The Friday Figment of Filmmaking Quiz

Q1) Tough nut to begin with. I hadn't heard of this movie but it thought that it made some interesting reading. This movie had Columbia Pictures as its producer with Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando acting in lead roles. However, for various reasons the movie could never be completed. The plot of this movie involved a UFO that lands in a village. The villagers begin worshiping the UFO as a temple risen from the depths of the earth. An alien establishes contact with a young village boy through dreams and also plays a number of pranks on the village community during the course of its stay on Earth. Question is, who were the director and script writer for this movie, which, needless to say, was well ahead of its times having been written in the 60s?



Q2) Refer to the picture. An enduring image from Indian cinema. Produced on a shoestring budget of $3000 using an amateur cast and crew, this is the story that won 3 National Film Awards, 4 BAFTA awards and 7 awards from the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals. Tracking the journey of a man through childhood, maturity, marriage and fatherhood, this story has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been rated by various critics as one of the greatest movies ever made. The name and/or name of the director.





Q3) Refer to the picture. Identify this all-time classic Indian movie that is widely believed to have inspired the Hollywood movie (picture 1). The plot revolves around a righteous jail warden who seeks to rectify a band of convicts by employing them on a farm. Easy clues.


Q4) Slightly lateral. The Closepet granite, in South India, is a large (400 km long but only 30 km wide), elongate, Late Archaean granitic body. The Archaean Closepet Granite is a polyphase body intruding the Peninsular Gneiss Complex and the associated supracrustal rocks. The granite out-crop runs for nearly 500 km with an approximate width of 20 to 25 km and cut across the regional metamorphic structure passing from granulite facies in the South and green schist facies in the north. The Closepet granite was emplaced syntectonically. In the porphyritic root and transfer zones, magmas cooled slowly, thus developing strong fabrics during large-scale dextral shearing. Connect this description and the movie scene (refer to the picture). Put fundae.

Q5) One of the rarest forms of cinema, this film from India was made
in the mid 60s. The director of the movie also starred as a lead
actor. However, the uniqueness of the movie lied in its concept. It
was a soliloquy i.e. a mono-act. Just one actor features in this
entire movie from start to end. This got the film an entry into the
Guinness Book of World Records for having the fewest actors in a film (1).
Name the film and/or the actor-director.

Q6) This film traced a small set of poor farmers of Kheda, Gujarat. Led by
local social worker Tribhovandas Patel who took up the cause of
farmer, the villagers had the vision and foresight to act for the
larger good of society and not for the self alone. This film went on
to win the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and National
Award for Best Screenplay (the great Vijay Tendulkar) and was also an
Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
in the late-70s. The script for this film was jointly written by Shyam
Benegal and one other person. Name the film and the other script
writer. Also, the significance of the film.

Q7) Legend has it that this movie made innumerable references to Jesus
Christ. Hint: This character X (also forming the name of the movie)
rose to almost iconic proportions during the counter-culture movement
of the 1960s.

The following events in the plotline are stated as reasons.:
X is looked upon as a leader and inspiration for the underdogs of
society like Jesus.
After an egg eating contest scene , X is shown lying in a crucified
position on the table. When X learns about his mother's death, he
mourns by reminiscently playing his banjo and singing a song called
"Plastic Jesus".
When X returns from his escape the other men are infatuated with his
adventures outside their world. X tells them, "Stop feeding off me!"
which is an allusion to the Last Supper. Later, a worn-out X is served
a big helping of rice and is told by the trustee that he has to finish
all of it or sleep in the box. The other men then help themselves to
X's serving alluding to the Last Supper.
In another scene, X digging what was essentially his own grave mirrors
Christ having to bear the weight and carry his cross. X tries to
escape three times, and fails each time, before he is shot and killed.
That parallels how Jesus fell three times before he was crucified and
died. X's friend acts as an unwitting Judas when he brings the police
to the church. His subsequent fight with the authorities who shoot X
is reminiscent of Peter's altercation with those who arrest Jesus in
the Garden of Gethsemane.

Q8) Slightly academic question. Give a funda that connects the
following 3 sets of persons:
Directors: Frank Capra, Nest Miloš and Jonathan Demme
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Clark Gable, Jack Nicholson
Actresses: Claudette Colbert, Jodie Foster, Louise Fletcher

Monday Maze

Q1:
A quantity of KCN pellets are placed into a compartment placed below.
A quantity of concentrated H2SO4 is poured down a tube that leads to a
small holding tank directly below the compartment containing the KCN
pellets. A screen is opened. Following this, a switch activates the
KCN pellets to drop into the sulfuric acid, initiating a chemical
reaction as follows:
2KCN(s) + H2SO4(aq) → 2HCN(g) + K2SO4(aq)
What does this chemical reaction indicate?

Q2:
It was known as the Shul in Bengal, India. The Zulus prefer to call it the
ukujoja. In Malays refer to it as the Hukum Sula. What? Lateral hint: Dracula.

Q3:
The earliest use of this technique was tracked during the La Violencia
conflict in Colombia duirng the 1950s. Cuban, Sicilian, Mexican,
Colombian and Slovakian
are its known variants. What is this technique?

Q4:
Its earliest documented occurrence was in 471 BC during the Roman
Republic's early wars against the Volsci. It was revived by Crassus in
71 BC in the Third Servile War against Spartacus. This practice has
led to the coining of a word which describes this practice.
Hint: In digital signal processing, the same word is a technique for
reducing the number of samples in a discrete-time signal.

Q5:
Mainly used by the Gambino family(one of the Five Families) during the
prohibition era in the US during the 1930s, it consists of two spaces
of a cinderblock, one for
each foot. Each space is then filled with wet cement. Lateral hint: A
modern variation of this technology/practice is shown in the movie
Sarkar. Probably, RGV's inspiration from reading about the Five
Families.

Q6:
Originated in Greece, this wheel was typically a large wooden wagon
wheel with many radial spokes. Documented witnesses report its use in
France, Germany, Sweden, colonial Louisiana (pre-United States), and
Russia. Known as a metaphor for great dishonor, this wheel has
appeared in several expressions with similar meaning. It also appears
on the Coat of Arms of the state of Goa.

Q7:
Popularly known as the Sizzling Sally, it acquired the name Old Smokie
in New Jersey, Old Sparky in Florida, Texas, New York and Kentucky,
Yellow Mama in Alabama and Gruesome Gertie in Louisiana. What?

Q8:
In 'The Last of The Mohicans', Daniel Day Lewis' character Hawkeye
experiences this. It is widely known as the Spiessgasse or Spiebrutenlaufen.
In 16th century Prussia, during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), it
was referred to as the gatlopp in Swedish. What is the equivalent term
in English that describes this phenomenon?

Q9:
The use of the term which describes this method appears to be a
mockery of the concept of an actual "secular" marriage. At the time
Napoleon and Josephine were married in March of 1796, few people
considered the religious ceremony at all necessary, people got married
with so much facility, and in so simple a manner, that the
exaggeration is merely verbal which states that X was completed by
dancing round a tree of liberty, and that the divorce was effected by
dancing round the same tree of liberty backwards. Jean-Baptiste
Carrier is popularly cited as having devised this method. Name the
method.

Monday's Mysterious Men

Q1: Entertainment
This well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as X and
Y, created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and
1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium. With X
composing the music and Y adding the lyrics, five of their shows,
Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of
Music, were outstanding successes. In all, among the many accolades
that their shows (and their film versions) garnered were thirty-four
Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys.
Name the duo X and Y.

Q2: Business
Easily workoutable. X's family was involved in sake, miso and soy
sauce production in the Chita Peninsula, since 1665. He was the oldest
of four siblings and his father Kyuzaemon trained him as a child to
take over the family business. X later joined the navy and served as a
lieutenant during World War II. During his service, X met his future
partner Masaru Ibuka in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee.On May
7, 1946, X and Ibuka founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha with
about 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years
old, X was 25 years old. In 1961, the firm became the first Japanese
company to be listed on the NYSE. Name X.

Q3: Geopolitics
Born Nguyễn Ái Quốc, X led the VietMinh independence movement from
1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic
of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien
Phu. He lost political power inside North Vietnam in the late 1950s,
but remained as the highly visible figurehead president until his
death. The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, after the Fall of
Saigon, was renamed in X's honor.

Q4: Hospitality
Born to parents of Czech origin in Chicago, Illinois, in 1902, X grew
up in Oak Park. During the First World War he trained to become an
ambulance driver though the war ended before he ever saw action.
Between the end of the war and the early 1950s, X tried his hand at a
number of trades including paper-cup salesman, pianist, jazz musician,
band member and worked at a Chicago radio station. He eventually
became a multi-mixer machine salesman, traveling across the country.
From mixer salesman, X branched out into the restaurant business
buying out a restaurant franchise. Former Dire Straits guitarist and
lead vocalist Mark Knopfler released a song about X on his 2004 album
Shangri-La. It was inspired by X's autobiography Grinding It Out.

Q5: Advertising
X is credited with spawning brand icons such Jolly Green Giant, the
Marlboro Man, the Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger, among other
familiar characters. By the late 1950s, X had emerged as a prime mover
in advertising's creative revolution, which grew in the glow of
television's rise as America's consummate commercial medium. By 1960
X's roster of clients had grown exponentially; at the time of his
death the agency's billings exceeded $400 million annually. By last
year that figure approached $6 billion.

Q6: Science
In 1938, X won the Nobel Prize in Physics at the age of 37 for his
"demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced
by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear
reactions brought about by slow neutrons". After X received the Nobel
Prize in Stockholm, he, his wife Laura, and their children emigrated
to New York. This was mainly because of the anti-Semitic laws
promulgated by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini which threatened
Laura, who was Jewish. Also, the new laws put most of X's research
assistants out of work. X even moved to Los Alamos in the later stages
of the Manhattan Project to serve as a general consultant.

Q7: Research
X was born in the small English city of Cambridge to a middle class
family. His father, John Neville, was a lecturer at the university and
his mother Florence Ada a local social reformer. X won a scholarship
to study at Eton, where he displayed talent in a wide range of
subjects, particularly mathematics, classics and history. In 1902, X
left Eton for King's College, Cambridge, to study mathematics. Xs own
inclinations drew him towards philosophy - especially the ethical
system of G.E. Moore. X's Civil Service career began in October 1906,
as a clerk in the India Office. He enjoyed his work at first, but by
1908 X had become bored and resigned his position to return to
Cambridge and work on probability theory. By 1913 he had published his
first book, Indian Currency and Finance. He was then appointed to the
Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance. X went on to research
and propound an entire branch of study named in honour of his theory.

Q8: Freedom of Expression
This incident took place near the south end of the Forbidden City,
Beijing, on June 5th, 1989, one day after the Chinese government's
violent crackdown on public protests. Shortly after the incident,
British tabloid the Sunday Express named him as Wang Weilin, a
19-year-old student who was later charged with "political hooliganism"
and "attempting to subvert members of the People's Liberation Army."
Numerous theories have sprung up as to the man's identity and current
whereabouts. He is more popularly referred to as X.

Friday Flummox

Q1) Something to do with the place on the map that I am
looking for...get the place...and then a person associated with that
place...to be more precise...

Q2) This dude came with an idea for offering excursions while waiting for
his train on the London Road at Kibworth. With the opening of the
extended Midland Counties Railway in the UK, he arranged to take a
group of 570 campaigners from Leicester railway station to a rally.
Among other achievements, he is credited to have developed the product
"traveller's cheque". Now this should become a sitter.

Q3) This actor spent his early life in Canada. Holds a dual Canadian/US
citizenship. Is fluent in French. Was an accomplished tennis player at
the junior level and played tennis with Jennifer Capriati. Having had
a modest career in films, more recently appeared in sitcoms Ally
McBeal and Scrubs. Has also done voiceovers for "the Simpsons".
Identify.

Q4) My resume reads as follows:
Member of the British Empire. Inhabitant of Bedrock. Winner, Beard
Liberation Front's Beard of the Year Award (some year). Winner of
Compton Miller Medal. I am?

Q5) I am a Secret-Keeper who betrayed my friends. I framed someone
else for my crime (betrayal leading to the death of my friends). I
spied on the Order for 'him'. I murdered 12 innocents and faked my own
death. I assisted 'him' in getting a new body. My name is....

Q6) They called me a 'Rebel Without a Cause'. I made my first TV
appearance in a Pepsi commerical. While struggling to get a break in
the showbiz world, I also worked as a parking lot attendant at CBS
Studios. In the early 50s, following my mentor's advice I moved to NY
city and enrolled myself at Lee Strasberg School of acting. I remain
the only actor to have two posthumous Best Actor nominations at the
Academy. I died while speeding in my car, a Porsche 550. If it serves
as a hint, I also feature in the anthemic "We Didn't Start the
Fire".....I am?

Q7) I have studied under Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Paul
Samuelson. I received my Master's Degree at the University of Chicago
and PhD Degree at MIT, both in economics. I did my post-doctoral work
in Mathematics at Harvard University and in behavioral science at the
University of Chicago. Jack Welch and Bill Gates were 1 and 2 on a
list released by the Financial Times of which I was the 4th ranked
individual. I recently stated my premise that the rise of rural India
is the major growth driver for the Indian economy and 2 things that
can propel rural India would be micro-finance and distribution of
cheap computers to the villages. I am?

Q8) Hailing from the fictional world, I am acknowledged to be a creator
and inventor who embodies the power of the individual capitalist. I
serve as an idealistic counterpoint to the social and economic
structure depicted in a fictional world. Legend has it that I secretly
organized a strike by the world's creative leaders, including
inventors, artists and businessmen, in an effort to "stop the motor of
the world," thereby bringing about the collapse of collectivist
society. People draw parallels between my character and Prometheus,
King Arthur and Jesus Christ. If it helps you, the question which
seeks my identity has almost become legend in itself. And if it helps
the gamers, this question is also one of the cheats in Age of Empires
or AOE. :)

Q9) I was born in New Jersey to Jewish Hungarian parents. Me and my close
friend from childhood were known as "Tom and Jerry". We met in
elementary school in the early 50s, when we both appeared in a school
play 'Alice in Wonderland'. I played the White Rabbit while my friend
played the Cheshire Cat. I was once stranded overnight on a railway
platform after mis-reading the timetable. It was here that I penned
down my thoughts and created one of my most famous works. Having had
multiple breakups with my artistic partner, we finally agreed to come
together and perform the opening act at the Grammy Awards some years
ago when we also received our Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. I am?

Wednesday Tribute to FLIX

A simple quiz dedicated to my dear FLIX. 10 questions with highly
guessable answers for you movie aficionados...keep them cracking....

1) Steven Spielberg refused to accept a salary for this film.
Ralph Fiennes put on 13kg by drinking Guinness for his role. Billy
Wilder contributed to the first draft of the screenplay for this
film, and at one time early in its production, was set to direct it.
Martin Scorsese turned down the chance to direct the film in the
1980s. Steven Spielberg offered the job of director to Roman
Polanski. Polanski turned it down because the subject was too
personal. Which flick?

2)
Filmed at the defunct Mansfield State Penitentiary in Ohio.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals monitored the filming of scenes and objected to a
particular scene on
grounds that it was cruel to a maggot, and required that they use
a maggot that had died from natural causes. One was found, and the
scene was filmed.Although a very modest hit in theaters, it became
one of the highest grossing video rentals of all time. There are
several similarities to the Alexandre Dumas novel, "The Count of
Monte Cristo" (which is also mentioned during the film). Which film?

3)
Three years before production began, Spielberg assembled a team of
sixteen future experts in Santa Monica to brainstorm out the year
2054 for him. Steven Spielberg turned to Lexus for some ideas in
designing a car for the future, but the bulk of the designs were
done by Harald Belker, who has also designed vehicles featured in
Armageddon (1998) and XXX (2002). The small storage media used
throughout the film are clear plastic versions of Iomega's PocketZip
disks. Steven Spielberg used the town of Gloucester, Virginia as a
location for a portion of the film. Though the crew was in the town
for a little over a month shooting, the scenes are only shown in the
movie for a minute or so. The town was given no acknowledgement in
the credits. This is the first movie Spielberg has directed for 20th
Century Fox. The studio financed the film along with Dreamworks. Fox
released the film worldwide except US and Canada. Which movie?

4)
Based on the real-life story of John Wojtowicz, who attempted to rob
a Chase Manhattan bank branch in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York on 22
August 1972. He and Salvatore Naturale held nine bank employees
hostage for over eight hours. Wojtowicz was trying to get money for
his lover, Ernest Aron, to have a sex change operation. Naturale was
killed in the standoff, and Wojtowicz received 20 years in a federal
penitentiary. After the initial title sequence (Elton
John: "Amoreena") there is no background or incidental music on the
soundtrack. The real robbers stole $213,000, held the hostages for
14 hours. Which movie?

5)
Ellen Burstyn agreed to doing the movie only if her character didn't
have to say the scripted line: "I believe in the devil!" The
producers agreed to eliminate the utterance. John Boorman had been
offered the chance to direct this film but declined because he felt
the storyline was "cruel towards children". Mercedes McCambridge had
to sue Warner Brothers for credit as the voice of the demon. The
agency representing Linda Blair overlooked her, recommending at
least 30 other clients for the part of Regan. Blair's mother brought
her in herself to try out for the role. Ellen Burstyn received a
permanent spinal injury during filming. In the sequence where she is
thrown away from her possessed daughter, a harness jerked her hard
away from the bed. She fell on her coccyx and screamed in pain,
which was filmed for the movie. Director William Friedkin went to
some extraordinary lengths to abuse the cast. He fired off guns
behind the actors to get the required startled effect. He was said
to have slapped one actor across the face before rolling the camera.
When released in 1973, the film caused such mass hysteria, with
people screaming, fainting and paramedics being called to theaters,
making it one of the most controversial films ever made. Which
movie?

6)
Although 216 minutes long, this film has no women in speaking roles.
Almost all movement in the film goes from left to right. David Lean
said he did this to emphasize that the film was a journey. While
filming, Peter O'Toole referred to co-star Omar Sharif as "Fred"
stating that "no one in the world is called Omar Sharif, your name
must be Fred."
Production was halted to move to Spain, but filming did not resume
for three months because writer Robert Bolt had been jailed for
participating in a nuclear disarmament demonstration. He was
released only after Sam Spiegel persuaded him to sign an agreement
of good behavior. Which movie?

Q7
Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Bloch for
just $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he
could to keep the ending a secret.
Hitchcock tested the "fear factor" of "Mother's corpse" by placing
it in the lead actress' dressing room and listening to how loud she
screamed when she discovered it. The film only cost $800,000 to make
yet has earned more than $40 million.Which movie?

Q8
This was the last film printed in the US in the
Technicolor "imbibition" printing process. The lab was held open for
about three weeks for the film to be ready to print, and then it was
disassembled and sent to Peking, China. The imbibition process was a
three stripe dye transfer process that photochemical processes have
yet to equal in richness and longevity of color rendition. As of
2001, Robert De Niro is one of only four actors (with Sophia Loren,
Roberto Benigni and Benicio Del Toro), to win an Academy Award for a
role primarily in a language other than English. Which picture?

Q9
A 1991 movie. Gene Hackman was first offered the lead male role and
was set to direct, but he withdrew after watching a clip of himself
in "Mississippi Burning" at the 61st Annual Academy Awards, which
made him uneasy about taking more violent roles. When Jonathan Demme
took over as director, he offered the role of Clarice first to
Michelle Pfeiffer and also to Meg Ryan. The Tobacco horn worm moths
used throughout the film were given celebrity treatment by the
filmmakers. They were flown first class to the set (in a special
carrier), had special living quarters (rooms with controlled
humidity and heat) and were dressed in carefully designed costumes
(body shields bearing a painted skull & crossbones). This was the
third movie to win all five major Oscars: Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Thomas
Harris, author of the novel on which the movie is based has never
watched the film because he is afraid it will influence his writing.
Which movie?

Q10
Before filming, the principal actors spent four months with martial
arts experts learning the fight moves.
The actors had originally thought that it would take just a
few weeks. Carrie-Anne Moss twisted her ankle while shooting one of
her scenes but decided not to tell anyone until after filming, so
they wouldn't re-cast her. The hero was also recovering from neck
surgery while training for this film. During the four months of
training, he had to wear a neck brace. According to some crew
members, the hero was really vomiting as shown in the film. It was
because of a chicken pot pie he ate, apparently. Which
movie?

Thursday Conundrum

These 7 clues actually point to 7 not-so-well-known works in
literature. Once you have one or more of these 7 answers, only use
their literal names for the final connect. Cause these 7 answers
actually lead to 7 literary works that share a thread of commonality.
You need to zero in on that connect.

1) X is a privately owned island off the northeast coast of New
Zealand's Great Barrier Island. Name X (6,6)
2) You would probably call Jim Carrey one (4)
3) David Beckham's last minute magical effort against Greece in the
2002 World Cup Qualifiers (9)
4) Adobe's online content player + Nichloas Cage biking movie - Demi
Moore's spooky romance? = (9,5)
5) In the comic world, this was the world's first single-person
space-rocket. It was developed by Professor Emery Zackro in 1951. If
you had more than one of them, they would be called these in plural.
(9)
6) A computer adventure game created by Interplay Productions in 1988
that went on to become a cult classic. Name it. (11)
7) The CERN's LHC experiment is probably used for this (9) + Deepika's
specialist (5) = (9,5)

The Monday Legacy Quiz

Q1) The "Triplicane Six", as they were called, were angry with the
criticism that followed the appointment of T. Muthuswami Aiyer, as a
Judge of the Madras High Court, the first Indian to be so appointed.
They borrowed one rupee and 12 annas and decided to counter the
campaign against Muthuswami Aiyer's appointment.

Q2) A Parsi scholar and priest by the name of Fardoonji Murazban was
a pioneer brought out a Gujarati Calendar in 1814, fully 6 years
before the first Bengali Calendar was printed and published in
Calcutta. In 1822, he published 3 small quarto sheets. 10 inches by 8
inches. Then were four columns of short paragraphs about Government
and Court appointments and changes, and powers of attorney taken from
the court; about the arrival and departure of ships and of Europeans
from Bombay; and a list of European deaths; as well as of ships
loading in the harbour. A short paragraph of ten lines was devoted to
news from Canton in China, given the prices of Opium.

Q3) Kandathil Varghese Mappillai in Kottayam, an accomplished writer
and intellectual hailing from the small town in the princely state of
Travancore, had a mission to articulate the aspirations of the Pulayas
– the untouchables then. in 1888, he initiated a passionate plea for
the education and welfare of the Pulayas.

Q4) In 1942, at the onset of the Quit India Movement, aggressive
freedom fighter Mr. PC Gupta decides to take up the cause of the
movement in Jhansi and mobilize collective action for the movement

Q5) John Clark Marshman, missionary of charity, traveled to India and
managed the Serampore Mission in 1812. With the help of his father, he
issued monthly circular letters containing comments and correspondence
on the work of the missionaries in India among Hindus, Muslims and the
East India Company soldiery. These were superseded in 1818 by the
monthly Friend of India, retailing intelligence from Europe and East
Asia as well as the subcontinent.

Q6) In 1931, an outspoken Ayurvedic doctor and freedom fighter called
Varadarajulu Naidu, described as the `Tilak of South India' decided to
establish a wider audience for his irascible views.

Q7) In 1924, Master Sunder Singh of the Akalis felt the need to oppose
the British. In 1924, he received the support of Mahatma Gandhi for
his initiative.