We were lucky to be able to find a table in the “trivia area” for our Sporcle Live game Monday at Sticks! There seemed to be a lot more people than usual in  “the house,” including a lot of “little people” (aka babies/toddlers). Had we known that it was a requirement for every table to have a baby or toddler sitting with the adults, we would have kidnapped one beforehand! JK, JK! Kidnapping is a federal crime! We’re not criminals – we would have just kindly asked to borrow or rent one for the evening! Wait…can you “rent” babies/children as a means of better fitting in with the other adults? Rent by the hour, the day or the weekend? It’s a win-win – the parents of the kids get a little time to themselves, and the renters get to pretend that they’re “real” adults! Or does this sound like a horrible Adam Sandler rom-com? This is all a moot point, of course – since the average maturity levels of the players on our trivia team easily rivals that of any four year old child! Especially the conversation we were having toward the end of the game about superhero battles we’d like to see – and women’s (ahem) – nipples shown on film. Oy!

As for the game itself, we had our full “roster,” which is a rarity indeed! We had a near perfect game one heading into the final missing only one point on a video game characters question and a perfect score in game two heading into the final. We won two first-place prizes of $15 each and logged a score of 147 points –  finishing in first for the night. Enjoyable night overall, especially watching U of M win last night in the College World Series vs. Vanderbilt (hey – I might not be a true “sportsball” fan, but I will be a fair weather friend and go with the flow – and hey –  if the pitcher’s cute – the pitcher’s cute)!

Pitcher Tommy Henry really knows how to put on his “game face,” but this is not an example of that!

Speaking of sportsball, by some weird magicks, I actually KNEW the answer to the sportsball question we had during the game (yes really)! I also knew two RAP question answers (I don’t blame you for not believing me but it’s true)….Maybe all of this kind of makes up for the rough game we had last Thursday in the same trivia spot – where we blew 9 points on the FACEBOOK CLUE (bad me, bad me)… We’ll take the friendly trivia “seas” when we can get them – and power through the rougher ones (just like our cephalopod mascots). And then sometimes, maybe we’re just best off hiding in our watery “lairs?” Survey says?

The questions…

Game One

1. Film Roles – Richard Harris, Michael Gambon and Toby Regbo have all played what Harry Potter character from the film series? I joked that the first guy died as punishment for having recorded the song MacArthur Park…got this for 10. For the record, he lived quite a long time after having recorded that song in 1968 (which was later covered by Donna Summer in 1978, who was nominated for a Grammy for this). It’s considered by some to be one of the worst songs ever recorded, along with (You’re) Having My Baby by Paul Anka and We Built This City by Starship. I’ll wait right here while you go to YouTube and listen to these songs to see how awful they are (LOL)! Sorry, Kim – I know how much you love the song We Built This City, but a Rolling Stone reader’s poll can’t be wrong, can it? Though the fact they made use of the word “hoopla” in the song’s lyrics is kind of…cool 🙂

2. World Geography – Lake Victoria is located in three different African countries which have names ending in what letter? For a bonus point, name all three of these countries, got this for 9 plus the bonus.

3. Record Labels – In addition to D.O.C., name one of the two co-founders of Death Row Records, which was founded in 1991 and counted Tupac and Snoop Dogg among its artists? Dave came up with one right away, and I suggested another that would have been correct too (IKR)…got this for 3.

4. Don’t Eat That Meat – Trichinosis is a disease caused by a parasite most commonly found in what undercooked meat? 8

5. History – The 1969 Stonewall Riots, considered to be one of the most important events leading tot he gay liberation movement of the fight for LGBTQ rights in the U.S., took place in what city? Facebook clue, 7.

6. Netflix – Who played Count Olaf on the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events for three seasons from 2017 to 2019? Dave the hero here, 4.

7. Hall of Famers – What shortstop had his #3 jersey retired by the Detroit Tigers following his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018? Speaking of “going with the flow and being a fair weather friend,” that was pretty much 12 year old me when this team won the World Series (also we didn’t have MTV at our house yet) #blessyouboys 6 points. Oh yeah…we even named an orange kitten of ours “Sparky” after this team’s manager…

“Sparky” is on the right, next to the very uncreatively named “Tabby.” Sorry this is blurry, this is a photo of a snapshot.

8. Books in Books – The Symbology of Secret Sects, The Art of the Illuminati Part 1 and Religious Iconology are among the fictional books written by Robert Langdon in the book series by what author? 5

9. Video Game Characters -What title character who has appeared in more than 70 installments of a maze-based video game franchise possesses the ability to generate explosives from his hands? When the answer was revealed, we said “Whodat?” Error 404, pop culture reference not found…miss for 1.

10 Words – What is the 10-letter term, originally a synonym for “thingamajig” or “whatchamacallit” now refers to a folk music event with an open mic? 2

Mystery – Name These People (With A Hint)

The first and last names of the following people, when placed in order, will form a word meaning “to think of.”

M1 – Chicago mayor from 2011 to 2019

M2 – Rapper with a 1997 hit Supa Dupa Fly

M3 – Director/comedian born in 1926 with the last name Kaminsky

M4 – Model appearing in videos for Blurred Lines and Love Somebody who launched the Inamorata swimsuit line in 2017

Got all of these.

Scores: Six teams, scores 37 to 67 with Peas Above Stick in first, with us in second with 66 points.

Final Category – Literature

Usually when we don’t wager full points on this category we wind up knowing the answer. And vice versa…but this time, luck was on our side when we decided NOT to wager on this category…

A 1957 novel won its author the Nobel Prize for Literature, although he declined to accept at the behest of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Name EITHER the novel OR the author, whose son finally accepted the medal on his father’s behalf in 1988.

The novel and author I thought about (and the one we put down) was published two years earlier…No teams got this correct.

We put down the novel featuring this person…

Game winners: Peas Above Sticks, 47; ‘Pods, 66.

Game Two

1. The Calendar – Name one of the two months of the year in which a solstice occurs. 10

2. Artists – What artist, who has been called “The Mother of American Modernism,” was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and was posthumously inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1988? Not confident, but got this for 4.

3. Names – The Scottish/Gaelic name “Ian” is the equivalent of what English name? 9

4. Cartoons – What cartoon character was portrayed by Leslie Nielsen in a 1997 live-action film who is a wealthy retiree who often gets into comical situations because of his nearsightedness? Wow, a Leslie Nielsen film I never “saw,” still got this for 8.

5. ’60s Hits – Audio clue of “karaoke” version of #1 hit from 1966 by the Beach Boys, got for 7.

6. Natural Wonders – Name one of the three waterfalls making up Niagara Falls, both for a bonus point. Got both for 6 plus the bonus.

7. Commercials – Chance the Rapper and the Backstreet Boys remixed the song I Want It That Way in a 2019 Super Bowl commercial for what snack food? 3

8. NFL Draft – Along with the Indianapolis Colts, which NFL franchise has picked the first overall in the NFL draft and the most times – most recently in 2016 when they selected a quarterback from the University of California? Brad was SO bummed we only allowed him to wager 2 on this (sorry Brad), but we got it.

9. Movie Brothers – Name one of the two brothers starring in the 2004 “comedy” film White Chicks, which was directed by their brother Keenan Ivory. A bit of debate, one of the brothers I thought of Dave said was “too old,” so we went with the “safer brother,” got for 5.

10. Businesses – What company – the largest wedding retailer in the U.S. – filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018? We thought about two different formal wear retailers (geared toward different genders), Joel steered us in the right direction here, saying “Weddings are all about (blank).” Thanks, Joel! Nice when your last question of the round is your one-pointer!

Visual Mystery –

Got all of these…

Scores – Five teams, 53 to 64, with us in first. Peas Above Stick were right behind us with 60, tied with one other team.

Final Category – Movie Titles

George Romero directed five sequels to his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Give the first word in the titles of two of those five sequels, all of which end in “of the Dead.”

Wagered it all and got it…Other bars had to name three, which we would have been able to do, too.

Our next trivia outing will be a “special engagement” tonight at McShane’s Pub in Ypsilanti for a My Trivia Live game. It will be interesting to see a little extra competition in the room since the recent ending of MTL trivia at the Wurst Bar, which has, according to the trivia “TJ” Stacy, attracted some of the former Wurst teams here. It will be a good “test” to be playing against these teams again if nothing else!

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Vladimir Nabakov (that was who we put down as our literature answer in the game one final).