Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Happy New Year! I hope 2011 will be a prosperous year for you. In my family we would always see films on New Year’s Eve, and often on Christmas Day. We did this not only because the best films are released at the end of the year, when the short attention spans of members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were not yet too taxed, but because you can sit around reading your Christmas presents and staring at the people who gave them to you for only so long. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said, “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction,” and we often chose to gaze at the big screen.
And these were not just a metaphorical big screen, but actual big screens. The Tenley Circle Theatre, where I worked as a teenager, had three auditoria, the largest of which held almost 500 people. And larger theatres like the Circle Theatre or the Avalon held even more. All of these places are gone now, but the Uptown Theatre still stands. This theatre where I saw Star Wars has been called “the best place to see event movies for several decades” by the website Cinema Treasures (see http://cinematreasures.org/theater/70/). According to this same site, “The theater opened with a seating capacity of 1,364 (914 seats in the orchestra and 450 in the stadium seated balcony). The Uptown Theater was designed by theater architect John Zink, a top designer of Art Deco and Art Moderne style movie houses.” In 1968 2001-A Space Odyssey showed at the Uptown for 51 weeks. Can you imagine?
So in recognition of such traditions, and such grand theatres of the past, tonight’s Pub Quiz will focus at least partly on film, most of them released in the last 20 years, films that could be seen at our own domestic movie palace, The Varsity, or one of the smaller auditoria in town. We will also feature questions on automobile companies, internet time-wasters, Arne Duncan’s thoughts on education policies, great films (Apocalypse Now, Avatar, The Departed, Gandhi, and other award-winning usual suspects), less-great films, New York City, the music of New Jersey, Canadian athletes, POTUS, favorite primates, forgeries, starlets, New Year’s Eve, oaf topics, fudge, onetime superpowers, Obama’s cabinet, Western Asia, shaking your money maker, physics, mythology, epics, young actresses that I have not heard of, the Sacramento Kings, Shakespeare, and Chinese boys.
If you call right now, you might grab our last table for tonight’s Quiz. I expect us to sell out again this evening, though you are still welcome to drop by. As I will discuss more fully in a later newsletter, Daniel Goleman’s new book, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, suggests that we need collaborative social events like the Pub Quiz to stay healthy and intellectually active, no matter how old we are. So if connecting with friends, keeping healthy, and challenging yourself intellectually were among your New Year’s resolutions, you owe it to yourself to join us tonight for the Pub Quiz. See you at 9!
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Mottos and Slogans. The company that used to be known for its slogan “All Day I Dream About Sports” is now using “Impossible is Nothing.” Name the Company.
2. Internet Culture – Viral Videos. What 54 year-old American stand-up comedian, television host, social critic, political commentator, author, and actor published a Christmas video to Oprah called “Enough With the Materialism”?
3. Newspaper Headlines. What is the only US state to have lost population between 2000 and 2010? Note that a number of states will have lost representatives in the US House of Representatives. I’m looking for the only state that actually lost citizens over the last decade.
4. Four for Four. According to a recent survey, Americans of which of the following ages are 50% or more likely to live in households with cell phones but no traditional landline telephones? 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39.
5. Ron Howard Movies. What year 2000 movie was the highest grossing film for that year, as well as the career box office records for both director Ron Howard and actor Jim Carrey?
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/.