Baron Dave Romm
Quiz Stomping 2
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Not just for Facebook anymore
Little quizzes, sometimes misnamed "memes", were popping up in LiveJournal posts. Some were okay, most were ignorable. When I first started on Facebook late last year, some were around. But too many sites made it too easy to make your own quizzes, and most were either poorly written or just not very revealing. Not, in and of itself, a bad thing. But Facebook is far more insistently viral than LiveJournal, and various quizzes and challenges pop up in annoying places. As they became harder to ignore, they got under my skin.
Making up fake quizzes, and providing fake answers to fake quizzes, was more fun than actually taking the challenges and quizzes presented. So there.
Those of you who follow me on Facebook or read my LiveJournal already have seen these in some form. Enjoy again.
Perhaps these should go viral. Feel free to spread them (or your variants) around.
Quiz Stomping
Baron Dave Romm...
... took the quiz, "What's your favorite color of Smurf" with the result being "Blue".
... five favorite directions: North, West, Up, Left, Thataway
... five favorite Disney dwarves: Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy
... refused to take the quiz "Which Political Party best suits you" because he knows the answer: Howard the Duck's All Night Party.
... was challenged to see how long he would last as a vampire on Buffy, with the result being 2 minutes.
... took the quiz "Angel Or Demon?" with the result of DaVinci.
... took the challenge "How Many Impossible Things Can You Believe Before Breakfast?" and initially scored a Five, but then found out Dick Cheney was real.
... responded to "How Well Do You Know the Unknown Solider" with "We Hardly Knew Ye". [Memorial Day edition]
... continues to wonder where in the world is Carmen Sandiego.
... just completed the quiz "Which Word That Is Not Allowed On Facebook Do You Use Most Often" with the result being ****.
... took the challenge, "Will You Finish This Quiz?" and
... took the quiz "Marco" with the result "Polo".
... completed the Quiz "What's Your Zen IQ" with the result that he needs both hands to clap.
... got a high score of $50 billion in Pyramid Scheme.
... took the quiz "Who's Imaginary Friend Are You?" with the result of Adam Selene. [too geeky for most of my FB friends, alas]
... 5 Things I Have Forgotten: Um. Er. Let's See. Uh yeah. No that's not it
... took the quiz "Who Can Prevent Forest Fires?" with the result "Only You".
... for one brief, terrible yet glorious moment, forgot the Alamo.
... responded to "A Mouse" with "Eek!"
... took the quiz "Peanut sitting on a railroad track/his heart was all a-flutter/along came the 6:15/Toot Toot" with the result of "Peanut Butter".
... is writing the prequel to his autobiography.
... took the quiz, "Which Hit by Lipps, Inc. Are You?" with the result being "Funkytown".
... congratulates Archie and Veronica on their upcoming nuptials. Oh, Betty, we're so sorry, but it's been 68 years, you should have put out. A guy has needs.
... five unanswered questions about Rumpelstiltskin: How can he spin straw into gold? How can he get into and out of the castle unobserved? Why does he sing a song about his name? What makes him think he'd ba a good parent? Why does a guy who can spin straw into gold live in abject poverty in the woods? [send your answers to Marty]
... is so vain, he probably thinks this song is about him.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Reader Contribution
Butterfly on a Pinion
Hey Marty -
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jon Stewart Destroys Cheney (and the National Press Club for Good Measure)
"Daily Show" calls out Cheney for blaming 9/11 on Richard Clarke.
FROMA HARROP: "Motown Wonders: Where Did Our Love Go?" (creators.com)
The alternative to a government rescue of General Motors is the collapse of the industrial Midwest. Nonetheless, there's been a surprisingly large amount of dumping on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The government-sponsored deal seems to have stirred up resentments for every ideology.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Imperfect Moments (creators.com)
I have hated graduations for most of my life.
Hugo Rifkind: A most bizarre encounter with Marilyn Manson (timesonline.co.uk)
A friendly, forthcoming Marilyn Manson, conspicuous by his absinthe, talks about loose women, drugs and role models.
20 Questions: Starsailor (popmatters.com)
The UK's Starsailor recently released their fourth album All the Plans and have been touring the new music. In between, lead singer James Walsh answered our 20 Questions.
Mary Hopkin: Those were the days? Not for me (timesonline.co.uk)
Th singer shot to fame in the glitz of the Swinging Sixties. But she is much happier now, she tells Alan Franks.
Marina Hyde: Has Satan got his eye on the Jonas boys? (guardian.co.uk)
It seems even the Jonas Brothers are not protected by an unbreachable sexual cordon sanitaire.
Jan Swafford: This American Composer (slate.com)
Why you should listen to Charles Ives.
The ones that got away (guardian.co.uk)
What makes someone walk out on their bandmates at the very height of their success? Dave Simpson talks to four musicians who turned their backs on money and fame.
Lawrence Bender: Remembering David Carradine (huffingtonpost.com)
One of the most wonderful memories I have of David is from the first day of training for Kill Bill. Watching him practice with his sword, and I couldn't help but think: I'm watching the TV show Kung Fu... only live and in person!
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Joey and Jett
Whipped and Fallen?
The Weekly Poll
The 'Reality... What a Concept' Edition
Do you watch 'Reality' TV programs?
A.) Yes! I love(d) ______ and never miss(ed) an episode. If'n ya don't like that, Go Suck an Egg, ya snobby Nova luvin' elitist, you...
B.) No! They're the ultimate examples of the "vast intellectual wasteland" that TV programming has become (other than, My Mother the Car, that is) and those that do are First Class Rubes and should be shamed accordingly...
C.) I invoke my rights under the 5th Amendment (hand me the TV Guide, would ya?)
Okay, Okay... There're shades of gray to be considered here, I'll admit... Feel free to eelishly slither betwixt the choices, if'n ya must, to make a reply yer com-FORT-able with... Jeesh! You'd think I was asking about Supreme Court nominees, or sumpthin'...
Send your response to
Results tomorrow
said:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny but cool.
12 Years
Lee & Ling
North Korea's top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
The North's Central Court tried TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee during proceedings running from last Thursday to Monday and found them guilty of a "grave crime" against the nation, and of illegally crossing into North Korea, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
By sentencing them to prison, North Korea has "paved the way for a political pardon and a diplomatic solution," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
He noted that a pardon can only be issued after a conviction and that the regime's courts were not about to find the reporters innocent, which would imply they were wrongly arrested.
Lee & Ling
Charity Fundraisers
'Slumdog' Kids
The Indian child stars of the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" wowed Hong Kong with a taste of Bollywood over the weekend, performing a dance number on live TV that raised more than $100,000 US for charity and singing to cheering fans at a shopping mall.
Ayush Khedekar, Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali danced to the movie's hit song "Jai Ho" at a fundraising TV show late Saturday, sometimes moving out of synch with the adult dancers, but they were warmly applauded.
Community Chest publicist Louie Tong said the charity is covering the children's travel expenses and lodging at a luxury hotel, but it is only paying them a small honorarium. She would not reveal the amount.
"Slumdog Millionaire" won Oscars for best picture and best director, among others, and made more than $350 million worldwide.
'Slumdog' Kids
The Great Canadian Tune
"Helpless"
The sound of hundreds of guitars strumming Neil Young's "Helpless" in unison rang out through the heart of Canada's largest city Saturday, as musicians attempted to break the world record for largest guitar ensemble.
In the end, "The Great Canadian Tune" performance at Yonge and Dundas square fell about 200 players short of the previous Guinness World Record, held by a town in Germany that saw 1,802 guitarists take part in a performance of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" in 2007. Guinness officials were on hand to verify the results, but had to break the news to the crowd that the final count was 1,623.
The chance to bond with fellow guitar enthusiasts seemed as much of an attraction as the record itself. "We thought it sounded like a lot of fun," said Jennifer Bryan, who was there with a group of girlfriends.
The song selection of "Helpless" won an online poll conducted by the Luminato arts festival, which organized the event.
"Helpless"
Gainesville Names Plaza
Bo Diddley
Officials in Gainesville have renamed the city's downtown plaza after rock 'n' roll legend and former Florida resident Bo Diddley.
Diddley died in June 2008. Officials honored him Friday by unveiling a mural and renaming the downtown space the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. Diddley lived in Archer, a few miles southwest of Gainesville, and played at the plaza in 2006.
Diddley's grandson Garry Mitchell thanked the city at the ceremony, and he and other family members gave city officials one of Diddley's guitars.
"Gainesville's been really good to my granddad," Mitchell said. "Thank you for your encouragement and your prayers. Long live Rock and Roll!"
Bo Diddley
Unveils Mural At UN In Geneva
Hans Erni
Swiss artist Hans Erni at age 100 unveiled one of his largest works Saturday - a massive mural on the outside wall of the United Nations compound in Geneva.
The irrepressible Erni, who has long outlived 20th-century artist friends like Pablo Picasso, had to cover up some of the muscular nudes in his mural after concerns were expressed in Geneva that his original design might shock some viewers, UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze said.
Erni pointed out to Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey that the 60-metre long mural features a line drawing of one of his favourite symbols, the dove of peace.
The predominantly blue mural is made up of hundreds of weatherproof ceramic tiles, which were created according to Erni's design and then assembled and glued in place.
Hans Erni
Posers Not Hustlers
Rappers
Rick Ross sold hit albums rapping about selling crack cocaine but a revelation that he once worked as a prison guard threatened to end his career.
For a rapper cultivating a bad-boy image, a uniform put him on the wrong side of the law.
U.S. rappers often sell songs about drugs and guns based on "real-life" stories, but increasingly some of those stories are being exposed as embellishments aimed at helping them build successful careers, experts say.
"Some of the stories are fabricated and some of it is reality, and what they are doing is mixing the two," music executive Devyne Stephens said. "When you say you shot and killed somebody and you put it on a CD, nine times out of 10, you really didn't shoot and kill anybody."
Rappers
Goes To The Movies
Riyadh
They only had a few hours' notice, but a few hundred Saudis braved a small band of religious hardliners to take part in a historic event on Saturday night: the first public showing of a commercial film in decades in the Saudi capital.
With bags of salty popcorn and soft drinks in their laps, the men-only crowd of more than 300 in Riyadh's huge King Fahd Cultural Centre cheered, whistled and clapped when the first scenes of the Saudi-made "Menahi" hit the screen and the film's score erupted in surround sound.
Police at the venue had to fend off a small band of conservative Muslims who warned that films were bringing disasters on the country, citing a recent series of minor earthquakes in western Saudi Arabia.
"Menahi", a comedy about a Saudi country bumpkin getting lost in the big city, was shown in December to huge crowds in the relatively free-wheeling Red Sea city of Jeddah.
Riyadh
Tiananmen Artist
Chen Guang
An eerie realism permeates Chen Guang's oil paintings of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, for he was one of the first soldiers to arrive in the square on the night China's democratic hopes were crushed.
Now a member of Beijing's alternative art scene, 37-year-old Chen's hair is greying, but he is determined to pass his recollections on, giving rare testimony of the event from a soldier's perspective.
"My friends, my family, my army buddies, all tell me not to touch this subject. That's how sensitive it is," he said.
In the week that the 20th anniversary passed without incident in China, a chain-smoking Chen described what the traumatic event felt like for a scared 17-year-old who had spent only a few months in uniform.
Chen Guang
Romanticizing Torture
Footbinding
A Taiwanese doctor who collects artefacts of the ancient Chinese practice of footbinding has drawn criticism from feminists who say he is romanticising a tradition that suppressed women for a thousand years.
David Ko has spent the past 30 years collecting the tiny colourful shoes that Chinese women wore during the 1,000 years they were forced to have their feet broken and bent in half for the sake of fashion, beauty and sex.
He insists the practice -- which inflicted a lifetime of pain -- was a romantic fashion that continues to inspire modern trends.
The practice, which deformed women's feet into a shape known as a "three-inch lotus," endured until early last century, when the imperial era ended and China became a republic.
Footbinding
Weekend Box Office
'Up'
Two live-action comedies were unable to bring down the animated adventure "Up." Disney and Pixar Animation's "Up" reeled in $44.2 million to remain on top of the box office for the second weekend in a row, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Warner Bros. bachelor-bash comedy "The Hangover" came in a close second with a $43.3 million debut. Will Ferrell's action comedy for Universal, "Land of the Lost," had to settle for a distant third with a $19.5 million opening.
For the year, Hollywood has taken in $4.3 billion, up 12.5 percent from 2008 revenues. But studios have been unable to maintain the red-hot pace of the year's first four months.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Up," $44.2 million.
2. "The Hangover," $43.3 million.
3. "Land of the Lost," $19.5 million.
4. "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," $14.7 million.
5. "Star Trek," $8.4 million.
6. "Terminator Salvation," $8.2 million.
7. "Drag Me to Hell," $7.3 million.
8. "Angels & Demons," $6.5 million.
9. "My Life in Ruins," $3.2 million.
10. "Dance Flick," $2 million.
'Up'
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