In our opinion, the question set used at yesterday’s MTL finals was a bit suspect. It would have made for a perfectly acceptable set on any given weeknight, but for a season ending tournament it was weak. You be the judge:

1)Photographing a Tartan bow three times through a glass first filled with red, then green, then blue liquids, produced the first what in 1861? (the question may have not been exactly worded this way, but it was close)

Prism? No idea. 

2)Sfumato is an artistic technique that imitates smoky or hazy atmospheric conditions was used in Leonardo DiVinci’s most famous painting. What is this painting? (again a very wordy question that didn’t need to be, so this might not be 100% accurate)

Mona Lisa? 

3)What style of dance is derived from Irish and English clog dancing, and has styles such as rhythm and soft shoe?

Jig? 

4)Insulin and glucagon are among the hormones secreted by what gland?
Having been bitten by poorly worded questions in our past, we wagered low on this one, since we usually consider this body part an organ. It didn’t matter though, since that was followed by a Science 101 question.

Would have to defer to the “science” guy on our team for this one…

5)Litmus paper turns red under acid conditions and turns what other color under alkaline conditions?

White? 

6)Mineral deposits that grow upward from a cave floor are called what?

Coin toss…stalactite – or stalagmite? I think the first ones are the ones that go up. Mike is better with this stuff.

7)18% of the world’s fresh water is used for industry, 8% for human consumption, and 74% is for what other field?

Agriculture? 

8)What is the name of the first web-based, free email service, which debuted on July 4, 1996?
A clarifier was added that web-based is distinct from ISP based email.

I am NOT a go-to person with questions like these…compuserve? 

9)A math question. This question is hard to convey in print, since it sounds entirely different when read out loud. Especially the way it was read at the event. Here is what is sounded like:
What is one hundred eleven million, one hundred eleven thousand, and one hundred eleven times one hundred eleven million, one hundred eleven thousand, and one hundred eleven?

After it was asked to be repeated, the reader added this clarifier: nine ones times nine ones. (aka 111,111,111 X 111,111,111)

Our other three players had already started doing the math as 111,000,000 x 111,000 x 111. By the time I was able to clarify to them we were already down to 1 minute remaining. This was a loss of 1 point for us.

Not…it for any math questions!

Halftime – Walk of Fame
Aside from Motion Pictures, what are the 4 categories in which an artist can earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Acting, singing, dancing…writing? No idea on the fourth one, nor for any of the others, for that matter. 

Usually the halftime question helps separate the teams a bit, since each answer is worth 2 points and getting all four earns you a bonus 2 points (10 points). Not this time. We were locked in a THIRTEEN WAY TIE for first place, only missing one point from the math question. My guess is many others also missed that for one, since the way it was read was so confusing. Or maybe the Hotmail question.

10)Starring Johnny Depp and released in 2011, budgeted at $378M, what is the most expensive movie made to date? Must have the complete movie title.
This one stung quite a bit. We broke our own tournament “rule” and wagered high on an answer that we weren’t all comfortable with. Two of our players had recently had a question about this movie franchise and were pretty sure they had the right one. The other two weren’t sure but couldn’t come up with the titles for all of the films in the francise. Loss of 6.

Pirates of the Caribbean came out in 2003, dead man’s chest came out after that, i think the next one is at world’s end, and so my guess would be Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides (just a guess, I have long since tuned out from watching these films). 

11)What 1970’s/80’s TV comedy’s final episode was titled “Goodbye, Farewell, Amen”?
This is an excellent example of a quality trivia question about TV. So much so, that it has been asked a half-dozen times already at weekly games in various league formats… including MTL.

REALLY? This question in a tournament? A gimme for any Gen-X or baby boomer? I barely even watched this show, but this is still WAY too easy for a tournament. 

12)In writing, what grammatical symbol is called an “octothorpe”?

I would guess “ampersand” because it looks like a figure eight. No idea. 

13)What 1980’s band got is name from the doctor in the 1960’s film Barbarella?
See question 11….

Not going to lie. I have a bit of a “girl crush” on Jane Fonda!

14)What organ was the first successful human-to-human organ transplant, performed in 1954 in Boston?

I would guess liver. 

15)Who is the richest man in hip hop, famous for popularizing West Coast G-Funk, and is CEO of Beats Audio?

That guy with the overpriced headphones…I SHOULD know this, but his name escaping me. Ah, yeah (now that I’ve looked it up), THAT guy…

16)“Something in the way she moves me, attracts me like no other lover” is a lyric from what 1969 ballad?

Something? Probably one of many songs about model Pattie Boyd. 

Pattie Boyd was the subject of a “bidding war” between her husband George Harrison and suitor Eric Clapton in the late 1960s. A recently released biography explains how Clapton ended up winning that “bidding war,” which you can read about here. Clapton’s epic love of smack (among other things) meant she would eventually kick him to the curb.

17)“Sometimes live moves pretty fast” is a line from what 1980’s comedy movie?

Duh. Ferris Bueller’s Day off. Yawn…I’m getting bored with these questions!

18)“Love is patient, loves is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” is from what collection of books?

No idea…

With our wiff on the 6 pointer, we were in a 8-way tie for 5th place, with the leading team pulling a perfect second half. There was a 3-way tie at 2nd place and 3-way tie at 3rd place as well.

As always with MTL, the game comes down to the final question. We were hoping for a doozy, since we know some random crap and might be able to sneak up the rankings. Instead we were treated with this final question that we would classify at “Trivia 102”:

Formed in the 1960’s, what English band was the start of the careers for 3 of the top 10 greatest guitar players according to Rolling Stone magazine? Name the band and the three guitarists.

Yardbirds? Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page? This is WAY too easy, MTL! Instead, why don’t you ask to name at least two of the “other” members of this group whom were inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame along with the Yardbirds? I’ll bet that would be a much, much deeper cut. And it’s a question I’m completely prepared for! 

That left a ton of teams tied at various positions. So a tiebreaker question was asked, with final placement based on how close your answer was to the correct one. Only one player goes up, after the category is announced.

As of the 2014-15 NHL season, how many players have played for the Red Wings franchise since their inception in 1926?

We were way off and dropped down to somewhere in the 10th -13th place range. Only the top 9 (prize winning) spots were announced.

It stings a little to place so low after only missing two questions all day, but in the end it was on us for flubbing a couple of questions that we should have gotten. When the team you’re trying to beat plays a nearly perfect game, there is no room for error.

This is SO true! Sounds like a typical night at the Corner Brewery (even though the teams there tend to be “megateams.”