We rustled up a “virtual meeting” Wednesday night for some virtual trivial pursuits. One of the questions about “girl bands” kind of confused us for a couple of reasons – one, does a group of people, none of whom play any instruments, constitute a “band?” Also, did we have to think of a U.S. based band for the question (read on to see question #6 and you’ll see what I mean)!

1. Medicine – What branch of medicine deals with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart?

2. World Leaders – Which U.S. president was played by Robin Williams in the Night at the Museum movie trilogy?

NERD POINT: What world leader was portrayed by Christopher Guest in the second film in this trilogy?Got this for the points, but didn’t think of the right guy played by Nigel Tufnel for the other one (LOL)!

3. Book to TV – Adapted from books, what TV title characters were played by actors Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy from 1977-1979? I had a Shaun Cassidy poster on my wall when I was a kid. But I suspect that was more my mother’s idea than mine!

4. Dolls – What is the most common name for Russian nesting dolls, also known as babushka dolls, stacking dolls, or tea dolls? None of us had ever heard of this so-called “common name,” we all thought the common name was “stacking dolls.” Hey, we’re not Russian…

5. Assassinations – Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968 in what major U.S. city? We discussed two cities here, thankfully went with the correct one…Dave made the joke, “Heather, you’re really into tragedies, so you know this one, don’t you?” Truth be told, I DID think of the correct city initially, but started second guessing myself with another city in the same state.

6. Bands Since 1991, when sales tracking entered the modern era, what is the best-selling all-woman band in the U.S., with over 27 million albums sold? Then the “discussions” began – did the question mean the band had to be a U.S. based band? Or just a band that sold a lot of records in the U.S.? We opted for a non-U.S. girl “band” and did not get it correct (though the “band” we picked has sold 85 million records worldwide). No accounting for taste?

7. Settings – The Overlook is the primary setting of what 1977 novel?

8. Nicknames – What U.S. state capital city has been nicknamed “The City on a Hill,” “The Puritan City,” “The Hub,” and “The Athens of America”? Again, we nearly talked this question to death, but thankfully, we wound up putting the answer that was correct (woot)!

9. Champions – Retiring in 1956, who is the only heavyweight boxing champion to end his career undefeated and untied? We were evenly split between two boxers here, and (of course) put down the wrong one!

10. Games – In order to play the game cat’s cradle, what piece of equipment is required, in addition to another person? “Harry Chapin record” isn’t the correct answer!

Mystery – Add ‘Em Up Each answer will be a number. Those four numbers will add up to 119.

M1. Number in the title of both a 2009 computer-animated sci-fi film starring Elijah Wood and a 2009 live-action sci-fi film starring Sharlto Copley

M2. The sum of the numbers in the lyrics of the Commodores’ song “Brick House” that are described as “what a winning hand”

M3. Number in the name of a fast casual hamburger chain founded in 1986 and headquartered in Virginia

M4. In a chronological list of U.S. presidents, the first president to die in office served as this number presidentGot all of these, interestingly, I was just listening to “Brick House” a couple of days ago, but Mike was the one remembering the essential numbers (that’s a guy for ya)!

Scores heading into the final: 1. Wise Quackers, 61; The Winos, 60; Famdamily/AHBO, 59; Beer is Good, 58; BFFs, 56; ‘Pods, 55; My Drinking Team Has a Trivia Problem, 54; Wild Montana skies, 44; Scott, 43; We Got Smurfed, 42; Taco Talk Team, 38.

Final Category – Broadway

Name one of the three productions that have earned the Tony Award for Best Musical since Hamilton did in 2016.

Special thanks to Susan for helping come up with one of the correct answers for this!!! Wasn’t enough to put us in the top 3, but…hey, we had fun watching the “Twisted Tea” viral video and talking about overused memes that need to be disappear in 2021! What other things do we want to disappear in 2021? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? And with that, our trivial pursuits for the year are DONE! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, each and every one of the Spice Girls!