I have no recollection of the events way back on the 8th, but here are some pictures anyway.

In third place, we have this crew, Paddy O'Furniture.

I like the puppy dog eyes on the guy on the far left.  He must like video games, since I'm standing in front of two of them, and he sure isn't giving me that look.

In second place, here are our old friends 2nd 1/2.

I sure hope that they enjoyed their trip to the Golf Show.  I know they enjoyed their meal.

In first place, for the first time in a while, Spoken Like a True Wildman!

A little shorthanded, but they still managed to come out on top.

Here's last night's action.  I forgot my camera, so a nice trivianaut loaned my his, which was very nice, but if the camera has red-eye corrrection, it wasn't on.  No matter; thanks Cyrus, I owe you a beer!

In third place, surviving a three-team tiebreaker, I give you the husband and wife team, Hunting Dragons (or something like that -- I lost the scoresheet).

I was woefully unprepared for the tiebreaker last night, so I reached into the big bowl of mints at the front desk and challenged the three teams to guess how many mints I was holding.  Tres lame, I know, but it got the job done.  They guessed 49, and I had 52.

In second place, with 92 points, is this bunch, whose team name I cannot for the life of me remember.  That's okay, though, because they couldn't remember it last night either.

That's a box of Finnegan's Irish amber glasses, for a job well done.

In first place, for the first time, here's Slytherer (or something like that).

Oddly, when I asked what school left in the NCAA tournament was located in East Lansing, this bunch knew.  I wonder why?

Thanks for playing, everyone, and we'll see you on the 29th!

See you on the 22nd!

First things first.  Do not argue with your friendly MC unless you have ironclad proof that you know what you are talking about.  On the 22nd, our picture round was Hitchcock films.  Here's picture #1.

The correct answer for this is Strangers on a Train.  After the round had passed and I had given the answers, a woman at the bar told me that I was wrong, that the correct answer was Rope.  I disagreed with her.  She then explained the point of Rope (an explanation that wasn't required, since I've seen both films) and said that she owned a Hitchcock collection and that she was right and I was wrong.

I showed her where I found the picture; it was from an on-line syllabus for a film study class or something like that, a reference that would make me realize the error of my ways, if it were presented to me.  No matter, she was right and I wasn't.

I had to break off the discussion at that point, since I had a quiz to finish, but look at this picture.  Yes, Farley Granger is in Rope, but he's also in Strangers on a Train.  Rope is set in a high-rise apartment and never leaves that room.  Look out that window.  Is that the view from a high rise?  Not likely.  In fact, that really looks like the view from tha dining car of a train.  In short, if you are going to question your friendly quizmaster, back it up or shut up!

On a happier note last week, a group was in for a birthday celebration, and they were having fun and eating homemade cupcakes.  After I gave them some (good-natured) grief for not having enough for me, they offered me one.  It was very good.  So, Happy Birthday, Caitlin!  Even though I'm a week late.

Caitlin's the third from the left.  This group returned this week, so they must have had a good time.  They also suggested that there might be cookies in my future.  If they keep bringing me sweets, I might get fat!  Oh, wait...

On with the recap from 2-22.  In third place we have our old pals, Paddy O'Furniture.

A really nice bunch of guys who never forget what's important.  Namely, pizza and beer.

In second place, here's Olympic Crush on Katherine Reutter. 

Nice team name, nice person to be crushing on.  Did you see what she did after the games?  She said that she was going to give her Olympic medal bonuses to her parents, for all they did for her.  What a sweetheart.

In first place, with about 98 points, Vomicorns!

I may be the worst photographer on the planet.  Thanks for sticking around for the picture this week, folks!

Now for an abbreviated recap for 3-1.  I made things pretty difficult for everyone this week -- the picture round was really tricky, as was the Harrison Ford quotation round.  So sue me!  If you got everything right, how much fun would that be?

I didn't have my good camera last night, and I was going to pass on the pictures, but our 3rd place team, Little Lebowski Urban Achievers, bitterly complained.  "We never win at the 331, and now our picture won't be taken here?  No fair!"  Alright, here's your picture.  Inept photographer + Crappy phone cam = this.

And this was the good shot!  This group was new to our quiz, and I think they enjoyed themselves.

In 2nd, with 81 points, we had Paddy O'Furniture and in 1st, with 85 points, we had Vomicorns.  You can gaze on their lovely visages above, though they both had team members AWOL this week.

As for next week, you need to get to 2626 Hennepin S. and knock off these top two teams!  Do it!

My best moment of the night was when a couple of young women swore at me and told me that the quiz was too obscure and too hard.  That always brings warm fuzzies to my head.  On the off chance that you remember what website to look at for this recap, thanks ladies!

I didn't think that things were going to be particularly difficult, and I was right, at least in the case of the top three teams.

In 3rd place, proving that, for team size at least, bigger isn't always better, with 93 points, Paddy O'Furniture.

Alas, they didn't know their star-crossed lovers.  So very sad.

In second place, with 95 points, Vomicorns.

These are but two of the four members of this team that is relatively fresh to our proceedings.  The other two had to skate quickly because they had to "get up in the morning".  I have never encountered such a lame excuse in my life.  I think I might need a note from their Mother.  To demonstrate what their team name signified, they drew me a picture of a puking unicorn.  If we awarded extra credit, they might get some -- or they might get points taken away.  It's both funny and disturbing.

In first place, with 106 big points, Slab City!

This is another group of relative newcomers to the proceedings, proof that I don't play favorites.  They took the unusual step of bonusing their first round, something that makes me think that they've been keylogging my computer.  Oh, well, time for my deviousness to ratchet up a notch or two.

See you all next Monday for the last quiz of February!

I only missed all football season.  I've been busy!

Last night, we had 10 stalwart teams braving the snow and a particularly nasty quiz.  I think everyone had fun, but I can never be sure.  Holding your head in your hands while being asked a question is indicative of fun, right?

I also tried a little experiment, and went acoustic, since it looked like a light turnout.  I can assure you htat I'll never work without a speaker again.  Thanks to all for putting up with my nonsense.

In third place, after losing a tiebreaker, with 84 points, here's Spoken Like a True Wildman.

Guys, next time you need to flip the gift card right side up, so we can see what you've won.  Apparently, these three never buy produce -- if they had just two more correct answers on the Fruit Varieties round, they would have won.

In second place, after winning a tiebreaker, with 84 points, here's Oh, Crap, a Name.

The tiebreaker question was how far is the driving distance from 2626 Hennepin Ave. to 201 Duval St., Key West, FL, which is the address of Sloppy Joe's.  These guys guessed 1700 miles, and the answer, according to Google Maps, is 1,947, which seems a bit high to me.  If these guys had known a bit more about how many people are in bands, they might well have prevailed.

Our winners on this evening, with a mere 86 points, are Paddy O'Furniture.

Sorry about the breathtakingly poorly composed photo here.  Thanks for holding up the picture round, guys!

We'll be back next Monday Night with more fun and games, complete with a microphone and a speaker!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

In third place, with 80 points (I think), was Connect Four (-1).

Yeah, the camera phone just doesn't cut it.  This group was pleasantly surprised to finish in the top three, but they were solid, if unspectacular, throughout.

In second place, after losing a tiebreaker, with 86 points -- our old friends, the Booze Brothers.

Wait -- the Booze Brothers have a sister?  Who knew?  They admitted to being confounded, but they really enjoyed the degree of difficulty we had this evening.  These guys are so rarely confounded, that I will point to this night with pride.

In first place, also with 86 points, the duo known as 2 1/2!

It took me a while to get a picture that was barely acceptable of these two, who are now off their usual schedule of one week on, one week off.  BTW, the tiebreaker question this week was, "How many miles were ridden in the 2009 Tour de France?"  These two were closer to 2,149, so they won.  See how that works?

Either Clare or Caylie will be hosting next week, since I have a very important function that I cannot miss.  I could probably make it to host, but you wouldn't be able to understand a word I say, so I best stay away.  Thanks to all who participated this week!

First, allow me to introduce our scorekeeper, Sonja.  As long as she hosts on Monday nights, she'll be grading and scoring, so be nice to her!

I love contrived poses, don't you?

Here's our newest member to our writing reading team, Caylia!  (The "a" is silent)

She's proudly holding her first contribution, last night's picture round.  She's really pumped about getting on board and we're equally as pumped to have her lending a hand.  Rest assured, I'll be instructing her in the ways of trivia misdirection and obfuscation in the future.

Here are your weekly winners.  In third place, after winning a tiebreaker, with 98 points, here's Suck it Apollo 10!

They won the tiebreaker by being closer with a guess about how far it is from the earth to the moon -- it's about 238,000 miles and they guessed 270,000.  They were solid all the way around last night.  It's always good to see this group do well as they have been long-time supporters of the quiz.

In second, with 100 points, are the newcomers, Exit, Pursued by a Bear.

I cannot express how awesome that team name is.  Huge props to these guys for that.  They should go out and herd awesome with Nick Swisher.  Not coincidentially, I'm sure, they were perfect on their literary murder victims, but movie soundtracks kept them in second place.

In first place, with 102 points, it's Connect Four!

After finishing in second for the last couple of weeks, they were elated to take down the first prize.  They look kind of relieved as well, don't you think?  If it wasn't for their lack of knowledge of all things Apollo 11, they would have cruised to victory, instead of keeping it so close.

Thanks to all for playing and we'll see you next week!

In third place, after a tiebreaker win, with 100 points, here's DJ Zalk.

Okay, I spent a lot of money on this damn camera.  Why hast thou forsaken me, auto-focus?  This is a group of regular customers who have never sampled our trivia night.  Well, except for the guy in the cap, who is apparently the DJ Zalk in question.  They were closest on the tiebreaker question, which was, "How long was it between World Series wins for the Red Sox in 2004?"  They also did quite well on the picture round.

In second place, with 104 points, here's Discovery69.

My alternative name for this group would have to be Strength in Numbers.  This crowd has swelled from their usual team, but what the hey.  The more the merrier, I guess, although with that much brain power they should be figuring out answers for more weighty questions than discounts for cyclists at brothels in Berlin.  I have to give props for the Royals T-shirt, though.

In first place, with 108 points, are the newcomers known as Pig Floyd.

See, this is disappointing, because you don't get the payoff for the team name in the picture.  The woman in the burgundy hoodie is wearing a t-shirt that features a pink pig with "Pink Floyd" written underneath.  I guess the A/C was cranked too high.  Their mastery of the subtle differences between Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson is what pushed them over the top.  As an addendum to that, I'm pretty sure that that last sentence is the only place in the whole wide blogosphere where the word "subtle" is used in connection with "Peter Griffin" and "Homer Simpson".  I'm not going to waste time Googling it, though.

See you next week.  If you haven't figured me out by now, one of the categories I'm hatching for that quiz should give you a window to my twisted soul.  Be there!

Anyway, we had 11 teams make it until the end (surprisingly enough, the historical haters weren't among them).  I though it was pretty easy, but some of the contestants didn't see it that way.  Legendary one-hit wonders was a category everyone liked, and US streets went over pretty well, too.

In third place, with 92 points, are the newcomers Vampire Le Statler Brothers.

Great name.  These guys liked the celebrity birthday pictures (though at this point, I should admit that including Hunter Tylo on that list may have been a bit over the top).  I'm not sure if the More Cowbell shirt is supposed to be ironic, but that's how I'm taking it.

In second place for the second week in a row, with 94 points, here's Connect Four.

Hmm.  Now I'm no genius, and it's been a long time since I took any math classes, and when I last took math I was struggling with derivatives, but that looks like six, not four.  How about Connect Four +Two?  No, no flow, I guess.  Anyway, this group apparently knows a thing or two about other cities' streets.

In first place, with 96 points, are our dear friends Paddy O'Furniture!

This group must like seeing comedy films, I guess.  I enjoy the smug, self-satisfied looks here.  "Yeah, we won, what the hell do you expect?"  Just remember, Pride goeth before the fall, capiche?

Well, enjoy the week after the fourth, look both ways when you cross the street, and remember that quitting is the new tenacity.  See you on the 13th!