As I posted yesterday, I’m hosting a quizzo at Whole Foods on Friday night and at Bridget Foy’s on Saturday. A little bit more info on the Foy’s quizzo, because it’s a little different than usual: max team size is 5. Why? Because I’ve got 5 Phillies tickets to the Mayor’s box for the winners, as well as a 5 minute photo op with the Mayor at some point in the future. Holler at me this week if you’re gonna play. Seating is limited.
Author: Johnny Goodtimes
Question of the Week
This man, a senior editor at Harper’s Weekly, claims to be the inventor of the flash mob.
Flash Mobs: Settle Down, White People
For the past few days, there has been lots of talk about flash mobs. Some of it has been constructive, but most of it idiotic drivel. And my question is: is this thing being blown a bit out of proportion? As far as I can tell, the end result of the flash mob on Saturday was one fight. Thousands of people descend on South Street, and the end result is one fight. There was almost a fight at Quizzo Bowl. And yet there are all these people posting on Philadelphiaspeaks that we need to call in the dogs, that the city is seized by fear, and that they are thinking about moving out of the city.
A bunch of teens descended on South Street. I suspect that most of them were doing the exact same thing you did when you were 16: looking for the party. The party was on South Street. They went. Yes, it was on a public street, and therefore it is a public nuisance, but it’s not exactly the biggest problem in Philly right now, only the latest fad in things to be horrified by. (H1N1, anybody?)
Of course, when you have any large crowd, you’re going to have a few bad apples who were raised by wolves and they are going to spoil the fun for everyone else (ever been to an Eagles game, folks?) That is the problem with flash mobs, and I understand the fear that eventually someone is going to get shot. I’d be all for a return to mounted police on South Street for crowd control, and I hope that these things are broken up more quickly in the future.
Yes, there have been big fights at previous flash mobs, and innocent people have gotten hurt. But again, there are numerous fights at every single Eagles game and it doesn’t seem to be a major cause for civic concern. I suspect that 98% of the kids out on South Street on Saturday night were merely exercising their right to go where-ever all the members of the opposite sex were, not looking for trouble.
As for a simple act of civil disobediance such as holding up traffic on a street where everyone in their right mind knows not to drive on Saturday night anyway, well, it doesn’t really signal the apocalypse for me, especially since it broke up peacefully as soon as the cops showed up.
Is it a bit scary when a large group of teenagers congregate without any sense of order? Sure. But I think that a couple of officers with a twitter account could nip these things in the bud pretty quick, and once the kids realize that their mobs will always be greeted by police, it’s going to be seen as a waste of time and get old quick. And then us old white folks can go back to complaining about the important things, like that dumbass Cliff Lee trade.
Two Special Quizzos This Weekend!
Hey kids, just wanted to let you know that I am doing a couple of fun events this weekend, one in Dirty Jersey and one on South Street. (Two things that are hot on South Street right now: Johnny Goodtimes and flash mobs.)
First of all, on Friday night, I’ll be at Whole Foods in sunny Marlton, New Jersey, doing a fundraiser for their Whole Planet Foundation. All questions will be food and environment related, and all of the money raised goes to a great cause. That will run from 7-9 p.m. on Friday.
Then, on Saturday, I’ll be hosting a census quiz at Bridget Foy’s on South Street. The goal is to encourage people to fill out their census forms. Gonna be a great quiz for you American history junkies, as we’ll be looking at how America changes every ten years. Action starts at 7 p.m. Hope to see you this weekend!
The Quizzo Bowl Rap
What is Your Favorite Quizzo Bowl Venue So Far?
Thoughts on Quizzo Bowl VII? I’m thinking World Cafe Live and bringing back my boys from Virginia to provide between some 1980s themed tunes between rounds. And perhaps, for just this once, a GOOD halftime show. (But I’m not making any promises). Your thoughts?
New Quizzo Tonight
Mike Minion of Eschaton is going to start hosting quizzo at the Ugly American and the Westbury on Monday nights. He’ll be using my format but his own questions, and I’ll post photos of the winners here. Here’s his short write up of what to expect at these quizzes.
The newest addition to the very loosely related JGT family of quizzos starts tonight. And while in the familiar JGT format, this quizzo is written and hosted by Mike Minion (a founding member of one of the Quizzo Bowl VI 2nd place teams – Eschaton). JGT has no foreknowledge of the questions, which means you’ll get the chance to compete against him every now and then. Yeah, I know, you’re all trembling in your boots.
Over the coming weeks, this quiz will feature some fun and challenging twists on the legendary JGT theme. There will be a little less focus on pop culture, and the questions will be a touch more difficult in the 3rd and 4th rounds. To ease the shock, tonight’s quizzo will be pretty much what you’re used to. In the future, I make no such promises.
Here’s the details:
When and where to play: 8:00 PM at The Ugly American, located at the corner of Front and Federal, or 10:30 PM at The Westbury, located at the corner of 13th and Spruce. Like other JGT quizzos, it’s the same quiz at both places, so you can only play once a night. If the starting time at the Westbury seems late, don’t worry. It’s not “JGT time”; it will start promptly at 10:30 PM and move along quickly. It will end no later than any of the quizzos at The Bards. And for those of you who are used to operating on JGT time, please note: I’m going to try to start the early quiz as close to 8 PM as possible. If you walk in at 8:20 PM (which usually gives you plenty of time for an announced 8 PM start of a JGT quiz), don’t be shocked if we’re finishing up the first round.
Prize at Ugly American is a $30 gift certificate for first place and a $15 dollar gift certificate for 2nd place. At the Westury, the prizes will be $40 and $20. Hope to see you tonight!
Quizzo Bowl Photos!!!
For the third straight year, my man DJ Starr (yes, that’s his real name, incredibly) took Quizzo Bowl photos, and for the third straight year they are phenomenal. Here ya go. Put on the slide show and enjoy. He did a great job capturing the event. If you’d like to get DJ for an event, wedding, etc., please feel free to contact him at DJStarrman at mac.com. If you took any photos at the event, please let me know. Thanks!
Lambda Wins Action Packed “Quzzo” Bowl VI
Another year, another raucous party, as over 300 packed into the TLA to participate in Quizzo Bowl VI. There was insanity, there was controversy, there was a person on stage wearing a protective cup. When the dust settled, Lambda Lambda Lambda held onto the enormous James Buchanan Memorial Trophy with an impressive final round run that carried them to a 14 point victory. Eschaton and Deacon Blues finished tied for second.
The action started with a rap rendition of Just a Quiz to the Bizmark classic, Just a Friend. It would have been better if I had remembered the words, but that is neither here nor there. Fastball Bob came out to help out with the rules, then we were ready to rock. The first round passed rather uneventfully, and at the end of Round One, the defending champs found themselves in a tie with Betty White is the New Black with a perfect 13 each.
After the West Philadelphia Orchestra gave their jazzy tribute to some famous classical tunes, the second round began. Most of the top teams hated the 50-50 topic (as I suspected they would.) It was male enhancement pill or not. The reason for the round was simple: I didn’t want to do some sort of history round or something and have all the usual suspects at the top of the leader board after a mere two rounds. My plan worked, though as I said, it didn’t win me any popularity contests. Sofa Kingdom particularly (and let’s be honest, surprisingly) bombed in Round Two, while Eschaton and Betty White is the New Black both really knew their sex pills. At this point, the contingent from Denver was also in the mix, and waved a Colorado flag when their name was called. This resulted in a cacophany of boos and a “Denver Sucks” chant that shook the rafters.
Then came the halftime show, and has become an annual tradition, it was an epic disaster. The first contestant on the Dating Game took the stage, a character by the name of Fishtown Eddie. Suddenly, one member of Lambda came rushing down to the front of the stage, screaming angrily at Fishtown Eddie, saying that it was a tired stereotype. The yelling continued on into the skit, leaving many to wonder: was it real or all part of the act? We may never know, as both Lambda teammate Steve-O and Quizmaster Johnny Goodtimes refuse to answer questions on the topic. Security had to be called to escort the Lambda member away from the stage.
The Wild card round was “All things South”, and that is where we started to separate the wheat from the chaffe. Betty White… scored an impressive 11 out of 12 correct to take a one point lead over Lambda heading into the final round. It looked like we might be headed for an epic upset, as Betty White was a team of only 4 members who play on occasion at the Black Sheep.
Sadly, it was not to be. Lambda played like champions in the final round, nailing 11 out of 12 questions correctly, and held the trophy aloft for the 3rd straight year to a chorus of boos, and some in the crowd began to chant “Fishtown Sucks”. With their third straight win and with the wild display at halftime, Lambda had done what many would have thought impossible not too long ago. They had taken the title away from Sofa Kingdom as not only the most feared team in quizzo, but the most hated as well.
All Quizzo Bowl Scores Now Posted!
Here ya go, everybody’s scores from Saturday night. You gotta feel for Joey’s Bag o’Doughnuts: if they had known that the last place prize was going to be a Karate Kid 3 jigsaw puzzle, they probably would have stuck around for the final round. Pics will be forthcoming, and they are awesome.