Last week, my wife and I ran our annual game-party-and-charity-fundraiser. This year, the final game was a big trivia contest, in which there were bunches of questions in categories, along with the meta question of what the unifying theme was of each category. I thought the dopers might enjoy giving them a shot, so here are the first 3 (of 10) categories.
There are a few little bits that relate specifically and personally to my wife and I, but given that you can get extra information by deducing what the category is and then solving the question from that, the questions should all still be solvable for you crafty dopers.
Also note that when applicable, the category is not just “things that are X” but “things that are the MOST X” or “the FIRST things that were X”, in order; although of course that doesn’t apply at all to some categories.
The quotations with _____s are taken from Wikipedia, and when there are notes such as “last name only”, that means that it is specifically the last name that fits into the category.
Category 1
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_____ has also worked as voice actor in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
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_____ periodically spoofed his philosophy studies in his 1970s stand-up act, comparing philosophy with studying geology. “If you’re studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life.”
In 1967, _____ transferred to UCLA and switched his major to theater. While attending college, he appeared in an episode of The Dating Game. ____ began working local clubs at night, to mixed notices, and at twenty-one he dropped out of college. -
Who played the head football coach for Adams College in the movie Revenge of the Nerds?
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Henry Zuckerman, better known as _________ (born December 9, 1930), is an American actor, writer,film director, and television director.
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Wikipedia says about one famous actor/comedian, entirely leaving out his time at MaxTheVool’s alma mater, Haverford College:
He attended at the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and also attended The Dalton School in the Upper East Side and Riverdale Country School in The Bronx. He then attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he studied a pre-med curriculum and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
Who is this person? -
As of 2012, ______'s films have grossed over $4.2 billion at the United States box office alone, and over $8.5 billion worldwide making him the highest all-time box office star.
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_____ has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including The Deer Hunter, Annie Hall, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Batman Returns, Wedding Crashers, The Rundown, Click, and Hairspray,
Category 2
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Who wrote one of the most famous books in history, then followed it up with “On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects”
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Who wrote in her diary: I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! … to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!
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The infamous escort-service-owner known as the “Mayflower Madam” was named _______ Biddle Barrows.
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Name the character from “Guys and Dolls” played by Vivian Blaine in the original Broadway cast, the original London cast, and the 1955 film.
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What city in California is called “The City of Stars” because of a holiday tradition established over 65 years ago… At the start of the Christmas/Hanukkah season, many residents and business owners place large, illuminated stars, some as big as 10 feet or more in diameter, on the “downhill” sides of homes and offices throughout (it).
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Speaking in cliches, to where is it redundant to bring coals?
Category 3
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A _____ is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. _____is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term _____, however, can more specifically refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita, or also to their hollow, dried-out shell.
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Take the last name of the subject of this Wikipedia snippet. The first four letters of that name form what word?
“In the 1870s, he applied this immunization method to anthrax, which affected cattle, and aroused interest in combating other diseases.
______ publicly claimed he had made the anthrax vaccine by exposing the bacilli to oxygen. His laboratory notebooks, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, in fact show _____ used the method of rival Jean-Joseph-Henri Toussaint, a Toulouse veterinary surgeon, to create the anthrax vaccine” -
(Last name only) _____ has since appeared as himself on Seinfeld and has reprised the character Norm Peterson in the The Simpsons episode “Fear of Flying”, two episodes of Family Guy “Road to Rupert” and “Three Kings” as well as the Frasier episode “Cheerful Goodbyes”.
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(Last name only) _____ (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams and plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment which was followed by his early death.
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_____root can be peeled, steamed, and then eaten warm with butter as a delicacy; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled _____s are a traditional food of the American South. It is also common in Australia and New Zealand for pickled _____root to be served on a hamburger.
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In the European Union many _____ cheeses such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola and _____ Stilton carry a protected designation of origin, meaning they can bear the name only if they have been made in a particular region in a certain country.
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Many cultures have legends as to the origins of _____making. Sumerian legend claims that the secret of _____making was discovered by Urnamman of Lagash. The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into _____ socks.