Learned League

I wanted to write it in advance but ran out of road. Certainly planned quite a bit of it in advance.

I don't know if it's the done thing, but before I finished the recap I PMed some of the top finishers to congratulate them and thank them for playing.

Man, some of these recaps just sit there with no replies. I think I will give some love to your Ulysses recap over the weekend.

Aw, thanks! I was disappointed at first but given how few participated in the first place, it's understandable and the sting lessened over time.

Greg, do you know what rock song came from a musical version of Peer Gynt?

Also, I also for some reason left "In the Mood" blank even though I knew it. Does anyone else do this? Is there an LL name for it?

Wonder if I should ask the question of who we are really writing the recaps for. Even if nobody else posts, it still seems like a cheat if there is no recap at all.

I supppose I want somebody to read it eventually, some hypothetical audience but for now I guess I wrote it mostly for myself.

I know ELO did a version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" but that's about all I know re: Grieg and rock music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-olDjUy4540
Nothing to do with Grieg.

The Loneliness of the 1DS Recap Poster.

While I am waiting to pitch my next potential 1DS maybe I will try to run an ILX POLL.

Smithing 1DS's is definitely a time consuming and pretty thankless process but it's one of my favorite things about LL. Not something I would do if I didn't find writing and tinkering with questions fun though.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 13 April 2021 14:47 (three weeks ago)

You appreciate the art of writing trivia questions in a much more concrete way, smithing your own 1DS, that's for sure.

Indeed. Also keep obsessing about the one trace element of Wikipedia that crept in despite my best efforts.

One moral of the story is that people like to talk about (pop) music. Look at the Outlaw Country recap, the Classic Reggae recap, Greg’s recap. Those all have plenty of posts.

You know, just more thing (hopefully), before I go gentle into the good night, but several testers and players mentioned that the (only) way they knew certain things was because of The Da Vinci Code and Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Which I didn't mind at all, mostly, because it was a like a free extra in that I hadn't thought about.

I’m back, just like a bad penny that would have gotten me into hot water with Sir I.N. Good thing nobody showed me this beforehand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yis7GzlXNM

Apparently if you watched that, then read The Da Vinci Code and Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle you would be guaranteed like nine points or something.

So that is my answer to why the subscription to IN > U –but not 2U! Because costume drama steampunk whodunnit more popular than modernism.

In any case, I really enjoyed doing this contest, especially the recap, as usual, but I feel like I have already squeezed this lemon for all it’s worth. Already planning my next few.

PPS: My naked bid for feedback of PMing selected parties that participated has worked out pretty well for me. I recommend it if it doesn't make you too squeamish.

Greg, I see that you have written a few Alpaca Farms quizzes. I created an account there, but haven't participated in anything.

The fact that "Phoenix Coyotes" wasn't counted for "Arizona Coyotes" in the Indigenous Languages 1DS was balanced out for me by the fact that "Waylan and Madam" was accepted for "Wayland Flowers and Madame" in the LGBT ML.

i missed a question in 21st century literature about the hilary mantel wolf hall series because i answered "cromwell" instead of "thomas cromwell." fine, the question specified that you needed the first and last name for that answer, and i admittedly missed that. but ... why were both the first and last name required in the first place? i know that there's oliver cromwell too, but the question wasn't based around differentiating the two. seemed picky.

I think it was because people might have just guessed "Cromwell" based on the general time period, without actually knowing whether it was Thomas or Oliver.

Even so, shouldn’t that be specified in the question, or would that be a giveaway?

I chickened out on Indigenous Languages, good for you doing it, will take a look soon.

Lol, i guessed "Hilary Mantel", so that gives you a sense of how closely I am reading the questions.

I won my LGBT Rundle though!

TFW you realize you should've played a 1DS.

Happens less and less frequently, unfortunately. Which 1DS?

Musical tributes. Basically I got scared off because of the Lemmy question -- I couldn't remember if his last name was Kilmister or Kilminster, and I just gave up, but apparently first name was acceptable. (Also, that was the day that I had to drive 30 miles to get my second dose, so there's that.)

Oh yeah.

On a kid's zoom piano recital right now and one of the perfomers is playing a Sherman Brothers composition, which of course, I had never known they had written.

I had never even heard of The Sherman Brothers until I started researching for the quiz. Not much of a Disney guy.

I think there was a book or a documentary about them recently where I saw their name, but otherwise never knew who they were until pretty recently.

https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-pleasures-of-learnedleague-and-the-spirit-of-trivia

Lost to a 9(6) (welcome to B), but I'm proud that I scratched out three of the answers and even got 7 points for my trouble.

Also, don't go onto the message boards right now, someone apparently spoiled one of today's questions.

I try not to go to the message boards unless it's for one of our recaps.

Fair strategy, but I don't think I can resist in going into excruciating details about how I came upon the answers I entered! Anyway, the spoiling thread's been deleted.

I was so close to winning yesterday -- my first thought for Driving Miss Daisy was Atlanta and then switched to Savannah; when I was actually entering my answers, I'd nearly forgotten that I decided on Savannah. If only my short-term memory were worse!

that was against me, right? i had no idea beyond it being somewhere southeast. i guessed charleston but i probably should have thought about it more.

Is anyone paying for commissioner’s circle presently and want to finally set up an ilxor private rundle next season?

xp Yeah, that was our match. I do want to thank you for the 2 points for the Chinese question, though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOayR5ri2xM

4 out of 6 for my first four games and a record of 0-3-1
bellyflopped yesterday with only the bill haley question right which ain't gonna help

ok somebody please explain what tf yesterday’s q6 had to do with pancakes

Some kind of Eastern European thing, eating pancakes for Shrovetide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslenitsa

Eastern European? Pancake Day is pretty common in the U.K., or at least was when I studied there in the late '90s.

As the final day before the austerity of the Lenten fast, Shrove Tuesday also has many customs pertaining to food. Pancakes are traditional in a number of European countries because eggs, sugar, and fat, commonly forbidden during the Lenten fast, are used up so they will not go to waste; the day is known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday in Ireland and in many Commonwealth countries.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shrove-Tuesday