December 31, 2009

Happy happy, new new


Happy New Year, everyone: Let us boldly look forward to this clump of 365 days. 2010the crappy movie sequel, not the year—was the first film I saw in a theater without an adult taking me, so this year has special significance for me, of course; Zack Greenfield and I insisted on sitting in the front row, and our necks really fucking hurt by the end.

But more importantly, 2010—the year, not the crappy movie sequel—will be the biggest, quizziest annum yet. We have a lot on tap, including our return to (Le) Poisson Rouge this Monday, our premiere show in Boston on January 28 (the first of many, we hope), and—finally!—the birth of the Big Quiz Thing TV show (possibly, let us all pray). Plus, much more that I am not at liberty to discuss at the moment, but I swear I'm not bullshitting here.

And did you know that 2010 will be the International Year of Biodiversity? And that the 1990 video game Street Fighter 2010 will finally become a reality? So many reasons to be optimistic, friends.

December 29, 2009

Prizes: UCB + Babeland

Pretty interesting prizes for this Monday, at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The usual $250 in cash prizes (but really, is that ever "usual"?), plus some extra goodies:ASSSCAT 3000 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
We've given this away before, and it was snapped up quick by a tied-for-second-place team. It's back: two passes to the UCB Theatre's marquee improv show, featuring all sorts of famous people from the various spheres of the comedy world. You get to jump the line full of nerds, in other words.

And…


Classes at Babeland
I am so not making this up: Babeland, the country's premier chain of women-owned sex shops, is on board with the Big Quiz Thing. We have two passes to the Babeland class of the winner's choice: everything from chocolate tasting to how to give a proper blow job and seduce your boyfriend after the Super Bowl. (Yes, it used to be "Toys in Babeland," but changed its name to emphasize that it has a lot more than toys. Classes, for example, and a pretty interesting variety of wacky condoms.) Expect the EDP wisecracks to come hard and fast at Monday's show, pun intended.

And of course, the typical slate of other good stuff; I have a rather impressive Batman book to unload. And hey, if you work for anyone with cool items/services to hawk, let us know: info@bigquizthing.com.

December 28, 2009

Video: Trivial Palindromes Semordnilap Laivirt

Fun, fun—from last week's quiz, the video round, "Trivial Palindromes Semordnilap Laivirt." A longtime trivial dream I made come true.



And hey, don't forget: The first quiz of the '10s is a week from tonight, 1/4, at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Rebuses, Big Endings, all that good stuff; see you then.

December 27, 2009

I found Mister Rogers

The Internet is magic. When I was 13 years old, I dug through some old vinyl LPs my parents had bought in the early '70s and came across this:
I love Mister Rogers; one of the titans of the televisual medium. So at age 13, I put this record on, laughed at it, then put it back in the closet. One year later, my family moved and the record was probably converted to suburban mulch, years before eBay made it worth an attempt at reselling

But for no apparent reason, one track floated through my mental transom every few months—under the guise of chipmunk fellow Cornflake S. Pecially, Fred Rogers himself sings "Looking for a Friend." I'd occasionally be curious to hear it again, but the album was light years beyond out of print, barely mentioned on the Internet.

But it was only a matter of time. A couple months ago, the song came to mind again, I fired up the Google machine, I found this page, and seconds later, I'd downloaded the whole album (as you can do yourself), and I finally heard "Looking for a Friend" again. I repeat: The Internet is magic.

The whole album is fucking weird. Mister Rogers may be God, but he sounds like a drunk God. And that particular song, "Looking for a Friend," is absolutely nuts. That instrumental break—a pretty snappy-sounding Dixieland jazz band going crazy—is interesting: The Neighborhood of Make Believe always had an interesting weirdness to it, but it was never this manic. Here:



I'm also amused by that other tune, "Three Rodents with Defective Eyesight." See, I thought I'd independently invented the concept for the Pop Music Thesaurus and the Movie Quote Thesaurus, but apparently it was Mister Rogers' influence all along.

December 26, 2009

Overused words and phrases of the decade

In my regular trivia-combing on the Interwebs, I stumbled upon this list: the Top 25 Most Overused Words and Phrases of the Decade. Interesting—I like this list, and agree with most of it. Some of it seems like it's not novel to this past decade—"Dude!" and the clever combining of words (e.g., "metrosexual) go back to the '90s, if not earlier—but other points are well made. Some selective commentary:

"Wardrobe malfunction": This phrase is irritating, but mostly for the trend it's symptomatic of: the inability of anyone to take responsibility for anything. That Janet Jackson's–boob-at-the–Super Bowl stunt was dumb, but not remotely as dumb as the bozo puritanical reaction to it (yeah, date rapists breaking each other's vertebrae is wholesome family entertainment, utterly ruined by the sight of a female breast). "Waldrobe malfunction" is an example of the mealymouthed refusal to call idiots on their hypocritical nonsense. Ergh.

"Status update," "tweeted," "Un/Friended" All IM- and text-inspired abbreviations: OMG, TMI, WTF, LMAO, ZOMG, and the granddaddy of them all, LOL: Get used to it, Grandpa.

"Cougar": The novelty of this wore off about 30 seconds after the cultural meme hit the mainstream. George Burns once said that the greatest discovery of the 20th century is that women like it too; I'm incline to agree, but giving a cutesy nickname to perfectly normal adults who number in the millions betrays a real lack of sexual confidence.

“I just threw up a little in my mouth": I never liked this. It is neither funny, nor a particularly evocative way to say, "I'm disgusted."

Getting anything “on,” like “getting my drink on": Agreed. I despise this—the forced casualness and phony hipness of it drives me insane. I am constantly beating it back in my day job as an editor, reminding people that somehow, we were able to express ourselves before Missy Elliott came along.

"That’s what she said”: Call me juvenile, but I still think this is funny.

Personally, I feel like this past ten-year period has suffered from a peculiar infestation of especially annoying phraseology, but I'm sure civilization has always been plagued in this way. So I wouldn't panic too much. Still, if, when the 2020s come along, we're communicating solely in symbols and word fragments, I'll admit I was wrong.

December 22, 2009

Recap: It's working!

Happy holidays, happy winter solstice, happy palindrome day, happy happy happy. The Hotter Newer Format of the Big Quiz Thing—featuring the big Three-Way Finale—is working, folks: Two shows down, and two shows in which one of the longtime regular teams that seldom scores a victory came out on top (Incontinental Congress last time, Sugah Titz this time). Apologies, Fantastic Fournicators and Gerard Depardouche, but you had a pretty sweet deal there for quite a while there.

Despite some borderline-tasteless jokes about Brittany Murphy, last night was a cozy, joy-filled Big Quiz Thing. We had a healthy number of Smart-Ass Points (Dame Judi Dench played Sherlock Holmes 14 times in the 1940s?!?), we made good use of the Not-So-Secret Secret Clue and its new audio sting on the question "In 1967, a comedic actor named Leo Gorcey was the only person who refused to allow a picture of himself to appear on what?"

And the video round: "Trivial Palindromes Semordnilap Laivirt." I loved this, and had a few audience compliments saying the same. As you might be aware, I love word games, so this is hardly unusual BQT terrain, and I had a lot of fun with it, even though I cribbed the palindromes themselves from another source. (Link to YouTube soon.) Thanks for the hearty laugh on "Lisa Bonet ate no basil." And audio-round action: Songs of 2008. The Jonas Brothers really are too easy to make fun of, you're right.

And the standings…

1. Sugah Titz (Rerun-dancing Jonathan claimed victory in the Three-Way Finale)
2. Gerard Depardouche/Sarah Palin's Death Panel (tie)
4. Fantastic Fournicators/Tattoos for the Elderly (tie)

NEXT TIME: We're back at (Le) Poisson Rouge! Yay! January 4, 7:30pm. "Rebus in Peace," plus "The Big Ending" for the audio round. My arm hairs are tingling. Happy New Year, all.

December 21, 2009

Tonight's NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET CLUE


Yes! Use this clue at tonight's Big Quiz Thing, when I give the word…

Twenty years ago today

Got that? Get it more this evening, 7:30pm, Crash Mansion.

December 19, 2009

$2 bill: Twice as nice

At the last Big Quiz Thing, someone paid part of the admission with a $2 bill. One from the 1976 printing, even, and in immaculately crisp condition. I never noticed how much this picture of Thomas Jefferson looks like John Mellencamp.

Another BQT first. As you know, the $2 is a rare bird, although they are still officially in circulation (meaning the Federal Reserve doesn't tear them up when it gets them, like the $500 or $1,000 or evidence of alien landings). Turns out, most of the $2 bills out there are from '76, when the government redesigned it and pushed the bill to honor the bicentennial. ($2 equals 200 pennies—bit of a stretch.)

There are a handful of stories about the $2. One might take some interest in the discussion of why no one uses them; I imagine it has something to do with bullshit American intractability. But apparently, they're experiencing something of a revival at smarter strip clubs, which give them as change to encourage more profitable tipping. Then this factoid: The $2 bill is the only active American currency featuring images of more than one President (Jefferson and Adams—future Big Quiz Thing question!). And of course, Snopes.com fans, there are the amazing but true tales of dingbat cashiers who refuse to accept them and insist they're counterfeit. Finally, and this is one of the few bits of knowledge I've retained from three tortuous years at Jefferson Elementary School, there's something interesting on the reverse: It's a reproduction of John Trumbull's painting The Declaration of Independence, depicting the signing thereof.
Take a glance underneath the table at right (where the signing is happening), and notice the foot just to the right of the tablecloth corner nearly touching the floor.
Hmm… Whose foot is that? Logic would dictate it's paired with the one immediately to our left of it, and thus belongs to Jefferson, but while the tall Virginian was a fantastically talented guy, most historians agree he could not bend his knee to make his leg shaped like a lightning bolt. Maybe Robert Livingston, to Jeff's right, is doing an extreme plié, but probably not. So what's the deal? Government conspiracy? Foil for counterfeiters? Crappy printing? Most likely the latter, especially based on Trumbull's painting, which makes it crystal clear that the foot is Tommy J's.

So hey, who gave me the $2 bill? Where did you get it? Let's do a little mini Where's George? experiment.

December 13, 2009

NT's greatest hits, no. 23 (of 34)

Just when you thought it was forgotten…

"Message in a Bottle" by the Police



I have a sister, three years older. Based on her musical tastes, I often speak of a subgenre of rock & roll I call "Older Sister Music." Sort of pop-goth acts, e.g., Depeche Mode, the Cure, the Smiths. Not that only older sisters are into these sounds—I love the Smiths, and the BQT's door girl Sherry—youngest of three—is a hardcore OSM fan—but these bands seem emblematic of a type of teenage girl of the '80s and '90s who seemed perpetually two to four years older than me.

Yet far and above, growing up my sister's favorite band was the Police. Not a unique choice in the early to mid-'80s, but she was particularly dedicated; she had a three-foot-diameter copy of Synchronicity hung on her bedroom wall. And while I never picked up on Depeche Mode via next-bedroom-over osmosis, I did become a pretty ardent Police fan, of which I remain (Sting solo I can take or leave, especially after his management office fired DJ GB's husband).

Like the Beatles, the Police hit a sweet spot of massive fan adulation and critical appreciation. And listening to their best work, it's kind of amazing how such creative musicianship broke through to the masses on the level it did; the first few Police records combined punk rock and exotic, far-afield rhythms in a way that no one else picked up on, at least until the past few years (Vampire Weekend and bands of that ilk seem to get it, and they do have their moments). But "Message in a Bottle," my favorite Police song, is on the more conventional side: a terse and tense new-wave rock tune, with an intensely repeating guitar figure. It's a good opportunity for the band to show off its musical chops—Stewart Copeland is justly hailed as a mind-blowing drummer, but I don't think Andy Summers and Sting ever got full credit for how adept they were at their own instruments, to which "Message in a Bottle" is strong testament. And while Sting's high and yelpy vocal style is ripe for parody, it worked perfectly for this music and subject matter, at least back then (1979 this song was released).

Speaking of which, "Message in the Bottle" shows Sting's lyrical style mutating from open expressions of isolation and self-pity ("Can't Stand Losing You" is hilariously sad) to the exotic but fairly transparent metaphors of Synchronicity. "Message in a Bottle" is particularly elegant, in that it tells the story simply and unpretentiously, with plenty of palpable emotion. At the same time, it rocks, satisfying that other major aspect of my musical interest. This song is brilliant, this band was excellent. My sister was right about some things.

More of NT's greatest hits: "Emily Kane," "Born to Run," "Shake Some Action," "Chips Ahoy!," "Radio, Radio," "Could You Be the One?," "Summer in the City," "Teenage Kicks," "Strawberry Fields Forever, " "Tunnel of Love," "I Get Around," "Local Girls," "Don't Let's Start," "Suffragette City," "See-Saw," "My Name Is Jonas," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Reelin' in the Years," "Objects of My Affection" and "Crimson and Clover," "OK Apartment" and "Just What I Needed"

December 9, 2009

Calendar: Bar mitzvahs and Boston

Just got official word about two forthcoming BQT events, both biggish news…

(1) We're doing a bar mitzvah, our first (if you don't count my actual own bar mitzvah; for all I know, my haftorah was indeed full of trivia questions in Hebrew). Since the early days of the quiz, people have jokingly suggested we'd be hot stuff on the candy-throwing-and-Coke-and-Pepsi circuit, but I was always wary of this. I have vivid memories of many bar/bat mitzvahs, with overhormoned teenagers running around suburban banquet halls like idiots, melting candles into parfait glasses and trying to get to second base with that one girl who was developing early. All good stuff, yet not fertile ground for an organized game. But this gig looks excellent: The mom assures me her son is a quiz nut, the crowd will be modestly sized, and I'm a pro by now. Should be fun (and yes, as always, e-mail booking@bigquizthing.com to set up your own private party).

(2) We're going to Boston! I mentioned it in the last calendar, but it's official: On Thursday, January 28, the Big Quiz Thing will be performing at Club Oberon, in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Yeah, okay, not literally Boston, but ten minutes on the T, you nit-pickers.) I spend a lot of time in that city, due to the presence of both my quizette and my family, so it feels like a natural move, and EDP is joining me on this trip so that we can show them how it's done—judging by the number of bars with quiz nights, trivia is a bigger deal in Boston than in NYC. Oberon is great—it's run by the American Repertory Theater, and is currently hosting The Donkey Show, which was a big hit here some years past (and, of course, was based on this, which is appropriate considering the venue name). I'll have a press release here tout suite, but in the meantime, tell your friends: Club Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, Thursday, January 28, 8pm, $10.

Think we should hit another city and know of a venue that would be appropriate? Say the word.

December 7, 2009

Recap: Murder, panhandles, and final rounds

As is too often the case, I underestimated you, my quizzlings. I had the moderate fear that at this edition of the BQT, the audio round topic, "Music Is Murder," would hit the red on the bad-taste meter. But you were all over it, like an ambitious prosecutor on a high-profile homicide case. Music clips from ten artists taken down by man's inhumanity to man, and we managed to limit it to three rap songs. DJ GB is very proud.

Plus, the "Movies of 2009: A Closer Look" (extreme close-ups of recent film posters) was more challenging than I anticipated; who knew the iridescent blue musculature of Dr. Manhattan would so quickly fade from popular memory? We also had fun with four-parters on panhandle cities and comic-strip coinages, and—courtesy the Not-So-Secret Secret Clue—some witty criticism of Gilligan's Island ("It’s difficult to believe it was written, directed and filmed by adults…"). Congratulations to Crash Mansion Staff Infection, the most important team out there, for scoring the lone Smart-Ass Point of the night on "1936 was the first year that Time magazine named a woman its Man of the Year. What American socialite received the honor?": J. Edgar Hoover.

But the big story was the first official Three-Way Finale: From now on, the top three finishing teams will each elect a member to come up on stage for a first-to-two, bell-driven final round. We had the expected (the Fantastic Fournicators), the hardy surprising (Strippers for Stephen Hawking), and the underdogs (Incontinental Congress). IC had played many a time, had never won, but they pulled it out in two straight questions, clinching it with "What last name was shared by major characters on the TV shows My So-Called Life and Entourage?" Bravo, sir. We're doing this again, for sure (and just so you know, I had good feedback from the Fournicators themselves, so peace reigns over all).

The standings:
1. Incontinental Congress (finally)
2. Fantastic Fournicators/Strippers for Stephen Hawking (tie)
4. Cash Cab for Cutie
5. Jefferson Davis Starship

Next up: Last of '09's quizzes, December 21, back at Crash. Then we begin '10 with our triumphant return to (Le) Poisson Rouge, January 4 at 7:30. Rock on with your bad self, or with a friend.

Tonight's NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET CLUE

As promised, from now on, the day of every flagship BQT event, I'll post here (and on Facebook and Twitter) a new Not-So-Secret Secret Clue. Remember the words below, and utilize them tonight when I say when…

What, they couldn't build a raft?

Delightfully cryptic, wouldn't you say? See you tonight at Crash Mansion, 7:30pm.

December 2, 2009

Calendar: The BQT's near future at a glance

I should've done this a long time ago. Here's a handy-dandy guide to Big Quiz Thing events in the next month and a half or so…

MONDAY, DECEMBER 7: The flagship show at Crash Mansion. $250 in cash prizes, of course. With "Movies of 2009, A Closer Look" and "Music Is Murder." Prizes from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and tix to the Menorah Horah (see below). And check here the day of for the second ever Not-So-Secret Secret Clue (7:30pm, $7).

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 and SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12: Quizmaster Noah will be making a special appearance in the third annual Menorah Horah variety show, starring the Schlep Sisters. Expect Hanukkah-themed trivia, along with material related to some other holiday that happens this month, I can't recall the name. We're at Two Boots in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Friday (10pm, $16) and Southpaw in Brooklyn Saturday night (8pm, $12).

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18: A double shot at 92YTribeca, as Quizmaster Noah takes part in Kevin Maher's Kevin Geeks Out holiday grab bag (8pm, $10), and then, before the 10pm screening of The NeverEnding Story, he does a quick quiz about '80s fantasy movies (10:30pm, $10).

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21: Last BQT of the year! At Crash Mansion, video and audio round TBD (7:30pm, $7).

MONDAY, JANUARY 4: The Big Quiz Thing begins '10 with a return to the glorious (Le) Poisson Rouge, site of the ridiculously awesome 200th Episode last August. We'll be bringing back "Rebus in Peace," along with the audio round "The Big Ending." Since this isn't a big milestone show, it's the usual $7 cover, but we do want to pack the room again; the more people, the more they'll be eager to have us back, and I have a massive venue-crush on this place (7:30pm, $7).

MONDAY, JANUARY 18: Back at Crash Mansion. Details seriously TBD, although DJ GB and I are discussing an Elvis Presley theme in honor of his 75th birthday, if you can believe it (7:30pm, $7).

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28: Just confirmed: The Big Quiz Thing is headed to Boston (actually, Cambridge). We're bringing NYC's Live Trivia Spectacular to Club Oberon in Harvard Square. Details forthcoming.

SOME OTHER TIME: We'll do your private party, any way you like it, you secret freak. E-mail booking@bigquizthing.com.

ALL THE TIME: Trivia on the BQT's Twitter feed.