Geek Bowl Questions

John Dicker of Geeks Who Drink was kind enough to provide me with a few rounds from the quiz so you nerds can test your mettle on the Geek Bowl in Denver. Answers are below.

Round One: On the Street Where We Quiz: a Colfax round on Cold Facts

1. Anthony Minghella directed it, Renee Zellweger starred in it and Charles Frazier wrote the novel. What’s the title?
2. Need the first and last name of the character responsible for the following quote: “Fact, bears eat beets. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.”
3. The lowest recorded temperature in history: Was it closer to the North Pole or the South Pole?
4. Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, is a member of what superhero’s rogues’ gallery?
5. The murder at the center of In Cold Blood occurred in the home state of Melissa Etheridge and Kirstie Alley. Name the state.
6. Colfax Avenue takes its name from Schuyler Colfax, the 17th vice president of the United States. The president he served under has been portrayed by Kevin Kline & Aidan Quinn. Who is it?
7. Charlotte Rae played Edna Garrett in another show before The Facts of Life. Name the show.
8. Spelling counts: What is fax, as in fax machine, short for?

Round Two: A round on Pop, Culture

1. In e-mail terminology, what does POP stand for?
2. What is the name of the nation’s oldest youth football and cheerleading organization?
3. Ironically enough, the expression “When I hear the word ‘culture,’ I reach for my gun” has its origins in a play script. Is it from Nazi Germany or Revolution-era Cuba?
4. Stonyfield Farm yogurt originated in which state, whose sole area code is 603?
5. What Spanish-created lollipop gets its name for the Spanish word for “suck”?
6. Fill in the blank: In 1979, Christopher Lasch published The Culture of BLANK: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations.
7. In 2001, the US military airdropped 2.4 million of what Kellogg product on Afghanistan?
8. What sugar-related polymer is used as a growth medium for a bacterial culture?

Round Three: Random Knowledge

1. According to the most recently published censuses, what is the 2nd-most-populous CITY in the world’s 2nd-most-populous country AND what is the 3rd-most-populous CITY in the world’s 3rd-most-populous country?
2. Toy Story 3:  Jodi Benson played Barbie, some 20 years after getting her start in what other animated Disney film?  Which deceased cast member from the first two films was replaced by his friend Blake Clark for the third?
3. Name Nick Hornby’s first published novel and Kurt Vonnegut’s last published novel?
4. On which two islands would you find wild orangutans?
5. I’ll name a spot in a battlefield from a US military conflict, you name the battle:  Hornet’s Nest; Elsenburg Ridge.
6. I’ll name a trophy, you give the FIRST name of its namesake: Heisman Trophy. Stanley Cup.
7. I’ll name an IPA you name its brewer: Raging Bitch, Long Hammer.
8. What city is the most recent season of Top Chef in? AND: name the author of Tender at The Bone who was Gourmet magazine’s final editor.

Round One Colfax and Cold Facts

1. Cold Mountain
2. Jim Halpert
3. South Pole
4. The Flash
5. Kansas
6. Ulysses S. Grant
7. Diff’rent Strokes
8. Facsimile

Round Two: Pop and Culture

1. Post Office Protocol
2. Pop Warner
3. Nazi Germany
4. New Hampshire
5. Chupa Chups
6. Narcissism
7. Pop-Tarts
8. Agar

Round Three General Knowledge

1. DELHI, INDIA; CHICAGO; US
2. The LITTLE MERMAID; JIM VARNEY
3. HIGH FIDELITY;  TIMEQUAKE
4. BORNEO; SUMATRA
5. Battle of SHILOH; Battle of THE BULGE.
6. JOHN Heisman; FREDRICK Arthur Stanley
7. Flying Dog; Red Hook
8. NEW YORK City; RUTH REICHL