Toadfish Monastery

Ok, this is the thread for home made quiz(z?)es.

We start with the:

Movie Quiz

1. What was the first movie about the sinking of the Titanic, when was it made and who directed it?

2. In what movie does a rather large piece of seafood win a (land-based) sports contest?

3. What is the eye-catching visual parallel between E.S.Porter's Great Train Robbery and Spielberg's Schindler's List?

4. What British movie is named after the border between two countries in the Western hemisphere (not the name of a river)?

5. What is the last non-documentary movie L.Olivier appeared in (not as himself that is) and what irony is behind that?
Slight correction: by now it seems to be second-last (if one counts TV)

6. The cruise-ship maxim Gorky almost suffered the fate of the Titanic in reality. In what movie was she threatened by another catastrophe and who played her captain in that?

7. Who dubbed the voice of Christopher Lee in the German language version of The Last Unicorn?

8. What film inspired George Lucas for his first Star Wars movie (according to his own words)?

9. Name the only non-Japanese film of director Akira Kurosawa (and where it was made)!

10. What actor defeated a serial killer in a drive-in cinema that at the same time ran a movie starring him?

11. Which movie did Samuel L.Jackson want to be in just because of the title (i.e. unasked and without having read the script).

12. Which Korean movie is an adaption of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses"? (international title please)

13. Which actor played Robin Hood, Zorro and D'Artagnan (from the 3 Musketeers)?

14. In a famous Ealing Comedy the lead murders 8 members of his family. Name the actors that played the victims!

15. Who played the US president in the movie that Stanley Kubrick kept (temporarily) out of cinemas by suing in order to get priority for his own Dr.Strangelove?

16. What technical improvement of cinema was named after a movie?

17. Who played the test pilot in the British movie telling the story of the development of the Spitfire fighter plane?

18. Where is the connection between Darth Vader and the BBC TV adaption of The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy?

19. Who financed R. Polanski's Macbath (causing an outrage among critics)?

20. In what film does the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il sing a song about loneliness?

To define anything is an art by itself. Most short definitions used are either too exclusive or inclusive or even both.

Bird: flying animal
  Snakes on a plane
flying without human help
  tortoise carried away by eagle
flying without help from another living entity
  "paragliding" spiders
flying with only their body
  flying squirrels
that's gliding, flying with wings
  dragonflies
vertebrate winged animal flying using its own power
  flying fish
gliding again and not warmblooded
  bats
Aaargh! egg-laying warmblooded vertebrate winged animal flying using its own power
  pterosaurs
Tricky, hm, not extinct
  harpagornis
drat, that's a bird but it's indeed extinct. OK, strike the extinct and add feathers
  some pterosaurs might have had feathers
OK, you get me there. Anything else?
  ostrich, dodo, moa, penguins, all flightless. not to forget Galapagos cormorants
Aaaaaargh! I give up
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You see the pattern, I presume

OK, now the game: Take a common word and give a short, concise definition. then let the rest try to poke holes in it.
Condition: No explaining pictures in the definition, only for hole-poking.

---

How would you define spiral staircase?

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html?from=mostpop

Although I think the test is not saying what it claims it does, it's an interesting experiment.

How does she spin for you and can you change that at will?

The rules are simple:
1. Define the noun, verb and adjective the sibling above you has posted
2. Invent a noun, verb and adjective and post them for the next player to define

stempophone
to rescolate
alphicious

Since Snoopy "It was a dark and stormy night"* is the canonical bad novel opening.
There is even a yearly contest for the worst novel opening of that title
I propose that we do the same in this thread (although without prices to win).
So, the task is: Write the worst opening sentence(s) for a novel that your deranged mind could provide!

*actually the opening of an existing novel by Bullwer-Lytton

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/8/26/83453/2468

You might think "Jesus Camp" (Harry Potter will go to hell because God hates warlocks) was bad but that's just the first step.
After that comes the "real" boot camp and then the "military academy".

We have food and drink, literature and music but not yet clothing, if I am correct.
----

Blue jeans with leather belt. naturally coloured (but age-bleached) cotton socks, a white tshirt with a Norwegian flag on the left side (from my POV), cotton drawers but no undershirt, a rather old digital watch, glasses (almost new), sandal slippers (no flipflops).
Outside the house heavy black security half-boots. No jacket/coat at the moment. It's too warm outside.

Let's revive another oldie.
Each one adds two words to the chain.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike the

For those more into non-verbal communication, here is the analogue to the Word Association Game


http://www.my-shops.net/images/petsandanimals/BaaHumbug.jpg

By ways of Obsidian Wings I ran into these two papers.

http://www.peterleeson.com/An-arrgh-chy.pdf
http://www.peterleeson.com/Pirational_Choice.pdf

Still have to read them but I thought fast notification here was called for.

May be shifted to the Piratin' section.

There was a discussion in Germany some time ago to establish movie classes in school that would introduce the pupils to a canon of films.
What do you think about that idea, how should such a canon look or how would you organize the topic (e.g. what types of movies, when, in what connections (e.g. with history or language classes), only high culture or also selected trash, full or edited versions etc.)?

This thread is intended for the discussion of possible/desired changes to the US constitution/law.

Let me start with an amendment
--------------------------------------
The US constitution shall be thus amended:

1. Every adult citizen of the United States of America has the right to vote in federal elections and the vote not to be discarded.
1a. The legal voting age is to be specified by federal law or amending of this constitution.

2. This right shall not be abridged for any reason.

3. The federal government has the duty to provide all citizens with legal identification for the purpose of voting without imposing any direct or indirect costs on the citizen and has, if necessary, to take any such costs.

4. To interfere intentionally and adversely with a citizen's right to vote in a federal election is a felony.
4a. Any other attempts to manipulate federal elections by illegal means are also felonies.

5. Federal election days are national holidays, so that citizens may not be hindered in the execution of their right to vote.

6. The federal government has the right to draft citizen as election helpers but has to take care that this does not cause any disadvantage to those drafted.

7. The federal government has the duty to provide all citizens with easy access to federal elections and has the right to demand support from the state authorities.

8. The federal government shall create a neutral institution for the purpose of the investigation of infringements of the right to vote or other attempts to manipulate federal elections.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/26/070326fa_fact_packer?printable=true

This is a very sad but also completely unsurprising piece on Iraqis that tried to work with the US to help rebuild their country and now find themselves in about the worst possible situation imaginable.

http://www.apostropher.com/blog/archives/001712.html
http://kynn.livejournal.com/266923.html

I thought until now that the prime candidates for that were Bill&Hillary (or could it be both?).

Ok, let's be serious: Is that just a few delusional whatever-challenged people or could that get traction on the right and lead to e.g. assassination attempts?

A computer in class suddenly started to display prawn as a result of malware infection.
The teacher now faces up to 40 years in jail for the damage that this allegedly caused to the innocent souls of the children.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/46925/

Looks like another proof for the broken justice system. From one of the comments I hear that the judge even slept during parts of the proceedings.

The big (especially US) rhethorics tell us that in 1989 democracy has triumphed and will sweep the globe and end history etc.

Others think that democracy is a pure fairweather phenomenon and will fail in a real crisis (not just a temporary setback).

Personally I am pessimistic and think that democracy as a general from of government is not here to stay and will over time be reduced to pockets of resistance or local attempts.
I predict a general switch to some kind(s) of authoritarian model(s) (maybe with some democratic window dressing) when (not if) the West is unable to keep its average standard of living.
Regions with a truly strong and long democratic tradition and low population (e.g. Scandinavia) will probably retain a lot of that but they will be the exception of the rule.
The undemocratic replacements will not be global rulers but more or less local oligarchies (e.g. coexisting dicatorships) with a handful of stronger powers (medium-sized empires) mixed in.

I hope I won't see the day .

Some things are so beyond the fringe....
What do you think about the nice idea to make sterilization mandatory for guest workers in the US to avoid "anchor babies"?
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/01/seal_the_border.html

You want to stage an existing play or direct a remake of an existing movie and have a vision. Unfortunately it is the worst possible.

Now this game is about miscasting and botching a production.
This should consist of "well-reasoned" casting proposals and "improvements" to the plot.

So, do not propose Woody Allen as the next Conan, if you can't provide a "sound" reason for it. Same with the Saxophone-playing Neanderthals.

I'll start with a yet uncomplete idea for "King Lear - The Musical" and will finish it later.

Cast
Lear: Ah-nold (read the play and you will find that Lear is not a weak senile)
Cordelia: Paris Hilton
Goneril: Britney Spears
Regan: Madonna
(wait for the sister trio to sing!)
Of course those names have to be changed. Regan sounds too much like Reagan and that could be controversial, and Goneril could make people think about venereal diseases.

to be continued...

People for the American Way has taken a look at the reformed citizen test.
They tried it on a random group of people that are US citizens.
The results were not encouraging: failure 50.x%, pass 49.y% (x+y=1)
You may try it yourself:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/12/could_you_pass.html

My opinion (I did it 3 times with a random 10 questions): the test should not be a problem by itself for anyone with a bit of interest.
The choice of questions might indeed not be ideal for the purpose (too many questions about the current political state instead of "lasting" ones for my taste) but not outrageous either.

So, why is the failure rate that high?

Being a shameless occasional poetry committer (and composer dilettante), I will use this place for an exhibition of my questionable taste.

Let the squids begin to sing in true Lovecraftian mood!