05 December 2006

We made our return to bar trivia last week for the Tournament of Champions. Kind of a funny story - the team qualified by finishing second to a team called the Out of Towners, who were literally from out of town, visiting Boston for work and not scheduled to return at all, never mind for the tournament.

There was some rust, as shown by the greater than usual number of wrong answers, including one glaring one by me that hamstrung us. Still, we managed to climb back and finish a surprising third. This got us money towards our bill, which I think we actually preferred to the Bruins tickets being offered up as the grand prize (Sam Adams is again the sponsor, so I assume they're the same seats as last year).

Anyway, questions for you:

What city's shopping district is centered on Orchard Road? Singapore (Anthony) - we had no idea, but it sounded colonial, so we went with Hong Kong. Of course, there is no actualy city called Hong Kong, but we were in the weeds enough to not consider that.

What sport's hall of fame is located in St. Augustine, Florida? Golf (Paul) - I did the exact same thing Paul did, answering swimming. I was so sure of myself that I ignored a teammate who'd answered golf and went in with full marks. And, once I was proven wrong, we'd lost five points instead, putting us in the hole that we never quite got out from. I was under the impression that golf's HoF was at Pinehurst - which it used to be before moving to St. Augustine.

The element lutetium is named for what European city? Paris (Julie) - our collective French knowledge was apparently not up to snuff, and went with Lisbon because it starts with the same letter as the element. We were just that confused.

Made by monks, what liqueur is believed to be the oldest made in continual production? Benedictine (Anthony) - this combination of 27 plants and spices in a cognac base was first produced in 1510. We went with Frangelico, which was the first one to come to mind and, really, would have been the only one. But it only goes back about 300 years.

Who was the first rap act to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone? Run DMC (Paul) - seemed obvious, though I feared it'd be something stupid like Vanilla Ice.

Shakespeare's Measure for Measure takes place in what city? Vienna - the wife was the resident Shakespeare person, and she came up with Verona. Which is closer than any of the rest of us would have gotten.

Who are the only brothers to be nominated for acting Academy Awards? Joaquin and River Phoenix (Greg) - the former for Walk the Line and Gladiator, the latter for Running on Empty. We had no idea, and talked it out for a long time before throwing out the complete guess of Sean and Chris Penn (I thought Chris may have picked up a nod for The Funeral). Still kind of amazed that we missed with a full bet and still finished third.

9 comments:

Paul Crowley said...

2. Swimming (been there back in the day when I swam year round)
4. Chartreuse? It's the only liquer I know that's made by monks
5. Run DMC

Anonymous said...

4. It's technically a sweet wine but Commandaria is the oldest named wine and is made by Cypriot monks.

Julie said...

Lutetium? Paris (Lutèce), naturellement!

Paul Crowley said...

Given that I now verified my memory isn't as good as I thought it was (swimming hall of fame is in Fort Lauderdale), I'll throw a second guess out for Golf.

Greg said...

not the Carradines, not the Quaids, not the Keaches or Bridgeses...but the Phoenixes.

I would have guessed the Beatty/MacLaines, as Shirley might be a dude.

Anonymous said...

4. I'm going with Frangelico. My tip-off: it comes in a bottle that looks like a monk.

Anthony said...

I've been to Orchard Road in Singapore, but I've never drank Benedictine.

However, I think those are two of the answers.

Anthony said...

Strange how my comment hasn't shown up. I can see it on blogger, but not on the blog.

"I've been to Orchard Road in Singapore, but I've never drank Benedictine.

However, I think those are two of the answers."

Mark said...

Odder still, they didn't show until I'd updated the post thinking that there were no more correct answers.

For want of anything better to post, here's a breakdown of if I've been to the most populous 100 cities in the US, and if so for how...