Friday, May 30, 2008

I dare you to figure out this week's sample Secret Theme rounds!

Each group of 10 otherwise unrelated tough questions has a theme running through its answers. Can you answer the questions and figure out the themes? Answers will be posted early next week.

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

1) What Through the Looking Glass character had a semantics argument with Alice, including the quote "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean."?
2) What common one-syllable computer term is synonymous with "hang", a condition in which the machine goes unresponsive?
3) What '50s doo-wop group had their biggest hit with "Earth Angel"?
4) Guitarist Kristy Wallace is a founding member of The Cramps. What's her stage name?
5) According to Greek legend, what question had to be answered in order to be allowed passage into the city of Thebes?
6) What did British citizen Howard Carter discover in 1922 which made him world-famous?
7) What 1945 best-selling memoir by American author Betty MacDonald resulted in a series of ten "Ma and Pa Kettle" movies?
8) What comedian was the host of Family Feud, 1999-2002?
9) What game show, on air 1972-1991, was the show "where knowledge is king and Lady Luck is queen"?
10) What prime time TV show, on air 1983-87, starred Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner?

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Dirty Frank's:

1) What controversial 1978 book by Edward Said criticized the treatment of the East in Western academia?
2) The '80s sit-com Kate & Allie starred Jane Curtain and..?
3) What TV show featured the recurring segments The Blue Beetle, The $6.39 Man and Love of Chair?
4) What 1980 sci-fi film was the screen debut for both William Hurt and Drew Barrymore?
5) In order to sail from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Kattegat, or vice versa, what body of water must be traversed?
6) What American magazine, still published, was founded in 1857 by such luminaries as Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
7) Who created the LOVE statue?
8) At what Philadelphia attraction will you find the new Delaware River Watershed Education Center?
9) What American world middleweight boxing champ was the Ring magazine Fighter of the Year 1983 and 1985, did ads for Pizza Hut and Gillette and now lives in Italy?
10) What 1990 movie starred Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine and Michael Keaton?


... and what theme links the ten answers?

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Next week's quiz schedule

This week's odd travel photo is of a mummy on display with otherworldly lighting that I took at a small museum in Cuzco, Peru. Sleep well tonight.

Sunday, June 1, 9pm

Lyon's Den
2nd & Christian Sts.

Subject Round: THE MIDWEST


Monday, June 2, 9pm

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar
1200 E. Passyunk Ave.

(near 9th & Federal Sts.)

Subject Round:
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Tuesday, June 3, 9pm

Drinker's Tavern

Market St. between Front & 2nd Sts.

Subject Round: CAPTAINS

Fourth week of five-week tournament cycle.

Wednesday, June 4, 9pm

Dirty Frank's 13th & Pine Sts.

Subject Round: PUZZLES

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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Solutions to last week's sample Secret Theme rounds

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

The theme was rock band names.

1) What Gary Numan song went Top 10 in the US in 1980? "Cars" / The Cars

2) The Coleoptera group of insect species comprises 40% of known insect species and 25% of all known species on Earth; by what more common English name do we know them? beetles / The Beatles

3) What 1972 cowboy movie starred Jeff Bridges as Jake Rumsey? Bad Company /
Bad Company, who are named after the movie
4) What's the Hebrew word for father? abba / Abba

5) What art and architecture movement was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in
1919? Bauhaus / Bauhaus
6) What major US city has a name which translates as "wild onion" or even "bad smell" in a local native language? Chicago / Chicago (Transit Authority)

7) Which NFL franchise, still with us, has its name drawn from the logo of the Depression-era National Recovery Act? Philadelphia Eagles / The Eagles

8) Which James Bond movie featured Honor Blackman as the primary Bond girl? Goldfinger / Goldfinger

9) What Auguste Rodin sculpture had the original title Francesca da Rimini? The Kiss / KISS
10) What was the second novel in William S. Burroughs' Nova Trilogy? The Soft Machine / The Soft Machine, who are named after the novel



Dirty Frank's:


The theme was musical notation terminology.

1) What 1935 John Steinbeck novel is set in California just before the imposition of Prohibition and was made into a Hollywood film in 1942? Tortilla Flat / flat
2) What countercultural catalog of alternative energy and agriculture implements was published 1968-1998? Whole Earth Catalog / whole notes

3) Andre the Giant, King Kong, the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China have all been termed what? The "Eighth Wonder of the World" / eighth notes

4) Coca-Cola produced its first diet product in 1963; name it. Tab / TAB
5) What was the last album by The Clash, released in 1985? Cut the Crap / cut time
6) By what name is Grammy-nominated rapper Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. better known? Common (Sense) / common time

7) What 1998 film featured Dave Chappelle as Thurgood Jenkins? Half Baked / half notes

8) What part of the upper deck of a ship is reserved for officers, guests and passengers? quarterdeck / quarter notes

9) What 1983 ZZ Top song features the lyric Silk suit, black tie / I don't need a reason why? "Sharp Dressed Man" / sharp
10) What's the Hebrew phrase for "one to whom the commandments apply"? No matter who you are, you've heard the phrase before. Bar Mitzvah / bars

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Friday, May 23, 2008

Can you work out this week's Secret Themes?

Each group of 10 otherwise unrelated tough questions has a theme running through its answers. Can you answer the questions and figure out the themes? Answers will be posted early next week.

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar:

1) What Gary Numan song went Top 10 in the US in 1980?
2) The Coleoptera group of insect species comprises 40% of known insect species and 25% of all known species on Earth; by what more common English name do we know them?
3) What 1972 cowboy movie starred Jeff Bridges as Jake Rumsey?
4) What's the Hebrew word for father?
5) What art and architecture movement was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919?
6) What major US city has a name which translates as "wild onion" or even "bad smell" in a local native language?
7) Which NFL franchise, still with us, has its name drawn from the logo of the Depression-era National Recovery Act?
8) Which James Bond movie featured Honor Blackman as the primary Bond girl?
9) What Auguste Rodin sculpture had the original title Francesca da Rimini?
10) What was the second novel, following Naked Lunch, in William S. Burroughs' Nova Trilogy?

... and what theme links the ten answers?

Dirty Frank's:

1) What 1935 John Steinbeck novel is set in California just before the imposition of Prohibition and was made into a Hollywood film in 1942?
2) What countercultural catalog of alternative energy and agriculture implements was published 1968-1998?
3) Andre the Giant, King Kong, the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China have all been termed what?
4) Coca-Cola produced its first diet product in 1963; name it.
5) What was the last album by The Clash, released in 1985?
6) By what name is Grammy-nominated rapper Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. better known?
7) What 1998 film featured Dave Chappelle as Thurgood Jenkins?
8) What part of the upper deck of a ship is reserved for officers, guests and passengers?
9) What 1983 ZZ Top song features the lyric Silk suit, black tie / I don't need a reason why?
10) What's the Hebrew phrase for one to whom the commandments apply? No matter who you are, you've heard the phrase before.

... and what theme links the ten answers?
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Memorial Day does not change the quiz schedule in any way

My weird travel photo of the week is this detail from a billboard outside of Poipet, Cambodia. All hail the boxing condom.

Sunday, May 25, 9pm
Lyon's Den
2nd & Christian Sts.

Subject Round: PHILADELPHIA


Monday, May 26, 9pm

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar

1200 E. Passyunk Ave.

(near 9th & Federal Sts.)
Subject Round: THE MIDWEST


Tuesday, May 27, 9pm

Drinker's Tavern

Market St. between Front & 2nd Sts.

Subject Round: FOUR

Third week of five-week tournament cycle; low scores over the past two weeks mean you're still in it!


Wednesday, May 28, 9pm

Dirty Frank's 13th & Pine Sts.
Subject Round: COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Urgent: Call Mayor Nutter Today and Demand He Save Philly WiFi

I was passed this by the Media Mobilizing Project. Do consider calling; it's much less painful than it sounds. A couple minutes of your time, really.

It appears the network is facing a June 12 discontinuation date. What's particularly troubling is that Nutter sponsored the City Council bill giving Comcast a monopoly in the city, and seems generally to want to do this Big Evil Corporation's bidding, such as cutting business taxes while eliminating working folks' tax credit. A little bought off, maybe? Methinks so. Always good to remember the distinction between "Democrat" and "liberal" when dealing with the Two Corporate Parties.

When: Today May 21st 9AM-5PM
Phone Number:
(215) 686-3000 or (215) 686-2250

Dear friends,


As many of you know, over the last several months Media Mobilizing Project has been waging a fight to ensure that digital inclusion (or universal broadband access to the internet) remains a priority of Mayor Nutter's administration. We believe that universal broadband access to the internet is vital for all people and that the city should make it a top priority to ensure Philadelphians have access to the economic, social, cultural and political opportunities the internet offers.

As has become increasingly clear over the last several months, Mayor Nutter does not share this position.
As part of our organizing efforts, we are calling for a mass Call In to Mayor Nutter's Office today, Wednesday, May 21, for Philadelphians to demand that the mayor keep digital inclusion a priority for the city.

Also, it's important that Philadelphians urge the mayor to prevent EarthLink from dismantling the city's wireless network while efforts are underway to identify a new entity to run the network.
For more information check out MMP's oped in today's Metro and a story on the call-in in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Call Mayor Nutter! We appreciate your joining us in making this call today and ensuring that communication rights is amongst the ensemble of human rights that Philadelphians enjoy.

Thanks,

Media Mobilizing Project
4134 Lancaster Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19104

215.990.3702

mediamobilizing@gmail.com

www.mediamobilizing.org
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Solutions to last week's Secret Theme rounds

Drinker's Tavern:

The theme was types of salad.

1) What baseball Hall of Famer had a lifelong business relationship with Coca-Cola, accumulating 20,000 shares of stock and three bottling plants by the time of his death? Ty Cobb

2) Name the two old hecklers in the balcony of The Muppet Show. Statler & Waldorf

3) What were the first words spoken by Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? "Mmmm... Juicy Fruit."

4) What PBS show, produced by WGBH Boston, has had only four hosts since its debut in 1975, the first and longest-running being James Underwood Crockett? The Victory Garden

5) What Emmy Award-winning prime time TV show uses the Massive Attack song "Teardrop" as a theme? House, MD

6) What was Philadelphia mob boss Philip Testa's nickname? "Chicken Man"

7) In what classic 1931 film did Edward G. Robinson play a mobster named Rico? Little Caesar

8) What Swiss auto manufacturer existed 1896-1919? Egg, a.k.a. Egg &
Egli
9) In 1969, this band featuring Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy broke off from Jefferson Airplane; name it. Hot Tuna

10) What still-popular toy was invented in the early 1950s by George Lerner, becoming a hit upon its sale to Hasbro in 1952? Mr. Potato Head


Lyon's Den:


The theme was international units of currency.

1) What rock musician wrote the soundtracks to the movies The Princess Bride, Wag the Dog and Last Exit to Brooklyn, among others? Mark Knopfler / German and other marks

2) In which Sergio Leone spaghetti western did German actor Klaus Kinski play a bad guy named Wild? For a Few Dollars More / many nations use the dollar

3) What pitcher shared both the 2001 World Series MVP and the Sport's Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award with Randy Johnson? Curt Schilling / Austrian schilling

4) What American poet, who attended the University
of Pennsylvania, died in exile in Italy in 1972? Ezra Pound / British and other pounds
5) What central figure in South American independence movements was at different times the president of Bolivia, Peru and Gran Colombia? Simon Bolivar / Venezuelan Bolivar
6) What Asian stereotype was played by Gedde Watanabe in 1984's Sixteen Candles? Long Duk Dong / Vietnam uses the dong; here's a dong photo (!) I took on vacation a few years back:7) What do you call the flat-bottomed boats commonly pushed along the Thames with poles instead of rowed with oars? punts / Irish punt
8) In Latin, Portuguese, Spanish and Scandinavian languages this is the word for our sun. What is it? Sol / Peru uses the Nuevo Sol

9) What self-described lesbian folk singer was once the vocalist for the L.A. punk band Nervous Gender, and had the decent-selling major label album I Enjoy Being a Girl in 1989? Phranc / French, Swiss and other francs

10) What was invented by an American named Ron Karenga in 1966? Kwanzaa / Angola uses the kwanza

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Funny, I could swear Rex was in his sack when we left the house...

This was an actual product for sale several decades ago. What could possibly go wrong..?
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Monday, May 19, 2008

Big Daddy Graham is a raging jackass and I won't be appearing on that show again

Last week I received an email, then a phone call from Big Daddy Graham (on WIP 610 AM during the graveyard shift), asking if I would do a trivia segment on his show. You've no doubt seen me promoting that here, and/or have heard me push it live at the bars.

Allow me to emphasize: he called me after seeing this website to ask if I could provide some material for his show, which is horribly disorganized and pretty thin on callers and substance. Currently one regular segment features him telling the Greater Philadelphia area what snack he's going to eat, and then we all get to hear him chew it. I swear I'm not making that up. Orson Welles is clearly not running things over there. It's not as if I begged this guy to be on the air; this wasn't even my idea. When offered, I figured I could plug the quizzes for free in exchange for providing someone some programming who clearly has a great deal of airtime in a large media market and has no idea whatsoever how to fill it.

The plan - again completely his idea, not mine - was that I email him three potential questions for use each night, and then call in around 2:30am, at which point I'd ask the question which he liked best, he having emailed me a response picking one. Callers would call in and a winner would receive a prize. Easy enough, yes?

Little did I know the first night of this, BDG would make the on-air claim that he had no idea what the question or answer was. He carried this charade as far as putting me on hold to tell the producer the answer to the question, having told him and the audience that he was hearing this for the first time. Why lie to your audience? Beyond that, why lie to your own producers? Beyond that, why not let me in on this before I learn that's the way it'd work on air? This didn't seem necessary, unless BDG wanted to make himself seem more on the ball to his producers by pretending that he knew the correct answers.

The first couple of nights the plan worked. At this point I'd already made general announcements on the site, the email list, to most of my friends and at the bars I do the quizzes at that I'd be on the radio, so I wasn't in much of a position to complain about the unnecessary duplicity, and of course not in a position to do anything about it. Then Friday morning rolled around, and BDG's incompetence finally caught up with me.

I had emailed him three questions around 10:30am Thursday, giving him 16 hours to check his email and get back to me with the one he was going to pretend never to have heard before. I don't have a quiz Thursday night, and I was fairly tired. I didn't particularly want to stay up to do this, but I did. I called the internal WIP line at about 2:20am and was put on hold as usual.

Then the producer comes back on to tell me that BDG "didn't receive any questions from me." This I found surprising, both because I knew darn well I sent the questions via email, with a "Reply To" the same address that worked several times before, and because BDG is apparently slow-witted enough that to cover for not checking his email he had to inadvertently spill the beans to his producer that he was receiving the questions ahead of time.

I insisted that I did send the questions, and suggested that BDG hadn't checked his email in a day or so. This was no fault of mine. I told people I'd be on the radio now, and I should be on the radio now. I have some credibility at stake here.

The producer was apparently instructed to ask me what the three questions were. I told him, and after a delay I got back the message that BDG "didn't like" any of them. Then BDG himself got on the phone with me during commercials and said "You didn't send me any questions." I replied, of course, that I did. His response? An irritated "No you didn't!" So now we're not only lying, we're telling me that I'm a liar, or so incompetent that I can't send an email. This is how we treat our guests on WIP..?

He continued that he didn't like any of the questions because "a 23 year old has to be able to answer them." I saw no barrier in a 23 year old answering any of them, and explained that. So he switched to "Well, you didn't do a quiz tonight so you have nothing to plug anyway." I responded that I had a Sunday night quiz to plug. BDG told me I could plug that 2:30 Monday morning, after it happened. At this point I wanted to tell him that he was a moron who misunderstands the laws of cause and effect, but seeing as this wingnut decides whether I'd be on the air or not, I bit my lip.

He told me to send him three more questions and call in Monday morning at 2:30. I sent him three more on Saturday. On Sunday I received the following email, reproduced below in its entirety:

"not nuts about any of these"

That's it. No further instruction, no explanation. (Also no capitalization or punctuation; it's like getting email from Archy and Mehitabel, minus the wisdom.) About 11 hours before he was on the air, I emailed him TEN more questions for consideration. Surely one of those would be "acceptable", no? And why am I even being brought in as a trivia provider if everything I propose gets shot down? Again I called in - as instructed - before 2:30am on Monday. The producer put me on hold.

The producer gets back after a minute and says "Big Daddy just told me that you didn't send him any questions again."
Another lie, and worse another accusation that I am a liar. This bumbling lard-ass didn't check his email again, and shifted the blame to me. Again.

I told the producer at this point Big Daddy lied twice about me not sending questions, which is outrageously unprofessional behavior, and that the gap between me telling people I was going to appear on radio at a specific time and the reality of me
not appearing on the radio was beginning to harm my credibility. The producer seemed apologetic and said that "Big Daddy thinks it's a good segment, he wants you to try again." Also that we should "clear up the miscommunication." No, there's no "miscommunication" here; I'm dealing with a putz.

Anyone reading this think I'm stupid enough to jerked around a third time? Two strikes and he's out. I imagine that a lot of people are very impressed by media personalities and kiss ass accordingly. I'm not impressed, particularly by G-list celebrities on an overnight shift, and my ass-kissing days are long over. I have better uses for my time than being jerked around like this.

Of course BDG "thinks it's a good segment"; it keeps his lazy, disorganized ass from coming up with original ideas to fill airtime. In the period 1996-98, I was a host of a show on WPPR out of West Philly. Every week I took the time to plan out my programming so that there wouldn't be a second of dead air, and that the station and I wouldn't embarrass ourselves. At the very least
we didn't lie to people. How sad that a non-profit microbroadcaster would run circles around a powerful, highly rated AM station in terms of basic competence and decency.

I've already contacted the station's program manager about my treatment. I'll let you all know whether or not WIP management cares the least little bit as to how their guests are treated, in future, should there be developments.

I should have approached this all with some caution from the start. In August 2006 I answered a trivia question (the answer was the rock band Queen) on Big Daddy's show. I "won" a WIP Prize Pak, whatever that is. His producer took my info off-air, and it never arrived. On September 23, 2006, I wrote Big Daddy an email asking if he could look into that. Not only did he not do that, he never even responded to my email.

It's probably best that I'm getting out of this before the people who play my quizzes "win" things on the show and never actually receive them. I don't want my name attached to that.

It's actually flat out illegal for a broadcaster to make fraudulent claims about contests run on-air. Recently the FCC fined WIP thousands of dollars for just that. Maybe I need to be contacting them as well. In particular it seems that Big Daddy's claim that he didn't know what the questions were seems a direct violation of federal communications law.

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Next week's quiz schedule

Lately the wacky images I've been sticking on these posts have been tending toward the random, so I'll start sticking some of my travel photos up. This crazy chicken was on a handpainted sign for a chicken place at Panajachel, Guatemala. Guatemalans are nuts for the fried chicken. I am too, actually.

Sunday, May 18, 9pm

Lyon's Den

2nd & Christian Sts.

Subject Round: BEGINS WITH 'B'

Monday, May 19, 9pm
Ray's Happy Birthday Bar

1200 E. Passyunk Ave.

(near 9th & Federal Sts.)
Subject Round: FORMER PRO ATHLETES


Tuesday, May 20, 9pm
Drinker's Tavern

Market St. between Front & 2nd Sts.

Subject Round: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Second week of new five-week tournament cycle; ultra-low scores last week mean you're still in it!

Wednesday, May 14, 9pm
Dirty Frank's
13th & Pine Sts.

Subject Round: INDIA

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This week's sample Secret Theme rounds

Each group of 10 otherwise unrelated tough questions has a theme running through its answers. Can you answer the questions and figure out the themes? Answers will be posted early next week.

Drinker's Tavern:

1) What baseball Hall of Famer had a lifelong business relationship with Coca-Cola, accumulating 20,000 shares of stock and three bottling plants by the time of his death?
2) Name the two old hecklers in the balcony of The Muppet Show.
3) What were the first words spoken by Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
4) What PBS show, produced by WGBH Boston, has had only four hosts since its debut in 1975, the first and longest-running being James Underwood Crockett?
5) What Emmy Award-winning prime time TV show uses the Massive Attack song "Teardrop" as a theme?
6) What was Philadelphia mob boss Philip Testa's nickname?
7) In what classic 1931 film did Edward G. Robinson play a mobster named Rico?
8) What Swiss auto manufacturer existed 1896-1919?
9) In 1969, this band featuring Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy broke off from Jefferson Airplane; name it.
10) What still-popular toy was invented in the early 1950s by George Lerner, becoming a hit upon its sale to Hasbro in 1952?

... and what theme links the ten questions?

Lyon's Den:

1) What rock musician wrote the soundtracks to the movies The Princess Bride, Wag the Dog and Last Exit to Brooklyn, among others?
2) In which Sergio Leone spaghetti western did German actor Klaus Kinski play a bad guy named Wild?
3) What pitcher shared both the 2001 World Series MVP and the Sport's Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award with Randy Johnson?
4) What American poet, who attended the University of Pennsylvania, died in exile in Italy in 1972?
5) What central figure in South American independence movements was at different times the president of Bolivia, Peru and Gran Colombia?
6) What Asian stereotype was played by Gedde Watanabe in 1984's Sixteen Candles?
7) What do you call the flat-bottomed boats commonly pushed along the Thames with poles instead of rowed with oars?
8) In Latin, Portuguese, Spanish and Scandinavian languages this is the word for our sun. What is it?
9) What self-described lesbian folk singer was once the vocalist for the L.A. punk band Nervous Gender, and had the decent-selling major label album I Enjoy Being a Girl in 1989?
10) What was invented by an American named Ron Karenga in 1966?

... and what theme links the ten questions?

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

City Kitties needs your help

The West Philly-based no-kill shelter City Kitties is holding an art auction/fundraiser event on May 30th. Check out their cool website to see the work they do.

They need both art donations to auction and, of course, bidders/contributors. There's an excellent chance I'll be in attendance.

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Big Daddy radio appearances continue - listen, call in and win!

Last night I asked a football question that was a little too easy for sports talk listeners. The first NFL running back with 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving was indeed Marcus Allen.

Big Daddy Graham gave away a pair of tickets to see magician David Copperfield, which is a pretty darn great prize for knowing a bit about football. In any event I'm hoping it was the magician David Copperfield and not the novel David Copperfield, which is just going to sit there and not do a single illusion.

I have another cool question for you tonight, 2:30am or so on 610 AM, WIP, after the Dirty Frank's quiz which begins at 9pm.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

First Big Daddy Graham appearance goes off without a hitch

I've been told I have a face for radio, so it's a good thing that I now have regularly scheduled radio appearances.

Last night we had the test run of my Big Daddy Graham trivia question at about 2:30am on WIP (610 AM), the region's leading sports talk station. I asked which is the only US state with a majority Roman Catholic population, in fact 63% Catholic. The generous prize was a $50 spa gift certificate to a place in South Jersey not too far across a bridge from the city.

As you can see by the 2:1 scale map at left, the answer was Rhode Island. Massachusetts is second with 49% wafer-eaters. So there's your papist menace, a slight majority of the smallest state in the union land-area-wise.

You have a small, urban population in a state which had immigration from Ireland, Poland, Italy and Portugal. That'll do it. In fact, Providence County is an estimated 71% Catholic, which is supremely unusual in the US, something that's easy to forget in a city with the ethnic make-up of Philadelphia. Even more surprising: Rhode Island apparently has more than one county.

It took a couple of hours for someone to get the answer. Most unusually it was an American living in Singapore who was listening to the station via the web. In fact he wasn't even the primary listener, he was sitting next to an expatriate Philadelphian who listens at work. The winner grew up in Little Rhody, and has been living in Australia and Singapore for the past 11 years. Apparently he knows people in Berwyn, PA who'll be getting the certificate.

This time I stayed up to hear the conclusion, most nights I won't be able to do so. Hopefully this segment will take off and raise the profile of the four awesome quizzes I crank out each week. Tonight I will be asking a sports question, but the plan is to mix categories as I normally do in the game.
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Monday, May 12, 2008

Welcome 610 WIP listeners

QuizmasterChris trivia is now a new segment on Big Daddy Graham's 610 AM / WIP overnight show. It looks as if I'll be tossing out a trivia question per night.

Right now it looks like I'll be calling in at 2:30am Tuesday (I think of this as "tonight", you might consider it "tomorrow"), which gives you plenty of time after the Ray's quiz to tuck yourself in and turn on the radio.

If this is your first time on the site, welcome. The regularly scheduled days and locations for my four quizzes, all at 9pm, Sunday-Wednesday, all in Philadelphia, are listed at the top of the blog's righthand column. All of the quizzes are free to play and all of the bars hosting them offer great prizes - including generous gift certificates redeemable for your tab - as first, second and third prizes. The Tuesday night quiz at Drinker's Tavern also runs 6-week cycles in which you can win additional larger prizes with the highest cumulative point total through those weeks... this is on top of the weekly prizes!

I run six-round quizzes which run about 2 hours most nights. Additionally I can be hired to appear at your location to run a customized quiz by contacting me using the info at the upper righthand corner of the blog. Each of the four quizzes each week is composed of new material, so you could play all four and never get a question repeated. Basically I read questions I wrote earlier aloud verbally, and you and your team of up to six players consult with one another, argue among yourselves, write down and answer on the sheets I provide, and turn those in to be marked. We go through that cycle six times/night, then total the points and declare winners.

Trivia topics include sports, TV, movies, literature, art, history, geography and general knowledge Americana. They all start easy and get progressively harder. My special quirk in these quizzes is the fifth round, the Secret Theme round, in which I ask ten tough trivia questions whose answers are linked by a theme. Guess the theme correctly and I give you bonus points. Because this is a popular segment of my games, I like to post two of those rounds on this site per week, generally late in the week. On Monday or Tuesday I post answers and solutions.

The fourth round each week is called the Subject round, ten questions I announce the linking subject of approximately a week in advance on this site.


My contact info is also at right; feel free to shoot me an email or call. Some basic questions you might have about me or the quiz process can be answered on my FAQ post.
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Solutions to last week's Secret Theme rounds

Lyon's Den:

The theme was double-letter initials.

1) What American Fortune 500 printing company has produced collectible Lakeside Classics editions of books for its employees at Christmas since 1903? R.R. Donnelly & Sons
2) Along with Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice, who was Steve Young's other wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers in the mid- to late-'90s? J.J. Stokes
3) What American clothing firm was founded in Freeport, Maine in 1912, and has annual sales of nearly $1.5 billion? L.L. Bean
4) Who created Winnie the Pooh? A.A. Milne
5) By what name is metal guitarist Bruce Anthony Johannesson better known? C.C. DeVille, of Poison
6) What American poet served as an ambulance driver in World War I, was falsely arrested as a spy, and wrote a critically acclaimed novel based in the experience, The Enormous Room, published in 1920? e.e. cummings
7) What Duke University guard set the ACC's all-time leading scorer record, and was drafted by the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2006 NBA draft? J.J. Redick
8) What rapper released Bigger and Deffer in 1987? LL Cool J

9) What theologically liberal faith uses the flaming chalice as a symbol? Unitarian-Universalists, who refer to themselves informally as "UUs"
10) In All in the Family, when Archie Bunker would start telling old war stories, what specific phrase would he use to set the time and place? He'd start with "back in WW Two, the Big One..."

Dirty Frank's:

The theme was Paul McCartney/Wings songs. In fact these were specifically Paul's first 10 consecutive post-Beatles Top 40 hits in the US, but no one had to be that specific to get credit.

1) What 1997 film stars James Woods and Melanie Griffith as criminal junkies? Another Day in Paradise / "Another Day"
2) When Japan surrendered to the US in 1945 aboard the USS Missouri, which admiral's flagship was that? Admiral Halsey / "
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
3) What American supermodel, born in 1963, has made far more money by putting her name on over 15,000 consumer products than she ever made modelling? Kathy Ireland / "Give Ireland Back to the Irish"

4) In 1877, Thomas Edison made the first wax recording of a human voice, a recitation. What piece was recorded? "Mary Had a Little Lamb" /
"Mary Had a Little Lamb"
5) What comic strip about a suburban family was created by Mort Walker and Dik Browne in 1954, and is still syndicated? Hi and Lois / "Hi, Hi, Hi"
6) What song won the Grammy awarded in 2007 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration? "My Love" by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake / "My Love"
7) In which James Bond movie was Bond attempting to stop a heroin kingpin named Mr. Big? Live and Let Die / Obviously "Live and Let Die"
8) What 2004 documentary about the Tour de France used a German cycling team as a focal point? Hell on Wheels / "
Hell on Wheels"
9) What magazine targeted at African-Americans began publication in 1951, but did not begin publication in color until 1999? Jet / "Jet"
10) What ten-part 2001 HBO mini-series was based upon the writing of historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose? Band of Brothers / "Band on the Run"

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Group V wins impressively at Lyon's Den

It wasn't even close. One-man team Group V crushed the competition at Lyon's Den all by his lonesome, and was the only team/player to figure out the Secret Theme. V, who chooses to remain visually anonymous, is half of the legendary Group W team which habitually plays Wednesday nights at Dirty Frank's.

I'm pretty sure that the 154 is the highest solo score ever in my format. Well done!

Beautiful Gold: Group V 154
So-So Silver: King Shit of Fuck Mountain 117
Shameful, Shameful Bronze: It's Hard to Concentrate on the Quiz with the Hockey Game On 94

Also-rans:

Long Dark Hallway 41
Big Perm* 32

* team quit
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