It was bound to happen sooner or later! I’m SO excited to report that we had a dreaded whale-related question in our My Trivia Live game Monday night at Powell’s Pub and we actually got it correct! A couple of weeks ago, we failed to name the correct species of whale having the largest brain of all living animals, and on Saturday, we missed a question asking for the name of the whale in the 1940 film “Pinocchio.” We played our last game of the MTL season Monday night and it’s looking like we will have finished first in the standings, though the league scores have not officially been confirmed yet. There was a team that somehow managed to have a score post for last week’s game that was canceled because of the basketball game. Hopefully this little “mystery” will be solved soon! As for the game, we finished with 52 points and lost out on the prize money on a tiebreaker question (sadface). Read on to see some of the other strange, strange questions we battled during the game!
Round One
1. America – Based on its usual schedule of every 10 years, which was the last year the U.S. Census was most recently taken? 5
2. Classic Novels – The full title of Herman Melville’s acclaimed novel is either “Moby Dick” or what animal? 1

Shannen Doherty in the 1988 film Heathers doing some required reading.

3. Logos – What two letters in the “Subway” logo are depicted with directional arrows? 3
Round Two
1. Women on TV – Before her show debuted in 1996, what woman heard more than 20,000 cases as the supervising judge in Manhattan’s family court? 5
2. Sports – Chankonabe, a high-protein dish, is commonly eaten by what athletes of what sport to promote weight gain? 3
3. Rap and Hip-Hop – In 1987, what trio was the first group to hit #1 with a 1986 album? For an extra three point bonus, what hip-hop performer from the 2000s sold more than 32 million units, the most of any hip-hop performer, according to Nielsen Soundscan? Did not attempt the bonus, got the first part of the question correct.
Round Three
1. Arcade Games – Which arcade game gets its name from its creator because of its actions that resemble skiing? We were very, very confused by this question, which is one reason we missed it for 1.
2. Comic Strips – What comic strip debuted in 1985 with a character saying, “So long, Pop! I’m off to check my tiger trap?” 5
3. 18th Century Americans – When he first visited France in 1776, what American was greeted with a joyous welcome and treated like a pop culture icon? We discussed a couple of different possibilities, picked the right one for 3.
Halftime – “Yummy” Musicians
Given the title and release year of the following songs, identify the “yummy” artist who performed them
1. 1993 – I’d Do Anything For Love – But I Won’tDo That
2. 1986 – Venus
3. 2005 – My Humps
4. 1970 – Make It With You
Missed #3 and #4. I can only name one song by the artist in #4, and it’s not THAT song!
We had 30 points going into the half…clearly this was not the game for us to make any real noise! One is the Loneliest Number was in first with 39 (he was probably the only team in the bar to get the music clue right from #4).
Round Four
1. Cities – What city is home to America’s first museum? Newsletter clue, 6
2. Around the House – An open-sided porch featured prominently on the ’80s sitcom “The Golden Girls” shared its name with what Hawaiian island? We named a few Hawaiian islands…but not this one! Miss for 4
3. Unusual Athletes – ESPN’s list of top athletes of the 20th century included three horses. Name one of those horses. Got this for 2. Hate, hate it when we flip-flop wagers like this!!!
Round Five
1. Licorice – Nicknamed a “licorice stick,” what instrument was played by jazz musician Benny Goodman? 6
2. Music Origins – What composer’s first hit in 1911 was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band?” Every team in the bar missed this one…..and I think every team guessed the same incorrect artist.
3. Restaurants – The “H2 No Initiative” was undertaken by what company to encourage restaurant customers to drink something besides water? This is not exactly how the question was worded…miss for 2
Round Six
1. Phrases – In modern usage, what are you most likely to find in a “potter’s field?” 6
2. Twitter – What other symbol, besides the “@” and the “#” provides a link on Twitter, and is found on the top row of a keyboard? Miss for 4, not enough of a “twit,” lol…
3. Movie Experiments – In 2011, National Geographic organized a project to attach hundreds of balloons to a house to try to get it to float, emulating a scene from what Pixar film? 4, grrr, another “flip-flopped” wager! Nope…this was NOT shaping to be “our” game!
We had 52 points going into the final and were tied for third with Ham Wallets. Dan Smith was in second with 58 and OITLN was in first with 61.
Final Category – Shakespeare
What Shakespeare character has the most lines out of all Shakespeare characters, with more than 1,500 of them?
Easy – I said, “This person never shuts the f— up.”
This put us in a tiebreaker for third with Ham Wallets, in which we had to answer how long it took Secretariat to win the Kentucky Derby. I have NO clue how fast these things go, missed the tiebreaker, the third place prize went to Ham Wallets.
Well that’s it for “regulation” trivia for a while until the “championship” game on Sunday. Though we may hit up a trivia joint on Thursday (if weather is good). Seriously…where is SPRING, people? What more to we need to do to appease Mother Nature? I’ve already sacrificed a cute little bunny who was munching on grass in our back yard (I kid, I kid…I couldn’t hurt a bunny)!

Uh, Easter was more than a week ago, bro – aren’t you a little late? Spotted a couple of days ago in our back yard. We call all rabbits that we see “Señor Bun-Bun.” He has a whole back story…and talks like Ricardo Montalban…er MontalBUN! Did you know the Eastern cottontail rabbit’s mating ritual includes hopping over each other? We saw this happen before while we were just chilling on our deck out back (it was SO awesome).  Damn this thing is CUTE!

Weather rant over! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy…Hamlet!