These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2023-10-30,
and should be interpreted accordingly.

On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
the correct answers in about 3 days.

All questions were written by members of the Usual Suspects and
are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of
current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
(QFTCI*)".

I did not write either of these rounds.

* Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing

1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
"The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?

2. Who is the author of the book-club favorite "Wild"? It describes
her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of personal
emotional turmoil, and was later made into a 2014 movie of the
same name starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.

3. In the 1970s Robyn Davidson, of Australia, set out to make a
thousands-of-kilometers-long trek across the outback, accompanied
by camels, because... Because camels, we guess. Her 1980 book
about her experiences was made into a 2013 movie starring Mia
Wasikowska ["VUSH-uh-KOF-skuh"] and Adam Driver. The book and
movie had the same title; name it.

4. A friend and collaborator of Paul Theroux was also a novelist and
travel writer, with a less voluminous output as he died of AIDS
in 1989 at age 49. Among his travel works are "The Songlines",
which focuses on Aboriginal Australians, and "In Patagonia".
Name him.

5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
eventually published more than a century after they were
written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
years after 1850, not 1987.

6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
Holy Land.

7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
language.

8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
Europe and Asia?

9. Who was the Welsh travel writer who accompanied Hillary and
Norgay's successful Mt. Everest expedition as a journalist;
wrote more than 20 travel books, including several on Venice;
and in a 1974 memoir detailed her gender transition?

10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
"supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
expedition.

* Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos

In each case, give the professional name of the comedy duo we
describe. Usually, but not always, they are named after their
two members, and if so, you may give the names in either order --
for example, "Boyd and Brader" or "Brader and Boyd".

1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
segment on their show.

2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
later via several albums and tours.

3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
an Academy Award.

4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

5. This New Zealand musical comedy group progressed from live acts
to a BBC radio show and eventually an HBO series that ran from
2007 to 2009. They once described themselves as a "guitar-based
digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Here we want
the name of the act, not the two people involved.

6. This duo met in Grade 1, wrote a screenplay together at 14,
both studied engineering and worked in the field, which
they left to pursue Christian ministry with comic aspects.
Eventually their comedy moved on to non-religious themes and
they are known for the YouTube series "Good Mythical Morning"
as well as podcasts, a novel, and musical comedy albums.
First names, please.

7. This British duo weren't really a pair outside of their
eponymous BBC TV show that ran on and off from 1971 to '87. One
thing that contrasted them was their 8-inch height difference,
although neither one was especially tall; what didn't contrast
was their first names. Name the show and you'll name the duo,
and that's the answer we want.

8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
had celebrated careers on their own.

9. Who are the originators and stars of the US sitcom "Broad City",
originally a web series and later on Comedy Central between
2014 and 2019? First names only -- they're the same as those
of their fictional alter egos, though the surnames differ.

10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
'62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.

--
Mark Brader "Men are animals."
Toronto "What are women? Plants, birds, fish?"
msb@vex.net -- Spider Robinson, "Night of Power"
"Definitely birds."
-- Rodney Boyd

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Mark Brader (msb@vex.net) writes:
> 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?

Gee, that express must be really old! I have travelled in Patagonia,
and one thing it is not: criss-crossed by railway tracks. I seem to
recall that there is a tourist train around Río Turbio, though,

As for the question, I guess Paul Theroux, but that is based on
having read question 4, so absolutely no points for me.
> 5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
> eventually published more than a century after they were
> written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
> Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
> happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
> years after 1850, not 1987.

Florence Nightengale.

Mark Brader <msb@vex.net> wrote:

> * Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing

> 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?

Paul Theroux

> 5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
> eventually published more than a century after they were
> written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
> Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
> happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
> years after 1850, not 1987.

Florence Nightingale

> 6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
> Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
> Holy Land.

Mark Twain

> 7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
> a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
> Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
> language.

Bryson

> 8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
> travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
> Europe and Asia?

Eat, Pray, Love

> 10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
> the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
> "supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
> The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
> expedition.

Krakauer

> * Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos

> 1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
> that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
> thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
> segment on their show.

French and Saunders

> 2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
> the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
> They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
> later via several albums and tours.

Garfunkel and Oates

> 3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
> and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
> and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
> Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
> pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
> an Academy Award.

Key and Peele

> 4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
> can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
> the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

Statler and Waldorf

> 8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
> Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
> collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
> had celebrated careers on their own.

Fry and Laurie

> 10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
> 1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
> '62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
> Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
> amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
> The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
> Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.

Nichols and May

--
_______________________________________________________________________
Dan Blum tool@panix.com
"I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't just made it up."

On Monday, December 4, 2023 at 6:08:04 AM UTC-6, Mark Brader wrote:

> * Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing
>
> 2. Who is the author of the book-club favorite "Wild"? It describes
> her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of personal
> emotional turmoil, and was later made into a 2014 movie of the
> same name starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.

Strayed

> 6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
> Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
> Holy Land.

Twain
> 7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
> a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
> Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
> language.

Bryson

> 8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
> travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
> Europe and Asia?

"Eat, Pray, Love"

> 9. Who was the Welsh travel writer who accompanied Hillary and
> Norgay's successful Mt. Everest expedition as a journalist;
> wrote more than 20 travel books, including several on Venice;
> and in a 1974 memoir detailed her gender transition?

Morris

> 10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
> the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
> "supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
> The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
> expedition.

Krakauer

> * Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos
>
> In each case, give the professional name of the comedy duo we
> describe. Usually, but not always, they are named after their
> two members, and if so, you may give the names in either order --
> for example, "Boyd and Brader" or "Brader and Boyd".
>
> 1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
> that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
> thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
> segment on their show.

French & Saunders
> 2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
> the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
> They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
> later via several albums and tours.

Garfunkel & Oates

> 3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
> and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
> and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
> Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
> pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
> an Academy Award.

Key & Peele

> 4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
> can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
> the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

Statler & Waldorf

> 5. This New Zealand musical comedy group progressed from live acts
> to a BBC radio show and eventually an HBO series that ran from
> 2007 to 2009. They once described themselves as a "guitar-based
> digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Here we want
> the name of the act, not the two people involved.

Flight of the Conchords

> 7. This British duo weren't really a pair outside of their
> eponymous BBC TV show that ran on and off from 1971 to '87. One
> thing that contrasted them was their 8-inch height difference,
> although neither one was especially tall; what didn't contrast
> was their first names. Name the show and you'll name the duo,
> and that's the answer we want.

The Two Ronnies
> 8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
> Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
> collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
> had celebrated careers on their own.

Fry & Laurie

> 10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
> 1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
> '62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
> Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
> amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
> The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
> Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.

Nichols & May

--
Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com

On 12/4/23 04:07, Mark Brader wrote:
>
>
> * Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing
>
> 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?
>
> 2. Who is the author of the book-club favorite "Wild"? It describes
> her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of personal
> emotional turmoil, and was later made into a 2014 movie of the
> same name starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.
>
> 3. In the 1970s Robyn Davidson, of Australia, set out to make a
> thousands-of-kilometers-long trek across the outback, accompanied
> by camels, because... Because camels, we guess. Her 1980 book
> about her experiences was made into a 2013 movie starring Mia
> Wasikowska ["VUSH-uh-KOF-skuh"] and Adam Driver. The book and
> movie had the same title; name it.
>
> 4. A friend and collaborator of Paul Theroux was also a novelist and
> travel writer, with a less voluminous output as he died of AIDS
> in 1989 at age 49. Among his travel works are "The Songlines",
> which focuses on Aboriginal Australians, and "In Patagonia".
> Name him.
>
> 5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
> eventually published more than a century after they were
> written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
> Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
> happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
> years after 1850, not 1987.
>
> 6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
> Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
> Holy Land.

Mark Twain

>
> 7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
> a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
> Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
> language.

Bryson

>
> 8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
> travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
> Europe and Asia?
>
> 9. Who was the Welsh travel writer who accompanied Hillary and
> Norgay's successful Mt. Everest expedition as a journalist;
> wrote more than 20 travel books, including several on Venice;
> and in a 1974 memoir detailed her gender transition?
>
> 10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
> the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
> "supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
> The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
> expedition.
>
>
> * Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos
>
> In each case, give the professional name of the comedy duo we
> describe. Usually, but not always, they are named after their
> two members, and if so, you may give the names in either order --
> for example, "Boyd and Brader" or "Brader and Boyd".
>
> 1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
> that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
> thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
> segment on their show.
>
> 2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
> the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
> They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
> later via several albums and tours.
>
> 3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
> and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
> and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
> Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
> pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
> an Academy Award.
>
> 4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
> can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
> the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

Waldorf and Statler

>
> 5. This New Zealand musical comedy group progressed from live acts
> to a BBC radio show and eventually an HBO series that ran from
> 2007 to 2009. They once described themselves as a "guitar-based
> digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Here we want
> the name of the act, not the two people involved.
>
> 6. This duo met in Grade 1, wrote a screenplay together at 14,
> both studied engineering and worked in the field, which
> they left to pursue Christian ministry with comic aspects.
> Eventually their comedy moved on to non-religious themes and
> they are known for the YouTube series "Good Mythical Morning"
> as well as podcasts, a novel, and musical comedy albums.
> First names, please.
>
> 7. This British duo weren't really a pair outside of their
> eponymous BBC TV show that ran on and off from 1971 to '87. One
> thing that contrasted them was their 8-inch height difference,
> although neither one was especially tall; what didn't contrast
> was their first names. Name the show and you'll name the duo,
> and that's the answer we want.
>
> 8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
> Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
> collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
> had celebrated careers on their own.
>
> 9. Who are the originators and stars of the US sitcom "Broad City",
> originally a web series and later on Comedy Central between
> 2014 and 2019? First names only -- they're the same as those
> of their fictional alter egos, though the surnames differ.
>
> 10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
> 1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
> '62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
> Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
> amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
> The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
> Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.
>

--
Dan Tilque

Mark Brader wrote:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2023-10-30,
> and should be interpreted accordingly.
>
> On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give
> both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.
> Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,
> based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote
> the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal
> the correct answers in about 3 days.
>
> All questions were written by members of the Usual Suspects and
> are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have
> been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of
> current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting
> of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24
> companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition
> (QFTCI*)".
>
>
> I did not write either of these rounds.
>
>
> * Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing
>
> 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?

Michener

>
> 2. Who is the author of the book-club favorite "Wild"? It describes
> her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of personal
> emotional turmoil, and was later made into a 2014 movie of the
> same name starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.
>
> 3. In the 1970s Robyn Davidson, of Australia, set out to make a
> thousands-of-kilometers-long trek across the outback, accompanied
> by camels, because... Because camels, we guess. Her 1980 book
> about her experiences was made into a 2013 movie starring Mia
> Wasikowska ["VUSH-uh-KOF-skuh"] and Adam Driver. The book and
> movie had the same title; name it.
>
> 4. A friend and collaborator of Paul Theroux was also a novelist and
> travel writer, with a less voluminous output as he died of AIDS
> in 1989 at age 49. Among his travel works are "The Songlines",
> which focuses on Aboriginal Australians, and "In Patagonia".
> Name him.
>
> 5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
> eventually published more than a century after they were
> written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
> Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
> happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
> years after 1850, not 1987.
>
> 6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
> Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
> Holy Land.
>
> 7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
> a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
> Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
> language.
>
> 8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
> travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
> Europe and Asia?
>
> 9. Who was the Welsh travel writer who accompanied Hillary and
> Norgay's successful Mt. Everest expedition as a journalist;
> wrote more than 20 travel books, including several on Venice;
> and in a 1974 memoir detailed her gender transition?
>
> 10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
> the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
> "supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
> The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
> expedition.

Krakauer

>
>
> * Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos
>
> In each case, give the professional name of the comedy duo we
> describe. Usually, but not always, they are named after their
> two members, and if so, you may give the names in either order --
> for example, "Boyd and Brader" or "Brader and Boyd".
>
> 1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
> that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
> thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
> segment on their show.

Morecambe and Wise

>
> 2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
> the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
> They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
> later via several albums and tours.
>
> 3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
> and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
> and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
> Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
> pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
> an Academy Award.

Key and Peele

>
> 4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
> can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
> the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

Statler and Waldorf

>
> 5. This New Zealand musical comedy group progressed from live acts
> to a BBC radio show and eventually an HBO series that ran from
> 2007 to 2009. They once described themselves as a "guitar-based
> digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Here we want
> the name of the act, not the two people involved.
>
> 6. This duo met in Grade 1, wrote a screenplay together at 14,
> both studied engineering and worked in the field, which
> they left to pursue Christian ministry with comic aspects.
> Eventually their comedy moved on to non-religious themes and
> they are known for the YouTube series "Good Mythical Morning"
> as well as podcasts, a novel, and musical comedy albums.
> First names, please.
>
> 7. This British duo weren't really a pair outside of their
> eponymous BBC TV show that ran on and off from 1971 to '87. One
> thing that contrasted them was their 8-inch height difference,
> although neither one was especially tall; what didn't contrast
> was their first names. Name the show and you'll name the duo,
> and that's the answer we want.

The Two Ronnies

>
> 8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
> Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
> collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
> had celebrated careers on their own.
>
> 9. Who are the originators and stars of the US sitcom "Broad City",
> originally a web series and later on Comedy Central between
> 2014 and 2019? First names only -- they're the same as those
> of their fictional alter egos, though the surnames differ.
>
> 10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
> 1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
> '62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
> Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
> amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
> The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
> Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.

Nichols and May

>

Pete Gayde

Mark Brader:
> > 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> > many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> > "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?
Erland Sommarskog:
> Gee, that express must be really old! I have travelled in Patagonia,
> and one thing it is not: criss-crossed by railway tracks.

The book came out in 1979, and it was old then. I have no newer
information.

The author set himself the goal of traveling to Esquel, because it
was the southernmost point he could reach by train, although pretty
much nobody he talked to thought it was worthwhile going there.
In Buenos Aires he had a long chat with another author, Jorge
Luis Borges:

| Borges thought a moment, then said: "There is nothing in Patagonia.
| It's not the Sahara, but it's as close as you can get to it in
| Argentina. No, there is nothing in Patagonia."
| | If so, I thought -- if there is really nothing there -- then it
| is the perfect place to end the book.

So he took the Lagos del Sur (Lakes of the South) express, which
goes from Buenos Aires to Bariloche, and got off at 2 AM at Ingeniero
Jacobacci, where he waited several hours for his next train.

| It was an old train, and although by this time I ought to have been
| insured to the strangeness of South American railways, I still found
| it strange. There was a boy across the aisle, watching me yawn.
| | "Does this train have a name?" I asked.
| | "I don't understand."
| | "The train I took to Buenos Aires was called the North Star, and
| the Bariloche express is called the Lakes of the South. The one
| to Mendoza is called the Liberator. That sort of name."
| | He laughed. "This train is too insignificant to have a name.
| The government is talking about getting rid of it."
| | "Isn't it called the Esquel Arrow or something like that?"
| | He shook his head.
| | "Or the Patagonian Express?"
| | "The *Old* Patagonian Express", he said. "But express trains are
| supposed to go very fast."
| | "They never do", I said.
...
| The hills and dales of Patagonia that I had welcomed for their
| variation and their undeniable beauty were the cause of our slow
| progress. On a straight track this trip would not have taken more
| than three hours, but we were not due to arrive in Esquel until
| 8:30 -- nearly a fourteen-hour ride. The hills were not so much
| hills as they were failed soufflés.
| | It was a steam train, and for the firs ttime since leaving home
| I wished I had brought a camera, to take its picture. It was a
| kind of demented samovar on wheels, with iron patches on the boiler
| and leaking pipes on its underside and dribbling valves and metal
| elbows that shot jets of vapor sideways. It was fueled by oil,
| so it did not belch black smoke, but it had bronchial trouble,
| respirating in chokes and gasps on grades and wheezing oddly
| down the slopes when it seemed out of control. It was narrow
| gauge, the small carriages were wooden. First was no cleaner
| than second, although first had higher backrests on the seats.
| The whole contraption creaked, and when it was traveling fast,
| which was seldom, it made such a racket of bumping couplings and
| rattling windows and groaning wood that I had the impression it
| was on the verge of bursting apart -- just blowing into splinters
| and dropping there in one of the dry ravines.

> I guess... but that is based on having read question 4, so absolutely
> no points for me.

Nonsense.

--
Mark Brader, Toronto Premature generalization is
msb@vex.net the square root of all evil.

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Mark Brader (msb@vex.net) writes:
> The author set himself the goal of traveling to Esquel,

Of all places! (Check my email address.)

>| Borges thought a moment, then said: "There is nothing in Patagonia.
>| It's not the Sahara, but it's as close as you can get to it in
>| Argentina. No, there is nothing in Patagonia."

The Patagonian steppe is indeed monotonous. I entered the bus in Río
Gallegos around eight the in evening and reached Trelew early afternoon
the next days, more then 1000 km further north. The landscape looked
more or less the same.

Still, it has sort of a spell on me. I sit on the bus, and I'm completely
fascinated by the most flat land with its short grass, and you see
very few buildings.

> So he took the Lagos del Sur (Lakes of the South) express, which
> goes from Buenos Aires to Bariloche,

I recall that my first guide book for Argeintia mentioned that there was a
railway to Barlioche, but like most other railways that had been privatised,
passenger traffic had been discontinued. Only the freight transport
was of commercial interest.

Mark Brader:
> These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2023-10-30,
> and should be interpreted accordingly... For further information
> please see my 2023-05-24 companion posting on "Questions from the
> Canadian Inquisition (QFTCI*)".

> I did not write either of these rounds.

> * Game 6, Round 2 - Literature - Travel Writing

> 1. Who is the prolific American novelist who has also written
> many travel books, often detailing long train journeys, such as
> "The Old Patagonian Express" and "The Great Railway Bazaar"?

Paul Theroux [th as in "thin", silent X]. 4 for Erland and Dan Blum.

> 2. Who is the author of the book-club favorite "Wild"? It describes
> her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail in the wake of personal
> emotional turmoil, and was later made into a 2014 movie of the
> same name starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.

Cheryl Strayed. 4 for Joshua.

> 3. In the 1970s Robyn Davidson, of Australia, set out to make a
> thousands-of-kilometers-long trek across the outback, accompanied
> by camels, because... Because camels, we guess. Her 1980 book
> about her experiences was made into a 2013 movie starring Mia
> Wasikowska ["VUSH-uh-KOF-skuh"] and Adam Driver. The book and
> movie had the same title; name it.

"Tracks".

> 4. A friend and collaborator of Paul Theroux was also a novelist and
> travel writer, with a less voluminous output as he died of AIDS
> in 1989 at age 49. Among his travel works are "The Songlines",
> which focuses on Aboriginal Australians, and "In Patagonia".
> Name him.

Bruce Chatwin.

> 5. Who is the pioneering Englishwoman whose many letters home were
> eventually published more than a century after they were
> written, in 1987, as "Letters from Egypt: A Journey on the
> Nile 1849-1850"? The events that brought her lasting fame
> happened a few years later. Er, that is, she got famous a few
> years after 1850, not 1987.

Florence Nightingale. 4 for Erland and Dan Blum.

> 6. Name the protean American author who wrote the 1869 book "The
> Innocents Abroad", a sardonic account of a sea voyage to the
> Holy Land.

Mark Twain. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.

> 7. Who is the American and adopted Briton who wrote "Notes From
> a Small Island", about his second home, and "In a Sunburned
> Country", about Australia? He also dabbles in books about
> language.

Bill Bryson. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Dan Tilque.

> 8. What's the title of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling post-divorce
> travelogue, focusing on food, spirituality, and romance in
> Europe and Asia?

"Eat, Pray, Love". 4 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

> 9. Who was the Welsh travel writer who accompanied Hillary and
> Norgay's successful Mt. Everest expedition as a journalist;
> wrote more than 20 travel books, including several on Venice;
> and in a 1974 memoir detailed her gender transition?

Jan Morris. (Accepting James Morris, although she might not be
happy about that.) 4 for Joshua.

> 10. Name the American adventure travel writer whose book "Into
> the Wild" chronicles the wanderings of a young self-described
> "supertramp", culminating in his death, probably from starvation.
> The same author's "Into Thin Air" details a disastrous Everest
> expedition.

Jon Krakauer. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Pete.

> * Game 6, Round 3 - Entertainment - Comedy Duos

> In each case, give the professional name of the comedy duo we
> describe. Usually, but not always, they are named after their
> two members, and if so, you may give the names in either order --
> for example, "Boyd and Brader" or "Brader and Boyd".

> 1. This British pair starred in an eponymous sketch comedy series
> that ran regularly between 1987 and '93 and sporadically
> thereafter. The sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" grew out of a
> segment on their show.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. 4 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

> 2. These comedians-slash-folk-musicians named their act after
> the perceived second bananas in two well-known musical duos.
> They have been active since 2007 -- originally on Youtube and
> later via several albums and tours.

Garfunkel and Oates. (Real names Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci.)
4 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

> 3. This duo had a five-season run on Comedy Central between 2012
> and 2015. Their comedy often touches on American race relations
> and black culture. Two of their recurring characters are
> Barack Obama and his "anger translator" Luther. One of the
> pair has become a director of inventive horror films and won
> an Academy Award.

Michael Key and Jordan Peele. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Pete.

> 4. Okay, this next pair are not actually real people. What else
> can we say except that they're the two heckling old farts in
> the balcony on the "Muppet Show"?

Statler and Waldorf. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, Dan Tilque, and Pete.

> 5. This New Zealand musical comedy group progressed from live acts
> to a BBC radio show and eventually an HBO series that ran from
> 2007 to 2009. They once described themselves as a "guitar-based
> digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo". Here we want
> the name of the act, not the two people involved.

Flight of the Conchords. (Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement.)
4 for Joshua.

> 6. This duo met in Grade 1, wrote a screenplay together at 14,
> both studied engineering and worked in the field, which
> they left to pursue Christian ministry with comic aspects.
> Eventually their comedy moved on to non-religious themes and
> they are known for the YouTube series "Good Mythical Morning"
> as well as podcasts, a novel, and musical comedy albums.
> First names, please.

Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal.

> 7. This British duo weren't really a pair outside of their
> eponymous BBC TV show that ran on and off from 1971 to '87. One
> thing that contrasted them was their 8-inch height difference,
> although neither one was especially tall; what didn't contrast
> was their first names. Name the show and you'll name the duo,
> and that's the answer we want.

"The Two Ronnies". (Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.) 4 for Joshua
and Pete.

> 8. This other British duo met when they were introduced by
> Emma Thompson while at Cambridge University. Their best-known
> collaboration is the TV series "Jeeves and Wooster". Both have
> had celebrated careers on their own.

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. 4 for Dan Blum and Joshua.

> 9. Who are the originators and stars of the US sitcom "Broad City",
> originally a web series and later on Comedy Central between
> 2014 and 2019? First names only -- they're the same as those
> of their fictional alter egos, though the surnames differ.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer.

> 10. This classic pair met at the University of Chicago in the early
> 1950s and did improv together for about four years from 1958 to
> '62, including three top 40 albums (one a Grammy winner) and a
> Broadway show that ran for over 300 performances. They split
> amicably when their professional interests turned elsewhere.
> The man turned to theater, TV, and movie directing, winning
> Tonys, Emmys, and an Oscar; the woman mostly became a writer.

Mike Nichols and Elaine May. 4 for Dan Blum, Joshua, and Pete.

Scores, if there are no errors:

GAME 6 ROUNDS-> 2 3 TOTALS
TOPICS-> Lit Ent
Joshua Kreitzer 24 32 56
Dan Blum 24 24 48
Pete Gayde 4 16 20
Dan Tilque 8 4 12
Erland Sommarskog 8 0 8

--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "group this in post-top usually don't we"
msb@vex.net | -- Mike Lyle

My text in this article is in the public domain.