March 25, 2008

No one fell asleep

Last night's BQT defied the predictions of The New Yorker's freelance artist—no one dozed off. Rather, throngs of lovable, beautiful geeks bathed in pure trivia goodness. Congratulations to perennial winers the Fantastic Fournicators—they've regained the ghetto trophy, but for how long? HOW LONG, DAMMIT?! (that's more or less an interrobang, by the way). And how about that three-way tie for third place, with 69 points? There's definitely an elaborate dirty joke to be made there—have fun with that.

Also, too bad that no one had vivid enough memories of John Waters's Female Trouble to get question No. 8 in round three: "The trouble starts when Divine's character doesn't receive what kind of footwear for Christmas?"

Finally, to follow up on my clarion call from the stage, Andrew Gaines of My Favorite Team (one of the three-way sixty-niners) needs a new roommate for my former apartment (very, very sweet deal). Open house tonight (Tuesday 3/25), 6–8pm, Eighth Avenue and 18th Street. Just don't steal his DVDs.

We're back April 7. Website updated soon.

March 24, 2008

It'll help you prepare

We're always thinking of new and exciting prizes to give away at the BQT (you know, and still in the realm of free). Couple that with the fact that I live in an apartment the size of a muffin cup, and you know where I'm going with this: I like to give away crap lying around my apartment that I don't need no more.

Which takes me to this:


This is a 20-inch television set that has given me many hours of joy. When my TV died on me in late 1997, my then roommate and I made a little pilgrimage down to the Circuit City in Union Square and split the cost of this bad boy. We hauled it home, hooked it up, turned it on, and the first thing we saw on the screen was Darth Vader kicking ass. We vegged out in front of our inaugural joint possession for the next four hours.

Recently, being the big shot that I am, I came into a newer, better television set, obviating the need for this still fully functional piece of merchandise. No one wanted it on Craigslist, so I'm offering it to you.

Another image:
Well, not exactly you. Maybe it'll be a bonus prize at the next BQT, on April 7.

March 17, 2008

The Ivory Tower welcomes us

Finally, after banging on that large oaken door forever, I finally got us noticed in that ultimate arbiter of NYC intelligentsia culture: The New Yorker. Click on the link to read their very nice blurb in the new issue. (Apparently, we do the misspelled-signs video round every time, but whatever.) Prepare yourself at the next show to be competing with lots of old white-haired men in bow ties and patch-elbow sport coats.

Plus, get a load of the accompanying illustration:
Michael Schulman, the heroic NYer staffer who wrote the blurb, has described this picture as "Matisse's impression of the Big Quiz Thing," and that works for me.

March 15, 2008

We are all going to snack-chip hell

Recently, looking for a lunchtime accompaniment to my favorite sandwich, I ventured to the vending machine in my office and saw this:First of all, I have no idea why the colors are screwed up like that (I'm bad with the series of tubes), but yes, that is a bag of Burger Kind brand "potato snacks." Essentially, they're rectangular-shaped potato chips suffused with the eerily accurate flavor of Burger Kind fries and ketchup. I had no idea the fast-food monarch was extending itself into the world of packaged snacks, why now, but anything that'll help it take down the evil, Cthulu-esque entity that is McDonald's.

This is wrong on so many levels. I mean, during my years in Canada, I became intimately familiar with ketchup-flavored potato chips (and several trips to England have introduced me to far stranger varieties of crisps—T-bone steak, prawn cocktail, chicken and stuffing). But these things tasted way, way too much like greasy, lard-encrusted sticks of fluffy potato that you buy to accompany your nine-piece Chicken Tenders.

And then, the text on the back of the bag:This is demented. When Burger King incorporates Chinese cosmology into the art of selling vending-machine snacks, you know we're in trouble. But I wonder: Are there advertising agencies that consider this savvy? The way to appeal to that desirable snack-consuming youngster demographic is to get mystical and philosophical about it, in a regular-jerk-at-the-end-of-the-bar sort of way.

Anyway, they were ridiculously delicious. I bought another bag three days later.

March 13, 2008

Farewell, Batter Up Cake Bar

As those of you present at last Monday's quiz are aware, this was the last edition of the Big Quiz Thing with treats supplied by The Batter Up Cake Bar. Though Jeremie Lappe of the BUCB had been part of the quiz team for only a few months, she'd been a huge asset: unbelievably delicious cupcakes to award to my loyal players show after show (and at no cost to me, which was nice). Jeremie is now busy on Sunday nights, precluding any opportunity to bake them fresh for Monday shows; I thought about requesting frozen cupcakes, but I know, your standards are higher than that.

I'm hoping that somewhere down the line, we can lure the BUCB back to the BQT. In the meantime, we're on the hunt for new treat makers. E-mail info@bigquizthing.com with suggestions.

Also, go to Batter Up's website directly and buy some of that insanely delicious product. The more you buy, the more she'll realize she needs the BQT bump, and the more she's likely to come back, and then the more you're likely to win some at the show. It's sort of like "buy one, possibly get some much later down the road free."

We were there first

Last Monday: another ridiculously successful Big Quiz Thing. Yes, yes, figuring out what language comedians are speaking in YouTube clips is not as easy as it seems. But wasn't it fun to hear stand-up comedy done in Afrikaans?

The big news Monday was that our fans are cutting-edge political quipmeisters. Just a few hours before the BQT began, the news broke about your pal and mine, Eliot Spitzer. So as you can imagine, folks were creative with team names. Unfortunately, great minds think alike. We had teams called…

Spitzer Swallows
Spitzer Swallows?! (note the interrobang)
Eliot Spitz'or Swallows
Gerard Depardouche, a.k.a. Spitzer Swallows
Eliot Spitzer's Little Black Book
Eliot Mess (a pun that Stephen Colbert laid claim to that same night)

Also, Jonathan of Eliot Mess (the erstwhile Can I Quiz in Your Mouth?, before that Robin Hood and His Merry Meningitis) told me they were considering to go with some variation of "Spitzer Swallows," until they overheard neighbors making the same plan. Personally, I like another idea he told me about: Gary Gygax 12-Sided Died.

More blog posts sooner rather than later, I promise.