Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Wednesday Quiz has, um, "conquered" quite a few women

It's:


The Wednesday Quiz, in its third incarnation, is basically the same old weekly game of knowledge, intuition, inductive reasoning, and willingness to risk public embarrassment in a friendly and moderately supportive environment!!  

Traditionally, it is a closed-book quiz.

It is very possible that answers will come out over the weekend.

1. It's the one where the King of Navarre wants to lock himself and his pals away from all temptations of the flesh in order to get some serious studying done -- but then the Princess of France shows up and romantic hinjinx ensue.

2. What country is shown here?  And not Australia, wiseacre: the island country in the brown patch of ocean, represented by the flag over on the right hand side.



3. He earned a buck a year at his highest-profile job, co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, and, sad to say, died young a few months back.

4. One of the most recognizable and well-known styles of painting took its name from a hostile review of this 1872 painting. What was the name of the movement it represented?



5. This epic Western movie cost about $44 million, and earned back something like $4 million. This debacle pretty much killed off United Artists Studios, and shifted control of American moviemaking to from directors to studio executives. Bummer.

6. What's the name of the penninsula where Turkish soldiers engaged in an extended bloody battle, oddly enough, with soldiers from Australia and New Zealand?

7. Here are a few of the patents of a very smart guy who won the Nobel Prize for Physics when he was 37:

  • #2206634, Process for the Production of Radioactive Substances, filed October, 1935, issued July, 1940
  • #2798847, Method of Operating a Neutronic Reactor, filed December 1944, issued July, 1957
  • #2813070, Method of Sustaining a Neutronic Chain Reacting System, filed November, 1945, issued November, 1957
  • #2836554, Air Cooled Neutronic Reactor
  • #2837477, Chain Reacting System

(He was also apparently the first person to point out that our lack of contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life is in itself an adequate proof for the non-existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life, which was a big disappointment for me since I thought that idea was my own baby.)

What's his name?

8. Popularly used to refer to gourmet hedonist attitudes, it technically denotes a classical philosophy  expounded by this guy:

The idea is that by pursuing virtues one may enjoy the most happiest life possible. What "-ism" word am I talking about here?

9. Mozart's eponymous villain has, um, "conquered" quite a few women, including 1003 in Spain alone. And mind you, he's well-travelled. What's his name?

10. This novel by Anthony Burgess, made into a movie by Stanley Kubrick, wonders whether good behavior is meaningful if it is compelled rather than chosen. What's it called?

--

Put your answers, made into a movie by Stanley Kubrick,  in the comments.

10 comments:

gS49 said...

1. Love's Labours Lost
2. Kiribati
3. J
4. Impressionism
5. Heaven's Gate
6. Gallipoli
7. Fermi
8. Epicurianism
9. Don Juan
10. Clockwork Orange

mrs.5000 said...

1 Love's Labours Lost
2 Kiribati
3 Steve Jobs
4 impressionism
5 Heaven's Gate
6 Gallipoli
7 Enrico Fermi
8 epicureanism
9 Don Giovanni
10 A Clockwork Orange
(sorry, the studio execs pulled the plug on my movie version)

Voron X said...

1. Love's Labours Lost (I read your review a while back.)
2. Kiribati (the native version of Gilbert!)
3. Jobs, Steve
4. Impressionism
5. How the West was won?
6. Gibralter?
7. Fermi, Enrico
8. Epicureanism
9. Don Giovanni (aka Don Juan)
X. A Clockwork Orange (right, right...)

Ben said...

1. La Traviata
2. Kon-Tikiland
3. Steve Jobs
4. Impressionism
5. Hell if I know
6. Gallipoli--saw the movie in college
7. Fermi. I don't agree with you guys about the extraterrestrial life thing--not that I necessarily would argue that there IS intelligent extraterrestrial life, but just because we haven't made contact with it doesn't mean it can't exist. It's a big universe. Also, "intelligent" doesn't mean "space-faring".
8. Epicurism? Epicureanism? Something like that?
9. Don Juan
10. A Clockwork Orange

Anonymous said...

1. Loves Labors Lost (Lame)
2. Kiribati (Sex Life of Cannibals)
3. Jobs, Steve
4. Impressionism
5. Heaven's Gate (not that bad)
6. Galipoli (Waltzing Matilda)
7. Fermi
8. Epicurism
9. Don Juan
10. Clockwork Orange

UnwiseOwl said...

I don't think that I have enough of a baudget or supply of mushrooms to produce a Kubrick movie, so this'll have to do.
1. Willy Shakespeare's Love's Labour Lost? I had "the Tempest" until I realised that that stuffed up the whole logical progression thing, which just goes to show that my Shakespeare scholarship is in a sad state.
2. The flag screams Kiribati, which is lucky, because the map gave me no idea.
3. Li'l' Steevy Jobs
4. Impressionism? Could be anything, really, given how little I know about art.
5. High Noon. Ok, I assume that that's not right, but I have no idea.
6. Gallipoli, baby! Feel that ANZAC spirit. Many Australians couldn't name a single other battle of World War I, but the story of Gallipoli is mother's milk over here. The shared history is almost enough to make us like New Zealanders.
7. Mr Fermi, I believe, Enrico or something. Thanks, year 10 science teacher!
8. Epicureanism. That guy has a nice bust, if you know what I mean.
9. Don Giovanni! I saw the opera just last week.
10. I only know one book by Anthony Burgess, but it does conveniently start with C. Still in the suitcase waiting to be read, I'm afraid.(A) Clockwork Orange.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

Your readers are smart . . .

Do you go to trivia at bars and beat that shit up?

DrSchnell said...

1. Luv's Labours Lost
2.Kiribati
3.Jobs
4. Impressionism
5. Heaven's Gate. Which I actually kind of liked when I saw it.
6. Galipolli (don't know where all the Ls go).
7. Feinstein?
8. Epicurianism
9. Don Giovanni
10. Clockwork Orange

By the way, am just about finished with "The Rest is Noise," as recommended in this here blog a couple of years ago. Great book! And this is one of the takeaway lessons: Pierre Boulez = most insufferable ass in twentieth century music.

Christine M. said...

gS49 said...

1. dunno
2. dunno
3. Jobs
4. Impressionism
5. dunno
6. Gallipoli
7. dunno
8. Epicurianism
9. Don Juan
10. Clockwork Orange

Michael5000 said...

The general trend was towards rightness:

1 Love's Labours Lost
2 Kiribati
3 Steve Jobs
4 Impressionism
5 Heaven's Gate
6 Gallipoli
7 Enrico Fermi
8 Epicureanism
9 Don Giovanni
10 A Clockwork Orange

Dr. Ken: Yeah, but they're just book smart. You can learn things on the street that they'll never teach you in school.