Landmark Quiz '06, Bangalore

was a very neatly conducted affair. The ambience was perfect, Chowdiah Memorial hall being a very beautiful auditorium. The audience was very receptive and enthusiastic. IT was interesting to observe the mix of people. We had families with newly borns, school kids, senior citizens, corporate quizzers...an encouraging audience for any Quizmaster. Not that Derek O'brien needs any. Sometimes i wonder if he's more a quizmaster or an entertainer. After seeing him at the Brand Equity Quiz, i was a little skeptic when i came to know that he is going to be the quizmaster here too. But fortunately, his sexual innuendo's and PJ's were at a minimum y'day. Infact some of the questions in the final were pretty good too. The elims were decent at most with some outrageous questions like

Q) which is the largest milk producing country in the world?
Q) which is the Landmark site to purchase books? ( the ans was printed on the brochure given to each team + displayed on a banner extending from the ceiling to the floor on the stage...well lit stage)

Understandable coz the Landmark Quiz is primarily a school level quiz made difficult because everyone participates.

The finals, however, had some good questions and some great teams. I especially remember a guy named Anushtub (i guess) who got crowned the best quizzer in b'lore after a solitaire between the finalists. He was just too good. They however lost the lead in the last 2 questions of the quiz, to be upstaged by a team from Chennai which had earlier won the Chennai leg of this quiz. This team from Chennai did exceptionally well to tide over a solid 25 point deficit in the last round of the quiz to emerge emphatic winners. Great comeback!!

Some of the good questions...

Q) a connect question based on 2 pictures..one of Harrison Ford and the other featuring few sheep in a meadow and an android in the centre.
Ans: Bladerunner, the movie - the 2nd picture is the cover of the book " Do androids dream of electric sheep by Philip Dick" which was the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner. Harrison Ford played lead role in the movie.

Q) a connect again with a picture of dilip kumar and one of Manoj Kumar and the song "mera naam hai shabnam" being played in the background
Ans: the character played by Dilip Kumar in the movie 'Shabnam' was named Manoj Kumar and Manoj Kumar took his screen name from this movie.

Q) another connect..audio of the Star spangled banner + video of a duet dance from a movie.
Ans: Scott Fitzgerald. the star spangled banner played by Jimi Hendrix in the played piece was written by a scott fitzgerald. the video was from the movie "the great gatsby" which was written by F Scott Fitzgerald. same name, unrelated people..that was the connection. brilliantly answered by one of the teams

Q) this question is connected to a british sport and refers to the largest animal conservation efforts by a govt. the animal in question is the Harvest mice. What did they do?
Ans: they spread out thousands of broken tennis balls from wimbeldon on a ground and used them to breed harvest mice, which were becoming endangered

Q) what is the difference between sushi and sashimi?
Ans: sushi is raw fish with rice, while sashimi is raw fish alone

Q) what was carried in compartment no: 2949 of a train to triveni in india on Feb 12?
Ans...a giveway clue would be the yr..1948. answer is Mahatma Gandhi's ashes

Q) which element is responsible for blue colouration in diamonds?
Ans Boron

Q)which flower is named after a French General
Ans Bouganvilla (not sure abt the General bit and the spelling of the flower)

Q)which famous indian changed his name to Kareem Abdul
Ans Kishore Kumar after marriage to Madhubala

Q)what is Unique about a canoe race held in the Andamans by the name "asol tale aap"
Ans the only canoe race in the world on sand