"OK, wait. If you guys are really us what number are we thinking of?" "The BH quiz no. 69, dudes!" "Whoa"
Yep, when in doubt, always resort to a modified classic film quote (hey, the Bill and Ted movies are modern classics that tackle weighty issues, like world peace and rock music and making off with medieval babes).
So it is tomorrow and I have given you another quiz (I can hear the yawns resound through the land like a shuddering sonic boom). Rejoice now, for tomorrow and the next day this will be an original quiz question-free zone.
I'm giving you the answers now because I am unsure as to when I will be next sitting before my laptop and conjuring up hundreds more fiendishly difficult posers.
But it will probably be Thursday, on account of deadlines, top secret exciting TV stuff and the Wednesday night charity quiz event (SET BY ME, tremble at those very words and do some despairing while you're at it). You know I did tone it down three times before it was deemed acceptable. i kinda knew people wouldn't know who created Fido Dido on a napkin (in reverse, of course, but it sounded too tricky, apparently) and went back and dumbed it down to normals level. I now realise it was completely necessary.
One more thing about Saturday and the Quizzing events generally
Being a film ponce and looking to the Worlds next month and looking back at past GP papers I am worried about certain things that aren't really covered by Quizzing's brilliant indie competitions.
I may be blind wrong and incredibly stupid, but I can only remember one foreign film question being asked in an individual GP in recent memory, and that was because I set it myself on Aleksandr Sokurov.
I have by my right side, where all my past and pained and scarred question papers happen to be, Part II of last year's WQC. I see in the Media section nine questions pertaining to non-American foreign films (Chinese, Polish, Danish, Vietnamese etc). There appears to be a crucially important disparity there between what we get in the Worlds and what we get in the relatively parochial arena of Entertainment at regular events.
Never mind that I am an aforementioned film ponce who buys absolutely shedloads of Artificial Eye and Tartan distributor DVDs (they so pretty on my shelves) as well as Ernst Rohmer and Pedro Almodovar box sets that I haven't had the willingness to watch (yikes, they are speaking funny).
And I still don't know jack about world music: Feli Kuti? Who he, for instance? Okay, I do know who he is purely on account of his marrying billions of wives and writing a song called Zombie and there being the chance in the coming years to do a bonus linking it with the Cranberries (ugh) "poignant" paean to the horrors of The Troubles, along with who had a US no. 1 with Time of the Season.
So what could be the answer? Perhaps, more foreign stuff on people like Hugh Masakela obviously to help us acclimatise to the rigours of world quizzing, but maybe something else could be done.
Considering that events have gone monthly and numbers haven't actually declined (you see, we're getting addicted to the crack-like effects of competition), how about one or two world knowledge tourneys strung throughout the year, so we do not have so much of a culture shock? I would certainly welcome it and it would make a change.
Thanks to the massive and some might say even visionary efforts of Chris, Jane and other Quizzing organisational luminaries for which I and a vast number of quizzers are and will be eternally gratful, the Worlds and Europeans have, however, became the blue riband events of the quiz calendar and, dagnabbit: this is the for the good of all UK quizzers who want to make a mark on the wider and far bigger stage. It will do all us Brits the world of good.
Anyway, just an idea I'm throwing out there. One that will probably be torn down like a sparrowhawk would a swallow from the sky. And I have to admit, I'm not one for the populist and inclusive way of doing things. If I was American I would be a champion of the ACF way and look snidely upon all the other thicky pretenders.
A Further Note on My Most Recent Reading
Just finished Penguins Stopped Play: quite simply the most moving book I have read in a long time and made all the more so due to its hilarious and colourful stories and judicious and angry swearing.
I implore you (in the friendliest manner possible; imagine me smiling like a Cheshire feline as I shout this): Read it now.
Harry Thompson will be missed. The thought of his not writing another book (his Peter Cook biography was probably the best I had ever read concerning a showbiz figure) gives you a terrible grave, aching feeling that spreads from your gut until it invades all of your body. I truly feel for all the people he has helped out, influenced and sadly left behind in the prime of his life.
It makes me think about the true and possibly unintentional aim of literature: to speak to people and enrich their lives with words that can only be their own, even if they are no longer with us. Unintentional because the vast majority of brilliant writers do so because they can and not to cement their place in the literary canon of history.
It is a form of immortality, if you will, for as long as such gifted people can live in the memory of those who have read him or her. Maybe, I'm thinking of Angela Carter with the her part, but it really applies to all writers touched with the sort of genius that should never die and has the legs to spread like a seed through many future generations.
There are too many hacks drowning out all of our senses with the sound of their ugly self-important bombast. We know that they have nothing to say, thus it is our duty to evangelise all those who deserve to be heard and who have the ability to change our own lives in their seemingly small but ultimately crucial ways. If we do not, the masters of the mediocre will win.
Not that Thompson's cricket book is up there with Crime and Punishment, obviously. Only that some voices can inspire in the best, most life-affirming ways and need to be thrust in the faces of everyone you know. The thrustees will always be grateful for it.
Taking a few huge steps back from the metaphorical ledge of eternity: here's that quiz.
1 As seen in popular brands made by Guittard, Valrhona and Lindt & Sprungli, what term is used for chocolates rich in cocoa butter?
2 The Venezuelan dish pabellon criollo contains rice, stewed black beans and which meat?
3 Which American woman wrote the 1934 anthropological work Patterns of Culture?
4 The writing on the wall "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Ufarsin" predicted which the downfall of which Biblical king, who was killed later that night? And which ruler therefore took over?
5 Which Greek tragedian wrote Cyclops, the only complete satyr play in current existence?
6 Which Italian artist is known for his equestrian statue Gattamelata at Padua?
7 Now a museum, what palace is the oldest public building in Florence and was originally called the Palazzo del Podesta since it housed the Podesta, the highest magistrate of the Florence city council from 1261?
8 Based on New York, the fictional city of Isola was created by which late crime novelist?
9 What common village name in England is Anglo-Saxon for "farm by a marsh"?
10 Established in 1962, Blue Ribbon Sports eventually became which company in 1971?
11 The medieval tale and Noh play The Tale of Heike tells the story of the rise and fall of which clan?
12 In SCUBA diving what two-word phrase describes pairs and groups of three divers diving together and co-operating so they can rescue each other in case of an emergency?
13 Premiered in 1947, which Britten comic opera took its original source material from Guy de Maupassant's story Le Rosier de Madame Husson?
14 Which German singer was born Gabriele Susanne Kerner in 1960?
15 Literally "King of Heaven", what is the title of the emperor of Japan as head of the Shinto religion?
16 Emperor Akihito was the first cousin once removed of which woman, who was the last crown princess of Korea and died in 1989?
17 St Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, was exiled from England in 956 due to the efforts of which king?
18 Who was the 5th Sikh guru who completed the original version of the Guru Granth Sahib in 1604?
19 Which of the five pillars of Islam refers to fasting between dawn and dusk during Ramadan?
20 Known for their bolt-action rifle and automatic pistol, what was the surname of pioneering gunmakers Wilhelm and Peter Paul?
21 In 1908, which American athlete became the first person to win ten golds, having competed in four Olympic games?
22 Tom Blake's lightweight designs revolutionised which sport or activity?
23 At which palace did Queen Victoria marry Prince Albert on February 10, 1840?
24 Which NBA team play their home matches at the United Center?
25 A famous legend of which country tells that its people were born from the same womb by the marriage of Lac Long Quan (Dragon Chief) and Au Co?
26 BCS theory, named for its creators Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer, successfully explains what ability if certain metals at low temperatures to conduct electricity without resistance?
27 In betting slang, what word denotes the best bet of the day from a particular tipster?
28 What was the name of the low-level civil war that Zimbabwe underwent during most of the 80s that means "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains" in Shona?
29 St Marcellin Joseph Benoit Champagnat founded with Jean Claude Colin which religious order of men in the Catholic Church dedicated to education?
30 Formed in 1973, the Barisan Nasional or National Front or NF has ruled which country uninterrupted since independence?
31 Where has the People's Action Party won 82 out of 84 seats in a recent general election?
32 The final ruling dynasty of Korea, which ruling family was officially founded by the general Yi Seonggye of the Jeonju family in 1392 (lasting til 1910)?
33 So named because of a statistic published in The Economist which showed how much a minority of the UK population owned of the country's wealth, what left-wing theatre group was founded by playwright John McGrath in 1971 and split into Scottish and English factions in 1973?
34 The Tortellis was a spin-off of what US sitcom, lasting for only four months in 1987?
35 The Boeing Company, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, was founded in Seattle in 1916 but is now headquartered in which city?
Answers to BH no.68
1 Couverture 2 Beef 3 Ruth Benedict 4 Belshazzar, King Darius the Mede 5 Euripides 6 Donatello 7 The Bargello palace 8 Ed McBain 9 Marston 10 Nike 11 Taira clan 12 Buddy system 13 Albert Herring 14 Nena 15 Tenno 16 Bangja, Crown Princess Euimin of Korea 17 King Eadwig or Edwy 18 Arjan Dev 19 Sawm 20 Mauser 21 Ray Ewry 22 Surfing 23 St James's Palace (Chapel Royal) 24 Chicago Bulls 25 Vietnam 26 Conventional superconductivity 27 Nap 28 Gukurahundi 29 Society of Mary or Marist Brothers 30 Malaysia 31 Singapore 32 Joseon Dynasty 33 7:84 34 Cheers 35 Chicago
So it is tomorrow and I have given you another quiz (I can hear the yawns resound through the land like a shuddering sonic boom). Rejoice now, for tomorrow and the next day this will be an original quiz question-free zone.
I'm giving you the answers now because I am unsure as to when I will be next sitting before my laptop and conjuring up hundreds more fiendishly difficult posers.
But it will probably be Thursday, on account of deadlines, top secret exciting TV stuff and the Wednesday night charity quiz event (SET BY ME, tremble at those very words and do some despairing while you're at it). You know I did tone it down three times before it was deemed acceptable. i kinda knew people wouldn't know who created Fido Dido on a napkin (in reverse, of course, but it sounded too tricky, apparently) and went back and dumbed it down to normals level. I now realise it was completely necessary.
One more thing about Saturday and the Quizzing events generally
Being a film ponce and looking to the Worlds next month and looking back at past GP papers I am worried about certain things that aren't really covered by Quizzing's brilliant indie competitions.
I may be blind wrong and incredibly stupid, but I can only remember one foreign film question being asked in an individual GP in recent memory, and that was because I set it myself on Aleksandr Sokurov.
I have by my right side, where all my past and pained and scarred question papers happen to be, Part II of last year's WQC. I see in the Media section nine questions pertaining to non-American foreign films (Chinese, Polish, Danish, Vietnamese etc). There appears to be a crucially important disparity there between what we get in the Worlds and what we get in the relatively parochial arena of Entertainment at regular events.
Never mind that I am an aforementioned film ponce who buys absolutely shedloads of Artificial Eye and Tartan distributor DVDs (they so pretty on my shelves) as well as Ernst Rohmer and Pedro Almodovar box sets that I haven't had the willingness to watch (yikes, they are speaking funny).
And I still don't know jack about world music: Feli Kuti? Who he, for instance? Okay, I do know who he is purely on account of his marrying billions of wives and writing a song called Zombie and there being the chance in the coming years to do a bonus linking it with the Cranberries (ugh) "poignant" paean to the horrors of The Troubles, along with who had a US no. 1 with Time of the Season.
So what could be the answer? Perhaps, more foreign stuff on people like Hugh Masakela obviously to help us acclimatise to the rigours of world quizzing, but maybe something else could be done.
Considering that events have gone monthly and numbers haven't actually declined (you see, we're getting addicted to the crack-like effects of competition), how about one or two world knowledge tourneys strung throughout the year, so we do not have so much of a culture shock? I would certainly welcome it and it would make a change.
Thanks to the massive and some might say even visionary efforts of Chris, Jane and other Quizzing organisational luminaries for which I and a vast number of quizzers are and will be eternally gratful, the Worlds and Europeans have, however, became the blue riband events of the quiz calendar and, dagnabbit: this is the for the good of all UK quizzers who want to make a mark on the wider and far bigger stage. It will do all us Brits the world of good.
Anyway, just an idea I'm throwing out there. One that will probably be torn down like a sparrowhawk would a swallow from the sky. And I have to admit, I'm not one for the populist and inclusive way of doing things. If I was American I would be a champion of the ACF way and look snidely upon all the other thicky pretenders.
A Further Note on My Most Recent Reading
Just finished Penguins Stopped Play: quite simply the most moving book I have read in a long time and made all the more so due to its hilarious and colourful stories and judicious and angry swearing.
I implore you (in the friendliest manner possible; imagine me smiling like a Cheshire feline as I shout this): Read it now.
Harry Thompson will be missed. The thought of his not writing another book (his Peter Cook biography was probably the best I had ever read concerning a showbiz figure) gives you a terrible grave, aching feeling that spreads from your gut until it invades all of your body. I truly feel for all the people he has helped out, influenced and sadly left behind in the prime of his life.
It makes me think about the true and possibly unintentional aim of literature: to speak to people and enrich their lives with words that can only be their own, even if they are no longer with us. Unintentional because the vast majority of brilliant writers do so because they can and not to cement their place in the literary canon of history.
It is a form of immortality, if you will, for as long as such gifted people can live in the memory of those who have read him or her. Maybe, I'm thinking of Angela Carter with the her part, but it really applies to all writers touched with the sort of genius that should never die and has the legs to spread like a seed through many future generations.
There are too many hacks drowning out all of our senses with the sound of their ugly self-important bombast. We know that they have nothing to say, thus it is our duty to evangelise all those who deserve to be heard and who have the ability to change our own lives in their seemingly small but ultimately crucial ways. If we do not, the masters of the mediocre will win.
Not that Thompson's cricket book is up there with Crime and Punishment, obviously. Only that some voices can inspire in the best, most life-affirming ways and need to be thrust in the faces of everyone you know. The thrustees will always be grateful for it.
Taking a few huge steps back from the metaphorical ledge of eternity: here's that quiz.
1 As seen in popular brands made by Guittard, Valrhona and Lindt & Sprungli, what term is used for chocolates rich in cocoa butter?
2 The Venezuelan dish pabellon criollo contains rice, stewed black beans and which meat?
3 Which American woman wrote the 1934 anthropological work Patterns of Culture?
4 The writing on the wall "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Ufarsin" predicted which the downfall of which Biblical king, who was killed later that night? And which ruler therefore took over?
5 Which Greek tragedian wrote Cyclops, the only complete satyr play in current existence?
6 Which Italian artist is known for his equestrian statue Gattamelata at Padua?
7 Now a museum, what palace is the oldest public building in Florence and was originally called the Palazzo del Podesta since it housed the Podesta, the highest magistrate of the Florence city council from 1261?
8 Based on New York, the fictional city of Isola was created by which late crime novelist?
9 What common village name in England is Anglo-Saxon for "farm by a marsh"?
10 Established in 1962, Blue Ribbon Sports eventually became which company in 1971?
11 The medieval tale and Noh play The Tale of Heike tells the story of the rise and fall of which clan?
12 In SCUBA diving what two-word phrase describes pairs and groups of three divers diving together and co-operating so they can rescue each other in case of an emergency?
13 Premiered in 1947, which Britten comic opera took its original source material from Guy de Maupassant's story Le Rosier de Madame Husson?
14 Which German singer was born Gabriele Susanne Kerner in 1960?
15 Literally "King of Heaven", what is the title of the emperor of Japan as head of the Shinto religion?
16 Emperor Akihito was the first cousin once removed of which woman, who was the last crown princess of Korea and died in 1989?
17 St Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, was exiled from England in 956 due to the efforts of which king?
18 Who was the 5th Sikh guru who completed the original version of the Guru Granth Sahib in 1604?
19 Which of the five pillars of Islam refers to fasting between dawn and dusk during Ramadan?
20 Known for their bolt-action rifle and automatic pistol, what was the surname of pioneering gunmakers Wilhelm and Peter Paul?
21 In 1908, which American athlete became the first person to win ten golds, having competed in four Olympic games?
22 Tom Blake's lightweight designs revolutionised which sport or activity?
23 At which palace did Queen Victoria marry Prince Albert on February 10, 1840?
24 Which NBA team play their home matches at the United Center?
25 A famous legend of which country tells that its people were born from the same womb by the marriage of Lac Long Quan (Dragon Chief) and Au Co?
26 BCS theory, named for its creators Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer, successfully explains what ability if certain metals at low temperatures to conduct electricity without resistance?
27 In betting slang, what word denotes the best bet of the day from a particular tipster?
28 What was the name of the low-level civil war that Zimbabwe underwent during most of the 80s that means "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains" in Shona?
29 St Marcellin Joseph Benoit Champagnat founded with Jean Claude Colin which religious order of men in the Catholic Church dedicated to education?
30 Formed in 1973, the Barisan Nasional or National Front or NF has ruled which country uninterrupted since independence?
31 Where has the People's Action Party won 82 out of 84 seats in a recent general election?
32 The final ruling dynasty of Korea, which ruling family was officially founded by the general Yi Seonggye of the Jeonju family in 1392 (lasting til 1910)?
33 So named because of a statistic published in The Economist which showed how much a minority of the UK population owned of the country's wealth, what left-wing theatre group was founded by playwright John McGrath in 1971 and split into Scottish and English factions in 1973?
34 The Tortellis was a spin-off of what US sitcom, lasting for only four months in 1987?
35 The Boeing Company, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, was founded in Seattle in 1916 but is now headquartered in which city?
Answers to BH no.68
1 Couverture 2 Beef 3 Ruth Benedict 4 Belshazzar, King Darius the Mede 5 Euripides 6 Donatello 7 The Bargello palace 8 Ed McBain 9 Marston 10 Nike 11 Taira clan 12 Buddy system 13 Albert Herring 14 Nena 15 Tenno 16 Bangja, Crown Princess Euimin of Korea 17 King Eadwig or Edwy 18 Arjan Dev 19 Sawm 20 Mauser 21 Ray Ewry 22 Surfing 23 St James's Palace (Chapel Royal) 24 Chicago Bulls 25 Vietnam 26 Conventional superconductivity 27 Nap 28 Gukurahundi 29 Society of Mary or Marist Brothers 30 Malaysia 31 Singapore 32 Joseon Dynasty 33 7:84 34 Cheers 35 Chicago
posted by That Quiz Guy at 7:16 AM
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