Polk, Michael Jackson, The Twilight Zone: Together at last

Back from vacation, back to the Big Quiz Thing, and oh, what a show tonight. "An Entirely Presidented Quiz"—a barrel-of-fun American history quiz focusing on the Presidents—was a great success; you can't go wrong with James K. Polk.

Naturally, there was a lot of Michael Jackson tonight. Sad how his death already seems kind of like old news—the fitting appreciation for his musical achievements has already degraded into the same tabloid garbage that made that last decade of his life such a pathetic spectacle—but the BQT had to respond. Not out of some egomaniacal delusion that the world cares what I think, but because I've personally always viewed the quiz as an outlet for my own tremendous pop-cultural jones. If I let such a huge pop event go by without comment, I was failing in my own little personal trivia mission. I had to jam on the MJ tonight, for myself (though, yes, hopefully to entertain you as well).

As such, lots of Michael tonight. The audio round, "Maximum Michael Jackson," of course, but also…

Michael Jackson appeared in what 1986 film, which at the time was the most expensive film to produce on a per-minute basis?

When the Jackson 5 first won Amateur Night at the Apollo, Michael was only two weeks away from turning what age?

Michael Jackson had a total of BLANK brothers and BLANK sisters.

(Incidentally, in the past week and a half, I'd tweeted all of these.)

Also, lots of fun with the four-part questions tonight: "Gay or Jewish?" is always good for a laugh, and great job guessing/remembering the twist ending to Twilight Zone episodes, and making Smart-Ass Points out of them. I have no doubt that the episode "People Are Alike All Over" would've been a lot funnier if Roddy McDowall had discovered that the martians had given him a lovely apartment…in Bushwick.

The standings:

1. Strippers for Stephen Hawking: It was only a matter of time for them.
2. Fantastic Fournicators
3. Cash Cab 4 Cutie
4. Birds of Ill Omen 2.0
5. Ain't Nothin' but a Geek Thing

Next show July 20, but get ready: The 200th episode of the Big Quiz Thing, August 31. Details to come in this very space.

MUST GET NEWS ON MICHAEL JACKSON!

Yes, big story. Ed McMahon's moving down the couch.

First, his absolute best song:

And below, I just wrote this up for Time Out New York's music blog, a sort of "memories of Michael Jackson" piece, but I might as well share here. MJ trivia to come at the next quiz or two, for sure…


For anyone born when I was—1975—Star Wars has the ingrained importance of a folk legend, and Michael Jackson strode like a titan within popular culture. He was easily the most important man on earth when I was at that formative age, and I wasn't even a fan (I preferred Hall and Oates).

Bowing to some kind of pressure, the administration of my elementary school herded us all into the auditorium one afternoon to screen the extended
"Thriller" video. (One girl's parents got upset; they were crazy Christians and the occult content offended their sensibilities.) Around the same time, my fourth-grade teacher gifted honor students with Michael Jackson posters (I gave mine to a dumb girl I had a crush on). I opted for Thriller as my monthly cassette tape purchase in early 1983, not because I really wanted it, but simply because I felt I needed it as a human being. I'm sure adults at the time had a different perspective, but I remember Michael Jackson uniting the culture in the way that the Beatles had earlier (I'm told), and in a way no one ever will again in our media-fractured society.

For the record: I later developed an appreciation for most of Thriller, became a fan of his Jackson 5 work and never believed for a second that he molested those kids.

UPDATE: We're jamming on the MJ for the next quiz: Monday, July 6, the audio round will now be "Maximum Michael Jackson." Plus more Bubbles-friendly trivia during the night. Sham-ON!