Auntie's Quiz O' the Week

[Virgil]

oooh, I got eight this time: 1,2,4,6,7,8,9,10. Wow, five in a row at one point. That's got to be my personal best. Thanks Auntie.

[DickZ]

Thanks, Auntie. I got numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10 correct. I don’t know why I wouldn’t know number 11, because I recently watched a documentary about musicals on the silver screen. I may have fallen asleep during the part in which they were discussing Agnes DeMille. I should have paid more attention to your clue about her being the niece of the Biblical epic specialist, because that should have tipped me off. I definitely remember Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers, Cyd Charisse, and a few other dancers, though. I just don't remember any choreographers - except for Bob Fosse.

And I think I know the answer to the bonus question, assuming it once appeared in a movie.

[papayahed]

Alll Rriiiigghhhtt I got 7 and I know the answer to the bonus question.

[Virgil]

I didn't even see the bonus question. But now that I do, I have no idea to the answer.

[AuntShecky]

Yeah, Virg, there has been a bonus question for the past few weeks, mainly to give a clue about to the next topic. Think about the song title and the themes of most pop songs , and then look at the calendar and see which holiday is coming up. But even if you guess the song title correctly, it will only give you a very broad idea of what the quiz topic is.

And yes, Dick Z, that Whitney song was in the "Bodyguard"movie but I think it was on the charts long before the movie was released. (The movie stunk, by the way, although beloved by fans of the Diva, such as my older daughter.)

Another trivia fact about Ms DeMille. My long-suffering spouse said that she had been married
to the Zorba the Greek actor, Anthony Quinn, but
no, he was married to Agnes's cousin, Katherine.
Cecil B. DeMille was Quinn's father-in-law. (I guess that's one way to get work in Hollywood.)

[DickZ]

...then look at the calendar and see which holiday is coming up....
.....My long-suffering spouse said .......

Thanks for the reminder, Auntie. I almost forgot which holiday is coming up, which would have caused me to be 'long-suffering' too!

And what is your spouse suffering from? Or should we not ask?

[PabloQ]

Notched 7 this time. And I too know the bonus question and the theme for next week, but I'm not sure what Abraham Lincoln has to do with that song.

[AuntShecky]

The answer to last week’s bonus question is: “I Will Always Love You.”

St. Valentine’s Day usually finds us quoting poets of passion, but how about the wild and crazy guy who hung out with a sea-going geezer and created exotic places beginning with “X”? I'm talking Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1774-1834)who joked that the perfect marriage would be between a deaf man and a blind woman. He also wrote: “He who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity and then by loving himself best of all.”

Hence, the quiz topic: lovers of self, narcissists, egotists, and folks who send valentines to themselves, all devotees of

The Greatest Love of All

1. Who was the Irish author, playwright, and wit who said “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance?”

2. From Greek mythology, name the youth who fell in love with his own reflection in a fountain, and thus drowned.

3. What’s the word that means an extended or far-fetched metaphor, or an inflated sense of self-esteem?

4. Who was the prominent American poet (1819-1892) who wrote “Song of Myself?”

5. Derived from Greek tragedy, what’s the term for a character’s overweening pride, presumption, or arrogance?

6. Who was the Russian-born novelist
(e.g. The Fountainhead ) who fanatically promoted a philosophy of self-interest?

7. Describe the off-beat way in which the protagonist of the musical comedy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, sings the love song, “I Believe in You.”

8. Which character in David Copperfield takes great pride in announcing how “ ‘umble” he is?

9. Name the English poet (1608-1674) who wrote a monumental epic in which these lines appear: “Oft-times nothing profits more/Than self-esteem. . .”

10. According to Proverbs 16:18, what goeth before a fall?

11. Name the French monarch who allegedly boasted,
“L’Etat, c’est moi” (“I am the State”)?

12. And speaking of “C’est Moi,” that’s the song sung by a full-of-himself Sir Lancelot in which Lerner and Loewe musical?

13. And finally, the line “You took the part that once was my heart” comes from a song recorded by, among others, Billie Holiday and Count Basie. Name this title, shared by a 1984 slapstick comedy starring Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin, directed by Carl Reiner.


Answers

1. Oscar Wilde
2. Narcissus
3. conceit
4. Walt Whitman
5. hubris
6. Ayn Rand
7. He sings it to himself while looking into a mirror.
8. Uriah Heep
9. John Milton
10. “a haughty spirit.” (I said “pride,” but evidently, pride goeth before “destruction.”)
11. Louis XIV
12. Camelot
13. “All of Me”

BONUS: It spells out a clue for the next quiz topic. Finish this title of a song made famous by Thomas “Fats” Waller:
“I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a ______” (what?)

[Pendragon]

1,2,3,4,6,8,10,11,12! Not Bad this round!

[Virgil]

Seven correct. I got, 1,2,4,5,6,8,11. I'm kicking myself for not getting 3 and 9. I should have gotten those.

[DickZ]

Thanks, Auntie. Not only did I get last week’s bonus question, but I think I have this week’s as well. I guess I won’t know for sure about this week’s until next week, though.

I was able to come through on numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 11, and 12. I said Longfellow instead of Whitman so I guess I shouldn’t get any credit for that one despite the fact that they were both Americans and lived during the same century.

I also said pride for number 10, so I’m going to take partial credit since you did the same thing.

I asked my congressman if he could add a line to the stimulus bill for an allocation to Aunt Shecky because she makes such educational quizzzes and lots of us are getting pretty intelligent thanks to her, but he said "no dice" if I was supposed to be an example of pretty intelligent. I told him I'm voting for someone else next time.

[PabloQ]

Tied Virgil. 1,2,4,6,7,12,13 for me. Picked the wrong damn Louis.

[DickZ]

Next 5 on the Shelf: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, ...

Well, Pablo, you should add For Whom the Bell Tolls to your shelf, while it still has room.

[AuntShecky]

The answer to last week’s bonus question is “Letter”

On this week’s quiz, methinks, will suit you to a “t.” I'm sure you'll be A-O.K. You might find it as easy as a-b-c. Get the idea?

Letter Perfect

1. What do the letters A.D. mean after historical dates?

2. What’s the only letter in the English alphabet that is a homonym for an insect?

3. Which alphabet is used in Russian, Bulgarian, and several Slavic languages?

4. Who was the amateur detective who broke the blackmail case in Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”?

5. Novels such as Richardson’s Pamela solely written in the form of letters or journal entries are called what?

6. What is the term for the adjustable setting on a camera lens?

7. From which classical language are borrowed the names of college fraternities and sororities?

8.Who is the female protagonist in The Scarlet Letter?

9. What do we call characters or symbols representing an idea or thing in written languages such as Chinese?

10. What is the title of a controversial Biblical translation which contains for the initial letter of the name the unknown author uses for God? Its editor, Harold Bloom, postulates that these New Testament books were written by a woman.

11. What is the name of the Irish town which in the early-ninth century was the home of an exquisite illuminated manuscript of the Four Gospels in Latin?

12. In the Periodic Table, the letters “Pb” represent which element?

13. First used by cabalists as a charm to ward off such ills as ague, flux, and toothache, this word was made up from the initials of the Hebrew words for the Father (Ab), the Son (Ben), and the Holy Spirit (Ruach Acadsch.)The word has come down through the ages as “Abracadabra,” often intoned in what kind of show biz act?

14. Borrowing a letter often employed in the realm of mathematics, what is a common expression which means “to an indefinite power” or “to an infinite extreme”?

15. According to the Book of the Apocalypse, what expression did Christ use to say that he was “the beginning and the end”?

16 and 17. It could have originated as an admonition to children learning how to write the alphabet, or scoring up the tab in public houses, but it came down through the language as a warning to watch what one is doing. What is the expression?

18. What was the archeological discovery of 1799 which provided a key to the deciphering of three different ancient languages?

19. What is the Morse Code distress signal, tapped out by three dots, three dashes, and three dots?

20. What is the only letter in the English alphabet which is a homonym for a beverage?

21. What are the initials used in popular culture to describe an aeronautical device of unknown origin?

22. What is the title of a 2005 movie starring Natalie Portman about underground rebels attempting to undermine a totalitarian regime in Great Britain set in the near future?

23. What are the five “W’s” in journalism?

24. What’s the title of a popular American TV series and two movies about FBI agents Mulder and Scully investigating the answer to question #21?

25. What is the name of the still-relevant 1916 novel by Ring Lardner consisting of a series of letters written by a semi-literate rookie pitcher?

26. And finally, what is the name of the 1969 Oscar-nominated political thriller starring Yves Montand and directed by Costa-Gavras?


Answers

1. Anno Domini
2. B
3. Cyrillic
4. Dupin
5. Epistolary novel
6. F-stop
7. Greek
8. Hester Prynne
9. Ideograms
10. The Book of J
11. Kells
12. Lead
13. Magic (or Magician)
14. N th degree
15. “I am the Alpha and the Omega”
16. Mind your P’s. . .
17. . . .and Q’s
18. Rosetta Stone
19. SO S
20. T
21. UFO
22. Vis For Vendetta
23. Who, What, Where, When, and Why
24. The X -Files
25. You Know Me, Al
26. Z

I almost forgot the BONUS question! Answer the question, and your “award” will be a clue about the next quiz topic:

What do the letters “AMPAS” stand for?

[Pendragon]

All but 5, 10, 11, and 25 Not Bad! :