Anyone who knows me knows I love lists. I love movies. And I love a good trivia challenge. So what he have here is one of those trifecta moments that I simply can’t resist.
I got 89% right. A pretty solid B+; maybe an A-, depending on generous you want to make the curve. I had a nice long unbroken streak between 91 and 67, and finished strong down the homestretch from 29 to 1. Plus, I didn’t miss two in a row. Not too shabby, right?
Of the eleven I didn’t get, I had seen only one (99). There were a few I guessed at based on actors (47, 48, 33, 34) or the setting and context of the scene (89), and a couple that I needed a little help from the IMDb. But I think 89 is pretty respectable.
I had #11 from the moment I saw it. But it really couldn’t have been anything else—if you’re even remotely aware of movie ephemera, you know what it is just by the number. Of course, I was giddy at 91.
Three cheers for "Agent Mosley." The complete answer key is here. My scorecard is below.
100: Night of the Living Dead
99:
98: Dead Poets Society
97: Blade Runner
96:
95: Ocean’s 11 (2001)
94: Star Wars
93: Midnight Run
92:
91: The Right Stuff
90: The Fugitive
89: The French Connection (?)
88: Back to the Future
87: Cast Away
86: Quiz Show
85: The Silence of the Lambs
84: Titanic
83: The Magnificent Seven
82: Rain Man
81: Galaxy Quest
80: Harold and Maude
79: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
78: The Day the Earth Stood Still(?)
77: The Apartment
76: The Great Escape
75: The Hustler (?)
74: Ed Wood
73: The Jerk
72: Raiders of the Lost Ark
71: When Harry Met Sally
70: Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
69: M*A*S*H
68: The Breakfast Club
67: The King and I
66:
65: The Princess Bride
64:
63: Network
62: Mr. Roberts
61: Singles
60: Gone with the Wind
59: His Girl Friday
58: Goldfinger
57:
56: It’s a Wonderful Life
55: The Blues Brothers
54:
53: Midnight Express
52: Waking Ned Devine
51: Roman Holiday
50: Cool Hand Luke
49: The Taking of Pelham 123
48: The Adventures of Robin Hood (?)
47: The Big Sleep (?)
46:
45: The Hudsucker Proxy
44: Magnum Force
43: Monty Python
42: Finding Nemo
41:
40: Superman: The Movie
39: The 39 Steps (a gimmie!)
38: Aliens
37: Men In Black
36: Clerks
35: Harvey
34: Marty (?)
33: The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
32:
31: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
30:
29: Young Frankenstein (It’s pronounced “Fronk-en-steen”)
28: The Bridge on the River Kwai
27: The Usual Suspects
26: North By Northwest
25: Sunset Boulevard
24: Escape From New York
23: The Wizard of Oz
22: Casablanca
21: The Lion in Winter
20: Boogie Nights
19: The Shawshank Redemption
18: Almost Famous
17: The Maltese Falcon
16: The Natural
15: Being John Malkovich
14: The Professionals (IMdB)
13: Lawrence of Arabia
12: Ghostbusters
11: This is Spinal Tap
10: Citizen Kane (?)
9: 12 Angry Men (?)
8: Office Space
7: To Kill a Mockingbird
6: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Chill, Winston!)
5: The Godfather
4: Fargo
3: L.A. Confidential
2: Once Upon a Time in the West
1: The Lord of the Rings
So, how'd you do?
Negotiations and Love Songs
One of my cyber pals, Stennie, who’s got her shit so together that she maintains not only a superfabulous regular, slice-of-life blog and an extra crispy one devoted entirely to movies, concocted this little CD Mix Challenge. Actually, this is the fourth of these she’s done, but the first I’ve noticed and participated in since I started reading her blogs with any regularity.
Unlike other pop-culture memes I’ve done (mostly Dennis’ movie quizzes), which involve answering questions with actual written words, Stennie’s takes a different tack. She challenges participants to respond in song. And while I like reading other people’s memes, this bumps the entertainment value of the experience up to a whole new level, ‘cause, you get a bunch of CDs—each chock full of an interesting assortment of new music—in the mail.
One more caveat before we get to the show. Due to the peripatetic nature of my life over the last two years, all but a handful of my CDs are packed up; only the essentials have found their way onto my iTunes. In fact, the majority of my library is stuff I’ve downloaded or come by through some other means. And a hella kids music (which is another post entirely) Still, I’m pleased with the final result, even if it’s not as eclectic as I would have liked.
CD Mix Challenge 4—The Revenge!
1. Song with a day of the week in the title.
“Sunday Morning” by No Doubt
I had a few other choices, but I like how the energy of this sets the tone.
2. A song you disliked as a youngster that you like now.
“Highway to Hell” by AC/DC
To paraphrase Bono (sorry, Stennie): “Evangelicals stole rock & roll from my adolescence. Now I’m stealin’ it back.”
3. Sellout - song from a TV commercial.
“Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone
Even though “sellout” is probably intended as a pejorative, I picked one that, when used in a campaign for Sony Video a few years ago, actually reawakened my appreciation for the song such that I went and bought it off iTunes.
4. Kickass cover song.
“Kiss” by Tom Jones & Art of Noise (covering Prince)
To be properly kick-ass, a cover should somehow improve upon the original, right? No mean feat when we’re talking about Prince, but this gets it done. Not least because nobody steps up and owns a song like Tom Jones.
5. Musical question...
“Who is he and what is he to you?” by Bill Withers
Another great ‘70s AM radio staple. Not my favorite Bill Withers track, but it serves its purpose.
6. And answer!
“Steve McQueen” by Drive-By Truckers
Who is he? What is he to me? He’s the coolest goddam motherfucker on the silver screen! Bonus: it’s also a nice little shout-out to the movies, which seems only fitting considering how I found Stennie’s blogs.
7. Third person song
“Wedding Vows in Vegas” by Was (Not Was) featuring Frank Sinatra, Jr.
From one of my all-time top 10 favorite albums, What Up, Dog?
8. Uplugged - a favorite acoustic song.
“Rain” by Patty Griffin
Not sure if this was supposed to be an acoustic version of an originally electrified/amplified song (I got the impression that we were trying to avoid that) or something that has always been acoustic. In any case, this is what I call an NSFW song—because it’s rare that I can get all the way through it without welling up. Which also makes it NSFD (not safe for driving). A lot of the songs on Patty Griffin’s 1000 Kisses have that effect, but this one is just extra poignant for some reason. Maybe it’s my Oregonian roots.
9. A song about food.
“Jambalaya” by Hank Williams
One of the few songs about food on my iTunes that isn’t from the kids’ music file. Why is that? Why do we stop singing about food when we get all growed up?
10. Trains, Planes and Automobiles: song about a mode of transport.
“City of
This was hard because I could easily do (and have done) entire mixes around transportation (see #14). No idea why. It’s not like I set out to amass transportation-themed songs. The fact that it continues the geographic theme from the song that precedes it is a very happy accident. Also another indelible artifact of my ‘70s childhood soundtrack.
11. A song that cheers you up.
“Loves Me Like A Rock” by Paul Simon
Easily my favorite Paul Simon song (and that’s saying something). The visceral sense memory of it never fades, which makes it kind of the inverse of #2. I loved it as a kid; my appreciation for it has only deepened as I’ve gotten older. I also like that it’s from the same era as the previous track, so it’s possible that it might have been the day-brightening bit of sonic sorbet in real life that it is here.
12. Media - songs about radio, TV or other type of media (newspapers, magazines, whatever)
“Centerfold” by the J. Geils Band
And I thought coming up with a non-kids food song was hard. How is it that I have 427 songs about transportation but only one about media? (I have more, surely, if only I could get to the CDs.) Speaking of media, remember way back in olden days when MTV used play videos? This and a few other tracks come from that time I like to call the Golden Age of MTV (1981-84).
13. Add it up: Song with a number in the title...
“One” by Three Dog Night
14. Plus another song with a number in the title...
“Six Months in a Leaky Boat” by
15. Equals third song with a number in the title.
“Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes
16. Banned! A song that is, or was in its day, controversial.
“Without Me” by Eminem
17. A song about a family member
“Oh Daddy” by Adrian Belew
This is an 11th-hour sub, for sake of fitting everything onto a single CD. We’re all about value here at Middlebrow Industries, Inc. Or my name ain’t Nathan Arizona!
18. A favorite song that you have discovered since our last CD mix.
“Chariot” by Page
I actually blogged about these guys (and a gal) recently. Nice to have a another chance to spread the word about them.
19. A song that reminds you of an old friend.
“Amanda” by Waylon Jennings
In this case “old friend” = My mom’s 1973 Mazda 808 station wagon. On nights when my dad was working graveyard at the mill, she bundled my brother and me into the backseat and the backidy-back at O-dark-thirty, tune the radio to Rockin’ Country KPOK or 62 KGW, and deliver The Oregonian to homes in the hinterlands of Clackamas County.
20. Amnesty song As with the last mix—a song you wanted to include in this or any past mix that you didn’t find room for.
“The Mayor of Simpleton” by XTC
This was a contender for #11. It’s not only one of my all-time favorite songs, but quite possibly the perfect pop song. It’s a nice little call-back to Sam Cooke’s “What a wonderful world,” but with so much winking self awareness that it ought to be subtitled “I was meta when meta wasn’t cool.”
I weep for the future.
Glancing at my site meter referrals, I came across this link. Being from neither a known associate or the ubiquitous Google search for the song from Jaws, my curiosity was duly piqued.
Turns out, it’s a message board used by the faculty to mete out class assignments at
While I’m glad to be getting traffic for something other than sea chanteys and tips on pork brining, I’m not sure I’m ready for the responsibility that comes with being an quasi-legit academic resource—for Catholics. Either the teacher is too pressed for time to vet every site, or he’s big into the whole free will thing. ‘Cause, seriously, did he even look around?
I feel like I should do a quick review of Dogma. Or link to the “Every Sperm is Sacred” song from Monty Python and Meaning of Life.
So far, none of the kids has followed the teacher’s link (to be fair, he posted it on May 2, and they have a lot of Shakespeare and Milton and Lewis Carroll to get through). But here’s the odd thing: the traffic that came so far was from the EPA office in
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
