2019 Unanswered Question - Specific Questions/Errata

[ThisIsMyUsername]

This thread is for discussion of specific questions and for the identification of errata to be corrected before future mirrors.

[Cheynem]

Regarding the Ethel Merman question, which was a very good question, I was curious about the lead-in (telling Loretta Young to "go fuck yourself"), which I swore I had heard applied to other people. My Internet sleuthing suggests:

1. The story is applied to many people, but the most concrete examples of being *applied to a woman* is indeed, Ethel Merman. Stephen Sondheim himself said it was Merman and who I am to argue with Sondheim (or Farley Granger, who said the same thing)? Rob Chirico's "A History of Swearing" says the story is applied to many people but again highlights Merman's story.

2. However, in terms of being applied to a man, the story is all over the place. The book "Queer Street" claims it was said by Joseph Mankiewicz. "Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites" says Spencer Tracy. A biography on Robert Mitchum says it's Mitchum (I think the tossup also mentioned this). Leonard Maltin's "The Great American Broadcast" says William Conrad (this is dubious, as Conrad wasn't famous at the time he supposedly did this).

3. However, further still, the Internet contains numerous, unverified, probably confusingly second-hand mentions of other women doing this IMDB (notoriously inaccurate) kind of claims Barbara Stanwyck did this (the story is heavily bowderlized there). People on the Silver Screen Oasis Message Board throw out claims (with no verification) that it was Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, or Joan Crawford!

In short, I think the tossup's lead-in is accurate in the sense that the most concrete examples of a woman doing this to Loretta Young were from Merman, but perhaps a qualifier like "a probably apocryphal story claimed by someone like Sondheim/Granger/etc. states this woman" might be a good idea? I obviously am overthinking this, but I was curious enough to do some research this morning.

[ThisIsMyUsername]

I'm happy to add "purportedly" to the lead-in. I'm not sure citing particular sources (e.g. Sondheim and Granger) makes much sense, unless you have reason to suspect that these are somehow the canonical sources from which most people are learning the Merman story.

The thing I find more puzzling is that you are suggesting that I change the current identifying phrase ("this singer") to "this female." You do mention some other instances of this being attributed to a female (though Merman is the most common female), but you mention no other instances of this being attributed to a singer. It's possible that this anecdote is told about other singers, but I can't find any through Googling. So, it seems to me like you're inadvertently asking me to make this clue less unique.

[Cheynem]

Oh, it said "singer"? I apologize. I thought it just said "woman." That should be fine then; I was just misremembering what the identifier was.

In any event, the question was fine; I was just curious about the lead-in and spent a morning doing some research.

[csa2125]

Can I see the questions on the Soviet Union (music) and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, including the full answerline? I heard multiple stories about which answers were prompted or not (for the first, "Russia"; for the second, just "St Martin-in-the-Fields") in various rooms at our site.

[Quinctilius Varus]

Can I see the questions on the Soviet Union (music) and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, including the full answerline? I heard multiple stories about which answers were prompted or not (for the first, "Russia"; for the second, just "St Martin-in-the-Fields") in various rooms at our site.

18. In a concerto from this country, the cello soloist enters with an extended high B over an E drone and the E - F-sharp - G - B ostinato with which the piece begins. The cello soloist in a piece from this country must also play a bass drum and flexatone, and is accompanied by piano only, percussion, and chorus: that piece is titled Canticle of the Sun. In another cello concerto from this country, a largely stratospheric and fortissimo coda requires the soloist to be amplified; complications from that composer’s 1985 stroke inspired him to use an even more jarring and fragmented version of his typical (*) “polystylism.” The seven timpani strikes that conclude an E-flat major cello concerto from this country were inspired by the ending of a compatriot’s Symphony-Concerto. For 10 points, Alfred Schnittke’s music was suppressed by the government of what country that aggressively promoted Prokofiev and Shostakovich?
ANSWER: the Soviet Union [or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; the first three concertos are Prokofiev SC, Gubaidulina, and Schnittke no. 1] <SA>

9. Keith Emerson’s thirteen-year-old grandson Ethan recorded Keith’s The Dreamer with this orchestra on a 2018 tribute album conducted by Terje Mikkelsen. With this orchestra, Anthony Marwood recorded the violin concerto of Sally Beamish, who in 2018 was named this orchestra’s first composer in residence. Its second music director conducted the orchestra from the violin section, until rheumatoid arthritis in her wrists forced her to stop playing in 1998. (*) Iona Brown directed this orchestra, for which Christopher Hogwood played continuo, before he left due to its practice of performing early music on modern instruments. This orchestra recorded popular Mozart selections for the film Amadeus under its founder, Neville Marriner, who named it after the London church in which it performed. For 10 points, name this chamber orchestra that, despite its name, is not a school in the countryside.
ANSWER: The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields [or the ASMF] <SA>

"Academy of St. Martin in the Fields" is needed for the second question.

[Cheynem]

Is "academy" truly pertinent? Mike Sorice said St. Martin's in the Fields, got negged, and we said that was acceptable.

[csa2125]

I personally disagree with not at least prompting on "Russia" for the USSR question, due to the facts that
a) The Canticle of the Sun was composed in 1997, after the 1991 dissolution of the USSR -- a consequential inaccuracy.
b) All other works mentioned were created by composers who were working in modern-day Russia at the time, in what was then to my understanding the Russian Soviet Republic, and who were with the exception of Schnittke were Russian-born.
c) The Soviet Union was contemporaneously (if informally) called "Russia" by the Western media, and continues to be today.
d) With the question written as it is, answering with "Russia" shows no lack of knowledge about the music in question, or the 20th-century history of what is now Russia; nor are there instructions asking for a "no longer extant" country or the like for which the answer of "Russia" clearly does not correctly apply.
e) The question loses nothing substantive by prompting on "Russia" and letting players say "USSR" for the point, and gains nothing by negging out answers of "Russia."

Nevertheless, if the writers and editors remain adamant about this decision, there should at least be instructions on what to do if a player answers with "Russia" or a like answer, which I do not currently see in the question.

[ThisIsMyUsername]

I'm fine with prompting on Russia. I'll add that. (EDIT: On second thought, I'll just make Russia acceptable, given what you noted about Canticle of the Sun.)

In the case of Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields, it simply never occurred to me that anyone would say just St.-Martin-in-the-Fields, as that's the name of the church and not the orchestra. In none of the other orchestras that style themselves as "Academies" (e.g. Academy of Ancient Music, Academy of London, etc.) can you omit "Academy." I guess, to be generous, I'll add a prompt, but there's no way that that should be accepted outright.

[setophaga]

I personally disagree with not at least prompting on "Russia" for the USSR question, due to the facts that
a) The Canticle of the Sun was composed in 1997, after the 1991 dissolution of the USSR -- a consequential inaccuracy.
b) All other works mentioned were created by composers who were working in modern-day Russia at the time, in what was then to my understanding the Russian Soviet Republic, and who were with the exception of Schnittke were Russian-born.
c) The Soviet Union was contemporaneously (if informally) called "Russia" by the Western media, and continues to be today.
d) With the question written as it is, answering with "Russia" shows no lack of knowledge about the music in question, or the 20th-century history of what is now Russia; nor are there instructions asking for a "no longer extant" country or the like for which the answer of "Russia" clearly does not correctly apply.
e) The question loses nothing substantive by prompting on "Russia" and letting players say "USSR" for the point, and gains nothing by negging out answers of "Russia."

Nevertheless, if the writers and editors remain adamant about this decision, there should at least be instructions on what to do if a player answers with "Russia" or a like answer, which I do not currently see in the question.

This is my fault for inaction. I'd originally planned a TU on female composers under the Soviet regime, and it kind of metamorphosed into a Russian cello concertos tossup while keeping the same answer line.

While it occurred to me to change the answerline several times, I never actually remembered to do it when I was working on the set. My apologies if this cost you a good buzz, and I'm glad it's now changed.

[Smuttynose Island]

I mentioned this to Max Shatan today, but I suggest rewriting the David Adjaye clue(s) in the Ghana tossup from "This is the home country of David Adjaye" to "David Adjaye's parents were from this country." This would better reflect the fact that Adjaye was born in Tanzania and spent the first nine years of his life constantly moving, before settling down in London for a substantial period of time.

[Mike Bentley]

The Cy Twombly tossup opens with a description of some of his paintings in white at the (in my opinion much overrated) Glenstone Museum. The description for that seemed like it could have plausibly also applied to the work of Charles Ray on view at that museum--several pieces in their own room, painted different shades of white.

[Mike Bentley]

Also, could I see the tossup on Alex Katz? I saw an exhibition of his a few years ago and also read a profile of him in the New Yorker but nothing with the question (including the giveaway) clued me into him. It's possible I was just zoning out from lack of sleep. He's also the type of artist who doesn't seem to have especially characteristic works that describe well in a quizbowl question--although he'd be very hard to ask about in Eyes given how recognizable most of his stuff is.

[Mike Bentley]

First, some tossups I really liked: Good Vibrations, videogames, hotels and streamlining

I also really liked the idea of the question on movie theaters. In practice, I somewhat stupidly did a reaction buzz on the leadin after not parsing it properly. Would be great to see the full question.

I think the Herzog & De Meuron question might play better if it didn't say "these two people" early on. That limits the answer space considerably compared to a pronoun such as "this firm."

At least two rooms gave "36 Chambers" for "Enter the Wu-Tang." It seems that title is used enough for that album that it ought to be acceptable.

To me, Grand Canyon felt a tad early in the joiners question (which was a cool idea). That led to a first-line buzzer race in my room. But it's always hard to tell with this kind of stuff what people know.

I had trouble remembering whether Bell was a married name or not and it sounded like the opposing team also had that problem.

The question on windows in Hopper paintings seemed a little tough to parse. Luckily for us the other team negged and it went to the end, but in the middle it would have been very hard to at quizbowl speed understand that you were looking for, say, a window rather than an office.

[Quinctilius Varus]

At least two rooms gave "36 Chambers" for "Enter the Wu-Tang." It seems that title is used enough for that album that it ought to be acceptable.

You're absolutely right, I'll add it as an acceptable answer.

[touchpack]

The tossup on Max Roach could use the phrase "in homage to a similarly-named album" in the clue about Max Roach + 4. If you, as I did, know about the existence of Sonny Rollins + 4 but not the Roach album, you get negged for having knowledge, which is not ideal. This is an especially plausible problem considering the Rollins album is considerably more famous than the Roach one--it has nearly three times as many Allmusic user reviews.

Other than that little detail, I very much enjoyed the jazz in this set, and especially the tossup on Bela Fleck. Thanks to the writers!

[Asterias Wrathbunny]

The tossup on Max Roach could use the phrase "in homage to a similarly-named album" in the clue about Max Roach + 4. If you, as I did, know about the existence of Sonny Rollins + 4 but not the Roach album, you get negged for having knowledge, which is not ideal. This is an especially plausible problem considering the Rollins album is considerably more famous than the Roach one--it has nearly three times as many Allmusic user reviews.

I negged on the same clue for the same reason.

In addition, one confusing moment that comes to mind was the tossup on "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady." I was thrown off by the first clue mentioning an abrupt Spanish guitar solo in the third track, because that solo is not unique to that track and happens on the fourth track in the same manner.

[halle]

Mike, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the hotels and streamline questions! In regards to the other questions I wrote that you mentioned:

I think the Herzog & De Meuron question might play better if it didn't say "these two people" early on. That limits the answer space considerably compared to a pronoun such as "this firm."

This tossup does not actually say "two people" at any point. The pronoun for nearly all of power is "these architects," which was intended to keep the answer space maximally open, since it can apply to any architects who collaborated with each other or an architecture firm. Later, the pronoun switches to "this firm," since there are relatively few firms that can be tossed up. Perhaps this did not work as I intended, and the early clues heavily implied two architects with a formal partnership, which I suppose is a more limited answer space than firms; I will look at the tossup and try to see if there's a way to avoid that possibility. Here's the text of the tossup:

15. One building by these architects has a facade consisting of diamond-shaped windows, some of which are flat and some of which are concave and bubble-like. The open spaces in the roof of one building by these architects are filled with transparent membranes that allow the building to be weatherproof. One project by these architects features a textured copper exterior that is intended to oxidize and blend into the surrounding park. One building by this firm has an inner red (*) “bowl” surrounded by an irregularly patterned steel frame inspired by traditional pottery. This firm designed the Prada Tokyo Building and rebuilt San Francisco’s De Young Museum. The winners of the 2001 Pritzker Prize, for 10 points, name this Swiss architecture firm that converted the Bankside Power Station into the Tate Modern and worked with Ai Weiwei on Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium.
ANSWER: Herzog & de Meuron Architekten <HF>

To me, Grand Canyon felt a tad early in the joiners question (which was a cool idea). That led to a first-line buzzer race in my room. But it's always hard to tell with this kind of stuff what people know.

Here's the text of that question:

23. NOTE: Description acceptable
One of these works depicts Noya and Bill Brandt watching the creation of the artwork itself. Several of these works depict the Grand Canyon, as their artist thought that this type of composition could capture the “sense of vast extent” of the American West better than traditional mediums. One of these works shows a road in a California desert and was inspired by Lolita. These works were inspired by cubism, and their artist used Polaroids for the first of these works and a Pentax 110 for later ones. The artist of these works said that (*) traditional photography takes “the point of view of a paralyzed Cyclops,” which this technique was an attempt to avoid. One of these works shows the artist’s mother in a churchyard in Yorkshire, where the artist was born. Sun on the Pool and Pearblossom Highway are titles of, for 10 points, what composites of many pictures by a California-based artist better known for his paintings?
ANSWER: David Hockney’s joiners [or descriptions such as David Hockney’s photo collages or photo montages, or anything mentioning both David Hockney and works composed of photographs; prompt partial answers that do not include mention of Hockney by asking “By what artist?”; do not accept or prompt on David Hockney’s paintings] <HF>

I'm surprised to hear that the Grand Canyon clue led to a buzzer race--my gut reaction here is that your room had two teams which both had very good buzzes, but I'd be interested in hearing if other players also buzzed so early. In any case, I think that all the clues after the Grand Canyon one are easier than it; Hockney's depictions of the Grand Canyon have only been clued a couple of times, and only in the context of his paintings of it, whereas everything afterwards has come up before or makes it evident that the answer is some sort of photographic medium. It's also possible this whole question skewed easy or transparent, since in creating the answerline for this question it was hard to figure out how to reward knowledge of Hockney's photographic career without just handing points to anyone who could figure out what was going on. (This question was initially going to require the specific term "joiners," but it seemed unfair to neg people buzzing with "Hockney's photo collages" and like it would unnecessarily reduce the conversion rate.) In any case, I'm glad you thought this question was a cool idea!

I had trouble remembering whether Bell was a married name or not and it sounded like the opposing team also had that problem.

16. An artist with this married surname painted 12 actresses, 12 writers, 12 beauties, and 12 queens on a set of plates she created for Kenneth Clark and his wife, the Famous Women Dinner Service. An artist with this married surname depicted women and children at the seashore in Studland Beach. Another person with this last name theorized that aesthetic value derives from the ability of a work’s formal features to evoke an emotional response. An artist who designed dresses while director of the (*) Omega Workshops was married to a man with this surname who wrote about “significant form” in his book Art. That artist with this married surname often worked with her lover Duncan Grant and designed many book covers for Hogarth Press, including the works of her sister Virginia Woolf. For 10 points, give this shared last name of the art critic Clive and his wife Vanessa, members of the Bloomsbury group.
ANSWER: Bell [accept Clive Bell or Vanessa Bell; prompt on Vanessa Stephen with “What’s her married name?”] <HF>

I'm sorry to hear that this question generated confusion. I believe Jordan added the detail that it was Vanessa's married name in order to make sure the tossup pointed at one specific answer, and to add a bit more detail to help players who might know Vanessa for being married to Clive. The question prompts on Vanessa Stephen, her maiden name, so there's no way to be negged if you give a name that she ever went by, although I can see how one might sit and try to figure out if there's a name that she is less known for that the question is looking for, I suppose.

The question on windows in Hopper paintings seemed a little tough to parse. Luckily for us the other team negged and it went to the end, but in the middle it would have been very hard to at quizbowl speed understand that you were looking for, say, a window rather than an office.

2. A green Buick is partly visible behind a large one of these things in the painting Western Motel. Linda Nochlin wrote that these things “tend to lock the static figures into place, repeating interior configurations rather than offering alternatives to them” in the works of one artist. One of these things titles a painting in which an elderly woman in a red dress and hat sits on a hotel sofa, waiting for a taxi. Gail Levin tied an incident from Sherwood Anderson's story "The Strength of God" to a painting titled for Night [these things] in which a (*) woman bending over is partly visible. These things take up much of the canvas of Office in a Small City. Two parallel lines of ceiling lamps are visible in one of these things in the painting Automat. The subjects of Nighthawks are visible through, for 10 points, what architectural features, which frame the scenes in many of Edward Hopper’s paintings?
ANSWER: windows [or window frames; or windowsills; accept window panes or panes of glass; prompt on frames or glasses] <HF>

I chose this answerline as a way to ask about an easier artist by picking out an important motif in his work, but this kind of question does run the risk of being suboptimal in terms of clarity in what it's looking for. Hopefully the fact that the clues repeatedly drop what kind of location (hotel, office) the paintings are set in makes it clear that we're looking for a feature within those locations; beyond that I'm not sure what would improve the clarity of the tossup, and would appreciate hearing any ideas people have.

Also:

I mentioned this to Max Shatan today, but I suggest rewriting the David Adjaye clue(s) in the Ghana tossup from "This is the home country of David Adjaye" to "David Adjaye's parents were from this country." This would better reflect the fact that Adjaye was born in Tanzania and spent the first nine years of his life constantly moving, before settling down in London for a substantial period of time.

The change to include that Adjaye is Ghanaian was a fairly last-minute one: the original question did not include the mention of Ghana being his "home country," which resulted in complaints after the first mirror that the question *didn't* indicate that Adjaye was Ghanaian. Based on these comments, and several articles I read that called him "British-Ghanaian," I did not check to see if it was technically correct to call Ghana his home while implementing some edits before the more recent mirrors of the set. I am very sorry for any confusion this caused!

[Cheynem]

Huh, was that "joiners" tossup changed for later play? I converted that tossup at UIUC at the very end because I thought there was some clue about Hockney's paintings.

[halle]

Huh, was that "joiners" tossup changed for later play? I converted that tossup at UIUC at the very end because I thought there was some clue about Hockney's paintings.

The giveaway used to include "A Bigger Splash," but that was changed to make the tossup less cliffy at the very end.

[Cheynem]

Ah, well, thank God that happened later.

[Quinctilius Varus]

Responding to earlier requests:

14. One of these buildings constructed in the Churrigueresque [“chur-EE-guh-RESK”] style includes a facade sculpted by Joseph Mora that features figures of longhorn skulls and bison heads. John Eberson designed over 500 of these buildings, specializing in layouts which resemble exotic outdoor courtyards, known as the “atmospheric” style. Even though one building of this type only cost $800,000 to build, it was advertised as the “Million Dollar.” Another one of these buildings oddly juxtaposes a red terracotta roof with hieroglyphs and busts of pharaohs, as it switched themes midway through construction from a Spanish Revival style to a faux Ancient (*) Egyptian one. One of these buildings features a large pagoda in its facade and a forecourt with the handprints of celebrities pressed into concrete panels. For 10 points, name this buildings, a “Chinese” one of which Sid Grauman built in Hollywood to host screenings.
ANSWER: movie theaters [accept movie palaces, cinemas, picture houses, or any answer that mentions a building which shows films] <MS>

17. This artist depicted a young girl wearing a candy-cane colored striped tube top resting by a lake, Tracy on the Raft at 7:30. This artist’s pen and ink sketches of the plot of Moby Dick are currently being exhibited in the Colby Museum of Art, whose permanent collection has a wing dedicated to him. A recent series by this artist places women in white one-piece bathing suits against red backgrounds inspired by Fifties advertising, entitled Coca-Cola Girls. This artist’s early works include large-format pictures of flowers, including Red Tulips and Rose Bud. This artist depicted friends such as poet Edwin Denby on double-sided painted flat steel sculptures known as “cutouts.” This artist painted a certain (*) model “In Hat”, “Upside Down” and “In Red Coat” as some of his over 250 depictions of that woman. For 10 points, name this American painter known for his large-scale portraits, especially of his wife Ada.
ANSWER: Alex Katz <MS>

[Carlos Be]

The tossup on cotton felt very transparent— there was a pretty big buzzer race in our room on "this venue" because everyone was waiting on that to fraud.

I liked the tossup on "Seeger."

Can I see the tossup on Assassins? I didn't recognize any of the early clues.

[34 + P.J. Dozier]

Can I see the tossup on Assassins? I didn't recognize any of the early clues.

A man in this musical complains about not having a “hamburger that’s fuckin’ hot” before shouting, “Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts!”. In this musical, a man who proclaims that “first prize often goes to rank beginners” sells an item that he says is “cheap for ‘anything you want.’” A woman in this musical proclaims, “I would crawl belly deep through hell” in a duet with a man who addresses an actress by saying, “I am nothing / You are wind and water and sky.” While cakewalking up to the (*) noose during his hanging, a man in this musical sings, “I am going to the Lordy.” The Balladeer narrates this musical, whose title characters implore “just hold tight to your dreams” in the song “Everybody’s Got the Right” before opening fire on the audience. For 10 points, name this Stephen Sondheim musical whose characters include Lynnette Fromme, John Hinckley, and John Wilkes Booth.
ANSWER: Assassins <WJ>

The first line is from Byck's "Have it your way" monologue and the second line is the Proprietor selling guns to the assassins in the opening number.