Recap: You have to trust me

That's what I always keep saying. Yet despite my assurances to the contrary—and my long years of expert quizmastering—some of you doubt me. And thus, a near riot broke out midway through tonight's excellent Big Quiz Thing at Hill Country, when I revealed the answer to this question:

Rounded to the nearest integer, what percentage of the movies nominated for Best Picture Oscar this year have titles beginning with The?


First of all, you should have been ready for this, since I basically asked the same question last year (when the answer was a tidy four). But when I declared the right answer—44%—probverbial hell proverbially broke loose, and many folks swore the correct answer was 33%, that one of the nominees was Tree of Life, and not the title you see above. But seriously, you all should trust me—and you all includes myself, since I initially wondered if I'd made a (semi-)rare boo-boo. But nope; my research habits come through. It is The Tree of Life (for those who hold fast to it).

Tonight was a slam-bang Big Quiz Thing, always a good time at the tasty, tasty Hill Country. We had DJ GB, a BQT O.G., back on the wheels of MP3 steel (EDP took the night off to, I don't know, get started on a third kid maybe), and some typically jolly-good multimedia quiz content: "The Orchestra of Obscure Instruments" was delightfully cacophonic, with everything from the hammered dulcimer to the cowbell (more!), and the "That's Not Even a Real Word!" audio round helped us settle the issue of exactly what that Jay-Z song is titled and let me declare my attraction to Julie Andrews.

C'mon, cute, right?

Plus, we took a trip back to when the Internet looked like crap (this fascinating slide show was my source), I learned that Shakespeare wrote "The Phoenix and the Turtle" (and not "The Phoenix and the Band That Sang 'Happy Together'"), I commended people who guessed that Kim Campbell was Canada's first female Mountie (turns out that happened in the '70s). And we looked at some classic NYC-area TV commercials. Admit it: This is still stuck in your head:

Yes, cocktail is included

And some solid Smart-Ass Points. The female slide whistler in the Orchestra of Obscure Instruments was someone's idea of an exciting Friday night, and Morrissey's best-known song is titled "I Love Life and Everything Is Wonderful."

Probably not

The finale: Well, it was quick and dirty, as my pappy likes to say. Incontinental Congress was defending their crown against Strippers for Stephen Hawking and Cash Cab for Cutie—the usual gang of nerds, in other words—and IC didn't have much trouble tonight, sealing the deal in two straight questions. Not that exciting, but this is how you know it isn't rigged.

The standings; crapload of ties tonight:
1. Incontinental Congress: The roll they're on is indeed impressive
2. Cash Cab for Cutie/Strippers for Stephen Hawking (tie)
4. Gerard Depardouche/Fantastic Fournicators (tie)
6. Fat Kids Get the Bottom Bunk/Hulk Hogan's Halftime Heroes (tie)
8. Jefferson Davis Starship
9. Oh Noah, You Didn't/Sugah Titz (tie)

Extra-special mega thanks to Mark and Matt Levy of Levys' Unique New York, hosts of the Fifth Annual Panorama Challenge at the Queens Museum, NYC's second best quiz event, naturally. February 10 at 7pm, pure awesomeness.

As for the BQT, we're back on February 13, two short weeks from now, at M1-5. Keep up with us on the Facespace and the Twittplace and life will be good.