Live Journal Daily Answers, 19 November 2004

[angledge.livejournal.com]

Hello, my dear Quizlings! I greet you from my new home, the wonderfully hilly city of San Francisco, California:



I'd like to claim that this new locale was the inspiration for the Quiz's theme - hills & mountains. But the truth is, Hans & I wrote this quiz last summer & have been saving it for a week when we were too lazy to write six new questions. And as it turned out, we feel that this is one of our funnier Quizzes. There were two questions for which NOT A SINGLE PERSON got the right answer. However, you all were aggressive in your pursuit of wacky incorrect answers, for which we applaud you!

1. Name this 1999 film, a complete chick flick starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

"'Volcano'. Hugh and Julia are on their honeymoon and they fall into a volcano. Very romantic. 3 1/2 stars." - psychoticspy

"My 4 Best Friend's Weddings and a Funeral that Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain" - krick

(Or ... -AL)

"The Pretty Runaway Bride Woman of Notting Hook Hill (in 3-D)" - conjurdude

"Surprisingly, I think Julia sucked in that film." - lynbug

(Not so surprising; most of your fellow Quizlings are in full agreement. -CV)

"LJDQ persons, I ask you: Is there any chance in hell whatsoever that you can have a movie with both HG and JR and it WON'T be a chick flick? They could have made Bad Santa saccharine, for Christ's sakes." - silent_r_infork

"I believe it was a remake of Pretty Women. Hugh Grant played himself and Julia Roberts played:


Divine Brown" - _lucy_

(The lips look about right. -AL)

"That movie that helped me practice my projectile vomitting target system." - kickpuppies

"Nodding Off" - impulsezip

"Notting Hill. I'm such a sucker for Hugh Grant, in both his hapless 'I'm a 30something year old boy' and 'I'm a jackass with a heart of gold' roles. This may explain a lot about my dating history." - marasca

(Advice on "dating" Hugh Grant: Charge $200/hr. It'll help you in the long run. Huh huh, I said "long". -CV)

"Knotting Hill, about two very pretty people who tie each other up and leave each other to die on the top of a mountain. Or at least that's what I wish it was." - kleenexwoman

"I haven't seen this movie because I hate when celebrities make movies for themselves about how rough it is to be famous, not a moment's peace. I can just picture them watching it. 'Uh huh.. yeah.. so true' they say to themselves. They nod knowingly. The b-listers look at each other worried.. 'OH YEAH me too.. ALL the time.'" - punch_drunk

"Notting Hill. But if you tell anyone that I actually saw that movie I will be forced to commit violent bodily harm upon your personage." - vagablonde

(OK. We'll let you tell everyone instead. -CV)

Correct Answer: Notting Hill.

"NotEnoughExplosions Hill" - sasscat

(My kind of girl. -AL)

(No, she's MY kind of girl. -CV)

(Mine. -AL)

(Mine! - CV)

(*tussle ensues* *outcome uncertain* *onto the next question*)


2. Who was the first person to climb all 14 of the mountains that are 8,000 meters tall or taller?

"I'm only interested in mountain climbers who are forced to eat their own limbs or someone else's. I don't care about the successful ones." - b7cy

"There's only 14 of them? Oh, meters, never mind. Weirdo metric system. What about the poor feet? You don't say 'my meters hurt' you say 'my feet hurt'." - plaidwater

(You need the meters. After all, Shakespeare didn't write in iambic pentafeet, did he? I think not. -CV)

"a mountain goat. a really tired mountain goat. a mountain goat on speed." - elpblonde

"Edward Norton! Because, dudes, Edward Norton is totally the bomb." - sasscat

(The "Edward Norton is totally the bomb" portion of the answer is completely correct. Full credit despite being completely wrong. -AL)

"'Hills and mountains' seems to be the theme here. So let's go with the one mountain-climber whose name ties both together (and coincidentally the only one whose name I can remember), Sir Edmund Hillary. See? Hillary? There's a hill right in his name! And he climbed mountains!" - elsajeni

(Clever! But wrong. -AL)

"that pretty much covers everything from 8000.000000001 metre tall to infinity. And you can't get taller than infinity meters because infinity times infinity is still infinity. It's like 1, only cooler. And squigglier" - yueni

(Thank you for deftly summing up infinity's unique features. -CV)

"If you change this to climbed the 'mountains' which were 8.000 inches or taller, you could easily make this into a sexual joke. Not that I'd be so base, just saying." - goat003

"Mohammed, because the mountains all agreed to come to him. So it was a cinch." - kleenexwoman

"Stephen Hawking." - fyreflyblue

(Oh man, that's mean. I'm only quoting your answer to reveal you to the world as a heartless bastard. -AL)

"Herve Villechaize" - krick

(That's almost meaner than the Stephen Hawking answer. -CV)

"I don't know the first, but I know the only guy to do it without bottled oxygen is Alberto Inuretegui (sp?) because my head is filled with USELESS ARCANA!" - ataralas

(It's only useless until we ask this question on a future Quiz. -AL)

"How many boobie jokes will you get for this week’s theme, I wonder?" - _tumblweed

(Well, there's this one to start...)

"Holy crap. 14 mountains that are 8,000 meters tall?!?!!! What are those, like duodeca-Z's or something?" - dancingsaracen

"Who knows this? No, really, I am so curious who knows this. Do you even know the answer?" - notevenu

(You question your moderators? OF COURSE we know the answer! -3 for your lack of faith! -AL&CV)

"my nana. shes one hell of bitch when it comes to mountain climbing." - kira_snugz

(Tell me, is your nana's nickname in the mountain-climbing world "Reinhold Meissner", by any chance? -AL)

Correct Answer: Reinhold Meissner.

"If you are ever in Boston, go to the Porter Square MBTA station. Climb the stairs to the street levels 11200 times, and you'll do pretty much the same thing." - temima

"if he did it today they'd make a reality series out of it and give him lots of money for eating bugs every 500 meters." - shinga

(BTW, not a single person got that question right. -1 to all of you. -AL&CV)


3. What was the code phrase used by the Japanese to signal the beginning of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?

"Hai-ya!" - punch_drunk

"Surprise!" - psychoticspy

"Now!" - silent_r_infork

"Spoon!" - 3jane

(+1, The Tick. -AL)

"'Tora tora tora.' Which is, if I recall, about tigers. And has nothing to do with hills, mountains, or any other elevative geographical features." - kleenexwoman

(Yup, tigers. Nope, not about mountains. -CV)

"Toga toga toga! Wait, wrong movie. Tora tora tora!" - dragonessasmith

"All your base are belong to us! NIHON PWNZ U, SUCKAS!" - _tumblweed

"LET LOOSE THE KRAKEN!" - the_headhunter

(+1, Clash of the Titans. -CV)

"The Pineapple Has Landed. Followed closely by the second-place choice: 'Hey, isn't that Hawaii down there?'" - beansidhe

"Um... this has something to do with hills and mountains? 'All your mountain are belong to us'? I mean, that's the English translation. Presumably the Japanese said it in actual Japanese. ... Probably." - elsajeni

(Actually, the phrase was transmitted in English, strangely enough. True! And OF COURSE IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. What kind of Quiz do you think we're running around here, anyway? -AL)

"There are so many racial slurs that I could use here. Instead, the Japanese said, 'Boy, they sure are about to get leid! Leid up the ass, I'll tell you! Don't drop the soap, Pearl Harbor!'" - _lucy_

"'FOTKBAGFS' = First One To Kill Ben Affleck Gets Free Sake" - shinga
"Operation 3 hours of bad acting." - allieg
"Open fire on Ben Affleck!" - kenshardik

"*hums Sailor Moon attack music* SPECIAL INFINITY CHARGE! GREAT BATTLING MANDALA EXPLOSION ATTAAAAACCCKKK!" - vanbrosia

"Climb Mt. Suribachi!" - dpaul007

(Ooooh ... so close. Mt. Suribachi is on Iwo Jima, which was captured by the US Marines in 1945 and immortalized with this photo:

- AL)

"'Climb Mount Niimata.' I know I spelled it wrong, but I found that out reading a book on WWII espionage. This was for an AU slash series I was writing. Look Mom, I'm learning military history because of porn!" - temima

(temima came closest to getting the correct answer. The rest of you have the following homework assignment: READ MORE PORN. -AL)

Correct Answer: "Climb Mount Niitaka."

(Another question without a single right answer. Have another collective -1. -AL&CV)


4. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, what’s the name of the mountain where the dragon Smaug hoarded his treasure?

"Was Viggo Mortenson in that one?" - vagablonde

(Nope. He was just a wee ranger laddie back then. -CV)

"I haven't read the Hobbit in centuries. I just remember there being a lot of drinking in it. And a ring which was apparently very important." - nihilistbear

"If you were trying to hide treasure from hobbits would you really need a mountain? Couldnt you just put it on top of the fridge. They wouldnt be able to reach it there either." - allieg

"I should know where Smaug lives - even my three year old knows that." - verdandiweaves

(By all accounts, the Emperor is a pretty amazing three year old. -AL)

"Mount Oh-fuck-I'm-such-a-horrible-Tolkien-fan." - warrame

"AIM beep: *is annoying*
1RingRulr: yo Smaug. U there?
LonelyMtHorder: i was takin’ a whiz, yo. What up?
1RingRulr: I spy w/my lil eye a bunch of dwarves n’ stuff headin ur way
LonelyMtHorder: great. now I gotta hide the pr0n under the gold r sumthin
1RingRulr: LOL!
1RingRulr: d00d, send me that pr0n. I get tired of orcs, y’know?
LonelyMtHorder: …
LonelyMtHorder: o.O
LonelyMtHorder: gonna yarf now, kthxbai"
- _tumblweed

(+1, well-deserved. -CV)

"Hobbit Mounting. That's from the porno version. See also, 'Banging Baggins,' 'Bilbo and the Dildo,' and 'Gandalf's Magic Wand.'" - b7cy

"Sugar Mountain. He had a sweet tooth and being a dragon was easily able to caramelize things. (With the fire breathing and all.) That Smaug loved his caramel popcorn!" - punch_drunk

"Ararat. Smaug made a fortune selling Authentic Splinters of the Ark (TM) along with pieces of cloth from Turin's Shroud, the Nails of the Crucifixion, and a limited edition run of just 500 Holy Grails." - sasscat

(For those of you who are a bit unfamiliar with Bible stories, Ararat is the name of the mountain where Noah's Ark came to rest when the flood waters receded. If you'd like to learn more Bible stories, check out The Brick Testament. -AL)

"Smauglers Notch" - notevenu

(I don't remember Tolkien mentioning a ski lodge or chair lifts, but maybe he should have. -AL)

"You mean the one where five feet high the door, and three can walk abreast? And where you stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole? Cos I don't have The Hobbit practically memorized, really, I don't!" - ataralas

(If memorizing entire passages from "The Hobbit" isn't worth the Geek Of The Week award and the requisite -1 penalty, I don't know what is. -CV)

"Smaug's Safe-Deposit Box." - vanbrosia

(Considering how things work out in the book, perhaps a better name would be Smaug's Not-So-Safe Deposit Box. -AL)

"the lonely mountain. because smaug was obviously just DYING for company. look at the warm welcome he gave the hobbits!" - elpblonde

"The Lonely Mountain, or Erebor for the Elvish-speakers. Although, it really had no reason to be lonely, there were plenty of other mountains not all that far away for it to go play with. I bet Mount Doom threw rockin' parties - oh, but maybe the Lonely Mountain was never invited, which is why it was lonely. Like Rudolph. Except mountains, not reindeer." - fyreflyblue

"Lonely Mountain! It wanted loooooove. And given that it was found on the other side of Mirkwood, and Legolas is the son of the king of Mirkwood (I think someone told me -- in the animated Hobbit the king of the Mirkwood elves is seriously creepy), I think the Lonely Mountain is nothing more than one more sad fangirl in love with Orlando Bloom." - 3jane

"'Lonely', but modern cartographers, fearing for the self-esteem of the mountain, changed the name from 'Lonely' to 'Independent And Self-Reliant'". - beansidhe

Correct Answer: Erebor, or the Lonely Mountain.

"Which is a sissy name for a mountain range anyway. If I were a dragon, I'd hoard my treasure in the Mountains Of Doom And Certain Death." - dracothelizard

"When Smaug was asleep and the place had nothing going on, the resident of the lake town south of it called it Ereboring." - fizrep


5. Name the song and band!
“Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see
And Baby, Baby, Baby, do you like it?”

"I have no idea what this is, but I am going to blame the Rolling Stones for it." -3jane

(No Sting hate in this question. Who would have guessed? -AL)

"Sting." - moocow1985

(I knew someone would do it. -CV)

"'Let The Eagles Soar' by John Ashcroft And The Freedom-Killers" - lots42

(Now, now. Johnny Boy retired from freedom-killing. I hear he's into "The Golden Girls" marathons on Lifetime these days. -CV)

(There's actually a clip of Ashcroft singing a song by that title in Fahrenheit 9-11. Atrocious! -AL)

"Led Zepplin - I'm So Fucking Stoned! Let's Fuck! Incidently, this is also the mating call of pretty much every girl in my home town." - nihilistbear

(Note to self: Wherever nihilistbear came from, move there. Pronto. -CV)

"all i can think of right now is britney spears. which i am not listening to. which i don't even own. no, seriously, i'm listening to matt nathanson. very cool." - calankh

"I have no idea, but I'm sure Britney Spears will do a cover of it." - lynbug

(That certainly would piss off the classic rock enthusiasts among us. Right, kenshardik?)

"That's Led fuckin' Zeppelin, baybee, doing the 'Misty Mountain Hop'. And I will personally smack upside the head anyone who said it's by Four Non Blondes. Learn your Goddamn classics, man." - kenshardik

(The man loves his Zeppelin. Don't be hating. -CV)

"it's 'Misty Mountain Hop' from Led Zeppelin's IV. Not to be confused with the Misty Mountains where all the orcs live that you have to cross to get to the Lonely Mountain. Or maybe the song actually was about Tolkien, in which case: shut up, you damned dirty pretentious hippies." - fyreflyblue

Correct Answer: "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin.

"Not that you asked or anything, but I do a great impression of Plant's uber-high falsetto on that line." - silent_r_infork

(An LJ Phone Post will allow you to prove it. -AL)

"And now that riff is WAY stuck in my way. Dun da DUN DUN dun da DUN DUN..." - fizrep

"Thanx, no doubt, to what I perceive to be the theme for this week's LJDQ, I have now had that blasted Banarama song stuck in my head for three days!!!!! Okay everybody, all together now -
Goddess on the mountain top
Burning like a silver flame
The summit of beauty and love..... " - vagablonde

(As previous quizzes have established, music by The Bangles tends to drive away songs that are looping in your subconscious. Better start Walking Like An Egyptian there, Imfizrep & Vagablondankhamen.-CV)


6. Have you ever made a mountain out of a molehill? Tell us a story!

"This one time, at band camp ..." - lynbug

"I tried to make a mountain out of an anthill once when I was little. I had to get hosed down in the backyard to get all the ants off of me. A lot of my childhood stories actually end with me getting hosed down in the backyard." - moocow1985

(Did you live next door to the_headhunter by any chance? -AL)

"I once made a molehill out of an anthill. It burned. But the doctor said that was because they were fire ants and not because of the precious. I think he was a big fat liar." - the_headhunter

"yes; it took a very long time of carrying the tiny grains of sand with my teeny front pincers, but...oh, wait. i'm NOT an ant. ...nevermind." - elpblonde

"I’ll let you know how the surgery goes." - _tumblweed

"I live in Indiana. You expect me to know about mountains?" - silk_knickers

(You might know something about moles, at least ... -CV)

"there was the time i made a molehill out of a mountain with my incredible shrinking ray gun. This enables me to have the lost mountian of Bharakin in my back garden ... complete with it's little miniaturised yaks and tigers and elephants ... quite fascinating to observe really, better than Discovery channel." - seolta

"I don't ever make a mountain out of a molehill, no sir, not me, no drama queen tendencies here, nope. Oh, fantastic, I have a hangnail, now I'm going to develop finger cancer and DIE!" - bubosquared

"Someone accused me of doing that in grade six. I stared at her blankly, as I was 11, and had NO IDEA what that meant. She said, 'well, last year, your boobies were, like, smaller, and now ...' I don't remember what else she said because I was walking away." - jelymo

"I spent over 2 hours trying to think of an answer to this question, and almost decided to give up when I couldn't answer it. Is that mountain out of a molehill-y enough for you?" - warrame

"Well, after my boyfriend-at-the-time slept with my ex-girlfriend and I got pissed off, both of them said I was making a mountain out of a molehill. Which is why I shall someday kill them both. *should probably join whoever that is, nihilistbear, in the "Knows How To Pick 'Em" club*" - elsajeni

(Hey, check it out! elsajeni & nihilistbear have started a club! -AL)

"Once, I had moles in the garden. So I sicced my dog on them but the mole had some dynamite and hid it in some chicken and my dog got blowed up. Fortunately, there was a scene change so he was ok." - lots42

(Ah, if only life had more scene changes ... -CV)

"Not much into molehills, but I'm all about tempests in teacups, baby." - dpaul007

"No, but a good designer can make even little mosquito bites look like juicy, juicy mangos!" - allieg

(And how, pray tell, did you ever discover such a thing? -CV)

"One time I was playing some game with this chick and she rolled a 2 but called it a 6, so I fucking divorced her. True story." - fizrep

(It is sad that we were both present for said story. -CV&AL)

"I can't think of a molehill to mountain story. However, I did think of a better travel story for last week's quiz. Ask me next week and I may have a molehill story for you." - whiski_sour

(The clocks in whiski_sour's time zone are one week off of LJDQ Daylight Savings Time. But only for Question 6. -AL)

"this isn't so much about me, but when I was about ten or eleven I went on a school ski trip, and at one point during the day realised my finger kind of hurt. I thought maybe I'd twisted it or something so I went to Ski Patrol to get it checked out.

The Ski Patrol man in his brightly coloured vest said something along the lines of OMGspiralfracture!
Me: o_O
SP: Spiral fracture!
Me: Wouldn't that...hurt a lot?
SP: Spiral fracture!
Me: But isn't there no way to visually diagnose a broken bone unless it's poking out of the skin or something nasty like that?
SP: STFU, n00b! Spiral fracture!
Me: Shouldn't I at least have an x-ray or something?
SP: *sulk* Well, fine, have a stinking x-ray. But I'm telling you, your finger + spiral fracture = OTP.
X-Ray: Er...not so much. In fact, finger + spiral fracture = theirloveissopastedeonyey.
Me: *is totally unsurprised*
SP: OMGWTFBBQ!
Me: *goes back to skiing*"
- sasscat

And there is no Correct Qnswer for the last question this week, but there IS a huge round of applause, a +5, & an LJDQ Distinguished Service Award to twilight_angel, a first-time player who submitted the following poem:

"I would climb the highest hills for LJDQ,
If only to miss seeing that damned movie with Hugh
And Julia: cursed “Notting Hill.”
I do not know who was chilled
Enough to climb the high peaks,
But thanks to being a geek,
I know the cry of “Tora! Tora! Tora!”
(If only from the movie I saw with Moira.)
Speaking of movies, there’s a rumour on the net
About a hobbit named Bilbo and a certain ring he gets
On the way to Smaug on his Lonely Mountain home.
Then Led Zeppelin, all of whom I want to give a comb,
Sang “Misty Mountain Hop” about the lovely Middle-Earth.
Just as Gollum went insane over the Ring, which needs given a wide berth,
I have many times made mountains out of molehills,
One time involving my friends, a pickle of dill,
And two ripe plums, which I will not repeat
Because, subsequently, those things we did eat.
Now, I leave you with one last plea
From this English major Daily Quiz newbie:
Forgive the awfulness of this verse
And please do not my name curse.
For this is but my first time
And, to me, it was worth these nonsensical rhymes."

Now THAT rocks on. As do all of you. See you on Monday!

Ang & Hans.