Your Quizmaster — Home of the Quizmaster of Sudwerk Brewing Company in Davis

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Corners of Unhurried Majesty Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on March 28, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

It’s good to be back in Davis, even though I enjoyed my recent trip to Washington DC, the place of my birth. We spent a lot of time in Bethesda, which Forbes calls the best-educated small town in America, no offense to us or to Las Alamos, New Mexico. It’s also our top-earning American town, but earnings don’t so much impress me. I was much more impressed with the area’s thick deciduous forests. The Davis speculative fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson once told me in an interview that the topography of our childhood seems the most natural to us, and that anything different seems strange. Beholding the forests of Bethesda, and then the rich greenery in and around our National Zoo, I was struck by how verdant and visually rich the area is, and that, when I was living there, I probably didn’t value the local sights and resources as highly as I should have, and could have done more to “make the most of now,” as the saying goes. “America is another name for opportunity,” Emerson said, so I suppose all of us should consider what opportunities are provided by travel and discovery. The next time you go to DC, after you spend some time inside the Mall’s museums, leave some time to explore some of the 1,700 acres of Rock Creek Park, gaze up at the spires of our National Cathedral, and sit for a while in the monkey house at the National Zoo. These wonders will be less crowded than the National Museum of Natural History, and give you cause to reflect on and in the corners of unhurried majesty in our nation’s capital.

Today’s Pub Quiz will contain questions on Washington DC, as well as telecommunications, Facebook, leading Republicans, Reese Witherspoon, dentists, children’s humor, studs, baseball, the legal system, Greta Garbo, beards, planets, dirt and glitter, American sitcoms that I hadn’t really heard of before beginning my Pub Quiz research, American statesmen, reinvested hipsters, train stations, Frank Sinatra, horror, members of the Charlie Sheen family, Dupont Circle, best-selling books, Native Americans, superheroes, little islands, particle physics, responses to anti-Semitism, Queens, football, Shakespearean villains, music producers, and Elizabeth Taylor.

I got to talk to my uncle Roy Meachum when I was DC. He was an army buddy of Eddie Fisher, and thus got to know Elizabeth Taylor a bit when she was preparing to star in Cleopatra. Younger readers of this newsletter may know Taylor best for her perfume and charity work during the (ongoing) AIDS crisis rather than for her acting; I read today that she willed most of her fortune to those same charities. The website GiveWell recommends Population Services International as the best international charity to support if you wanted to make a donation in memory of the work of this Oscar-winning actress. I encourage you to do so.

I hope you can join us for the Pub Quiz tonight. I’m grateful to Pub Quiz regular Chuck Snipes for guest-hosting the Quiz last week. I ran into a Davis businessman at the annual Davis Parent Nursery School auction Saturday who told me that Chuck did a fine job. Tonight at 9 pm I will live up to that example, I hope, as I ring the cowbell to commence another edition of the Pub Quiz! See you then.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Another TV Question. What geeky CBS sitcom features an opening theme song by the Barenaked Ladies titled “The History of Everything”?

2. Know Your American States. The largest state east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area is the fourth largest (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in total area, a term which includes expanses of water which are part of state territory. Name the state.

3. World Leaders. Bashar al-Assad is the President of what western Asian nation?

4. French Philosophers. “Judge a man by his questions, not his answers” is a quotation spoken by which of my favorite French philosophers?

5. Science. Noted science writer Gary Taubes (from UC Berkeley) published a book last year entitled Why we get fat – and what to do about it. The excess of which hormone does he advocate as the one most responsible for making Americans fat?

P.S. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to this weekly newsletter, please direct that person to https://www.yourquizmaster.com.

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Traveling for Science Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on March 21, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Today’s Pub Quiz newsletter arrives early, for I am starting the day early myself, having already packed for a big trip. Although I am waking up in Davis this morning, I will spend an hour or so in Atlanta this evening, and sleep tonight in our nation’s capital. I do all this in the name of science. Science! You see, doctors and researchers at the National Institutes of Health have always been curious about my son Jukie, so once or twice a year somebody’s grant money flies the two of us back to my childhood home to see what about Autism and Smith Lemli Opitz Syndrome can be learned from my son’s childhood challenges and discoveries. I will get to see my Mom and a few friends, though this week I will miss the friends whose company I enjoy on Monday evenings. Standing in for me tonight will be Chuck Snipes, captain of the winningest team in the history of the Pub Quiz, Portraits of Mohammed. POM members will attend tonight to cheer Chuck on in his guest-host role, but they won’t be competing. This means, of course, that we can be sure that another team – perhaps the Penetrators, the Newsteam, the Ice Cream Socialists, In Vino Veritas, or your team – will take first prize and all the glory. I hope you will gather a group of competitors to take advantage of this opportunity, and to see how another Pub Quiz stalwart interprets the boisterous duties of the Quizmaster. Spring break fun!

Not only has Chuck agreed to guest-host, but he has also shared with me a number of questions that will appear on tonight’s Pub Quiz. I’m gathering from his question suggestions that Chuck is more of a sports aficionado than I am, and that he watches more sitcoms than I do. Other questions will consider Japan, Glen Beck, Ernest Hemingway, sociology, Canada, college football, Asian American culture, Medieval Europe, country music (thanks, Chuck, for taking that on while I am away), purity, Scotsmen, American colleges and universities, monsters, Colorado and other American states, guitarists, Charlie Sheen (thanks again, Chuck), obituaries, cutlets, world leaders, rich people, fat people, racist people, Ancient Greece, The RMS Titanic, Manga, origins, western Asian nations, Margaritaville, beloved animals, Shakespeare, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whew! I hope I haven’t given away too much.

I will have stories to share upon my return, and I hope to hear some of yours when I return for the March 28^th edition of the Pub Quiz. Meanwhile, I hope you can join the fun this evening, and go home with an excellent prize.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

8. Sports. The Dallas NHL team was founded in 1967 and plays at the American Airlines Center. Name the team.

9. Science. Hot air balloons are flown by heating the air inside the balloon using a burner which ignites a liquid gas. This gas is made up of what three-carbon alkane?

10. Great American States. In what American colony was the shot fired that was heard around the world?

11. Unusual Words. The name of what genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs can also be defined as a word meaning “To feel regret, remorse, or sorrow”?

12. Another Music Question. The best selling Australian Rock and Roll band of all time (some would call them heavy metal) has been performing from 1973 to the present. Name the band.

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Exceptional Preparedness Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on March 14, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Thanks to all of you who wrote to wish PubQuiz Quizmaster a happy birthday on Facebook last Thursday. I enjoyed trying to keep up with the greetings at my various Facebook, Twitter and email accounts, but then finally gave up. And then my birthday was overshadowed by the two-part tragedy affecting Japan. As regulars know, I’ve visited Japan at this time of year during the last two years as a consultant with the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, the research institute in the ancient capital of Nara. One of my Japanese friends referred me to this blog entry, titled Some Perspective on the Japanese Earthquake. In it, the author (“Patrick”) teaches us about Japan and disaster preparedness:

Japan is exceptionally well-prepared to deal with natural disasters: it has spent more on the problem than any other nation, largely as a result of frequently experiencing them. (Have you ever wondered why you use Japanese for “tsunamis” and “typhoons”?) All levels of the government, from the Self Defense Forces to technical translators working at prefectural technology incubators in places you’ve never heard of, spend quite a bit of time writing and drilling on what to do in the event of a disaster.

The blog goes on to discuss the thorough checklists and action plans used by just about every agency, business, organization or school to keep Japanese citizens safe. Nevertheless, the regions hardest hit by the earthquake and especially the tsunami need our help. Organizations such as Global Giving, recommended by The New York Times and Huffington Post, make doing your part easy. Visit them at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/.

As of press time, just a few tables remain unclaimed for this week’s Pub Quiz, so I hope you will call if you plan to join us. In addition to Japan, this week’s Quiz will feature questions on recycling, Atlanta, Microsoft, 50 Cent, Count Basie, bacon, The Davis Wiki, singing outside your range, vegetarianism, Steven Spielberg, Dallas, subshrubs, Australia, NBC, locomotives, the band, New England, France, talk shows, fear, Virginia Woolf, movies that you wouldn’t expect to start three Oscar-nominated actors, brothers, the royals, pale actors, John Lee Hooker, oceanography, authors that are even older than John McCain, swans, fruit, Frank Oz, and Shakespeare.

Thanks to all of you for reading these posts, and I look forward to seeing you soon at the Pub Quiz or on the streets of Davis!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. The group calling itself the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine launched the “I’m not lovin’ it” slogan last year. This slogan is a spoof of a commercial slogan used by what restaurant chain?

2. Internet Culture. The most liked living person on Facebook is 38 years old. What is his name?

3. Newspaper Headlines – The State Holiday Edition. Today is Casimir Pulaski Day, a state holiday celebrated on the first Monday of every March in memory of Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-born Revolutionary War cavalry officer who is known for his contributions to the U.S. military in the American Revolution by training its soldiers and cavalry. Primarily in what state does one find closed libraries, county offices and public and private schools because of Casimir Pulaski Day celebrations?

4. Four for Four. Which of the following musical groups or performers, if any, originated in the United Kingdom? Kylie Minogue, The Pet Shop Boys, Sade, UB40.

5. Actors and Actresses. What 30 year-old Academy Award-nominated Canadian actor has appeared in the following films? The Notebook, Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, and Blue Valentine?

P.S. This coming Thursday night is Poetry Night at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Irish poet and musician Lauren Norton and her musical group The Souterrain will be performing, beginning at 8pm. Find more information at http://poetryindavis.com/. Happy early St. Patrick’s Day!

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Pleasures of Trampolining Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on March 8, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I don’t drink coffee (never have), but I do get plenty of exercise, and I’m sure the invigorating six miles a day that I spend on my bike more than makes up for my freedom from caffeine. Don’t you feel better all week when you get enough exercise? The National Institutes of Health tells us that “People who are active live longer and feel better. Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight. It can delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers and heart problems.” Some of us who work with our heads instead of our bodies need to compensate for all that physical inactivity. These are some of the reasons why I host the Pub Quiz on the move, and even stand while hosting and engineering my radio show on KDVS. All our screen-time requires sitting, so we should stand and stretch whenever we can, remembering that we are physical creatures, too. 300 years ago this summer the essayist and journalists Joseph Addison said, “Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.” We have learned a lot about the body’s secret distributions in the last few centuries, but as viewers of the TV show Hoarders, we still have a lot to learn about throwing off redundancies. My favorite hoarding quotation is by Tolkein, whom we heard from in last week’s Quiz: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” I guess we prove that quotation to be true every Monday night at the Pub Quiz.

But back to my topic of exercise. When I was 13, the indoor arena we visited for exercise was Jelleff’s Boys’ And Girls’ Club on “S” Street in Georgetown, Washington DC. That’s where I learned to swim, to play bumper pool, to play softball, and especially to roller skate. Every Saturday night I could be found circling the huge darkened basketball court with all the other tweens and teens, enjoying the music of The Commodores and Air Supply. That’s where Amy Carter famously picked me out of a crowd for three minutes of skating to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Although it got pretty hot in that place, we were having too much fun to realize that we were exercising.

The same could be said for the House of Air that my family and I visited in San Francisco this past Saturday morning. Imagine a multi-level warehouse filled with wall-to-wall trampolines. One room offered a matrix of 24 trampolines. A second featured a dodgeball arena made of trampolines. Bouncing around maniacally, one could see dozens of children and their parents sporting special trampoline boots to keep the jumpers from spraining ankles or crushing toes. After almost an hour of bouncing with my three kids, I felt at least as winded as I did after three hours of roller-skating with my friends to all that disco. I also felt about half an inch shorter. For some of us, trampolining is as close as we will come to flying.

Speaking of flying, expect an FAA question on tonight’s Pub Quiz, as well as questions about famous Poles, British musicians, Facebook likes, restaurants and their implicit claims, UB40, David Letterman, Greek heroes, Scotland, video games, fish, famous musicians who have never had number one hits, Kentucky, X-Men, whiskers, Japanese animation, country music (really), dumb TV shows that I don’t watch, famous people who happen to be gay, time travel fiction, Irish history, crowds, lines of poetry that inspire book titles, baseball, Nevada, Shakespeare, and my favorite new sport: trampolining!

You might have seen an advertisement for the Pub Quiz on Facebook recently. Many others saw it, as well, so most of the tables for tonight have already been claimed; you should call now to claim yours. See you soon!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. What car company’s slogan is “Zoom Zoom”?

2. Internet Culture. Beginning with the letter Q, what is the name of the online knowledge market, made available to the public in the summer of 2010, that aggregates questions and answers to many topics and allows users to collaborate on them?

3. Newspaper Headlines. According to what we learned in a recent interview, who is special because he has “tiger blood” and “Adonis DNA”? (This was fresh news last Monday – sadly, there will be no Charlie Sheen questions on the March 7 Pub Quiz.)

4. Four for Four. To which of the following celebrities has the musician Prince been romantically linked? Kim Basinger, Paris Hilton, Courtney Love, Madonna.

5. Capital Punishment. What country executes more of its people than any other?

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Disappointed Roger Ebert Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on March 1, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

We enjoyed watching the Academy Awards with a few friends last night, though my wife mentioned that she didn’t hear as many belly laughs from our guests as she had in years past. The young actors who hosted this year’s Oscarcast are young and charismatic, and maybe they did attract some of those valuable younger viewers, but they didn’t please everyone. Here’s what Roger Ebert had to say:

Despite the many worthy nominated films, the Oscarcast was painfully dull, slow, witless, and hosted by the ill-matched James Franco and Anne Hathaway. She might have made a delightful foil for another partner, but Franco had a deer-in-the-headlights manner and read his lines robotically.

Incredibly, when former host Billy Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs all evening. This was the worst Oscarcast I’ve ever endured. It’s time for the Board of Governors to have a long, sad talk with itself.

I guess I was enjoying my guests too much to concern myself that the rest of America and Roger Ebert were not having as much fun. I’ve been a fan of Billy Crystal since watching him on the TV show Soap back in the day, and agree that he was funny again last night. I wonder if the Oscar folks will bring him back to host or co-host. It’s not fair to the others for him to get the only laughs. And even though James Franco looked tired, I chalked that up to his studies. A curious polymath, he has been known to take an incredible number of units at Columbia and NYU while keeping up with all his acting duties; the day that he heard that he was nominated for the Best Leading Actor Award he still showed up to his creative writing class at Yale immediately after appearing on the Today Show. He has also taken classes at the Warren Wilson graduate creative writing program with my dissertation director, Alan Williamson, and Alan is a big fan of Franco (though I don’t know that he has seen any of his movies). Franco should have a PhD by the time my 13 year old daughter starts college. Imagine how much more substantive a place Hollywood would be if more of our celebrities had MFAs in creative writing! Imagine all the extra reading assignments that would await the staff at People Magazine!

You won’t need graduate degrees to win tonight’s Pub Quiz (depending on who else is on your team). Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions about cars, Madonna, capital punishment, Kim Basinger, DNA, Lake Superior, Courtney Love, Prince, football, metals, US Presidents, martial arts, the Country Music Awards, blood, animation, fashion, rats, Paris Hilton (is she in rehab?), doves and other birds, the Indian Ocean, the Academy Awards, famous beauties, retired actors, admirers of Henry David Thoreau, the City of Davis, imports and exports, J.R.R. Tolkein, chemistry, biology, unquotable novels, professional basketball, shoes, current events, and Shakespeare.

Speaking of creativity and poetry, a Sammie Award-Winning poet and MC will be headlining Poetry night at 8 this coming Wednesday night. Random Abiladeze will be supporting his latest CD release with a well-attended performance of incredible hip-hop poetry. The last time he appeared, a large and impressed crowd, as well as the musician Butterscotch, were there to applaud him. Come see why Random Abiladeze is such a big deal. Details can be found at http://www.poetryindavis.com.

We have room for you and your team tonight. Drop on by around 8:30 to grab yourself a table. I’m looking forward to sharing a drink with you (or at least drinking a drink while you happen also to be drinking in the same restaurant). See you then!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

22. Film. What is the title of the 2005 film in which Keanu Reeves plays a chain-smoking cynical exorcist with the ability to discern half-angels and half-demons in their true form?

23. The British Royal Family. William III of England, also known as William of Orange, married a member of the British royal family in 1677. What was the first name of the wife of William III?

24. Countries of the World. What island nation in South Asia was known as Ceylon until 1972?

25. Greek Terms. “Skolios” is the Greek word for which of the following adjectives? Cheery, Crooked, Fragrant, or Smoky.

26. Science. According to the website PestGuide.Org, what is “the largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere”?

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Val Kilmer Loves Djembes Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on February 22, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Every year as I drive back to Davis from the San Francisco Writers Conference, I am brimming with ideas for books and projects, as well as thoughts about the best ways that I can make use of all the new publishing and media technologies that I have learned from all the authors that I have met in The City. I also made a number of friends this year, including an athletic Haiku poet and corporate trainer whose move to Italy has shaved 10 years off his biological age, a retired lieutenant colonel and essayist who supports emerging writers with scholarships (and who freely shares stories about her infant daughter), and the CEO of a digital media company that represents over 300,000 musicians. Val Kilmer also stayed in my hotel (the International Mark Hopkins Hotel), though he seemed more interested in my friend Brad’s djembe drum than in the book faire. If I don’t manage to get Kilmer to appear on my radio show, I should at least write you a Pub Quiz question about him. Expect that in 2011, but not tonight.

Tonight you can expect questions about Presidents and First Ladies, books and authors, Apple. Inc., Snoopy, rocks, hard rock, seagulls and duckies, California, mystical hoaxes, the jungle, the NBA, human anatomy, winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, enthusiastic words, opera, smart Germans, short poems, southern California cities, jasmine, people whose names are also common nouns, scientists, statism and its detractors, exorcism, Shakespeare, the British royal family, Asia, football stars, the 17^th-century equivalent of a knock-knock joke, and musicians with a penchant for melodrama.

Speaking of musicians, one of my favorite local musicians, Random Abiladeze, is also a roof-raising poet, and he’s coming to Davis. He’ll be performing at Bistro 33 for Poetry Night on March 2^nd, the birthday of a number of my heroes, including Dr. Seuss, Desi Arnaz, and Tito Lord. To find out more about Random, please visit http://randomab.com/blog/. I’ll let you know next week how you can register your intent to join us.

When last I checked, we still had a number of tables available for this evening’s performance of the Pub Quiz. I hope you will be one of the diners enjoying the performance. Perhaps you will be performing yourself. One needn’t attend a writers conference in order to be inspired, as you folks teach me every week. Happy Presidents’ Day!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from a Pub Quiz fundraiser I hosted recently for my friends at Davis Sunrise Rotary (see davisrotary.org):

1. Mottos and Slogans. Found 68 miles south of the state capital of Sacramento, what county seat of Stanislaus County has as its city motto this phrase? Water Wealth Contentment Health.

2. Internet Culture. What website with the slogan “Relationships Matter” promises that it will “strengthen[] and extend[] your existing network of trusted contacts”?

3. Frivolous Celebrities. “Lindsay Lohan Charged With Felony Grand Theft, Could Face Years In Prison,” proclaimed a recent headline. What did Lohan allegedly steal?

4. Four for Four. Which of the following people, if any, were born in the 19th Century? Jimmy Durante, Cary Grant, A.A. Milne, Daniel Webster.

5. Art and Art History. What French artist and Post-Impressionist painter has been called the bridge between Impressionism and Cubism, and “the father of us all” by both Matisse and Picasso?

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

Thinking about our Valentines — A Day Off from the Pub Quiz

by yourquizmaster on February 15, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Happy Valentine’s Day! We won’t be holding a Pub Quiz tonight, but I bet that you’ll have almost as much fun without us. Please save February 21^st for us, as I will have been preparing some clever questions for you. As always, I welcome your feedback, especially in the form of proposed Pub Quiz questions and question topics.

To improve your prospects, I include here a link to some Pablo Neruda love poems: http://bit.ly/nerudalovepoems. Enjoy your evening!

Your Quizmaster

P.S. Did you know that your Quizmaster is also a campus expert on textese? See http://bit.ly/andyontvagain.

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Surfeit of Holidays Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on February 7, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I hope by now that you have recovered from the Super Bowl, America’s second Thanksgiving. I followed the game peripherally from the tweets I was receiving, commentary on the half-time show and the commercials, but spent most of our warmest day of the year so far bicycling with my son, enjoying having the deserted city streets and downtown shops to ourselves. I stopped by a favorite South Davis restaurant where typically we are greeted by name only to find that all our favorite employees had the day off. The second-stringers were left to watch over the empty eatery, and to get our food order wrong. Other special occasions, like Reagan’s 100^th birthday celebrations, or the televised funeral of Ted Kennedy, distract us for a while, and invite us to think about national trends, values, and heroes. Perhaps informal national holidays such as Superbowl Sunday and Black Friday are meant to help us compensate for missed shopping opportunities on “bank holidays.” As Dave Barry says, “Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” Even more cynical is George Bernhard Shaw; he opined that “A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.” Perhaps Shaw didn’t care to spend time with his family. Another important Superbowl attraction for many Americans, I suppose, is that we spend Superbowl Sunday with the friends whom we seek out, and Thanksgiving with family with whom we are stuck.

I will be spending the entirety of Valentine’s Day evening dining with my beloved, and I encourage you to do the same. It’s one of the most important days on the calendar, and I’m sure the hardworking staff would be happy to welcome you and your date. Because Valentine’s Day happens on a Monday this year, we will have to take a one-week break from the Pub Quiz so that the Valentine’s Day crowds can be accommodated. If you are desperate for trivial fun, I will be hosting a Pub Quiz-themed fundraiser for Sunrise Rotary Club at International House on Thursday the 17^th. Last year at this event the participating teams raised over $1,000 for Haiti Disaster Relief. Visit www.davisrotary.org/ to find out more about this fine civic organization and the February 17^th event (which by now may be sold out).

Even though I have not yet watched this year’s Superbowl (I have it Tivo-ed), you can be sure that I’ll be asking Superbowl-related questions tonight, so feel free to bring at least one person who watched the game. Other questions will concern the letter K, Shakespearean geography, internet culture, supermodels, animated comedies, grouchy former Senators from Wyoming, superheroes (x2), spectacles, football, insects, hellcats, underwear, the automotive industry, the vocabulary of flame wars, Nobel laureates, prayers, telegraphy, Afghanistan, trendy books from last decade, unrest in the Middle East, organic compounds, blockbuster movie stars, gay marriage, and classical composers.

If you have friends who would benefit from receiving this newsletter, please refer them to the yourquizmaster.com website so they can sign up. I hope you can join us tonight for your last Pub Quiz fix until February 21!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. According to the company’s commercials, what kind of beer “Tastes great” and is “less filling”?

2. Internet Culture. Last week’s Viral Video. In a 1994 episode of what morning show did a host ask this now-famous question: “Alison, could you explain what internet is?”

3. Newspaper Headlines. What is the name of the current President of Egypt?

4. Four for Four. Which of the following American cities, if any, are south of Los Angeles? Memphis, Tennessee; Mobile, Alabama; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tulsa, Oklahoma

5. Mine Disasters. In what US state did the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster take place?

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.

The Poetry for Autism Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on February 1, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

As many of you know, while I get to play Quizmaster every Monday night, I wear a great number of other hats. This week I’ve been wearing my poet hat, and have had an opportunity to give readings in support of the causes support. Friday, for instance, the PTA at the Two Rivers Elementary School invited me to perform before 600 of its students at a morning assembly. I was charged with helping to inspire the collected students and their parents read for one million minutes during the month of February. Poems are more fun to read than most other choices students had, I argued, as well as being short, and usually free. I recited and rapped some examples, and then read them my famous rubber duck poem before reminding them to start drafting poems for the Two Rivers Elementary poetry contest, and to keep up with their minutes. You can track their progress, and discover reasons to consider supporting the Two Rivers Elementary PTA by visiting http://www.natomas.k12.ca.us/15172011702238840/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=60356.

And tonight before rushing over to the Pub Quiz, I get to participate in an evening of poetry in support of Autism research and treatment. At the Sacramento Poetry Center tonight I’ll be reading with three terrific poets: Rebecca Foust, Connie Post, Michelle Bitting. All of their lives have been touched by loved ones with autism. The UC Davis Mind Institute and the Odyssey Learning Center will benefit from this evening of food and poetry. Although I don’t expect you to join us in Sacramento tonight at 7, I invite you to find out more about the work of the UC Davis Mind Institute at http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/. We are lucky to have such a local resource to support research into autism, the fastest growing developmental disability in the U.S. today.

Tonight at the Pub Quiz we will hear questions about film and more film, beer, Katie Couric, Tulsa and Memphis, film sequels you may have seen, coal, southern states, baseball, insects, Thomas Jefferson, one of Shakespeare’s more famous sonnets, debt, being blunt, the Academy Awards, muskrats, superheroes, Canadian performers, Batman, the rickshaw, colors that are also foods, favorite actresses, languages and letters (x3), literary villains, chemistry, Republican statesmen, football and Shakespeare.

If all this talk of poetry has left you craving an event for you to enjoy, I invite you to return this coming Wednesday night at 8 to see Chana Bloch read. The subject of an entire panel at the most recent meeting of the Modern Language Association, Chana Bloch is the author of four books of poems: The Secrets of the Tribe, The Past Keeps Changing, Mrs. Dumpty, and Blood Honey. She is co-translator of the biblical Song of Songs and six books of contemporary Israeli poetry, including The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai and his magnum opus, Open Closed Open, and Hovering at a Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch. Find out more at http://www.poetryindavis.com.

When last I talked to Bistro 33, 14 tables had been reserved for tonight’s Pub Quiz, which means that we still have room for your team if you call now. I hope you will join us tonight for the Pub Quiz!

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

22. Film. What actress who played a leading role in the HBO television series Big Love, for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in 2010, also appeared in the films Boys Don’t Cry, American Psycho, and Zodiac?

23. Zookeepers. What is the name of the American zookeeper who is the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium?

24. Mountains of the World. The highest mountain in the Alps, covered with snow at almost 16 thousand feet, is found on the Italian–French border. What is its name?

25. Actors and Actresses. Anne Hathaway has been cast to play Selina Kyle in one of the most anticipated films of 2012. By what name do fans of this film franchise better know Selina Kyle?

26. Science. Pangaea was the name of the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration. Which of the following numbers of years is closest to the dating of that era? 2,500 years, 250,000 years, 250 million years, or 250 billion years?

Friends of the Pub Quiz, and those curious about all the fun and fuss associated with the Pub Quiz, should come to de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis (217 E Street), the highly esteemed pub and restaurant that fills up every night because of the superb quality of food, drink and company that can be found there. The de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz takes place every Monday at 7pm, though players are encouraged to arrive early to claim a table. As always, find out more about the Pub Quiz by visiting https://www.yourquizmaster.com. For more on de Vere’s Irish Pub, visit http://deverespub.com/.