Fun & Games

Quiz Time: Americana

As promised this weeks theme is on America, so our friends across the Atlantic should have a bit of an advantage. But, my mum has turned around and really thrown down the Gauntlet. She has stated that "just because Americans do a quiz on America doesn't mean to say they will win. I think I could very well do better!". Surely she cannot make it three wins on the trot?? Only Will has managed to do that.

As I am writing this sentance from the hotel at Birmingham airport, you will gather I am off on my travels again. This time it is India, so you have two whole weeks to do the quiz, you may need it especially for the quizzicles round.

Well let's see shall we, on with the quiz, click continue to, well, continue.


Round 1: Movie Link
Below are images of celebrities from movies, just give me the name of the celebrity and the movie. Then tell me what links them together.

1)



2)


3)



4) The lady's name


5)







Round 2: Warped Celebrities

All of these celebrities have something in common, they have all appeared in films with either America or American in the title. You just have to name the celebrity and the film. It can't be that hard I have given you half the title already!!

1)


2)


3)


4)


5)


6)


7)


8)


9)





10)




Round 3: SoundBites



Click on the blue arrow to hear the intro and then tell me what the song is and whether or not it is associated with an American TV show, by naming the show.

1) Clip 1
2) Clip 2
3) Clip 3
4) Clip 4
5) Clip 5
6) Clip 6
7) Clip 7
8) Clip 8
9) Clip 9
10) Clip 10

Round 4: Quizzicles

OK last up is the quizzicles, and this time we are talking American law. All of the following ARE actual laws, no mickey taking, these are for real! All you have to tell me is the State in which they are law. Have a think how many times you could have broken the law without knowing it!!!

1) Illegal to walk down the street with your shoelaces undone?
2) Illegal to buy alcohol without written permission from the wife?
3) A man has to remove his hat when he meets a cow?
4) Illegal to threaten a butterfly?
5) Illegal to take more than 3 sips of beer at one time, whilst standing?
6) Illegal to spit into the wind?
7) Illegal to eat cottage cheese after 6pm on a Sunday?
8) Illegal to peel an orange in a hotel room?
9) Illegal to carry fishing takle in a cemetery?
10)Illegal for a dog to chase a cat up a telegraph pole (the owner is fined) ?

Weekly Question

Is this Guy nuts??

Yesterday and today there has been a lot on Radio 5Live and in quite a few papers regarding a certain doctor - Dr. Aric Sigman, who wants the government of the UK to take action to reduce the amount of TV that our children watch. Well to an extent I agree that too much television can be harmful to children but what Dr. Sigman is proposing goes beyond the pale. I mean this guys recommendations are off the planet.

This is what he recommends;

Children under three - no screen exposure
Children aged three to seven - 30 minutes to one hour per day
Children aged seven to 12 - one hour a day
Children aged 12 to 15 - one and-a-half hours a day
Children aged 16 and over - two hours.

Now can you imagine telling 15 year old Johnny 1/2 way through Heroes that he has to stop watching??!!! I DON'T THINK SO!!!

Here is what the newspapers said;


The amount of TV children watch should be rationed according to a "recommended daily allowance", an expert is due to tell MPs.
Dr Aric Sigman said the Government must take action to cut TV-watching among children as too much increases the risk of health and learning problems. He wants to see parents given recommended daily amount guidelines, much as they are for salt intake, and said "screen media" was a major issue for public health. Studies have shown excessive TV watching is linked to difficulty in sleeping, behavioural problems and increased obesity in children. One long-term study, published in The Lancet medical journal in 2004, found children who watched more than two hours of television a day between the ages of five and 15 saw their health suffer years later.
Experts made the link between childhood viewing and raised cholesterol levels, obesity and smoking in adulthood.
Dr Sigman will urge the Government to advise parents on the issue and suggests children under three should watch no TV at all. He also believes there should be no TV sets in children's bedrooms and new mothers should be warned of the possible effects.
He rejected claims that setting down guidelines constitutes a "nanny state" and said: "Parents need an ideal reference point, even if they choose to ignore it or cannot adhere to it."
Dr Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and a member of the Institute of Biology, will voice his concerns at a Children and the Media conference at the House of Commons, organised by pressure group Mediawatch-UK.

Now to me there are a lot of programs out there that are beneficial to the development of children, there is also a lot of rubbish, but in the end it balances out.
The odd thing is that TV viewing has actually gone down, as kids tend to concentrate more now on computers and games machines. Is Dr. Sigman going to target these in a few years time???

But getting the government involved?? Ludicrous in the extreme! How would they control it for a start?
It is down to the parents themselves to control how much our kids watch the TV, we have managed to cut down our kids viewing by doing other things with the kids to keep them entertained, so it isn't all that hard. But try doing it for teenagers HAH!

So there you have it, but what do you think of the idea?

Quiz Answers

Cartoon Quiz

My apologies for the late posting of the answers to the quiz, but I have only just got back from a weeks Holiday at Butlins. Fun was had all round, even though I did end up in the gunge tank on the last night, and had freezing cold (we are talking Ice Age 3) water dropped on me for 30 seconds!
But I am back now and well, things are looking up for my mum, unbeleiveably she has done it again! Despite Will getting 100% on the soundbites round, my mum has pipped him to the post. I think it was the first round that did it!
By the way Will I did award you some points for the Simpsons connection, as the Simpsons CANNOT do without Santa's little helper.

So the scores;

Mum - 76
Will - 70

How about getting your friends to take the quiz, see if they can provide a little more competition, my quiz can't be as hard as Wills! May be you ought to try that one Mum the link is on the left under Will's world!

Click Continue for the answers;


Glad the sounbites worked out OK, will try to introduce it into future quizzes.

Round 1: Classic Cartoons

1) Professor Yaffle/Bagpuss
2) Windy Miller/Camberwick Green
3) Bod/Bod
4) Mr Benn/Mr Benn
5) Mungo/Mary, Mungo & Midge

Link: Only 13 episodes made of each show

Round 2: Simpson Guests

1) Takira the Waiter/George Takei
2) Miss Winthrop/Tracey Ullman
3) Mr. Begstrom/Dustin Hoffman
4) Leon Kompowski/Michael Jackson
5) Mindy Simmons/Michelle Pfeiffer
6) Malloy/Sam Neil
7) Stacey Lovelle/Kathleen Turner
8) Jessica Lovejoy/Meryl Streep
9) Number 1/Patrick Stewart
10) Grandma Simpson/Glen Close

Tracey Ullman as the Simpsons first appeared as a short in her TV shows.

Round 3: Cartoony

1) Princess Bala – Antz
2) Verne – Over the Hedge
3) Puss in Boots – Shrek 2/3
4) Wallace – Curse of the WereRabbit
5) Le Frog – Flushed Away
6) Shrek – Shrek 1/2/3
7) Sykes – Shark Tale
8) Gloria – Madagascar
9) Rapunzel – Shrek 3 (bit of a cheat there, but how the hell did u get it mum?????)
10) Sheriff Blog – Cars

Odd one out? Sheriff, as Cars was made by Pixar, others all Dreamworks.


Round 4: Sounds like?

1) Ice Age – John Leguizamo (Sid)
2) The Simpsons – Dan Castellaneta (Homer)
3) Toy Story – Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear)
4) Finding Nemo – Ellen Degeneres (Dory)
5) Shrek – Eddie Murphy (Donkey)
6) Shark Tale – Will Smith (Oscar)
7) Shrek 2 – Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots)
8) The Incredibles – Brad Bird (Edna Mole)
9) The Lion King – Nathan Lane (Timon)
10) Madagascar – Chris Rock (Marty)

Round 5: Quizzicles

1) In the Cartoon Dangermouse who provided the voice for Colonel K? Edward Kelsey
2) What is the name of the cartoon created by “The Snowman” writer, which tells of an elderly couple preparing for a nuclear war? When the Wind Blows
3) Who wrote “The Snowman”? Raymond Briggs
4) Pugh, Pugh, Barney Mcgrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub who are these men? Trumpton Fire Brigade
5) How did the Clangers communicate? By Whistling
6) What is the longest running cartoon series? The Simpsons
7) How old is Bugs Bunny? 67 this year
8) Name the Hair Bear Bunch ? Hair, Bubi and Square
9) In “The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy”, what are the names of Billy’s cat, and Mandy’s dog? Milkshakes & Saliva
10) Grim again, and what super power does Grim bestow upon Billy to help him defeat the Evil Empire? Shooting Strawberry Yogurt (partially hydrogenated) from his armpits.
11) In Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, what is Bloo’s full name? Blooregard Q. Kazoo
12) Where do Ed, Edd and Eddy live? Peach Creek Estates
13) Code Name Kids Next Door now, and what is the name of Number 2? Hoagie Pennywhistle Gilligan Jr.
14) What are the names of the PowderPuff girls? Buttercup, Bubbles and Blossom
15) How old is Adam Lyon from “My Gym Partners a Monkey”? 12

Weekly Question

The Right or Wrong place?

We have at present in the UK, a bit of a debate brewing about smacking children. Now one store is thinking of implementing a ban on smacking in their store, and anyone caught disciplining their child for bad behavior will be removed from the store.

What next then? Chucked out for chewing gum? Chucked out for talking??? It is getting a bit silly now, and of course the only people who are going to win with this are the kids that misbehave and cause so much stress for their parents. Ergo, discipline is not going to be shown so our society suffers even more!

But what to do?

There is an advert shown in the UK, of a mum suffering from a bad cold and her son is on the want. When she says no, he throws down the thing he is holding and shouts "AAAARRRGGGHHH". So his mum, after taking the advertised remedy, looks at him, screams lies on the floor bashing her fists into it and kicking her legs, as the boy looks on in shock. She then gets up nods at the boy as if to say "Well, beat that!", the boy smiles and starts to behave lovely.

But would you do that to your kids, I mean if they show you up, would you do the same to them in return, or would you just be too embarrassed? Hard choice to make, but I am sure it would be pretty effective.

Now I am not going to condone smacking, I think that it is right to do so given the right circumstances to discipline a child. But what I object to is people telling me that I am not able to discipline my kids the way I beleive they should be disciplined.

Think about it, your kid is playing up because they can't have what they want, do you

1) Give then a sharp smack on their legs, and tell them to behave?
2) Buy it for them to shut them up?
3) Leave the store?
4) Say you may get it for them if they stop moaning and behave, for the next few days, then do so ONLY if they behave?

Well I would go with number 4, but in some exceptional circumstances it would have to be both 1 and 3. Trouble is the looks you get if you do smack your kids in public, and by smacking I mean not leaving finger marks or bruises!

Ikea has a good idea, where they provide a creche for the kids of certain ages whilst the parents go shopping. Nice idea, which is not implemented enough in other stores. In the States a lot of Malls have entertainment areas where kids are well catered for.

But it doesn't stop from answering the crucial quuestion, should smacking be banned in shops?

In all honesty I would have to say no, simply because if it is then we are been told how we should bring up our kids, and kids can use it to their advantage - don't want to go shopping so I will misbehave in the shop so mum takes me out - I can see the scenario now.

In the UK it really is turning into an Orwellian state, and big brother really is watching you, I mean they even have CCTV that has speakers so that the control can communicate to a minor offender to stop the unsociable behaviour!

So to smack or not to smack?
It has to be down to the individual concerned, not anybody else.

Fun & Games

Quiz Time - Cartoon Heroes

Staying on the theme of Heroes, I thought I would make the quiz this time around based upon the theme of Cartoon Heroes. Now I know Will has another site or at least he did, on cartoons, so he may have an advantage here. But I think that even he is going to find it a trick one this time.

OK so on with the quiz then, just click on continue.

Round 1: Cartoon Links

As always you have to find out what the link is, with this I need you to name the character and which cartoon these appeared in on the BBC. So the Link is not the BBC!

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Round 2: Simply Simpsons

OK now onto round 2, and what I have here is images of guest stars that have appeared on the Simpsons, along with the character name they played. All I want to know is the guest stars real name. For a bonus of 5 points why is guest star 2 so important to the Simpsons.

1) Takira the Waiter

2) Miss Winthrop

3) Mr. Begstrom

4) Leon Kompowski

5) Mindy Simmons

6) Malloy

7) Stacey Lovelle

8) Jessica Lovejoy

9) Number 1

10) Grandma Simpson

Round 3: Cartoon Wall


Simply name the cartoon characters and the film they are from, and then give the odd one out and why.








Round 4: Soundbites
This is the first time I have tried to do this so sorry if it goes awry, simply name the film the soundclip is from, the cartoon saying the words and the actor/actress playing them. Big score of 30 points available here. Just click on the blue play icon, and the soundbite should play OK, if it doesn't click on the link save it then play it through windows media player. The first time I tried this most of the clips were speeded up. But it is definitely worth trying.

Cartoon 1
Cartoon 2
Cartoon 3
Cartoon 4
Cartoon 5
Cartoon 6
Cartoon 7
Cartoon 8
Cartoon 9
Cartoon 10




Round 5: Quizzicles

1) In the Cartoon Dangermouse who provided the voice for Colonel K?
2) What is the name of the cartoon created by “The Snowman” writer, which tells of an elderly couple preparing for a nuclear war?
3) Who wrote “The Snowman”?
4) Pugh, Pugh, Barney Mcgrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub who are these men?
5) How did the Clangers communicate?
6) What is the longest running cartoon series?
7) How old is Bugs Bunny?

8) Name the Hair Bear Bunch ?
9) In “The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy”, what are the names of Billy’s cat, and Mandy’s dog?
10) Grim again, and what super power does Grim bestow upon Billy to help him defeat the Evil Empire?

11) In Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, what is Bloo’s full name?

12) Where do Ed, Edd and Eddy live?
13) Code Name Kids Next Door now, and what is the name of Number 2?
14) What are the names of the PowderPuff girls?
15) How old is Adam Lyon from “My Gym Partners a Monkey”?

Movie Review

Heroes

Well I don't know if any of you watch this, in the UK it is on at 10pm on a Monday on the Sci-Fi channel, and we tune in religiously to watch it. Why the mainstream SKY channels haven't snapped it up is beyond me, for Heroes is a Phenomenom.



In the states and Online the episodes are well in advance of the UK, we have just had episode 8 screened, I think they are up to about 20 in the States.



So what is all the fuss about?


Heroes is basically about a group of people with special powers, powers that will eventually help to save the world. "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" is the message given to one of those (Peter, one of the flying brothers), by Hiro, the undoubted star of the show, who can bend space and time meaning he can go forwards and backwards in time or simply just stop it.

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Not that Claire the Cheerleader needs any help, as the first time we see her, her friend is videotaping her as she jups off a 80ft gantry to the floor, then stands up, and her body just fixes itself. I wont even go into the autopsy table!

We also have a policeman that can hear peoples thoughts, a man who can walk through walls, an artist who paints the future, a woman who has a really wicked reflection, as in tear people apart wicked.

The Heroes

But there is a bad side, someone called Syla is killing people with special abilities, and he has a very special way of doing it (Slicing off the top of their heads and removing their brains!).

This is a well made series and I can't wait for each episode, I don't download them, as if I did it would give me nothing to look forward to, and to be honest spoil my enjoyment. So every week I feel a sense of AAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH, when it finishes on a particularly interesting part (rather like the X-files used to do).

If you haven't seen it watch it, when it comes out no matter how much it costs, that box set is mine!

Hiro the Hero!

Fun & Games

Quiz Answers

I think Will may be regretting his choice of themes for the last quiz. By the way just got back from my trip, had a nightmare as I missed the connection in Miami due to AA's problems. But they did put me up in a hotel for the night.
I will put some details and photo's up on Barbados when I can. But onto the last quiz, and lets just say after the hours she put in a BIG well done to MUM!!
That's right mum, you have finally beaten the Champion of all quizzes Will.

Scores are;

Mum - 40

Will - 18 (but you did only answer 2 rounds!

Ok so click continue for answers;


Round 1: Movie Link

1) Gallipoli – Mel Gibson
2) Romper Stomper – Russell Crowe
3) The Piano – Holly Hunter
4) Ned Kelly – Heath Ledger
5) Proof – Hugo Weaving

Link: - All films were produced by the Australian Film Commission

Round 2: Antipodeans Celebrities

1) Cate Blanchett
2) Russell Crowe
3) Dame Edna Everage
4) Melissa George
5) Natalie Imbruglia
6) Kylie Minogue
7) John Farnham
8) Mel Gibson
9) Hugh Jackman
10)Nicole Kidman

Mel Gibson who was born in New York.
John Farnham who was born in Dagenham Essex.
Nicole Kidman who was born in Honolulu.

The others were born in Australasia.

Round 3: Waxing Lyrical

1) We gotta make ends meet before we get much older – The Voice/ John Farnham
2) Where women glow and men plunder? – Down Under/Men at Work
3) At 57 mt. pleasant st. – The Weather With You/Crowded House
4) So slide over here And give me a moment – Need you Tonight/INXS
5) Boy your lovin’ is all I think about – Can’t get you outta my head/Kylie Minogue
6) At what technology has found Is it what we need? Insania/Peter Andre
7) Hello, I'm just a fool who's willing to sit around – Hopelessly devoted to you/ONJ
8) Your arms are warm but they make me feel – Chains/Tina Arena
9) If you're lookin' for satisfaction I'm satisfaction guaranteed – Live Wire/ACDC
10)Don't you make me sad Our love could be deep as the ocean - Poison/Bardot
11)I thought I saw a man brought to life – Torn/Natalie Imbruglia
12)When superstars and cannonballs are running through your head – The Animal Song/Savage Garden

Round 4: Quizzicles

1) Box Jellyfish
2) Irakandji
3) Blue Ringed Octopus
4) Barrier Reef Cone Shell
5) The Scorpion Fish
6) Red back
7) 8
8) Inland Taipan
9) Funnel Web Spider
10) Marbled Cone Shell snail (it's the same family as number 4)

OK the next quiz will be when I can get to it again, and the theme is going to be Cartoons, which may just swing in Will's favour.