quiz of the week (bits pilani), march 2014
TRANSCRIPT
ELAS
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
MARCH 2014
BITS - PILANIQM: Angad Vijaya Raghavan
Las Reglas• Total of 42 questions.
• Six **-marked questions (Q.6, Q.12, Q.18, Q.26, Q.33, Q.36) carry 2 points each. (6 X 2 =12 Points)
• Questions 21 to 25 are about song-titles/etymology. Each of these questions carry 2 points. (5 X 2 = 10 Points)
• Question No.42 is a List It! (8 Points)
• All other questions are 1 point each (30 X 1 = 30 Points).
• Total Points = 60.
Let us start the quiz on an auspicious
note…
1.The ____________, literally meaning “auspicious dawn”
is a Sanskrit poem that is a collection of hymns or verses
recited at early morning to awaken the deity in Hinduism.
In Sanskrit literature, the ____________ finds its first
mention in the Bālakāṇḍa of Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa, where
Sage Viśvāmitra calls out to Rāma to wake up.
The most well-known work in this regard is recited at
Tirupati to awaken the deity thereat. A rendition of the
poem by <Answer to Q.4> is extremely popular and is
played daily in many homes and temples of South India.
Answer on next slide…
1.Suprabatham
“Su” Good/Auspicious
“Prabath” Morning/Dawn.
2.____X_____ was dining with many Spanish nobles when one of themsaid:
“Sir ____X_____, even if your lordship had not travelled the world,there would have been, abundant great men knowledgeable incosmography and literature who would have started a similar adventurewith the same result.”
_____X_____ did not respond to these words but asked for a whole__Y__ to be brought to him. He placed it on the table and said: 'Mylords, I will lay a wager with any of you that you are unable to make thisstand on its tip like I will do without any kind of help or aid.'
And so the story goes that ____X____ showed everyone present that“once the feat has been done, anyone knows how to do it.”
What popular phrase/term is derived from this tale? ( XY)
Answer on next slide…
2.
3.
Who is this
li’l kid?
Location:
Jakarta,
Indonesia
Answer on next slide…
3.
The one and
only
Baracko
Barner himself.
(Barack
Obama)
4.
The question you throw in so that no one goes home with a zero.
No clues. No nothing. Only answer.
Answer on next slide…
4.
M S Subbulakshmi.
“The Eight Note” might just fetch you points as well.
5.A “_____ film” is a motion picture genre that depicts the actual murder
of a person or people, without the aid of special effects, for the express
purpose of distribution and entertainment.
The very first recorded use of the term is in a 1971 book by Ed Sanders
about the Charles Manson Family, where he alleges that they were
involved in making such a film in California to record their murders.
The metaphorical use of the term "_____" to denote killing appears to be
derived from a verb for extinguishing a candle.
John Camden Hotten lists the term in the fifth edition of his Slang
Dictionary in 1874 as a "term very common among the lower orders of
London, meaning to die from disease or accident."
Answer on next slide…
5.“Snuff” Films
**6.
The word X, literally meaning “Publicity”, was a policy that called
for increased governmental openness and transparency.
It was often paired with Y, lit. “Restructuring”, this called for a
complete revamp of the political and economic system.
It is almost agreed among all geopolitical scholars that if it weren’t
for the implementation of these 2 policies by Mikhail Gorbachev,
the Soviet Union would still be intact today.
Answer on next slide…
**6.X = Glasnost
Y = Perestroika
7.Among the many things named in X’s honour, the following form a non-exhaustive list-
• Asteroid No. 4293 X (The more appropriate number _____ was taken up by Einstein).
• Distinguished President of the HG Wells Society, London. Wells, he says, was a great inspiration for all his works.
• X Institute for Modern Technologies, Sri Lanka’s premier research institute.
• A proposed outer-expressway in Colombo is to be named the XExpressway in his honour.
Answer on next slide…
7.Sir Arthur C Clarke
8.They say that the program was so secretive that only a grand total
of about 300 people were aware about the goings on. Among the
administration, this included the PM Indira Gandhi, her two
defence advisors, Intelligence Heads and Chiefs of Defence Staff.
It was jointly led by three renowned scientists, namely Dr. Raja
Ramanna, Dr. PK Iyengar and Dr. Homi Sethna.
Operation A-B happened on May 18th, a day marked as “B
Jayanthi” on the Indian Calendar.
At successful completion, Dr. Ramanna is said to have relayed to
the PM - “Mission Accomplished. The B is now A.”
Answer on next slide…
8.Operation “Smiling Buddha”. (1 point)
Pokhran-1, First Nuclear Test at Pokhran (0.5 points)
9.
X is a nominative–accusative, primarily suffixing agglutinative
language, and has an object–verb–subject word order. It has a
number of unusual grammatical features, but it has an extremely
regular morphology.
It’s most popular reference material is “The X Dictionary”, written
by Mark Okrand, the founder of the language, published by Pocket
Books.
Answer on next slide…
9.X = Klingon
10.Exhaustive List. ID these women/What are they known for?
Maria-Teresa di Fillipis Lella Lombardi
10. (Continued)
Divina Galicia Desiré Wilson
10. (Continued)
Giovanna Amati
Answer on next slide…
10.
Only female F1 Grand Prix drivers.
Numerous other women have had long careers
as test-drivers, but only these five have ever
started a Grand Prix.
11.
Answer on next slide…
11.Jordi Cases, a regular club member, sued FC Barcelona over
financial malpractices during the Neymar transfer. Led to the
resignation of Club President Sandro Rosell.
**12.Recipients of a specific honour/award. Also, blanked out person
is a very unique recipient. Who?
Answer on next slide…
**12.Award = Nishaan-E-Pakistan (1 point)
Awardee = Morarji Desai (only Indian recpient) (1 point)
13.William of X (c. 1287–1347) is remembered as an influential
medieval philosopher and nominalist, though his fame as a great
logician rests chiefly on the maxim attributed to him, known as X’s
Y (spelling varies).
The term Y refers to distinguishing between two hypotheses either
by "shaving away" unnecessary assumptions or “cutting” apart two
similar conclusions.
The principle states that - one must proceed with simpler theories
until simplicity can be traded for greater explanatory power. The
simplest available theory is always preferable, even if it isn’t most
accurate.
Answer on next slide…
13.X = Occam or Ockham
Y = Razor
Principle of Occam’s Razor
14.The original statue was unveiled at the Pompidou Centre in Paris
on Sept 26th, 2012. Exhibition organiser Alain Michaud has
described it as:
"...against the tradition of making statues in honour of certain
victories. It is an ode to defeat".
A replica was installed in Doha, Qatar in November 2012.
The sculpture was later removed, because Islamic scholars
protested, saying it encouraged idolatry worship and glorified acts
of violence. Since then, it rests at the Museum for Modern Art,
Doha.
<Continued on next slide>
14. (Continued)
Jean Paul Engelen, Director of Public Art (QMA), said that he
expects the sculpture to be equally popular in Qatar:
"… It’s done in the same style as Greek Mythological statues, but
this glorifies human defects instead. It shows that although we
sometimes treat ___________ like gods, they’re not - they’re just
human beings.”
What statue are we talking about? Give fund.
Answer on next slide…
14.The Head-butt Statue
Or
Zidane head-butting
Materazzi
15. In the next two slides, you will find snapshots of two very unique
scorecards.
Observe, think and tell a story.
<Pictures on next slide>
15. (continued)
15. (continued)
Answer on next slide…
15. Only instances where both team-captains
scored centuries in the same ODI.
16. A few years ago, TheOffside.com ran a report with this pic and the
following title.
“Andres Iniesta went boom. Then ____________ went boom-boom.
Now we have before us, the Andres Iniesta boom-boom boom!”
What is this a reference to?
Tell a story.
Answer on next slide…
16.
He’s not the only one who nailed it that day.
17.Despite numerous biographies, XY’s life is shrouded inmystery. She was born X Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris.Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue deBelleville.
She was named X after the World War I British nurse X Cavell,who was executed for helping French soldiers escape fromGerman captivity.
Y – French colloquialism for "sparrow" – was a nickname shereceived 20 years later.
XY’s music has been so influential that films such as SavingPrivate Ryan, Inception, Bull Durham, The Dreamers andMadagascar 3 all have her songs in them.
Answer on next slide…
17.Edith Piaf
**18. X and his brother Frank were Confederate guerrillas during the
Civil War. They were accused of participating in atrocities
committed against Union soldiers. After the war, as members of one
gang or another, they robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains.
Popular portrayals of X show him as a sort of Robin Hood.
On April 3, 1882, X was killed by Y, who was a member of the
gang living in his house and who was hoping to collect a state
reward on X’s head.
X has had numerous films based on his life, having been portrayed
by Robert Duvall, Rob Lowe, Colin Farrell et al. Most recently in
an Oscar-nominated film in 2007, he was portrayed by Brad Pitt
(with Casey Affleck as Y).
Answer on next slide…
**18.
X = Jesse James (1 point)
Y= Robert Ford (1 point)
19.Part of the tasks listed under the Great Trigonometric Surveyof India (19th C.) was the measurement of the exact height ofMt. Chomo-Lungma, which many suspected to be higherthan Mt. Kanchenjunga, the then purported highest peak.
After numerous exercises, averaging out a series of measurements and accounting for atmospheric distortion, a highly exact number was obtained and it was found that the world had a new highest peak.
Sir AS Waugh - the head of the GTS - did something a littleunder-handed to ensure that people did not question theaccuracy of his results, and label them as approximations.What jugaad did Sir Waugh indulge in, that was notdiscovered until a century later?
Answer on next slide…
19.Sir AS Waugh deliberately submitted theheight of Mt. Everest at 29,009 ft. althoughthe actual calculated height was exactly29,000 ft.
20.This was one of the first published advertisements
using a famous literary work as a conceptual parody.
The literary work is still considered among the most
openly racist and class-segregative publications in
circulation.
<Picture on next slide>
While it mixed exhortation to empire with sombre
warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the
United States Of America understood the phrase
"_____ ____ _______" as a characterization for
imperialism that justified the policy as a noble
enterprise.
20. (continued)
Snapshot of the
advertisement in
question.
Basically, fill in
the blanks.
Answer on next slide…
20.The White Man’s
Burden
Questions 21-25.
• The next 5 questions are for 2 points each.
• Each question involves identifying a song and composer/singer
in question.
• Song etymology/short/snippets are provided.
• If you are not a fan of the swinging sixties and the eclectic
eighties – you are advised to make good use of the resources you
have on campus, while the opportunity exists.
• Let us proceed…
21.The song “Y” was written by X, one of her earliest works. It uses
imagery such as changing size after taking pills or drinking an
unknown liquid. It is commonly thought that these are also
references to the hallucinatory effects of psychedelic drugs, such
as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms.
With its enigmatic lyrics, "Y" became one of the first songs to
sneak drug references past censors on the radio. X herself was a
well known member of the “Beat Generation”, and experimented
with numerous psychedelics while writing her songs.
It remains among the most referenced songs from the 1960s, and
was most recently covered in Arabic in the film “American
Hustle” (2013) by Mayssa Karaa.
Answer on next slide…
21.Y = White Rabbit (1 point)
X = Grace Slick (1 point) or Jefferson Airplane (0.5 points)
22.In an interview, X cites the second side of The Beatles album Abbey Road
as one of its primary musical influences.
The song is effectively a medley of three distinct pieces fused into one: it
begins as a gentle, melodic piano ballad, depicting a scene of two old
classmates reuniting in an ________ __________; this segues into a
triumphant and up-tempo jazz-influenced section featuring a clarinet and
saxophone solo, followed by a rock and roll section.
On May 6, 1977, before the song's official release, X dedicated the song to
his friend Christiano’s local eatery, located in Syosset, New York.
In fact, X goes on to say that the song's famous signature line, was actually
spoken to him by a waiter at Fontana di Trevi when asking him for his
selection of wine.
Answer on next slide…
22.X = Billy Joel (1 point)
Y = “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”
(1 point)
“A bottle of white, a bottle of red, perhaps a bottle
of rosé instead?"
23.
ID the song and the band.
<AUDIO REMOVED>
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tfUaBezFo
Answer on next slide…
23.“Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.”
(1 point)
Band = Pink Floyd (1 point)
24.X about "_______ ______ ______ ___ _______ __ _ _____ ____"
“It's [the song] kind of about a lady, and she's getting on in years, and
she's stuck in this _____ ____….So here she is working in this little
place, and then an old flame comes in, and he's probably driving a nice
car and looking kind of sharp—not a fancy car, but he's moved on. And
then she sees him, and at first she doesn't even remember who he is,
and then she realizes who it is. She's just too embarrassed to say
'hello.'”
The length of the song's title was a reaction by the band to
the fact that most of its songs featured one-word titles. The
song is often referred to simply as “_____ ____" by the
band and its fans.
Answer on next slide…
24.“Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a
Small Town” (1 Point)
Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam (1 Point)
25.The music video for this song features the members of the band
dressed in women's clothes, parodying the long-running British
soap opera “Coronation Street”.
The video depicts the lead vocalist as a housewife, loosely based
on Bet Lynch, who wants to "_____ ____" from his life.
Although Lynch was a blonde in the soap opera, the vocalist
thought he would look too silly as a blonde and chose a dark wig.
While British sense-of-humour propelled the song to No.3 in the
UK, classic US conservatism saw it banned on MTV, purportedly
for “encouraging deviant tendencies among impressionable
teenagers.”
<Picture on next slide>
25. (continued)
Answer on next slide…
25.
“I Want To Break Free” (1 point)
Band = Queen (1 point)
**26.Four minimalist posters of recent films. Very simple. ID Maadi.
( 4 * 0.5 Points)
(A)
Answer on next slide…
**26.Four minimalist posters of recent films. Very simple. ID Maadi.
( 4 * 0.5 Points)
(A)
**26. (continued)
(B)
Answer on next slide…
**26. (continued)
(B)
**26. (continued)
(C)
Answer on next slide…
**26. (continued)
(C)
**26. (continued)
(D)
Answer on next slide…
**26. (continued)
(D)
27. X has come into general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer, appearing in several dictionaries. The American Heritage
Dictionary defines a X as shown below. X?
The Secret Life of
Answer on next slide…
27.
28.The Harley-Davidson XR-750 is a racing motorcycle made
by Harley-Davidson since 1970, primarily for dirt track
racing, but also for road racing in the XRTT variant, and was
hugely popular in the dirt-racing circuit.
The XR-750 shot to cult-popularity because of one particular
man, who is most associated with it and used it extensively
from 1970-77. So much so that one of his original bikes is in
the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
“America on the Move” exhibit. Who?
<Picture on Next slide>
28. (continued)
Answer on next slide…
28.Evel Knievel
29.
This is a snippet from South Park - Season 14, Episode 2
It parodies a very famous incident.
Give details. Be specific.
<Video on next slide>
29.(continued)
• <Video Removed>
• Watch scene ~between 18:00-20:00 in SP S14E02
Answer on next slide…
29.
The Assassination of John Lennon
Mark David Chapman, the man who shot John Lennon,
allegedly said he was inspired to do so after reading
“The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger.
30.X’s Y were a clique of personalities promoted by X
during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities
appeared in X’s works and accompanied him in his
social life. They epitomized X's famous dictum about
the future.
X would simply film them, and declare them as "Y".
30. (continued)
Some of the most famous examples of X’s Ys included people
named as variedly as –
•Billy Name
•Brigid Polk
•Candy Darling
•Cherry Vanilla
•Elecktrah
•Holly Woodlawn
•James Cummons
•Jayne County
•Niki Naranjo
•Paul America
•Sappheo
•International Velvet
•Ultra Violet
•Viva
Answer on next slide…
30.Warhol’s Superstars
31.In the mid-1980s, Alan Moore intended to devote a mini-series to
the Charlton Comics characters recently purchased by DC Comics,
thrusting them into actual Cold War history of a world where
costumed heroes had actually existed in real life and had an active
role since the Depression.
Eventually, negotiations stalled and Moore proceeded to write The
Watchmen, whose characters were loosely based on Charlton Action
Heroes.
X, who would later often ally with the Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and
also enjoy a major role in the 52, became the basis for Rorschach, a
merciless fedora-clad vigilante who wears a blank mask of shifting
"ink-blot" patterns and takes moral absolutism to its most violent
extreme. X?
Answer on next slide…
31.The Question
32.1919-1924: Pierce Arrow "Series 15".
1924-1938: Lincoln V2 Convertible “Sunshine Special.”
1939-1961: The Cadillac “Queen Mary” and “Queen Elizabeth”, also “ElDorado” and “Cosmopolitan.”
1961-1983: Lincoln “Continental” – various models.
1983-1989: Cadillac Fleetwood Convertible.
1989-1993: Lincoln “Town.”
1993-2000: Cadillac Brougham.
2000-2009: Cadillac DTS.
2009- : General Motors “Model Un-named”, colloquially called as “The _______.”
What exhaustive timeline/list is this?
Answer on next slide…
32.The official vehicle for the POTUS
**33.Person X holds both the extreme superlatives for holding a particular office of power.
His stints included –
a) 1975-77 (President: Gerald Ford)
b) 2001-2006 (President: George W Bush)
Who (0.5)? What office of power (0.5)?
What superlatives (1)?
Answer on next slide…
**33.Donald Rumsfeld.
Secretary of Defense.
He was the youngest person to hold the office in his first term, and the oldest to do so during his second term!
34.Critics have identified these weapons - show-cased in a brief 20
second sequence in a particular film - with a range of possible
allusions/tributes. Put funda. Whose tribute is it to all these films?
-Hammer— The Toolbox Murders (1978)
-Baseball bat— Walking Tall (1973), The Untouchables (1987)
-Chainsaw— The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Evil
Dead II (1987)
-Katana — Seven Samurai (1954), The Yakuza (1975); Shogun
Assassin (1980).
<Pictures on next slide>
34.(continued)
Answer on next slide…
34.
Quentin Tarantino
All these are the weapons Bruce Willis picks up
in Pulp Fiction while proceeding to save
Marcellus Wallace from further pain.
35.
Despite the initial request of the ________ Club that the trophy be
used as rugby's answer to football's FA Cup, the RFU refused to turn
it into a knock-out competition for English club sides.
Instead, each year a game is played between England and Scotland
and whoever wins should keep it for that year. The first official
________ Cup was played on 10 March, 1879. Matches have
continued on an annual basis ever since except for two interruptions
due to the World Wars between 1915–1919 and 1940–1946.
<Picture on next slide>
35. (continued)
Currently, this game is
the annual match
between the England
and Scotland at the
Six Nations
Championship.
Name the Trophy.FITB.
Answer on next slide…
35.
The Calcutta Cup
**36.Only 3 X-rated (CBFC, USA) films have ever been nominated
for an Oscar –
a) X by John Schlesinger (1968)
b) A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick (1971).
c) Y by Bernardo Bertolucci (1972).
X remains the only one of the 3 to win an award (“Best
Picture”, “Best Adapted Screenplay” and “Best Director”).
Give both X and Y.
Answer on next slide…
**36.
X = Midnight Cowboy
Y = Last Tango in Paris
37.In 1967, Saul Zaentz bought Fantasy Records and offered this
band a chance to record a full-length album on the condition that
they change their name. Never really fond of "The Golliwogs",
the four band members readily agreed. The band eventually
settled on the name: X-Y-Z. The name's three elements come
from the following sources:
-Tom Fogerty's friend Newball, whose first-name was slightly
changed to form the word X.
-A television commercial for Olympia beer ("Y"); and
-The four members' renewed commitment to their band. (Z)
Answer on next slide…
37.X = Creedence
Y = Clearwater
Z = Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
38.This clip from The Simpsons Season 7,
Episode 9 is a classic parody of which cult-
classic black-comedy feature?
<Video on next slide>
38. (continued)
• <Video Removed>
• Watch ~between 12:00-14:00 in Simpsons S07E09
Answer on next slide…
38.The war-room scene is a direct parody
of the film
“Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learnt to
Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”
39. In a report dated 27th Oct. 2009, Forbes published a list as follows,
saying – “The money might be drying up in Hollywood, but there’s
still plenty of cash to be made in the _____.”
What was this list all about?
1. Yves St. Laurent ($ 350M)
2. Rodgers&Hammerstein ($ 235M)
3. Michael Jackson ($90M)
4. Elvis Presley ($70M)
5. JRR Tolkien ($60M)
6. Charles Schulz ($35M)
7. John Lennon ($15 M)
8. Theodor Giesel ($10M)
9. Albert Einstein ($8M)
10. Michael Crichton ($7.5M)
Answer on next slide…
39.
List of people who earned the highest annual
income, posthumously.
40. Often called the “Stalingrad of the East”, for it was the definite turning
point in the Japanese U-Go Offensive plans to occupy East India.
<continued on next slide>
40. (continued)
The epitaph, composed by John Edmonds, is said to be inspired by
the elegy written by Simonides for the Spartan soldiers at the Battle
of Thermopylae, mostly because the numbers involved were quite
similar.
What event in history are we talking about?
Answer on next slide…
40. (continued)
Battle/Siege of Kohima
41. Robert Stroud is considered by some as the most widely read
ornithologist of all time. During his days at Leavenworth Prison, he
reared and sold exotic and common birds, while simultaneously
compiling the oft-referred Bible of ornitho-medicine “Stroud's Digest
on the Diseases of Birds”.
In spite of his formidable reputation as the “X of Leavenworth”, when
he was later transported to “Y Federal Penitentiary”, as per the strict
rules at this maximum-security prison he was not allowed to continue
his studies/business.
However, as historical misnomers go, his reputation today exists as the
“X of Y”. So much so, that he inspired an eponymous film starring
Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda et al. (1962).
X of Y?
Answer on next slide…
41.
Birdmanof
Alcatraz
42. LIST IT!
There have been a total of 8 male cricketers with the
surname “PATEL” world-wide, who have played
International Test Match Cricket. List maadi.
- India (4)
- England (2)
- New Zealand (2)
- Points (1-4, +0.5), (5-6, +1), (7-8, +2)
Answer on next slide…
42.
ENGLAND
Min
Samit
INDIA
Jasubhai/Jasu
Brijesh
Parthiv
Munaf
NEW ZEALAND
Deepak
Jeetan