Stepping it up—39 times, in fact

As mentioned at the last show, this next edition of the Big Quiz Thing—November 10, of course—is going to be an impressive instance of multimedia synergy (I like buzzwords): We've partnered with the folks behind the Broadway comedy The 39 Steps, and the winning team will get themselves tickets to the show (yes, in addition to the $200 grand prize). Sweet.

As such, we're rebranding the show ever so slightly. As you experts are no doubt aware, The 39 Steps is based on the Alfred Hitchcock film from 1935 (which itself was based on the 1915 novel by John Buchan, who—trivially—was later Governor General of Canada), which just might be my favorite of Hitch's oeuvre. (If you're immediately curious, some idiot has posted the whole thing in sections onto YouTube) Check out that cool transition from the landlady's scream to the train whistle.

So as part of the synergy, we're Hitchcocking it up on 11/10. The audio round, "Hitchcock in da House," will test your knowledge of dialogue from variou Sir Alfred's works, and I'm throwing in a couple other apropos questions here and there. There's also plenty of trivia on completely unrelated subjects (our video round is the new "Album Cover Mash-Up"), and nearly everything is figure-out-able. Hey, I sympathize; despite being a Media Studies concentrator, even I couldn't get into that "Films of Alfred Hitchcock" seminar senior year.

I'll be seeing the show tomorrow, a little matinee ('cause, you know, I don't care about helping Obama win), so I'll have my minireview later. But for now, a little bit o' video…



And you can get it for free! Good lord, do I provide value…

UPDATE: Saw 39 Steps today. Much, much fun, and I'd be saying that even if I weren't engaged in a promotional arrangement with them. It's a four-person cast, yet the show features approx. 6,876 characters, and those folks work themselves crazy. Very clever, very innovative, very impressive. And very free, if you win next show.