Let's play Botticelli!

[choie]

Ugh. I'm torn between asking if he's a dancer or a musician or a game show host... What the heck could he be famous for on TV as a performer other than acting? And he's known for his writing but not most famous for it? Could he be a chef? The only one with an "M" first name I can think of is Mario Batali, and the thought of him being "athletic" is... well, no. I guess there's Michael Symons but is he really that famous? And the only dancer I can think of with an "M" first name is Maksim from "Dancing with the Stars," but he's not American.

Is this person known as a host/presenter of a television show?

[Elendil's Heir]

I've never heard of Batali, but I do know of Symon (no final "s," I think). That could be it.

[CatInASuit]

DQs:
1. Male
2. Real
3. Last name does not start with M
4. American
5. Living
6. Born since 1950
7. Definitely involved in the creative arts.
8. Not known as a singer
9. Not born since 1970
10. Best known for work in the visual arts. *YMMV*
11. Has won a major award in his field
12. Not best known for his writing, but certainly known for it.
13. Not best known as an actor - although he certainly has the skills.
14. Born east of the Mississippi
15. Born north of the Mason Dixon line
16. Has not directed any films.
17. Not noted for athletics, the sport, but is athletic.
18. Does use or display his body in his performances.
19. Is best known for his work which has appeared on TV.
20. Not best known as a comedic performer.
21. This person is not known as a host/presenter of a television show?

Final guesses, if you please.

[choie]

Interesting. The trouble is that I don't think he's ever acted before. He's charismatic, certainly; does that mean he has the skills to be an actor? Hmmmm. Well, we shall see! He's the only person who comes close. Trouble is, he seems like a thirtysomething to me rather than a fortysomething.

Edited to add: Well, damn, cross-posted with CIAS. There goes that guess.

I'll guess it anyway because I've got no one else. Are you celebrity chef Michael Symon?

[CatInASuit]

No I am not Celebrity Chef Michael Symon

[choie]

But you could've been, maybe. EH, you get a last Hail Mary pass, I guess. Got anything?

[Elendil's Heir]

No, I give up. Tell us who, please, CIAS.

[CatInASuit]

Can't pin this guy down. Think think think.

You know - when EH said this, I thought he would get it almost immediately.

I am Mick Foley, American Wrestler and NYT bestseller author for his autobiographies.



Have a Nice Day

[choie]

Wrestling's not a sport? (I admit it's a b.s. sport but...) And to think I've been defending you on the Ben White Clause all this time! FIE ON YOU SIR.

No, it was a good choice, I mean, the guy's an NYT bestseller apparently. I admit I'm not in the U.S. mainstream when it comes to certain aspects of my country's pop culture. If you'd said his name completely out of context, I would have thought he was part of Fleetwood Mac or the dude from Mike and the Mechanics.

Congrats for stumping us and driving me crazy, CIAS! You get to pick again.

[CatInASuit]

Wrestling's not a sport? (I admit it's a b.s. sport but...) And to think I've been defending you on the Ben White Clause all this time! FIE ON YOU SIR.

No-one asked about sports - I got asked about atheltics. One does not equal the other.

[choie]

No-one asked about sports - I got asked about atheltics. One does not equal the other.

Ah yes but you were the one who specified sports! That's the funny thing! You said "Not noted for athletics, the sport, but is athletic." If you'd just said "Noted for athletics" that would have been both ambiguous and true. But ruling out "sport" regarding wrestling seems, well, not entirely straightforward.

(In my "Yes Minister" diaries book, "not entirely straightforward" is defined as Civil Service code for "completely criminal." )

But it's probably up to interpretation. It is all an act, really, so one might not consider it a sport after all.

[Elendil's Heir]

Athletics = sports to me.

Never heard of the guy.

:: shrug ::

[CatInASuit]

Athletics = sports to me.

Never heard of the guy.

:: shrug ::

Apologies for the confusion about athletics, I thought you were talking about the individual activity, not sport in general.

Also go and look him up, he's a hell of a character.

I'll start a new one shortly.

[CatInASuit]

Ok, here we go again. I certainly think you will have heard of this person.

The letter is G

[Elendil's Heir]

IQs:

Before 1960, did your wife call you "Old Man"?
Did you make your money in the dry-cleaning business?
Were you a trusted counselor to a young spy?

[choie]

And here we go again...

1. Have you told us about a place with strong women, good-looking men, and average children?

2. Are you a member of a party that could (and totally should, IMHO) have Aretha Franklin singing its theme tune?

3. Is one of your most famous songs used constantly at sports events and also parodied as a fan song for a 50-year-old TV show? Oh, and has your career ended with a staggering downfall due to a seemingly never-ending litany of scandals?

[CatInASuit]

And here we go again indeed....

IQs:

Before 1960, did your wife call you "Old Man"?
Did you make your money in the dry-cleaning business?
Were you a trusted counselor to a young spy?

1. Alf Garnett?
2. Pass
3. Pass

And here we go again...

1. Have you told us about a place with strong women, good-looking men, and average children?

2. Are you a member of a party that could (and totally should, IMHO) have Aretha Franklin singing its theme tune?

3. Is one of your most famous songs used constantly at sports events and also parodied as a fan song for a 50-year-old TV show? Oh, and has your career ended with a staggering downfall due to a seemingly never-ending litany of scandals?

1. Nope pass.
2. George Galloway
3. Umm George Harrison?

[Elendil's Heir]

Previous IQs:

Before 1960, did your wife call you "Old Man"? - George Washington
Did you make your money in the dry-cleaning business? - George Jefferson, on All in the Family and The Jeffersons
Were you a trusted counselor to a young spy? - Ol' Golly, in the kids' book Harriet the Spy

DQs:

Real?
Male?
Last name start with G?

IQs:

Did you joke that you knew two tunes - one was "Yankee Doodle" and the other wasn't?
Was your husband a failure at everything he tried before 1861?
Did Cherie Lunghi play you in a one-word-name movie?

[choie]

Answers:

1. Radio personality/storyteller Garrison Keillor tells us about Lake Wobegon, "where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are average."

2. Yes, of course this one is George Galloway of the Respect Party.

3. DUDE. Yeah, "Somewhere" is always used at Football games and we know how scandal-ridden Harrison was. No, it's Gary Glitter, whose "Rock and Roll Part 2" (the "Hey" song) is used at every other sports event, and was also used as the basis of the . And of course his career went splat after he was found to collect child porn and has been convicted of child sex abuse, etc.

New IQs:

1. Did you introduce prune juice to someone one wouldn't expect to enjoy it?
2. Were you gray before you were white?
3. Were you stone cold before you became human?

DQs:

1. Are you alive?
2. Are you from what is currently considered a European country?

[CatInASuit]

Busy, busy - apologies for lateness

DQs:
1. Is real
2. Is male
3. Last name starts with a G
4. Is alive
5. Is not from a European country

I'll come back and answer the IQs tomorrow

[CatInASuit]

IQs:

Did you joke that you knew two tunes - one was "Yankee Doodle" and the other wasn't?
Was your husband a failure at everything he tried before 1861?
Did Cherie Lunghi play you in a one-word-name movie?

1. Pass - Nope, don't recognise the reference
2. I wonder if this should be someone like the wife of a soldier - but no Stumped.
3. Drat - I should probably know this one, but cannot think of any Cherie Lunghi films. TV series perhaps, but not films - Stumped.

Take 3 DQs.

3. DUDE. Yeah, "Somewhere" is always used at Football games and we know how scandal-ridden Harrison was. No, it's Gary Glitter, whose "Rock and Roll Part 2" (the "Hey" song) is used at every other sports event, and was also used as the basis of the . And of course his career went splat after he was found to collect child porn and has been convicted of child sex abuse, etc.

New IQs:

1. Did you introduce prune juice to someone one wouldn't expect to enjoy it?
2. Were you gray before you were white?
3. Were you stone cold before you became human?

We try to forget Gary Glitter existed in the UK, let alone use his song at football *soccer* games

1. Erm. I wonder if Grandpa Simpson did this in any of the Simpson episodes?
2. Gandalf the grey to Gandalf the White
3. Galatea -the statue bought to life

Take a DQ.

[Elendil's Heir]

Previous IQs:

Did you joke that you knew two tunes - one was "Yankee Doodle" and the other wasn't? - Ulysses S. Grant; he was tone-deaf.
Was your husband a failure at everything he tried before 1861? - His wife, Julia Grant.
Did Cherie Lunghi play you in a one-word-name movie? - Guinevere in a favorite movie of my youth, Excalibur (she was beautiful, too!).

DQs:

American?
Best known for the creative arts (broadly defined)?
Born since 1960?

IQs:

Did you practically invent the fantasy RPG?
Did you say you hated spunk?
Have you talked about Lake Wobegone, Minn. for years now?

[choie]

Erm, EH? I think you need to read the questions/answers I'm asking. See #916 and #919.

CIAS, the only one you missed (and for shame!) was Guinan, from ST:TNG, who introduced Worf to prune juice, or as he called it: "A warrior's drink!"

My sole DQ: Involved in politics?

IQs:

1. Did you write an autobiography that implied rather boldly that nothing in it was true (although it was)?
2. Was the film adaptation of one of your stories highly memorable for a) the first revealing shot of its mysterious main character and b) zither music?
3. With four Tony awards for musical theater on your own shelf, were you married to a man who won two Tonys, an Emmy and an Oscar for directing/choreographing musicals all in the same year?

[Elendil's Heir]

Sorry. The Lake Wobegone question is withdrawn. Thus:

IQs:

Did you practically invent the fantasy RPG?
Did you say you hated spunk?
Did your dad have a hard time on the Farragut?

[CatInASuit]

DQs:
1. Is real
2. Is male
3. Last name starts with a G
4. Is alive
5. Is not from a European country
6. Is American
7. Is not best known for the creative arts (broadly defined)
8. Not born since 1960
9. Is not involved in politics

[CatInASuit]

CIAS, the only one you missed (and for shame!) was Guinan, from ST:TNG, who introduced Worf to prune juice, or as he called it: "A warrior's drink!"

My sole DQ: Involved in politics?

IQs:

1. Did you write an autobiography that implied rather boldly that nothing in it was true (although it was)?
2. Was the film adaptation of one of your stories highly memorable for a) the first revealing shot of its mysterious main character and b) zither music?
3. With four Tony awards for musical theater on your own shelf, were you married to a man who won two Tonys, an Emmy and an Oscar for directing/choreographing musicals all in the same year?

choie - I think I missed that episode...

1. No idea on the autobiography.
2. Sounds like the Princess Pride, perhaps, so William Golderstein?
3. I'm not great on musicals, so I'll have to pass on that one.

So, that's 2 or 3 DQs there.

Sorry. The Lake Wobegone question is withdrawn. Thus:

IQs:
Did you practically invent the fantasy RPG?
Did you say you hated spunk?
Did your dad have a hard time on the Farragut?

1. Gary Gygax - I really should know that one
2. English or American, I'll pass either way.
3. Don't know the Farragut - so Pass.

2 DQs to you good sir.

[choie]

- Dorn's expression and line reading are awesome. This is from Yesterday's Enterprise from Season 3, one of the best episodes ever, so if you haven't seen it, get thee to Netflix (or Love films or whatever the equivalent is over yonder).

My answers:

1. Did you write an autobiography that implied rather boldly that nothing in it was true (although it was)? - Graham Chapman, who wrote A Liar's Autobiography.

2. Was the film adaptation of one of your stories highly memorable for a) the first revealing shot of its mysterious main character and b) zither music? - Erm... was The Princess Bride really known for zither music? The correct answer is Graham Greene and the film is The Third Man. And I should say that the film actually came first, the story second. So if you want you can ding me a DQ. Anyway, the great moment is . Orson Welles's face is brilliant. If they remade this, Kevin Spacey would be a perfect Lime.

3. With four Tony awards for musical theater on your own shelf, were you married to a man who won two Tonys, an Emmy and an Oscar for directing/choreographing musicals all in the same year? - This would be the effervescent dancer/actress/singer Gwen Verdon, of Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Chicago and umpteen more, who was married to Bob Fosse. Whom I assume you've heard of.

I'll let you decide if my goof on the adaptation thing merits the loss of a DQ. In the meantime, my two other DQs are:

1. Are you known for being a sports figure?
2. Born since 1950?

IQs:

1. Do you claim to be a tailor but shouldn't really be trusted with anything sharper than a pin (and probably not even that)?
2. Did you hold the highest office in the land more times, not successively, than anyone else?
3. Were you the first person to orbit the Earth?

[Elendil's Heir]

Previous IQs:

Did you practically invent the fantasy RPG? - Yes, Gary Gygax.
Did you say you hated spunk? - Lou Grant, in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Did your dad have a hard time on the Farragut? - Ens. Garrovick, in the ST:TOS episode "Obsession." His dad had commanded the Farragut and a young officer named James T. Kirk.

DQs:

Scientist/inventor?
Born east of the Miss. River?

IQs:

Were you one of George Washington's favorite generals?
Did you end up in a coffee shop on your flop of a wedding day?
Were you a native of Cadiz, Spain who went on to greater fame in another country?

[CatInASuit]

DQs:
1. Is real
2. Is male
3. Last name starts with a G
4. Is alive
5. Is not from a European country
6. Is American
7. Is not best known for the creative arts (broadly defined)
8. Not born since 1960
9. Is not involved in politics
10. Not known for being a sports figure.
11. Born since 1950.
12. Is a Scientist, not an inventor.
13. Not born east of the Miss. River.

[CatInASuit]

I'll let you decide if my goof on the adaptation thing merits the loss of a DQ. In the meantime, my two other DQs are:
IQs:

1. Do you claim to be a tailor but shouldn't really be trusted with anything sharper than a pin (and probably not even that)?
2. Did you hold the highest office in the land more times, not successively, than anyone else?
3. Were you the first person to orbit the Earth?

Take the extra DQ: I hadn't a clue anyway

1. Nope stumped.
2. William Gladstone
3. Yuri Gagarin

Previous IQs:
IQs:

Were you one of George Washington's favorite generals?
Did you end up in a coffee shop on your flop of a wedding day?
Were you a native of Cadiz, Spain who went on to greater fame in another country?

1. No idea.
2. This sounds like a 'Friends' question, but no, I'm stumped
3. Guido Fawkes?

So a couple of DQs to choie and a couple to EH.

[Elendil's Heir]

Previous IQs:

Were you one of George Washington's favorite generals? - Nathanael Greene.
Did you end up in a coffee shop on your flop of a wedding day? - Rachel Green, yes, in the Friends series premiere.
Were you a native of Cadiz, Spain who went on to greater fame in another country? - George Meade, victor at the Battle of Gettysburg.

DQs:

Also known as a businessman?
Best known for computer science?

One DQ reserved.

IQs:

Did you and your wife set up a very generous foundation named after you both?
Did you hold a still-unique rank in the U.S. military?
Are you a comic with a feline nickname?

[CatInASuit]

DQs:
1. Is real
2. Is male
3. Last name starts with a G
4. Is alive
5. Is not from a European country
6. Is American
7. Is not best known for the creative arts (broadly defined)
8. Not born since 1960
9. Is not involved in politics
10. Not known for being a sports figure.
11. Born since 1950.
12. Is a Scientist, not an inventor.
13. Not born east of the Miss. River.
14. Known as a businessman
15. Best known for computer science.

IQs:

Did you and your wife set up a very generous foundation named after you both?

You certainly did set up a foundation. I am Bill Gates.

Congrats EH.

[Elendil's Heir]

Sweet! Thanks, CIAS. That was fun.

Other previous IQs:

Did you hold a still-unique rank in the U.S. military? - George Dewey, naval hero of the Spanish-American War, is still the one-and-only "Admiral of the Navy."
Are you a comic with a feline nickname? - Bobcat Goldthwaite.

Lemme think of our next person....

[Elendil's Heir]

Our letters so far, from oldest to most recent: EDBM JHBH CMNW LABW RPSP MG.

Our next letter:

K.

[choie]

Here we go!

IQs:

1. Are you a tremendously well-regarded leader in the music world and, oh yeah, a Nazi (though in fairness, you did marry a partially Jewish spouse)?

2. Did you use footwear in an unorthodox way when trying to make an angry protest in front of an august body?

3. Are you a revolutionary who was a favorite of a dictator, and after your somewhat inevitable assassination, a dance company (among many other entities) was named in your honor?

[Elendil's Heir]

Not Klemperer, Khruschev or Kirov.

[CatInASuit]

1. Would you have just loved it if you could beat them in a famous TV meltdown?
2. Did you play a character who thought the London underground was a subversive movement?
3. Do you have a nephew called Robin who looks like you only smaller?

[choie]

1. Would you have just loved it if you could beat them in a famous TV meltdown?
2. Did you play a character who thought the London underground was a subversive movement?
3. Do you have a nephew called Robin who looks like you only smaller?

OMG I love all these questions. Don't be afraid to pull the Ben Weiss clause on him, CIAS. Fight back against all those ancient U.S. Civil War sub-noteworthy generals he gave us as questions by giving him obscure Parliamentary backbenchers, Wolverhampton Wanders players, and minor Thunderbirds characters.

[choie]

Just saw this.

Not Klemperer, Khruschev or Kirov.

BZZZT on Klemperer! Good heavens, he was Jewish and escaped the Nazi regime! The correct answer was Herbert von Karajan.

DQ time, baby.

1. Real?

[Elendil's Heir]

1. Would you have just loved it if you could beat them in a famous TV meltdown?
2. Did you play a character who thought the London underground was a subversive movement?
3. Do you have a nephew called Robin who looks like you only smaller?

Dunno the first or third. As to the second, I'm not Kevin Kline, who played the hilariously, violently stoopid Otto in A Fish Called Wanda. Two DQs.

K.

1. real

[choie]

IQs:

1. Are you the brother-in-law of a young woman who thinks she knows way more about love and human nature than she actually does?
2. Did you once nearly win a beautiful lounge suite but just didn't know enough about football to win the prize? (Okay, a fictional version of you?)
3. Did you meet the same grisly fate as your cousin, and in exactly the same way, and due to the same accusation--although in your case, it was true?

[CatInASuit]

1. Kevin Keegan
3. Kermit the Frog

DQs:
1. Male?
2. Alive?

IQs:
1. Are you a former Newcastle Utd and Northern Ireland football player who was declared bankrupt due to gambling?
2. Are you considered Australia's greatest all round cricketer?
3. Did you wind up playing someone who was found under a pier in a straight jacket?

[Elendil's Heir]

IQs:

1. Are you the brother-in-law of a young woman who thinks she knows way more about love and human nature than she actually does?
2. Did you once nearly win a beautiful lounge suite but just didn't know enough about football to win the prize? (Okay, a fictional version of you?)
3. Did you meet the same grisly fate as your cousin, and in exactly the same way, and due to the same accusation--although in your case, it was true?

Not... Mr. Knightley?
I think this is a Python reference, but dunno.
Intriguing, but dunno.

...IQs:
1. Are you a former Newcastle Utd and Northern Ireland football player who was declared bankrupt due to gambling?
2. Are you considered Australia's greatest all round cricketer?
3. Did you wind up playing someone who was found under a pier in a straight jacket?

Dunno any of these. Three DQs.

K.

1. real
2. female
3. alive

[choie]

Heh, CIAS is taking my advice I see.

Answers to IQs:

1. Yes indeed, the lovely, charming but sometimes curmudgeonly Mr. Knightly, from Emma.

2. Right on Monty Python. The answer we were looking for was Karl Marx.

3. Katherine (or Kathryn, or Catherine) Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII whom he called his "Rose without a Thorn." Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, she was beheaded due to treasonous wanton behavior--except Anne's charges were likely lies cobbled together by people who knew Henry wanted a new wife who'd give him a son, whereas KH was a young foolish girl who had flirted and probably slept with at least two others before she was married (both of whom were executed even though they'd had the affair not knowing their lover was going to be queen) and likely continued the flirtations after marriage.

DQs:

1. Born after 1960?
2. European as we now consider it?

New IQs:

1. Did you recently play a famous Jane Austen lead in the style of one of the Bronte sisters thanks to your idiot director who apparently thought the Regency occured in the mid-1850s, that a middle-class British family would actually have a pig running through its house, and that a properly-bred young woman would ever meet a gentleman in the dawn, alone, and clad only in a nightgown?

2. Are you married to the subject of one of the most popular memes on the Internet (though I believe it predated the web, could be wrong here)?

3. Did you once find yourself in the awkward position of giving birth to a baby not your own?

[Elendil's Heir]

Not the lissome Keira Knightley as Miss Bennet (although I don't recall the movie quite like that); dunno the second; not Kira Nerys.

[choie]

You should've guessed I was going for a "Kira" trifecta: the second is Kyra Sedgewick, who is married to Kevin Bacon (as in the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game).

And yeah, that Pride and Prejudice was crazily inappropriate for the period and style. It was Emily Bronte's Pride and Prejudice, not Jane Austen's. Knightly did the best she could, as did MacFeyden (sp?), but the direction was atrocious. 1995's miniseries version was waaay better, and Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth a much truer Elizabeth/Darcy thanks in large part to better scripting and directing, and of course having more time to elaborate on their characterizations in a six-part miniseries vs. a 2-hour movie.

Uh, anyway. I'll reserve my 1 DQ and other IQs for now, waiting on the answers to my and CIAS's DQs when he gets to 'em.

[Elendil's Heir]

We will have to agree to disagree. I prefer the Knightley version of P&P, although not by a huge margin, to the BBC miniseries. Better cinematography, much better soundtrack (Oscar-nominated!), a better Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and although Ehle is no orc, Knightley is simply luminous in that role.

[choie]

Heh, someone's got it bad. "EH and Keira, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G..." How many times have you read the book? 'Cause those who are nuts about P&P (who read it before they all started falling in love with droopy Darcy from the later film) tend to prefer the earlier version, which may not have as pretty pictures, music or actors but at least focuses its attention on the actual storylines and supporting characters that matter (such as Jane and Bingley, Wickham and Lydia, Charlotte Lucas, Collins...), retains the appropriate time period, omits crazy things like nightgown-clad single girls dashing out to meet men in fields unescorted, and doesn't turn Mr. Darcy into an emo whiner. Though I should say that I think the cinematography was very appropriate for the story; Austen is mainly about candlelit drawing rooms and conversation, not sunlit fields at dawn. 1995 devotes its money shot to the glory that is Pemberley as well it should (and one silly bit with Colin Firth's bath, but even that's more appropriate than Eliza's sunrise walk in her nightie).

Of course Knightley is pretty, but that doesn't make her Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet, whose chief trait is not supposed to be luminosity or even great beauty (except for "fine eyes") but intelligence. Macfayden is pretty too, but that soppy sap he was given to play is no Darcy either. Feh. And the very idea that Donald freakin' Sutherland is better than Benjamin Whitelaw as Mr. Bennet! Mr. Bennet barely even exists in the film, whereas Mr. B. in the miniseries is his arch, somewhat callous self whose somewhat poignant realization that he's just as guilty as his wife for his young daughters' flightiness is all too brief--as he acknowledges himself.

Yeah, so I'm as passionate about my Austen as you are about your Keira!

Anyway, understanding that a gallant knight must defend his lady fair, when you get a chance to step down off your charger, couldja maybe answer the DQs on the table?

[Elendil's Heir]

Sorry, I overlooked those DQs.

K.

1. real
2. female
3. alive
4. born before 1960
5. not European

[CatInASuit]

You're right choie - sometimes it is fun to pick obscure people EH is likely never to have heard of

IQs:
1. Are you a former Newcastle Utd and Northern Ireland football player who was declared bankrupt due to gambling?
2. Are you considered Australia's greatest all round cricketer?
3. Did you wind up playing someone who was found under a pier in a straight jacket?

1. Keith Gillespie
2. Keith Miller
3. Patsy Kensit (in Lethal Weapon 2)

DQs:
1. American
2. Mainly involved in Military/Politics
3. Mainly involved in the performing arts


IQs
1. Are you a south african born batsman playing for England who used to have a skunk hairstyle?
2. Were you a wrestling presenter and interviewer for the WWE?
3. Were you a Blue Peter presenter who died of breast cancer?