Redemption Tuesday Night

But still crashing on Pop Culture ....

After a disappointing prior two weeks at our local trivia spot, we came away with first place last night -- pushing closer to the goal of the $500 win mark by August 31. It is always an interesting evening as we are chasing Luke (1 yr old) and Millie (3 yr old) around while answering questions ... but last night it worked out well.

Why bother with trivia? For one, it is fun to get out with the family. The regulars who play are fun and sharp. But another reason is that memory is like a muscle. If you routinely work to keep associations between ideas and facts in your mind for recall, it will pay dividends at work, school or some other endeavor. An almost de facto requirement anymore at work is to be able to assimilate new facts and data quickly due to the information flow rate. Trivia is a good lubricant for this. And who doesn't like a $50 gift card for food?

1st Half

Round 1:

In the Cards - In what deck of cards does the Fool, when played, mean either innocence and purity when upright, or negativity and destruction if upside down? A: Tarot (Correct)

Animals - What animal's name is Simba in the Swahili language? A: Lion (Correct)

Parks - What is the nations most visited park, hosting an annual visitor count of around 42 million every year? A: Great Smokey Mountains (Incorrect. Correct: NY Central Park. We assumed he meant National Parks, where the Smokies are the most visited. But this was our mistake to not clarify).

Round 2:

Science - What element in fool's gold makes up the majority of its weight? A: Iron (Incorrect - Sulfur. An unusually hard question for the first round, in that you had to know fool's gold is iron disulfide and then know 2 sulfurs > 1 iron in atomic mass).

US Cities - At a population of 27,000, what is the most populous city in the the Florida Keys? A: Key West (Correct)

American History - With what nation did the US declare war with in 1846? A: Mexico (Correct)

Round 3:

19th Century Lit - What William Makepeace Thackery novel does Becky Sharp declare the rest of the world are fools while she is not (or something to this effect)? A: Vanity Fair (Correct)

90s Movies - In the Denzel Washington movie 'He Got Game' what game is being referred to? A: Basketball (Correct).

Soap Operas - In 1987 the actress Jane Elliot left General Hospital to join this rival soap opera as Angelica Devereaux? A: Young and Restless (Incorrect. Correct - Days of our Lives).

Halftime

Provide the answers to these four literary fool quotes:

a) What Shakespeare character exclaims 'What fools these mortals be!" A: Puck (Correct)

b) What Spanish literature title namesake is described as delusional with occasional moments of lucidity? A: Don Quixote (Correct)

c) What transcendentalist author wrote in an essay “The soul is not a witness or a judge, it is the light of all our being. Fools only ask questions, the wise listen for the answer within.” A: Ralph Waldo Emerson (Correct)

d) Finish the line by Joyce Kilmer: “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a _____"? A: Tree. (Correct)

We were in 1st place by one point after Halftime.

2nd Round

1st Round

People - Legend has it a bottle with the will of a wealthy family was thrown into the Thames River years before, bequeathing the family fortune to whoever found the bottle with the will. Years later a man in CA picked up the bottle. Who was the famous family? A: Singers (of sewing machine fame). (Correct)

2000s Movies - In the 2007 movie 'I'm not there', what iconic singer was played by Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Richard Gere? A: Bob Dylan (Correct)

Fads - What mid-to-late 1980s fad was known as Freezing Freakies, a product that changed color with the cold: a) Swim Trunks b) Jawbreakers c) Snow gloves d) Yo Yos? A: Swim trunks (Incorrect. Correct - Snow gloves. Note - this is not the first time we opted for the non-obvious answer thinking it would be harder given it is the 2nd half, as it had harder Q's. Need to stop doing that).

2nd Round

70's Music - What #1 song of 1971 has the lyric "You made a first class fool out of me?" A: Foxey Lady (Incorrect. Correct - Maggie May).

World Geography - Which of the following European countries lies furthest south: a) Bulgaria b) Moldova c) Hungary d) Romania? A: Bulgaria. (Correct)

Funny Films - What comedienne voiced the matronly computer Dot Matrix in Mel Brook's Spaceballs? A: Lily Tomlin (Incorrect. Correct - Joan Rivers).

3rd Round

April Fools - What computer website had for its April Fool's Day joke in 2004 the "_______ Gulp", a drink that would make you smarter? A: Google (Correct)

Sports Broadcasting - Name either of the two broadcasters who have broadcast the last 24 World Series in MLB? A: Joe Buck (Correct. The other is Tim McGarver)

Pop Music - What song by Lola Young, recorded in 2024 and now popular in the US this year, is said to be her song about ADHD and her struggles? A: ???? (Incorrect. Correct - Messy).

Scores before the final: We were ahead by 1, despite dropping 4 Questions about pop culture!

Final Question (where you can bet up to 15 points): Historical People

Born in 1757 at Chateau de Chavinaic, this man was called 'The Hero of 2 Worlds'. A: Lafayette (Correct). We might not normally bet 15 points here, but Hilaire saw one of the teams using their phone to look up answers so we figured they would get it right, so we went all in.

Next week! Two-peat we hope ...