Okay, I’ll give “Hump Day Trivia” one last chance. Today it’s TV Trivia, and here are the questions:

 

1. What was the name of the short-lived spinoff of The X-Files?


2. What show’s “Who shot JR” cliffhanger became a nationwide craze in the summer of 1980?


3. On Farscape, what alien race is the character Aeryn Sun from?


4. On what Fox show did The Simpsons originally appear?


5. What Saturday Night Live character was famous for phrases such as “Well, isn’t that special?” and “Could it be…Satan?” Who played this character?


6. On Star Trek: The Next Generation, what was unique about Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge?


7. What Animal Planet personality has a tattoo of a coral snake on his arm?


8. Which Monty Python actor now hosts a travel show on Bravo?


9. What now-famous actress debuted as a bionic teenager in a TV movie based on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman?


10. What was the name of the pig on Tiny Toon Adventures?

Well, that was a dismal failure. Am I not enthusiastic enough for you guys? I know I don’t have pretty text or the ability to design graphics for you if you win, but I expected at least a few people to play. I’ll try one more time on Wednesday. Maybe this was just an off week, so I’ll give you guys one more chance. Anyways, since she was the only participant, Marisa is the winner by default, and here are the answers:

 

1.      Both Ben-Hur and Titanic won eleven Academy Awards, which is the most won by any film. The individual with the most Oscar wins is Walt Disney with 23 (He also is the most nominated person ever, although I can’t remember the exact number right now. The most nominated living person is John Williams, who has 41 nominations and 5 wins).

2.      That would be Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo. He was working on a door when he was asked to stand in and read Han Solo’s part (there were 5 actors auditioning for all the other characters and only 4 for Han Solo). Wouldn’t ya know it; he got the part.

3.      Cerebro

4.      Moneypenny is the only other character who appears in all the James Bond movies (Q was not in Dr. No and Live and Let Die; M was not in For Your Eyes Only).

5.      ‘Nsync

6.      Elijah Wood

7.      Kevin Smith is the mastermind of the Jay and Silent Bob movies, which are Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

8.      The three movies that have won the “Big Five” Oscars are It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Silence of the Lambs (Yeah, I had a brain freeze and typed “two” instead of “three.” I was thinking of X2 or something).

9.      The main character’s two names are Chihiro and Sen. Chihiro is her real name.

10. Moonchild

 

Note to Liz (if you see this): I’ve been trying to talk to you on IM but my messages keep getting bounced back with a dialog box about us being behind different firewalls. I’ll ask Joe about it next time I get a chance, I suppose.

 

Here’s a clarification about the books: I was reading Terry Pratchett’s The Color of Magic during the school year, without a whole lot of success (For some reason, I had a tendency to start skimming at the wrong parts and, as a result, I missed a lot of important plot developments). However, I borrowed the book from Marisa and had to give it back at the end of the year (BTW, did I leave my stencil at Denison?). I do plan on finishing it, but it is not on the list because I currently do NOT have a copy of the book in my possession (i.e. the library didn’t have it). I haven’t finished any of the books on my list, although I made significant progress in some of them.

I haven’t been watching as much TV as I thought I would be doing, but I managed to get myself interested in Stargate SG-1. Of course, Murphy’s Law dictates that I should become interested in a show that’s about to start its seventh season, so that means I’ve got six seasons of catching up to do. I saw the movie years ago (I think I taped it when it was on TV, but I can’t find the tape now), but I don’t remember a whole lot of it. I found a website that helped me sort things out a bit, so I can follow the repeats pretty well without getting lost. I guess something needed to fill the sci-fi void left by Farscape. Ever since that went off, there really hasn’t been a show I watched regularly. There’s too much weight put on reality TV right now. The only two reality shows I like are The Osbournes and The Mole (Good news: I hear they’re doing a second season of Celebrity Mole). Occasionally I’ll watch Jeff Corwin (actually I’m supposed to be taping some so I can do a music video for Marisa), but Animal Planet insists on showing the same six episodes over and over, so that gets a little redundant after a while.

 

Well, this entry has made me realize how boring my life really is right now. I’ve run out of things to say for now, so I see you all later.

WHAT TYPE OF WILD CREATURE ARE YOU? (New Pictures!)
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I’m starting something today that I’m hoping will become a weekly thing called “Hump Day Trivia” (I chose Wednesday so that I wouldn’t have to compete with the Monday or Friday people, when most people post their quizzes). I’ll probably be using a different theme for each week, and the styles will probably change occasionally too, so you have no reason to get bored. Anyways, the inaugural quiz is Movie Trivia. They’re simple, straightforward movie questions. Some questions are much easier than others. The winner, obviously, is the person with the most questions correct (They should all be easy if you know where to look). Okay, then. On your mark, get set, GO:

 

1. What two movies share the honor of having won the highest number of Academy Awards? How many do they each have? What individual has won the most Oscars?
   
2. One of the Star Wars actors was working as a carpenter where auditions were being held when he was asked to read for the part he was eventually cast in (they were short one actor for this part, and they just wanted him to “fill in”). Name the actor and his part.
   
3. In X-Men and X2, what is the name of the device used by Charles Xavier to enhance his telepathic abilities and locate specific people?
   
4. Besides James Bond, what is the only other character to appear in every James Bond movie?
   
5. What band was supposed to have a cameo in Attack of the Clones but had their scene cut after a major negative backlash from Star Wars fans?
   
6. What now-famous actor had a bit part as a kid in Back to the Future Part II?
   
7. What director has made 5 satirical movies featuring two stoners named Jay and Silent Bob? Name 3 of the 5 movies (Extra points will be awarded if you name all five).
   
8. Name one of the three movies that have won the “Big Five” Oscars (Hint: The “Big Five” are Best Screenplay, Actor, Actress, Director, and Picture).
   
9. What are the two names of the main character in Spirited Away? Which one is her real name?
   
10. In The Neverending Story¸ what name does Bastian give the Empress?

 

There you go! Good luck! Be sure to also visit Christy every Monday for her movie quote trivia, and Marisa whenever she posts one. By the way, X2 was really good, so go see it!

Over the past couple days, I’ve been downloading a bunch of episodes of The Shadow, which was an old radio show from the ‘40s (Orson Welles was the voice of The Shadow for the first two seasons. I thought that was kinda interesting).  I had listened to some episodes a couple years ago and thought it was interesting (I’ve always kinda wanted to produce a radio drama, so I guess this fits in with that). The plot is too weird to explain, so you’re on your own. I’m also currently addicted to Sunny Delight California Style and unsalted mini pretzels, so maybe I’m just being weirder than usual.

On second thought, maybe it was the lunar eclipse. Yes, I saw it. Not bad. Now if only I can earn enough money to buy a decent telescope one of these days. The one I have will barely let you look at the moon. Forget about seeing anything else. You’ll have better luck with a pair of binoculars. And here Denison has an observatory and I’ve never taken advantage of the open houses. I’m such a hypocrite.

            Onto book news. This morning, I had about 70 pages left to go in 2010, and I had it finished by afternoon, despite doing chores, taking a shower, and playing RO during the same time frame. If you’ve not read it, I’ll tell you it’s a wild ride. I liked it better than 2001. I haven’t seen either movie so I can’t offer you a basis of comparison there. I did notice something strange about the 2010 movie on IMDB. A character that’s female in the book is male in the movie. Go figure. Anyways, I immediately began reading 2061, and I’m on page 106 already. The list of books I’m reading has grown to fourteen. If you care to know, this is the list:

·        The Fall of Neskaya (Marion Zimmer Bradley)

·        Lady of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)

·        2061 (Arthur C. Clarke)

·        Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

·        A Woman’s Liberation (Sci-Fi Anthology)

·        Bearing an Hourglass (Piers Anthony)

·        Dragonflight (Anne McCaffrey)

·        Lasombra (Richard E. Dansky)

·        Blue Adept (Piers Anthony; this is a re-read)

·        Ogre, Ogre (Piers Anthony)

·        Crystal Line (Anne McCaffrey; another re-read)

·        The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Douglas Adams; re-read)

·        The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)

·        Muse of Art (Piers Anthony)

 

A couple days ago, I finally got around to watching the re-done version of ET. As a whole, the movie was never one of my favorites, and I hadn’t seen it since I was twelve (I first saw it when I was three). The only things I liked were the chase scenes and the flying bicycles (C’mon, admit it. You still dream about it). I still think replacing the guns with radios was pretty unnecessary (There are only three shots with guns in them to begin with, and you’re most likely not going to be looking at the guns in two of those shots). The radios look like they’re floating behind the guys’ hands instead of being held by the guys. Also, some of the computer-animated reworkings of ET didn’t look so good to me. Some of it was beneficial to the emotion of the scenes, but some were, once again, unnecessary (like when ET starts the “phone home” business). Obviously, it’s still NOT my favorite movie. However, (and this has nothing to do with the re-workings) for the first time I understood a lot of the metaphors and deeper meanings of that movie. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll just start you off by saying that the kid is supposed to symbolize Steven Spielberg as a child, and the Peter Coyote character (the scientist who seems nicer than the other government people) is supposed to be Spielberg as an adult. Once you know that, all their dialog in that scene takes on a whole new meaning, especially the speech that the kid gives when he thinks ET is dead. But I still enjoyed the flying bicycles.

I watched the Daytime Emmys, even though I wasn’t going to (They’re mostly about soap operas, which I don’t watch. I used to watch Days of Our Lives years back, and my grandma still watches it, but that’s it. I don’t watch it anymore. Whenever I’m at my grandma’s while she’s watching an episode, I get totally lost). I had to laugh at the soap operas’ attempts to say they were “reality-based” (as one actor put it), and then show clips of ghosts, vampires, weird cults, weird black and white ‘40s film noir flashbacks, aliens, and witches. It was nice to see LeVar Burton win an Emmy for Reading Rainbow, especially since Star Trek Nemesis did so poorly at the box office (I didn’t see it, but I know who dies), although he’s starting to look his age (Isn’t he 50 by now? Then again, Pierce Brosnan is 50). And speaking of people who didn’t age well, Mark Hamill was there. You know, he looks way too much like Jeremy Irons nowadays. And his voice was completely different than the last time I heard it (which was an interview at the beginning of my Star Wars Special Edition tapes). He no longer bears any resemblance to Luke Skywalker, visually or auditorially (I know that’ll break your heart, Marisa. Sorry. And I know "auditorially" isn't a word, but I needed something.). If I hadn’t heard Wayne Brady introduce him, I wouldn’t have recognized him at all.

Well, I’ve babbled long enough. I’m going to see X2 tomorrow with Stephanie, so I’ll let you know about that. Bye!

I am currently semi-addicted to Ragnarok Online (RO for short), which is like Everquest except the graphics are much better and I currently don’t have to pay for it (I probably will in the future). I say “semi-addicted” because the only time I get to play it is when it’s not 900 degrees in my room (which it is frequently). I think you can still sign up for it if you want, but if you’re female, the guys will flirt with you endlessly. Just thought I’d warn you.

            I’ve gotten several emails and a phone call from Chris since I last posted about it. He’s supposed to return stateside June 15^th, so there’s some good news. He entered himself in our local library’s photo contest entitled “Where in the world has your library card been?” Basically, in the contest you take a picture of your library card in someplace other than Ohio. Yep, he took his to Kuwait (unless he altered the picture in Photoshop, which is really doubtful). It’s kinda hard to spot his library card in the picture (although my mom thought it was hilarious when she found it), but not as hard as some of the others.  

            Oh by the way, I did the makeup for the guy (Jamis) on Marisa’s site, as well as the makeup for her on Halloween. I have to admire Jamis for actually letting me do that to him (actually, it was somebody else’s idea). That and the fact that it was 3:00 in the morning when we did it. I was looking forward to hanging out with him more, but for some reason he cut off all contact with his friends shortly after Spring Break ended.

            There’s going to be a Weird Al Yankovic concert at the Toledo Zoo near the end of June (other summer lineups include Chicago, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Pat Benatar). I’d like to go to it, but tickets are selling fast and I’m having trouble finding someone to go with. That vacation talk I mentioned several posts ago has stopped, so I guess the best I can hope for is Cedar Point, and no, I will NOT ride Top Thrill Dragster (which has allowed Cedar Point to reclaim the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world spot). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely turned off by roller coasters. I mostly prefer the smaller ones, though. My all-time favorite is Iron Dragon.

            Well, now I guess I’ll go mourn the cancellation of Whose Line is it Anyway. Or go read a book. Or watch a DVD. Or video. Or whatever…

Sorry for not posting in so long. I’ve finished exams and I’m now home. Anyways, I have a couple bits of musical-related news for you. First, apparently Alan Cumming has joined the Phantom of the Opera movie cast (He plays Nightcrawler in X2). He’s not the Phantom, but his role was not mentioned (that leaves Firmin & Andre, the theatre owners, Joseph Buquet, the stagehand who is murdered fairly early on, and Piagni, the arrogant lead tenor).

            The other musical-news story is that Elton John is going to be producing a musical version of The Vampire Lestat for Broadway in 2005. This one sounds like it could be either really good or an absolute train wreck. However, Elton John did really well on The Lion King and Aida, so right now there’s no reason to believe he’ll mess up this one. He’s already said that there’s not going to be cheesy dance numbers or anything like that. We’ll have to wait and see.

            There does seem to be a trend in recent musicals, consisting of adaptations of already-existing movies, many of them non-musicals. I mean, we’ve had Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Graduate, The Producers, Saturday Night Fever, and Footloose, to name a few. I already knew that there was a Batman musical slated for 2005. I’m not a big Batman fan, but I envisioned this as a disaster waiting to happen. Marisa was excited about it, however. She just wondered how they were going to get the Batmobile on stage. I just can’t envision a singing Batman (or Joker or Robin or Catwoman, for that matter). However, it is being directed by Tim Burton so it might turn out well (or strange, at the very least). And now we have The Vampire Lestat (I know that’s a book, not a movie, but the book before it and the book after it have both been made into movies, so it’s close enough)…