Tag: americana

[Pub quiz] Americana: See the USA

16-August-09 / James Callan

Featured as round 1 at the Old Pequliar on July 7, 2009

1) Get a look at the Transamerica Pyramid, drive the “crookedest street in the world,” and eat dessert in Ghirardelli Square in what city?

2) Tour the Molly Brown House Museum, Coors Brewery, and a branch of the US mint in what city?

3) To take in the Tech Museum, tour the Winchester Mystery House, and see the original state capitol of California, you need to go where?

4) SEE the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Historical Site! The original Erie Canal Harbor! And Niagara Falls! All when you visit what city?

5) You can catch a live show at First Avenue and 7th Street Entry, stop by the largest literary and book arts center in the US, and watch the North Star Roller Girls tear up the track in what city?

6) Where should you go to tour the World War II destroyer USS Kidd, visit the Shaw Center for the Arts, and see the tallest state capitol building in the US?

7) If you’ve toured historic Quapaw Quarter, see the Central High School National Historical Site, and stroll along President Clinton Avenue, where have you been?

8) If you want to see the Sedgwick County Zoo, the original Pizza Hut, and the birthplace of Cessna, were do you need to go?

9) If you want visit the western edge of the Great Basin to attend a hot air balloon race and see the birthplace of Harrah’s Entertainment, what city is your best bet?

10) Visit the Hayden Planetarium, the International Center of Photography, and Grant’s Tomb in what city?

ANSWERS (no peeking)

Trivia quiz: Americana

7-June-09 / James Callan

Featured as round 1 at the Old Pequliar on June 2, 2009

Ten questions on various and sundry items related to “America.”

1) Shooka and Nala are dogs that belong to the Gosselin family, featured on what TV show?

2) Many of Houdini’s props, including the Chinese Water Torture Cell, were bought at auction in 2004 by what successor?

3) Where can you find Fallen Astronaut, an aluminum statue commemorating astronauts who died furthering space exploration?

4) What subsidiary of GM entered administration — the equivalent of filing for bankruptcy — on February 20 this year in a Swedish court?

5) What magazine announced that it will stop publishing its Spanish-language version, Selecciones, in the US?

6) What’s the second-most-populous city in New York state?

7) The run-up to what annual event was documented this year on the reality series Countdown to the Crown?

8) Who’s the only one of the five main Simpsons not named after one of Matt Groening’s family members?

9) The Big Gulp is to 7-Eleven as the Thirst Buster is to what store?

10) What Nashville theme park, known as the “Home of American Music,” was closed in 1997 and demolished in 1999?

ANSWERS (no peeking)

Trivia quiz: American History May

19-May-09 / James Callan

Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on May 2, 2009

Stuff that happened in May in American history.

1) On May 1, 1992, who appeared on TV and asked “Can we stop … making it horrible for the older people and the kids”?

2) What annual sporting event was nationally televised for the first time on May 3, 1952?

3) The 1886 rally at Chicago’s Haymarket Square that turned into a riot was one incident in labor unions’ long struggle to achieve what goal?

4) The headline on the May 8, 1915, New York Times said what vessel was “twice torpedoed off Irish coast”?

5) What building was the tallest in the world from late May 1930 to early May 1931?

6) In May 1932, who entered the US Penitentiary in Atlanta to serve an 11-year sentence for tax evasion?

7) In May 1953, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for what novel, the last published in his lifetime?

8) On May 11, 1996, everyone aboard flight 592 of what low-cost airline was killed when it crashed into the Everglades?

9) The White Night riots broke out in 1979 when what killer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter?

10) What popular combination of ditali, ditalini, tubetti, and tubetini made its debut on May 16, 1965?

ANSWERS:

Quiz: Americana (Tourist Edition)

25-March-09 / James Callan

Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on March 3, 2009
Average score: 7.5/10 (14 teams)

Each correct answer is a US city.

1) If you want to gorge on museums and visit the Carnegie Science Center, the National Aviary, and the Andy Warhol Museum, where do you need to go?

2) If you want to hear some blues on Beale Street, stop by the historic Sun recording studio, and catch an NBA game in the FedEx Forum, where should you go?

3) To take in the Diamond Head State Monument, the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and a genuine royal palace located in the US, you need to head where?

4) To visit the Rice Eccles Olympic Stadium and Temple Square, then slather some fry sauce on your fries, where do you need to go?

5) If you’re in the Duke City to visit the National Atomic Museum and see the Isotopes play baseball, where are you?

6) If you want to see Ansel Adams photographs at the Center for Creative Photography, check out the Titan Missile Museum, and get to Saguaro National Park, what city should you visit?

7) If you’re visiting the American Jazz Museum and take the Hallmark Cards tour in the City of Fountains, where are you?

8) If you fly in to Mitchell International Airport to attend the Summerfest music festival and stop by the Bronze Fonz, where are you?

9) If you want to listen to the Kotzschmar Organ, take the Lucky Catch Lobster Cruise, and see the Sea Dogs play AA baseball, what city do you need to visit?

10) If you take TriMet to get married at Voodoo Doughnuts before visiting the Expose Yourself to Art statue, you’re in Little Beirut, better known as what city?

Quiz: Americana

4-December-08 / James Callan

Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on Dec. 2, 2008
Average score: 5.67/10 (15 teams)

1) What US president, called Sharp Knife by the Creek indians, is the subject of the recent biography American Lion?

2) A Squared, The Breakfast Capital of the World, and the Paris of the Midwest are nicknames for cities in what state?

3) “Little Twelvetoes,” “Them Not-So-Dry Bones,” and “Sufferin’ Till Suffrage” all aired as part of what series of animated short films?

4) What famous Red Sox partisan was the most recent American to be named sexiest man alive by People magazine, before being displaced this year by Hugh Jackman?

5) Sherman’s March to the Sea covered the 300 miles between what two Georgia cities? (Half point each)

6) The Kim Carnes song “Above the Waterline” was the original theme song to what iconic TV series?

7) Machias Seal Island, the Dixon Entrance, and North Island are all areas currently subject to boundary disputes between the US and what other country?

8) What Beach Boys album, featuring “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” and “Sloop John B,” was named the second greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone, and spurred the Beatles to record Sgt. Pepper’s in an effort to equal it?

9) Flag, an encaustic, oil, and collage painting mounted on plywood, became a major influence on US pop art when it was released in 1955 by what artist?

10) Who Would Buy This? is the recently released story of what local [i.e. Seattle-based] business?

Quiz: God Bless the USA

5-July-08 / James Callan

Round 2 at the Old Pequliar on July 1, 2008.
Average score: 7.59/10 (17 teams)

1) Since 1996, four fourth of July weekends have kick-started blockbuster films starring what actor?
2) What’s the short, popular name for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001?
3) What Tom Cruise film takes its title from George M. Cohan’s song “The Yankee Doodle Boy”?
4) Which Democratic presidential candidate used Neil Diamond’s song “America” as a campaign theme?
5) The July 2005 issue of GQ magazine featured what blonde performer on the cover wearing dog tags and an American flag bikini?
6) Tom Petty knows that Felicity Merriman, Josefina Montoya, Addy Walker, and Ivy Ling all belong to what series?
7) “The Star Spangled Banner” is our national anthem, but what’s our national march?
8) The Knights of Columbus added the words “under God” to the pledge of allegiance, quoting a phrase used by a former president in what historical document?
9) What Howard Zinn book does Tony Soprano think is “bullshit,” but Will Hunting declare will “knock you on your ass”?
10) According to Charlie Daniels, “This Ain’t No Rag, It’s a” what?

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