Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
In my house we are mourning the actor Leslie Nielsen, who died yesterday at the age of 84. I wrote Leslie Nielsen a fan letter about 15 years ago, and he wrote me back, sending an autographed picture, and a list of the upcoming movies he would be appearing in, including Spy Hard and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, as well as his idea for Mr. Magoo (one of Nielsen’s less well-received films). Assuming that it was Nielsen who signed the picture and the note (as fans always assume), I appreciated that he took the time. He also seemed so excited about his projects, and about this unforseeable second chance he had as a comedic movie star after playing straight roles for so many decades earlier in films such as Ransom with Glenn Ford and Donna Reed, and Forbidden Planet, costarring Robby the Robot (both in 1956). But of course kids my age most treasured the Police Squad TV shows (and later, movies). My brother, a Hollywood reporter, today quipped that “I will say that as a child, seeing Leslie Nielsen in Police Squad made me think the world out there was one I would be safe to enter.” My brother is witty like that. For instance, today he also said “One of the biggest leaps of faith in cinema history has to be . . . when they fly the Millennium Falcon out of a dirty sock puppet [and] then cut to a man swinging from vines with a marionette on his back.” I will miss Nielsen’s deadpan humor. He once said, “Doing nothing is very hard to do…you never know when you’re finished.”
This week’s Pub Quiz will feature questions about (leftover) turkey, e-readers, the Academy Awards, the aforementioned Leslie Nielsen, soda pop, the US Navy, The Rolling Stones (you might as well start rehearsing your song now), Rookies of the Year, thunder without lightning, weights and measurements, former leading man Mel Gibson, the Old Testament, hit music, actors named Joe, empty states, resting kiwis, the Soviet Union, mammals, superheroes, Madagascar, Frenchmen, Star Wars, radical novelists, old countries, Broadway, mathematics, musicians, candidates for Vice President, and Hamlet. In fact, if you reread Hamlet between now and 9pm (assuming you can get a table, for we ran out of tables last week), you will surely get at least one question right. I myself reread the play a couple times a year for inspiration, but of course it travels with me on my iPhone along with the rest of Shakespeare’s works.
I hope you can join us tonight. I promise that it will be warm inside.
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
Five questions from last week.
1. Great Americans Landmarks. What is the name of the world’s first long, mechanically-ventilated, underwater tunnel that opened between New York and New Jersey in 1927?
2. Unusual Words. Which primary or secondary color does one refer to with the word virescent?
3. Another Music Question. Asian American electro hop group Far East Movement has a huge hit currently with a song (featuring Kesha) whose title is a repeated simile. It begins with the immortal line “Poppin’ bottles in the ice, like a blizzard.” What’s the title of the song?
4. Pop Culture – Television. On November 21, 1980, 83 million television viewers discovered that Kristin Shepard, a character played by the actress Mary Crosby, shot someone. Who did Kristin Shepard shoot?
5. British Churches. Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, coronations of English and British monarchs were held in what London church?
P.S. Perhaps you will return this coming Wednesday to see Sharon Doubiago read her poetry? In total Sharon Doubiago has won three Pushcart Prizes for poetry and fiction, The Hazel Hall Oregon Book Award for Poetry, the California Arts Council Fellowship Award, the Woman Writer Genius Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Diane Wood Middlebrook-Ann Sexton Memorial Fellowship in Literature at Djerassi, Sigma Delta Chi’s Sports News Reporting First Place Prize, Tom Robbins’ Journalist of the Year Award (“for the most outrageous, risk-taking, life-affirming article published in the Northwest”– the last two for “Son II”), and many other awards and prizes. South America Mi Hija, which she wrote after traveling to Machu Picchu, and which was named the Best Book of the Year by the LA Weekly. For more information about the Wednesday night event with Sharon Doubiago, visit 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/.