Kentrivia 12

Wherein I point a finger and shout "J'accuse!"


Last week's #7:

Finally, a Question Seven for music fans. What do these albums have in common? Introducing the Beau Brummels, the Beau Brummels. Chopper City in the Ghetto, BG. Diamond Dogs, David Bowie. If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, the Mamas and the Papas. Party, Iggy Pop. Spellbound, Paula Abdul. This Year's Model, Elvis Costello. Each album spawned a single whose title is a single repeated word. To wit: "Laugh Laugh," "Bling Bling," "Rebel Rebel," "Monday Monday," "Bang Bang," "Rush Rush," and "Radio Radio." A whopping 116 players got this one, which validates my choice not to include Billy Idol's Vital Idol. "Mony Mony" would have made this way too easy.

I have a small problem with this. Not with the question and answer, but with the 116 people. I have serious doubts that 116 knew this question without research. My understanding is that Ken expects people to submit answers they "know" not those they looked up. I do not think that pulling up amazon.com and comparing the track lists for seven albums qualifies as a correct answer. Good for you for figuring it out, but it shouldn't count and if you did count it, you are a cheat. Let's review the instructions:

So you're on the honor system here: no peeking, and only send in the answers you knew off the top of your head.

That's what I thought. Who believes 116 people knew that answer off the top of their heads? I call bullshit. I'm just writing vague crap in an obscure blog (and on my best day I have to stand on my toes to even glimpse obscure), yet I'm honest with my inability to answer these things. That so many people would submit lies to Ken Jennings hoping he might mention their name or send them an autographed book is depressing.

Let's get this week's embarrassment over with.

1. Crap, knew I should have asked The Wife. She's half Haole and would have known this. Wait a sec, let me ask...nope, she guessed plants.
   
2. Emilio Estevez!
   
3. Almost went with Ghost, but didn't think it won the Oscar. Was going with Titanic and at the last moment wrote down the Stoppard movie. Ding! Looking over the 1998 Oscar nominees, I'm not too impressed with this collection. I'd be fine never watching most of these again and a couple (What Dreams May Come and Patch Adams) violently disgust me.
   
4. The Kinks wrote a song about the queen not the lake.
   
5. Never read it; don't think I've read any John Irving.
   
6. Probably should have known this; however, since I've never cared for the band, I don't mind missing this one. The lying bastards had their first retirement tour in 1982.
   
7. All had muppets named after them? Looks like that guess quickly falls apart after Grover. For some reason, I was convinced that Nelson Rockefeller died in office. At least I remembered the scandal correctly.

Three for seven.