QMs: Gayatri & Ria

1. THE POP CULTURE QUIZ BY RIA CHOPRA &
GAYATRI GIRI
POP IT LIKE IT’S HOT
2: 2 HOT 2 POP

2. × 25 questions
× Perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16, 25) are star marked.
We always get out on them so we’re looking
forward to doing the same to u.
× Don’t fight
Gratitude to our GP gang, the Holy Trinity of Trash:
the Father (Jyotesh), the son (Swapnil), and the
Holy Spirit (Kaustubh).

3. The 21st century has seen a slew of remakes of classic movies. In 2006, X was
released, a remake of the iconic 1978 film of the same name. In fact, one of the
writers of the original film co-wrote the remake.
The dedication of the actors was such that they underwent extensive martial arts
training from experts at the Shaolin Temple. The music was very well received, and
one of the songs of X went on to later be used in a Grammy and Oscar winning film
soundtrack in 2008.
"X: The Origin," a comic book based on the X franchise, was released in 2011. Video
games for PS3 and PS2 were also released.
What is X?

4. Riverdale is known to make several references to pop culture. In the series,
when FP Jones, Jughead’s father, is convicted for the murder of Jason
Blossom, we finally get to see another of the dark town’s institutions, named
after the titular structure of a 1982 novel.
What is the name of the prison, considering the makers had to break and put
things together in order to swerve copyright?

5. Contrary to what most people believe, this album cover is a painting, not a photograph. The
6x6 canvas was made by Los Angeles-based artist Will Cotton, who had previously worked
with the singer on their earlier music video. This previous album was described by the singer as
“It was like all things cute on crack. I've had this obsession with Japanese pop culture and how
they'll put a face on a strawberry or ice cream or lollipop and turn it into a cartoon, and that's
what we did.”
Meanwhile, Cotton said: “I think we shared an interest in mid-century American pin up
painting. I thought, this is the sort of person that I want to put in my paintings.”
A similar tone and vibe was carried onto this album cover as well. The explicit version is also
offered in a standard jewel case, which also has the smell of cotton candy.
Who, and what album?

6. In 2015, the South African branch of the Salvation Army tweeted a photo showing a
model who is bleeding and bruised black and blue, and referenced a particular, very viral
meme.
The caption reads: "The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in 6 women are
victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women."
"For the past few days the internet has been swarming with comments about '___
_____' – overall people have been commenting how they hate the fact that an
insignificant thing like this could take priority on the internet over more pressing topics
such as abuse," the agency behind the ad said.
What meme?

7. Bakers in England misheard when they received a
request for an X themed bday cake, and instead
made it with a photo of Y.
This was a genuine mistake, since X and Y are both
incredible female pioneers, and have slightly similar
sounding names as well. However, they belong to very
different fields.
X is still currently active, in the field of music. Y, who
was alive around a century ago, paved the way for
women in her field due to her achievements.
Name both.

8. Since X was sampled from Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song ‘Pastime
________’, it was one of the only songs by Y to not feature any
profanity, out of respect for Mr. Wonder.
While the former song is about a positive outlook of someone who
wishes for a perfect future, X is about a certain kind of people handling
and looking back on the hardships of their life, and its opening lines are
taken from Psalm 23:4 of the Bible
It originally featured in the soundtrack of a 1995 movie and more
recently in another 2020 film.
ID X AND Y

9. The X are a race in Star Trek who are known for their love for
business and profit. Because of this, and their antagonistic
nature, they have been accused of being Jewish caricatures.
Responding to these accusations, Star Trek actor Armin
Shimerman summarised:
In America, people ask 'Do the X represent Jews?' In
England, they ask 'Do the X represent the Irish?' In Australia,
they ask if the X represent the Chinese[…] The X represent
the outcast… it's the person who lives among us that we
don't fully understand’
Knowing this, what word of Persian origin used across Asia, is
the name of the alien race derived from?

10. ___ _____ is a 1938 play by British dramatist Patrick Hamilton.
The play is set in fog-bound London in 1880, at the upper middle class
home of Jack Manningham and his wife Bella. It is late afternoon, a
time that Hamilton notes as the time "before the feeble dawn of
________ and tea." Slowly, the play shows the mental unravelling of
Bella, who is scared of her husband and his unexplainable actions,
and the plot features her husband pushing her to the brink of
insanity.
The play (and its film adaptations) gave rise to the term
"___________", which has become popular over the past few years
to describe the phenomenon seen in the play itself. What?

11. In the American entertainment industry, the approximately 48 km
radius area from the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North
La Cienega Boulevard in LA is the ‘studio zone.’ The exact boundaries of
the studio zone have changed over the years, but the present radius
includes almost all of the southern half of Los Angeles County, as well as
parts of eastern Ventura County and northwestern Orange County.
What, from the world of pop culture and stardom, does this lend its
name to?

12. This song written by Swedish songwriter Max Martin created
quite a furore when it was released, due to the easily
misinterpreted lyrics. Music journalist John Seabrook has said
"what it really was the Swedes using English incorrectly.” What
Max really wanted to say was to ask the central character of
the song to call them up again. “But at that point, Max’s English
wasn’t that great. So it came out sounding a little bit weird in
English.” What song?

13. Ndemic Creations tweeted on January 24, 2020 that its website had gone offline due to high
levels of gameplay of X, an app-game. This is because people turned to the game to gain more
information about the recent phenomenon Y.
The company states that the game was designed to be "realistic and informative, while not
sensationalizing serious real-world issues."
However, it also pointed out that the game does not follow a scientific model and should not be
relied upon for information. Instead, people are encouraged to use official sources for more
knowledge.
ID X and Y

14. The directors of this 2010 movie, Nathan Greno and Bryan Howard, faced some trouble
making sure that the male lead was as cute and appealing as the female lead.
The solution: “hot men meetings”.
In Greno’s words: We were trying to figure out our character _____ - our swashbuckling,
handsome character. How do you make the ultimate man? What does he look like? … We
had this crazy idea to bring all of the women of the studio into a room and ask them what
they thought made up a "hot man". It was a crazy meeting. Crazy. Photos of all the
hottest men in Hollywood being thrown around a room. Photos being torn in half and
pasted back together. Eyes were ripped from one picture and put on another. Heads were
torn from photos. I've never seen anything like it. I'm happy to be alive.
What character was born out of this?

15. Whose bday is being
commemorated?

16. This is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions
of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using
psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both.
Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's
personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It
has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder,
especially in cases where patients are reluctant to
describe their thinking processes openly. It also lends its
name to a comics character.
(½)

17. We all know it's Rorschach lmao
But in 2011, a critically acclaimed Indian movie
used the template of the test as inspiration for
its poster, since the movie also deals with
underlying trauma leading to consequences in
present day. What film?

18. The Swedish Punk Rock band Refused has been revealed to be lending their vocals and
music to the fictional band SAMURAI for this to-be released 2020 project.
“Like us, SAMURAI is a group of rebels, albeit in a different time and place,” said Dennis
Lyxzén, Lead Vocalist of the band Refused. While both the bands are supposed to be punk,
the major time differences would lead to stylistic changes in their music.
As of yet, Refused (and SAMURAI) has only released ‘Chippin In’, a single which featured in
the 2019 trailer for the project.
Where would you find the fictional band SAMURAI? Who was revealed to be its frontman in
2019?

19. Can You ___ the ___? is a twitter account that analyses video
games to see if a particular action can be undertaken or not. In
games analysed so far, the ones that qualify include WarioWare,
Assassin’s Creed III, and Final Fantasy VIII, while Dark Souls,
Spelunky and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild do not.
What is being analysed? or FITB.

20. This song was a hit when it released, and catapulted the
story of the singer to cult status. But Gajendra Verma, a 21-
year-old sound recordist from Mumbai, in 2011 said that he
has actually sung the song, written by Aseem Ahmed
Abbasee, a writer, and Verma’s friend, Monami Roy.
Responding to allegations that the entire thing was a
publicity stunt, they said that it got stolen and people
attached a false story with it. What song, credited to who?

21. The number of visitors to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon in Iceland nearly
doubled between 2017 and 2018, causing damage to the local
vegetation and pathways that was exacerbated by changing
weather conditions. In response, Iceland’s Environmental Agency
closed the canyon for two weeks in March, but later extended the
closure until June 1, 2019. The increase is credited to the canyon
being the location for a music video by a very popular artist.
What song and artist?

22. Dhoom 2 is probably one of the best sequels Bollywood has produced
in its history. Filled with nail-biting stunts, it also incorporates various
references to other movies and shows.
One instance is when Inspector Jai Dixit has a confrontation with the
main villain Hrithik Roshan, the former tells the thief that as compared
to Hrithik’s elaborate schemes of robbery, Jai has got his father’s
habits, and was used to improvisation as his father wasn't a man with
elaborate plans and would always do a particular action to help him
make decisions.
What is this dialogue exchange referencing to, and what was the
method being talked about?

23. This 2006 album has themes centred around the life of ‘The Patient’, a cancer victim who
has died. This idea is based on the band’s lead vocalist’s belief that death comes in the
form of the person’s fondest memory, in this Patient’s case it’s seeing a ______as a child.
While the front cover seems simple, the inside art of the album shows The Patient being
carried by the people of his life in a grand procession to death, which is very similar to what
happens in the music video for the song as well
Created by James Jean who took inspiration from the art of the frontman of the band, ID
this genre defining album.

25. Tallulah Bankhead was an actress who was known for being
tempestuous and flamboyant. Her unique voice and
mannerisms, including her habit to say ‘dahling’ made her
subject to a lot of imitations and parodies.
Her voice and personality served as an inspiration for voice
actress Betty Lou Gerson to voice the villainous X in 1961,
which the studio calls a manic take on the actress.
ID X

26. In the 2015 film The Martian, a meeting to discuss the rescue of an astronaut from Mars
is described as "Project X." When a character questions the name, Mitch Henderson,
explains it means they are having a secret meeting, similar to the covert _______ __ X
where various races gathered to form a plan of action from a certain fantasy series.
One of the character even remarks that if the meeting is called X, he wants his code-
name to be Glorfindel.
ID X

27. Where does this Fortnite Dance emoji get its
inspiration from?
RIA MUTE IT

29. Suraj Jagan is a playback singer, noted for the song Give Me Some
Sunshine from 3 Idiots, which brought him popular acclaim. Before that,
however, he was part of a band called Chakraview which belonged to a
very different genre. His proficiency in this genre, along with his tattoos,
landed him a role in a 2008 film where he himself actually sang the song
that his on-screen character was singing. At the time, media outlets
claimed that the song was Bollywood’s first of the genre.
What movie, what song?

30. 1. In a 1969 episode of the "Ed Sullivan Show," a dance routine called "Mexican
Breakfast" was performed. The lead dancer was Gwen Verdon, whose husband, iconic
Broadway director Bob Fosse, had choreographed the routine, and she had two more
background dancers.
https://vimeo.com/groups/263701/videos/32967061
1. J-Setting is a dance style, characterized by a lead and follow format, where one
dancer initiates a series of high-energy dance moves, and the other dancers join in
the movement.
In 2009, what resulted as a combination of these two dance styles?

32. Play all AV if needed.

33. PRELIMS WITH
ANSWERS

34. The 21st century has seen a slew of remakes of classic movies. In 2006, X was
released, a remake of the iconic 1978 film of the same name. In fact, one of the
writers of the original film co-wrote the remake.
The dedication of the actors was such that they underwent extensive martial arts
training from experts at the Shaolin Temple. The music was very well received, and
one of the songs of X went on to later be used in a Grammy and Oscar winning film
soundtrack in 2008.
"X: The Origin," a comic book based on the X franchise, was released in 2011. Video
games for PS3 and PS2 were also released.
What is X?

36. Riverdale is known to make several references to pop culture. In the series,
when FP Jones, Jughead’s father, is convicted for the murder of Jason
Blossom, we finally get to see another of the dark town’s institutions, named
after the titular structure of a 1982 novel.
What is the name of the prison, considering the makers had to break and put
things together in order to swerve copyright?

37. ShankShaw Prison

38. Contrary to what most people believe, this album cover is a painting, not a photograph. The
6x6 canvas was made by Los Angeles-based artist Will Cotton, who had previously worked
with the singer on their earlier music video. This previous album was described by the singer as
“It was like all things cute on crack. I've had this obsession with Japanese pop culture and how
they'll put a face on a strawberry or ice cream or lollipop and turn it into a cartoon, and that's
what we did.”
Meanwhile, Cotton said: “I think we shared an interest in mid-century American pin up
painting. I thought, this is the sort of person that I want to put in my paintings.”
A similar tone and vibe was carried onto this album cover as well. The explicit version is also
offered in a standard jewel case, which also has the smell of cotton candy.
Who, and what album?

39. Katy Perry
Teenage Dream

40. In 2015, the South African branch of the Salvation Army tweeted a photo showing a
model who is bleeding and bruised black and blue, and referenced a particular, very viral
meme.
The caption reads: "The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in 6 women are
victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women."
"For the past few days the internet has been swarming with comments about '___
_____' – overall people have been commenting how they hate the fact that an
insignificant thing like this could take priority on the internet over more pressing topics
such as abuse," the agency behind the ad said.
What meme?

41. The Dress

42. Bakers in England misheard when they received a
request for an X themed bday cake, and instead
made it with a photo of Y.
This was a genuine mistake, since X and Y are both
incredible female pioneers, and have slightly similar
sounding names as well. However, they belong to very
different fields.
X is still currently active, in the field of music. Y, who
was alive around a century ago, paved the way for
women in her field due to her achievements.
Name both.

43. Mariah Carey
Marie Curie

44. Since X was sampled from Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song ‘Pastime
________’, it was one of the only songs by Y to not feature any
profanity, out of respect for Mr. Wonder.
While the former song is about a positive outlook of someone who
wishes for a perfect future, X is about a certain kind of people handling
and looking back on the hardships of their life, and its opening lines are
taken from Psalm 23:4 of the Bible
It originally featured in the soundtrack of a 1995 movie and more
recently in another 2020 film.
ID X AND Y

46. The X are a race in Star Trek who are known for their love for business and profit. Because of
this, and their antagonistic nature, they have been accused of being Jewish caricatures.
Responding to these accusations, Star Trek actor Armin Shimerman summarised:
In America, people ask 'Do the X represent Jews?' In England, they ask 'Do the X represent
the Irish?' In Australia, they ask if the X represent the Chinese[…] The X represent the
outcast… it's the person who lives among us that we don't fully understand’
Knowing this, what word of Persian origin used across Asia, is the name of the alien race
derived from?

47. Ferengi derived from Firangi

48. ___ _____ is a 1938 play by British dramatist Patrick Hamilton.
The play is set in fog-bound London in 1880, at the upper middle class home of Jack
Manningham and his wife Bella. It is late afternoon, a time that Hamilton notes as the
time "before the feeble dawn of ________ and tea." Slowly, the play shows the mental
unravelling of Bella, who is scared of her husband and his unexplainable actions, and the
plot features her husband pushing her to the brink of insanity.
The play (and its film adaptations) gave rise to the term "___________", which has
become popular over the past few years to describe the phenomenon seen in the play
itself. What?

49. Gas Light

50. In the American entertainment industry, the approximately 48 km
radius area from the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North
La Cienega Boulevard in LA is the ‘studio zone.’ The exact boundaries of
the studio zone have changed over the years, but the present radius
includes almost all of the southern half of Los Angeles County, as well as
parts of eastern Ventura County and northwestern Orange County.
What, from the world of pop culture and stardom, does this lend its
name to?

51. Thirty Mile Zone (TMZ)
(aur batao bros, goss?)

52. This song written by Swedish songwriter Max Martin created
quite a furore when it was released, due to the easily
misinterpreted lyrics. Music journalist John Seabrook has said
"what it really was the Swedes using English incorrectly.” What
Max really wanted to say was to ask the central character of
the song to call them up again. “But at that point, Max’s English
wasn’t that great. So it came out sounding a little bit weird in
English.” What song?

53. Hit me bby 1 more time

54. Ndemic Creations tweeted on January 24, 2020 that its website had gone offline due to high
levels of gameplay of X, an app-game. This is because people turned to the game to gain more
information about the recent phenomenon Y.
The company states that the game was designed to be "realistic and informative, while not
sensationalizing serious real-world issues."
However, it also pointed out that the game does not follow a scientific model and should not be
relied upon for information. Instead, people are encouraged to use official sources for more
knowledge.
ID X and Y

55. X- Plague
Y- coronavirus

56. The directors of this 2010 movie, Nathan Greno and Bryan Howard, faced some trouble
making sure that the male lead was as cute and appealing as the female lead.
The solution: “hot men meetings”.
In Greno’s words: We were trying to figure out our character _____ - our swashbuckling,
handsome character. How do you make the ultimate man? What does he look like? … We
had this crazy idea to bring all of the women of the studio into a room and ask them what
they thought made up a "hot man". It was a crazy meeting. Crazy. Photos of all the
hottest men in Hollywood being thrown around a room. Photos being torn in half and
pasted back together. Eyes were ripped from one picture and put on another. Heads were
torn from photos. I've never seen anything like it. I'm happy to be alive.
What character was born out of this?

58. Whose bday is being
commemorated?

59. George Orwell

60. This is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions
of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using
psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both.
Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's
personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It
has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder,
especially in cases where patients are reluctant to
describe their thinking processes openly. It also lends its
name to a comics character.
(½)

61. We all know it's Rorschach lmao
But in 2011, a critically acclaimed Indian movie
used the template of the test as inspiration for
its poster, since the movie also deals with
underlying trauma leading to consequences in
present day. What film?

63. The Swedish Punk Rock band Refused has been revealed to be lending their
vocals and music to the fictional band SAMURAI for this to-be released 2020
project.
“Like us, SAMURAI is a group of rebels, albeit in a different time and place,” said
Dennis Lyxzén, Lead Vocalist of the band Refused. While both the bands are
supposed to be punk, the major time differences would lead to stylistic
changes in their music.
As of yet, Refused (and SAMURAI) has only released ‘Chippin In’, a single which
featured in the 2019 trailer for the project.
Where would you find the fictional band SAMURAI? Who was revealed to be its
frontman in 2019?

64. Cyberpunk 2077
Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand

65. Can You ___ the ___? is a twitter account that analyses video
games to see if a particular action can be undertaken or not. In
games analysed so far, the ones that qualify include WarioWare,
Assassin’s Creed III, and Final Fantasy VIII, while Dark Souls,
Spelunky and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild do not.
What is being analysed? or FITB.

66. Can you pet the
dog?

67. This song was a hit when it released, and catapulted the
story of the singer to cult status. But Gajendra Verma, a 21-
year-old sound recordist from Mumbai, in 2011 said that he
has actually sung the song, written by Aseem Ahmed
Abbasee, a writer, and Verma’s friend, Monami Roy.
Responding to allegations that the entire thing was a
publicity stunt, they said that it got stolen and people
attached a false story with it. What song, credited to who?

68. Emptiness by 'Rohan Rathore’

69. The number of visitors to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon in Iceland nearly
doubled between 2017 and 2018, causing damage to the local
vegetation and pathways that was exacerbated by changing
weather conditions. In response, Iceland’s Environmental Agency
closed the canyon for two weeks in March, but later extended the
closure until June 1, 2019. The increase is credited to the canyon
being the location for a music video by a very popular artist.
What song and artist?

71. Dhoom 2 is probably one of the best sequels Bollywood has produced in its history. Filled
with nail-biting stunts, it also incorporates various references to other movies and shows.
One instance is when Inspector Jai Dixit has a confrontation with the main villain Hrithik
Roshan, the former tells the thief that as compared to Hrithik’s elaborate schemes of
robbery, Jai has got his father’s habits, and was used to improvisation as his father wasn't
a man with elaborate plans and would always do a particular action to help him make
decisions.
What is this dialogue exchange referencing to, and what was the method being talked
about?

72. Amitabh Bachchan tossing coins in Sholay

73. This 2006 album has themes centred around the life of ‘The Patient’, a cancer victim who
has died. This idea is based on the band’s lead vocalist’s belief that death comes in the
form of the person’s fondest memory, in this Patient’s case it’s seeing a ______as a child.
While the front cover seems simple, the inside art of the album shows The Patient being
carried by the people of his life in a grand procession to death, which is very similar to what
happens in the music video for the song as well
Created by James Jean who took inspiration from the art of the frontman of the band, ID
this genre defining album.

75. Black Parade - MCR

76. Tallulah Bankhead was an actress who was known for being
tempestuous and flamboyant. Her unique voice and
mannerisms, including her habit to say ‘dahling’ made her
subject to a lot of imitations and parodies.
Her voice and personality served as an inspiration for voice
actress Betty Lou Gerson to voice the villainous X in 1961,
which the studio calls a manic take on the actress.
ID X

77. Cruella De Vil
EVERYONE SAY LOVE U
ZEUS FOR GOOD LUCK

78. In the 2015 film The Martian, a meeting to discuss the rescue of an astronaut from Mars
is described as "Project X." When a character questions the name, Mitch Henderson,
explains it means they are having a secret meeting, similar to the covert _______ __ X
where various races gathered to form a plan of action from a certain fantasy series.
One of the character even remarks that if the meeting is called X, he wants his code-
name to be Glorfindel.
ID X

79. Council of Elrond

80. Where does this Fortnite Dance emoji get its
inspiration from?

82. OOOOH NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP

83. Suraj Jagan is a playback singer, noted for the song Give Me Some
Sunshine from 3 Idiots, which brought him popular acclaim. Before that,
however, he was part of a band called Chakraview which belonged to a
very different genre. His proficiency in this genre, along with his tattoos,
landed him a role in a 2008 film where he himself actually sang the song
that his on-screen character was singing. At the time, media outlets
claimed that the song was Bollywood’s first of the genre.
What movie, what song?

84. Zehreelay (Jag
Mein Saanp
Bassssste Hain)
Rock On

85. 1. In a 1969 episode of the "Ed Sullivan Show," a dance routine called "Mexican
Breakfast" was performed. The lead dancer was Gwen Verdon, whose husband, iconic
Broadway director Bob Fosse, had choreographed the routine, and she had two more
background dancers.
https://vimeo.com/groups/263701/videos/32967061
1. J-Setting is a dance style, characterized by a lead and follow format, where one
dancer initiates a series of high-energy dance moves, and the other dancers join in
the movement.
In 2009, what resulted as a combination of these two dance styles?