Crushing blows...

There are two social events that I actually enjoy while I'm here in Beijing.

One is playing basketball on Friday.

While my knee is telling me that that is a short lived joy - I still go, writhing in pain the next two days - limping along like a senior citizen.

The other is quiz night at Bar Blu.

Now I am not a huge fan of games. I used to be. Back when I was younger, sillier, and more social. Now I prefer a quiet evening at home.

But something about getting together and going out and answering a bunch of really hard trivia is fun for me. We usually have a mulitinational team - and the quizmaster is British - so the questions rarely have an American bent. And Jade's sister and her friend Ryan work all week at editing stories from around the world for the magazine they work for - so we usually ace the current events round.

I get thrown the Movie, TV and Music stuff.

After three second place victories - two of them lost by tie break - we finally scored a First place the last time I went.

So we hadn't been back in a month or so.

But this week was a theme week. Movie week. So I was requested.

Problem was - no one else came. Just Jade, her sister, and their English friend.

Five Chinese friends who didn't speak a word of English.

And me.

So I was really it.

All the other teams had at least 7 or 8 people - and one team had about 15. A lot of them older. And that would certainly help as the majority of the questions were about old films.

Round one:

Picture round. A still from 10 films. I immediately recognized Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fargo, and one more. But that literally was it. Two black and white films - If and Scum. Never seen or heard of them. El Topo was one - but I've never seen that. Another from Australian film Walkabout. And one from Labyrinth - which Jade's sister wrote as Dark Crystal. The only modern film was a still from Wind that shakes the Barly. I knew Cillian Murphy... but had no clue what the movie was...

Final score: 3

The team with 15 people smarter than me? 8

Round Two:

General movie knowledge:

Don't remember much from here - but I got 7 right. No help from anyone else...

Team smarter than me: 8

They are 5 ahead.

ROUND THREE:

Classic film.

Dear God. This is world series of trivia tough. Questions like who played the Bride of Frankenstien in the 1935 film. What David Lean film based on a play by Noel Coward was about a woman falling in love with another man on a train?

We got 4.
They got more.

They are ahead. But we moved from the middle of the pack to 2nd place.

ROUND FOUR:

Movie music.

I suck. Just to throw that out there. They are picking really random themes if you ask me.

To give you an idea of how random - the drunk enlish guy on our team perked up for the first time and screamed - I know this! That is the theme to Candyman!

And then he started to sing along.

Now, in their right mind - no matter how obscure you would be - if you were picking 10 scores to try to get people to figure out - when in the world would you ever pick a score from a really bad 90 film like Candyman?

But the kid was so excited - and he hadn't answered a question all night - and I had no clue what it was anyway - that we went with it.

I can't tell you how bad I wanted that answer to be right. Just for the fact that if it was - there could be no one else in that room that night that could have gotten it. It would just be too bizzare.

He was right. :) That made my night. Win or lose. To see that broken tooth British smile break out on that guy's face made the night... :)

4 points.
We are going into the last round 12 points behind the 1st place team - 2 points ahead of the third place team.

There is no way to win. Jade and her sister are already resigning themselves to wine - since first gets vodka... :)

ROUND 5:

Current Movie News.

I kick ass. 10 out of 10 and actually get awarded the bonus point on debate.

Doesn't matter. We take second again - and the girls are upset that I didn't come through... but it was literally me against the room.

Except for one shining moment... when a kid with a dream in his heart, a cigarette in his hand, and a near empty glass of something....

Screamed out:

I know this one!

And by God, he did. Kind of like a Chinese Billy Elliot story...

Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Candyma-