Category: Happenings

Scores Through Week 2 of the JGTSI

Here are our scores after two weeks, and things are starting to get really interesting. Teams in the yellow are the ones that would earn an invite if the season ended today. There are also 8 teams tied for 15th, so 1 of them would make the cut. Looks like the physical challenge situation is off the hook this summer, as 4 teams scored the maximum 10 points and another scored 8. There is a new challenge up now, with a maximum of 8 points this week. Looks like the physical challenges are going to play a big part in who finishes Top 10, and who earns an invite to rep Philly in this challenge against Denver on August 7th at National Mechanics. If you have not played or not scored yet, it’s ok. You are still in the hunt, as all you’ll need is a few physical challenge points and a Top 3 finish this week to get right back into the thick of things. But I wouldn’t wait too much longer to get your act together.  We kick off week 3 on Tuesday…Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Week.

Worst Movies of the 2000s Quiz

Here is Thursday’s wild card round…worst movies of the 2000s.

1. This terrible 2009 film about an insane woman earned Sandra Bullock a Razzie, which she accepted a day before she picked up her Oscar for the Blind Side.

2. Who starred as a breakdancer who wakes up after 20 years in a coma in the film Kickin It Old Skool?

3. People were hopeful that this 2008 film would mark M. Night Shymalan’s return to greatness. Instead, it proved that he had indeed lost it.

4. Fred Savage directed this disastrous sequel to an Eddie Murphy film. It starred Cuba Gooding Jr and currently has a 2.5 rating on imdb.

5. This 2008 film starred Paris Hilton and earned a total of $9000 on its opening night, and BBC movie reviewer Mark Kermode called it a “fascist eugenic tract.”

6. Eddie Murphy played himself and his wife in this 2007 film. Here’s the punchline: She’s fat. Get it? What movie was it?

7. Richard Roeper called this 2007 Lindsay Lohan film the worst film of the 2000s.

8. After this epic disaster in 2003, Theodore Geisel’s wife banned any future adaptations of his work. What was this disastrous film?

9. Witless Protection starred one of the unfunniest humans ever to walk the planet. Who is it?

10. The storyline of this film, according to imdb: In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlo’s, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit.

Continue reading “Worst Movies of the 2000s Quiz” →

Beer and Baseball, Golfers Who Lose Their Minds, and The Phillie Who Inspired “The Natural”

Some very cool stories on the the Philly Sports History site right now.

Week One Scores and Our First Physical Challenge

Here are the scores after week 1 of the JGTSI2. A bit of a scoring change this season. I am taking your highest finish as your point total for a certain week*. Of course there are still 7 weeks plus a wild card week left, so there is still plenty of time to get your team in the mix. I wouldn’t worry too much about a low finish or missing Week 1. Not only can you score points by playing this week, I have also kicked off the Facebook Physical Challenge, and one team is going to win a $100 prize for scoring the most physical challenge points. There are up to 10 points to be given away this week so you could put yourself high on the leader board for just a few minutes of work. Look Up Look Down won the first two physical challenge prizes, but Brown Betty took the top prize in the spring.

For more info on the JGTSI2, and why it’s important that you help us defeat Denver, click here.

So if you play once, finish 3rd, then play again and finish 1st, I will just take your first place finish.

Drew Lazor’s Questions About Food and Drink

In case you missed it last week at the Black Sheep, Drew Lazor of the City Paper (interviewed here) wrote his own quiz about food and drink. Pretty damn good questions. Here they are. Answers are after the jump.

  1. What are the three ingredients in a Manhattan?
  2. In 1988’s “Coming to America,” what is the name of the signature sandwich at the McDonald’s clone McDowell’s?
  3. What is the term for meat from an adult sheep?
  4. Hamentashen, a triangular filled pastry, is traditionally eaten in honor of what Jewish holiday?
  5. Which of the 50 states is the only one to grow coffee plants commercially?
  6. Star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorn, fennel are together known as what?
  7. What literary giant has a drink named after him that consists of white rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur, and sugar?
  8. Which current Philadelphia chef, who runs Zahav, was recently honored with the 2011 “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic” award from the James Beard Foundation?
  9. What writer and TV personality is still considered the chef at large at the New York brasserie Les Halles?
  10. In 1987’s “Adventures in Babysitting,” what food item does a temporarily blind Brenda attempt to buy with a personal check in the bus station?

Bonus: Which pasta variety’s Italian name translates to “little ear” ?

Continue reading “Drew Lazor’s Questions About Food and Drink” →

Y2Quiz Week

Not gonna have to go too far back to remember the questions asked at this week’s quiz. All of the questions will be about things that have happened since that morning of January 1, 2000, when we waited for computers all across the world to explode. Questions will be taken from that day to this. Should be a fun quiz…and no whining from anyone of “How should I know that? I wasn’t even born yet.”  I’ll have the scoreboard up later today.

5 Quick Questions with Tonight’s Guest Host Felicia D’Ambrosio

We had a great time with last night’s guest hosts Suzy Woods and Drew lazor. Suzy handled the notoriously tough Vous crowd like a champ, and the round Drew wrote about food was damn good (I’ll post it a little later.)

Tonight, we welcome Felicia D’Ambrosio. She is managing editor at Grid Philly, writes for the City Paper, and is partnering with Michael Solomonov, among others, to open the highly anticipated Federal Doughnuts this summer. Here she talks about her best night of bartending, the most underrated bar in the city, and teaches us something we didn’t know about beer.

JGT: You took the bartender to food writer path. Give us one of your favorite bartending memories.

FELICIA: One of my best bartending nights was when the Phillies won the World Series.  I had been tending bar for much of the playoffs at the Belgian Cafe, and a huge groups of regulars had coalesced around the one TV.  When the end of the last game seemed imminent, and our victory close at hand, I began closing checks as fast as possible ’cause I knew everyone was going to go berserk.  They did indeed, and Chef Evan popped open tons of cheap champagne and we sprayed the crowd and screamed ourselves stupid.  Kisses all around. Then I rode my bike home through the debris of the Broad Street mayhem. Best night ever.

JGT: You know a lot about beer, having both written extensively about it and served it. Tell us something about beer we don’t know.

FELICIA: There’s much debate about how beer came about in the first place, as it was almost certainly an accident. There’s “wet grain” theory, and my favorite, “magic stick” theory.  As in, prehistoric people would stir the pot of grain gruel with the magic stick, which was inoculated with yeasts, and would start the conversion from porridge into sweet intoxicant. Dr. Ernie Schuyler of the Academy of Natural Sciences has some great research on the topic.

JGT: What’s the most underrated bar in the city?

FELICIA: Jose Pistolas is awesome, especially the upstairs. It’s sort of an employee lounge for the Monk’s crew (Joe Gunn is one of ours from back in the day) — great bartenders, huge beer selection, and shots of Jameson big enough to kill you.

JGT: What’s your prediction for the “Next Big Thing” on the Philadelphia bar and dining scene?

FELICIA: I’m still waiting for ramen, but the Royal Izakaya should be open soon, so we’ll see if that spawns imitators. Since I’m opening a fried chicken-and-donuts place with CookNSolo and the Bodhi Coffee guys, I’ll say gourmet donuts and fried chicken.

JGT: Ok, same question I closed with on Lazor. It’s 8 p.m. You’re being executed at midnight (needless to say, for a crime you didn’t commit). What’s your last meal?

FELICIA: My mom-mom’s manicotti and my great-grandmother’s Thanksgiving stuffing. A magnum of vintage Dom and a bottle of Cantillon Fou’ Foune. A giant pile of strawberries in season with DiBruno Bros. burrata and the best olive oil money can buy. The lobster custard served in an egg from Talula’s Table, then some king crab legs and butter. I’ll finish off with more from my mom-mom: her cream puffs, then some of Mr. Martino’s chocolate pudding. This is exactly how I plan to die, anyway.

Here’s another great interview with Felicia on Grub Street a couple of years ago.

Oh Snap! JGT Invitational Combines with City vs. City Smackdown!

So we kick off the 2nd annual JGT Summer Invitational tonight at O’Neals and City Tap House. You know how the scoring works…but there are a couple of major wrinkles this time.

The Top 15 teams after 8 weeks will earn an invite. However, there will be a 9th week for a few “wild card teams” to do so. More on that later. Any team that scores 16 or more points in the following 8 weeks will have an opportunity at the $100 bonus drawing. There will once again be opportunities provided though both wins, physical challenges at various quizzos, and facebook challenges to earn points.

Each of the following 8 weeks will have a different theme. We start this week with Food and Drink. The other 7 themes will be (in no particular order. Working on guest hosts for some rounds now. Will let you know once I get calendar lined up):

  1. Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
  2. Denver Rules (we’ll play by the rules the Geeks Who Drink play by in Denver).
  3. I Heart the 2000s Week
  4. Sports and Entertainment
  5. The Humanities
  6. Pictures, Mysteries, and Music
  7. Ladies Week

In addition, you’ll be able to score points by playing Koob and Kristy’s quizzes on Pop Culture. The Main Event will go down on Sunday, August 7th at National Mechanics (3rd between Market and Chestnut). But this will be more than just an event for local pride and glory; you’ll also be representing the city of Philadelphia, as we will be going City vs. City with Denver, Albuquerque, and Nashville. Our Top 10 scores will be averaged against their top 10 scores, with the winner gaining the bragging rights and the rights to name the Trophy. That’s right, there will be a trophy handed out to the winning city, and the winning city gets to name that trophy. The trophy will retain that name in perpetuity. So if you don’t want to be playing in the future for the Eddie George Cup or the Dog the Bounty Hunter Cup or some other such foolishness, be ready to bring your A-game. There are a couple of other cities that we’re currently discussing this with, so don’t be surprised to see a few more towns enter the mix as we move forward.

I REALLY WANT THE BEST TEAMS TO PLAY (Jams, Lambda, I’m looking at you). The winning city not only gets the glory, but they will get to name the Local Legend Cup. Don’t do it for yourselves. Don’t do it for me. Do it for your city. City vs. City Smackdown: It’s on.

Beerlass’s Guide to Beer Week

Beer Week has gotten so huge and so insane that it’s become almost impossible to figure out which things you want to do. Beerlass to the rescue. Philadelphia’s Beerlass (who some of you old schoolers remember as the Lovely Ginger) knows everything there is to know about local beer and Beer Wek, and was kind enough to let us know what some of the coolest events are this year. Here are her top recommendations (Except for nights when there is quizzo to be played. Then you know where you need to be. Food and Drink quizzo all next week.)

Saturday June 4th
Kite and Key 2 pm
Throwdown in Franklintown- watch local beer peeps (myself included) duke it out with over-sized boxing gloves.

Block Party at Varga Bar- Local Heroes at Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant

If you are one for cask-conditioned beers -King Pin starts at 3 pm at Standard Tap meanwhile Sister bar has “A firkin Riot” wit the coolest firkin apparatus the city has ever seen.

Or if you wanna ride a wave- Prohibition Tap Room has surf rock and beers from the rad west coast brewery Lagunitas featured.

Sunday June 5th

It’s bike race day- avoid it or embrace it. Kite and Key will be celebrating the annual championship race with Stone Brewing Co and tricycle races.

At night you know where you need to be if you’re a fan of The Wire, I mean Johnny Goodtimes. He will be hosting a special “The Wire” quiz while the bar sipps on beers from North Coast- one of my favorite breweries.

If you’re one of those quizzo players that has some money to burn. Good Dog is hosting an 8 course dinner with 8 different Iron Hill beers from 8 different brewers. It will be a special night of eating and drinking. If you’re looking for a nice civilized start to your day- You can join me at Kennett in Queen Village for a beer brunch 1-3.

Monday June 6th
If it’s not already sold out- 12 pm-Punk Rock and Finger Sandwiches with Dogfish Head at Nodding Head promises to be one of the week’s highlights. DFH’s Sam Calagione will be there prior to his visit to Resurrection Ale house at 3 for a Mustache contest where a Victrola will provide the soundtrack.

At night- Late night with Joe Gunn kicks off. There are no words to describe the hilarity that this hour provides. You are guaranteed to see people drink too much whiskey during beer week, see an eating contest, and of course a live musical guest. Kick off at 11 pm.

Friday June 10th
From 6 till 9 Brooklyn brewery will be at Fergies with a rare firkin of Irish Stout and a bunch of cheese and beer pairing will take place.

Also at 6 pm- since I know you all like a little competition. It’s the 4th annual firkin off between Sly Fox and South Hampton. This is a serious drinking competition. Last year a 9 gallon firkin was drained in 8 minutes. Pick a team and help a brewery out;)

Saturday, June 11th
Enjoy sour beers? Nodding Head is hosting Phreddie and the Four Phunks. Brewmaster Gordon Grubb has been stockpiling some of his reserved barrel-aged beers. Sour is the new hop. 3 pm.

Wanna a little physical fitness in your beer week? A few bars in Fairmount our hosting the 2nd annual “Beermuda Triangle” run from Bishops collar, to Kite and Key , to St. Stephens Green drinking craft cans of Oskar Blues and Sly Fox all the while. Set up a team. The team that drinks the most cans wins. Oh and there’s a prize for the first to the finish line too 2 pm.

Sunday, June 12th
For all the vinyl collectors out there- Prohibition Tap Room is hosting “kegs eggs and BYOV” (Bring Your own vinyl) brunch) from 12 till?

And Philly survives yet another beer week. The week ends with a karaoke bash called the TTUD (That totally unnecessary drink) at Fergies upstairs with a lot of brewery folk. Fergie LOVES karaoke. This has become beer week tradition. It’s one of the most memorable events of the week.

10 Most Intense Scenes from the Wire

If you haven’t watched The Wire yet, do yourself a favor and get on it. Best show ever. Anyways, I decided to list my top 10 most intense scenes in the show. Links will send you to the scenes on Youtube. By the way, none of these clips is safe for work. What scenes did I leave out? Lemme know.

  1. Bodie shoots Wallace. I never forgave Bodie for this, even though I liked him otherwise. I can never watch this scene again. Seriously. I linked to it but I can’t watch the link. It was the most upset I got during the whole five seasons.
  2. Omar faces off with Brother Mouzone. Definitely the most “Dirty Harry” moment of the show. A lot of fun.
  3. “You gonna look out for me? You gonna look out for me, Sergeant Carver?” Heart-wrenching to see a trusting kid learn not to trust anyone, not even a well meaning cop.
  4. Frank Sobotka goes to talk to the Greek while haunting music plays. Then the Greek gets that fateful phone call, and we know what’s coming next.
  5. Bodie’s last stand. Bodie goes out like a soldier, and it serves as a reminder that even the most loyal corner boy faces a violent and premature death.
  6. Marlo has Prop Joe killed after Cheese sells him out. I was always a big Slim Charles fan, even more so when he took out Cheese. And I must admit that the one person I was most glad to see get popped was Cheese. He was right up there with Marlo, Maury (the lawyer), Clay, and Scott the reporter as the people on the show with no principles, loyalty, or scruples.
  7. Kima’s sting goes bad. Man, this is wrenching. I never really cared for the Kima subplot with her girlfriend and baby and everything (it just never really went anywhere), but I liked her a lot. My heart was pounding the entire scene.
  8. D’angelo taken out at the prison library. I was pissed about this one too, because D’Angelo was one of my favorite characters, and certainly one of the most dignified characters in the show.
  9. String and Avon stand off, and String admits what went down with D’Angelo. I love the silence at the end of this scene when there is nothing else to say. This was really the beginning of the end of the Barksdale clan.
  10. Snoop and Michael take a ride. The whole time we’re ready for Michael to get popped, but he’s a quick learner and turns the tables. I loved Snoop and all, but I was glad it was her and not Mike. I just wish Mike had turned into something besides the next Omar.