Ace of Spades HQ

« The Connection | Main | One Good Poll »

May 29, 2004

Ace of Spades Trivia Questions of the Day

I don't know if anyone else shares this kink: I've got this crazy obsession about identifying minor players from movies and figuring out where I've seen them before.

I was set off on this because I just read a cool trivial question that feeds into this obsession. We'll call this question 1:

1) Name the one human being who has been assaulted and/or killed by an Alien (from Alien), a Predator, and a Terminator.

But that set me off on a binge, so here's more:

2) Apart from the person who is the answer to 1), name three other people who've been assaulted and/or killed by both an Alien and a Terminator.

3) Apart from the person who is the answer to 1), name one other person who's been assaulted and/or killed by both a Terminator and a Predator. (This is sort of a trick question.)

4) Name two people who've met both Robocop and Special Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks.

5) Name the person who's met characters named Robocop, Hannibal Lecter, and "Arnold Schwarzenegger."

6) Name one person who's been killed by Axel Foley, James Bond, and Rambo. He also got his ass kicked by Prince.

7) Name one person who's met both Special Agent Dale Cooper and Cabin Boy.

8) And, just for fun, name one person who has been assaulted and/or killed by both a Predator and Craig T. Nelson.

posted by Ace at 03:35 AM

Comments

Michael Moore? Oh, wait, shit, that falls under "wishful thinking" not "movie trivia."

Posted by: Beck on May 29, 2004 04:14 AM

Bill Paxton?

Posted by: Xoxotl on May 29, 2004 04:25 AM

...I'm just taking a guess here. I know Paxton was the punk in the beginning of the original Terminator who got jacked my Ahnald. Paxton also played a Private in Aliens who uttered the famous line "Game over, man! Game over!". I don't recall seeing him in Predator, though.

Posted by: Xoxotl on May 29, 2004 04:31 AM

It is Bill Paxton. He was in Predator 2.

Nice. I had no idea he was the "punk leader" in Terminator. I should've known. Cameron is addicted to Bill Paxton. (Can't blame him.)

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 04:35 AM

Obviously, one actor for #2 is Michael Biehn. The other, not so obviously (to me, at least), is Lance Henrikson.
#3 Tricky, but not too tricky for me: Arnold Schwarzenegger, clearly.
But I have no idea on #s 4-6.

Posted by: nathan on May 29, 2004 04:45 AM

Oh, God, I screwed that one up. I forgot Michael Biehn.

I thought of him, but then I forgot him. There are three people who've been attacked by aliens and terminators.

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 04:47 AM

A little thought, and I came up with #6: Carl Weathers. THAT one was tricky.

Posted by: nathan on May 29, 2004 04:48 AM

Okay Ace, you're on!

#1 is, as mentioned, Bill Paxton.

#2 is Michael Beihn and Lance Henriksen (soon to also be #1 this summer)

#3 is Arnold, as mentioned.

#4 is Miguel Ferrer (an FBI forensics guy, IIRC), and Ray Wise, a.k.a. Leland Palmer. Oh, and Ronny Cox also met Axel Foley-- damn small world!

#5 is Steven Berkoff, he of the annoying mole in the middle of his forehead. Beverly Hills Cop, Octopussy, Rambo II, and Under a Cherry Moon (you're a sick man Ace for bringing that one up)

#6 Russ Tamblyn-- Laura Palmer's shrink, and Chocki from Cabin Boy

#7 Carl "Action Jackson" Weathers

Tough ones, man!
Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: on May 29, 2004 04:59 AM

Speaking of Cabin Boy-- anyone want to buy a monkey?

(I, one of three people in America who actually thought Dave Letterman did a good job hosting the Oscars. I mean, at least I laughed, which is more than anyone can say during one of the Whoopicraptacularfests).

Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: Dave on May 29, 2004 05:04 AM

Okay, those are right, but there are THREE people killed by Terminators and Aliens, not two as I originally said, so you're missing one.

I also added an new question #5.

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 05:05 AM

Okay, fine-- add in Bill Paxton to get the third, you want to be technical about it! ;-)

As for the new #5. . . let me pontificate a moment, here at 5:17 in the morning. . .

Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: Dave on May 29, 2004 05:09 AM

No, Bill Paxton is not part of the answer for that one.

I mean besides him.

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 05:10 AM

Dang, it's early. Hmmm. . .

And your new #5 is evil, 'cause the quotes make me think it's someone who called himself "Arnold Schwarzenegger" but wasn't actually him, which hurts my head. Either that, or Reuters put the scare quotes there.

BTW, I can think of someone killed by an Alien and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but not as a Terminator. As long as we're trading trivia.

Posted by: Dave on May 29, 2004 05:14 AM

And it is a small world. Sci-fi and action movies feature the same dudes, over and over, just like westerns and horrof films used to.

Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Michael Wincott, the horrible Maria Conchita Alonzo, even Patrick MacGoohan... these folks just keep showing up over and over.

Posted by: ace on May 29, 2004 05:16 AM

Jeanette Goldstein, aka Vasquez and John Connor's stepmom. But, technically, she's killed by Gorman's grenade, right? So I dunno if that counts.

BTW, her, Bill Paxton, and Lance Henriksen-- Near Dark. First burning vampires I ever saw.

Dave
Arlington, Virginia

Posted by: Dave on May 29, 2004 05:16 AM

Aha! I got new #5.

Tom Noonan-- the axe guy in Last Action Hero, the Dollarhyde in Manhunter, and Cain in Robocop 2. (BTW, can someone tell me how the same Irvin Kershner who made Empire Strikes Back also made the tripe that is Robocop 2? Ugh.)

My brain is now empty of all useful facts. Glad I have the weekend before I go back to work.

Dave
Arlington, VA

Posted by: Dave on May 29, 2004 05:25 AM

Somehow this will all lead to Kevin Bacon.

Posted by: ccwbass on May 29, 2004 11:54 AM

All I know is Carl Weathers had a COWBEll in his backpack in Predator I, Chris Elliot had a COWBELL in his fancy pants knapsack in Cabin Boy and Bill Paxton had a COWBELL in his footlocker in Alien (look closely, you may need to make good use of the pause button here).

Moreover, I believe that Matthew Broderick made use of a COWBELL in Wargames AND in The Cable Guy, but I'm not sure if this is relevant.

I know that Reese Witherspoon used a COWBELL in Election, but, unfortunately it was not in a scene that featured Matthew Broderick.

However, for what it counts, Mr. Big had a COWBELL in his glovebox in Episode #28 ("Guys Like It "Well Done"), and everyone knows that Sarah Jessica Parker is married to Matthew Broderick....hence we have a tenuous, but real!, COWBELL connection.

Also, Frankie Muniz had a COWBELL on his dresser in season two of Malcolm in the Middle. He never touched it, but it was there. Additionally, Matthew Broderick never had a cameo on Malcolm in the Middle, despite the Cindy Adams inspired rumours that he was to appear on the show AND was going to "touch the COWBELL."

Posted by: sonofnixon on May 29, 2004 11:16 PM

Clarification: Episode #28, refered to in the previous post, was to Sex in the City from HBO.

Matthew Broderick appeared on HBO several times, most notably in the unexplained extended run that "The Freshman" received during the late 90's, although he did not use a COWBELL in this movie...although Marlon Brando, who also did not use a COWBELL in this movie, may (repeat MAY) have had a COWBELL strung about his neck as he portrayed Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now...but it is very difficult to discern --- with certainty --- the presence of a COWBELL in said movie.

We're pretty sure that Martin Sheen did not have a COWBELL, but there may have been a COWBELL present on his swiftboat. Coincidentally, Martin Sheen's son, Charlie, had a COWBELL in his dumptruck in the underrated "Men At Work" -- which did not feature and/or reference Matthew Broderick. Strangely enough.

There was a brief glimpse of COWBELL in "Married to the Mob", but that goes without saying. Any movie that is run, ad nauseum on the Comedy Channel, is sure to feature COWBELL (although, despite some resemblance to Matthew Modine and the same FIRST name, Matthew Broderick did NOT appear in "Married to the Mob")

Frankie Muniz, according to US WEEKLY, SAW "Married to the Mob" and particularly loved the COWBELL featured scene....unfortunately, we have absolutely, positively, no PROOF, EVIDENCE or OTHERWISE that Matthew Broderick saw "Married to the Mob" and/or saw/witnessed/enjoyed the COWBELL scene therein.

Posted by: sonofnixon on May 29, 2004 11:26 PM

You know... it's odd to read this after just having finished watching "Death to Smoochy" (Robin Williams, Ed Norton, 2002) where a cowbell does figure prominently as a signature prop for one of the characters. Later, during a memorial, there is even a gold-plated sparkly cowbell used to evoke the character's memory.

Posted by: Ron C on May 30, 2004 01:48 AM

*This* is why IMDB was invented.

Posted by: Kevin on May 30, 2004 10:15 AM

But IMDB gives me hits on "Powell" when I WANT "Cowbell."

It is very, very frustrating. And, oddly, I received ZERO hits when I typed in Matthew Broderick and cowbell.

A lot of loose shit going on at IMDB if you ask me.

Posted by: sonofnixon on May 30, 2004 11:43 AM

I have this strange movie kink: while watching movies, I'm allways yelling out things like, "Hey, that Klingon is Jim from Taxi!". Then my friends all disagree and argue with me until I prove to them that they are wrong.

I can't be the only one. 'Fess up.

Posted by: quasimod on May 31, 2004 03:42 AM

Oddly enough I watch that same movie and yell out things like, "Hey, that Klingon is the attorney from Night Court!" Ahh, crappy 80s sitcoms.

Posted by: Ron C on May 31, 2004 08:52 AM

I watch 80's sitcoms and think, "This show really sucks, but if they spiced things up with a little cowbell....."

Posted by: sonofnixon on May 31, 2004 10:40 AM

That's right, mofo's, I said "cowbell"

Posted by: sonofnixon on May 31, 2004 09:21 PM

The Steven Berkoff one is a stretch, as he wasn't killed by James Bond in Octopussy. The border guards (at the East-West Germany border) shot him as he ran after the train...

Still, this quiz is an unrivaled useless information source.

Posted by: morpheus on June 1, 2004 11:00 AM

and cowbell talk...

Posted by: sonofnixon on June 1, 2004 10:40 PM

And each of those actors mentioned is connected to Kevin Bacon how????

Posted by: Da Goddess on June 2, 2004 05:04 AM

Amazon.com Widgets

Now Available!
The Deplorable Gourmet
A Horde-sourced Cookbook
[All profits go to charity]

Top Headlines

Ryan Long goes to the No Kings rally to pick up young liberal hotties and is greatly disappointed in the quality of the mish
thanks to stevey

You know we "joke" about the GOPe just "conserving" leftist things?
David French just posted:

Populists ask what conservativism has ever conserved?
Well its about to conserve birthright citizenship!
Posted by: 18-1

I couldn't hate this queen of the cuck-chair more if it paid seven figures and came with a corner office.

TJM definitively ranks the films of John Boorman.

Kid punks CNN chump by speaking truth to retard

Podcast: CBD and Sefton talk birthright citizenship, the 14th Amendment and SCOTUS, no boots in Iran, Artemis II and refocusing NASA, the NBA's hatred of everything non-woke, and more!

In more marketing for Project Hail Mary, scientists say they've found the biosigns indicating life growing on an alien planet. It's not proof, just signatures of chemicals that are produced by biological metabolism, and it could be nothing, but scientists think it's a strong sign that this planet is inhabited by something.

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of scientists announced the detection of dimethyl sulfide (along with a similar detection of dimethyl disulfide) in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18b. This is actually the second detection of dimethyl sulfide made on this planet, following a tentative detection in 2023.
Tons of chemicals are detected in the atmospheres of celestial objects every day. But dimethyl sulfide is different, because on Earth, it's only produced by living organisms.
"It is a shock to the system," Nikku Madhusudhan, first author on the paper, told the New York Times. "We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal."

He means they tried to prove the signal was caused by things other than dimethyl sulfide but they could not.

Artemis moon shot a go, scheduled for 6:24 Eastern time tonight
Great marketing arranged by Amazon to promote Project Hail Mary. Okay not really but it does work out that way.

TJM talks John Boorman, director of Excalibur

Good rickroll

What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet.
Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*

Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.

A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV.
Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.

A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR?
Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR.
Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
LOTR is a very long story. Fifteen hundred pages or so. The Hobbit is relatively short and very punchy and easy to read. If you don't like The Hobbit, you can skip out on LOTR. If you do like it, you'll be primed to read LOTR.
Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too.
LOTR is written for adults. (It's said that Tolkien wrote both for his children, but LOTR was written 17 years later, when his children were adults.) Some might not like The Hobbit due to its sometimes frivolous tone. Me, I love it. I find it constantly amusing. Both are really good but there is a starkly different tone to both. LOTR is epic, grand, and serious, about a world war, The Hobbit is light and breezy, and about a heist. Though a heist that culminates in a war for the spoils.

The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
"But who knows how Gollum had come by that present [the Ring], ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."
In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring.
I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do.
But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.

Finish the job, Mr. President!
Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]

TJM acts like he knows anything about John Wick and screenwriting. It's embarrassing, really.

Podcast: Sefton and CBD talk about how would a peace treaty with Iran work, Democrats defending murderers and rapists, The GOP vs. Dem bench for 2028, composting bodies? And more!

Oh, I forgot to mention this quote from Pete Hegseth, reported by Roger Kimball: "We are sharing the ocean with the Iranian Navy. We're giving them the bottom half."

Batman fires The Batman
Batman is disgusted by the Joachim Phoenix version of Joker
Batman tries to fire Superman
Batman is still workshopping his Bat-Voice

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click: Red Leather Suit and Sweatband Edition
And I was here to please
I'm even on knees
Makin' love to whoever I please
I gotta do it my way
Or no way at all

Tomorrow is March 25th, "Tolkien Reading Day," because March 25th is the day when the Ring is destroyed in the book. I think I'm going to start the Hobbit tomorrow and read all four books this time.
The only bad part of the trilogy are the Frodo/Sam chapters in The Two Towers. They're repetitive, slow, and mostly about the weather and terrain. But most everything else is good. Weirdly, the Frodo-Sam chapters in Return of the King are exciting and action-packed and among the best in the trilogy. (Though the chapters with everyone else in Return of the King get pretty slow again. Mostly people talking about marching towards war, and then marching towards war.)

Sec. Army recognizes ODU Army ROTC cadets for their bravery and sacrifice in private ceremony
[Hat Tip: Diogenes] [CBD]