Anyone remember the 1987 movie “Throw Momma from the Train?” Danny DeVito? Captain Janeway from “Voyager?” In this movie, Billy Crystal plays a struggling writer, and is agonizing over the opening line of his book. “The night was…,” and he is trying out different combinations, “humid, moist, dry, but raining…” And finally Anne Ramsay’s “momma” character (Danny DeVito’s mom), who is sitting near him on a train, gets fed up with all of this nonsense, and says gruffly, “The night was sultry,” then storms off, saying “It’s too god-damn sultry in here.”

Billy Crystal’s character gets SO pissed off that this random person comes up with the perfect word he was looking for all of this time. He is downright indignant! And in real life Thursday night, the night indeed was sultry, at least until the air conditioning kicked in, at Original Gravity Brewing Co. for its Sporcle Live trivia night. A large group of cyclists were using OG as a pit stop on a group bike ride. Lots of bikes were parked outside the bar when I arrived, which kind of clued me in to this little development (always mind your surroundings, as R’as al Ghul from “Batman” would say). Never a dull moment on trivia nights at Original Gravity! I was joined last night by special “guests” Kimberly and Kirsten, both players from the league team Sparty On, so we played under the name GDX, which is short for Generation Double X. Just in case anyone was wondering, this name refers to both Generation X and double X chromosomes. Glad I could clear that up! Also, Billy Idol used to be in a band called Generation X, which actually was something else that was on my mind when I came up with this name (go figure)! The more you know! 🙂

As for the game, we finished in second for the night, no prizes, tied with team Swoleverines, just five points behind teams More Beer Less Pants and Team Mott, who both tied for first with 112 points. We lost a little ground in terms of league points and now trail team Mott by four points, but have gained ground in terms of overall points in our battles with team Mellows, who hold the most cumulative points at this bar. It’s not a ‘Pods trivia game if it’s not a scrappy fight! And we have only been fielding 1-2 players for our OG games, on average, which these days, when we have more than one player, we call it a “full team,” lol! We’ll take what we can get…And the questions…
Game One
1. Animals – What is the name for the class of animals that can live in water or on land, and include toads, frogs and salamanders?
2. Companies – What technology company was headed by Thomas Watson in 1943 when he said, “I think there’s a world market for maybe 5 computers?” Kirsten knew this one instantly…
3. Breakfast Cereal – What color are the balloon-shaped marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal? My teammates were in line for beer when this question was asked, so I had to confer with them, thank goodness I did…got this, but for only 3.
4. Names – What baby girl’s name is derived from the Sanksrit word for “noble” and the Latin word for “air,” and has gained in in popularity because of the television shows “Pretty Little Liars” and “Game of Thrones?” And Kim pulls the right guess from the aether here….woot! But for only 1 point.
5. Football Records – Which NFL player became the fastest player ever to score 100 touchdowns, accomplishing this milestone accomplished the milestone in 89 games with 102? And for an extra “nerd” bonus point, in what year did he accomplish this? Very close on our guess here, but miss for 2, and no bonus. Nice try, Kirsten! We put down one of the guys who held a previous record for this.
6. Political Lingo – What is the 12-letter term for a politician who moves into an area without any local connections and runs for public office? And we had this “qualifier” – “the name has nothing to do with floor coverings.” Uh, really?
7. Live Entertainment – Which of the following acts have never been the subject of performances by the Cirque du Soleil? The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, or Frank Sinatra? Kirsten and Kim all over this one, thanks to having visited Vegas previously…viva Las Vegas!
8. Space Travel – what country was the first after the U.S. and Russia to launch one of its citizens into space? Discussed the right answer, but went with another…miss for 4.
9. State Capitals – Which state capital is the only one to have a royal palace? Kirsten again…
10. Hallucinations – What late 90s/early 2000s TV title character often hallucinated a dancing baby? When I first heard this category, I was kind of hoping it would be something different…like “How much peyote does one need to ingest to have a great time at the Burning Man festival?”
Mystery – This Day In History – On this date in history…
1. 2007 – First generation of what was released by Apple
2. 2012 – Movie featuring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConnaughey released
3. 1534 – Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to reach what Maritime province, which is the smallest in both size and population in Canada
4. 2003 – What actress died, who was second only to Meryl Streep in Academy Award nominations for best actress
Nice teamwork all around on this, but we missed #3, picked the #2 province instead (boo…). It’s ALMOST as tiny and almost as unpopulated! 🙂
Scores – Thirteen teams, scores 30 to 63, with Snow Spiders in first. We were in fourth with 58 points.
Final Category- 2000s Pop Singers
Rihanna’s first three studio albums all have four-word titles. Name one of those albums.
Final Standings – Goals, 60 (zero bet); Just Kidding – We’re in First, 77 (they moved up from fifth).
Game Two
1. Candy Bars -What candy bar has used the slogan, “Don’t let hunger happen to you?”
2. Draft Picks – Chris Webber, in 1993; and Dwight Howard in 2004 were both #1 draft picks for what NBA team? So, so close on our guess here…good try again, Kirsten! 😦 Miss for 3.
3. Shakespeare – Which Shakespearean title character says the line, “To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream?” Torn between two title characters who wound up kicking the bucket, chose the wrong one…miss for 4.
4. Human Anatomy – Which of the following blood types is called the “universal recipient?” A, B, A/B or O? Kim comes through with the correct answer here… and this sparked a conversation about rhesus incompatibility in pregnancy, which my mom and I had when she was pregnant with me. This might explain why she loves “chick flicks” – and I do not, lol… This condition, which only affects second-born or subsequent children, used to result in grave complications, and sometimes…death.
5. Movie Companies – Audio clue of music used in conjunction with a particular movie company, missed this for 5. The company we picked has very similar sounding music…
6. Video Games – First released in North America in 2001, what role-playing Mario game features characters depicted as 2D cutouts? We were really worried about this category, but Kim was confident enough with her answer for us to use our 6-point slip for it….yay! Now we were getting down to some big points slips to use, and would have to try getting the rest of these right!
7. Presidents – Within one, how many future U.S. presidents were alive when the Declaration of Independence was ratified? Hit this spot on, thanks Kirsten for suggesting, “always go a little higher with guesses on these.” We knew six for sure and did this…bam! I “think” this was a nerd bonus question if we hit the number exactly, but am not sure…
8. Band Members – John Entwhistle was known for being the bassist for which band, which was formed in the 1960s? Another category we were potentially worried about, got this easily…yay I am old!
9. Foreign Capitals – Hobart is the capital of what state, which lies south of Australia? And just to be a smart-ass, I wrote, “formerly known as (blank)” underneath my answer on the slip. It’s also a song from the U2 album “Rattle and Hum.” Great, now I will have that song stuck in my head for a while, lol…
10. Comedians – What comedian, known for being part of the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” had the catchphrase, “Git ‘er Done?” Glad Kim checked me on my guess…
Mystery – (no image available)…

Missed #4, could not for the life of us figure out what the first emoji was supposed to represent, had be been able to do that, we might have been able to at least take a guess at this.
Scores – Fourteen teams, scores 25 to 59, with Team Mott and Snow Spiders tied for first. We were in seventh with 49 points.
Final Category – Ivy League Schools
Three of the eight Ivy League schools do NOT have a law school. Name one of those three schools.
Wrote down a list of all of the schools, and started crossing some off.
Got this, but so did enough teams ahead of us…
Final Standings – Gone Rad, 72 Team Mott, 79.
Well that’s it for trivia for a bit, there is a holiday weekend coming up, and I have to work early Sunday, so we’re not likely to play again until next Wednesday. Until then, Go Pods, and stay classy, Larry the Cable Guy!