Quintessence

King Arthur

  • the most famous legendary king on Europe’s history
  • if anything like him existed, it wasn’t in Great Britain
  • the sword in the stone and the round table are iconic
  • often retold in new versions
  • some people might believe he existed or someone similar

Next up:

Quintessential cultural event from 2010-2018

2016 US Presidential Inauguration

  • officially introduced the Era of Factual Denial with severely underestimated crowd size
  • signaled rise of alt-right in power
  • introduced “Fake News” as a means to deny unfavorable information
  • led to “alternative facts” replacing “outright lies” in the English lexicon

next: Quintessential display of color

Green and Red at Christmas.

  • only holiday where the colors are so widely known
  • you see all the stores go red and green
  • people even wear clothing of the colors at that season
  • some places even have a “unhanging of the greens” day

Next up:

Quintessential cartoon TV show

The Simpsons

  • Been on the air since December 1989, setting records along the way
  • Idioms from show are well known “Doh,” “Cromulent” and “embiggen,” etc.
  • Won 33 Primetime Emmy Awards as well as British Comedy Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards, etc.
  • Show is chock full of memorable characters and situations

Next: Quintessential news broadcaster

Walter Cronkite

  • from an era where people listened to the news
  • from an era where people took news reporting seriously
  • was once called “the most trusted man in America”
  • after retiring, continued to make many overseas reports that were influential

Next up:

Quintessential Netflix show

Stranger Things

  • making headlines for 3rd season starting
  • has inspired memes and Halloween costumes
  • terrific homage to the 80s that includes D&D and hair spray

Quintessential Disco Era artist

Bee Gees

Predated disco era and reinvented self to define its sound
Said sound is synonymous with disco
Worldwide success and one of top selling acts ever
Featured in Saturday Night Fever, the movie that defined disco

Quintessential thing the “mice” do when the “cat” is away.

Spend a great deal more time engaging in non-work-related ‘water cooler’ discussions

  • it’s an affable activity, that is otherwise frowned upon in many working environments
  • requires no planning, equipment, or special opportunities, simply a willingness to engage in friendliness at the expense of work productivity
  • occurs by mutual consent

Quintessential activity associated with bachelorette parties

I hope an actual girl responds.

Drinking

-It’s what I see on TV shows.
-It’s what I read in books.
-No one’s responded otherwise in 5 days.
Quintessential Hero?

Odysseus

  • Protagonist of classic epic poem
  • On the winning side of an epic war
  • Always outwits his adversaries
  • Has supernatural assistance
  • Motivated by the thought of his woman

Pass

Next up:

Quintessential Olympic gold medalist

Michael Phelps

A record 23 Olympic gold medals
A record 13 gold medals in separate events
Competed in 4 consecutive Summer Olympics events, winning no less than 4 gold medals in each one (and peaking at 8)
Considered the greatest swimmer of all-time

Quintessential professional wrestler

Hulk Hogan

-Known by everybody, even people with no interest in professional wrestle
-Twelve-time world champion who has won almost every professional wrestle championship there is
-Also had a successful acting career

Quintessential pop band

ABBA

  • minted 25 top 40 hits during the 1970’s
  • could be heard playing in every discotheque on earth
  • broke up in '82
  • The disco hot spots hold no charm for you.

Quintessential widely misquoted song lyrics

Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

“Wrapped up like a douche/when you’re rollin’ in the night” Actual lyric: “Revved up like a deuce/another runner in the night”

  • This was a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s, who sang “Cut loose like a deuce” and was thus easier to understand. They changed “cut loose” to “revved up” for no good reason, and misled listeners to think it was “wrapped up like a douche” for years.
  • Still on classic rock rotation, still irritating to hear about about wrapped-up douches. Why God why?

next: quintessential urban myth

People putting needles, razors, etc. in Halloween candy

-repeatedly refuted
-you still hear it every year
-apposite to the holiday
Quintessential breed of cat

Siamese

  • the most cat-like cats due to their air of…mystery (which is a charitable way of saying their behavior is unpredictable)
  • they’re a short hair variety so you can clearly make out their well-defined feline forms
  • usually very smart
  • you can snuggle wit dese kittehs

Quintessential euphemism

Bathroom

– In America, it’s arguably the most popular name for that particular room
– Even if it doesn’t actually have a bath in it.
– Bathrooms without baths are even called “half bath.”

Quintessential live action Spider-Man

2002 movie with Tobey McGuire

  • first full budget live-action Spider-man
  • Sam Raimi went all in on this one
  • iconic images of him swinging through NY
  • McGuire was perfect Peter Parker and worked out to be fit for Spider-man part
  • big part of helping the launch of recent comic book movies

Next up:

Quintessential anime tv show