the wombat file // is right over there // where you left it
July 03, 2008
Thursday Semi-Quiz: This is Only a Tribute
Tomorrow you'll no doubt be celebrating your independence from many things, including your tiresome obligations to our little quasi-weekly natterings. With that in mind, here's a damp sparkler to wave in the mental gloom of a Thursday afternoon…
The website of a musician well-known in the 1960s contains a lengthy "tribute" to the life of an even more well-known figure from history, containing biography, chronology of accomplishments, and illustrations. In the explanation for his interest, the musician writes:
In the summer of 1981 I attended a weekend seminar on the problems of Vietnam veterans. The event was sponsored by the Berkeley Veterans Assistance Center and took place in the City of Berkeley Veterans Memorial in the civic center. It was a lightly attended event but featured movers and shakers in the veterans movement who would soon change just about everything for the better. One speaker was a Vietnam War nurse named Lynda Van Devanter, who was the first Vietnam War nurse to "come out" and speak for women in the military. As a member of the audience I was stunned at the realization that I was also guilty of ignoring women in the military in my writings.
Who is the musician? Who is the figure that this event moved him to research?
First correct answer wins a Bear Force One (warning, YouTube link, which may not be precisely appropriate for work, although there's nothing really graphic in it) 2008 World Tour pastel polo shirt. No Googling or calling up Lynda Van Devanter. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like.
Posted by BT at 10:58 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
June 30, 2008
As Gavin points out, the unguessed answer to the quiz from a week ago was never revealed.
My apologies: the city we were looking for -- which may or may not be named after Alexander the Great -- is Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Posted by BT at 12:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 27, 2008
A simple task today-- three opening passages, each from a short story by a well-known writer. You are almost certainly familiar with the names; you are less likely to have read these pieces before, although none is by any means truly obscure.
1. In the millennium an educational genius will write a book to be given to every young man on the date of his disillusion. This work will have the flavor of Montaigne's essays and Samuel Butler's note-books -- and a little of Tolstoi and Marcus Aurelius. It will be neither cheerful nor pleasant but will contain numerous passages of striking humor. Since first-class minds never believe anything very strongly until they've experienced it, its value will be purely relative ... all people over thirty will refer to it as "depressing."
2. Mrs. Lidcote, as the huge menacing mass of New York defined itself far off across the waters, shrank back into her corner of the deck and sat listening with a kind of unreasoning terror to the steady onward drive of the screws.
3. After her mother's death, Ruma's father retired from the pharmaceutical company where he had worked for many decades and began traveling in Europe, a continent he'd never seen. In the past year he had visited France, Holland and most recently Italy. They were package tours, traveling in the company of strangers, riding the bus through the countryside, each meal and museum and hotel prearranged.
Who are the three writers? Bonus: name the titles of any of the three stories.
First correct guess of each posted to comments wins an autographed copy of the Wombat's own first short work of fiction, "The Giant Egg" (Plot summary: Giant egg, mysteriously originating atop a mountain peak, is tumbled to the bottom by unspecified forces, resulting in a Paul Bunyan's-camp-style breakfast feast; illustrated). No Googling or programming your Lego Mindstorm kit to reconstruct the ideal reader of Montaigne, Butler and Marcus Aurelius. One guess at each part per comment, but comment as often as handsome does.
Posted by BT at 11:14 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
June 26, 2008
Another Boycott Olympics Argument
I'm not entirely sure the focus here is right. Is Darfur uniquely China's problem? Any more than our own? Is the Olympics a legitimate point of connection here? But there's something so devastatingly frustrating in how little movement there has been in the international community to deal with the ongoing atrocity in the Sudan at the level it demands, that one is tempted to applaud any attempt to divert attention away from spectacle (however hallowed) and back toward the Problem from Hell.
Posted by BT at 12:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 22, 2008
As referenced in the last quiz, on Friday the unquenchable DeSelby-Bowens and I went to see Canada's ambassadors of catchy and artful guitar-pop, Sloan. Never having seen them live, I was glad to remedy the omission, and it was a treat to hear not only a clutch of songs from their excellent new album, but such bounce-inducing hits as "Take Good Care of the Poor Boy" and "Money City Maniacs" (though, sad to say, the crowd seemed not to want to move much below the neck -- which was a pity, as it was energetic and fun, and should have been the occasion for plenty of happy jumping about). Chris Murphy let his inner rock star run wild n' free toward the end of the show, and my friend Bill Pearis -- who I saw briefly there -- has the key visual of a tambourine-booty-spanking duly recorded. And, as he is a noted Sloanauthority, I refer you to Mr. Pearis's comprehensive overview of the show.
Posted by BT at 11:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
June 20, 2008
The Friday Quiz: Better Late than Never
First: the unguessed answer last week? Mustard.
On to a quick brain-disabler before the evening meets the day:
It's possible that the name of this city, the second-largest in its nation after the capital, comes from an ethnic group that settled in the region and was listed in the imperial records of Darius I, as well as in a major religious text. But it's also possible that it comes from the name of a famous and sometimes deified personage who was born thousands of miles away; in recent years, a temple to this figure has been discovered within the city's Old Citadel. What is the name of the city?
First correct answer to comments wins a papier-mache model of the band Sloan playing their Dylan-esque "Down in the Basement", which the Wombat may witness them playing tonight, in a concert that will also be attended by frequent quiz-dominator Scraps and less-frequent quiz-player (but no less dominating for all that) Velma. No Googling or playing "Delivering Maybes" backward in the hopes of finding backwards-masked answers (they're in there, but you have to speak Nova Scotian to understand what Patrick Pentland is saying). One guess per comment, put for the love of all deified personages, comment.
UPDATE 6/22: I initially left out a crucial preposition in the question, since added. Oops.
Posted by BT at 01:56 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
June 17, 2008
...what was the first big-budget movie "remake" of a hit television series from past era? I'm not talking about the creation of the Star Trek franchise, but the idea of looking back to a popular series of a previous era and capitalizing on it with a new standalone film. When did this (mostly regrettable) trend start? Who is its patient zero?
Posted by BT at 11:35 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0)