Without burying the lede, here’s a brief rundown of Wednesday’s Sporcle Live trivia game at Arbor Brewing Company (Ypsilanti)…we blew a 9-point slip on a movies question and wagered zero for the first time this season on a final question about TV executives and (of course) knew the answer! This was the second crappy game in a row for us at this bar, so we’re hoping our luck turns around soon. Shout out to team Don’t Forget to Strip Your Bartender, featuring players such as Jeff M., among many others, for getting a first-place sweep and moving into first in the bar’s standings! We have yet to see any first place prizes at this bar this season, but have won three second place prizes. Though we have been struggling a bit and have only been playing with 4-5 players on average, we still somehow are in the top five teams in the bar in terms of league points. With just four games to go, and tight scores among the top three teams, there could still be some shakeups among the top three teams toward the end (just four points separate DFTSYP and two teams tied for second with 68 league points (Your Resume Sucks and Kevin‘s team Ennui) . Hopefully we’ll stay “around” where we are! I set a “goal” for our team to try to stay in the top five this season, and so far we’re on task! Special thanks to Brad, Mike and John for coming out and for not making me feel bad for not knowing my Forest Whitaker movies better! Curse my stupid brain for thinking of the movie where he played a dictator instead of the other thing that was correct (grrrr)! Probably didn’t help that we had a question about Idi Amin just a couple of nights ago. Read on to get a closer look at this train wreck of a game if you dare, lol…
Game One
1. U.S. States – What is the smallest U.S. state by land area located west of the Mississippi River? 10
2. Architects – What Chinese-born architect designed the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Dallas City Hall, and the Louvre pyramid, among other buildings? We put “Art Vandalay” as a joke answer, miss for 1.
3. Book Series – the 13 novels in the “Southern Vampire Mysteries” by Charlaine Harris all have titles that include or reference what four-letter word? For an extra bonus point, what is the name of the TV series based on this book series? Good news is we put a four-letter word that was not a curse word! But it wasn’t the right word. We did get the bonus, though, so miss for 3, plus 1.
4. Parodies – “Lasagna” by Weird Al Yankovic is a parody of what folk song that had charting versions on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the 1950s and the 1980s? Never heard this parody (until host Sporcle With Tim played the song after the question was answered), but I had enough of an “a-ha” moment to wager 9.
I want to live in a universe where Weird Al Yankovic is treated like an A-list celebrity like he is here in the 1988 film From the Files of Police Squad: The Naked Gun.
5. More Parodies – In a Geico commercial, what animal is substituted for bulls in a running of the bulls sequence? Brad with right guess for 8.
6. The Human Body – Which organ of the human body filters blood, produces white blood cells and removes red blood cells? Brad the hero again for 7. Science!
7. Actors – Stanley Tucci played Caesar Flickerman in what film franchise? Nope, miss for 4. This was definitely NOT our night to get ANY movie questions right! BTW, this actor was great in that series “Feud,” which chronicled the rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. He was so great as a sleazy movie mogul!
8. ’90s Sitcoms – Audio clue from a sitcom, for which the opening line is “Honey…I’m home?” An additional “hint” is that this series ended its run in 1994 with an episode where the characters’ planet entered an ice age.
9. Sports Terms – Underhand, skyball, top spin, float, jump and jump float are all among the types of serves in what sport? Talked ourselves out of correct answer here, miss for 2.
10. Presidents – Which U.S. president’s foreign policy motto was “Speak softly and carry a big stick?” 5
Mystery – State Capital Anagrams – Identify the U.S. state capitals based on the following anagrams.
1. A Stale Leash
2. Spider Fling
3. Sumo Club
4. Oily Map
Got them all, though we stumbled a bit on #2.
Scores – 21 teams, scores 33 to 66, with Sabretooth Crotch Crickets in first. We were tied with Jesus Chris Superstar in 11th with 57 points.
Final Category – TV Executives
At that point, John had not yet arrived so there were just three of us. We decided this category was kind of “icky” for us, so we wagered zero – which we haven’t done ALL season at this bar! And soon, we’ll learn why! Speaking of learning…(ahem)!
Final Question – In 1968, Joan Ganz Cooney became one of the first woman executives in American television when she was named the executive director of what television studio, whose name at the time was abbreviated “CTW”?
I think I’ll go hide in a trash can now (lol)! Maybe just beat my head repeatedly with a metal trash can lid!
The “harder” version of this question did not have the ending text “whose name at the time was abbreviated CTW.”
Game winners: Raj, 80; Money Badgers, 80 and DFTSYB, 84. The second/third place teams had to answer this tiebreaker question: In what year was volleyball first played as a sport in the Olympics? Money Badgers won the tiebreaker (sniffle..I wish that was OUR tiebreaker…I knew what year that was!). Moving on…
Game Two
1. T.V. Jobs – The Sterling Cooper Advertising agency is among the settings on what TV series that ran from 2007 to 2013? And just for Mike, I’ll use a picture of a woman from that series for the photo (wink-wink)! 10.
Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks
2. Movie Jobs – What job was held by Forest Whitaker’s character in a 2013 film directed by Lee Daniels? Miss for NINE. I know all…there is to know…about the crying game (some of you might see what I did there). I joked after making this epic flub…”I already made a big points flub. Now everyone else has to blow big points on questions, too!” This didn’t happen, fortunately, though we will [SPOILER] blow a question for five later on.
3. Music Jobs – What profession is referenced in the first line of the 1981 single by The Human League “Don’t You Want Me?” Yes, we got this for 8 (that much is true).
4. Ice Cream – Measured by the number of locations, what is the world’s largest restaurant chain that specializes in ice cream? FB clue. Team behind us shouted out, “That’s not a restaurant!” when the answer was revealed. Uh, it serves food, so why not? People on my team had a similar discussion about the word “retailer” on a trivia question a few months ago. If a place sells stuff and things, it’s a “retailer.” Are we clear?
5. Last Season – Which MLB division had three of its five teams make playoffs in 2017? Nice try Brad, miss for 3. Let’s see if David would know this one!
6. Elements (SCIENCE)! – Within five, how many total elements are on the Periodic Table? John the hero here for 6.
7. Awards – What organization presents the annual image awards, which has been hosted for the past four years by Anthony Anderson? Miss for 5, we put the TV channel not the organization. All downhill from here – my brain checked out pretty early in this round!
8. Cocktails – What cocktail is made from rum and curacao and gets it name from the Tahitian word for “good?” Miss for 1, though the right answer was suggested.
9. Bad Weather – Name one of the two most common acids that are a component of acid rain? Name both for a bonus point. Got one, but not both for 4.
10. Graves – In 2016, a Go Fund Me page was set up by a church in Philadelphia to repair the damage of the gravestone of what founding father caused by thousands of pennies tossed on it each year? Got this for two, and I got all excited when I heard this as a category…”Ooh cool…graves.”
Visual Mystery –
Missed #1.
Scores – Twenty-one teams, scores??? to 63, with DFTSYP in first. We were in 15th place with 43 points. IDI AMIN DADA CAN DO WHATEVER HE WANTS TO ME AS PUNISHMENT FOR MISSING THAT QUESTION ABOUT FOREST WHITAKER! In fact, if his ghost wants to stage a military coup and take over the reins of this trivia team, by all means! Color me deposed! (JK…JK)! Yeah, I don’t want to go there! Meh, Augusto Pinochet was probably much, much worse as far as dictators go!
Final Category – Actor/Director Pairs
Three different directors have had actor Daniel Day-Lewis appear in more than one of their films. Name one of those three directors.
Just…could not…come up the right one. And I could not think of more than one movie by the most popular of those directors. Wagered and missed.
Game winners: Ennui, 81 DFTSYB, 83.
Until next time, which “may” be Saturday (weather permitting). As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Idi Amin!
hebspeaks 