As the self-appointed spin doctor of my trivia team, it’s been a challenge as of late making our trivia games sound like they went better for us than they actually did! On that note, I’ll say that we did have our best showing in the mystery rounds out of the previous eight games we’ve played this calendar year, missing only two points out of 32 total points! We also logged our highest score going into a final question in game two with 51 points! Now about those final questions though…looking back – and this is NOT a spin – they were both completely avoidable misses! But…these things can happen even to the very best of trivia teams out there, can’t they?

No prizes…again – finished with 60-ish points. Bleah!

And as I’ve said before, who wants to read about a perfect trivia team who gets all of the answers right all the time? Or watch a TV series where nothing goes wrong for the main characters? Ever notice every time a TV character goes on vacation everything goes to shit? And watch out if there’s going to be a wedding episode! Someone’s going to object to the couple getting married, someone will bring a date just to make another guest jealous, a fight is going to break out, or – or – wardrobe malfunctions all around for the bridesmaids!

Here’s a scene from a Buffy episode called Hell’s Bells:

Read on to see the questions…

Round One/Game One

1 Magazines – Faces in the Crowd, Just My Type and The Point After have all been regular columns in what athletics-focused magazine?

2 Music Videos – The video for the Weezer song “Just Like Buddy Holly” features footage of what TV show set in the 1950s and 1960s? I thought it was one show, Mike and Brad thought it was something else…theirs made more sense than my guess, but we were all wrong…

3 Math Words – What eight-letter word is defined as one of the four regions on the Cartesian plane, as determined by the axes? Yay Mike for knowing math – and Tron stuff!

4 Companies – Ash was the last name of the founder and longtime chairperson of what cosmetics company founded in 1953? Me with the right guess here (chick knowledge)?

Mystery Round One – Daniel Day-Lewis Quickfire

Name four of the six films starring Daniel Day-Lewis released in the 21st century.

Got all of these points. While we were trying to think of the right films (only one of which we’d all ever seen), Brad was trying to chime in with guesses like Men in Black. I countered with, “No, DDL was never in any movies that were funny in any way, shape or form – boring dramas only.” Then Brad chimes in with a guess that turned out to be one of the right ones! Sometimes teamwork doesn’t completely fall apart! One of these movies I only knew about because I remembered reading that Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead did the soundtrack.

Wait…I did see his movie In the Name of the Father and liked it. But it wasn’t released in the 21st century. Maybe that might be a good St. Patrick’s Day-ish movie to stream if I can find it somewhere!

5 Counties -What eight-letter name is the most common county name in the U.S. that is NOT named after a U.S. president? Miss.

6 Space – Sally Ride was the first woman to fly into space when she did so in 1983 on what spacecraft? FB clue.

7 TV Characters – Name one of the two actors who play the title roles on the UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, which aired from 1996 to 2000?

NERD POINT: Name both.

We got one correct guy, not both.

8 Soccer – The Major League Soccer team nicknamed The Crew is based in what Midwest U.S. state capital?

Mystery Round Two – One-Named Bands

Identify the bands with one names based on the top three streaming songs by them on Spotify.

M1 Glycerine, Swallowed and Everything Zen

M2 Nothin’ But a Good Time, Talk Dirty to Me and Every Rose Has its Thorn

M3 Peace of Mind, More Than a Feeling and Amanda

M4 The Wire, Gasoline and Now I’m In It

Missed #4.

We were in sixth going into the final with 45 points.

Final Question Game One – Elements

What element that was discovered by William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898 shares its name with a fictional location first introduced 40 years later?

Seems so obvious when they revealed the answer. And damn it, we were just talking about the guy who comes from this place earlier in the day! Pardon me while I slap myself repeatedly in punishment! And when, when are they ever going to make my movie about Lobo?

This could be a hint at the right answer! 🙂

Jason Momoa could totally play this character. And Rob Zombie needs to do the soundtrack – and…and – they need to get the rights from Monster Magnet and use the song Space Lord in the soundtrack!

Who’s with me? Why make umpteen Aquaman movies (yawn) and not make a single movie about Lobo?

Moving on! Let’s see if round two goes better for us!

Round Three/Game Two

9 Artists – What Italian artist painted The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa?

10 Navy – The largest naval base in the world is located in which East Coast U.S. state?

11 Song Lyrics – What 1977 #1 song by the Bee Gees includes the lyrics “Cause we’re living in a world of fools, breaking us down, when they all should let us be?”

12 1990s Films – Mary Clarence, Mary Patrick, Mary Robert, and Mary Lazarus are all characters in what 1992 comedy film?

NERD POINT: Who played Mary Clarence?

Got the points and the bonus.

Mystery Round Three – Add ‘Em Up

The correct answers to the following clues are all numbers that will add up to 50.

M1 Fibonacci number between 8 and 21

M2 Number of teams in the NFL

M3 Number of Academy Awards awarded annually for acting

M4 Number that is the title to the first top ten song on the Billboard Hot 100 by Three Dog Night

Got all of these points too. Maybe this will bump up our average D-minus grade on the mystery rounds this year to a solid D! 🙂

13 World History – Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, earned the nickname “The Kingmaker” based on his involvement in what series of historical conflicts? Me again with the right guess.

Here’s a movie image that made me think of the right answer (see who can spot it):

14 Video Games – Brinstar, Frigate Orpheon and Norfair are stages is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that are from what video game series that was originally released in arcades in 1986?

15 Animated TV – Hell’s Pass Hospital is a fictional location in what animated TV show? This question is abbreviated, there was more to it, but the only photo I took of the screen was blurry.

16 Kids’ Books – The 2005 children’s book And Tango Makes Three is a true story about a family of what kind of animal at the Central Park Zoo? Miss.

Mystery Round Four – Visual

Mike and Brad were able to take care of all of these without my help. They’re the “map guys,” I’m the “name the countries” guy. Nice work, fellas – we got ALL of these points! Considering how poorly we’ve done on mystery rounds this year, I’m entitled to brag just a little bit, aren’t I?

We were tied with two other teams for second going into the final with 51 points. Our best regular round showing of 2024!

Final Game Two – Oscars History

Who is the only performer to receive multiple posthumous Academy Award nominations in an acting category?

I had no idea this guy was in more than a couple of films before he croaked.

We’ll be taking next Sunday off from trivia for St. Patrick’s Day. Not my decision, but my two trivia pardners wanted the night off and I can’t say no to them! This might put a mid-week game into play after St. Patrick’s Day. Trivia plans, as always, are subject to change without notice.

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, that guy who talked about milkshakes in There Will Be Blood. What did that even mean? Did they attract all the boys to the yard or something? Am I mixing up two completely different pop culture references? 🙂

See y’all next time I post something…