- This man befriended Leonardo DiCaprio while they were making the TV
series "Parenthood." Now, ignorant girls refer to him simply as "Leo's
friend." His first lead role was in the TV sitcom "Great Scott!" He
played a hitchhiker in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harvey Stern
in Deconstructing Harry, and Paul Hood in The Ice Storm. For
10 points--identify this talented young actor who starred opposite Reese
Witherspoon as Bud Parker in Pleasantville.
answer: Tobey Maguire
- In one of her novels, this author tells the story of Whittman Ah Sing,
a San Francisco hippie who tries to stage an epic production of interwoven
Chinese novels and folktales. In another novel, subtitled "Memoirs of a
Girlhood among Ghosts," this author retells the stories of Fa Mu-Lan and
the woman who killed herself by jumping into a well. For 10 points--who
is this Chinese-American author of Tripmaster Monkey and The
Woman Warrior?
answer: Maxine Hong Kingston
- The northern part of this country contains many hot springs and has
its highest peak at Mt. Ruapehu. The southern part contains many glaciers
and mountain lakes in the Southern Alps, with the highest point at Mt.
Cook. For 10 points--identify this island nation composed of the world's
12th and 15th largest islands, which are separated by the Cook Strait.
answer: New Zealand
- He was the alternate US representative to the United Nations General
Assembly and a member of the US delegation to the UN Human Rights
Commission. He was originally President Clinton's ambassadorial nominee
to Fiji. A recess appointment to fill the post of Ambassador to
Luxembourg--for 10 points--who is this man, the first American ambassador
to be openly gay?
answer: James Hormel
- WARNING: TWO ANSWERS REQUIRED. One was a grad student at the
University of Chicago. The other was a famous geochemist. Together, they
conducted an experiment in 1953 by mixing methane, ammonia, water vapor,
and molecular hydrogen in flasks, which they sparked with powerful
electric discharges. The walls of the flasks became coated with a sticky,
brownish substance containing amino acids--hence, a possible explanation
to the origin of life was discovered by--for 10 points--what two
scientists?
answer: Stanley Miller and Harold Urey
- This author created Lieutenant Shinji Takeyama, a man who commits
ritual suicide after finding out that his closest colleagues are
mutineers. After writing that short story, "Patriotism," this founder of
the Shield Society performed the hara-kiri himself in 1970 to protest
Japan's "spineless" military posture. Author of such novels as After
the Banquet and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the
Sea--for 10 points--who was this writer of the tetralogy, Sea of
Fertility?
answer: Yukio Mishima
- Most of the people given this pejorative nickname never favored the
secession of Confederate states, and some were opponents of slavery based
on principles. However, they were reviled for their opportunism during
Reconstruction. For 10 points--name these white Southerners who
cooperated with occupying federal forces and joined with the black
freedmen and Carpetbaggers in support of Republican party policies, whose
name is often applied to a worthless person.
answer: Scalawags
- "Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, / As under a green
sea, I saw him drowning. / In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, /
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." This passage comes from
an anti-war poem probably written to Jessie Pope, who was enlisting young
people to fight in World War I. Written when poet Wilfred Owen was in the
Craiglockhart War Hospital--for 10 points--what is this poem, whose Latin
title is taken from "Horace's old lie" and precedes the words "pro patria
mori?"
answer: "Dulce et Decorum est" [Dulce = DULL-kay]
- He originally studied sculpture at Academie de la Grande Chaumire in
Paris, but he later switched to architecture at Yale. In 1937, he
collaborated with Charles Eames to win the 1940 furniture-making
competition at The Museum of Modern Art. He subsequently designed
furniture for Knoll International, and also designed the TWA terminal at
New York's JFK Airport. For 10 points--identify this Finnish-American
architect, who designed St. Louis' Gateway Arch.
answer: Eero Saarinen
- You might know it as the duration of 9 billion, 192 million, 631
thousand, 770 periods of the radiation emitted in a transition between two
specified energy levels of hyperfine, ground-state cesium-133 atoms.
Formerly defined as one over 86 thousand 400 times the mean solar day, its
current definition is the basis of universal time. For 10 points--what SI
unit is simply one-sixtieth of a minute?
answer: a second
- After Jo's father dies, she takes over the family bank, the only one
in the title town. Sheriff Chappy Dent is one tough cop who's just a
little confused. Ms. Schaefer teaches little girls how to walk the plank
for a beauty pageant. Two escaped convicts--Harry Sawyer and Wayne Wayne
Wayne, Jr.--must assume the identity of a gay couple and hide out in the
title town. These are some of the wacky characters in--for 10
points--what recent independent film starring William H. Macy, Steve Zahn,
and Jeremy Northam?
answer: Happy, Texas
- This concept similar to the Coriolis effect explains the asymmetric
pattern of the large-scale gyres in the subtropical oceans and the
differences between eastern and western boundary currents. Thomson's
theorem states that if this fluid property is zero initially, it remains
zero as the fluid moves, but Prandtl proved that it can be introduced to
the system through the fluid's interfaces. For 10 points--what is this
"tendency" of a fluid to undergo rotary motion?
answer: vorticity
- It had no streets, so its inhabitants had to climb ladders to enter
each house through the roof. Located near present-day Konya, it had a
population of around 5,000 and showcased spectacular cult fittings of wall
paintings, plastered reliefs, and bull's head effigies. It covered 32
acres and contained 12 successive levels packed with rectangular mud-brick
houses, irregular courtyards, and shrines. It had the earliest farmers,
as 14 different crops were cultivated here 8,500 years ago. For 10
points--name this riverside settlement in present-day Turkey.
answer: Çatal Hüyük [pron. cha-TAL HOO-yook,
but accept garbled variants]
- The acute form of this disease can worsen over months instead of the
usual 5 to 25 years. Occuring mainly in the Northern Hemisphere, it
causes the gradual degeneration of the myelin covering, or sheath of nerve
fibers. By interrupting or disordering transmission of nerve
impulses--for 10 points--what debilitating disease of the brain and spinal
chord especially impairs vision, sensation, and use of limbs?
answer: Multiple Sclerosis (prompt on "MS")
- He was trained as a classical musician under composer Darius Milhaud,
but his interest was jazz. In the 1940s, he formed various experimental
jazz bands, and, in 1951, collaborated with a famous alto saxophonist for
the first time. He and the saxophonist had many hits together, including
the 1958 album "Time Out," in which he played "Blue Rondo a la Turk."
For 10 points--name this jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer, famed for
his collaboration with Paul Desmond.
answer: Dave Brubeck
- This Native-American tribe drew influence from the Montagnais,
Naskapi, and Ojibwa tribes. Primarily hunters, they cultivated little
maize and were nearly wiped out by European diseases and Iroquois
invasions, leaving only about 2,000 members which survived into the
twentieth century. Scattered in the dense forest regions along the bank
of the upper Ottawa River in Canada--for 10 points--name this tribe,
identified by its language, whose name was appropriated by a famous New
York hotel.
answer: Algonquin Indians
- When he was 16, he was wrongly expelled from school, but he continued
his education at a local library. At age 23, he founded the Black
Horizons Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is famous for a cycle
of plays, each set in a different decade, which tell the story of the
black
American experience. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1990--for 10
points--who is this playwright of Joe Turner's Come and Gone,
Fences, and The Piano Lesson?
answer: August Wilson
- In 1944, the Germans intercepted an American convoy in German lines
during the Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive of the war.
Among the convoy lay eighty-two Americans. Eighty of these Americans were
executed in perhaps the most atrocious war crime of World War II. For 10
points--in what Belgian town did this tragedy occur?
answer: Malmady
- In antiquity he was known as the Obscure because of the difficulties
involved in deciphering his aphorisms. He defined "logos" to mean that
the world exemplifies a rational order, but that only the wise realize
that the world is always in a state of change, which he termed "flux." He
also held the monistic view that all opposites are essentially the same, a
concept he called the "Unity of Opposites." For 10 points--name this
Greek philosopher who thought the universe was composed of fire.
answer: Heraclitus
- Born in 1534 in Nagoya, he ruled from his base at Nagoya Castle. He
destroyed opposing clans in brilliant campaigns against superior forces,
being the first daimyo general to adopt tactics using newly imported
Western muskets. He gained control of the region around the capital
Kyoto, which he took in 1568, but was assassinated soon thereafter. For
10 points--name this Japanese general, whose dream of uniting Japan was
realized under his subordinate, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
answer: Oda Nobunaga
- On the last night of this festival, families gather to share a meal
called the karamu and light the last candle in the kinara. Umoja,
kujichagulia, ujima, ujamaa, nia, kuumba and imani, which represent unity,
self-determination, faith, creativity, purpose, collective work and
cooperative economics are its guiding principles. For 10 points--name
this non-religious holiday created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, whose name is
Swahili for "first fruits" and is celebrated from December 26th through
January 1st every year, mainly by African-Americans.
answer: Kwanzaa
- This ruler died after Babylon fell without resistance to the Persian
general Gobyras in 539 B.C. He was the son of Nabonidus, although Biblical
sources claim that he was the son of Nebuchadrezzar. The Bible also tells
of the famine and economic setbacks which occurred late in his reign and a
feast he held at which an exile from Judah foretold the distruction of his
city. For 10 points--name the leader of Babylon who invited Daniel to
read the writing on the wall.
answer: Balshazzar or Belshazzar
- This monster was killed by the flaming firebrands of Iolaus and the
swift sword of Hercules. Its poisonous blood can be applied to arrows,
making them fatal. The offspring of Typhon and Echidna, this gigantic
monster had the ability of multiple regeneration as two heads grew where
one was severed. For 10 points--identify this monster, one of the twelve
labors of Hercules, identified by its nine heads.
answer: Hydra