Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Wednesday Quiz is a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction

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. The painter of this piece wasn't ever able to get into art school, and eventually had to give up painting.  He became successful as an author, however, when his one published book became a surprise hit. But he is usually thought of as a political figure.



2. The capital of Jalisco, it's Mexico's second-largest city.

3. The Wiki calls him "a noted polymath... a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat," and notes that "he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics...." Who was this smart dude?

4. All right, this very small African country is one of the few places on the continent where Spanish is a major language, and its 87% Catholic population is a bit of a anomoly as well. Big oil revenues make it a wealthy country on paper, but the wealth is, to put it mildly, highly concentrated. Its human rights record is considered among the world's worst! The mainland is wedged between Gabon and Cameroon, but the biggest city, Malabo, is on Bioko Island, quite a ways to the north. NAME THAT COUNTRY!

5. Numerous movies, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report have been made from this odd science fiction writer's novels and short stories.

6. His other most famous works are Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man, and El Salon Mexico.

7. This is a fragment of what ancient language?


8. It was -- according to the Wiki, again -- shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction, the 2001 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the 2001 Whitbread Book Award for Novel. It won the 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2002 WH Smith Literary Award, the 2002 Boeke Prize and the 2004 Santiago Prize for the European Novel. Time named it the best fiction novel of the year and included it in its All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels, and The Observer cites it as one of the 100 best novels written, calling it "a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction." I liked it too. And its four-part plot is set in motion when a little girl gets confused after witnessing a sexual encounter in the night and accuses a more or less innocent guy of rape.

9. It's that Yiddish word that means "pleasingly plump, buxom, full-figured."

10. So where's this?


--

10. For A = 1 to 10
20. Give Answer A in the Comments.
30. Next A
40. End

9 comments:

Elizabeth said...

1. Hitler, Adolph
2. Guadalajara
3. Fermi, maybe?
4. Eeeyikes.
5. Dick, Phillip K.
6. Copland, Aaron
7. Basic, baby! Ah, it brings back memories ...
8. All hail Wiki, but I have no idea.
9. Zaftig
10. Yellowstone

Ben said...

1. Hitler?
2. Guadalajara
3. Franklin, Benjamin?
4. Equatorial Guinea?
5. I've seen all of these movies, but still don't know the author whose works they are based upon.
6. Copland, Aaron
7. Basic?
8. Apparrently, I don't read books with that type of critical acclaim.
9. Zowie!
10. Yellowstone

gS49 said...

1. Hitler
2. Guadalupe
3. Franklin
4. E
5. Dick
6. Copland
7. Basic
8. A
9. Zaftig
10. Yemen

Voron X said...

1. I'd say Hawthorne, but he wasn't really a political figure (that I know of) and he wrote more than one book, I'm pretty sure. Do I get points for knowing Samuel Finley Breeze Morse was a portrait artist before an inventor?

2. Guadalajara
3. Franklin, Benjamin
4. Equatorial Guinea
5. Dick!, Phillip K.
6. Colbert, Stephen. -- He'll take credit, in any case. (I don't even know what genre those are!)
7. BASIC!
8. A book that got completely overshadowed in the popular culture by the Harry Potter books around that time. And the DaVinci Code, and His Dark Materials. Okay, I guess I should at least make something up: "Always Close the Curtains."
9. Za-Zoomin'
X. Yellowstone Mega-Volcano!

Voron X said...

Re: #1. How is it that Hitler's failed art career common knowledge? In 38 years, I've certainly not seen a "Hitler Art expo." And *I* knew he was a Libra (sign of the artist), too.

This quiz was very book-heavy today. But at least question #5 was related to sci-fi. All in all, it seems my knowledge of the arts seems to be rather limited to "genre" (sci-fi/fantasy/comic books/horror) works, be it in art, books, movies, or TV. Even my music taste includes the genre-equivalent (goth/industrial/electronica/alternative rock). Too bad for me these areas are nigh-un-represented in the mighty Wednesday quiz. Not a complaint, just an explanation as to why I seem so dumb outside of science and geography.

mrs.5000 said...

1 Hitler
2 Guadalajara
3 Franklin
4 Eek. No, that's not my guess. Um. Eritrea.
5 Dick
6 Copland
7 Let A = Basic
8 Atonement
9 zaftig?
10 Yellowstone

Christine M. said...

1. Hitler
2. Guadalajara
3. Ben Franklin
4. Equitorial Guinea?
5. Dunno
6. Aaron Copeland
7. Basic?
8. dunno
9. zaftig
10. Yellowstone

UnwiseOwl said...

Ok, I didn't do this one for some reason...now is the time!
1. You are being a bit tricky, Mr. Grinch. This is Mr. Hitler.
2. No idea. I claim my Australian bonus.
3. Benjamin Franklin? One day I'd like the wiki to call me a "noted polymath" but I don't see it happening.
4. Damn...Eritrea?
5. Phillip K. Dick
6. Clint Eastwood. Pretty sure that ain't right...
7. 70 PRINT : PRINT "BASIC"
8. Ian McEwen, Atonement. It's on the list.
9. Ooh...I learnt this one yesterday! I knew there was a reason I put off doing this quiz! Zaftig!
10. Yellowstone national park?
Yowchies, harder one this week.

Eavan Moore said...

Hitler
Guadalajara
Ben Franklin
Equatorial Guinea
Philip K. Dick
Aaron Copland
Basic
Atonement
zaftig
Yellowstone

I continue to be smug. Clearly taking a break was a good idea.