Movie quiz at the office

Here's a Dropbox link to a movie quiz I conducted at the office the other day. Meant for the faint-hearted, not the expert quizzers out there.

And here are the answers. Enjoy!

Movie Posters Quiz

This is a quiz on movie posters that I put up at @kweezzz, the fast growing quizzing community on Twitter. Simple stuff, really. In all cases, name the movie.
A few easy ones initially, to set the ball rolling:
1.  2.  3. 4.  5. 6. 
7. Not an original poster, but a re-imagined one for TV. Name the film 8.  9. 10.  11.
12. Connect the image below and the now defunct ad agency Dazu, to an iconic movie poster.
13. Often appears in all time great movie poster lists. Name the movie and the person credited with this poster
.
14. 
15. Another re-imagined for TV poster. Film?

16. 
17. No movie posters quiz would be complete without this all time great image. Name the film.
18. Campy movie, but has a cult following. Great poster, too

19. Identify, should be easy
.

20. The first known instance of legs appearing as an A-frame in a film poster. Used repeatedly since.
21. While on the subject...

22. A classic. The lead actor specifically requested illustrator Adrian G Spear to create this poster.
23. Another easy one, but what the hell
.

24. One of my favorite posters
.

25. A movie no one remembers, a poster that ranks among the best.
 

26. The first ever film made on this subject, it had just two screenings. Identify.

Posted via email from Mostly Charmless

KQA's 25th

The KQA's 25th Anniversary is being celebrated with a two day quiz festival starting tomorrow, the 28th of June. and I are setting the Entertainment Quiz, scheduled for 3pm tomorrow at the St Joseph's Boys High School, Bangalore.

FYI & A, as they say around here.

Movie Quiz

I'm conducting the annual Movie Quiz for the KQA, at the Daly Memorial Hall, Nrupathunga Road, Bangalore, on Sunday the 25th. Prelims at 3pm and finals at 4. Teams of 4. I'm thinking of burning a few movies as audience prizes, time permitting.

If you are bored and at a loose end on a Sunday afternoon, do hop over.

Movie Quiz at the KQA

The KQA's Annual Movie Quiz will be held on Sunday 25 February 2007 at the Daly Memorial Hall, Nrupatunga Road, Bangalore. The details:

QM: Madhav Nair

Prelims: 1530hrs sharp
Finals: 1630hrs blunt

Open to teams of two members
Entry Fee: Rs. 50/-

Prizes

I: Rs. 2000/-
II: Rs. 1500/-
III: Rs. 1000/-

All other finalists will receive prizes. Several audience prizes are also being handed out.

I'm doing a movie quiz

At the Daly Memorial Hall, Nrupatunga Road, Bangalore, on Sunday, 27 November 2005.

Rules
Open to all, teams of 2 members
Entry Fee: Rs. 50/-
The quiz will cover both Hollywood and Indian movies.

Schedule
Prelims: 1000hrs
Finals: 1100hrs

The quiz at KQA went off quite well. I think. Wil...

The quiz at KQA went off quite well. I think. Will put up the dry questions on when I get a chance.

Was in Hyd for a day yesterday for a customer meeting. Also caught up with the Deepak khandan and , who was kind enough to give me Brando's autobiography, Songs My Mother Taught Me. Was also lucky enough to travel by Air Deccan. Sorry, lucky enough to make it back in one piece after travelling Air Deccan.

Lots of travel on the horizon. Malaysia by mid-Sept, US by Jan, perhaps. Not really looking forward to it.

Tired. Have a 730am meeting tomorrow. I'm getting old. My bones ache. Yawn.

And oh, the peeping peer has quit!

Shameless Plug

The KQA will hold two quizzes on Sunday, August 29th 2004 at the Daly
Memorial Hall, Nrupatunga Road, Bangalore.

Event I
Entertainment Quiz
Quizmaster: Madhav Nair

RULES
The quiz is open to all members of the general public, irrespective of
age or institutional affiliation.
Teams of four members
Entry Fee: Rs.75/- per team
Six teams qualify

SCHEDULE
Registration: 1000hrs
Prelims: 1030hrs
Finals: 1115hrs

PRIZES
I: Rs.1,000/-
II: Rs. 800/-
III: Rs. 700/


Event II
KQA's Collegiate Quiz Championship
Quizmaster: Arul Mani

Rules
The quiz is open to individuals from PUC/XI & XII, Undergraduate and
Postgraduate institutions
Unlimited entries per institution
Entry Fee: Rs.25/- per entrant
The eight best prelim scores qualify, irrespective of institution.
The winner will be declared College Quiz Champion for the season 2004-2005

Schedule
Registration: 1400hrs
Prelims: 1430hrs
Finals: 1530hrs

Prizes
I: Rs.500/-
II: Rs.400/-
III: Rs. 300/-

The best lady entrant : Rs.500/-
The best PUC entrant : Rs.250/-

The music quiz at Crossword

It was a dark and stormy night. My partner got caught in the storm and turned up an hour after the prelims got over. I had to take it alone like a man; though I dragged in towards the end, just for a horror.

The quiz was extremely easy, hoary chesnuts all. I think I got about 14 points out of 25, the cut-off was 16.5. I'd like to believe if had been with me as originally planned, we would have topped it. Oh, well.

The sad part was the brownies we fed Rachu from the Coffee Day outlet. They must have had an overdose of egg in them, because she puked her dinner out at midnight. She went on vomiting till 3am, when she got tired of it all and went to sleep.

Yeah, she is okay now. A little weary, but ok.

Finally won a quiz at KQA. Doesn't mean anything ...

Finally won a quiz at KQA. Doesn't mean anything much really as it was entirely on movies and the quizmaster was not from KQA - Pradeep Sebastian from The Hindu. Anustup was my partner, so that helped a lot too. Still, it was quite satisfying to win out there, after getting trounced in all the quizzes I've tried at KQA. came in second, by the way. He topped the prelims.

Am feeling much better after the Christmas break. Looking forward to the new year with hope.

Quizbusters is born !

I've created a community for quizzers: . Lets see how it works out. takes credit for the community name, btw.

I've listed out a set of rules over there, I'd welcome and greatly appreciate feedback. Thanks in advance !

42

1. One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it - it was the black kitten's fault entirely

A: Opening lines from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll.

2. I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it is eight-thirty in the morning. The wind, even at sixty miles an hour, is warm and humid. When it's this hot and muggy at eight-thirty, I'm wondering what it's going to be like in the afternoon.

A: Opening lines of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M. Pirsig.

3. She gathered herself together. No one could describe the scorn of her expression or the contemptuous hatred she put into her answer.
"You men! You filthy, dirty pigs! You`re all the same, all of you. Pigs! Pigs!"
Dr. Macphail gasped. He understood

A: The last lines of the Somerset Maugham short story, Rain.

4. I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my ____

A: Last lines of Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Yes, I am devious. Yesser, I am very obviously devious - most of you got this right anyway !

5. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

A: Opening lines of One Hundred Years of Solitude (or as put it, Cien Años de Soledad), by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

6.

Prologue
Part I: The Marsten House
Ben (I)
Susan
The Lot
Danny Glick and Others
Ben (II)
The Lot (II)
Matt
Part II: The Emperor of Ice Cream
Ben (III)
Susan (II)
The Lot (III)
Ben (IV)
Mark
Father Callahan
Part III: The Deserted Village
The Lot (IV)
Ben and Mark
Epilogue

A: A personal bias, Stephen King has always been a favorite. This is from Salem's Lot, one of his best, IMO

7. 1801-- I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -- the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.

A: Opening lines from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Sounds very Bram Stoker-ish, I know.

8. `This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer, `I never could get the hang of Thursdays.'

A: In between line from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. To use 's words:
8 is, of course, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the book, not the series. It is said after Arthur has been extracted from the mud in front of the bulldozer trying to knock down his house in order to build a bypass, and just before he is transported onto a ship of the Vogon Constructor Fleet destroying the Earth in order to build a bypass.

9. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

A: Opening lines of The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler.

10. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

A: Last lines of The Old Testament. Malachi 4:6, as put it so very accurately


Well, that was fun again !

I am not listing out scores here, suffice to mention and got pretty much all correct. Well done ! The comments are now visible to all, by the way.

I got quite a bit of "you should do more of this" this time round too. Maybe I really should do more of this. I've been thinking of creating a community for posting quizzes. There are quite a few of them on LJ already, but I haven't seen any that posts stuff which I enjoy. Hmmm....

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Am not really at a loose end, but I thought this was as good a time as any to set a quiz. This is on books and features opening lines, ending lines, reading between the lines and general phrases which should ideally start you thinking along the lines of "Hmm, where have I read that before ?". There is also a short story thrown in, by the way.

Off we go. I'm looking for the name of the book, unless specified otherwise


1. One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it - it was the black kitten's fault entirely

2. I can see by my watch, without taking my hand from the left grip of the cycle, that it is eight-thirty in the morning. The wind, even at sixty miles an hour, is warm and humid. When it's this hot and muggy at eight-thirty, I'm wondering what it's going to be like in the afternoon.

3. She gathered herself together. No one could describe the scorn of her expression or the contemptuous hatred she put into her answer.
"You men! You filthy, dirty pigs! You`re all the same, all of you. Pigs! Pigs!"
Dr. Macphail gasped. He understood

4. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

Madhav's note: Don't bother. I just threw that one in there since it was a lovely opening line. The real 4th question is the next

4. I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my ____

5. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

6. Madhav's note: This is the contents page of the book:

Prologue
Part I: The Marsten House
Ben (I)
Susan
The Lot
Danny Glick and Others
Ben (II)
The Lot (II)
Matt
Part II: The Emperor of Ice Cream
Ben (III)
Susan (II)
The Lot (III)
Ben (IV)
Mark
Father Callahan
Part III: The Deserted Village
The Lot (IV)
Ben and Mark
Epilogue

7. 1801-- I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -- the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.

8. `This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer, `I never could get the hang of Thursdays.'

9. Madhav's note: Getting the book here might be tough. Just give me the name of the author:
I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

10. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.


Comments will be screened, by the way. The screen will be lifted after I unveil the answers. Kindly excuse.

[Update]Googling for answers is of course, frowned upon. Whats the point of a quiz if you google ? [/Update]

Stumbled upon this by accident

BBC World's online quiz is taken question by question from here

Scenes Revealed

And here are the answers to my earlier post on movies. The spoiler warning holds good, so caveat enter !

And oh, 's comment has been unscreened



1. The scene about the bulletin board, coffee cup, etc is from The Usual Supects, directed by Brian Singer and scripted by Christopher McQuarrie. I've probably spoiled the movie already for those who haven't watched it, but I sure don't want to spoil it further. No more comments

2. The scene about Mary's beheading is from Pyscho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and scripted by Joseph Stefano, based on an original novel by Robert Bloch. Mary from the book was changed to Marion, the beheading was changed to stabbing and a few other changes were incorporated, to make this one of the most memorable movie sequences of all time. Like I said, there is enough trivia here to fill a book. Chocolate sauce, turkish melons, the censor board's complaint about Janet Leigh's nipple, Ann Dore, Marli Renfro, Saul Bass et al are keywords. Remind me to discuss all this over a beer sometime

3. Helicopters and Wagner are from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Robert Duvall won an Academy Award for his small role here. Other famous quotes from the movie: "Saigon. Shit. I'm still in Saigon" and "The horror ! The horror !". Lastly, if you want to see what Morpheus was like when he was young and restless, watch the movie. Heh.

4. The Charley dialogue was from Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront. Or like puts it, Ghulam. Or Parinda. The actor was Brando, of course. Charley was played by Rod Steiger.

4b. My favorite. This is from Martin Scorcese's Raging Bull. Robert de Niro played the role of Jake la Motta in one of the most brilliant performances I've ever seen. This dialogue is towards the end of the movie when la Motta has fallen to performing at nightclubs, reciting from great authors.

5. was right, the last line here was a giveaway - "Well, nobody's perfect". One of the most famous last lines in movies. The film is Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. An absolutely brilliant - and timeless - laugh riot. I think it was remade into Hindi with Rishi Kapoor. What was it called, Hera Pheri ?


6. The "Hereeeeee's Johnny!" scene is from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, based on a Stephen King novel. Jack Nicholson plays the deranged Jack Torrance who goes after his wife and son towards the end of the film. Worth a watch. I found the movie genuinely creepy.

7. The line "I'll have what she is having" is from Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally, scripted by Nora Ephron. This is the classic reaction line to Meg Ryan's superb illustration of how easily women can fake an orgasm. A customer seated close by, played by Estelle Reiner (the director's mother), tells the waitress ready to take her order: "I'll have what she is having". One of my favorite movies. Get hold of the script if you can't see the movie

8. Had to put a Marx Bros movie in there. This is from Duck Soup directed by Leo McCarey, in which Groucho plays Rufus T Firefly, the president of Freedonia. Many a memorable line here, but I thought these were the funniest. This has the famous mirror pantomime scene, imitated in countless Hindi movies, mostly by Amitabh. Again, get hold of the script - and try not to die laughing.


Well, that was fun !

Scenic Stuff

Because I was bored, because I haven't set a quiz in a long time, because I stopped receiving quiznet mails, because I love movies:

Identify the movies from the descriptions below. These could be descriptions of scenes from a movie, dialogue or just general background to the film. There are a few spoilers, so please, please click on the lj-cut tag below only if you are a movie buff who has the confidence of having seen or at least heard about 'em all ! Then again, if you are a genuine movie buff, all of these should be sitters. The idea is not to have unanswerable questions, but to tease your brain into rememembering these moments from the movies...

1. The screenwriter wrote the scene about the police lineup first. He then wrote the bulletin board scene and then the rest of the movie, effectively written in reverse. The most famous scene has a crashing coffee cup, a bulletin board display and a fax machine taking forever to display a face. There is also a voice saying "It's all there, I'm telling it straight, I swear". The director has this to say about the scene: "It was one of those rare occasions when you could lie to an audience and because there were so many aspects to the film the audience would accept lies - it made the ending all the more exciting and powerful."

2. The original novel describes this scene with the words: "Mary started to scream, and then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream. And her head." This ended Chapter Three. 'Nuff said, there is enough trivia about this scene to fill a whole book.

3. Helicopters swarming out of the dawn light to flatten a village. Speakers blasting out Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries'. Surfing. Explosions. The smell of napalm in the morning. Insanity.

4. "You was my brother, Charley. You should've looked out for me a little bit. You should've taken care of me - just a little bit - so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money...You don't understand! I could've had class. I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let's face it (pause) ...... It was you, Charley."

4 b. I had asked this question on quiznet long back. The lines above were uttered by an all time great who won an Academy Award for his role. These lines were spoken again by another all time great in another great movie, who also went on to win an Oscar. Who ?

5. "I called Mama. She was so happy she cried. She wants you to have her wedding gown. It's white lace."
"Yeah, Osgood. I can't get married in your mother's dress. Ha ha. That - she and I, we are not built the same way."
"We can have it altered."
"Aw no you don't! Osgood, I'm gonna level with you. We can't get married at all."
"Why not?"
"Well, in the first place, I'm not a natural blonde."
"Doesn't matter."
"I smoke. I smoke all the time."
"I don't care."
"Well, I have a terrible past. For three years now, I've been living with a saxophone player."
"I forgive you."
"I can never have children."
"We can adopt some."
"You don't understand, Osgood. (Changing to manly voice.) I'm a man."
"Well, nobody's perfect."

6. He stalks her into the bathroom, lurches after her, saying "Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in...Not by the hair on your chinny, chin - chin...Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in!" He smashes his way into the bathroom door, with each stroke of the blade jutting through the wood, as his screaming wife watches his progress with her butcher knife poised to strike. He peers through the broken slats with an evil grin and perversely exclaims: "Hereeeeee's Johnny!"

7. "I'll have what she is having"

8. Couldn't resist this - another long one to wind up:

- Never mind that stuff. Take a card
- Card? What will I do with the card?
- You can keep it. I've got fifty-one left. Now what were you saying?
- As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome you with open arms.
- Is that so? How late do you stay open?
- I've sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most able statesman in all Freedonia.
- Well, that covers a lot of ground. Say! You cover a lot of ground yourself. You'd better beat it. I hear they're gonna tear you down and put up an office building where you're standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know, you haven't stopped talking since I came here. You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle.

.. and later..

- Not that I care, but where is your husband?
- Why, he's dead.
- I'll bet he's just using that as an excuse.
- I was with him to the very end.
- Hmmph. No wonder he passed away.
- I held him in my arms and kissed him.
- Oh, I see. Then, it was murder. Will you marry me? Did he leave you any money? Answer the second question first.
- He left me his entire fortune.
- Is that so? Can't you see what I'm trying to tell you? I love you.
- Oh, your Excellency!
- You're not so bad yourself.

Kreegah !

Won the i2 internal quiz quite comfortably. So Vasudha and I are off to the Brand Equity prelims at Bangalore on the 27th. I've never qualified for a Brand E final round, don't think my luck will change much this time too.

Anyway, feels good to win a quiz after a long time. Got a nice looking trophy, an i2 mug for answering an audience question and (best of all) book coupons at Gangarams for 1000 bucks !

Quizzing again

I wanted to conduct a quiz at the office, the last I had done was over two years back. The HR blokes agreed and more or less gave me carte blanche to go ahead. The idea was to have written prelims at the three offices in Bangalore, followed by a final round during the i2 bash. However the HR folks felt that a quiz might be too formal an idea for the bash and pulled it out, puncturing my hopes.

So when there were posters put up at office announcing a biz quiz being conducted by some group within the company, I was rattled. Having a fairly big ego, I decided not to take part and snub them. Serves them right, huh ?

Luckily, I have a wife with her head screwed on right. She forced me to take part in the prelims. I did. And guess what, my team topped. My team mate was supposed to be Arun S, but he didn't turn up, so went with Vasudha instead.

The finals are this Friday and the top team gets to represent i2 at the Brand Equity quiz in Bangalore. Having been for a few Brand Es myself, I am not really looking forward to this. At any rate, it felt good to let my pride go.

Thanks, Sindha !

Still Angsty

Got so depressed on Saturday I went on a shopping spree. Picked up four vcds from music world - Sathya, Deewar, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and Four Weddings & A Funeral. Got chewed out by Sindha immediately after, so returned to the depressed state.

Another year, another disaster at Mastermind. This is now my fourth attempt at the prelims. I dont know why I even bother. My best chance was the first time when I was in touch with quizzing. Oh well, at least I know of one l-j-er who cracked the prelims and appeared on National TV. , take a bow !

I feel fat and bloated. Havent gone walking for a week now. Need to start again. Actually I should start running again. Wish was here.

Current book - True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey