US mix

This is really just a bunch of questions I’ve collected over a long period of time, many of which needed a re-write. Along with a bunch of others that I’m procrastinating on that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Questions

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction four times, which writer finally won on the last of these occasions for “Annals of the Former World”, a collection of books on geology?

JOHN MCPHEE

Later responsible for “A Christmas Story”, who directed the 1981 sex comedy “Porky’s”? Works by him that are probably best avoided include “Rhinestone” and “Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2” as he received Worst Director nominations for both at the Razzies.

BOB CLARK

Produced simply to retain the legal rights to a future remake, what was the ashcan version of “Porky’s” that was released in 2009 called?

PORKY’S PIMPIN’ PEE WEE

Other highly regarded films by her being “It Felt Like Love” and “Beach Rats”, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” was directed by which American from New York City?

ELIZA HITTMAN

Established by skull seller Jay Villemarette in 2010, the Museum of Osteology can be found in which American city? There was a second one in Orlando, but it closed its doors in 2020.

OKLAHOMA CITY

One example being a baker’s dozen where a merchant would throw in a 13th item when someone has only bought 12, what Cajun word meaning ‘a little extra’ is used when someone adds something of additional value that is only worth a small portion of the overall total?

LAGNIAPPE

Popular in Louisiana and having a two word name, which Cajun side dish that contains corn, pepper and onion is considered to be the regional equivalent of succotash?

MAQUE CHOUX

It requiring a photo finish to determine that he had beaten Jamaican sprinter Herb McKenley, who won the men’s Olympic 100m gold in 1952 for USA?

LINDY REMIGINO

Where an incriminating skateboard was thrown into in the Gus Van Sant film “Paranoid Park”, on which river can the Oregon cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene all be found?

WILLAMETTE

Tales that are all linked by a typewriter, what is the first collection of fiction to be published by Tom Hanks?

UNCOMMON TYPE: (SOME STORIES)

His tasks while in office including opening the 1932 Olympics in Herbert Hoover’s absence, which vice president of the United States was the first in that role to have native American ancestry?

CHARLES CURTIS

Giving her name to a prize that rewards good writing about the history of women in science, which American coined the term ‘Matilda effect’?

MARGARET ROSSITER

Along with Linda Denham, who was the co-creator of the “Care Bears” franchise when she provided drawings for American Greetings? She is also known for her “Little Blessings” books.

ELENA KUCHARIK

Known for his novel “We Need to Talk About Kevin”, which other book by Lionel Shriver provided a biting criticism of the US healthcare system?

SO MUCH FOR THAT

United States

I found one of these questions in my Russia notes despite it having zero to do with that country, so I’ve played the anti-lazy card and corrected that sub-par display, just because.

Questions

Clint Eastwood’s production company Malpaso takes its name from a short creek found to the south of Carmel in which California county that is named for a bay? Its largest city and seat is at Salinas and it is home of golf major host Pebble Beach.

MONTEREY

One of the trumpeters featured on Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”, which jazz musician became known for closely mirroring Dizzy Gillespie’s sound? Also proficient with the flugelhorn, his albums include “Hornucopia”.

JON FADDIS

Who teamed up with John Coltrane on a 1963 album that was 50 years later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, this being the only time the “A Love Supreme” saxophonist collaborated with a jazz singer?

JOHNNY HARTMAN

Failing to get a pardon from Abraham Lincoln, who was the only person executed for slave trading in 1862 after his ship was captured by the USS Mohican in 1860?

NATHANIEL GORDON

Based on a series of articles she wrote as an undercover correspondent for the “New York World”, what is the title of Nellie Bly’s book about mental institutions?

TEN DAYS IN A MAD-HOUSE

Seen as a modern-day Darwin, which sociobiologist won the non-fiction Pulitzer twice for “On Human Nature” and “The Ants”? Clearly a myrmecophile, he wrote a novel called “Anthill”.

EDWARD WILSON / E.O. WILSON

San Jose is the seat of which large Californian county that is home to the city of Cupertino, which is where Apple Inc built their new HQ that opened in 2017?

SANTA CLARA

Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent part of their youth growing up in the city of Tokmok. Not far from the remains of ancient Balasagun and its Burana Tower, it can be found in which country?

KYRGYZSTAN

Further west than Cape Flattery, which cape is the westernmost point of the contiguous United States? It is named for the commissioner of the Nootka Sound Conventions in the 1790s, those agreements dividing territory between Spain and England.

CAPE ALAVA

Terra, Aqua and Aura are among the satellites that have comprised the EOS, the initials of that NASA program standing for what?

EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM

United States – Mishmash

I had a note that I’m up to the Reconstruction Era section on Wikipedia, but this has sadly become obsolete as that section of the United States page has now gone. Not to worry, and it serves as a useful reminder that the website must not be entirely relied on.

Questions

One of multiple locations that claim to be the ‘City of Champions’, mainly because it was the birthplace of Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler moved there when he was young, Brockton is one of the largest cities in which US state?

MASSACHUSETTS

His gold medal winning throw of 78.08m would only have earned 5th place at the previous year’s World Championship. Who won male hammer gold for Finland at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, with the winner of the previous two editions Yuriy Sedykh not competing because of the Eastern Bloc boycott?

JUHA TIAINEN

Made up of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, what term was used for the slave states that did not secede from the Union during the American Civil War? The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to these.

BORDER STATES

Having a population of over 100,000, the city of Clearwater makes up a large metropolitan area with St. Petersburg and which other city that has gained the nickname ‘The Big Guava’?

TAMPA BAY

Avoiding an early exit in the final after pulling out a good throw in the third round, who overtook Britain’s Dave Ottley with their fourth throw to win male javelin gold in 1984 for Finland? This competition was notable for the absence of East German athlete Uwe Hohn thanks to the Eastern Bloc boycott, who had recently become the only person to ever throw a javelin over 100 metres.

ARTO HÄRKÖNEN

Before the start of the American Civil War Robert Anderson moved his Union forces to the stronger Fort Sumter from Fort Moultrie, that location being situated on which island? Lying at the entrance to Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, it was a significant entry point for slaves brought to America from Africa.

SULLIVAN’S ISLAND

The historical figures of Pocahontas and John Rolfe are associated with which colony? Its capital between 1607 and 1699 was Jamestown, this being changed to Williamsburg up until the American War of Independence.

VIRGINIA

A prominent player during the Swing Era, which jazz trumpeter that has been seen as a bridge between the styles of Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie acquired the nickname ‘Little Jazz’?

ROY ELDRIDGE

Aiming to put an end to the political dispute that followed Rutherford B. Hayes’ election win over Samuel Tilden, the unwritten agreement called the Compromise of 1877 has what alternative name, this coming from the Washington DC hotel when the deal was made?

WORMLEY AGREEMENT

Spanning the period from 1896 to 1917 in the United States, what name was been given to an era where journalists known as ‘muckrakers’ tried to highlight the all-round corporate nastiness that had become prevalent in the country? Among the reforms implemented include the setting up of the Federal Reserve System in 1913.

PROGRESSIVE (ERA)

The Trinity Nuclear Bomb test that took place in 1945 occurred in which New Mexico desert? Its name translating as ‘Route of the Dead Man’, it also provides the title of a track on the Linkin Park nuclear warfare concept album “A Thousand Suns”.

JORNADA DEL MUERTO

A term used before the establishment of the United Nations Security Council in 1945, the ‘Four Policeman’ referred to which four countries that are now four of the five permanent members of that council?

UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, CHINA, SOVIET UNION

US mix

A couple of these could be put elsewhere, but I follow threads and was looking up Isamu Noguchi and the LA Olympics, so things started with America.

Questions

One of the founders of the NAACP, which journalist wrote the 1892 pamphlet “Southern Horrors” to highlight the injustice of lynching in the American South? She received a posthumous Pulitzer Special Citation in 2020 for her reporting of violence against African Americans.

IDA B. WELLS

The Atchafalaya river that flows for over 100 miles through Louisiana can be described by what geographical term, this being used for an offshoot of a river that flows into another body of water such as an ocean or a lake? These features tend to be common in deltas, with other examples around the world including India’s Hooghly and the Casquiare canal between the Orinoco and Rio Negro.

DISTRIBUTARY

A fully functional replica of his ‘San Salvador’ ship having been built that you can buy tickets to sail on, in which American city can you find a National Monument dedicated to Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, it being situated on the Point Loma peninsula?

SAN DIEGO

Clifford Geertz introduced anthropology to the ‘umwelt-mitwelt-vorwelt-folgewelt’ phenomenology of which 20th century Austrian philosopher, who was influenced by Edmund Husserl’s concept of the ‘lebenswelt’? The four divisions apply to enivronment, contemporaries, predecessors and successors respectively.

ALFRED SCHÜTZ

Called the ‘Young Napoleon of Finance’, who operated a pyramid scheme that ruined the fortunes of Thomas Nast and Ulysses S Grant? After being released from prison he tried to kidnap his own son!

FERDINAND WARD

Who was the first person to win three Oscars for film editing, doing so in the 1930s with the films being “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Anthony Adverse”?

RALPH DAWSON

Hanged at Philadelphia’s Moyamensing Prison in 1896 for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, who is known for their ‘Murder Castle’ in Chicago, a three-story building where he may or may not have murdered visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition? His story has influenced “The Devil in Me”, the fourth installment of “The Dark Pictures Anthology” series of video games.

H H HOLMES

The final project of American artist and architect Isamu Noguchi was which park on the outskirts of Sapporo, it having to be created from his designs because he had died of a heart attack after accepting the commission in 1988?

MOERENUMA PARK

In which US city can you find the world’s largest baseball bat leaning against a museum that has ‘Hillerich & Bradsby Co.’ written on its front? A short distance away there is another world’s largest bat, this one being a vampire bat.

LOUISVILLE

The first time that the United States had missed the men’s high jump podium at an Olympics in which they had competed, who won the gold in 1984 for West Germany, with home hope Dwight Stones only managing fourth? Also the European champion in 1982, he is the only German to win the event apart from Gerd Wessig in 1980 who represented East Germany.

DIETMAR MÖGENBURG

US Film mix

I’ve not seen any of these films, but while writing these I found myself wondering what ingredients a Han Solo burger would contain?

Questions

Victorious at the Oscars for his “Chinatown” screenplay, Robert Towne’s other work includes Roger Corman’s “The Tomb of Ligeia”, an adaptation of a short story by which writer?

EDGAR ALLAN POE

A film produced by Tom Cruise and starring his cousin William Mapother, Robert Towne’s 1998 film “Without Limits” starred Billy Crudup as which distance runner, with Donald Sutherland playing the role of coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman?

STEVE PREFONTAINE

Later providing voice work for The Storm King in the “My Little Pony: Movie”, who played Orson Welles in the 1999 television film “RKO 281”, with John Malkovich taking on the role of Herman L. Mankiewicz?

LIEV SCHREIBER

What is the real name of DMX, who was included in the “Romeo Must Die” cast and is known for songs like “Party up (Up in here)” and the UK top ten hit “X Gon’ Give It To Ya”?

EARL SIMMONS

General Omar Bradley was played by which actor in the 1970 film “Patton”, a former Oscar winner? He seems to have had a fondness for playing sergeants as he took on that rank in “Kiss of Death”, “Diplomatic Courier”, “Dead Ringer” and more.

KARL MALDEN

Which American novelist is best known for writing the 2014 novel “Bird Box”, with “Malorie” being a 2020 sequel? He was involved in producing the 2023 spin-off of his work “Bird Box Barcelona”.

JOSH MALERMAN

An adaptation of a 1958 Friedrich Dürrenmatt novel, Sean Penn’s 2001 film “The Pledge” saw which actor play the lead role of detective Jerry Black alongside an ensemble cast?

JACK NICHOLSON

When “The Wind and the Willows” and “The Legend of Sleep Hollow” were packaged together by Disney for the 1949 anthology film “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” narration for the ‘Willows’ part was provided by Basil Rathbone. Who provided the narration for the ‘Hollow’ half, also singing on the tracks “Ichabod Crane”, “Katrina” and “The Headless Horseman”?

BING CROSBY

Sharing its name with a 1980s British sitcom, which 2012 Happy Madison Productions comedy sees Adam Sandler as Donny Berger with Andy Samberg playing his son, Han Solo Berger? Vanilla Ice makes an appearance as himself.

THAT’S MY BOY

His films including 2023’s “The Holdovers” and “About Schmidt”, Alexander Payne was married to which actress from 2003 to 2006?

SANDRA OH

Her character going blind during the film, in which 1939 melodrama did Bette Davis receive the second of her five Oscar nominations in a row following her winning role in “Jezebel”? The cast also included Humphrey Bogart and Roanald Reagan.

DARK VICTORY

Television – US

It’s always tough to get questions right about actors when you’ve somehow avoided seeing everything they’ve been in.

Questions

Having a spin-off film where a paperboy is kidnapped by a witch, which anthology series by “Night of the Living Dead” director George A. Romero ran for four seasons from 1983 to 1988?

TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE

The 2020 Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant starring TV series “The Undoing” is based on whose 2014 novel “You should have known”? Another of her works was adapted into the 2013 film “Admission”.

JEAN HANFF KORELITZ

Voicing the sorceress Flemeth in the “Dragon Age” video games, which actress is known for playing Captain Kathryn Janeway in “Star Trek: Voyager” and Red in “Orange is the New Black”?

KATE MULGREW

What is the surname of skateboarding “Jackass” star ‘Bam’, who was been involved in spin-offs such as “Viva la Bam”, “Bam’s Unholy Union” and “Bam’s Bad Ass Game Show”?

MARGERA

Called the ‘Godfather of freestyle skateboarding’, who invented tricks like the kickflip and 360-flip and co-authored an autobiography called “The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself”?

RODNEY MULLEN

Nominated for a Grammy Award, what theme tune to “Orange is the New Black” is quite appropriately named?

YOU’VE GOT TIME

Which Russian-born musician wrote, composed and performed “You’ve Got Time”, the theme tune to “Orange is the New Black”?

REGINA SPEKTOR

Known for playing the role of Professor Ian Duncan in the Dan Harmon TV sitcom “Community”, John Oliver has been the host of which political satire show since 2018?

LAST WEEK TONIGHT (WITH JOHN OLIVER)

A role never reprised in the spin-off show “Frasier” like pretty much the entire regular cast, what was the name of Kirstie Alley’s character in “Cheers”, a replacement for Shelley Long who played Diane Chambers?

REBECCA HOWE

Sharing his surname with a character in “The Big Bang Theory”, who is the creator of “Supernatural” and the Prime series “The Boys”, the latter starring superheroes who abuse their powers?

ERIC KRIPKE

Also known for his role in “The Thorn Birds”, who played the role of English navigator William Adams in the 1980 mini-series “Shogun”?

RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN

The six-season Sci-fi TV series “The Expanse” is based on the works of American authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who collaborate under what pseudonym, with the 2011 novel “Leviathan Wakes” being their first novel?

JAMES S A COREY

Assuredly not a descendant of a certain literary character, which Australian author’s works include “Big Little Lies” and “Nine Perfect Strangers”, with “The Husband’s Secret” to be adapted into an upcoming film starring Blake Lively?

LIANE MORIARTY

Season 1 saw Geoffrey Rush portray Albert Einstein, with Antonio Banderas playing Pablo Picasso in the one after. The third season of the National Geographic series “Genius” saw Cynthia Erivo portray which figure?

ARETHA FRANKLIN

Starring Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, what was the spin-off series of “All in the Family”, running for four seasons from 1979 to 1983?

ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE

Which famous director was co-author of “The Strain” trilogy of vampire novels, adapted into a 2010s TV series?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO

Which co-author of “The Strain” trilogy with Guillermo del Toro had his 2004 novel “Prince of Thieves” adapted into the 2010 Oscar-nominated film “The Town”?

CHUCK HOGAN

Who played Dr. Ephraim Goodweather in the 2010s TV series “The Strain”, Peter Russo in “House of Cards” and played M.O.D.O.K. in “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”, after having played Yellowjacket in “Ant-Man”?

COREY STOLL

With Richard Chamberlain playing the title role, which medical TV series than ran for five seasons from 1961 to 1966 had its theme “Three Stars Will Shine Tonight” reach number 10 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 in the UK, sung by the lead actor himself?

DR. KILDARE

As well as roles in “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds”, Richard Chamberlain is well known for portraying which character in a 1988 television film, with another adaptation by the same name being directed by Doug Liman in 2002?

JASON BOURNE

Having a screenplay by Melvyn Bragg and music by André Previn, Richard Chamberlain starred as which famous composer in a 1971 Ken Russell film?

TCHAIKOVSKY (“The Music Lovers”)

In the 1969 adaptation of a Jean Giraudoux play, Richard Chamberlain starred opposite which actress, who took on the title role of “The Madwoman of Chaillot”?

KATHERINE HEPBURN

Richard Chamberlain starred as which real life figure in “Lady Caroline Lamb”, a sometime lover of the British Prime Minister’s wife?

LORD BYRON

Richard Chamberlain starred in what 1976 musical film based on the fairy tale of “Cinderella”, with Irish actress Gemma Craven taking on the famous rags-to-riches role?

THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE