Feb 16th Trivia: Close, But No...

After two straight wins, chances of a three-peat were diminished by the absence of trivia master Erin. In her place was Jason, a self-described “short Chinese guy with straight black hair.” His backwards cap, flannel shirt, Chuck Taylors, and Tennessee Volunteers bedazzled MacBook only added to his aura. Not to mention his questions.

1. LITERATURE: Lucy Manette, who was half English and half French, is a character in what classic novel? Birthday boy Joel knew, as did Will: A Tale of two Cities. Five Points.

2. SCIENCE: Pulmonary refers to what organ in the body? Tough question. Sounded like heart to me, but Will and Joel thought it both heart and lungs. I finally had to make them turn in an answer. Since it was so iffy, we only wagered one point. Heart was right, but later Bama protested, and credit was given for lungs as well. Had we wagered three, it might’ve made a difference in the game.

3. HISTORY: Clara Barton is best known for starting what? At first I jotted down Girl Scouts, but then I wrote down Red Cross. We went with Girl Scouts. Wrong. A three point miss.

4. MATH: Using the order of operations, what is 5 + 3 x 5 - 7? Will knew: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. His answer of 13 gave us five points.

5. SPACE: What are the inner planets also known as? Huh? I suggested something to do with rock. Terrestrial, said Joel, though he wasn’t sure. We finally turned it in, and it was right. One point.

6. GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Homer tells the story of the Trojan War in what epic book? Since The Odyssey was the story of an ocean voyage, we answered The Iliad. Three points.

7. MAPS: Which lines measure the distance north and south? Joel knew, and answered quickly: Latitude. Will hadn’t heard the question, and wanted him to get his answer back…while working his smart phone. Knowing the question was only north / south and not also east / west, we stayed put. Five points.

8. SPORTS: The SEC is adding two new teams in 2012. Name them, AND their mascots. We knew it was the Texas A&M Aggies, but what is Missouri’s mascot? I was pretty sure it was Tigers, but we only wagered one point. Should’ve wagered three.

9. GEOGRAPHY: The Mason Dixon line is the boundary between what two states? I wasn’t sure. For some reason I thought it was Kentucky & Tennessee, if not Virginia & North Carolina. A more reasonable answer would’ve been Pennsylvania & Maryland. Another three point miss.

10. ART: We were given a handout, and had to name the artist who painted…

…Mona Lisa…Joel knew: Leonardo da Vinci.

…The Screamer…we were all wrong: Edvard Munch.

…Starry Night…Joel knew: Van Gogh.

…The Fountain…Joel was wrong: Marcel Duchamp.

…a black & white photograph of a western mountain: Joel & I knew: Ansell Adams.

At the half we had 27 points. Holy Moses had 28, and Bama 29. The Grindelows were in fourth place, with only 22. Jason’s music was interesting, but less wide-ranging than Erin’s: Coldplay, Gungor, Switchfoot. When the chubby Coffee Joe lookalike walked by in his black adidas track jacket, with three red stripes AND MATCHING SHOES, Will ribbed Joel: the guy reminded him of a certain absent Doorhinges team member / Sac Fly blog reader.

11. CANADA: Montreal is situated on the banks of what river? I thought it might be the St. Lawrence River. It was the Ottawa River. A two point miss. Erin usually has a question about America, not Canada.

12. COFFEE: What does ristretto mean? No idea. Jason said it was “a shot pulled short, making it sweeter.” Huh? A four point miss.

13. DISNEY: What was the first full length color animated motion picture? Co-worker Chris had a similar question just the night before. Had I listened to her answer, we would’ve won the game. I thought the answer was Pinocchio. It was Snow White…a six point miss. Out of the first twelve questions, it was our fifth wrong answer. Joel and Will seemed unconcerned, as involved as they were in their ongoing paper football game.

14. ENVIRONMENT: What eco-friendly clothing & outdoor company is also the name of a mountain range in Argentina? Will knew: Patagonia. Six points, but most teams probably got it right.

15. STATES: What state is known as the land of a thousand lakes? I knew, and Will concurred: Minnesota. Four points, but again it was easy.

16. ACRONYMS: What do the following stand for: CEO, CFO, CIO? The first two were easy, and I guessed correctly on the third: Chief Information Officer. Two points.

17. LANDMARKS: The longest outdoor covered escalator system is 800 meters long, in the Far East. What city is it in? I saw this information earlier in the week, but hadn’t read it. We guessed Beijing. Jason had been there: Hong Kong.

18. PHOTOGRAPHY: What war photographer served in five wars, helped found Magnum Photography, and was killed in battle? Will and Joel gave up, and loudly continued their night-long paper football game. What did the other teams think, with us winning while hardly paying attention? They probably hated us all the more. But at the next table, Bama urged them to keep playing. Meanwhile, I racked my brain for an answer. The best I could come up with was Getty, from Google Images and Uni-Watch. It was Robert Capa. Since no team got it right, Jason gave every team ten points.

19. CURRENT EVENTS: Name the skateboarder/snowboarder who was the first to score a perfect 100 in the super half pipe. Every team knew: Shawn White. Six points. Going into Final Jeopardy, we remained in third place, four points behind Bama.

20. MUSIC: Whitney Houston is the only artist to record seven consecutive number one hits. Name them. Great, I thought. This week I had paid scant attention to most of the coverage of Houston’s career, though I had read a few interesting articles. I came up with two: I Will Always Love You, and I Want to Dance With Somebody. I got Dance right. The other six: Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know, The Greatest Love of All, Didn’t We Almost Have All, So Emotional, and Where Do Broken Hearts Go.

Before the results were announced, three teams opted to leave. Jason was consistent with his grading: two points were given for each right answer. Down four going in, there was no way we could win after only getting one of the seven songs. Team Frickin Awful was the only team to get three songs, but remained in last place. Three teams got two right, and all but one other team got one. Bama won, and we placed tied for third.