The Daily Beast did a recent ranking of the 55 smartest cities in the country, and the results were rather interesting. Raleigh Durham took home the top prize, while Denver was #5. Philadelphia just missed the top 10, finishing 11th. So according to the arbitrary measures that constitute this absurd measuring stick, Denver is a much smarter city than Philadelphia. Wouldn’t it be a shame if their 50 or so teams couldn’t beat our 1? The difference between Geek Bowl and this cockamamie ranking is simple: Geek Bowl is quantifiable, this ranking is not. And so, Daily Beast, you better hope we don’t win this thing. It would show your rankings to be nothing but a cheap sham to garner page views. Though that is already pretty evident. DC, Seattle, and Baltimore also finished ahead of Philly, and in past city vs. city smackdowns, we destroyed those cities.

 
A few months ago the city of Philly was challenged by John Dicker, the head of the corporate behemoth Geeks Who Drink. (Seriously, these guys are everywhere now.) But he’s based in Denver, and that’s where Geek Bowl IV will be held. Well, not surprisingly, the one local group that was interested in the offer was the Sofa Kingdom. The four main members of the Kingdom (Nate, Koob, Garbo, and Swanson) then added me and Phil from the Jams to round out the 6 person squad. We are headed out there in a couple of weeks to represent Philadelphia and bring home the thousands in cash and prizes. We’ve bought our plane tickets and gotten the hotel. Now it’s 2 1/2 weeks of intensive mental workouts. With the Eagles season done, the Flyers kinda so-so, and the Sixers stinking, this may be Philly’s best chance to come home with a trophy until October. We take representing this city very seriously, and will do our damndest to bring home that trophy.

Ok, gang, a big week this week at quizzo, as we are gonna honor the 1990s. I was inspired by playing the 90s edition of Trivial Pursuit last night. To be honest, the questions were pretty crappy. They were almost all either gimmes or completely impossible. So I figured I could come up with some better questions about a decade we all know and hate love, so this week all questions will be about the 90s. (And don’t worry, history buffs, to make sure that there are still a few questions from before the 90s, I will also ask a few about people who died in the 90s.) Should be a fun quiz. Study your 90s movies, music, trends, and important events. They’ll all be on the quiz this week.

An interesting week last week. Steak Em Up finally lost on a Tuesday, the Satan’s Minions were one away from perfection, and some new kids on the block took the Jams down to the wire. French Fry Thursday was a success-sort of. Kind of funny that when I arrived for our first ever French Fry Thursday, the kitchen at the Ugly American wasn’t working due to a gas problem. Oh well, we gave ate pizza and gave away beer, which certainly didn’t lead to any complaints. French Fry Thursday is back on this week. With French Fries!

As for holiday questions, there will be a few this week, but saving most of them for next week. I’ll keep you updated on holiday scheduling soon.

1st Place: Molera Clan

2nd Place: Nassawoodstock 2

Last Place: HOVA (with their prize: a JC Chasez marionette)

Some of you old timers and veterans may remember a few years ago when former O’Neals regular Brian asked his girlfriend Meghan to marry him via quizzo questions. Well just a quick update. Their 1 1/2 year old daughter Lily visited Santa last night, so I thought I’d share. Awwww.

Now that the recession is over and your company is loaded to the gills with money, why not hire JGT to host your company party? It’s guaranteed fun, rates are perfectly reasonable, and JGT promises to wear one of his flashiest sport coats for the event. In the past, I’ve hosted everything, from parties for FOX29, UPenn, the Franklin Institute to small private parties at people’s homes. To learn more about hiring me for parties, please click here. If you’re interested, please shoot me an email.

Ok, so here’s one I’ve been waiting to get around to for over a week. Halloween turned out to be somewhat surreal for me, as 3 of my best friends decided to go as Johnny Goodtimes. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Holy s***, Johnny, 3 people went as you for Halloween? You must be bigtime.” Now, if these were 3 strangers, I would say “Yes, I am f***ing bigtime.” However these were all close personal friends of mine, and I know how they operate. i.e. “Oh crap, it’s Halloween night at 6 p.m. and I don’t have a costume. Maybe I could just wear some ridiculous clothes and a sportcoat and go as JGT.” Which is essentially how it all went down. Let’s see which JGT was best.

JGT #1. Trivia Art. Debonair, but where’s the hair? A wig would have given Trivia Art the win. Still, the martini glass and the scorecard are nice touches. We like it. Score: 7 (on a 1-100 scale).

JGT #2. Nate D. (right). called me the night of Steve-O’s party and asked if he could borrow an outfit, as well as the mic. I did him one better and scored him a wig. A very authentic outfit, but required little work on Nate’s part. Still, Nate scored big with his bump and grind routine with Steve-O before leaving the party. Score: 7.

JGT #3. Chip Chantry (left). I knew Nate was going to the party as me. Not so for Chip. Thus when I arrived at the party and there were two JGT’s (Art was elsewhere), I remarked, “This just went from surreal to Lynch.” Were Chip actually capable of growing a beard, and he had grown one, this would have been quite the ensemble. As it was, he painted a beard on, which really came across as little more than creepy. Still, we gotta give Chip credit, he put together the entire ensemble himself. Score: 7.

We have a three way tie. I only see one way to break this. A vote!

Hey kids, I am probably gonna end up going broke by the end of the week. But this isn’t about me. It’s about you. You can win BIG MONEY this week at quizzo. First of all, at O’Neals, The Ear has pulled off 5 straight wins, and anyone who knocks them off gets $20 cash in addition to the gift certificate. The same holds true at the Ugly American, as L. Ron Hubbard’s Diabetics have again established a foothold with 5 straight W’s. $30 off bar tab in addition to $20 cash to anyone who knocks them off this week. Finally, at the Bards it is just getting ridiculous. Steak Em Up won this past week in OT over Duane’s World. The bounty there is up to $35, in addition to the $40 GC, making this Thursdays quiz worth a crazy $75 for the winners! A great week to make it out to the quiz.

Losses by Steak Em Up, The Jams, and Duane’s World are certainly going to make Monday’s power ranking fairly interesing. A pretty wild week overall, with several major upsets. We’d also like to take a moment to offer best wishes to quizzo regular Molly (above) who is moving to Chicago today. 

In other quizzo news: The weekend of October 3rd, either on Saturday or Sunday, we are going to hold a Fall Quizzo Smackdown at the East Falls Marketplace. More details coming soon. 

Another interesting thing I came across today: video of Pedro Martinez engaged in a cockfighting match. In light of the Vick uproar, I find it interesting that nothing has been made of this. 

In case you missed it, here’s a few cool things we learned last week at quizzo. 

Finally, be sure to vote for your favorites at Donovansfault.com, and be sure to shoot me some entries! Highest voted entry at the end of the month wins a $20 gift certificate.