Barry wasn't a lone sailor, but it has to be said that he was a bit seasick...
I survived the experience of losing my quizmaster virginity without being lynched, but it sure as heck ain't easy.
I'm hoping Steve will be back after a well-earned break, but if I do this again, I'll certainly be better prepared.
Know your questions. One I remember was "What is the third largest sea in the world?" The answer was apparently the Med. A bit of research shows this is patently not so. It also shows that it depends how you measure it (surface area, volume of water, depth, etc.), so unless you specify everything to the nth degree, there is no single correct answer.
Another was something like "shame about poor Catherine - tick tock, tick tock, tick tock" - which film did that come from? Silence of the Lambs. No, cried one and all, the question is wrong! It should be Clarice, not Catherine! There I am apologising, but when I look it up now, it seems the quote was correct after all. Lecter is talking
to Clarice
about Catherine (whoever she was).
Another example:
Q: What is the musical term for "getting gradually louder and louder"?
A: Crescendo
"No", says someone, "al forte means the same"
Well, see below.
“_e. g._, _crescendo poco a poco al forte ed un pochettino accelerando_, is seen to mean merely -- "increase gradually to _forte_ and accelerate a very little bit.”
I mention all this simply to demonstrate that it's not simply a matter of downloading a few questions and answers.
You need:
a good variety of questions of varying levels of difficulty
to check that the questions are unambiguous and the answers are correct
and to remember:
not to drink too much of JW's beer
to get one of the girls to get you some grub before it's all gone!
and that some people take it perhaps a tad more seriously than they should
(My apologies to the gent who collared me and said there shouldn't be any extra points in rounds, as it gave people playing their Joker an unfair advantage. I may have been a tad abrupt in reminding him that no prizes were at stake.
)
Having said all that, I enjoyed the experience, but I certainly wouldn't want to do it every time!
