Monday, November 16, 2015
Through History with The Monday Quiz: the 1160s
After Bernard of Clairvaux, but before the Apollo Program: it's the 1160s!
1. Eric IX, regarded as the patron saint of his country and styled Eric the Lawgiver, Erik the Saint, and Eric the Holy, was murdered by Magnus Henriksen in 1160; in 1161, Henriksen was murdered by Karl Sverkersson, the ruler of Gothenland, who took the national throne as King Charles. Charles established the Archbishopric of Uppsala before being murdered in 1167. So, some difficulty with the orderly transfer of power in what European nation?
2. Despite being the largest river valley in its entire landmass, the Onyx River basin (shown here) had no human population in the 1160s. Or, for that matter, at any time before or after. What kept people from settling along the Onyx?
3. He would unite the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia and lead them to victories in campaigns “often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations.” But in the early 1160s, he was just a beautiful baby boy named Temüjin. What do we usually call him these days?
4. After all of his relatives died, and after 35 years on the throne, the emperor launched a search for descendants of the founder of the dynasty. In 1162 he finally came up with a surprised sixth cousin and abdicated to him. The new guy did pretty well, and would rule the Southern Song for 27 years. Just another story from the history of ___________.
5. In 1163, either Bishop Maurice de Sully or Pope Alexander III -- or who knows, maybe both of them -- laid the foundation stone of the building that looks like this today. What's it called?
6. Throughout the 1160s, the Crusader Kingdoms kept trying to invade the rich agricultural land to their south, in __________.
7. In 1166, Stefan Namanja became Grand Prince of a nation. He would retain the title until 1196, founding a national empire (shown on this map) and church; after his death, the orthodox church canonized him as Saint Symeon the Myrrh-streaming. Of what nation was Stefan Namanja the ruler?
8. In the Middle Ages, the emperor and aristocracy gradually lost power to the bushi, the warrior caste that nominally served them. By the 1160s, the bushi began to dominate government, as they eventually would for centuries. What do we usually call the bushi in English?
9. Diarmait Mac Murchada, the ousted King of Leinster, invited Anglo-Norman mercenaries to help him regain his kingdom. They arrived in May 1169, with the backing of King Henry II of England and Pope Adrian IV. Thus began the Norman Invasion of ______________.
10. The painter who would create Banquet by Lantern Light, shown here, was born in the 1160s. Where do you suppose he lived?
Last Week's New Monday Quiz Classic (tm)
1. Crayons: The six you'd expect, plus black and BROWN.
2. 8th Amendment: Cruel and unusual punishment.
3. 8th Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.
4. "Eight Days a Week"
5. The Buddha!
6. The US, The UK, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan
7. Eight track tapes had one continuous loop of wide tape. It held four programs of music, each in stereo.
8. Mercury, Mercury, Neptune, & Venus.
9. Valence Electrons, or electrons in the outmost "shell" where chemical reactions take place. Half credit for "electrons."
10. 1,1,2,3,5,8: Thirteen.
11. A eight, or quaver, rest.
12. 8 = 1000
13. Ruth.
It's kind of close between Morgan and DrSchnell. But I think that DrSchnell has it.
The New Monday Quiz: characterized by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements
1. Bad football with the New Orleans Saints.
2. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is in St. Petersburg.
3. Bad film with St. Elmo's Fire.
4. The Little Prince was by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
5. Big explosion with Mt. Saint Helens.
6. Cujo is a St. Bernard.
7. Chicago on St. Patrick's Day.
8a. Edna St. Vincent Millay, or, 8b. Saint Vincent
9. Sydenham's chorea is what you might call St. Vitus' Dance.
10. The St. Crispin's Day Speech.
So DrSchnell took this one too, with Christine M. and Gs49 nipping at his proverbial heels.
Through History with The Monday Quiz: the 1150s
1. The Sorbonne is the University of Paris.
2. The island country is the Maldives.
3. Idrisi's Tabula Rogeriana was an atlas.
4. Adrian IV is the only English Pope in history.
5. That's Angkor Wat, in Cambodia.
6. Barbarossa was the Holy Roman Emperor, which was not entirely without certain holy, Roman, and imperial traits.
7. Lalli and Bishop Henry: a typically dark folk tale from Finland
8. The Emperor who survived the Hōgen Rebellion was the Emperor of Japan.
9. Bermingham's new town would become... Birmingham.
10. The Hanseatic League was an alligned coalition of city-states along the Channel and Baltic Coasts of Northern Europe.
Several brainy folks got an impressive 8/10, but it was pfly who stood atop the fray with nine marks, plus intangible bonus points for showing his reasoning.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Semi-Finals: van Gogh v. Grimshaw!

Last weekend was the first weekend of an odd-numbered month, but there was no semifinal match. "No one will even notice," I told Mrs.5000, a few minutes before the horrified text from Tournament enthusiast Chuckdaddy. Here, to right the wrong that was done, is the Fifth Round match that should have gone down one week ago.
Vincent van Gogh
1853 - 1890
Dutch; worked in France
Van Gogh's tremendous influence on the development of Expressionism is due to his unique skill as a draughtsman and his immediately recognizable heavy, sculptural line. He wrote to his brother, "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily in order to express myself forcibly...to exaggerate the essential and to leave the obvious vague." Van Gogh's revolutionary approach to painting had a strong influence on the next generation of artists.... He offered these early modernists a powerful alternative to the avant-garde centrality of delicate Parisian Impressionism and post-Impressionism. - SparkNotes
- Beat up on Hugo van der Goes in Round 1.
- Got past Natalia Gontcharova in Round 2.
- Gave El Greco a real drubbing in Round 3.
- Lambasted Giotto in a Round 4 13-1 blowout.
Atkinson Grimshaw
1836 - 1893
English
Moonlight scenes are Grimshaw's best-known subjects. This broader technique, often featuring the mysterious atmosphere of mist-laden horizons, was particularly appreciated by middle-class clients. Grimshaw's dock scenes, and the manor houses glimpsed down leafy, stone-walled suburban lanes, along which a single figure walks, were especially popular.... Today Grimshaw is seen as one of the minor Victorian masters, his place assured by his moonlights, evocative of Victorian life of the 1870s and 1880s. - The Tate Gallery
- Decisively beat 18th century French painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze in Round 1.
- Advanced against Cubist Juan Gris in Round 2.
- Stunned Venetian master Francesco Guardi in Round 3.
- Took down Dutch master Frans Hals in Round 4.
Friday, November 13, 2015
At the Movies: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Mike Nichols, 1966.
imbd: 8.1 (imdb 250: #234)
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is of course adapted from the well-known play by Edward Albee, and although it has an active camera that gets up close and personal with the characters and their household things, it definitely retains its theatrical feel. The setting is an afterparty on a college campus in the 1960s. Well after the good townsfolk have drifted off to sleep, a jaded middle-aged professor and his jaded middle-aged faculty wife host an apparently fresh young professor and his apparently fresh young faculty wife for a late, late night of abrasive conversation and astonishing alcohol consumption.
There is a big psychological revelation in WAoVW that would definitely be a spoiler to anyone who has not seen the movie or play. It is… well, let’s not mince words, it’s really kind of dumb. But even before we get there, I was having trouble buying the story on plausibility grounds. It’s hard for me to imagine people being quite so aggressively rude when hosting new acquaintances in their middle-class American home, and the new acquaintances sitting back and taking it. But then, of course, I don’t suppose I’ve ever been quite that drunk.
So, it’s an unlikely drama, hinging on a dumb plot device, and it’s about a quartet of people who turn out to be, each in their own way, fairly unpleasant people. This is not a great recipe for entertainment! And yet, I was kind of riveted. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next! And for all that the characters were mean, self-involved, and unhappy, the actors were also able to communicate their virtues and charm. You can tell that you would probably like them and respect them, once they sobered up. Against odds, this is a very entertaining film.
Michael5000's imdb rating: 8.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
The Infinite Art Tournament Left Bracket Second-Round Elimination: Mantegna v. Man Ray!
Both Andrea Mantegna and Man Ray have beaten Giacomo Manzù. Both of them have beaten Kasimir Malevich, too. But only one of them will be able to beat the other. Let's see how it goes!
Andrea Mantegna
1430ish - 1506
Italian
- Defeated Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzù by a single vote in Round 1. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
- Lost to Édouard Manet in Round 2.
- Beat Kasimir Malevich in the Left Bracket Second Round.
Man Ray
1890 - 1976
American; worked in France
- Survived a late charge by Kasimir Malevich in Round 1.
- Lost to book artist Tim Ely in Round 2.
- Beat Giacomo Manzù by a single vote in the Left Bracket Second Round. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Bookish: Michael5000 vs. the White Whale
Moby Dick
Herman Melville, 1851
I read Moby Dick 23 years ago, and was left with the impression that the dull technical chapters ruined what was otherwise a fine novel of the sea. I was wrong about that. It's not that the technical chapters are dull; they aren't, especially. It's rather that the whole sprawling massive length of the thing is dull. This is a shame, because it is also a quirky and epic piece of writing that often shines. Melville threw everything but the kitchen sink into this novel -- as with War and Peace, you kind of wonder if it is really a "novel" -- and much of it sticks. There are many passages of brilliance and many snarky passages of biting wit. The tale as a whole is simple but sound, and you can reasonably approach the thing as a treasure-house of odd facts, opinions, incidents, and bluster.
But if there were ever a book that needed a firm editorial hand, man, this is it. If it were just to weed out the ceaseless apostrophizing that passes for dialog, that would tighten things up beautifully. Or if the secondary characters, Starbuck, Flask, and Stubb, could not just be cartoonishly different from each other, but could be actual characters with something of the breath of life in them, that would be great too. Or if Melville could keep the grandstanding of his intimacy with Shakespeare, scripture, and mythology under control -- catch up to the 1850s, grandpa! -- then I might be able to get through more than five pages at a stretch without nodding off.
Moby Dick was a flop at first publication, and that was partially bad luck -- the final chapter was left out of the original edition, and you can see where that could be hard on a book. But it must also have struck its original readers as awfully old-fashioned, and perplexing in its anything-goes structure. Seventy or eighty years later, it began its rise as a critical darling. It has a lot to recommend itself as such. Since it's old, we are required to forgive it for being archaic; because we are interested in form, we are intrigued by its one-of-a-kind narrative architecture; since we are smart and catch the references, we end up being flattered by Melville's overattachment to his influences.
The truth, as we say, is somewhere in between. Moby Dick is a quirky, individual piece of literature that didn't deserve to be a flop. Conversely, it is a deeply flawed book that doesn't really earn its household-name status in the literary landscape. It is bloated. To make a painfully obvious metaphor -- and why not, Melville's characters can barely speak without doing the same -- the lean musculature is there, but it's buried under tiresome layers of blubber.
Which is to say: three stars. "I liked it."
This little book report was posted last week on GoodReads, hence the star rating.
Herman Melville, 1851
I read Moby Dick 23 years ago, and was left with the impression that the dull technical chapters ruined what was otherwise a fine novel of the sea. I was wrong about that. It's not that the technical chapters are dull; they aren't, especially. It's rather that the whole sprawling massive length of the thing is dull. This is a shame, because it is also a quirky and epic piece of writing that often shines. Melville threw everything but the kitchen sink into this novel -- as with War and Peace, you kind of wonder if it is really a "novel" -- and much of it sticks. There are many passages of brilliance and many snarky passages of biting wit. The tale as a whole is simple but sound, and you can reasonably approach the thing as a treasure-house of odd facts, opinions, incidents, and bluster.
But if there were ever a book that needed a firm editorial hand, man, this is it. If it were just to weed out the ceaseless apostrophizing that passes for dialog, that would tighten things up beautifully. Or if the secondary characters, Starbuck, Flask, and Stubb, could not just be cartoonishly different from each other, but could be actual characters with something of the breath of life in them, that would be great too. Or if Melville could keep the grandstanding of his intimacy with Shakespeare, scripture, and mythology under control -- catch up to the 1850s, grandpa! -- then I might be able to get through more than five pages at a stretch without nodding off.
Moby Dick was a flop at first publication, and that was partially bad luck -- the final chapter was left out of the original edition, and you can see where that could be hard on a book. But it must also have struck its original readers as awfully old-fashioned, and perplexing in its anything-goes structure. Seventy or eighty years later, it began its rise as a critical darling. It has a lot to recommend itself as such. Since it's old, we are required to forgive it for being archaic; because we are interested in form, we are intrigued by its one-of-a-kind narrative architecture; since we are smart and catch the references, we end up being flattered by Melville's overattachment to his influences.
The truth, as we say, is somewhere in between. Moby Dick is a quirky, individual piece of literature that didn't deserve to be a flop. Conversely, it is a deeply flawed book that doesn't really earn its household-name status in the literary landscape. It is bloated. To make a painfully obvious metaphor -- and why not, Melville's characters can barely speak without doing the same -- the lean musculature is there, but it's buried under tiresome layers of blubber.
Which is to say: three stars. "I liked it."
This little book report was posted last week on GoodReads, hence the star rating.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
The Infinite Art Tournament, Round Two: Newman v. Nicholson!
Barnett Newman
1905 - 1970
American
Beat Bruce Nauman in Round 1.
Ben Nicholson
1894 - 1982
British
Defeated Isamu Noguchi in Round 1.
Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.
1905 - 1970
American
Beat Bruce Nauman in Round 1.
Ben Nicholson
1894 - 1982
British
Defeated Isamu Noguchi in Round 1.
Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.
Monday, November 9, 2015
The New Monday Quiz Classic: The Quiz of Eights
The Quiz of Eights
It's into the vault this week for a quiz that you've long forgotten, if you ever saw it in its first run. Answers remain in arrears as well. We regret any inconvenience this may engender.
1. The eight basic colors of Crayola crayons have remained the same since the brand was introduced in 1908. For a point apiece, what are they?
2. What does the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protect you from?
3. Catholics and Lutherans consider the Eighth Commandment to be You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. For other Christians, as well as Jews, the 8th Commandment is what?
4. For two weeks in March, 1965 -- between The Temptations' "My Girl" and The Supremes "Stop! In the Name of Love" -- the number one song on the Billboard U.S. singles chart began with these lyrics:
Ooh I need your love babe,Name that tune.
Guess you know it's true.
Hope you need my love, babe,
Just like I need you.
5. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of:
1. Right viewBut who says so?
2. Right intention
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
6. The "G8" or "Group of Eight," is a yearly forum that has been held (originally as the G6 and for a time as the G7) since 1975 among leaders of traditionally powerful countries. It does NOT currently include the "Outreach Five" countries whose influence has been on the rise more recently: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa. For a point apiece, what eight countries DOES it include?
7. Remember eight-track cassettes? Why were they said to have eight tracks?
8. Of the eight planets -- the
the smallest?9. The "Noble Gases" neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), and xenon (Xe) tend to be chemically unreactive because they have eight ___________.
the one with the shortest year?
the furthest from the sun?
the one that's almost the same size as Earth?
10. What is the next Fibonacci number after eight?
11. What, for four points, is this dealie:

12. How do you write the number 8 in a binary numerical system?
13. The eighth book of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible is a short story about a widow who finds a new husband. It is the Book of _____.
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