As always it was a great quiz at the Chesterfield. We had a movie-centric quiz with 3 different rounds on movies. This seems fitting since we are in a movie theater.

It was Jen's birthday(ish) so I sang her my special birthday song and played a hit from her favorite band, Extreme.

Some people talked about having sex with my mom, again.

Pick of destiny are racist.

Just got here preferred putting underwear on their wine bottles rather than take the bacon flavored lollipop as their email bonus prize.

I don't blame them.

Or do I?

I'm not telling you. You'll just blab it all over creation.

Pop 'n Lock was our 2^nd place winner and by one point. Someone had corn beat them by one point

This has been pub quiz.

I usually don't get upset when my quizzers get an answer wrong. I mean, who really cares, right? However, one answer really cut me deep. Got right to the ol' heart. When I asked you to identify the box office BOMB from 1991 starring Bruce Willis and directed by Michael Lehmann, a few of you answered not with "Hudson Hawk", but with "Die Hard 2".

What. The. Hell.

There are few things in this world I consider sacrosanct. My family is one of them, sure. Some of my friends, too. But there are things that I will not have spoken ill about around me. One is Keanu Reeves, and the other is the "Die Hard" movies. And considering "Die Hard 2" to be a flop instead of "Hudson Hawk" is damn near unforgivable.

It has everything you could want in a Bruce Willie movie. Airports, for the ladies - naked dude butt (seriously, who the hell does Tai Chi naked in a shitty hotel room), impromptu gunfights in the baggage area, a guy being sucked into a jet engine, but most importantly, McLane blows up a goddamn airplane by lighting a leaked fuel trail WITH A FUCKING ZIPPO. The ground immediately lights on fire and it catches up with the plane just as it's taking off, and the entire plane (that we see is empty save for a few nefarious henchmen) blows up as if it was packed full of plastic explosives. And what does John do? He laughs. He laughs in their stupid, burnt-up faces.

Yippee-ki-yay, mother fucker.

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Combining forces and forming alliances is a great way to approach the quiz. Rather than play separately, the team I Wonder if Lil Wayne Spent One Night in Paris Before Signing Her to Cash Money assimilated a couple of solo riders, and triumphed over all for a first place victory. Props to The Ministers of Fun for hanging out before quiz, thinking "what the hell" and deciding to play, and landing in second place. Great decision, folks.

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Interesting Notes from the Quiz!:

- When asked to identify the dillhole who leads the Westboro Baptist Church, Kool & the Gangbang had the right idea with the answer "Who cares? That guy is a douchebag."

- I'm sorry, Thunderbirds Are BRO!, but John McManMeat, Jr. is not a character in Boogie Nights.

- Evidently I don't know how to read the word "developmental." There's irony in there somewhere.

- The 2008 movie "Speed Racer" is the cinematic equivalent of a full baby diaper.

- Tonight's quiz showed an inordinate amount of love for Weezer and Billy Bob Thornton.

Awesome Team Name Shout-Outs!:

- I Wonder if Lil Wayne Spent One Night in Paris Before Signing Her to Cash Money

- Thunderbirds Are BRO!

- Sex Box One

- Kool & the Gangbang

You know it's gonna be a good night when the first thing you hear before walking up to the bar is the sound of child's laughter. It was just one of those days where some big group shows up and has everyone thinking, "What on earth is going on today?...and why are they here?!" Turns out it was the owner bringing a bunch of people to...I guess celebrate something. I don't know. They left 10 minutes after the quiz started, so I guess trivia wasn't their thing :P Anyway, we had a great turnout to start, so here's how it went down.

Round 1 was people's not-real fathers. Fun facts included Barack Obama's dad's name is Barack Obama, and Jesus's adoptive dad was a carpenter...he did not work in an orphanage. Round 2 was Sweat, Hogs, and a Sweathog. I thought the Hairspray showtune was kinda clever. Round 3 was a sooner or later round involving state songs. Well, not really. Just artists and the states they came from. The average high score was 10 for those who doubled-down (8 for those who didn't). FYI, Flo Rida did not come from Alabama. :P Round 4 was an I know you are, but what am I (?) round. Everyone did pretty well on this one, as well as Round 5. Basically the guns were removed from select movie images, ony leaving characters with a thumbs up. Seriously, how could one team not get the Boondock Saints. Not only that, they got every one right except that one...which they left blank. (Maybe I'm being a little harsh. I saw the movie the first time about 4 months ago :P)

Round 6 was actors playing mentally handicapped people. It's not a celebrity-retard round without "Simple Jack." Thank you GWD. Round 7 was fun, since all the movie titles had a royal title in the title of the movie. Including The Lion King, The Princess Bride, The Queen, and Lady and the Tramp. (Honestly, the last one I could have gotten by simply listening to the music in the background. I've heardthat soundtrack so many times...(Thiiiis is the night, it's a beaaauuuuutiful night, and they caaaaall it.....etc.) Finally Round 8 on random-ass knowledge. Some good-ass questions were involved, but some hard-ass ones as well. Topics included states that yielded diamonds, Box office bombs, the SR-71, New Zealand, and Kung Fu Panda.

After a tough race throughout, the second half made things interesting scorewise, leaving our first place team Our Hobbit Is Leaving with 86 points. We're gonna miss ya man, now go have an adventure...but, hopefully not one of them 'Charlie the Unicorn' adventures! :P Close by in second place with 84 points, team Big Bong Theory. Basically every team had ups and downs, but this shit is never easy. Especially when under pressure in the last 30 minutes of quiz time. Thanks to all who made it out, and be sure to watch Justin Bieber getting booed at the Billboards. One of those moments where you laugh at first, then you feel a little sorry, and then you laugh again. Stay safe and we'll see you next time! Cowabunga!!!

Congratulations to Mark on his first night of Quizmaster training. The process is two-fold and generally takes place at two separate venues. On night 1 we focus on the fundamentals. In the case of GWD, scorekeeping is as basic (and important) as it gets. I attempted to show him the rudimentary setup of the audio which was quite funny. I painstakingly went through all of the components (cables, mixer, etc.) and explained their purpose as I connected everything. Then I had him repeat the procedure. As soon as he dug in he politely informed me of his day job – audio visual tech at UT (or something of that nature). I laughed and we quickly moved on. The rest was a matter of showing him the inner machinations of the job which include the quiz timing, question delivery, the internal web stuff and the blog. All-in-all, he picked things up quite nicely and I think he’ll fit in our twisted non-cult cult like a glove!

On a more personal note, as you all know last weekend was the 36^th Annual O. Henry Pun-off World Championships. I returned to defend my title but was bested in the semi-finals by my long-time rival and good friend from LA, Ben Ziek. I ended up taking 3^rd place, so now over the past 3 years I have achieved the top 3 spots! Our bout was epic and as soon as video emerge on YouTube, I’ll be sure to share. Thank you all for your support and kind words!

We had a great turnout last night as always 14 teams rearing and ready for some quiz goodness. I imagine as the summer break sets upon us our numbers might fluctuate. This is fine and is expected. I can remember years past where our numbers get pretty hectic when school is out. Holy SHIT! That happens in like a week (for my Round Rock boys)! I honestly have no idea what I am going to do with them. Working from home is tricky enough without the neighborhood children trouncing in and out at their leisure. As long as I have you guys as my stress outlet on Thursdays, I think I’ll survive!

So, the best round from last night was Round 6’s Faux-tards. To be honest, I was originally going to let Mark read that one but it was just too rich to pass up so I swapped out with round 4 (don’t tell him). I have always held true to a belief that in my quiz I have fulfilled my obligation as Quizmaster when I have pissed off at least 4 people. With a round on developmental disorder-related material, I am sure I achieved that goal. The sad thing is those that got pissed are probably unaware and more likely pissed themselves later while hugging a stranger, or a tree, or while spinning in circles for no reason! Now go take a nap or you won’t get any juice!

Here is your recap of the quiz:

Round 1 was had daddy issues. Round 2 had you Vinnie Barbarino-ing your heads and Round 3 stated music plainly. Round 4 teased you and the Visual Round 5 received 8 thumbs-up! Round 6 was pretty slow, Round 7 was for regal, and Round 8 was random.

Taking 2^nd place last night was A Good Pun Is Its Own Reword! A clever name indeed but just shy of earning the coveted free pitcher which went to Sharks Watch Chuck Norris Week. I’m not even sure if that was original, but it made me laugh and made me think about the badassery of Chuck Norris – WIN! Our champs from last night blew away the competition and managed to get in a nice jab at another team at the same time. Congrats goes to People Who Quote Hindi Texts Are Pretentious! I hate to burst their bubble but the fact is the team about whom they are referring did not quote Hindi Texts; they paraphrased! BOOM! Take that, team that always wins!

Well, that wraps up another installment of your Nomad quiz blog. I hope you enjoyed reading 1000 times more than I enjoyed writing it! I will be back next week with James back in the saddle. Summer is upon us and it is only going to get hotter – quiz-wise! Don’t forget to sign up for Rumble in the Pub and the upcoming Game of Thrones quiz!

One last thing. June 5^th marks my 2-year anniversary as Quizmaster at Nomad! Let’s celebrate! I’ll have more details coming soon! Come back next week for more quiz-tastic good times and bring a friend!

Until then…

-Dav

o keep with last week's them of detailing the travel between Stamford and New Haven, I'll start by noting it's 12:21 AM and I'm on the Metro North Line to New Haven. Much nicer than being caught in traffic due to night construction on 95 North. I can't quite get WiFi access at the moment, but I can't complain too much. Interesting aside: For the entire here, I was able to at least view available wireless networks, even if they were password protected, which leads to a sort-of interesting question: How far can one travel in the US (and I guess Canada) and always have an available wireless network? One of those, "Behold! the future! What an age to be alive, now get me my hovercar" moments. You know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I was fairly concerned earlier about the potential severe weather passing through the area throughout the day and was hoping I wouldn't have to stroll from the train station to Plan B in deluvial conditions. Yeah, I totally remember 12th grade English vocab words (Thanks, Ms. Harper); How 'bout you? Luckily, weather held off, my policy of never bringing an umbrella anywhere succeeded yet again, and Plan B Burgers had a fairly small, but still spirited turnout.

In my second outing in Stamford,, I started out with Otis Redding's version of "Wonderful World." You know that song that goes… "Don't know much about history/Don't know much biology…". I at least thought it was a mildly funny song to open a quiz to.  Fun was had, relatively good-natured insults were hurled, I took them and responded with elegantly witty retorts that the likes of James Thurber or H.L. Mencken would envy (so, things in the vein of "Nuh-Uh, you're a total doo-doo head").

This week's quiz was…uh, geez what's the word I'm looking for… yeah, nuanced; totally nuanced. Both Billy Bob Thornton and Weezer made double appearances in the questions. The teams were asked to used their abstract spatial reasoning skills in tandem with knowledge of bad TV intros to figure out where Mike Brady appeared in the opening sequence grid of The Brady Bunch. Woodrow Wilson appeared directly before Dirk Diggler in Round 6. I got to be a stickler on the visual round and penalize teams who just wrote "Star Wars" for "Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope," and "Terminator" when the answer was totally "Terminator 2 - Judgement Day." I'll admit that answering "Serpico" for "Boondock Saints" really does make sense because that bearded, long-haired dude sorta does resemble Al Pacino in that movie. Favorite answer of the night: "Your Mom" when asked for the writer and director of "Sling Blade." I'm flattered that the team confused my mother with the cinematic panache displayed by Billy Bob Thornton in creating a masterpiece of Southern Gothic storytelling about a cognitively challenged man who witnessed horrendous abuse only to re-enter a unfamiliar and strange society to befriend a young boy in need. Also, she really likes Dwight Yoakam.

The night also featured a spirited intellectual discussion of the comparative values of American public education. A member of Team Spuds let it be known that he had known about George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" bit from having to write an essay about the ensuing obscenity trial. He was able to identify Woodrow Wilson and Albert Einstein from knowledge learned in school. On the other hand, I suspect the knowledge of fictional porn star Dirk Diggler came from extracurricular studies. As a political charged aside: I often hear the complaint that public education doesn't teach anything of value that will help students in the real world. Total Nonsense. Team Spuds was able to garner not one but two prizes from school knowledge to a cool tune of $20 in prizes. So yeah, stop complaining and shut your mouth the next time you gripe about teachers forcing kids to learn "irrelevant" material. That shit totally comes in handy when least expected.
/end politically charged aside.

For the first half of the quiz, the teams stayed surprisingly tight in scores. Team Spuds put up consistent and solid, albeit not perfect scores. The two person tandem of Brian & Kate managed to hold their own for a good while through the well-timed use of a Joker. I've got to give them a lot of credit; while they left the answers they didn't know blank, they totally knew the hell out of what they wrote down, so in terms of "scoring efficiency," they have been the most productive team of the night. By the end of round five, Team I'll take the Physical challenge and Team My Girlfriend Should Have Used Plan B This Morning emerged as the front runners with Team Spud hanging out in a close third poised to make a move. Unfortunately, rounds 7 and 8 didn't break in their favor and they fell out of the running. Team Physical Challenge held on to their Joker until Round 8, hoping to burst ahead, but Team My Girlfriend should have etc etc… had used their Joker to great effect in Round 2 and managed to hold out for the win.

Special thanks to the mother of one of the members of Team Spud, who I was told stayed out for the whole quiz despite having work the next day and getting to bed, the guy from My gf… for recommending Bourbon, the always friendly waitstaff of Plan B Stamford, and the dude who pointed out the insanely cute baby bunnies on my walk from the train station to Plan B. Hopefully I'll see you all and more same Bat-Time, same Bat-Place (Thursdays, 9PM @ Plan B Burgers in Stamford).

Even though downtown Rochester had some much needed rainstorms, Wall Street quizzers pulled on their Wellies and grabbed their umbrellas to join in last night.

Though many of the teams last night struggled with Round One on famous adoptive dads, Treats N’s Snoozin’ and D. Sanchez pulled it together with top scores. They would have done EVEN better had they known Oh-BAM’s real dad’s name (although Frank is a hilarious guess)!

Celine’s kicked ass in Round Two, while and The Hooligans were notable as they were the only team who recognized Adventures of Baron Munchausen! This is impressive on many different levels; one, I’ve never even heard of this movie (although the movie stills I’ve seen and the fact that it’s an 80’s British adventure film is intriguing in an it’s-so-bad-I-can’t-look-away way) and two, at this point in the evening people in the bar were extra rowdy. Well freakin’ done!

Despite all of the team’s shining moments last night The Wheel stayed strong throughout the entire evening clutching first place while Bass Mouth snagged second place.

Another great night, everyone Thanks and see you Thursday!

When I was younger I used to have all this pent up resentment toward people. I think it was because of that whole middle child syndrome or some other psychology bullshit. This resentment tended to rear its ugly head in unwanted situations and I would become this smartass, holier-than-thou, sarcastic young woman. I mean sarcastic to the point of being a little mean. People thought it was funny for the most part, ya know, I was the "funny" one of my group of girl friends.

Then I went to college and got my ass handed to me by people that were a lot smarter than me, so I kinda chilled out. It was necessary. It was freaking annoying as well. Now and again though, that pent up whatever the fuck feelings that I'm so terrible at expressing come back, and now I just get to go to quiz and use my sarcasm there. It's mostly a softer brand of sarcasm, and it is totally out of love, but I may be a little drunk on the power of the microphone!! Muah ha ha ha. I get to make jokes at the expense of people who are, for the most part, much smarter than I. It's great. Sorry if you don't appreciate it. No, I'm not actually. Get out of my quiz!! 

Love all of you! You are what makes my quiz great! And boy, was it a good one tonight! This is the first time I've had a team break 90 points in awhile. The Snugglenauts brought their A-game even on a difficult quiz night. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen? Who knew that was a thing? It is and it was one of our clips tonight for Round 7. We also had several teams who jumped in late this evening, making for an exciting second half. Well, they didn't make it that much more exciting as they got the bottom 3 places, but it was lovely to have them all the same. Brains & Boobs it's possible there is a better team name out there for you. I appreciate your dancing. Schindler's Fist, "you can suck it" is just the most clever answer ever for questions you don't know. You guys look and sound like men I would never date. Nice work. Team Eric if you change your team name one more DAMN time…

Other than that, it was a hard fought game with a big point spread. There was only a 2 point difference between 2nd place and 4th. That means just one point from There's Always Money In The Banana Hammock or Don't Bring A Machete To An Airplane Fight would have landed us in a 3-way dance off. It would have been epic. It you could try a bit harder to make that happen next time that would be great. k, thnx, bai! Favorite Team Name: I'm Gonna Pistol Whip The Next Person Who Says Shenanigans. They were followed closely by Lumpy's Mammograms, a first time team (at least to Lumpy's) who brought home the goods with 3rd place! 

K Thnx Bai

Sarah

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.

Some folks know World History. Some folks know Pop History. And some people know His History. But our teams tonight knew All History. This was a night full of ups and downs! Emphasis on downs.

Our first round gave consideration for all the Step Dads of history, including the most famous step dad of all time (in the western sense)...Joseph. Just think...if Mary and Joseph's baby daddy drama had played out a little differently, we'd have just another 2,000 year-old hare-brained cult chalked up to history. But everyone bought into it, and thus the New Testament is figurative gold. And yet we overlook the trials and tribulations of Bruce Jenner's brood. How can that be fair?

We had a few Broadway Songs in our first audio round, and apparently everyone knew them. Sure, John Travolta may be a played out, over-used, hollow-boned anachronism, but he's our anachronism. Hairstyles-be-damned.

We had a killer round on What Band Comes From Where. The only things I learned were, Jimi Hendrix is apparently less famous than Death Cab, and Creedence Clearwater are FUCKING LIARS! Born on a bayou? A bayou? What bayou can you find in L.A.?!? More like Born on a Clogged Rush Hour Freeway Offramp surrounded by overpriced convertibles and gigantic yellow Hummers. Sheesh. I'm just glad they didn't move to Seattle after the Dot Com bust. Oh wait...#Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

We had some early departures, Zin Pins. They were easily beat out by Surf N Turf. Though the surfers might not have pulled through, we had a triumphant return of He DOES Like Us! Second place was fitted for Guatana-what-now? Still waiting, Obama. Never forget. But our big winners of the evening were Where The Fuck Is Dave. Just goes to show, looks are everything. Or something.

Thanks again for another exciting round, here at GLC! Hope to see you next week, and let's all meet up (and not get shot) at FolkLife this weekend! Till next time!