May 26, 2008

Video flashback

As promised, in the interregnum (good word) before the next Big Quiz Thing—JUNE 16!—I'm posting some of the past video rounds to YouTube for your (re)viewing delight. More to come, but in case you're too lazy to click on the preceding link, here ya go…

From last year, the Magazine Flashback Mind-Teaser. What should the question marks be on these magazine covers?



I'm still proud of how I managed to make a team-trivia contest out of my beloved boyhood pastime, Boggle (what did you expect, soccer?). In each Boggle tray, find the words/names that subscribe to the clue (at least three for each one).



This one was complex, but cool: Major Motion Picture Mathematics. Based on how many films were in each series (theatrically; no remakes, no straight to video), complete the math equation:



And finally (for now), the Ugliest Most Beautiful Celebrities. Name the star from People's annual list, albeit post–mondo distortion:



If you're just dying for answers, e-mail info@bigquizthing.com.

May 22, 2008

A geeky recommendation

This is awesome: Jollyship the Whiz-Bang. These people have been kicking around the city for a few years now (I saw them in '04 at Bowery Poetry Club), but they just started an extended run at Ars Nova (site of a BQT once upon a time), and they've truly upped their game.

Basically… seven people. They're a rock band. They're puppeteers. They put on a play. It's about pirates. They do a million things at the same time, all of them well. The puppets are fascinating, the script is funny, the production level is impressive, and the songs are good (some of them great). This is what theater should be: creative, fun, and interesting to geeks like us who need a lot to hold our attention.

Details here. I hope for their success, even though the main guy in the show used to date my girlfriend. (You host a game show for a while and you build a lot of self-esteem.)

May 20, 2008

More fun, less time

So… last night, our friends at Crash Mansion had big, big plans post-9pm (you should've seen the VIP section that was set up by 9:15; maybe I'll do likewise for the next quiz), so the BQT presented a slightly condensed version, wrapping up around 9. Did you feel ripped off? Dissatisfied with your Big Quiz Thing experience? Keep it to yourself, please.

But I think we had fun. I finally brought back "Public Zoo" (a.k.a. name the random animal Photoshopped into the random photo of the random city, which you also must name), though I was disappointed that most people can't identify a coatimundi. They were crawling all over the place when I was in Costa Rica, and they're kind of creepy looking. Here:

I read a story on NY1 last year about police raiding a home in the Bronx, and the cops were seriously freaked when one of these ran out from behind a piece of furniture. Always check for coatimundis when renting in NYC.

Anyway, as I announced, we're taking a mini hiatus due to scheduling shenanigans (private events, venue conflicts), so we're back in FOUR WEEKS: Monday, June 16, then June 30, then July 14 (my birthday show, of course). In the meantime, I plan to upload some old video rounds to YouTube, so enjoy that.

The results last night: Fantastic Fournicators win again, with only six members. Are you next?

1. Fantastic Fournicators
2. Gerard Depardouche
3. Birds of Ill Omen
Sugah Titz (tie)
5. The Quiz Knows

May 12, 2008

What celebrities do when they have too much time on their hands

Sherry, the erstwhile door girl of the Big Quiz Thing, turned me on to this:

"Green Porno," a series of bizarre short films written by, codirected by and starring Isabella Rossellini. Apparently, she woke up in the middle of the night some time ago, maybe after an evening of too much malbec or grappa or whatever it is European film royalty drink, and was possessed with the idea of making short films about insects fucking. Thank God someone in showbiz still knows how to use her cultural capital.

These are really demented, but they're great. So simple in concept but so clever in execution. They're all excellent, but probably the sickest is the "Snail" one.

May 8, 2008

Not that I would know…

My new favorite blog: Things You Can't Do Coked Up. I keep forgetting the URL and just Googling "coked up" and "blog."

Scroll down a little bit: Any mention of Jenga is a-okay in my book.

May 6, 2008

You trivia nerds so crazy

Hey!

What a fun Cinco de Mayo we had last evening at the Big Quiz Thing. I'm not surprised that no one knew what chilaquiles are—all the true Mexican-food fanatics were probably off, you know, eating some. But man, you folks were a spirited crowd. Hope we got good video footage…

William H. Macy and the Sunshine Band was unable to repeat its victory (tying for seventh place), and the Fantastic Fournicators thus return to the throne. But as EDP said, it's not much of a trick getting 67 points when you have 67 people on your team. (Interesting, the second-place finishers—for the second show in a row—were Bitter Herb the Pennsylvania Jew, who this week were playing with only three people.)

Some things we learned…

-- A "gladiolus" is a sword, as well as a word that sounds like "gladiator." Who knew? (Um…I did, of course.)

-- "Pulling a rabbit out of her snatch" is not as much of a joke as you might think.

-- I was right: When shown a scene from The Empire Strikes Back, someone out there did identify it as Return of the Jedi. And our B-Cutie Nicki has never seen either!

-- The heavily Mormon region of the West is called "the Jell-O belt." Really.

-- Quizmaster Noah is hot for Rachael Ray. (And yes, that's how it's spelled.)

-- Everybody knows "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. No one knows that Ionic, Doric and Corinthian are orders of classical Greek architecture (not just columns).

There were also some especially good team names this week: Lawrence of a Labia, Incontinental Breakfast, the Tom Selleck Surprise (don't know what it is, but it creeps me out). Sugah Titz now has to deal with the challenge of Splenda Titz. And Austrian Daughters of the Dungeon was there—all together now: TOO SOON!

And here are the standings for this week…

1. Fantastic Fournicators
2. Bitter Herb the Pennsylvania Jew
3. (tie) Birds of Ill Omen
The Budos
Jefferson Davis Starship

BTW, after next show, May 19, we're out for a month, till June 19.

May 5, 2008

BQT, cabaret style

So last Friday night, I once again participated in an annual event at the Ensemble Studio Theatre: the "Cabaret Scientifique," a night of various science-themed performances to cap off the theater's yearly run of science-themed theater. Always a good chance to recycle some of the great scientific trivia you enjoy year round (yeah, 'cause there are always so many science questions).

Check it out below. I'm hoping to do more of these in the near future, i.e., at other cabaret-type showcases; let me know if you got the hookup.