Halloween
We've all seen Halloween imagery in which a bat (or a witch on a broomstick) flies across a full moon. It seems like a quintessential part of the spooky vibes. True or false: full moons only occur on Halloween every 19 years.
True! And I'm 19! Coincidence? ;)
Hozier (remember him?) is a very handsome Irish lad who sings songs about nature and mortality. True or false: Hozier once said his dream stage involves a giant penguin who has wandered into one of his shows after escaping from a science lab.
True, he did state this in an interview in 2024
"Only 19 but my mind is older, these New York City streets get colder, I shoulder every burden, every disadvantage I've learned to manage" are lyrics from what megahit Broadway show that features raps that might make you dizzy if you attempted them?
A) In the Heights
B) Hamilton
C) Phantom of the Opera
B) Hamilton
The Importance of Being Earnest is Isabella's favorite play, and the first play she saw by the Rock River Players. In this play, while bickering with another character over tea, Algernon Moncrief makes a declaration that is the quintessence of depth: "I can hardly eat muffins in a _____ manner." What's the missing word?
A) agitated
B) bereft
C) confrontational
Hocus Pocus is a Disney movie from ye olden days (more politely referred to as the 90s), in which a trio of witches known as the Sanderson Sisters are summoned by a black flame candle and terrorize Salem, Massachusetts. The black flame candle is kept at the Sanderson Witch Museum. Is this museum a real place?
No, as far as I know ...
Isabella Stewart Gardner was an art collector and philanthropist. She opened The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1903 to showcase her art collection, which was an awfully nice thing to do, the only obvious downside being the famous (and unsolved) heist that occurred in the museum in 1990 - the largest unsolved art heist in history! In what city is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum located?
A) Boston
B) LA
C) NYC
A - Boston!!
Olivia Rodrigo's first starring role was in in 2015 as a 12-year-old in an American Girl movie Grace Stirs Up Success, which Isabella remembers watching at the age of 8 with her neighbors shortly after it came out - as that was 11 years ago, Isabella must be very old now. Olivia Rodrigo went on to star in two Disney shows before finding stardom in the music industry. She won her first Grammy awards at 19, for best new artist, best solo performance, and best pop vocal album for her debut album, which was called
A) Guts
B) Sour
C) Love
B - Sour
Fun fact, the first poem Isabella memorized was "Old Deuteronomy" from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. This collection was written by a poet who once referred to April as "the cruelest month" (which is why Isabella wanted her wisdom teeth removed in April). Which poet is that?
A) John Keats
B) Emily Dickinson
C) T.S. Eliot
C) T.S. Eliot
The following question is curtesy of Isabella's father (but slightly edited and reworded by Isabella): When Isabella was 5, combing her hair was a 2 hour process. During one particularly traumatic combing session, which of the following items were discovered in her hair:
A) a rock and ribbon
B) leaf and feather
C) bubblegum wrapper
B - leaf and feather
Which celebrity does not have a January 3rd birthday?
A) Florence Pugh (portrayed Amy March in the 2019 Little Women)
B) Greta Thunberg (activist)
C) Lin-Manuel Miranda (actors, writer)
C - Lin-Manuel Miranda (January 16)
True or False: the first winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was 19-year-old Jorge Delgato, who won the award after a full decade of leading an organization, which he started as a school project in fourth grade, to bring clean water to countries without it.
False, this was all a figment of my imagination
J.R.R. Tolkien was a British writer born on January 3rd (yeah, man!) 1892, best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring begins with a birthday party for Bilbo Baggins, who turned the ripe old age of:
A) 89
B) 111
C) 5,182
B - 111 (or eleventy-one)
The following question is curtesy of Isabella's father: At 9, Isabella gave herself a haircut and hid the evidence. Where did she hide it?
A) in a book
B) under the rug
C) under her bed
C - under her bed
The Phantom of the Opera is a beautiful love story if you don't think too closely about it. The show was the longest running show on Broadway and has been adapted to the big screen a couple times, most recently in 2005 when a dashing Scotsman played the role of The Phantom (at least, he was dashing in 2005). Which song is NOT in The Phantom of the Opera?
A) Music of the Night
B) Popular
C) Down Once More
B - Popular
Wouldn't it be nice if we could take the cookie jar from the cabinet with our minds? At 19, Millie Bobby Brown, famous for portraying the telekinetic Eleven in Stranger Things, became engaged to her boyfriend, Jake Bongiovi, son of rockstar Bon Jovi, and released 19 Steps, which was her debut
A) song
B) book
C) footwear line
B - book
Lord Alfred Tennyson was a massive Jane Austen fan. True or False: Every year, on December 16 (Jane's birthday), he would make himself a cup of tea in the evening, light a candle, and sit before it with his tea and a copy of Pride and Prejudice.
False, as far as I know
In 1811, Sense and Sensibility became the first novel Jane Austen published, though she had sold an early draft of a novel that would become Northanger Abbey in 1803. But many scholars debate that Austen first became a published author in 1789, at the age of 13, when a journal called "The Loiterer" that was founded by two of Jane's brothers, published a letter of complaint by a young lady with a similar writing style to a teenage Jane. The author of this letter upbraided "The Loiterer" for not publishing enough stories featuring women and/or romance. I personally believe the letter writer to be Jane, but some scholars are divided because the writer used a pseudonym. What was it?
A) Sophia Sentiment
B) A Lady
C) Mrs. Ashton Denis
A - Sophia Sentiment
"A Lady" was what Jane published Sense & Sensibility under, and "Mrs. Ashton Denis" was how she signed the letter she wrote to the publisher who bought her novel in 1803 but failed to publish it (Jane wrote the M, A, and D very large, so this letter is often called the "M.A.D. letter")