Monday, November 24, 2014

The New Monday Quiz Pilot

Back in the day, this online daily was famous not for its art but for its quizzes.  Weren't those fun!?  No?  Well.  I got a bee in my bonnet recently (these things happen when I get assigned to too many trainings, meetings, and other occasions at which one must sit still) to fire up the old quiz engine again.

Here's a pilot!  If people say "YAY A QUIZ!" or imply as much, then I'll probably make more.  If they don't, then this could be a one-off.  Enjoy!

1. This isn't a particularly famous painting, but it's representative of its famous painter.  Who is he?


2. According to tradition, this man's famous book is a collection of the sermons of the apostle Peter. He was the first bishop of Alexandria, and his symbol is a winged lion.

3. This isn't the way you'd usually look at it, but it's a population map of __________ just the same.


4. When mysterious strangers make a surprising prophecy, this character responds by saying:
"Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor."
5. This shows the same passage written twice in the two scripts of the ____________ language.


6. It has the lowest freezing point of any elemental metal.

7. What country printed this postage stamp in its 20th year of independence?


8. He is a fairly well-known composer despite having only three "hits": two of them are the opera Boris Godunov and the tone poem Night on Bald Mountain.

9. This is a still from the #41 movie on the imdb database's user-voted listed of the best 250 movies of all time, right above The Pianist and right below Terminator 2.  What is the name of this 2000 film?


10. Dorothea Brooke is torn between dusty old Mr. Casaubon and dashing Will Ladislaw in this English novel?

13 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Yay! (that was really my first exclamation [though only in my head] when I saw the post on Facebook)

Another opportunity to show off my general ignorance - and due to my time zone, I can do it several hours ahead of everyone else. Yay! (no, really, I love these quizzes)

1. He is probably Monet.
2. Emperor Constantine?
3. West Virginia?
4. Macbeth, I think.
5. Turkic. What the hell.
6. I just want to keep repeating "elemental metal" because it sounds so cool, but if we're talking freezing points I will say mercury, because I can't think of another one that's liquid and therefore freezable.
7. The Former Republic of Macedonia, or whatever that's called?
8. Mussorgsky! I know that one for sure!
9. Absolutely no idea. No, wait. I'm going to say that Peter Greenaway film that I think was called "The Pillow Book" because that involved people writing on each other. Even if it's not the right answer, I highly recommend the film.
10. Okay, NOW I have absolutely no idea. Not even the tiniest smidgen of a clue. So I will say something completely random and answer "The English Patient."

Yay quizzes! Yay!

(is 4 yays enough?)

The Calico Cat said...

I too miss the quizes. (Damn can't decided if that should have been quizzes instead.)

gs49 said...

I really missed the quizzes. Hope you restart them.

1. Monet
2. St. Mark
3. Maine
4. Macbeth
5. Mongolian
---I'm sensing a pattern
6. Mercury
7. Macedonia
8. Mussourgski
9. mmm...don't know this one
10. Mansfield Park?? (sounds like an Austin plot)
---yep, there's definitely a pattern

Really I forgot about the pattern.

Morgan said...

*implies as much*

1. As much as I enjoy looking at art I can't really tell the difference between these things. Monet?

2. Do I guess Matthew or Mark? I'll guess Matthew.

3. Maine, U.S.A.

4. Macbeth

5. Mongolian?

6. Mercury

7. Macedonia. Nice of them to print the answer on the stamp.

8. Mussorgsky

9. Memento

10. Mride and Mrejudice

Elizabeth said...

Damn. I didn't even think about a theme.

DrSchnell said...

YAY A QUIZ! I'll imply it too, just for good measure!
1. Monet
2. Mark? Maybe?
3. Maine
4. Macbeth
5. Macedonian?
6. D'oh! Shoulda paid more attention to those "Element of the Month" posts! How about, ummmm..... Mercury? Only M I can think of.
7. Macedonia. So #5 is probably wrong.....
8. Mussourgsky (sp?)
9. Memento
10. Middlemarch? Again, going for the "M" novels I can think of that I haven't read.

DrSchnell said...

And is Mondary a new day that I'm unfamiliar with? Also starts with M!

Ben said...

Yay! A quiz!

Damn. I don't know many of these.

1.
2.
3. Looks like Maine turned on its side.
4. MacBeth?
5. Hebrew?
6.
7. Czech Republic?
8. Mussorgsky
9. Ooo. I've seen this one. Can't remember the name.
10.

I can see that, if I were a more diligent student of your blog, I might know a few more of these.

Ben said...

Ah, yes. A theme. Might have helped a little, but probably not too much. I like a lot of the answers that others have posted, however!

mrs.5000 said...

Aw, it's been so long since I scrolled through other comments with my hand held in front of my face! Feels like old times!
1 Monet
2 St. Mark. I know that one, 'cuz Venice stole his body.
3 Maine. I'm so happy to know why you scowled at me, when I was trying to figure out what that map was on your computer screen the other day.
4 Macbeth. That's how they getcha.
5 Mongolian
6 Mercury
7 Macedonia
8 Mussorgsky
9 Memento
10 Middlemarch!

Judy Ross said...

1. Monet
2. Constantine
3. China
4. Macbeth
5. Russian
6. Mercury
7. Czech Republic
8. Stravinsky
9.
10.Pickwick Papers
Snap! I had forgotten about alphabetical theme, so I can already see how many must have missed.

Morgan said...

I'd like to think that anyone who didn't answer #9 correctly is just roleplaying.

Michael5000 said...

Yay, Answers!

1. Monet
2. St. Mark
3. Maine
4. Macbeth
5. Mongolian. (clue: The Cyrillic script points to a culture that was under Russian domination for an extended period, while the north-to-south calligraphic script is suggestive of Asia.)
6. Mercury. (The conceptual hurdle for this one is that all the other metals, as the temperatures we live in, are "frozen." Dude.)
7. Macedonia. Which, they do print the name on the stamp, but in a Cyrillic script, which makes it a little trickier.
8. Modest Mussorgsky
9. "Memento." I'm kind of curious why Morgan thinks this particular film would be universally known.
10. Middlemarch. "Mride and Mrejudice" is the one about Melizabeth Mennet.

Everyone is a winner, of course.