Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Whenever I ask on Facebook what topics people would like to see represented, one of my favorite past participants, Kayla, always answers with “Harry Potter.” As someone with three degrees in English, I was made skeptical about the Harry Potter phenomenon by an essay I read years ago by the eminent literary critic Harold Bloom. Bloom decided once to read the first Harry Potter book – he reads a book or more a day, for he has an eidetic memory – and resolved to draw a hash mark on a nearby envelope every time the narrator or a character said that he wanted to, as the cliché goes, “stretch his legs.” Soon, according to this fascinating narrative by Bloom, the envelope was black with hash marks.
On the other hand, as someone who has hosted a radio show about reading and creativity for ten years, and as someone who has given many lectures meant to inspire schoolchildren to read (with an emphasis on poetry), I am grateful for any author who can inspire so many to read so much. My daughter, like the tween and teen sons and daughters of many families, has read all of J.K. Rowling books, a total of more words than I have read by, say, Dickens or Emerson (but not Tennyson or Thoreau). And I never heard Geneva complaining about all the leg-stretching that so perturbed Harold Bloom. Frankly, I appreciate any literary force that compels young people to turn away from their screens, and return to the word (though with the popularity of the Amazon Kindle, I should perhaps rethink that analogy).
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on Harry Potter, mathematics (hello Leslie!), Republican allies and opponents of the Tea Party, Barty Crouch, Ithaca, the city of London (where I met my wife) and other big cities, prolix users of taxicabs, China, Miles, shoes with loud voices, medical dramas, unbidden guests, Greek mythology, songs about places where we fall in love, the shared interests of Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese, finance protection tactics, more than one anagram, the diet of Lewis and Clarke, Islam, best-selling books, cunning heroes, sports leaders with names that are difficult to spell, Alamosa-class cargo ships and Shakespeare.
This coming Wednesday is the last Poetry Night. Hereafter we move to first and third Thursdays at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street). For our final Poetry Night, we welcome crowd pleaser Bob Stanley, the Poet Laureate of Sacramento.
I hope to see you this evening.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. In one iconic television commercial, a man sitting on the edge of his bed with a rather ill look on his face says “I can’t believe I ate the WHOLE thing.” Name the product.
2. Internet Culture. Worth about 360 billion dollars, Apple, Inc (as of this quarter) is the second-most valuable company on earth, worth more, for example, than the combined worth of Microsoft and Intel. What is the MOST valuable company on earth?
3. Newspaper Headlines. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has formally requested an ethics investigation of Representative David Wu, a Democrat from what state that borders California?
4. Four for Four. Which of the following musicians, if any, died at the age of 27? Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Sid Vicious, Amy Winehouse.
5. Famous Mormons. The founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was killed by an anti-Mormon mob in Illinois. What was his name?
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/.