Friday, March 28, 2008

This week only: no Saved By The Bell questions!

It seems that I have, once again, mislaid last night's trivia misses. We had quite a few, so I'll see what I can reconstruct from my memory - which, incidentally, is greatly improved since I switched from scotch & soda to just plain soda.

1) What U.S. coin has a standard weight of five grams?
2) Name the three most commonly occuring chemical elements in the universe!
3) What is the most-consumed fish in the world?
4) Which part of the eye is obscured by cataracts?
5) Which fruit is present in Da Vinci's The Last Supper, despite the fact that it was not introduced to the Holy Land until long after Jesus's death?

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Just Like Ross and Rachel

And It All Goes To Hell.
It's all a little hard to follow, actually, what with flashbacks and flash-forwards and dream sequences, but everything definitely goes wrong. Maybe.
Nathan comes home, but not really. Moira Kelly comes home, really. Then there's a wedding, but not really. Peyton speaks instead of holding her peace, but not really. Lucas says "I do," but he doesn't really mean it. Suddenly, two things happen:
1) Jamie goes to the bathroom. This seems unimportant when you read it here, but there are actually two more things that make this important:
a) Dan is parked outside.
b) Fran the Nutjob Nanny is hanging out upstairs.
This looks bad, doesn't it? But we'll leave that subplot for a second, because the second thing is:
2) Lindsey says, "I don't." Presumably, she does mean it.
See, Lindsey was reading Lucas's book, too - the one that Haley was reading last week - and she's figured out that, like the previous book, it's about Peyton. Lucas denies it, but what else is he going to do? She's already in the dress, for Pete's sake. Lindsey leaves, and she won't likely be back, leaving Lucas and Peyton to be this show's Pam & Jim, or Sam & Diane, or those two kids on that show about the six friends, what was it called again?
We have no time for awkward relationships, though, because we have to get back to thing one: Jamie is missing. Everybody panics, which, admittedly, is exactly what everybody should do. Haley mentions seeing Dan, and everybody panics again. Nathan jumps in front of a police car, and manages to avoid getting tasered long enough to get an APB out. Unfortunately, it's on the wrong person, because the Nanny-not-named-Fran has Jamie in a hotel room. Her plan to usurp the role of Mommy has hit a snag, though: she has forgotten hair dye. She runs out to get some, and when she gets back, Jamie is hiding. Fran seeks, and finds - Dan. Dan constructively expresses his displeasure with Fran. Okay, he actually pins her to a wall by the throat, but maybe he feels bad about using violence to solve his problems. Okay, probably not, but at least Jamie is waiting in the car. I think. He doesn't appear to be in the room.
Back at the Scott household, everybody blames themselves. I think everybody also blames Nathan, because this season has been about how everything that goes wrong is subtly Nathan's fault. There are a lot of police, but they must all have poor eyesight or keep turning their backs at exactly the right moments, because everybody misses Jamie walking right into the middle of the room. Not only that, Dan must be one heck of an evasive driver, because every cruiser in Tree Hill is looking specifically for him, and he managed to drive across town without being spotted. Anyway, he waits long enough for Jamie to be received, then makes his own dramatic entrance. We fade out before he is tackled by every officer in the room. New episodes start in a month.

Pain. Suffering. Johnny Carson

I know you've been missing the trivia. Well, Spring Break is over, the f was in town for the weekend, and we celebrated Easter Eve by rocking the Saturday night trivia. It was a tough one, and I'll skip a couple of our misses, because it was tough to follow the wording on some of them. Here's what I wrote down. Happy Easter.

1. What is the surgical knife known as an izmel used for?
2. What element is added to rubber to vulcanize it?
3. Which Christian feast celebrates tongues of fire descending on the apostles?
4. Who was the first female comic called to the couch by Johnny Carson?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Happy Hangover Day!

When I was in my 20's, the nice thing about having a birthday right after St. Patrick's Day was that, when midnight rolled around, we were already drinking. Nowadays, I usually stay away from the green beer, so today is just like any other day, except people give me presents. What did you get me?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Jaw, Floor. Floor, Jaw.

It's stag party day in Tree Hill, and the fact that Nathan and Haley haven't spoken in over a week is on everybody's mind. No, seriously, that's all anyone talks about for the first five minutes. Lucas and Lindsey have a plan, though; they're going to secretly hold both of their parties in the same place. Those scamps!
Brooke sets Peyton up on with Woody's friend, so she won't have to go to this party alone. But wait! The friend turns out to be Chase, the former male leader of the Clean Teens, who lost his virginity to Brooke last season. The female head of the Clean Teens, by the way, slept with Mouth, which makes me think I'd have been more popular with the ladies in high school had I simply declared my virginity. Anyway, the situation is awkward for everyone, especially the writers, who have to explain how Woody and Chase have not put together that they both know a 22-year-old named Brooke from Tree Hill with a world famous clothing line.
Rachel plays the part of the Recovering Addict In A Television Show to a T. She looks healthy, has no needle marks whatsoever, and whiles away the hours at Brooke's house, happily discussing how she's sure she's done this time, and not trying to contact anyone, despite the fact that her phone is sitting right there on the table the whole episode. She even wants to go back to work! But then 1) Brooke won't let her be a model rightnowthisinstant, 2) Mouth won't sleep with her rightnowthisinstant, and 3) Brooke's mom tells her she sucks. Rachel skips town with a a conveniently placed envelope full of cash.
Nathan arrives at the party, which is at his own house, and Haley answers the door, and they both pretend to be surprised to see each other. "Pretend," because they both had a guess as to what Lucas and Lindsey were up to, because they've seen this show, too. They spend the evening having thirty-second awkward conversations, and resolve absolutely nothing, although by all indications Haley has backed way off the divorce talk.
Jamie spends the entire episode being disappointed that his parents won't play Rock Band with him. Jamie is an annoying child, though admittedly he'd be more annoying if he reacted to the various little disappointments of his day the way most four-year-olds react: with screaming tantrums. Instead, Jamie looks adorably sad. Fortunately, everyone in Tree Hill knows him, and they take turns feeding him cheery platitudes, especially Skills, who seems to like the kid a little too much, if you get my drift.
Oh yeah, Dan got his parole, and immediately manages to bed the cashier at a sporting-goods store. She is unfazed when he tells her, post-coitus, that he has recently been paroled and that he killed his brother. One would guess this is not the most shocking thing she has been told in bed.
Brooke finishes her evening by going to the store to... do something. She finds her mother, who has driven Rachel away and rescheduled some meeting and generally been a condescending pain in the ass. This is no different than her behavior for the past six episodes, and presumably the past two decades, but this is apparently the final straw. In our first surprise of the evening, Brooke fires her mother. Not as Mom, as president or CEO or whatever-she-was of the clothing company.
Okay, that was only mildly surprising, but we're just being setup for the big one. Haley is reading Lucas's latest book, and he's VO-ing something about Camus, and she picks up the phone. Lucas answers, and Haley says, "I needed to talk to-"
Nathan, right? She's ready for him to come home?
Nope- "you."
I might mention here that Haley is basically Lindsey's best friend in Town, and has been ready to smack both Lucas and Peyton for anything that might jeopardize Lucas's relationship with Lindsey. Why do I mention this? Well-
"You can't marry Lindsey."
OH SNAP!

Coming Tuesday: The wedding day! Will he? Will she? Will anyone hold their peace? Will Dan crash the party? It's the best birthday present EVER!

Friday, March 14, 2008

I'm not a day late for this one

Happy Pi Day!

Here's to 60 more!

I spent much of yesterday on the road, but I did want to take time out to wish my father a happy 60th birthday. I hope that someday, I am half the father he was - and is.

Monday, March 10, 2008

There isn't a literal connection

I lived in another country during the summer of 1998, and I was not particularly good with the language, so when a subtitled version of an English movie came to the local cinema, I saw it. I watched four movies that summer - Jackie Brown, Swingers, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Big Lebowski - and, ten years later, I still feel some connection with all four. It helps, I think, that they were all very good movies, but to me, there's a nostalgia factor. When I watch them, I get to remember my summer abroad, and the good times I had, and the fact that those films kept me from feeling completely out of place in a foreign land.
So, what movies stick with you, not because they're necessarily great movies, but because of the place and time you saw them?

Sunday, March 9, 2008

D-I-V-O-R-C-E

Remember last week, when I said it would be two weeks before the Nanny went Hand That Rocks the Cradle on us? Well, I was off by a week. Nathan gets home from the basketball game we weren't shown last week, and hops in the shower. Fran, however, has been waiting naked around the corner, and hops in the shower with him. Nathan, unsurprisingly, freaks out, and kicks Fran out of the shower. Unfortunately, Haley chooses this exact moment to get home. Nathan tries to explain, but, really, what's the point? You're naked with the nanny, dude. Haley, unsurprisingly, freaks out, and kicks Fran out of the house. Then, she comes back and gives Nathan the heave-ho, too.
Peyton walks into her office to find her former boss. I'm gonna call him John, because that's actually his name. John wants to sign Mia away from Peyton, because small artists can't survive without a major label. Is this 1995? Seth Cohen could name you a couple of bands that made it on a small label. But because this show is, in so many ways, an anachronism, Mia will die without a large corporate machine behind her. Peyton and John repeat this conversation the next day, and Peyton caves in. Unfortunately, Mia chooses this exact moment to walk into the room. Mia, unsurprisingly, freaks out, and storms off, because that's what she does. This, in turn, causes John to freak out, and he offers Mia some ridonkulous deal that allows her to still be distributed on Peyton's label, and lets her retain control of her songs. In fact, it's quite similar to the deal that Death Cab allegedly has with Atlantic. Of course, they got that deal after releasing four successful albums on a small label, not after one YouTube clip of a one-song performance in a North Carolina nightclub. But I digress, because now we find out that Mia and Peyton were in cahoots! It turns out that Mia's latest nutty was staged, so that they could get the deal they wanted. Everyone is happy, and Mia goes home to pack her bags, because she's opening for Ryan Adams the next day. All over the country, high schoolers decide their homework is no longer necessary, because they can sign with a major record label if they can get one good song on the internets.
Meanwhile, it's 9:00 in the morning, and Brooke is at the bar, indulging her weird obsession with Woody. Somehow, the flirting results in both of them flying to New York for the day, which turns out to be an excuse to re-introduce us to Rachel, the hot redhead from last season. Rachel has become a heroin addict. That's bad! But Woody beats up her dealer and gives Brooke the number for a rehab clinic in New York. That's good! It turns out, though, Woody is a recovering addict himself. That's bad! But he knew someone who helped him out. That's good! Brooke ignores the number for the clinic, and brings Rachel back to Tree Hill with her. I'm not sure, but I'm going with "that's bad." By the way, I'm guessing the guy who helped Woody turns out to be Dan, because that would be totally inexplicable.
Speaking of Dan, he's up for parole! Lucas and Nathan drive to the hearing, Dan tells us all why he should get out of jail, and Lucas tells us why he shouldn't. Then, because this episode is all about secrets and lies and people walking in at the wrong time, we find out that Nathan has visited Dan at the prison. This is made out to be a big deal, because this episode is also about people overreacting to things that Nathan does. The entire parole hearing seems to be a plot device to get Nathan and Lucas to talk about what it means to be a good husband and father, and for Lucas to tell Nathan that he just needs to suck it up and apologize for Fran being a nutjob. After all, it was his fault Haley hired a nanny after a ninety-second interview without checking any references.
Anywho, Nathan goes home and apologizes. This fails miserably, because Fran has told Haley about the kissing and the skinny-dipping and that Nathan knew about all of it, and did not tell his wife. This, admittedly, is Nathan's fault. It is also his fault that he sends his son out to play by the pool at night while he argues with his wife. Jamie falls in the pool, Nathan saves him, Haley freaks out and asks for a divorce. Tune in next week, when nothing will be resolved, except possibly the reason that a bartender from North Carolina knows how to contact a clinic in Manhattan.

"Tommy John" was not correct

Another local watering hole has trivia night on Saturdays. It's a slightly different experience from the Thursday version. I think the questions are harder, but the scoring differences make it easier to come from behind. The main difference is in the final question: like the Thursday trivia night, the final question is worth up to 15 points, but you're allowed to bid fewer points, instead of simply choosing between submitting an answer you're not confident in (and risking losing 15) or submitting nothing at all (and getting nothing). I've won several times with judicious use of points on the final question, although I've also cost myself a place once or twice with poor bids. My misses:

1. Which famous singer was born in a town called Butcher Hollow?
2. What is the most common surgical procedure performed in U.S. hospitals?
3. Who was the first athlete featured on the front of a Wheaties box (this was in 1934, five years before his retirement)?
4. What country is the world's #1 exporter of coffee?
Final:
5. Place the following movies in order of budget, from largest to smallest:
a) Titanic b) King Kong (2005) c) The Polar Express d) Spiderman 3

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Questions about Self-Dual Codes won't cut it

I'm at a conference this week, so I'm missing trivia. I'll come up with replacement questions during the twelve-hour drive home tomorrow. New trivia and the OTH recap should be up Saturday.

ETA: Or Sunday. As a bonus, however, I did go to a trivia night on Saturday, so I'll have legitimate questions.