Petroglyphs

You ask, I tell:

• 4-7 movies, usually automatic suggestions; currently Witness for the Prosecution, Caché, Akeelah and the Bee, 2046, Love in the Afternoon (1957), Stage Door, Bringing Up Baby
• Season 3 of Slings and Arrows
• A couple of episodes of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America
• 15-20 episodes of Good Eats
• Various clips of shows, e.g. Colin Mochrie’s self-referential appearance on Corner Gas and Stephen Colbert trash-talking the Sarnia Sting (Hey Sarnia: you suck, and so does Sting!)

There’s a reason I don’t have many series on there: although I record a lot of episodes, I tend to watch and delete them within a couple of days. But in the interest of completeness, here’s my list of scheduled programs, in no particular order:

• The 4400
• Good Eats
• Family Guy
• Smallville
• Prison Break
• House
• Venture
• Rick Mercer Report
• Gilmore Girls
• Corner Gas
• The Unit
• Veronica Mars
• Las Vegas
• Extras
• Ed
• Eureka
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Doctor Who
• Lost
• Just for Laughs
• Ed’s Up
• 30 Rock
• Futurama
• The National
• The Simpsons
• Little Mosque on the Prairie
• Iron Chef America
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
• The Colbert Report
• Battlestar Galactica
• MythBusters
• The Office
• Heroes
• Marketplace
• Scrubs
• Late Show With David Letterman
• Intelligence
• Opening Night
• Jericho
• The Jane Show

A fiery mouse with a wheel of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty ‘Hi-Yo Linux!’ Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear — the Quiz Arranger rides again!

1. Who is Barbara Millicent Roberts?
2. Onto what are Australians reputed to throw shrimp?
3. What not-so-dynamic TV duo was played by Michael McKean and David Lander?
4. Who recorded a cover of The Guess Who’s American Woman in 1999?
5. What country claims Ankara as its capital?
6. What is turducken?
7. Name the band who had a Cruel Summer in 1983.
8. Who was Badder than old King Kong / And meaner than a junkyard dog?
9. What role have Eugene T. Maleska and Wil Shortz both held at the New York Times?
10. Why did counter-espionage service MI5 investigate the Daily Telegraph newspaper in 1944?
11. Who preceded Alex Trebek as the host of Jeopardy!?
12. What Canadian game show used a version of Quincy Jones’s Soul Bossa Nova as its theme music?
13. Who wrote the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile?
14. Who played completely mental character Ed Grimley on SCTV?
15. What English word comes from a Slovak term meaning drudgery or labour?
16. What is the full English title of Karel Čapek’s 1920 play R.U.R.?
17. What was the only equation printed in Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time?
18. What is the common name given to an object that is smaller than its Schwarzschild radius?
19. Who played Rawhide on CBC Radio?
20. What comedy team performed The Shakespearean Baseball Game and Rinse the Blood off My Toga?

The questions above are inspired by events and conversations from the last couple of days. That little tidbit will be of absolutely no use to anyone, just thought I’d share.

To sweeten the pot this time around, I’m going to award a billion points to the winner. That’s right, a billion points. Beat that, Regis!

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

I have no idea why this works, but it does.

CBC’s weekly arts quiz covers epic movies this week, so it will probably appeal to regular readers. I’m not usually a fan of multiple-choice trivia, but it’s introduced with a quote from our Mr. Ebert that slams Pearl Harbor and also features the acid pen of Pauline Kael, so I’ll let it slide just this once.

I got 8 out of 10, which would’ve been 9 if I’d been paying attention.

A guest blogquiz from Croptop, who’s more of a classic TV geek than I am… well, maybe just differently geekish. 🙂 In the absence of a scoring scheme I’ll just say one kudo for each distinct fact.

1. What was the license plate number of the Ferrari driven by Thomas Magnum?
2. Name Thomas Magnum’s two best friends (both full and nicknames). Bonus: Name the actors who played them.
3. Name the founders of the Riptide Detective Agency.
4. Before he saved people on the beaches of California, David Hasselhoff fought for the underdog with the help of a robotic car. Name the series.
5. We all know what K.I.T.T. stands for. But what does K.A.R.R. stand for?
6. I might jump from an open drawbridge/Or Tarzan from a vine/’Cause I’m the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine. Who am I? (Character and actor, please.)
7. What was the relationship between Milton C. Hardcastle and Mark McCormick?
8. Name Rick and A.J.’s mom. Bonus: Name the actress who played her.
9. Who is Robert McCall better known as? Bonus: Name the actor who played him.
10. Name the actors who played Walter Nebicher and Automan respectively.

Comments will remain moderated ’til sometime on February 1; I’ll post the guesses and answers to the last quiz later this evening.

P.S. I was only able to get 5 facts out of what I believe to be 20 above.

P.P.S. Yes, I know kudo isn’t a real word. Don’t blame me, I voted for Kang.

Trivia, for naught but glory everlasting (or until my domain expires, whichever comes first).

Miscellany

1. Who was the third regular host of NBC’s The Tonight Show?
2. What musician invented the Twinkie-Wiener Sandwich?
3. Which Group of Seven artist stopped signing and dating his works so they would be judged on their own merit?
4. Who was Grover Cleveland’s vice president?
5. What is Gertrude Ederle’s most famous accomplishment?

Sports

1. Chi Chi Rodriguez is best known for his excellence in what sport?
2. What footballer is variously known as O Rei and Pérola Negra?
3. What quarterback out of Boston College is considered to have been one of the greatest players in the Canadian Football League?
4. What pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays was given the derogatory nickname Mr. Blister?
5. What multi-series driver had both legs amputated near the knee after a 2001 crash, yet has recently returned to racing?

History

1. In what year was the iPod released?
2. In what year did Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduce The Smurfs?
3. What organization held its first meeting in Flushing Meadows, New York, in 1946?
4. 2007 marks the 300th anniversary of what British body?
5. What is the common link between all of the previous 14 questions? (This is an open-book… er, open-web question. Search away, and good luck: you’re gonna need it.)

Comments will be moderated for the next 24 hours or until I remember to turn them back on. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to localize the moderation settings to this post, so the whole blog will be affected. The things I do for you people….