Why don’t I do a little round-up of some of the things we DIDN’T know in our My Trivia Live game Wednesday at The Wurst Bar – the name of the Sony Playstation’s video streaming service, the name of a group of “bandits” from Home Alone 2 (which none of us had ever watched), who wrote No Country for Old Men, which president was the oldest when sworn in, which Asian country has more than 6,000 islands, the name of a comedian famous for his roasts (not pot roasts, LOL) and which U.S. state Michelle Wie hails from.

We incorrectly put Elmore Leonard down as our guess for the guy who wrote No Country For Old Men. Leonard’s most famous works include Get Shorty, Rum Punch (on which the film Jackie Brown was based) and penned short stories that would be adapted into the film 3:10 to Yuma and the TV series Justified.  Leonard was a Michigan native, and was known for having a talent for writing the way people actually speak.

What we DID know was the answer to the final question – which was enough to put us in second place and win a $20 gift card – moving up from eighth place. Clearly it was a good test of our trivia “mettle” to hit up the Wurst scene, which drew 17 teams into the throng (welcome back to school, all of you EMU students)! That was quite a lot of teams for Stacy to keep track of! Maybe we’ve gotten a bit too comfortable in the more “intimate” trivia nights at Powell’s, which usually do not draw more than 7-8 teams tops. It was a nice night not have to worry too much about league points – which meant we took the risk on the plus three bonus question (which we missed).

Well, now that y’all have had a chance to see the questions we flunked – why don’t I get to the rest of the questions (we actually got some of them right)!

Round One
1. Planets – Titan is the largest moon of what planet in the solar system? 5
2. Elections – Who is Michigan’s current attorney general, who won the Republican nomination for governor in August, 2018? 3
3. Anatomy – The growth of what on the skin is regulated by follicles? 1

Round Two
1. Time Math – If you are watching a video online that is 1 minute 40 seconds long, it will be half over when how many seconds have elapsed? 5
2. Food – What name is shared by both a Wendy’s sandwich and fries that are covered with cheese, cheese sauce and pieces of bacon? 3
3. History – What name was given by the media to the skyjacker who took $200,000 aboard a plane in November, 1971 and disappeared while the plane was en route between Oregon and Seattle? For a three point bonus, what denomination bills did this man demand? Attempted and missed the bonus, so miss for 1.

Round Three
1. Authors – What English writer born in 1892 was best known by his initials J.R. and also a second R denoting a second middle name?
2. Streaming Services – Playstations’s video streaming service offered by Sony is called what? Nope for 1
3. Movie Nicknames – In the 1990 film Home Alone, the name given to the group of bandits is the “wet bandits.” What is the name of this group of bandits in the 1992 sequel? Nope for 3. This is the second obscure question we’ve had about this movie in about a month. Does this mean we need to actually watch it (whine)? Do I GOTTA? 

Halftime – Give the author of the following books that were adapted into films.

1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
2. The Da Vinci Code
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Sense and Sensability

Missed #3.

We were in in ninth place at the half with 28 points, tied with one other team. Two’s Company was in first with 39 points.

Round Four
1. Bans – What country was the first to ban tanning salons? Newsletter bonus, 6.
2. Presidents – Which U.S. president was the oldest when taking office? Miss for 4 (now to go whine on Twitter about this, LOL).
3. School Terms – The term “kindergarten” is derived from what language? Shitty wagering in this round, should have wagered four on this one…but we were SO sure of our answer for #2. Should we fire ourselves? Maybe build a wall so we we can jump off of it to our deaths? Sorry, I’ll stop…! 🙂

Round Five
1. Rocks – The Rock of Gibraltar is a landmark signified the edge of the known world and also includes the pillars of what Greek mythological hero? Mike all over this for 6.
2. Baseball – In what year, within two, did the MLB gambling scandal occur involving the Black Sox and the “Eight Men Out?” And Brad hit a home run with this one for 4.
3. Countries – What Asian country has 6,852 islands with only 430 of them inhabited? A big “who knew” reaction at our table with this one…miss for 2.

Round Six
1 Comedians – Which comedian is nicknamed “Roastmaster General’ because of his numerous appearances on Comedy Central’s celebrity roast specials? When the answer was revealed, we were all like, “Who’s that?” Miss for 4.
2. Women’s Golf (Jesus could this game get any WORSE, just twist that knife in, will ya…) – In what U.S. state was Michelle Wie born? Considered the right answer, but picked another…miss for 2.
3. Lyrics – According to the lyrics of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’, the girl in the song is crazy about what singer? We always like to joke that this song was originally supposed to be about the joys of going commando and was supposed to be called Free Ballin’, but Tom Petty was forced to change it. There, now that little secret’s out (yes we are SO mature), got this for 6.

Fifty-two points for our efforts in this game, which put us in eighth out of 17 teams. Two’s Company was still in the lead with 71 points (almost a perfect game). Team Pants was only one point behind them.

As I waited for the final question category to be announced, I “prayed” to the trivia gods, “Please be something I know.”

Final Question Category – Acceptance Speeches
Roger Avary was a co-writer on what 1994 film which won the Academy Award for best original screenplay and gave an acceptance speech where he only thanked his wife, adding “I really gotta take a pee?”

And the trivia “gods” must’ve heard my prayer…Our team and Two’s Company the only teams in the house to get this correct. I also briefly remembered a conversation I had about this movie and its director with another player a couple of years ago, and this screenwriter’s name was mentioned. Now I’m not saying this is WHY I got the question correct, but it very well could have planted the seeds for me knowing the answer! I have read quite a bit of trivia about this film director and his films, so even had that conversation not happened, I probably would have come up with the correct answer.

Screenwriter Roger Avary wrote the scene that is set in this room… (hint…gold watch)

It’s been a long time since we came from behind in the standings in a trivia game to win a gift card…and it felt kinda good!

One of us (or maybe a duo…trio…we’re flying pretty casual this season) will hit up a trivia battle tonight. We don’t have any trivia games planned this weekend, so be sure to check for a game recap on Friday! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Roger Avary!