The Kim Conley Celebration: The de Vere's Irish Pub Quiz Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz, 

One of the greatest pleasures of my life is the time I spend in the classroom and in office hours with UC Davis students. Selected from the brightest and hardest-working students in California, and now increasingly from other states and even other countries, our students regularly impress me with their creativity, their ingenuity, and their thirst for knowledge and accomplishment. My impression is reinforced in unexpected ways. For example, this weekend I received a text from a former student who wrote “OMG!! I’M ON THE DEAN’S HONORS LIST!!  We both knew the significance of that achievement, for he had struggled academically earlier in his college career. Another student bravely read some original poetry at the poetry reading that I hosted Friday night, even though he had been in my summer advanced poetry workshop for only three days.

As heartening as these achievements are, none of them was televised live on NBC. That honor went only to the Aggie assistant coach and former student of mine, Kim Conley, who competed in Olympic trials for the 5000 meters (5K) race. Amazingly, Kim came from behind in the final seconds of the race to come in third, beating the pace-setter, Julia Lucas, by .04 seconds. I heard Kim talking on Capital Public Radio the week before about using her training as a sprinter as well as a distance runner to do well in this event, and indeed it was a sprinter’s push that allowed her to “break the tape” just milliseconds before her competition to earn herself a spot on the US Olympic team to represent all of us, as well as the university that had supported her as a student and as a coach.  You might already have read about Kim in the Davis Enterprise or the Sacramento Bee (which had the best photographs). You can also read a new interview with Kim in Runner’s World, or view the video if you wish to be impressed with Kim, as I am.

I thought of asking five questions about runners and running to further celebrate Kim Conley, but other news from this past week caught my eye, instead. No doubt we will return to running and other sports when the eyes of the world focus on summer events in London. Tonight’s quiz will instead touch upon topics such as Twitter, Japan, Pinterest, screenplays, discriminating (that is, particular) dads, jackets, shoes, dancing, fish (x2), unusual words, marathons, garlic, bicycles, rainbows, flowery nonacids, people named Joel, Oscar-nominated roles, villains, things that some people would like to outlaw, marriage, classic novels, conventions, presidents, elements, capitals, baseball, grams of fat, and Shakespeare.

I hope you can join us this evening. Summer nights mean a full and rowdy de Vere’s Irish Pub, brimming with the sort of fun that you won’t want to miss. De Vere’s could use a player like you.

Your Quizmaster

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yourquizmaster@gmail.com

Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:

1.         Mottos and Slogans.    What Johnson and Johnson product promises to “get the red out”? 

2.         Internet Culture. What is the name or the three-word-acronym of the company that makes the Blackberry? 

3.         Newspaper Headlines.   This past Saturday a music festival took place in the city of Davis. What was the name of that music festival? 

4.         Four for Four.      Which of the following Grace Kelly films, if any, were directed by Alfred Hitchcock? Dial M for Murder, High Noon, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief. 

5.         Film Profanity. What is the name of the film that opened this past weekend in which one hears the following examples of profanity? You little rascal, wee devil, meaty mongrels, goggly old hag, gnarly witch, scared simpering jackanapes, gump old train, you big topship, sorry bunch of inepts. 

P.S. If you are not already following me on Twitter, I encourage you to do so. Sometimes I let additional hints slip: http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster