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

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

10. Great Americans. What is the last name of our current Attorney General of the United States?

11. Unusual Words. What three-syllable noun starting with the letter L comes from the Latin word “to wash” and means “the act or an instance of washing or cleansing”?

12. Another Music Question. What was the one-syllable title of the Flo Rida song that spent ten weeks at number one in 2008?

13. Pop Culture – Television. Two long-running soap operas have recently been cancelled by ABC. Name one of them.

14. Books and Magazines. The world’s best-selling monthly magazine is published in 35 languages, in 52 editions, and is sold in more than 100 countries. The first issue came out in 1922. Name the monthly magazine.

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 KDVS Heroism Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on April 18, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

I look forward to seeing you and some new friends at the Pub Quiz tonight. I put up some fliers advertising the Quiz in bold letters along the Picnic Day Parade Route last week, so maybe we will be joined tonight by some revelers who will just have recovered from Saturday’s overexertions in time to read today’s paper and reflect on favorite movies of the last couple decades. I so appreciate word of mouth referrals, and those of you who subscribe to this newsletter, but how else might you suggest we reach out to new participants? I always appreciate hearing new team names added to the Winners’ Circle.

If you want to be a winner in the hearts of independent consumers of non-corporate culture (primarily music), then I hope you will consider supporting KDVS during this week of its yearly fundraiser. The campus and community radio station is one of the last endangered free-form and community-sponsored media outlets in the country. We shouldn’t take our good luck for granted, for the hundreds of volunteers (such as myself) who keep the station running can continue to do so only if listeners and supporters (such as yourself) make a pledge this week. You have many great shows to choose from, but I am hoping that you will make a large gift between 5 and 6 on Wednesday, when I will be hosting the fundraiser edition of “Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour,” the KDVS radio show that I have hosted for more than a decade. Anyone at Pub Quiz next week who informs me that she or he has made a $50 or larger pledge during my Wednesday radio show will immediately earn a bonus order of sweet potato fries, paid for by me. For more on the KDVS fundraiser, please visit http://fundraiser.kdvs.org/ . All donations to the station are tax deductible, and they qualify you for a terrific thank-you premium. Check out the website to see what I mean.

In addition to a KDVS question, tonight you can expect questions about brokerage firms, internet culture, Toys R Us, elected world leaders, slow songs that you might want to share, Houston, the judicial branch, Africa, inaugurations, Canada, time, friends of Barack, washing up, ABC, hip-hop songs, superheroes, books and magazines, films that were released in your lifetime, yodelers, East Bay cities, Manhunters, billionaires, Apple, Inc., basketball, wedding music, the City of Davis, Phoenix, Radio Shack, and Shakespeare villains and heroes.

I hope you can join us for the Pub Quiz tonight, and this week I hope you can support KDVS generously.

/Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

26. Science. Who won the 2006 Copley Medal “For his outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and theoretical cosmology”?

27. Books and Authors. Fill in the blanks. According to the Cape Cod Times, R.L Stine is the Stephen King of BLANK BLANK (two words).

28. Current Events – Names in the News. Charl Schwartzel of South Africa surprisingly won what yesterday?

29. Sports. Last year Roy Halladay became only the second pitcher, after Sandy Koufax, to throw a perfect game and win the Cy Young Award in the same season. For what team does Halladay pitch?

30. Shakespeare. What was the first name of Shakespeare’s only son, who died at age 11?

P.S. I’ll be hosting a tremendous poetry reading Thursday night at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Find details at http://www.poetryindavis.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 Shirtless Superheroes in Bed Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on April 11, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

One of the bonus benefits of being your Quizmaster is all the incidental research that I get to conduct as I write 31 original questions for you every week. I would say that this work has made me more attentive to my surroundings, to the overheard conversations of strangers, and to the associations that present themselves (and that I record using a variety of means) as I go about my week. This past Saturday, for instance, I gave a public lecture at the Roseville Public Library on the 1995 novel Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon, as well as the film that the novel inspired. We focused on the film, a Michael Douglas vehicle that the critics enjoyed but which was largely unwatched by American filmgoers. Taking place in Pittsburgh, and featuring music by Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, it’s the only film that has ever presented the future Spider Man (actor Toby McGuire) in bed with the future Iron Man (actor Robert Downey, Jr.). I took mental and actual notes wile presenting the film on Saturday, and I am sure that everything I mentioned above will appear in a future Pub Quiz question (though not this week, for usually I let such question topics incubate while I consider the arrangement and wording of questions for a Monday night). Is there a film that you have seen multiple times that you feel has been unfairly underrepresented on the Pub Quiz?

Tonight you can expect multiple questions about movies, sports, and internet culture. Expect also to have your understanding of the following topics tested: scandals, The Matrix, bunnies, hair, wartime presidents, Miami in music, actresses who you might be surprised to discover are still alive, college basketball, salt, Academy-Award-winning actors, X-Men, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Zooey Deschanel, Harry Potter, Hummer rivets, the oceans of the world, Woodland history, daily newspapers, British masterpieces, cruel Aprils, art history, revolutions, KDVS (which has its fundraiser from April 18^th to 24^th), Latin phrases, Spanish lyrics, physics, the confluence of local roads, Stephen King as a metaphor, South Africa, successful pitchers, pit bulls and other dogs, Shakespeare, sons and lovers, and Chinatown.

The sell-out crowds of the last couple weeks have further boosted the energy of the Pub Quiz. When we have more people, I make sure that we give away an 8^th place prize (another bottle of wine), and I often reward a team (for my own whimsical reasons, usually noisy enthusiasm) with a bonus serving of sweet potato fries. If any of this appeals to you, I hope you will join us tonight.

Your Quizmaster

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1. Mottos and Slogans. “Fresh Italian Cooking” is the commercial slogan of mall food court restaurant chain that has recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection? Name it.

2. Internet Culture. In the US, what is the name of the automated music recommendation service that is custodian of the Music Genome Project?

3. Newspaper Headlines. What American company announced today that it plans to hire 50,000 workers in one day, thus taking an even larger bite out of the unemployment rate?

4. Four for Four. Which of the following, if any, was a Greek hero who was the son Zeus? Achilles, Heracles, Memphis, Perseus.

5. Actors and Actresses. What 30-year-old Academy Award-nominated actor appeared in City Slickers in the 1991, Donnie Darko in 2001, and Source Code in 2011?

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 Cruel April Edition of the Pub Quiz Newsletter

by yourquizmaster on April 4, 2011

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,

Happy National Poetry Month! I can think of at least two reasons why April was chosen as National Poetry Month, both of them being famous poems. If people know any Middle English at all, they probably know some of the first lines of the Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories presented in verse written at the end of the 14^th century:

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,

And smale fowles maken melodye,

That slepen al the night with open ye,

(So priketh hem nature in hir corages:

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

Either this brings back memories, or it doesn’t, but if you were an English Major, you probably spent some time with these lines.

Some say that the beginning of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is just as obscure as these from Chaucer, if somewhat less difficult for most of us to understand:

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.

There was a time when I had the whole of this poem’s 430 lines memorized, but now I just keep just enough Eliot catch-phrases in my head to add to an in-class discussion in one of my writing, literature, or creative writing classes. Eliot is one of the poets who inspired me to get into this poetry business.

I will have to include more Chaucer and Eliot on future Pub Quizzes, but for tonight, you should instead expect questions on Italian food, Tennessee, Greek heroes, declining industries, songs with numbers in them, your (for now) Sacramento Kings, internet culture, mollusks, Texas, unusual words that come up in Shakespeare, pop music, groundbreaking television, trenches, voyeurism, chemists, individual football players, Woodland, high temperatures, Washington, highways and byways, astronauts, Abraham Lincoln, Africa, hot people, oceans, politics and unwilling politicians, Major League Baseball, and Shakespeare. Fans of sports teams and figures, local history, and science (three science questions this week) will receive multiple high-fives while playing tonight’s edition of the Pub Quiz.

We sold out last week, so please call now to reserve your table. And if you are looking for a poetry reading (and who isn’t?), visit http://www.poetryindavis.com to see who will be reading at this coming Wednesday night at 8:30.

Your Quizmaster

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/.