That's right, just as I was about to file this blog, an earthquake rumbled by.  Not the biggest I've felt but still enough to raise the blood pressure with excitement.  I love earthquakes.  That's right, I'm a real California girl.  OK, back to today's regularly scheduled blog.  Before the quake, tonight's blog was going to be titled:

If You Don’t Know, Just Write 'Billy Bob Thornton'

That seemed to be a valid guess tonight.  We had a great crowd tonight, lots of positivity in the air, and a punctual quiz!  Alley Katz has launched a new and tempting menu and I intend to work my way through it over the next few weeks.  Tonight’s Caesar Salad gets a thumbs up.  I was, however, somewhat dismayed to find that the menu only shows the Tuesday poster for the Pub Quiz, and not the Tuesday and Thursday double engagement double feature poster we have up in the windows.  And on the columns.  And over the pool cues.

Round one started off well, but the Grumpy Old Man and the Sunshine Farters was one of only two teams who knew Ann Dunham’s Baby Daddy.  High score for the round went to I’m Surrounded by Assholes.  Does that refer to the collective team as ‘I’ or is it the personal plea of the answer writer and a commentary on the rest of the team?

Round two was dominated by Quicksand, a team which seems to have embraced their true selves and the name conferred upon them.  I really think it suits your debonair demeanor.  Too bad they didn’t joker that round, it would have added an additional five points to their total score.

Round three was a bonus sixteen point round in addition to the two regularly scheduled ones.  You’re Welcome!  The strategic use of a joker in this round established Everybody, Wish Jesse ‘Happy Birthday!’ as the leader, and they hung on to that spot for the rest of the night.

Round four was a good one for the historical persons geeks tonight.  And apparently, that is the forte of Mr. Pickles, as they clinched the top score in the round.  Some of the greats of history were in this round, including . . . now who is this Dirk Diggler fella and why couldn’t he find a more potent name?

Round five seems to have been really easy for most teams.  Only one team missed perfection on this round.

Round six highlighted the socially fraught situation of rehearsing the role of the mentally… ungifted.  As if John Malkovich wasn’t creepy enough when trying to be a functional, amiable, member of society.  There is some poetic justice in the front runners for round six.  The answers were from film and television, and Everybody, Wish Jesse ‘Happy Birthday!’ includes a few actors in their midst.

Round seven was an eclectic mix of films from Disney to Nick Cage.  Nicky, you’re killing us, enunciate!  Props to Not Cool Enough to be Glassholes for acing the round.

And finally, as it so often does, it all came down to round eight and a few jokers that hadn’t been played.

Oh NO!  I seemed to have lost control!  The control key on the right side of my keyboard has popped off!  Well, that’s a sign to turn in for the night.  Wow an earthquake, and I have blogging to thank for being awake late enough to feel it.  Oh Frabjous day.

Redditors were in the crowd. This has little to do with the night other than it gives me something to name my blog. Happy birthday, Redditor guy!

We had a full bar tonight. Regulars didn;t have seats and n00bs were gettin' cozy. The bar also changed up the menu and this time our logo/flyer is on the print! Neato!

We didn't have the Seans tonight but Gary lead his team to first with a unique name about..my mom?! D:

The local legal team came in second and a group of newbies were our third.  The pity ptcher went to the underdog who hung at last all game. Whoda thought.

I had to have a stearn talk to the guests tonight about purposely throwing the game for the sake of winning the Pity Pitcher. The night ended fairly though so I guess I can only grumble and hope people stop bein' silly soon.

I'd go over all the rounds but perhaps I'll leave you only with this...

"NBC: A reality competition in which the surviving members of the vocal group TLC decide if various men are good enough for them.


Scrubs."

Brilliant. 

Wow, tonight’s pub quiz went in a whirlwind.  There were so many teams and so many faces I was glad to see.  First, a shout out: I had another local Quiz Master in the house which is always a thrill 'cuz we don’t usually have time to play each other’s quizzes.  Over time, I’ve gotten to know a few of my players and it’s really fun when I know some of the questions are right up their alley.  But more on that later.

Round one got off to a rocky start: what were supposed to be obvious answers were kinda tricky.  But I also made it kinda trickier by asking which QE the tower that houses Big Ben had been named.  Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I don’t think it made or broke anyone’s game. Congrats to Ad Hoc for scoring the highest in that round.  Here’s one for ya: how are mechanical engineers like quicksand? Encounter ‘em and you just fall.  Helplessly and irrevocably.  Look out ladies.

Round two was tough, but I had one team tonight who cracked it.  Sushi aced the round, and had the good sense to joker their round.  That’s the way to play.

Round three and I get to say that I am not a huge fan of the McFarlanes.  Even tho one of my favorite TV lines is from a McFarlane show.  Who do you have to probe to get a chardonnay around here?

Not since my earliest days of hosting a quiz have I read questions in character.  I like listening to the vagaries of human speech and then imitating it.  Like my Italian TA in college, or my aunt’s computer repairman.  Anyway, so tonight I read all the Jewish grandma questions as a New York Jewess.  I wasn’t sure of the reaction, or if I’d ever do it again, but tonight I felt bold.  It was easy enough to understand I guess, as the top four teams of the night aced the round.  At least the grandmother doesn’t give everything away in describing a movie you haven’t seen.  Try watching Sherlock Holmes with my dad.

Round five and props to BAMF and Schindler’s List IV: the Jew Hope for acing the round.  Hurrah for the Weathergirls making the rebus with It’s Raining Men.  That’s right, ‘God bless Mother Nature, she’s a single woman too!  She looked from the heavens, and she knew what she had to do.’  My sincere thanks to Nina Totenburg of NPR for highlighting how awesome that lyric is.

Round six was Macaroni Western’s claim to fame, acing the round.  Did any of you attend Catholic school or come from Montreal?  I was excessively pleased to connect a Jesus round to Star Trek, thanks to J. Tiberius Kirk.  We’ll be discussing the movie next week, so be ready people.

By round seven the bar was a real potboiler with groups laughing and hollering to each other such that it was somewhat difficult to hear the round.  I was just grateful that the dart game at my elbow was over.  (I’m so afraid that someone’s going to sneeze during his release and it’ll veer sharply to the right and into my jugular.)  The sitcom Married with Children was conspicuously absent from the list.  Thankfully the team that scored highest in this round also had the foresight to joker.

Round eight was a total geek out for me, and a few more.  For me, because there was an O.Henry question; for the lawyers in the crowd, because there was a SCOTUS question.  Actually I’ve never liked that acronym, it sounds like a cross between scrotum and flatus, which I guess is the noxious odor that is sweaty balls.  Would POTUS then be especially potent, noxious flatus.  Scratch out all fart jokes.  The high score of the round was from Five Dudes in a Booth, and Jenni, Maybe.  But both LadiesofSteampunk.com and Str8 from da Hood had laudable performances.  Then off home to procrastinate, have dinner, and write this blog.  Yikes, look at the time!