Totally Random Trivia: 2022

3. Italy

4 Steadycam

1. Twilight

5. Columbus, OH?

2) All Quiet on the Western Front with 9 nominations 

Answers to Wednesday, August 2, 2023

1. Before it became the bestselling book of 2012, “Fifty Shades of Grey” was published online as fanfiction, and featured the main characters of what other book series? 
“Twilight”

2. What 2022 film adaptation holds the record for most Academy Award nominations for a German film? 
“All Quiet on the Western Front”

3. In what country would you find the Reno, Tiber, and Po rivers?
Italy

4. What gyroscopic camera accessory, invented in the mid-’70s, allows for a smooth shot even when the camera is moving on irregular surfaces?
Steadicam

5. Which U.S. state capital received a 20-foot statue from Genoa, Italy, in 1955, to place in front of its capitol building?
Columbus, Ohio

Questions for
Theme Thursday, August 3, 2023

OW!: All answers this round might sound a little painful because each answer will have the initials “O.W.”

Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. According to a 2008 New York Times article, Barack Obama would have lost the 2008 Democratic primary if not for whose endorsement, which by some estimates delivered him more than a million votes?

2. Eight million people have viewed a YouTube supercut of what actor saying “wow,” something he’s done in nearly every movie he’s ever been in?

3. “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling” are films from what director and actor, who first found fame in the role of Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on “House, M.D.”?

4. What Ohio native was captured in a now-famous photograph taken on December 17, 1903, at a place called Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina?

5. What extremely quotable Irish writer once said, “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying”?

5. Oscar Wilde

2. Owen Wilson

3. Olivia Wilde

1.  Oprah

1. Oprah Winfrey

4. Orville Wright

4: Orville Wright   (couldn't remember which brother was in the pic, but the apparent theme here helps)

Answers to Thursday, August 3, 2023

OW!: All answers this round might sound a little painful because each answer will have the initials “O.W.”

1. According to a 2008 New York Times article, Barack Obama would have lost the 2008 Democratic primary if not for whose endorsement, which by some estimates delivered him more than a million votes?
Oprah Winfrey

2. Eight million people have viewed a YouTube supercut of what actor saying “wow,” something he’s done in nearly every movie he’s ever been in?
Owen Wilson

3. “Booksmart” and “Don’t Worry Darling” are films from what director and actor, who first found fame in the role of Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on “House, M.D.”?
Olivia Wilde

4. What Ohio native was captured in a now-famous photograph taken on December 17, 1903, at a place called Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina?
Orville Wright

5. What extremely quotable Irish writer once said, “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying”?
Oscar Wilde

Questions for
Friday, August 4, 2023

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email. 

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are six countries bordering the Red Sea proper (not including gulfs). Two on the eastern shore, and four on the western shore. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.

2. Which U.S. state got its name in 1512 either due to its many lovely native flowers, or because Spanish explorers first landed there during Easter?

3. Alexander the Great was born in Pella, a town that served as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. In what modern day country is Pella located?

4. What high school tradition was inspired by a character from the “Lil’ Abner” comic strip?

5. Today is August 4. Happy 40th birthday to what Academy Award-nominated director who collaborated with her partner, Noah Baumbach, on a movie that’s all over the news right now?

2. Florida 

5.  Greta Gerwig 

1. Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti 

3. Greece 

4. Sadie Hawkins dance

Posted by: @karlsson

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3. Greece 

im thinking it was Pella, Iowa.  ?

Answers to Friday, August 4, 2023

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: There are six countries bordering the Red Sea proper (not including gulfs). Two on the eastern shore, and four on the western shore. Name as many of them as you can for one point each. Zero total if you get any wrong.
Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen

2. Which U.S. state got its name in 1512 either due to its many lovely native flowers, or because Spanish explorers first landed there during Easter?
Florida
(“Pascua Florida”)

3. Alexander the Great was born in the town of Pella, a town that served as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon. In what modern day country is Pella located?
Greece

4. What high school tradition was inspired by a character from the “Lil’ Abner” comic strip?
Sadie Hawkins Dance

5. Today is August 4. Happy 40th birthday to what Academy Award-nominated director who collaborated with her partner, Noah Baumbach, on a movie that’s all over the news right now?
Greta Gerwig
(director of “Barbie”)

Questions for
Monday, August 7, 2023

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. The element whose atomic number is 19 has the chemical symbol K. Name that element. 

2. In 2001, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg co-released a celebrated miniseries with HBO that derived its name from the St. Crispin’s Day Speech from Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” What is the name of that miniseries?

3. The Battles of Lexington and Concord occurred on April 19, 1775. What holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in April in Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin in commemoration of those battles?

4. What park resulted from a plan presented in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux called the “Greensward Plan”?

5. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for playing Anita in the 1961 film adaptation of what Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical?

1. Potassium

5. West Side Story

3.  Patriots' Day 

4.  Central Park in NYC

2 Band of Brothers

Posted by: @zwak

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5. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for playing Anita in the 1961 film adaptation of what Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical?

Rita Moreno guest starred on a few episodes of The Rockford Files, absolutely stole the show in each one.  

Posted by: @mnnavy

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1. Potassium

 

Wanna talk about sodium? 
Na. 
How about potassium? 
'K. 

Posted by: @the-rube

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Posted by: @mnnavy

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1. Potassium

 

Wanna talk about sodium? 
Na. 
How about potassium? 
'K. 

?

I always think of this random post I saw online years ago when there is discussions about potassium: 

Answers to Monday, August 7, 2023

1. The element whose atomic number is 19 has the chemical symbol K. Name that element. 
Potassium

2. In 2001, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg co-released a celebrated miniseries with HBO that derived its name from the St. Crispin’s Day Speech from Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” What is the name of that miniseries?
“Band of Brothers”

3. The Battles of Lexington and Concord occurred on April 19, 1775. What holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in April in Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin in commemoration of those battles?
Patriots’ Day

4. What park resulted from a plan presented in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux called the “Greensward Plan”?
Central Park

5. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for playing Anita in the 1961 film adaptation of what Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical? 
“West Side Story”

Questions for
Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. What 1993 movie starring Michael J. Fox and Sally Field was subtitled “The Incredible Journey”?

2. As of 2018, the Guinness World Record for the nation with the fastest broadband internet speed was held by what island city-state, located just north of the equator in Southeast Asia?

3. What six-letter term for an isolated or out-of-touch community was originally the name of an Algonquin people who lived in a remote part of what is now Connecticut?

4. Which Brontë sister—Charlotte, Emily, or Anne—is best known for her only novel, “Wuthering Heights”?

5. The U.S. Census Bureau determines the country’s mean population center every 10 years. It has been moving slowly west and south. In 1900, it was in Indiana. In 1950, it was in Illinois. In which state was it in 2010?

1. Homeward Bound

2.  Singapore

4. Emily

I had Edina for #3 but alas that's only 5 letters.

3. Podunk

5. Missouri

Answers to Tuesday, August 8, 2023

1. What 1993 movie starring Michael J. Fox and Sally Field was subtitled “The Incredible Journey”?
“Homeward Bound” 

2. As of 2018, the Guinness World Record for the nation with the fastest broadband internet speed was held by what island city-state, located just north of the equator in Southeast Asia? 
Singapore

3. What six-letter term for an isolated or out-of-touch community was originally the name of an Algonquin people who lived in a remote part of what is now Connecticut?
“Podunk”

4. Which Brontë sister—Charlotte, Emily, or Anne—is best known for her only novel, “Wuthering Heights”?
Emily

5. The U.S. Census Bureau determines the country’s mean population center every 10 years. It has been moving slowly west and south. In 1900, it was in Indiana. In 1950, it was in Illinois. In which state was it in 2010?
Missouri

Questions for
Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. During what century was the “Big Bang” coined as a theory for the beginning of the universe?

2. What teen film, a spinoff of an early-aughts Disney Channel show, features the lead character going to Italy along with her classmates Kate and Gordo, as well as her principal?

3. In 1975, the nation of East Timor declared independence from Portugal, only to be invaded nine days later by the country occupying West Timor. Name that country.

4. What eight-letter word, meaning “one that returns after death,” appears in the title of a 2002 novel about frontiersman Hugh Glass, as well as the book’s 2015 film adaptation?

5. In 1891, Pyotr Tchaikovsky traveled to the U.S. to conduct the New York Music Society’s orchestra in the inaugural concert at its brand new performance venue. Who funded the construction of that venue?

5. Andrew Carnegie  

1. Twentieth

4. Revenant

2. Lizzie McGuire movie?

3. Indonesia

Answers to Wednesday, August 9, 2023

1. During what century was the “Big Bang” coined as a theory for the beginning of the universe?
20th century (1949)

2. What teen film, a spinoff of an early-aughts Disney Channel show, features the lead character going to Italy along with her classmates Kate and Gordo, as well as her principal?
“The Lizzie McGuire Movie”

3. In 1975, the nation of East Timor declared independence from Portugal, only to be invaded nine days later by the country occupying West Timor. Name that country.
Indonesia

4. What eight-letter word, meaning “one that returns after death,” appears in the title of a 2002 novel about frontiersman Hugh Glass, as well as the book’s 2015 film adaptation? 
“Revenant”

5. In 1891, Pyotr Tchaikovsky traveled to the U.S. to conduct the New York Music Society’s orchestra in the inaugural concert at its brand new performance venue. Who funded the construction of that venue?
Andrew Carnegie 
(it’s now called Carnegie Hall)

Questions for
Theme Thursday, August 10, 2023

We’re Number “O-N-E!”: All answers will contain the letters “O-N-E” in that order.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Musicians Billy Paul, Amy Winehouse, and Counting Crows have all recorded songs about someone with what surname?

2. Actors DeForest Kelley, Emily Deschanel, and Snoop Dogg have all portrayed fictional characters with what nickname?

3. What thick vegetable soup takes its name from the Italian for “that which is served”?

4. A naturally magnetized mineral called magnetite was used in the earliest compasses. It is also known by what nine-letter name?

5. “The Second Sex” is a 1949 book by a French feminist philosopher that was one of the first major works to explore the distinction between sex and gender. Name that author. (First and last name, please!)

1. Mr. Jones

2. Bones

3. Minestrone

2. Bones

3. Minestrone

4. Lodestone

5/Simone de Beauvoir

Posted by: @kelly-red

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5/Simone de Beauvoir

Was irritated the question specified the last name was needed on this one. 

Answers to Thursday, August 10, 2023

We’re Number “O-N-E!”: All answers will contain the letters “O-N-E” in that order.

1. Musicians Billy Paul, Amy Winehouse, and Counting Crows have all recorded songs about someone with what surname?
Jones

2. Actors DeForest Kelley, Emily Deschanel, and Snoop Dogg have all portrayed fictional characters with what nickname?
Bones

3. What thick vegetable soup takes its name from the Italian for “that which is served”?
Minestrone

4. A naturally magnetized mineral called magnetite was used in the earliest compasses. It is also known by what nine-letter name?
Lodestone

5. “The Second Sex” is a 1949 book by a French feminist philosopher that was one of the first major works to explore the distinction between sex and gender. Name that author. (First and last name, please!)
Simone de Beauvoir

Questions for
Friday, August 11, 2023

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email. 

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise consists of 11 series (not including international versions). Three of them—”Orange County,” “Potomac,” and “New Jersey”—were set in title locations that aren’t cities. “The Real Housewives of Dubai” takes place outside of the U.S. Name as many of the other seven U.S. cities as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

2. Pittsburgh was named by John Forbes, a Scottish general who likely pronounced the name similar to the pronunciation of the second-largest city in Scotland. What city is that? 

3. In Western churches, the six-week observance known as Lent begins every year on which day of the week?

4. The 1920 Treaty of Trianon resulted in Romania, Austria, the Czechoslovak Republic, and Yugoslavia all gaining land from which other European country?

5. Today is August 11. On this day in 1964, the Beatles' first feature film, directed by Richard Lester, had its U.S. premiere in New York City during the height of Beatlemania. Name that movie.