The Music, Entertainment, Literature, Arts (MELA) Quiz which I conducted in a New York Quiz Club session on Feb 12, 2022.

1. M.E.L.A. Quiz
New York Quiz Club Session
Quizmaster:
Anshul Roy

2. Infinite Pounce
35 questions in total
+10/-0 on a direct
+20/-10 on a pounce

3. Q - 1
In Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel ‘Brave New
World,’ the society has become completely consumerist
in nature and the almighty god is now not Jesus Christ
but Henry Ford.
What slight modification was done to the design of the
Christian Cross to convey this change of allegiance?

4. Answer
The upper part of the cross was cut to transform it into a T

5. Q - 2
In a 2004 blog entry for UPenn's Language Blog, Mark Liberman
coined the phrase ‘X Sentence.’ These are of a particular type of
sentence structure that seems to make sense but winds up leading
you down an endless spiral of grammatical nonsense.
Here are a few examples -
● More knights have seen the queen than I have.
● More cats play with yarn than mine does.
● More phones have games on them than this one.
Identify X, a famous personality.

6. Answer
X = MC Escher

7. Q - 3
The San Fernando Valley located in Los Angeles county
is home to numerous Porn production companies.
Hence, what appropriate pun (based on another
nearby region) is the nickname of this region?

8. Answer
Silicone Valley

9. Q - 4
The following are the different etymological theories for the word X created
by the famous author Y -
1. It is believed that the word X comes from a mixture of root words from
the Algonquian languages.
2. Anthony Pearsall believes that X is based on the name of the Housatonic
River which extends from the Long Island through the Berkshires of
Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.
3. Daniel Harms suggests that X is derived from Misqat, a tribe descended
from the Native Americans of Massachusetts.
Identify X and Y.

10. Answer
X = Miskatonic
Y = HP Lovecraft

11. Q - 5
‘12/26’ is a song by the American singer Kimya
Dawson about a historic event and the ensuing
humanitarian efforts, from the perspective of a
victim whose family died in the disaster.
Which event?

12. Answer
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

13. Q - 6
Apple heavily fought Microsoft over copyright claims in the
Windows OS. They filed around 180 claims related to copied
GUI in Windows OS. However, according to the court,
almost nothing in their design, was protected by copyright
— and therefore, Microsoft and others were free to copy it.
However, the court upheld the copyright claim for only one
trivial GUI feature present in Apple’s operating system.
What?

14. Answer
Trash Icon
(Non-Apple softwares can only use other metaphors for file
deletion like Recycle Bin, Smart Eraser, or Shredder)

15. Q - 7
Peter Halley is a modern artist, who is recognized for his significant
contributions to the Neo-Geometric Conceptualism movement of the
1980s. He is known for his fluorescent, geometrically structured paintings
which mostly contain architectural icons that he calls ‘Prisons’ and ‘Cells’
which are connected by lines called ‘Conduits’ (images on next slide).
His paintings are inspired from the 3D urban grid of NYC which highlighted
to him the ‘geometricization of social space.’
His work is also inspired from which iconic book by a famous philosopher?

17. Answer
Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault

18. Q - 8
X is a TV documentary series that
premiered in 2019, and tells the
story of the New York-based
hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan from
their earliest days, to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of the group.
Considering the fact that this
documentary is about a male rap
group, identity X which is a very apt
pun on the title of a famous 1937
novel.

19. Answer
X = Of Mics and Men

20. Q - 9
This is the lyrics from a song titled ‘X and
Martha’ by the Australian Indie Pop band
The Lucksmiths which describes the guilt a
famous author X deals with because he
attended a public hanging as a 16 year old.
The experience of seeing this public
hanging later inspired the hanging of the
main character in X’s famous 1891 novel.
Identify X.

21. Answer
X = Thomas Hardy; Tess of the d'Urbervilles

22. Q - 10
‘VII: Sturm und Drang’ is the 8th studio album by the heavy metal band X.
This album was launched after X’s lead vocalist Y was released from a
prison in Czech Republic, after being acquitted from charges of
manslaughter, related to the 2010 death of a 19-year-old fan, at a concert.
The lyrical content of this album is inspired from Y’s time at prison.
The Czech court found that Y had pushed the fan off the stage and was
"morally responsible" for the killing, but held that liability for the death
also lay with the security members, and ultimately acquitted Y of the
criminal charges.
Identify X and Y.

23. Answer
X = Lamb of God
Y = Randy Blythe

24. Q - 11
X syndrome denotes a cultural and
societal phenomenon characterized by
a man's extreme pride in his personal
appearance and the fitness of his
physique, which is accompanied by
difficulties in coping with the
requirements of psychological
maturation and the aging of his body.
Identify X, a fictional character.

25. Answer
X = Dorian Gray

26. Q - 12
Carol is a 2015 film directed by Todd Haynes. The screenplay is based on the
1952 romance novel ‘The Price of Salt’ by Patricia Highsmith. Set in NYC
during the early 1950s, Carol tells the story of a forbidden affair between a
female photographer and an older woman.
According to the director, he used the famous NYC photographer X’s
images as a visual starting point for his film (images on next slides). He said
- “That muted colour palette spoke very specifically of the 1950s, which was
well before the shiny, cleaned up, chrome-y period of the Eisenhower era.”
Identify X, who was a pioneer color photographer from the 1950s.

30. Answer
X = Saul Leiter

31. Q - 13
In the TV series ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ after Larry David’s
wife Cheryl leaves him, Larry becomes depressed and stays
in his room sulking all day long.
According to Larry’s friend Leon, Larry is brooding because
he can’t have sex now and hence Leon terms him to be - X,
an appropriate pun on the title of a famous novel.
Identify X and the iconic novel.

32. Answer
X = Mopey Dick

33. Q - 14
Paul McCartney said he came up with this song during one of his
first visits to his property High Park Farm, in Scotland.
The song’s name was inspired by the sight of a road "stretching up
into the hills" in the remote Highlands surroundings of lochs and
mountains. McCartney wrote this song at his farm in 1968, inspired
by the growing tension among the Beatles. The lyrics can be seen as
McCartney expressing his anguish at the direction of his personal
life, as well as a nostalgic look back at the Beatles' history. This was
the last Beatles song to top the Billboard Top 100 charts.
Which song?

34. Answer
The Long and Winding Road

35. Q - 15
Vivian Maier was a mysterious and eccentric
nanny who spent a lifetime looking after
other people's children while harbouring a
rather lovely secret: she was an astonishingly
accomplished photographer. Her work was
not discovered until 2007. Today she is
considered to be one of the most iconic
street photographers of the 20th century.
In a BBC Documentary, Vivian was quite aptly
nicknamed ‘X with a camera.’
Identify X, a famous fictional character.

36. Answer
X = Mary Poppins

37. Q - 16
In a research paper titled ‘Beyond X’ published in 2017 in the Journal
of Leisure Research, the authors investigated the reported
motivations for participation in adventure recreation over a six-year
period using the independent variables of gender, experience level,
and activity type.
The study consisted of 800 participants engaged in four different
adventure activities (rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, sea
kayaking, and canoeing).
Identify X, which is an iconic reply by an adventurer to a journalist.
Also name this adventurer.

38. Answer
X = Because It’s There; George Mallory

39. Q - 17
In a 1970 letter, what was
termed as the most important
result of USA’s Space Program
till date by Dr. Ernest Stuhlinger,
the Associate Director of NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Centre?

40. Answer
The photo ‘Earthrise’ taken in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission

41. Q - 18
This is a famous poster titled ‘5 fingers
has the hand’ made in 1928 by the
German artist John Heartfield. It was
made for the German Communist Party,
which was in desperate need of a
symbol to cajole the public to vote for
its candidates in the elections against
the Nazis. According to Heartfield, the
hand was the perfect symbol to oppose
Adolf Hitler.
Which band’s debut album cover design
was inspired from this particular poster?

42. Answer
System of A Down

43. Q - 19
The plot of Jules Verne’s 1865 novel ‘From Earth to the
Moon’ revolves around a Gun Club, and the attempts of its
members to build an enormous space gun and launch
three people - the Gun Club's president, his armor-making
rival, and a French poet named Michael Ardan in a
projectile with the goal of a Moon landing.
Which real life artist and early ballooning pioneer was the
inspiration for the character of Michael Ardan?

44. Answer
Felix Nadar (Ardan is an anagram for Nadar)

45. Q - 20
The Macdonald triad refers to the idea that there are
three signs that can indicate whether someone will grow
up to be a X, these are -
1. Being cruel or abusive to animals, especially pets
2. Setting fire to objects or otherwise committing minor
acts of arson
3. Regularly wetting the bed
Identify X.

46. Answer
X = Serial Killer

47. Q - 21
Franz Xaver Kappus was an Austrian
military officer, journalist, editor and
writer who wrote poetry, short-stories,
novels and screenplays. However, he is
most famous in the world of Literature
due to something he did during a period
of six years as a 19 year old officer cadet
at a Military Academy in Austria.
How is Franz Xaver Kappus famous in
the world of Literature?

48. Answer
He was the ‘Young Poet’ who wrote letters
to Rainer Maria Rilke and later compiled
and published their correspondences

49. Q - 22
X is a video game engine developed by Capcom for use
with consoles like PS4 and Xbox One. X has improved
workflow efficiency, physical modelling of fluids and an
emphasis on global illumination rendering.
The name X is derived from an aphorism credited to a
famous Pre-Socratic philosopher, which summarizes his
philosophical teachings of change and natural flow.
Identify X and the philosopher.

50. Answer
X = Panta Rhei (“everything flows”); Heraclitus

51. Q - 23
Shalimar is a perfume originally
created by Jacques Guerlain in
1921 and currently produced as
the flagship product by Guerlain.
Which Indian historical figure
inspired this perfume’s creation?

52. Answer
Mumtaz Mahal

53. Q - 24
Connect the following people (non-exhaustive list) with a
particular phrase -
● Guido van Rossum - Python
● Larry Wall - Perl
● Linus Torvalds - Linux OS
● Yukihiro Matsumoto - Ruby
● Matt Mullenweg - WordPress
● Mark Shuttleworth - Ubuntu

54. Answer
Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL)

55. Q - 25
The bob hairstyle was invented by
the French celebrity hairdresser
Antoine after he was inspired from
the famous historical figure X. This
haircut was introduced in his Paris
salon in 1909, and created a new
fashion trend.
X sported this particular haircut for
practical reasons and to disguise her
gender. In France this haircut is called
‘coupe a la X.’
Identify X.

56. Answer
X = Joan of Arc

57. Q - 26
In a 1973 song, at the height of the popularity of X, Paul
Simon penned a song in which he personified X,
containing lyrics like -
“X, you give us those nice bright colors.
You give us the greens of summers.
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day.”
Identify X, which is an iconic piece of Technology.

58. Answer
X = Kodachrome

59. Q - 27
X Records is an independent record label, music publisher
and management company based in Nottingham, England,
with offices in London and New York. It helped to pioneer
extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death
metal records between 1988 and 1994.
Considering the fact that this record label focussed mainly
on Metal albums, identify X (also a physical ailment), which
might be considered an apt name by non-Metalheads.

60. Answer
X = Earache

61. Q - 28
Identify the MELA reference in
the title of this research paper.

62. Answer
Dr. Strangelove

63. Q - 29
Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic band from England formed in
1996. The group includes Simon Posford (more famous as his stage
name X) and Raja Ram.
The duo are considered to be the progenitors of the psybient
genre - a genre combining psychedelic trance and ambient.
Shpongle's music is heavily influenced by psychedelic experiences
and frequently makes use of sonic textures that approximate
psychedelic states as well as vocal samples relating to
consciousness expansion, hallucinations, and altered states of
awareness.
Considering all this, what appropriate stage name X does Simon
Posford use?

64. Answer
X = Hallucinogen

65. Q - 30
The title of this essay comes from the author’s
conception that "a woman must have money and a
X if she is to write fiction."
Identify X and the author.

66. Answer
X = A Room of One’s Own; Virginia Woolf

67. Q - 31
According to the lyricist X, this song was based on an essay
titled ‘The Dark Power of Ritual Pictures.’ X said that after
reading it, he destroyed his old personal photos and many of
his home videos in an effort to wipe away his past. He came
to regret the decision a few days later.
However, X has given conflicting accounts of what events
inspired the song. In other interviews X has said that the
song was the result of losing pictures he carried around in his
wallet, many from before he was born.
Which famous song? Also identify X’s band.

68. Answer
X = Pictures of You; The Cure

69. Q - 32
In 1932, as an 80 year old woman, who got an
honorary doctorate from Columbia University for
“awaking with her girlhood’s charm the ingenious
fancy of a mathematician familiar with imaginary
quantities, stirring him to reveal his complete
understanding of the heart of a child.”?

70. Answer
Alice Liddell (for Alice in Wonderland)

71. Q - 33
According to the Director, the idea for this movie came
after he read a LA Times article about a family that had
survived the Killing Fields in Cambodia during Pol Pot’s
regime. They made it to USA, but the young kid in the
family found himself haunted by terrible nightmares
while he slept, and so he tried to stay awake for days.
This was a common occurrence among Cambodian
refugees during that period.
Which iconic movie?

72. Answer
A Nightmare on Elm Street

73. Q - 34
Which iconic book first published
in 1846 by William Henry Fox
Talbot was described by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art as "a
milestone in the art of the book
greater than any since Gutenberg's
invention of moveable type."?

74. Answer
The Pencil of Nature (first ‘photobook’)

75. Q - 35
‘213’ is a song from the 1994 album titled ‘Divine Intervention’
by the American thrash metal band Slayer.
The song’s lyrics are based on the infamous serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer who killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991.
He was eventually arrested when the 18th victim escaped his
apartment and got two police officers, who eventually
discovered four severed heads in his refrigerator.
What is the title of this song a reference to?

76. Answer
His apartment number was 213