole lot of movie trivia for just one post.  I hope you enjoyed it.

If so, note that this quiz happens on the first Monday of every month in Kelly’s Bar, Bridge St., Galway.

That’s all folks.

Footnotes:

* Not the most succint answer is it?

** Don’t fall into the trap we did of thinking they were the Dead Presidents.

Normally we do ‘ok’ in this round – by which I mean 6 points, or thereabouts. However, if you’ve read my post from last week, you won’t be surprised when I reveal that we scored a miserable 3 points this time out.  I’m going to include the whole round below, as a separate set of questions to let you have a go.

We had been joint-leaders at half-time on 35 points but, after that final round, we ended up third on 64 points.  That being said, we only lost by 3 points.  Everyone else must also have found the final round to be a bit of a b*st*rd…

The final round:

1. Who played the part of the vampire Jerry Dandridge in the original Fright Night?
2. Who has, in his career, been killed on-screen by a terminator, a predator and an alien?
3. Who played the part of the “last American hero” in the 1971 film Vanishing Point?
4. What cover company does James Bond and his fellow 00 agents purport to work for?
5. What phrase stops the robot Gort in the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still?
6. What was the name of the superhero alter-ego of Dom DeLuise’s character in Cannonball Run?
7. Peter O’Toole was nominated for an Academy Award for which 1980 film?
8. What film was directed by Wim Wenders, starred Mel Gibson and was written by Bono?
9. The character of Lili von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles was based on which actress?
10. What engraving is on the lighter George Smiley lost to a Russian agent in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy?

Some other questions:

1. What was the name of the criminal gang in the 1991 film Point Break?
2. What 1945 film featured the first ever scene of human actors interacting with animated characters?
3. In what year does the film Super-8 take place? *
4. On what date do the characters in One Day meet every year? *

Identify the film from its tagline:

1. In Space, no-one can hear you scream.
2. Eigth legs, two fangs and an attitude.
3. Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.
4. Neo-Tokyo is about to explode.
5. Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.
6. He was dead but he got better.
7. Love means never having to say you’re sorry.
8. Resistance is futile.
9. Trust me.
10. He spies, he flies, he death-defies.

Picture round (five actors, five films):

The quiz also included the usual film score extracts and movie posters with the titles removed.  However, I didn’t get around to recreating those.  Sorry.

Answers to all that of the above though, will follow tomorrow.

Footnote:

* We got these but I like them.

Lost on the cutting room floor from the original post was the news that we actually won the quiz! Whilst we were an amazing eight points clear of second place, there was a bit of confusion surrounding third prize.

The quizmaster announced that they had a result but a play-off was in the works.  Two teams were in “joint third” and they needed to play off.  They did and, a slight controversy over the original name of Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope aside *, one of these teams defeated the other.  Well done, here’s third prize.

Except, this play-off was immediately followed up by another play-off, this time featuring the two teams who were tied in “joint second”. The team that lost this one were a bit confused afterwards.  Shouldn’t they be getting third prize, they no doubt wondered.  To be fair to the organisers, this was resolved quite quickly and they were given some Star Wars merchandise – in honour of the ‘second-and-a-half’ place they’d just finished in…

Questions we missed:

1. In the recent film The Inbetweeners Movie, the protagonists holiday in which resort? A> Malia
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays which character in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises? A> Det. John Blake
3. David Prowse, the man who played Darth Vader, was famous in the UK for what role? A> The Green Cross Code man
4. What film links Mark Hamill, Lee Marvin and David Carradene? A> The Big Red One
5. In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, in what year does judgement day take place? A> 1997
6. Which actress, director and screenwriter appeared in The Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala’s hand-maidens? A> Sofia Coppola
7. Which Star Wars actor last year released a heavy metal concept album? A> Christopher Lee
8. Who composed the soundtrack to the movie The Thing? A> Ennio Morricone

Pictures:

1. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Mark Hamill)
2. Darkman (Liam Neeson)

We got Darkman, mainly though a team discussion that started with “That looks a bit like Liam Neeson….” and ended with Mike decided that, if it is Liam Neeson, then the only film that makes sense… is Darkman.

That’s all folks!

* ‘The adventures of Luke Starkiller’ was the answer given by the contestant.  The quiz master actually wanted ‘Blue Harvest’.  The crowd cried foul, the organisers backed down and asked a different question. **

** The answer to this playoff question was: Keira Knightly.  I’ll let you work it out for yourselves.

The night wasn’t the only change – the quiz is now being sponsored by HMV.  This week, in honour of the fact that you can now buy all the Star Wars films on Blu-Ray, the quiz was called ‘Movie Wars’ and featured a lot of (although thankfully not entirely) questions about George Lucas’s cash cow creation.

It was quite an enjoyable quiz.  Its eight rounds included a picture round (on the big screen – no paper here) and two audio rounds.  One of these audio rounds was most entertaining.  It featured 10 samples of dialogue from famous movies. Nothing too novel there, you say, but these were all linked by the fact that they were almost entirely made up of expletives. Yes, I know, it’s a bit childish but it certainly made me laugh!

The Star Wars connection was kept light for the most part. For example, the picture round featured 10 stills of actors, who have appeared in Star Wars movies, in some other film – and that’s what you had to identify.  There was also a round where a Star Wars actor was named, along with two others, and you had to say in which film all three of them appeared.  You can sample some questions after the ‘Continue…’

Questions we missed:

1. In the recent film The Inbetweeners Movie, the protagonists holiday in which resort?
2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays which character in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises?
3. David Prowse, the man who played Darth Vader, was famous in the UK for what role? *
4. What film links Mark Hamill, Lee Marvin and David Carradene?
5. In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, in what year does judgement day take place?
6. Which actress, director and screenwriter appeared in The Phantom Menace as one of Queen Amidala’s hand-maidens?
7. Which Star Wars actor last year released a heavy metal concept album?
8. Who composed the soundtrack to the movie The Thing?

Pictures (one we got, one we missed):

Update: answers here.

* We did get this one.  I just think it’s a cool question.

Here endeth the post created last Thursday, Back to the front.  My apologies for the delay in posting the answers.  I feel as if I am in the plot of a Richard Curtis movie as, within the last two months, I have been at four weddings.  Well, the fourth of those took place last weekend and it knocked me out of my ol’ routine.  Heck, even my little Friday podcast was only uploaded this morning.

I mentioned last week that this month’s Kelly’s movie quiz was won by ‘Things to do in John Denver when you’re dead’. And well done to them.  They almost pulled off a clean sweep of the available prizes but were beaten to the top spot in the ‘Best Team Name’ competition, as voted for by audience applause, by the (hopefully) inaccurately named ‘Three Men and a Massive Slut’.  Mind you, the team was made up of a 3:1 male-female ratio…

The poster included in the previous post was from the 1978 film, The Wild Geese.  It was the only one of the ‘Photoshopped Posters’ round that eluded us.  I must check it out sometime, it has quite the cast.

Answers:

1. In Monty Python’s Life of Brian, what covert organisation does Brian Cohen join? A> People’s Front of Judea
2. What is the full name of Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator? A> Maximus Decimus Meridius *
3. Which film links Meg Ryan, Ian McKellen, Sam Neill and Robert Downey Jr.? A> Restoration
4. In The Goonies, whose treasure were the children searching for? A> One-eyed Willie
5. Of all the movies Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon did together, only in one are they never on the screen together.  Which one? A> JFK
6. What is the name of the fictional country from which Tom Hank’s character in The Terminal hails? A> Krakohzia

Film scores:

1. St. Elmo’s Fire
2. Home Alone
3. Singin’ in the Rain
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Fiddler on the Roof
6. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
7. Beaches
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. Chicago
10. Get Carter

Tie-break:

1. Galaxy Quest
2. The Rock
3. Pulp Fiction

The people at Kelly’s are doing a great job running this quiz and the crowd that turns up every month is testament to that.  At the end last week there was talk of another quiz in July but I haven’t got confirmation of that yet.  I do know that the same people are hosting a Simpsons quiz on Monday, June 27.

* I was wrong by the tiniest of margins here.  I was full sure his third name began with a P.

We have become the ‘playoff’ team as, apart from the first movie quiz three months ago, we’ve always been involved in a tie-breaker for some position or another.  Three months ago we won the opening quiz but, since then, it’s been a playoff for third, a playoff for second and, this month, a playoff for third once more.

Mike is our star man when it comes to movies and it had been only right that he was our nominee for those previous playoffs.  However, on Monday night, perhaps lacking the motivation to compete for a slab of beer (which we found difficult to give away, when we won it a few months back), he deferred.  Consensus was that I should be the man to approach the stage…

There I met Luke, the other team’s representative.  He looked about as up for this as I did – and I don’t even drink beer.  “OK,” Dave the quizmaster told us, “we’re going to play another piece of music.  The winner is the person who identifies it first.”

On came the music. After about 10 seconds I looked at my opponent.  He shrugged his shoulders, indicating that I wasn’t the only one who HADN’T A CLUE what it was. “Alright,” says Dave, “let’s try another one.”

After another 10 seconds, myself and Luke had become impromptu comrades in this crucible of embarrassment.  This second tune was (apparently) much easier as people in the crowd were now hurling invective in our general direction.  Invective which said ‘Ah come on. This one’s EASY…”  Still, Luke and I just stood there.

David on the mic was getting a bit impatient. “I’m going to run out of questions soon!” he told us.

His third attempt at settling the issue was to dispense with the music.  “The winner is the first person to name the five members of The Usual Suspects.”

“Do you mean the actors?” I asked, hopefully.

“No, the characters. Go on.”

“Not a chance!” Luke informed him.

At this point, David decided it was time for an “open goal” solution.  He told us he’d play an audio clip of some movie dialogue.

Finally, we knew it! Unfortunately for me, Luke got this laimhe suas about 0.2 of a second before me and his team got to take home the slab of beer.

Here are the audio files from the tie-break:

So, how had we got into that situation?  Well, at half time we were in joint-fourth, on 35/40.  This put us three behind the leaders, ‘Things to do in John Denver when you’re dead’ *.  We obviously matched them in the second half of the quiz as our final score of 70/80 was still three behind their’s.  However, we had obviously gained on someone, as we were no longer in fourth.  The rest you know.

All the now usual rounds were included.  Photoshopped posters, actors in their youth, film scores and dialogue.  This month also featured a round reminiscent of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you had to identify the movie based on the actors who were on the cast.

To compound my own sense of failure, I felt as if I was liable for two of our dropped points in the first round as I suggested (close but) not right answers for the Life of Brian and Gladiator questions.  Worse, I was confident about them.

This is now turning into a giant blog post so I’m going to move things along.

Here are the questions we missed:

1. In Monty Python’s Life of Brian, what covert organisation does Brian Cohen join?
2. What is the full name of Russell Crowe’s character in Gladiator?
3. Which film links Meg Ryan, Ian McKellen, Sam Neill and Robert Downey Jr.?
4. In The Goonies, whose treasure were the children searching for?
5. Of all the movies Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon did together, only in one are they never on the screen together.  Which one?
6. What is the name of the fictional country from which Tom Hank’s character in The Terminal hails? **

Film scores:

That’s it for now.  I have more to tell you – but it’ll have to wait until the answer post tomorrow.

Until then.

Update: answers here.

* A great name but not the best on the night. I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

** This question lifted my mood slightly as I was the one who provided the answer.  It was a total guess.  Don’t ask me where it came from as I haven’t seen The Terminal! The mind is a funny thing…

This article will be the one post to rule them all.  In other words it will contain all the answers in one, handy location.

If you’ll cast your eyes to the right, you will see the poster for the movie from which the tie-breaker audio clip came.  That’s right, it’s The Blues Brothers. It was sort of a must-see movie for our generation and, combining that with the fact they chose probably the film’s most famous line, I wasn’t exactly chewing my fingernails worrying that Mike wasn’t going to win that tie-breaker.

Answers:

1. Which Irish actor plays Bono in the recent movie Killing Bono? A> Martin McCann
2. Identify the movie: “A public relations executive meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman.  They eventually marry but their love is insufficient to prevent them from a downward spiral into alcoholism. For the sake of their daughter, he eventually breaks free from his addiction but his wife does not.” A> Days of Wine and Roses
3. Identify the movie: “A blue collar cynic, after being hypnotised to open his mind, starts to have visions of a young girl. He comes to believe that he is seeing a local girl who has been missing for six months and that his son is having the same visions.” A> Stir of Echoes
4. Walter Matthau won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in which comedy masterpiece? A> The Fortune Cookie *
5. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have appeared together in three movies. Name them. A> The Godfather Part II, Heat, Righteous Kill
6. Only three films have ever won the ‘Big Five’ Oscars: Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress.  Name them. A> It happened one night, One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Silence of the Lambs

Picture round, Young Film Stars:

1. Alec Baldwin
2. Billy Bob Thornton
3. James Gandolfini
4. Russell Brand
5. Cybill Shepherd
6. Oprah Winfrey
7. Shia LaBeouf
8. Stanley Tucci

Audio round, Film themes:

1. City Slickers
2. Honey, I shrunk the kids
3. Sex and the City **
4. Sherlock Holmes
5. The Lord of the Rings
6. Stargate
7. The Great Escape
8. The Italian Job

And that’s that.

Or is it?  I’d have presumed Kelly’s would now be putting the quiz into stasis for the Summer but the MC announced at the end that they’d see us all “next month”. Hopefully, they’ll remain true to that.

Wow, quizzing in June!

* I must find this film and check it out. It is a “masterpiece” after all…

** David identified this one.  Credit where it’s due.