Brass Tacks Trivia

I think her name is missing an ‘A.’ No wait, it’s just spelled weird. August 10, 2009

HOW TO VIEW THIS BLOG: Read the questions, then highlight the area between the > < to reveal the answers, then click “more” for the explanations.

1. What was the name of the piece of land Crocodile Dundee owns in the Outback?

Answer: >Billongamick<

2. Who is the only artist since Elvis Presley to reach the benchmark of 50 Gold albums?

Answer: >Barbra Streisand<

3. In 1994, who was the first celebrity to be featured in the “Got Milk?” milk mustache ad campaign?

Answer: >Naomi Campbell<

Explanations:

1. God, I hate Duffy. I attend a team trivia pub quiz every few weeks at a bar in Austin, and the host asks a lot of obscure questions about TV and films from the 80s. I was only alive for 6 years of that decade, so I don’t have a very vivid memory of detailed movie lines and TV show theme songs from the era of crimped hair, Dr. Martens, and dresses with shoulder pads. Unfortunately, I haven’t back tracked to fill myself in on the gaps. This would include questions from the classic fish-out-of-water story “Crocodile” Dundee, released in 1986 with sequels released in 1988 and 2001. Dundee’s first name is Michael, but he goes by Mick, and the land he owns was given the name Billongamick, because it “belongs to Mick.” Our fateful, borderline-alcoholic trivia host asked the question as “Where was Crocodile Dundee born?” And no one knows the answer to that, not even the screenplay writers, because that isn’t ever given in any of the movies. He should have asked a question similar to the question I asked above. I’ll forgive him this time, because I don’t fare much better with questions from modern entertainment, such as the name of the monster from South Park with a Patrick Duffy leg (Scuzzlebutt) and the name of the funeral home from Six Feet Under (Fisher & Sons).

2. On a recent cruise, I participated in a team trivia with my family, and this very question was asked, which made me realize that I don’t know what a Gold album even is. A Gold album has sold 500,000 units, and a Platinum album has sold 1,000,000 units (Diamond Platinum is 10,000,000). The only hint the trivia host (the oaf who somehow earned the title “Cruise Director”) gave us was that it is a female solo artist. At first I thought Madonna, but then thought that was too obvious, so we ended up putting Cher (still wrong). The weird part about this question is that even the best selling artist of all time, The Beatles, doesn’t have as many Gold records as Barbra Streisand. She has simply released a shit ton of albums.

3. Originally started by the California Milk Processor Board (apparently that’s thing) with the infamous ad where peanut butter sticks to the roof of a colonial historian’s mouth, causing him to miss out on a $10,000 trivia question that is quite literally on the tip of his tongue, the slogan was licensed by the National Milk Processor Board (apparently that’s also a thing), and combined with the “Where’s your moustache?” campaign in 1995. From Michael Vick to Vanna White – the beginnings of an interesting episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher – hundreds of celebrities have followed Campbell’s example, because for some reason, appearing in an ad to support milk consumption seems less like selling out than appearing in an ad for the Verizon Network (I’m looking at you, Luke Wilson). In 2006, the campaign was translated into Spanish, and read “Toma Leche?” or “Do you take and drink milk?” I guess those corny “Milk: it does a body good,” ads where the scrawny boy drinks milk and over time becomes a sexy man didn’t work very well when people realized milk doesn’t actually make you more attractive or improve your game.