Selection of 42 questions posted over the past 9 months on Facebook

1. OvB Questions
(Jan – Sep ’14)
Aditya Sriram Sankaran

2. Q.1.
Contuining on his obsession with all things Tesla, The Oatmeal's
Matthew Inman wrote a review of the Tesla Model S after having
purchased one. This also served as an appeal (particularly to Elon
Musk) to help raise money towards a (Nikola) Tesla Science
Center at Wardenclyffe.
In it, he mentions a friend & fellow Model S owner who has
installed solar panels in his house thereby charging his car
primarily using the sun. Co-incidentally, this friend was the one
who convinced Inman to buy a Model S.
Who is this friend that likes to dance a lot?

4. A.1.
Matt Harding of “Where in the world is Matt?” fame

5. Q.2.
Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade & Li Ning have released this shoe
yesterday, the third in its series - the Way of Wade.
What is it themed on?

6. A.2.
Dwayne Wade’s fellow Miami resident Dexter

7. Q.3.
These are a couple of stills from "Shirley: Visions
of Reality", an Austrian production that featured
in the 'Forum' section of the 2013 Berlin Film
Festival.
What is the film visually inspired by?

10. A.3.
Edward Hopper’s paintings

11. Q.4.
Many studies in the past have been conducted to determine the health
benefits of ___________, with a recent one titled X being one of the
first to actually introduce ____ into people's lives and track its effects
on their bodies, with first results showing health benefits primarily
when ____ is combined with regular exercise. (2nd & 3rd blanks are
same; contracted versions of the first).
X is a Latin phrase whose Greek translation has also been seen in Pliny
the Elder's Naturalis historia, and refers to the apparent effects of
__________ (same as first blank) on what a person may say, as
opposed to health benefits.
X is also the title of a 17th season Law & Order episode.
Give me X (the Latin phrase) & the first / fourth (long) blank.

12. A.4.
X – In vino, veritas
______ - drinking wine

13. Q.5.
The following are a selection (non-exhaustive) of
poems collated and displayed by a particular
organization, who chose a work by Walt Whitman as
their first such piece.
Where would one likely see them?
What expression that is used in the context of
something 'graceful & fluid' is used as a title for this
project?

14. A guy and a girl
seated next to each other.
They’re not together
but the guy gives her
advice on her sudoku.
She does not respond.
It’s a numbers game.
“I love Instagram.”
“Shall I take a selfie of you?”
“ ‘Twilight’ is, like, the modern ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ ”
There is a man
flexing
his chest muscles
in repeated jolts
for the entire journey.
I guess it’s an effective workout,
because his pectorals are enormous.
Maybe I’ll try it.

15. A.5.
These, along with several other works of poetry that are
inspired by commuters and travel on the metro can be
seen on metro cars in the NYC Metro, as part of a project
titled "Poetry in Motion"
The titles of the three poems mentioned above are:
1. Sudoku Haiku
2. #OverheardOnTheTrain
3. Subway Crunching
The first one exhibited in 1992 was an excerpt from Walt
Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”

16. Q.6.
What question that may be posed on 18th September is this a
possible solution to?
(Question asked on 3rd September)

17. A.6.
This is one of the several design proposals going around
for the flag of the UK post Scottish separation if that
were to happen
The three elements represented being:
1. St. George's cross for England
2. The Red Hand of Ulster for Northern Ireland
3. The Red Dragon for Wales

18. Q.7.
The Sydney Morning Herald recently published a story involving
Independent Commission against Corruption witnesses Eric
Roozendaal and Chris Hartcher on the front page regarding the
leaking of confidential information and illegal donations.
For what unrelated reason did this article in the 183-year old
newspaper raise a controversy on social media & the rest of the
internet?

19. A.7.
Comic sans was used for text in the blurbs on the front
page, representing Roozendaal and Hartcher's
comments, which subsequently kicked up a giant
shitstorm on social media.

20. Q.8.
Which sportsperson goes by the nickname "The God of
Thunder"?
#kolstylz

21. A.8.
Norwegian cyclist Thor Hushovd

22. Q.9.
Kill Me Three Times is a Simon Pegg film in the works with the
following description on IMDb:
"In the Australian surfing town of Eagle's Nest, a young woman is
the thread that binds three tales of murder, blackmail and
revenge."
What specific rather Harry Potter-esque element has been used
in its promotional campaign?

23. A.9.
The film has a gif poster, exactly like the moving photos
in Harry Potter.
Here's the poster with smoke apparently coming out of
it:

24. Q.10.
Security firm Xipiter have created a device that allows the user
to charge smartphone batteries from random USB ports without
risking accidental syncing of private data or contracting a
computer virus.
It is a small chip with male and female ports which connects
between your device and the unknown USB port, linking-up the
power cables but severing any potential data connection, thus
protecting your device against viruses and unexpected data
transfer.
What have these devices been dubbed?

25. A.10.
Digital or USB Condoms

26. Q.11.
eBay have recently revealed the most popular items /
categories per US state.
What specific category of items led the way in
Colorado?

27. A.11.
Hydroponic supplies

28. Q.12.
François Truffaut directed his only English-language film
in 1966.
What film?
Why were its opening credits 'spoken' as opposed to
shown on screen in words as done usually?

29. A.12.
Fahrenheit 451 because paper burns at 451 F & only
the spoken word is left

30. Q.13.
This is a picture of a man taken in Paris during pro-Palestinian
protests earlier this year.
It inspired several edits & memes, one of which, based on what
the man is doing, is a nod to a famous work of an artist which is,
ironically found in a location significant to the protests.
A. Name the artist & artwork, which also found itself on the
cover of a compilation book (whose title is based on a 1869
work) of the artist.
B. For brownie points, name the compilation book & where this
work of art is found.

32. A.13.
Artwork - Banksy's Flower Thrower
His compilation book - Banksy: Wall and Piece
Fitting with the theme of the protests, the work is on a
wall in Bethlehem

33. Q.14.
In which appropriately named Belgian village does the
electronic music festival Tomorrowland take place each
year?
#kolstylz

34. A.14.
Boom

35. Q.15.
While Ellen DeGeneres is now a pro host with her own TV
show and the Oscars under her hosting honors, she wasn't
always this good at it.
She had to undergo a lot of training to appear more
graceful and likeable so as to be able to co-host the 46th
Emmy Awards in 1994.
This story, as per her own account inspired what?

36. A.15.
Miss Congeniality

37. Q.16.
What was this photo posted as a response to?

38. A.16.
As a response to this gaffe involving a water bottle (seen on the
right side of the picture on the mantelpiece) from a promo of
Downton Abbey

39. Q.17.
In an article about Apple's products & their culture of
innovation, the simplicity in the design of their products has
been compared to a series of lithographs by an artist of a subject
that is essentially stripped down to its bare necessities.
An example to showcase this simplicity is the Apple mouse
through time.
What is the subject of the lithograph series & by which artist?

40. A.17.
Bull by Pablo Picasso, where the detailed drawing of a bull is
simplified through a cubist approach over 11 lithographs into the
basic lines that make it up

41. Q.18.
If it's called musique entêtante in France and canzone
tormentone in Italy, what is it called in the English-
speaking world?
#kolstylz

42. A.18.
Earworms, the German word for it is Ohrwurm

43. Q.19.
Comments by X on Y's work (5 versions of around 300) for X's
project:
1. "Hand & bike are too irrelevant. Title looks bad small. Looks
like ink didn't take on the part that goes light."
2. "Looks like Science fiction. Hard to read, even at this size."
3. "__A__ and figures place too much emphasis on __A__. I don't
think we should use the __A__ in ads"
4. __A__ too abstract and too much emphasis on __A__"
5. "Don't like art work. __B__ looks peculiar. Also, art work too
spread out, too sprawling, not compact enough.
I don't like the dots for the logo. It will not look good small, even
the size above is difficult to read."
X & Y please (Brownie points for A & B)

44. A.19.
These are comments by Stanley Kubrick on Saul Bass' efforts for
The Shining poster. (A & B are maze & hotel respectively).
After about 300 different versions, here's the one Kubrick finally
okay-ed:

45. Q.20.
Here's The Sopranos' opening credits from one of the
later seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2DHLvmfVE
What miniscule change in this opening sequence was
introduced from the 4th season of the show onwards
& why?

46. A.20.
For the fourth season & all the others that followed,
the shot of the WTC in the rear view mirror that was
seen in the first 3 seasons were removed, since this
was after 9/11.

47. Q.21.
The last time an album accomplished this feat, it was
'My Son, The Nut' by Allan Sherman in 1963.
What feat that was accomplished again a few days
back?
#kolstylz
(Question posted on August 8th)

48. A.21.
Weird Al's Mandatory Fun just hit number one on the billboard
a couple of weeks back, making it the first comedy album since
1963 to achieve the feat.
Incidentally, it's also the first number one in Weird Al's 30 year
career.

49. Q.22.
Which band was the first to have used the devil's
horns symbol on their album cover?
Which album?
This threw up several controversies & conspiracy
theories alike.
#kolstylz

50. A.22.
The Beatles on the cover of Yellow Submarine

51. Q.23.
- Toni Kroos & Franck Ribery in a 6-0 Bayern Munich
victory over Hertha Berlin
- Marco Reus & Mike Hanke in a 3-0 Borussia
Monchengladbach victory over FC Koln
What specific occurrences involving these players in
the two games above happened in the 2011-12
Bundesliga season?

52. A.23.
They played Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who would
take the free kick

53. Q.24.
In French, there is a type of slang called 'verlan', where
the syllables of a word are interchanged to get a new
one. Verlan itself comes from "l'envers" (pronounced
lan-ver) which refers to the inversion.
Whose current stage name comes from a verlan-
ification of his previous stage name?
What word from the old name was modified?

54. A.24.
Stromae from The ‘Maestro’

55. Q.25.
2010 print of who by whom?
The color tone & background should help identify the whom &
who respectively.

56. A.25.
Keith Haring by Shepard Fairey

57. Q.26.
Picasso, observing a bull fight in a famous arena in a
city of Southern France, where he spent a lot of time
apparently "watching the blood saturate the sand".
This city still celebrates bull-fighting in the week leading
up to the Pentecost called the Feria de 'name of the
city'.
Which city, encountered in an oft-repeated biz quiz
funda?

59. A.26.
Nimes of Denim (de Nimes) fame

60. Q.27.
This is a series of 13 prints by Damien Hirst
representing food items like Salad, Chicken, Omlette,
Mushrooms, etc. as tablets ready for consumption.
Like several of his other works, it is a statement against
something.
What title does this series bear, borrowing from a far
more famous work?

62. A.27.
The Last Supper

63. Q.28.
"And now the story of a wealthy girl who lost everything, and the
one family who had no choice but to help her keep it together.“
Description of one show in the style of another as the subtitle to
a mash-up teaser video.
1. Which show is being described?
2. In the style of which?
3. What aspect that ties the two shows together made
producers come up with this crossover?
#mutualmetastylz

64. A.28.
1. Orange is the New Black
2. Arrested Development
3. Netflix

65. Q.29.
Lego Recreation of what? (Two-word answer)

66. A.29.
Fawlty Towers

67. Q.30.
Traditionally, you would find that in Beijing, and pretty much all
surrounding areas in the north of China, winters are passable because
all buildings would be centrally heated.
However, when you look at Shanghai (an equally large and important
city) and its surrounding areas in the South, there is generally no
central heating at all (there are a few exceptions) to this date despite
the fact that the city hits sub-zero temperatures.
Back in the 50s, that was a money-saving move because the state
provided heat as part of the iron rice bowl welfare of communism.
However, another reason involving a certain man in power is cited as
being the principal explanation of this heating parity.
What?

68. A.30.
Mao Zedong is said to have proclaimed that winter
only had an effect on the part of the country north of
the Yangtze river, as a result of which the government
policy involved setting up central heating in buildings of
Beijing and others north of the Yangtze, while cities
such as Shanghai that were south of it were left to fend
for themselves in the winter.

69. Q.31.
X self-published a book titled ___________________, which is
primarily about shoes. It featured many of this artist's 'shoe'
drawings and was a collective effort where X did the drawings,
his mother did the calligraphy and Ralph Pomeroy, a poet, did
the text consisting of 'shoe poems'.
X named the book by changing one word in the original name of
a famous novel by Y, which is considered Y's most prominent
work, known both for its length and its theme of involuntary
memory.
ID X, Y and the name of the book by X (same as the name of the
novel by Y except for one word)

70. Couple images of the shoe drawings

71. A.31.
X – Andy Warhol
Y – Marcel Proust
The book is titled 'A la recherche du shoe perdu' or 'In
search of lost shoe'

72. Q.32.
3 out of 9 works created by X with the blonde, Y, as model for
the 160th anniversary of LeBonMarché, a famous retail store on
the Left-bank (Rive Gauche) of the Seine in Paris.
Incidentally, this isn't the first time X and Y have worked
together, with Y having worked in the adaptation of one of X's
earlier works.
Identify X (the artist) and Y (the model)

74. A.32.
X - Marjane Satrapi,
Y - Catherine Denueve
Catherine Denueve voiced Mrs. Satrapi in the film
adaptation of the autobiographical Persepolis by
Marjane Satrapi.

75. Q.33.
Donald Glover raps under the stage name Childish Gambino.
In an interview where he denied being related to Danny Glover
in any which way, he also explained how he chose his stage
name.
How?

76. A.33.
He used a Wu-Tang Clan Name Generator

77. Q.34.
A company named XandY was started when two guys (a third
joined later), decided to make the most of some Xs at their
disposal & Y they could offer easily to help make ends meet.
Today, they are valued at over over $10 billion & have many
investors, incl. Ashton Kutcher in their venture.
What concept did they pioneer to help pay their rent? X Y?

78. A.34.
Started when Joe Gebbia & Brian Chesky decided to rent out 3
air mattresses they possessed and make breakfast the next day
to help pay their own rent, airbed(X)andbreakfast(Y).com, now
airbnb.com has become a first point of call for most travelers.

79. Q.35.
The giant moa is an extinct genus of ratite birds endemic to New
Zealand.
Before 2003, there were three species of the giant moa (Diornis) that
were recognized:
- South island giant moa (D. robustus),
- North Island giant moa (D. novaezealandiae) and
- Slender moa (D. struthioides)
However, after some research, they were re-classified into only 2
species – robustus & novaezealandiae.
What original error in identification prompted scientists to re-classify
the giant moa?

81. A.35.
Sexual dimorphism – the males and females were so
different in size that scientists thought them to be
completely different species.
Later, they discovered that all D. sthruioides were males
and all D. robustus were females – then classifying
them under robustus

82. Q.36.
This is a painting of the ‘Bridge of Sighs, Ducal Palace
and Custom House, Venice: ________ painting’ by
Turner.
In the bottom left is an artist shown by his easel and
canvas.
Who is this artist, whose mononym is symbolic of the
city he has been depicted in, although it was merely a
reworking of his surname to represent something of a
family legacy?

84. A.36.
Canaletto
He was the son of Bernardo Canal, and was hence given
the name 'Canaletto' (little canal)

85. Q.37.
This is a Portrait of Père Tanguy.
1. Name the artist, in whose later works Japanese art
was a strong influence.
2. After Tanguy's death, this painting was sold by his
daughter to another 'artist', in whose personal
collection it lay until a while back when it became an
exhibit in his museum. Identify him.

87. A.37.
1. Vincent van Gogh
2. Auguste Rodin, and the painting is part of the
permanent collection at the Musée Rodin.

88. Q.38.
Whose twitter handle is @dafastestbowler?
#kolstylz

89. A.38.
Shoaib Akhtar

90. Q.39.
Part of a series of documents recently revealed to the
public (scanned copies of the entire set are also
available to download)
Who compiled this recipe for a hamburger?
(Question posted February 19th)

92. A.39.
Ernest Hemingway

93. Q.40.
During the forthcoming Winter olympics at Sochi, finals
of 7 events will take place on February 15th, incl.
events in Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Short-
Track, Ski Jumping, Skeleton & Speed Skating.
What is unique about what will be awarded to the top
3 in each of these events?
Why these events?
(Question posted January 7th)

94. A.40.
The top 3 in all events that will take place on Feb 15th
will receive medals with meteorite fragments
embedded from the Chelyabinsk meteorite fall.
Feb 15th was specifically chosen to mark one year
from the event.

95. Q.41.
Netflix and other on-line streaming / DVD-by-mail providers use algorithms to
predict user ratings on certain movies, in order to better recommend movies
to their users.
Often, this prediction is only a little bit off the mark (margin of error ~ 1/8th
of a star on a 5-star rating system). However, there has been one movie that
because of its 'quirkiness' has been uniformly difficult to rate accurately.
Solving it has been a problem that was part of a $1 Million prize that Netflix
had announced to find the best rating / recommendation algorithm.
A lot of analysts believe that it is only one of several movies that face this
problem. However, this is arguably the most famous one - giving its name to
this conundrum.
Which film?

96. The red dot in the picture represents the movie showing it's not just the difficulty in
rating it, but the huge number of ratings it has got that weren't uniform with any
trends that made the job even more difficult.

97. A.41.
Napoleon Dynamite

98. Q.42.
What is this? Explain the color coded-blanking out.

99. A.42.
This is a tweeting / retweeting of the entire Reservoir Dogs
script by an Argentinian advertising exec. incl. tweets from
accounts for all characters & a master account for narration.
Coolest part is these were tweeted in reverse order so that they
could be read top-down on Twitter to tell the whole story.
The color code refers to the characters’ names – Mr. Brown, Mr.
Blonde, etc.

100. Fin