The Narratives of Austrian Mountaineers Edition of the de Vere’s Irish Pub Pub Quiz Newsletter
Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
We live in a physical world that is bespoiled by pollution and neglect, and a televised world that is bespoiled by spoilers. My wife Kate pointed out to me Saturday night that everyone on Twitter was talking about Paul Simon’s performance on Saturday Night Live, so we had better watch it so we could see what the talk was about before someone ruins a surprise. The fact that Twitter can also reveal who has won a game, a fight, or a reality TV show compels people to watch such events in real time, if only to take part in the real-time conversations. Every other year we find ourselves choosing music over National Public Radio because of the cavalier way that NPR reveals the winners in key Olympic competitions. Many viewers appreciate the way that NBC packages these events – the suspense, the backstories – over merely knowing the scores that contribute to the overall medal count.
It’s different with books and movies. In almost every case, the book is better than the cinematic interpretation. The Godfather is perhaps the most famous counterexample. My son Truman was recently gifted the multi-DVD set of the extended version of the Lord of the Rings films for his birthday, but he wants to hold off watching them until he has read the books. Cleaning the garage the week before last, I found my hardback copy of The Hobbit, and now Truman has already finished reading it. That boy may read shorter books than I do (a recent favorite is Who Was Harriet Tubman? at 112 pages), but I think he also reads more books than I do, and I am averaging almost a book a week this year. Sometimes in his 7th-grade English class, they start by just reading for ten minutes. What a great way to instill a lifelong habit!
I try to keep up with Truman’s reading habits as best I can. For example, yesterday I finished the 1952 autobiographical travelogue Seven Years in Tibet, a mere week or so before I show the 1997 Brad Pitt film with the same name to the students in the “Buddhism and Film” class that I am teaching this quarter. Did I “spoil” the experience of the film by first reading its source material? I already knew that its Austrian mountaineer author Heinrich Harrer died about a decade ago, and thus I would have expected that Brad Pitt’s character would not fall to his death while scaling one of the Himalayas. At least now, like many a self-important mansplainer, I can tell my students and anyone else who listens that “the book is much better.”
Let me quickly add that if you were to pick up a paperback copy of my most recent book, Pub Quizzes: Trivia for Smart People, it would definitely NOT ruin your experience of the weekly Pub Quiz at de Vere’s Irish Pub. It would probably help prepare you to win! Find a copy on Amazon or at The Avid Reader here in Davis.
Here are some hints for tonight’s quiz. Expect questions on topics raised above, as well as on fabulously rich people who invest in others, Samuel L. Jackson, castles, early risers, characters with friends, unusual neighbors, songs and paintings, that which is without artifice, reflections on Blue Frisbees, repeated multi-syllable words, basketball teams, domestic animals, linguistics, leaders of movements, jumping girls, wineries, The Guinness Book of World Records, extant mammals, Academy Award nominees, epics, anime, countries of the world, notable Brits, and Shakespeare.
See you tonight. I hear the Hall of Fame team The Penetrators will be making an appearance this evening. Let’s see how they do in this new post-Paul Allen era.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
1. Pop Culture – Music. The number 7 song in the nation this week is Cardi B’s “I Like It.” What well-known winner of 21 Grammy Awards has the number 9 song in the nation this week, with “I Love It.”
2. Sports. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees led the American League in home runs during the 2017 MLB season. Divisible by 13, how many home runs did he hit?
3. Science. In what decade did humans send the first unmanned spacecraft to the moon?
P.S. How lucky we all are that Leanne Grabel is coming to Poetry Night at the John Natsoulas Gallery on Thursday! See http://leannegrabel.com for details about this performance poet who seeks to “smash the patriarchy.”