Sunday, October 15, 2006
In pursuit of trivia - the Answers
I figure the best way to do this, since many folks will read blog entries from top (newest) to bottom (oldest), is to post the answers in a comment, so that they're not spoiled before a person can even get a chance to think about them. So first check out the previous blog entry for the questions, and then click on the Comments link at the bottom of this entry when you want to see the answers.
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3 comments:
A) Comic Trivia - The Answers
1) What was Peter Parker's uncle's name?
A: Ben or Uncle Ben. Believe it or not, in Spidey's first appearance, AMAZING FANTASY # 15, Uncle Ben only had 1 line before being killed (off-panel) and setting Petey on his grand destiny. At least Cliff Robertson was given a lot of screen time, and some great dialogue, before his last breath was drawn in the first Spider-Man movie!
2) Who is Superman's cousin?
Supergirl, or Kara Zor-El. In the mixed up and crazy DC Universe continuity, there've been about half a dozen different Supergirls over the 50 years or so, with only some of them being Superman's cousin. But the classic Silver Age version was definitely Kal-El's cousin, being the daughter of Zor-El, who was Jor-El's brother, and of course Jor-El was Superman's dad who sent him to Earth just before Krypton exploded. They do teach this stuff in school, right?
3) Which superhero identity has been held by Jay Garrick, Barry Allen and Wally West?
The Flash. The Fastest Man Alive has actually been a few different men, at various times over the last 65 years. Currently yet another person is wearing the scarlet-and-yellow, but I'm still in denial on that right now.
4) In what title did the Silver Surfer first appear?
Fantastic Four. This will probably be an easier question to answer sometime next year, when the 2nd FF movie debuts: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In the comic world, Norrin Radd (the Surfer) made his big splash in FF # 48, as the herald to world-eating Galactus. It wasn't long before he turned on Galactus and fought alongside the FF to save Earth, but we'll have to see how the movie plays it out.
5) Who are the five founding members of the Avengers?
Thor, Iron Man, Ant Man, the Wasp and the Hulk. Not a terribly trick question for any Avengers fan, but not exactly all household names for anyone else. Ant Man? The Wasp? The Earth's Mightiest Heroes included a guy who could shrink to ant size and talk to insects, and a lady who could also shrink to the dimensions of a bug and sting like a wasp? Whuuh? It's true, as Marvel simply populated the team with all of the super-heroes who had their own features at the time, minus Spidey who was just too much of a loner to join.
6) From what planet does Mon-El, of the Legion of Super-Heroes, hail?
Daxam. Why don't you want to piss off a person from Daxam, if you happen to live in the 30th (or 31st) century where the LSH operates? Well, the fact that each and every one of them is as powerful as Superman, under a yellow sun like ours, would be for starters. The good news is that everyone from that planet has a weakness, just like Superman has Kryptonite: (no, it's not called Daxamite; that's the word used to describe someone from Daxam) a little substance called lead! So all's not lost if they ever happen to invade us!
7) Who were the members of the original Sinister Six?
Sandman, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, the Vulture, Electro, and Mysterio. These wacky guys decided, in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL # 1, that if they were always being beaten by Spidey individually, the obvious answer was to gang up against him. But wouldn't you know it: they were so stupid that they took him on one after another, just like the nameless thugs always do in Kung Fu movies!
8) What's the name of the mailman who delivers mail to the Fantastic Four?
Willie Lumpkin. And in one early issue, Willie inquired as to the chances of his joining the team, based on the superpower he possessed: he could wiggle his ears really well!
B) Movie Trivia - The Answers
1) What movie featured the line "I'll have what she's having?" after a woman faked an orgasm in a restaurant?
When Harry Met Sally. Still one of the funniest lines of all time, in my opinion. I'm sure it was probably spoiled by being shown in the trailers for the movie, but c'mon... it's absolutely perfect!
2) Who directed Saving Private Ryan?
Steven Spielberg. Following up Schindler's List with this gem made me a believer that Spielberg could make great films, since we already knew he could make wildly popular ones.
3) Who played Arnold Schwarzeneggar's fictional wife in Total Recall?
Sharon Stone. Who wouldn't want to live out a fantasy life that has you married to Sharon Stone and having wild sex with her every morning? Well, Arnie apparently, as he battled to leave all that behind and get to the bottom of whatever was going on on Mars.
4) In what year did the real-life story in Eight Men Out take place?
1919. Ah, the infamous Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919, in which several members of the team threw games as part of a gambling operation. John Sayles' excellent retelling of this tale featured a stellar cast for an independent film: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, John Mahoney, D.B. Sweeney and even Sayles himself! Any fan of Field of Dreams (another exceptional baseball movie) owes it to themself to check out this movie, for the insight into Shoeless Joe's plight, if nothing else.
5) What author appeared as himself in Annie Hall, providing Woody Allen's character with a memorable bit of validation while standing in line for a movie?
Marshall McLuhan. Living the dream of everyone who's ever had to endure overhearing a conversation in which some moron spouts off on a topic he knows nothing about, Woody brings McLuhan briefly into the film and has him shred the hot-aired buffoon who's trying to impress someone with his understanding of McLuhan's writings. As they'd say in a commercial:
2 Theatre Tickets: $18
Babysitter for 3 hrs: $30
McLuhan Cameo: $1250
Getting to put a loud mouth in his place: Priceless!
6) Who played Brad and Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. This movie, along with The Wizard of Oz, hold the distinction of being the only musicals I've ever actually watched and loved. I even enjoyed Meatloaf, which is really saying something!
7) What's the name of the sequel to Chinatown?
The Two Jakes. Pretty much ripped to bits by the same movie critics who hailed Chinatown, this sequel's not nearly as bad as they say. But it's also not even in the same category as it's predecessor. And it certainly doesn't have any scene to compare to the squirm-inducing "She's my daughter! My sister, my daughter!" Faye Dunnaway moment in Chinatown.
8) What Australian movie starred Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce as drag queens?
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A pretty bad name for a really good movie. I almost didn't watch this, despite my wife raving about it after seeing it with her mother. But Fortune smiled on me, and I happened to record it just to see what it was like. I liked it so much that, after it ended, I re-watched the first few minutes again because I hadn't really been paying that much attention at the start.
C) TV Trivia
1) Who's the longtime host of The Price Is Right?
Bob Barker. The Dick Clark of gameshows, this Energizer Bunny has been doing this for, what? about 80 years now? He's gotta go home most days and want to kill himself, don't we think?
2) Who provides the voice for Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons?
Kelsey Grammar. Frasier himself, often lampooning his own personna as well as that of his well-known sitcom title character. The Cape Fear Simpson's episode, in which Sideshow Bob took centre stage, will always be one of my personal favourites.
3) Who played Archie Bunker's son-in-law, "Meathead", on All in the Family?
Rob Reiner. As the son of funnyman Carl Reiner, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that Rob would deliver. And years later he'd go on to direct and star in This is Spinal Tap, one of the funniest movies of all time.
4) Who was the creative force behind The X-Files?
Chris Carter. As one of the first TV shows to feature weird, inexplicable events mixed in with an attention to continuity, this was clearly one of the inspirations for Lost. And the first few seasons were really quite good, before things got mired down in romance, new characters and promised-but-never-delivered-on payoffs.
5) Whose murder was at the centre of the first season of Twin Peaks?
Laura Palmer. To say that most peoples' attention was grabbed by this strange, quirky, but rarely boring murder mystery would be putting it mildly. David Lynch, already known for being out there thanks to movies like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, shudder Dune and the excellent Elephant Man, he really knocked TV viewers for a loop as we all tried to figure how who'd done in lovely Laura, while learning that she wasn't quite the innocent schoolgirl she'd initially appeared to be.
6) Which long-running drama was revealed to be the imagings of an autistic child, in its final episode?
St. Elsewhere. Medical predecessor to ER, Chicago Hope and House, this hit-and-miss dramedy launched the careers of Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, Howie Mendel, Alfre Woodard, Helen Hunt and many others, while dealing up zaniness in a hospital setting for the first time on TV. In the end, though, it turned out it was all just going on in an autistic kid's mind, while he stared at a snowglobe with a little hospital inside it (hey, it could happen!)
7) Who played Dr Jeffrey Geiger on Chicago Hope?
Mandy Patinkin. Dr Geiger, the arrogant SOB you loved to hate to love. Some of his scenes with Adam Arkin, his foil onn the staff, were worth the price of admission alone.
8) In what city did the Mary Tyler Moore Show take place?
Minneapolis. Quick: name another TV show set in Minneapolis! I can't think of one! But really what drew the viewers in, other than those living in the US Central Snowbelt, were the characters and the way they gasp dealt with the issues of the day.. on TV! It's commonplace now, but it was shocking when the 70s started and you could find TV characters discussing birth control or the plight of single women who wanted a career! Anyone who watched the premiere of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip recently actually saw a bit of MTM, whether they knew it or not: one of the characters says, "Mary.. you've got spunk. I hate spunk!" That's, of course, Lou Grant to Mary Richards, from the first episode of MTM, when Mary interviews for her new job and discovers just what a grumpy old man her potential new boss is. It's like they say, everything old is new again!
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