Desicritics Quiz Time 1

I have been a quizzer for many years. It has been a fulfilling and stimulating hobby. The quizzing fraternity in India is vibrant, and large. It is modeled mainly after British quizzing of the pub and Mastermind variety. Individuals band together to form a quiz team, usually of 4 members, and give themselves a name. Our team was called Other teams I have known include "The Polyphonic Motets of Lassus", "Foucault's Chutney", "We Are Like This Wonly"."Corrosion of Conformity","Meta-Quizziks", and "Trans-dimensional Lesbian playwrights".

Various quizzing societies exist around the country - Calcutta, Bangalore and Chennai are some of the key quizzing centers, although fine quiz teams/societies operate in almost every town.(Write-up on the history of quizzing in India) Some quiz societies of note include the Quiz Foundation of India,the Karnataka Quiz Association(One must toff one's cap to the late Wing Cdr. Mulky) and Derek O'Brien's crew in Calcutta. I have interacted, quizzed, drunk the night away with many of the august personae comprising these societies, and it has made one a better person.

Quizzing is done at various levels, from the 3rd grade upto college, and open quizzing. Corporate quizzes are quite popular. Quizzing is big business too, with a number of big-ticket, sponsored quizzes, such as the Economic Times Brand Equity quiz conducted by Derek O'Brien.

Quiz topics are very broad, ranging from rock to culture to ancient history to abstruse trivia about commonplace things. Researching was an art, fulfilled through discussions over beer, trawling through used bookstores and libraries in those pre-Google days. Being able to pull together the knowledge one has and present it on the spot in 30 seconds is an experience one cannot describe to the unitiated(British Quiz Association FAQ on quizzing) Most quizzers have their specialities, and a motley, eclectic collection of curiosities & complementary skillsmakes a good team

Prizes are up for grabs, and the honor system is advised, so try not to Google the answers. Mail your answers to me. Oh, yes, I did forget to mention - the questions have been confuzzled to somewhat deter googling. Quiz on!

The answers are up - how did you do? Rohan Venkat topped the submissions with 8 and Amrita got 4

The Questions

1. Paul Lukas stole the whistle from Rick Blaine, although Rick's place won the statue for the film. Which year, and name the two films?

2. Who said recently, "Next to the ___ ___, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a piss-stain, we're not coming"?

The Answer is ... 

The Sex Pistols

3. In Indian mythology, Krishna recites the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, on the battlefield of the great war in the epic "Mahabharata". By a form of remote viewing, Sanjaya and Dhritrashtra are also able to listen to this first-hand. One additional character hears the Gita first-hand. Who, and how come?

The Answer is ... 

Hanuman, who was on Arjuna's flag

4. The term 'worm', used to refer to a self-replicating computer program, is taken from the book "The Shockwave Rider". The book was based on ideas from another popular book from 1970 whose title is now a common phrase. The author defined this term as "too much change in too short a period of time.". Name the book/term.

5. This icon, somewhat photoshopped, is for a television network, launched recently in the United States. Which network?

6. This journal was banned in 1918 in Germany for attacking the regime. In 1922, it supported Mussolini, calling him "The very strong man, that Mussolini absolutely is, is exactly what the misruled Italian people needs ". It questioned the treatment of the Jews by Mussolini, but noted on the occasion of the Kristallnacht in Germany,"When one has studied the Jewish question in Europe for decades, the animosity towards the Jews is to a certain extent understandable.". It was highly critical of the Soviet Union, leading to the cancellation of a state visit by Khruschev. It was most recently in the limelight thanks to a request from a children's book author, Kaare Bluitgen. Name the rag.

The Answer is ... 

Jyllands-Posten

7. Who is talking about what?

It is an event of an entirely different order from any of those tragical occurrences which take place when troops are brought into collision with the civil population. It is an extraordinary event, a monstrous event, an event which stands in singular and sinister isolation.

The Answer is ... 

Winston Churchill on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre

8.
What event is this the logo of?

9. This podcast carries the tagline "Making the Internet slightly less barren than it was before. Slightly". It received a singular honor in February 2006 as the most popular podcast in the world from that superlative collection originally published by the McWhirter brothers. Which Podcast (and for an additional quantum of solace, name the collection)?

10. Connect this song and the following paragraph:

One Kashmiri morning in the early spring of 1915, my grandfather Aadam Aziz hit his nose against a frost-hardened tussock of earth while attempting to pray. Three drops of blood plopped out of his left nostril, hardened instantly in the brittle air and lay before his eyes on the prayer mat, transformed into rubies. . . . At that moment . . . he resolved never again to kiss earth for any god or man.

The Answer is ... 

The song is U2's "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", written with Salman Rushdie
These are the opening lines of 'Midnight's Children'

Thanks for playing - Send me questions, if you like at aamanlamba at gmail.com.

Audio clips made using audacity