Dark Bilious Vapors

Because I've blown off trivia all week. Another 20 questions. Answers Sunday or Monday, depending on if I get lucky this weekend or not. Since I didn't last weekend, I'd bet on Sunday....

1) According to U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2005", what is the hardest college to get into in the U.S.?

2) According to the same source, what college has the most capable students (i.e., the largest percentage of students who graduate in 4 years)?

3) A couple of this week's posts have been devoted to TV series crossovers. Name the first actor to appear in three different prime time series as the same character in one week. And, of course, you'll be able to name the character and the three series in question.

4) Chronologically, what is the last thing to happen in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction?

5) Todd Richard Lewis, of California, is arguably the victim of the greatest public humiliation of 2003. How did he humiliate himself?

6) James Carter got convicted for a crime and sent to the Mississippi State Penitentiary. After his release, he moved up to the Chicago area and managed to eke out a living. Decades later, someone showed up on his door with a check for $20,000 and a promise that more such checks would be forthcoming. What was this windfall, and how did Mr. Carter earn it?

7) Triumph the Insult Comic Dog did a special remote for Late Night With Conan O'Brien from the line outside a movie theater on the opening day of Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones. He even entertained the fans who'd been camped outside the theater for days with a special Star Wars trivia quiz. According to Triumph, what is the name of the substance that Han Solo was frozen in by Jabba the Hutt?

8) Mark Johnson-Williams had the misfortune to be investigated for a number of months as a suspect in the Unabomber case. While only true crime buffs among us might be familiar with his name, we're certainly familiar with one of his creations. What might that be?

9) Robert Chesebrough, having survived pleurisy for forty years, died in his nineties. He jokingly referred to his survival as having "slipped from death's grip." To what did he credit his survival?

10) Arguably, Ken Charles Barger earned himself a Darwin award when he accidentally shot himself to death; one night, upon awakening, he grabbed a Smith and Wesson .38 special and held it to his head, upon which it discharged. How did this happen?

11) What actor was the first to play an openly gay man on a television series? What series was that?

12) In the original theatrical release version of Star Wars Episode III: A New Hope, Luke's friend Biggs is the closest thing to a redshirt you get in the Star Wars universe, in that he appears briefly and seemingly for the sole purpose of getting blown up not long after. What is the late and unlamented Biggs's last name?

13) They didn't let sopranos sing on early radio broadcasts; this is the reason that mellow crooners dominated the airwaves in the early days of radio. Why was this?

14) After which U.S. celebrity was Dolly the sheep named, and why?

15) If you take Cartoon Network's word for it, one animation genius directed the three top animated shorts of all time. Who is he, who did he work for, and what were the cartoons that were so honored?

16) Speaking of cartoons, Marvin the Martian wants to destroy the Earth. Why?

17) Complete the exchange: "Pinky, art thou pondering that which I am pondering?"

18) Who were all of Jack the Ripper's victims?

19) In a Genworth Financial commercial, they say "The right genes make all the difference", while the visual shows a kid (about 6 years old or so) whomping the poo out of an adult on a tennis court (at tennis, we're not talking aggravated assault here). At the end of the commercial, the kid's parents drive up in a minivan and pick him up. Who are the kid's parents?

20) James Bond has been fighting evil on the silver screen for over forty years, but he's only been married once (well, twice, but one time it was all about business, so that doesn't count). When he was marrying for real, who did he marry? For extra credit, who was Bond's father-in-law, and what businesses was he in? In which movie did this occur? How did the marriage end? Lastly, who played Bond and Tracy in the movie?

Len on 10.08.04 @ 08:26 PM CST