The “Pick Two” Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter

 

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

 

Vacation for me means I get to choose my work. A painter must paint, and a musician must fill her home with glorious sounds. I get to write poems. To practice such activities is the job and the pleasure of the artist. My literary agent Michael Larsen has often quoted the advice that editor John Dodds used to share with writers: “If anything can stop you from becoming a writer, let it. If nothing can stop you, do it and you’ll make it.”

 

If you have a day job (or several), as I do, then the artistic work has to be snuck into the schedule, or the artist must give up something else, such as sleep or sanity. Do you know the “Pick Two Dynamic”? This is the advice given to the overachiever who needs to make some tough decisions about priorities. For instance, the college student is told this: “Good Grades, Enough Sleep, Social Life – Pick Two.” The cynical poster for the film Friends with Kids offered three checkboxes with the words “Love,” “Happiness,” and “Kids” next to them, along with the directive “Pick two.” For products and services, you usually get to pick “cheap,” “fast,” or “good,” but not all three.

 

This morning I’ve been writing a long poem rather than finishing this newsletter on time. My muse is gone, and thus my muse is with me all the time. If indeed absence makes the heart grow fonder, then I have sought to represent my fond heart in poems, some of which I rashly text to Kate the moment I finish them. And then the editing begins, as I create something that I hope someday would warrant a print appearance, rather than a merely a Facebook post.

 

So as I am on “vacation,” this is how my hours pass: doing work. “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else,” or so said J.M. Barrie, and really I would not rather be doing anything more right now than writing poems to Kate and spending time with my patient and wordless boy Jukie. Of course, tomorrow all this poetic productivity will end and the storytelling will begin as Jukie and I head off to the airport to retrieve the rest of the family.

 

Meanwhile, Kate has seen tonight’s Pub Quiz. She identified the unusual word, but had to rack her brain (which I don’t advise) when answering the questions about film directors. Expect also questions about hidden sides, Twitter, art galleries, rogue economists, big states, cities that are almost as big as Fort Worth, Harry Potter, American singers whom I had never heard of, the sport of cricket (your welcome), autographs, the French, two presidents, stability, script ROI, short stage names, third dashes, famous directors who are not named Hitchcock or Kurosawa, calling birds, world leaders, Europe, Madison Square Garden serenades, astrophysics, sibling Sarah, Sumo wrestlers, running shoes, equestrian needs, online demographics, African American literature, and Shakespeare.

 

The Pub was filled last Monday. Let’s fill it again tonight!

 

Your Quizmaster

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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

 

1. Mottos and Slogans.    “Because you’re worth it” is an advertising slogan of what company?

 

1. Internet Culture. What body of water is also a sequence of data elements made available over time?

 

1. The Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. What category of bridge is it?

 

1. Pop Culture – Music. The theme song for the CBS TV series Joan of Arcadia is a version of the 1995 hit “One of Us” in which we are repeatedly asked “What if God were one of us?” This song was the biggest hit by what female performer?

 

1. Sports.   With a $115 million dollar contract about to be signed, QB Andy Dalton is officially the face of what NFL franchise?

 

P.S. August is National Eye Exam Month. I very much appreciate the service I have received at Helmus Optometry on 2^nd Street here in Davis, and I am not just saying that because Joann Helmus sometimes participates in the Pub Quiz (though she should join us more often).