Round 7 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 4/10 (8 teams)

1) What 1997 comedy, which shares its name with a fast food restaurant, includes an Academy Awards ceremony where the Best Actor nominees include Paul Newman in “Coot”, Clint Eastwood in “Codger”, Michael Douglas in “Primary Urges” and Steven Seagal in “Snowball in Hell”?
2) What 2005 satire, which takes its name from an early REM song, did David Denby describe as a “dirty-minded poison-pen letter to a country swollen with self-esteem” and compare to Election, Heathers, and Mean Girls?
3) What 2005 horror film, a remake of a John Carpenter movie, concerns the fate of the crew of the Elizabeth Dane?
4) In Ocean’s Twelve, Topher Grace says he “totally phoned in that Dennis Quaid movie.” What 2004 movie is he talking about?
5) What 2004 film featuring a raunchy version of the hokey pokey was director John Waters’ first film rated NC-17?
6) What 2001 comedy was adapted into a musical starring Laura Bell Bundy, which debuted last year in San Francisco before opening at the Palace Theater on Broadway?
7) What 2002 Cameron Diaz comedy, which shares its name with a U2 song, did film critic Charles Taylor declare “one of the flattest, stupidest, unfunniest sex comedies — as well as one of the worst all-round pictures — I’ve ever seen”?
8) Indie pop band Belle & Sebastian composed the soundtrack for what 2001 Todd Solondz film?
9) What 2004 film based on a comic book character did Guillermo del Toro direct between Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth?
10) Who appeared in all nine of these movies?

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Round 6 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 6.78/10 (8 teams)

A.k.a. my ode to Wikipedia’s disambiguation pages.

Identify the word or term that fits all three definitions given. Example: a Canadian music award, a Roman goddess, and Roger Ebert’s best film of 2007: Juno

1) a British railway station, an ABBA song, and a Belgian municipality
2) a Mariah Carey song, a Jessica Alba movie, and an agricultural product
3) a city in Illinois, a Marvel comics superhero, and a Disney princess
4) a Biblical queen, a Bette Davis movie, and one of Gawker Media’s blogs
5) a department store, an ice shelf, and a Friend
6) an educational philosophy, a salad, and a Muppet
7) a supporting character in Peanuts, an Israeli anti-tank missile, and volleyball lingo
8) a principle of good design, a candy, and an Andy Warhol film
9) an Angstrom, one of Winnie the Pooh’s friends, and a sex toy
10) a book by Lemony Snicket, a song by the Doors, and a Seattle radio station

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Round 5 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 7/10 (9 teams)

Each answer includes an element from the periodic table, either on its own or as part of a longer word.

1) What subcompact car replaced both the Plymouth Sundance and the Dodge Shadow?
2) What is the second most abundant element in the universe?
3) What traditional pasta recipe do some people believe gets its name from its popularity among charcoal makers?
4) What British rock singer was given a Zoroastrian funeral after dying of AIDS in 1991?
5) In Disney’s The Fox and the Hound, what’s the name of the hound?
6) What series did Raymond Burr star in after Perry Mason ended?
7) Microsoft Word calls it “line spacing,” but what’s the technical term for vertical spacing between lines of type, based on the days of the printing press?
8) In “The Great Computer Caper,” Arnold from Diff’rent Strokes accidentally commits treason with Ricky Stratton, a character on what sitcom?
9) The British pop band Thompson Twins took their name from supporting characters in what Belgian comic book?
10) It’s biocompatible, it’s become easier to work with it, and an example was featured in The Abyss, so wedding rings made of what metal have become increasingly popular in the last 20 years?

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For whatever reason, it took some casual reading about Seattle trivia king L.M. Boyd and a subscription to Mental Floss to spur the idea of a recurring trivia column on Seattlest. But it did. And the idea is spurred.

I’ve kicked off what will (hopefully) be a weekly post, “7 Astounding Yet True Facts About…” with a post on Dick’s Drive-In.

If’ you’re curious about other Seattle institutions, lemme know and I’ll slot ‘em in.

Round 3 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 4.67/10 (9 teams)

1) What 2001 song started as garage rock, but was covered by Joss Stone in a soul style and Richard Cheese in a lounge style?
2) What was Tina Turner’s first #1 single in her post-Ike career?
3) What chart-topping 1965 song by the Supremes includes an exclamation point in the title?
4) What 1989 hard rock song starts with a spoken intro called “Going Down”?
5) In 1975, what song written by Neil Sedaka became the first #1 hit for a popular husband and wife band?
6) As of right now, what 1992 song was the Cure’s last top 40 hit in the United States?
7) What Queen song did Taylor Hicks sing on American Idol?
8) What 1978 punk song by the Buzzcocks was inspired by a question one of the characters asks in the musical Guys and Dolls?
9) What song only reached #8 on the US Billboard singles chart in the ’80s, but hit #1 when it was sampled for a 2006 Rihanna song?
10) According to urban legend, what 1975 song from the album Honey includes the album’s cover model screaming as she was being murdered in the studio?

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Round 2 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 4.67/10 (9 teams)

1) How do you write the number 101 in binary?
2 ) Who plays the title character on the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101?
3) In the movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians, what’s the name of the hit song that Roger composes?
4) In 1989, what band chronicled their Music for the Masses tour with a live album and a documentary both called 101?
5) The world’s tallest completed skyscraper is Taipei 101, in Taipei. In 2009, a taller skyscraper will be completed in what Arabic city?
6) What controversial general commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the drive to Baghdad at the start of the Iraq War?
7) When you’re traveling north, US Route 101 ends in what Washington city?
8) In 1981, Simon Bond included boxing gloves, violin bow, helicopter landing feet, objet d’art, and falsies in his book 101 Uses for what?
9) According to the book 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived, what advertising icon is history’s most influential fictional person?
10) How do you write the number 101 in Roman numerals?

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Can you name the 10 highest grossing films in America that were not part of a franchise (no sequels, no prequels, no sidequels)? You’ve got five minutes.

I got three in the first few minutes … then was inspired to get three more before running out of time.

I tried five different spellings for Shrek before remembering that yes, there were sequels.

Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on Feb. 5, 2008
Average score: 3.78/10 (too hard!), 9 teams playing

1) Two cities have been among the 10 largest in America every census from 1790 to 2000. Name them both.
2) The Mackinac Bridge connects the cities of St. Ignace and Mackinaw City in what state?
3) What’s the only part of Arizona that observes Daylight Saving Time?
4) What city on the Black Sea is the largest port in Ukraine?
5) What national capital straddles the Han River?
6) What country launched Operation August Storm on August 8, 1945, invading Manchukuo?
7) It’s part of the Arab League and the Francophonie, but one African country does not belong to the African Union. Which one?
8) According to the 2007 Global Peace Index, what European kingdom is the most peaceful nation in the world?
9) What’s the most populous city in New England?
10) What Seattle suburb was founded as the town of East Seattle in 1904, but renamed itself in 1924 after an early settler?

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Round 7 at the Old Pequliar on April 1, 2008
Average score: 6.14/10 (21 teams)

1) Robin Williams impersonates Desi Arnaz, John Wayne, and Bette Davis as a “brain-fried, electrified, infected and injectified” fruit bat in what 1992 children’s film?
2) In what 1989 comedy do Run-D.M.C. cover a song written and originally performed by Ray Parker Jr.?
3) The short John Grisham novel Skipping Christmas was the basis for what 2004 comedy, Roger Ebert’s second-worst film of the year?
4) What 1996 satire starring Samuel L. Jackson was inspired by the highly profitable interracial boxing match between Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney?
5) Legendary singer Bob Dylan stars as a legendary singer in what 2003 movie, which he also co-wrote and composed the soundtrack for?
6) What 2006 animated film, known as Wheelbarrows in Russia, climaxes at the 2005 Piston Cup races?
7) What 1996 horror film was the first movie George Clooney starred in after he was cast on ER?
8) Kevin Costner’s character declares that “when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment… or the moment defines you” in what 1996 sports comedy?
9) What 1978 cult comedy featuring a van made of marijuana, was banned by South Africa because “it might encourage the impressionable youth of South Africa to take up marijuana smoking”?
10) What actor or actress appeared in all 9 of these films?

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Round 6 at the Old Pequliar on April 1, 2008
Average score: 6.38/10 (21 teams)

1) On April 1, 2002, Google revealed that their search engine was powered by what animal, scientifically known as Columba livia?
2) On the google.com homepage, in the upper left corner, there are five other Google products listed between Web and More. Name 3 of them. All 5 for 2 points.
3) Paul Buchheit is credited with coining Google’s three-word unofficial corporate motto: don’t do what?
4) Because it analyzed how many websites linked back to a particular page, the earliest version of the Google search engine was named after what kind of massage?
5) A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. What number is a 1 with a googol zeros after it — which is also the name for Google’s corporate headquarters?
6) The patent for Google’s PageRank algorithm is held by what university?
7) In 1999, Google’s first modified logo celebrated what event that occurs annually in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert?
8) What software application, a pun on the name of a well-known artist, is Google’s digital photo organizer?
9) If you’re running Google Earth v4.2 on a PC and press control-alt-A, you’ll launch what hidden feature?
10) Because of trademark issues, what is Gmail’s official name in both Germany and the United Kingdom?

TIEBREAKER for the evening: The word Google, referring to the search engine, first appeared in the New York Times in an article about the web page lemonyellow.com. What date was that article published?

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