MELA Quiz

Mains

QM : Sujit J Patil

Round 1:

Infinite Bounce

• X was a merchant and philanthropist . He is more notable for making a huge fortune in opium trade with British to China.

• He was known by his nickname – bottlewalla, as his business interests included the manufacture and sale of bottles. His family would sign letters and checks using the name “Bottlewala”.

• He was awarded knighthood in 1842 and made a baronet in 1858.

• He founded an institution in India which is now the oldest of its kind. Which institution ?

1)

• Answer

– Sir J. J. School of Art (after JamsetjiJejeebhoy)

• I Swear I Was There: The Gig That Changed the World is a book by David Nolan. It accounts the details about a gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester on 4 June 1976. The gig was voted by Channel 4 television as one of the three most important gigs of all time alongside Woodstock and Live Aid.

• Despite just 35-40 people attending it, the impact this gig created was huge. It heralded the era of punk rock movement. This was mainly due to the attendees who inspired by the gig formed their own bands. Some of them were :

– Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks/Magazine)– Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks)– Morrissey (The Smiths)– Tony Wilson (Factory Records/The Haçienda)– Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order)– Mark E Smith (The Fall)

• Which band performed at this gig ?

2)

• Sex Pistols

• John Smith was a British soldier who was a founder of the American colony of Jamestown in the early 1600s.

• Legend has it that one day while on search for food, he was captured and taken to meet the chief of the Powhatans (a Native Indian tribe). Although he feared for his life, Smith was eventually released without harm and later attributed this in part to the chief's daughter, X, who according to Smith, threw herself across his body to save him.

• In 1995, an animated movie titled, X was released telling this story in a musical setting. This film is the first Disney animated film to be based on a real historic character.

• Identify the movie, X.

3)

Image :

• This song boasts one of the most recognizable guitar riffs of all time (the "greatest guitar riff ever," as voted by readers of Total Guitar magazine). The song’s origins were serendipitous :

• “During a jam session at the band's house, drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a "circus" melody while making faces at Adler. Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin asked Slash to play it again. Stradlin came up with some chords, Duff McKagan created a bassline and Adler planned a beat.

• Their producer listened to what they'd put together so far and told them that they should add a dramatic breakdown in place of the last verse. After thinking for a moment about what that could be, Axl asked "Where do we go now?" As in, “Where do we go with this song?” – which was ultimately used in the song.”

• Which song ?

4)

• Some thirty years after this symphony was written, the rhythm of the opening phrase – "dit-dit-dit-dah" – was used for the letter "V" in Morse Code.

• Since the Second World War it has sometimes been referred to as the "Victory Symphony". The phrase "V for Victory" became well known as a campaign of the Allies of World War II.

• The symphony, and the four-note opening motif in particular, are known worldwide, with the motif appearing frequently in popular culture, from disco to rock and roll, to appearances in film and television.

• Identify this symphony and its composer.

5)

• Sara Akash (1969) is an award winning film by BasuChatterjee that launched parallel cinema in India. It is based on a novel by X.

• Rajnigandha (1974) is also a film by Basu Chatterjee, which won the Best Picture at the Filmfare Awards in 1975. It is based on the novel by X’s wife Y.

• Both X and Y together wrote the book Ek Inch Muskan which is a love tragedy about schizophrenic individuals.

• Identify both.

6)

Image :

• X - RajendraYadav

• Y- Mannu Bhandari

7)• X was a prominent and prolific composer of the Classical period. He was

instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and “Father of the String Quartet”.

• He had his head stolen by Karl Rosenbaum and Johann Nepomuk Peter. Their motivation for stealing the skull was, it is believed, 'scientific': there was at the time a great interest in phrenology, a now-discredited scientific movement that attempted to associate mental capacities with aspects of cranial anatomy.

• Eighteen years later, a similar attempt was made on the body of Y (X’s student), possibly for similar reasons.

• X was also responsible for composing Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser which is now the national anthem of Germany. Identify X and Y.

• X - Joseph Haydn

• Y – Ludwig van Beethoven

• In August 1892 while at Baroda, X met with the renowned painter Raja Ravi Varma at his studio.

• When X pointed out certain flaws in his paintings, the painter responded that none had detected them until then adding “You must have been an artist at some point in your life.” The response was –“By the grace of God and my Guru, Saraswati (the Goddess of Knowledge) has been generous towards me.”

• Later X wrote in his book East and West that Ravi Varma’spaintings had traces of imitation of western art. He urged Indian artists to develop their own indigenous art traditions in the modern context.

• Identify X.

8)

• Swami Vivekananda

• This city has been called the “Jazz capital of the World”. The jazz legend Louis Armstrong was born here. Its Jazz Fest is one of the largest music festivals in the US. Other fests include Mardi Gras and the Voodoo Experience.

• One example of its influence can be seen on NBA. Utah Jazz was a team which originated in this city and hence named accordingly. But due to poor performances in initial years the team shifted its base to Utah.

• It is home to the unique “jazz funerals” which feature sad music (mostly dirges and hymns) on the way to the cemetery and happier music (hot jazz) on the way back.

• Identify the city.

9)

• New Orleans, Louisiana

• Vikram Gokhale is a well known Indian film, television and stage actor, notable for his roles in Marathi theatre and Hindi films and television.

• Vikram Gokhale has a long family lineage active in Indian film industry. His great grandmother was Durgabai Kamat was while his grandmother was Kamlabai Kamat .

• Way back in 1913, Durgabai acted as Parvati and Kamlabai as Mohini in a film called Mohini Bhasmasur, produced and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke.

• In doing so, what unique distinction did Durgabai and Kamlabaiachieve ?

10)

• They were the first female actresses, as in earlier film the female roles were done by males

Round 2:

Differential Scoring

• In printing, X was the sound a printing plate cast from movable type made when it was used. This printing plate is also called a Y.

• In other words, Y is a mass-produced printing plate made by duplicating a typesetting or engraving so that multiple copies could be sent to other printers and newspapers, enabling larger numbers of identical images to be reproduced.

• The term Y derives from two Greek words (one for "solid, firm" and other for “blow, impression, engraved mark”).

• Later, X and Y both found its use outside the printing world also.

1)

• X – Cliché

• Y - Stereotype

• This is the screenshot of the movie Capote(2005) starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the author Truman Capote. The movie tells the story of how Capote researched the material for his novel – In Cold Blood which was adapted into a film in 1967.

• Seen in the pic also is Catherine Keener playing the role of an author, X. X helped Capote in researching the material for his novel. X published only one book in her lifetime which also won her the 1960 Pulitzer Prize (a second book is set to be published in July, 2015). Identify X.

2)

Image :

• Harper Lee

– author of To kill a Mockingbird

• Marcel Duchamp was a French, naturalized American painter, sculptor, chess player and writer whose work is associated with Dadaism.

• He is known to have coined the name of a movement closely associated with Dadaism.

• This movement tries to break the conventional definition of art. It sometimes involves depiction of ordinary objects as piece of art (ready-mades or “found-objects”). Examples ahead :

• Name of the movement ?

3)

Image :

• Anti-art

4)

• In 1817, British Museum's acquired a large fragment of a statue of Ramesses II from thirteenth-century BCE. The 7.25-ton fragment of the statue's head and torso had been removed in 1816 from the mortuary temple of Ramesses at Thebes by the Italian adventurer Giovanni Battista Belzoni.

• Motivated by the above incident P. B. Shelley and Horace Smith, in friendly competition with each other, wrote separate sonnets with the same title. The title refers to the greek name of Ramesses II. Both poems explore the fate of history and the ravages of time—that all prominent men and the empires they build are impermanent and their legacies fated to decay and oblivion.

• What is the title of the sonnets ?Image :

Bust of Ramesses II at the British Museum, London.

• Ozymandias

• Charles Manson, the American criminal who killed 7 people including the actress Sharon Tate is also a songwriter.

• Various musicians, including Guns N' Roses, White Zombie and Marilyn Manson, have covered some of his songs. Manson has even influenced the names of musical performers such as Kasabian, Spahn Ranch, and Marilyn Manson.

• Manson believed in what he called "Helter Skelter", a term he took from the song of the same name by _______. Manson believed Helter Skelter to be an impending apocalyptic race war. The term "helter skelter" was later used by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi as the title of his book about the Manson murders.

• Fill the blank.

5)

Image :

• Beatles

• This is the kanji version of the word with each kanji’s meanings written below them. What is this word, which relates to the Japanese theatre?

6)

• Kabuki

• This life-sized statue is Iustitia, "Lady Justice", the personification of justice. The statue lies at Bern, Switzerland and is called Gerechtigkeitsgasse("Fountain of Justice"). It was built by Hans Gieng in 1543.

• Earlier depictions of Iustitia lacked a certain feature, which this statue has. Which novel feature is being talked about ?

7)

Image :

• Blindfold

• Swami Satchidananda was an Indian religious teacher and yoga guru, who gained fame and following in the West.

• He was the founder of the Integral Yoga Institute and Yogaville in America, and Spiritual Guru of major Hollywood actors and western musicians.

• He came to public attention as the opening speaker at an important event on August 15 1969. Due to long traffic jams, some performers were not able to arrive on time at the venue. Hence he was called in as an emergency measure.

• Which event ?

8)

• Woodstock festival, 1969

Round 3:

Short Visual Connect

•Question 1

1) +30/-15

2) +20/-10

3) +10/0

• To be or not to be - Hamlet, Act III, Scene I

• What dreams may come - Hamlet, Act III, Scene I

• Fault in Our Stars - Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II

– All titles derived from Shakespearean phrases

•Question 2

1) +30/-15

2) +20/-10

3) +10/0

• 42

•Question 3

1) +30/-15

2) +20/-10

3) +10/0

• Answer

– The only 3 indian films to be nominated for the Best Foreign Language film category in the Oscars

Round : 4

Long Visual Connect

1) +50/-25

Viggo Mortensen in The Road (2009)

2) +45/-22.5

Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist (2009)

3) +40/-20

Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant (1992)

4) +35/-17.5

Daniel Craig in Layer Cake (2004)

5) +30/-15

Ryan Gosling in Drive(2011)

6) +25/-12.5

Robby Benson in Beauty & The Beast (1991)

7) +20/-10

Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955)

8) +15/-7.5

The Angry Men in 12 Angry Men (1957)

9) +10/-5

Edward Norton in Fight Club (1999)

10) +5/0

Clint Eastwood inThe Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

• All played unnamed characters in the respective movies

Thank You