If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed I started posting a new round of trivia questions, most weekdays sometime between noon and 1 (west coast time) – like I’ve done in the past, I’m sending the winner of each question (first to reply with the correct answer) a $2 coupon code for my knitting patterns.  These are trivia questions I wrote to host trivia night at Zach’s Shack here in Portland.

These twitter questions are the 3rd time I hosted – the first batch of questions were blogged here, and now that I’m twittering the third batch, it’s about time I blog the second!  These questions, from the second time I hosted, were twittered back in the summer, so they may be familiar to some of you.  Like I did last time, I’ll just post the questions right now, and you can have fun trying to answer, and then I’ll post the answers in comments in a week or so…

Ten Degrees of Television: I’ll describe a tv show which connects through an actor to the next and previous ones – just name the show.

1.  Bob Odenkirk plays the recurring role of Saul Goodman in this AMC drama set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which began in 2008; Bryan Cranston stars as chemistry teacher Walter White.

 

2.  Bryan Cranston was father Hal in this Fox comedy which aired from 2000-2006; Grandma Ida was played by Cloris Leachman.

 

3.  Cloris Leachman played neighbor Phyllis Lindstrom throughout the first five seasons of this CBS comedy which aired from 1970-77, before moving on to her own spinoff series; Ed Asner plays a main character who also got his own spinoff after this show ended.

 

4.  Ed Asner made a few appearances as Wilson White on this NBC series created by Aaron Sorkin, which only lasted 22 episodes in 2006-07; Merritt Wever played production assistant Suzanne.

 

5.  Merritt Wever plays Zoey Barkow in Showtime’s New York City based black comedy series which began in 2009; Swoozie Kurtz plays Mrs. Scheinhorn, one of Dr. Cooper’s two moms.

 

6.  Swoozie Kurtz was eyepatch-sporting Lily Charles, formerly half of synchronized swimming duo the Darling Mermaid Darlings, in this ABC comedy-drama which lasted from 2007-09; Lee Pace played main character Ned.

 

7.  Lee Pace was Aaron Tyler, brother to the lead character in this Fox series which ran for one season in 2004 and took place in Niagara Falls; Jewel Staite was Heidi Gotts in a few episodes, wife of the love interest of the lead.

 

8.  Jewel Staite was Kaylee Frye in Fox’s space western series which only ran in 2002-03 and took place in the year 2517; Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk were main characters River Tam and Wash.

 

9.  Summer Glau and Alan Tudyk were somewhat minor parts Bennett Halverson and Alpha in this Fox sci-fi series which ran in 2009-10; Patton Oswalt appeared in 2 episodes as Joel Mynor.

 

10.  Patton Oswalt was one of many comedians who made appearances as himself on this Adult Swim show which ran on the Cartoon Network from 2004-06 and took place in the town of Jefferton; Bob Odenkirk was a writer and producer of the show and appeared in most episodes as different characters, including Mr. Sandleman.

Ten Degrees of Movies:  Each answer is the name of a movie – each movie is connected through an actor to the previous and the following movie.  Name the actors that connect the movies for extra bonus awesome points.

1.  John Carpenter’s 1986 cult classic about Jack Burton, “a tough-talking, wisecracking truck driver whose hum-drum life on the road takes a sudden supernatural tailspin when his best friend’s fiancee is kidnapped”, to quote IMDB.

 

2.  Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 version of a 70’s exploitation film follows stuntman Mike through Austin, Texas and Tennessee.

 

3.  Billy Ray’s 2003 film based on the true story of a young journalist at The New Republic in the 1990’s who fabricated over half of his articles.

 

4.  Lars von Trier’s 2003 Brechtian parable about a small mountain town, the first in von Trier’s projected “USA – Land of Opportunities” trilogy.

 

5.  Gus Van Sant’s 1995 dark comedy, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, about Suzanne Stone Maretto, a determined aspiring newscaster.

 

6.  This 1999 comedy with a big ensemble cast follows twenty-somethings around New York City on New Year’s Eve, 1981.

 

7.  Jerry Bruckheimer produced this 1997 action-packed thriller about an ex-con and former US Ranger, which was nominated for a best song Oscar, for “How Do I Live” performed by Trisha Yearwood, and won a Golden Raspberry award for “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property”.

 

8.  Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1987 comedy about Hi and Ed, with lines like “We figured there was too much happiness here for just the two of us, so we figured the next logical step was to have us a critter.”

 

9.  Danny Boyle’s 1997 black comedy about a janitor who writes trash novels on the side, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy businessman, and a pair of angels who pose as bounty hunters, who have adventures involving kidnapping, karaoke, car chasing, bank robbing, and a claymation epilogue.

 

10.  Roman Polanski’s 2010 political thriller, based on a novel by Robert Harris, about dangerous secrets involving a former British prime minister.

Colorful Mashups:  I will describe some kind of imaginary movie remake or other kind of project, which mashes up two different elements as pop-culture-mashups, or before+after.  Here’s an example of one in which both are music-related: “The Swedish indie rock band well known for their 2006 hit single Young Folks time travels to open for the legendary singer from The Beatles, who plays some of his solo songs like Imagine” – the answer would be Peter Bjorn and John Lennon.

1.  Frontman of The Pixies uses the name he goes by when playing with the Catholics when he decides to branch away from his alternative rock background and try some hip hop, joining up with Sacramento rapper duo Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel.

 

2.  The R&B and soul singer most famous for her 1999 hit single “I Try” stars in an experimental musical version of the cult classic documentary from 1975 about the Beales, mother and daughter Big Edie and Little Edie, reclusive socialites in East Hampton.

 

3.  A terrible casting decision is made when beloved 89 year-old actress and comedian best known for her sitcom roles as Sue Ann Nivens and Rose Nylund in the 70’s and 80’s is set to star in a remake of Ridley Scott’s 1996 disaster drama in the part that was originally played by Jeff Bridges; the actors to fill the shoes of Scott Wolf, Jeremy Sisto, and Ryan Phillippe are still to be decided.

 

4.  John Hughes’s 1986 teen comedy-drama about Andie, Blane, and Duckie, is grossed up by John Waters when he replaces Molly Ringwald with Divine and causes some big controversy, getting the new version banned in some countries.

 

5.  A long lost original version of Stephen King’s 2002 miniseries is discovered, about a Seattle mansion investigated by a parapsychologist and a team of psychics, made first decades earlier as a comedy starring John Elroy Sanford, under his stage name.

 

6.  Members of the english band biggest in the late 60’s through mid-70’s with singles like “Hush” and “Smoke on the Water” decide to make a rock musical version of Woody Allen’s 1985 film in which a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world in 1930’s New Jersey.

 

7.  A new police show set on the water is developed when creators of the Manhattan based drama series which ran from 1993-2005 decide to combine elements of that show with their favorite film, a surfer flick from 2002 starring Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez.

 

8.  In a remake of the 1973 dystopian sci-fi classic, people are informed about their evil food rations not by a heroic Charlton Heston, but by an actual superhero, one with a power ring who has been around in different comic forms since 1940.

 

9.  The Coca-Cola Company is rebranding their caffeinated citrus-flavored soda pop, first introduced in 1979, and hard to find outside the midwest and south parts of the country, to appeal to pop-punk loving kids, by hiring the band responsible for songs “Ocean Avenue” and “Lights and Sounds” to rock out on the new commercials.

 

10.  Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel is made into a new film much different from the Stanley Kubrick version; this adaptation is written by Mike White, stars Colin Hanks and Jack Black, and is set in a futuristic Southern California instead of London.

Name That Song: When I did this trivia live, this last round was an audio round – I played the first 30 seconds or so of each song, and players wrote down the artists and the song names.  There’s a mystery theme for the artists throughout this category – so, for this written version, I’ll just list the song names and if you want to try to play, you can see if you can figure out the artists by figuring out what the theme is.

1.  The Killing Moon

2.  For What It’s Worth

3.  He War

4.  Digging Your Scene

5.  Angels of the Silences

6.  Pink Houses

7.  Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)

8.  Heretic Pride

9.  All I Want

10.  I Came As A Rat