The Price Is Marked Down recruited some members of the Millersville Alumni Association, Bob and Jean.

VFW: The Envelope, Please

We had a special guest host tonight at trivia: Flat Tyson of We're Here For The Beer. F.T. wanted to take advantage of the low postal rates before they go up to $.41, so he mailed himself from Denver, Colorado.

He got to see some hard-hitting competition, as Room Two finally toppled We're No Biscuits from the winner's seat. Chicks and Dicks were close behind, with the Biscuits in third. The B52s placed a respectable fourth and chose cars of the 1950s as their theme. Tyson's grandparents then chose American Indian chiefs as their theme. If they only had won second place, they could have afforded to send him home via first-class Fed Ex!

Flat Tyson enjoyed playing trivia with Grandpa Don and Eccentric Uncle Steve. His favorite categories were stamp collecting and pulp fiction.

Bube's: The Littlest Warrior

They had a special surprise birthday party for my nephew James tonight, so I asked my brother to find a suitably embarrassing pic to post on the answer sheets. Here's the more colorful version of the future Marine. They had a good time and missed the top five by only a few points, right behind The Lord Found His Nutsack Good (I'm paraphrasing that name).

Also, props to the Jon Shober Gang, who like to see their name in print.

Obviously, his taste in headwear hasn't changed.

The Toxic Olives were joined by trivia virgin Kumiko (center) on her first night of trivia-playing. With 8 out of 10 questions right in the last round, they rocketed from third to first, nudging out barmates Team Discovery Channel (second) and the Chubby Stubbies (third).

You can always count on the Jelly Roll Mortons to pick intriguing categories. Tim is showing their theme choice on the card above. The Fool Monkey kept it in an animal way by choosing horses as their theme. (Maybe I'll combine them and do ten questions on horse poop).

Win $250 Just By Playing Trivia!

No, the spammers haven't infiltrated my blog, it's true! You can win big bucks next weekend just by playing trivia. And you get to see the original host, Curtis Earth, in action. It's a chance for the trivia veterans (pre-2002) to re-connect with Curt and re-experience old times; and it's a chance for our "more recent" players to get to know his special brand of warmth and humor.

Here's what I sent out to our mailing list:

Curtis Earth, the founding father of trivia in Lancaster County, is returning to his roots and doing a special trivia show Easter Saturday night, April 7th at Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy.

The grand prize is (drumroll, please...) $250!!! (you read that right, it's two hundred and fifty dollars, not $25!)

Other prizes other than cash will also be awarded, in addition to the $250.00 Grand prize

Show begins at 8 P.M. upstairs in the Alois ballroom.

Price: $10 per person - price includes a light buffet of ziti, salad and dessert (which will be served at 8:30).

Maximum team size: 8 players.

We need a head count ahead of time, so please e-mail me with the number of players on your team and we'll reserve you a table!

Please RSVP to me (mike.horn@fandm.edu) as soon as possible. Reservation deadline is Monday, April 2nd.

Chuckles: I'd Like to Buy a Vowel

It looked like there was going to be a massive tie in the end, since everyone was log-jammed by the end of the third round. But The SuperNovas continued their momentum and took the top spot. The Novas like to change their names from week to week, but you can usually find them seated at the bar (appropriately enough for a team that used to be called the Boozehounds). The Price Is Right welcomed back Connie Price and took second. In third was Ubersmack, which benefited from Tim's newly shorn head. The Tidy Bowlers placed fourth and chose Spongebob as their theme. then there was a tie between arch-rivals Vortex and a sugared-up Skirtland, with Lee besting the Belly. Skirtland at first chose "24" as their theme, but then changed it to "English kings." Hopefully the Bowlers are reading this blog, otherwise they'll be studying the wrong subject.

I'm a Mercedes

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Breast Cancer Fundraiser

The maker of M&M candies has teamed up with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to raise funds through the sale of their new "pink &white" M&M candies.

For each 8-ounce bag of the special candies sold, the makers of M&M(Masterfoods) will donate 50 cents to the foundation. The next time you want a treat, please pick up a bag (now sold in stores nationwide) - you will be donating to a great cause and satisfying your sweet tooth. Just think...If each of us buy one bag or two.... how much will be donated. Buy a bag for a friend...........

Please pass on to all your family and friends.

VFW: So Many Choices

Ashley was upset that the Chicks and Dicks failed to stop We're No Biscuits from winning. Right behind the Chicks were the B52s, who did really well with the military aircraft theme. In fourth were Room Four Improvement (you know them better as Room Two). They chose New York City as their theme. Inspired by Jerry's choice, Shitz and Giggles chose another city, Chicago. 4 Minus Bill, meanwhile, chose to skip out on the last round. Alice, Joel and Annie chose to form a new team. And Mel and cookie connoisseur Nick chose to swap prizes.

Special thanks to Dennis for keeping me historically accurate on a couple questions. The Flying Tigers, for example, were not Mustangs, as I had erroneously stated. (I think they were Tomahawks)

Bube's: Mom Power!

Total Disagreement (But We All Love Cookies!) brought along a secret weapon from Florida, (Jen's mom) and took home the top prize, romping to 17 point victory. Mr. Darcy's Wise Men also had a great night, taking second. Then we had our first three-way in a while, with the Chubby Stubbies, The Fool Monkey Was Told That It Tastes Like Chicken and El Rye del Helado Frito all tied for third. The Chubs won out, Charles picked "creationism" and somelier-in-training Josh chose "French wines." The John Shober Gang, meanwhile, played with their Woolly Willy.

Team Ken, AKA Your Mom, AKA What Happened to Mitch?

Melissa opens up her team "Bube's Bitches" to now allow male members.

Curtis Earth Show April 7th at Bube's!

Hi,
My name is Curtis Earth and I perform in Orlando Florida. I am bringing my Trivia Show back to PA on April 7th. Bube's Brewery, 8pm. Cover Charge is $10 per person and it includes a light buffet. Upstairs at Alois ballroom.

Cash and Prizes for the winning team.
Team max is 8 persons.
Could you please say something about it?

Click here to read the newspaper article that was written on me and is in today's paper (Orlando Sentinel)

Thanks
Curtis Earth

Chuckles: Menopause for Dummies, ANyone?

Lisa, Adam and Tim of the Boozehounds had a great night, tying for second with the Talent Scouts, then winning the Captain Jack-off. They failed to stop Ubersmack, whoever, since they won by one question. In a tie for fourth were Out of the Vortex and The Poor Charlies. Vortex chose "military aircraft" (which was also picked at the VFW this week, coincidentally) and the Charlies chose "80s horror movies."

Trashbag prizes included a drinking bird, a copy of Menopause for Dummies (won by the age-inappropriate MJ) and a box of doggy doo bags, which Beth will use to police Deric. A fun night of 19 teams and one country (in fact, the Republic of the Tidy Bowlers was so large that they spun off their own colony, the Tidy Bowl Outcasts.

The ever-charming Carol and the dapper Dwight were roped into staying up way past their bedtime.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I had the pleasure of joining a busful of Lancaster 505 folk on St. Patty's Day, as 45 people joined to terrorize the bars of Marietta. Here a happy Irish couple join Pete, Craig and Kumiko at Shank's Cafe.

VFW: Beware the Day Before the Ides of March!

Frank says I show too many pix of beautiful women on the blog, so I'm trying something different. Tonight's drama came from the hard charging B52s, who improved round after round. They almost caught up to the We're No Biscuits team, losing only by three points. Also doing well were the Chicks and Dicks, who placed third. In fourth were D&M, who chose military aircraft as their theme, and the Clyde-less Room Two, who chose '50s rock and roll. Shitz and Giggles did one of their patented spectacular crash and burns as Major Nix Lix and Son cornered all the sweets and set up their own bake shop.

Bube's: Gearing Up for St. Patty's

Welcome back, By Your Powers Combined We Are Stephen Hawkings! The Hawks were regulars a couple of years ago and have vowed to come back more often. Derrick is sporting his prize from the Trashbag of Deelite: the best St. Patty's hat that one dollar can buy.

It was truly a fun night, with a full house and teams flip-flopping in the standings. The Fool Monkey Mourns the Loss of the Stardust and the Chubby Stubbies led the first three rounds, but both teams self-combusted in the final round. The Monkeys placed fifth and chose historical earthquakes as their theme. The Wise Men took fourth and chose Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. The Toxic Olives welcomed back the long-lost Ellen and placed third, followed the biggest movers of the night, Total Disagreement. They went from 7th to 2nd, scoring 7 out of 10 right in the end. But, when the dust cleared, it was the Tesla Death Rays who claimed victory.

We also welcomed back Rebecca as one of our servers and said hello to Matt, who joins us as our regular bartender. I think Matt is stalking me, since he also showed up in disguise behind the bar at Symposium on Thursday night, where Damion Wolfe was playing.

Chelle and Steve, proud winners of a Wee Pee-Boy, made a rare Tuesday night appearance at Bube's. You can usually catch them belting out songs at J's Sunday night karaoke show.

The Kinky Munchkins and Toto, Too are showing how much they "L"ove trivia.

Chuckles: Reader's Digest Condensed Blog

Just had a quick conversation with Chris, our guest host at Cafe Chuckles. He had a great time with his "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" format. And Laffy Taffy, a team filled with teachers, took first. Next week's themes are Top Gun and the Nip/Tuck television series. Thanks again to the Ivey man!

VFW: We're No Slackers

We're No Biscuits debuted their team cheer tonight. And they had something to cheer about, since they blazed through the dreaded last round and claimed the top spot. The Chicks and Dicks were second, followed by Shitz and Giggles. Room Two cleared the room right after the last question, leaving Clyde to pick classical music as their theme. And D&M landed in fifth, choosing fresh water tropical fish.

Carmen, Skip Jr. and Erma welcome the newest member of Chicks and Dicks.

Austin and Kyle brought along some re-inforcements and did four times better than they expected.

Bube's: Can You Hear Me Now?

Nathan, Marie and her Siamese twin sister and Josiah of I've Been Wading in the Velvet Nutsack charged hard at the end, but could not stop the Phool Monkey Phancys Itself a Phishhead. The 'sacks placed fourth and chose the book of Hosea as their theme (It's one of the shorter books of the Old Testament, so now you have your weekend reading assignment). Total Disagreement also did well, placing fifth and chose human anatomy. Third place went to TDC, led by Missy the original Phishhead. Karen finally returned to the Tesla Death Rays and they placed second. But it was a Monkey night most of the time, with Charles and the gang scoring an impressive 82 points. I, in the meantime, lost 82 pounds running back and forth from room to room as the sound system in the first room went kaput.

The Jelly Roll Mortons were distraught that they bombed tonight.

The Superfriends allowed Steve to join their team once he became a puckhead.

Chuckles: You Want Me to Eat What?

In an effort to get the Trashbag of Deelite back to its wacky roots, I took a trip down the Goya aisle and threw in some coconut juice (with pulp!) and some octopus in garlic sauce. Half the Talent Scouts liked it and the other half thought it was vile. Since octopus is brain food, it gave them the edge and a victory for the second week in a row. The Price Is Right merged with some of the Flaming Morons to take second. The change in scenery and a new room did the Laffy Taffy crew good, since they came in third. In a tie for fourth were the Lethal Amoebas (who chose Martin Scorsese films as their theme) and Out of the Vortex (who chose CSI: Miami, my least favorite CSI).

We also learned that ETOH is hospital code for alcohol, Shemat needs to pay attention to their dad more, and Skirtland never heard of Soul Asylum. The Shitheads were doing well, but disappeared. When I asked if anyone had seen the Shitheads, many teams volunteered their suggestions.

In case you missed the announcement, Chris Ivey, the Joan Rivers of trivia, will be subbing for me next week, so be afraid!

VFW: What-a-world

There was no way out for people who do not like Kevin Costner movies, as that was one of our themes for the evening. The Chicks and Dicks were going for a fourfer, but they were stopped by the We're No Biscuits team. (See Kirk for the amusing origin of their name). Room Two settled for third and we had a tie between the badly-named Three Minus Bill and Shitz and Giggles teams. Bill's team chose domestic beer and the Gigglers chose U2. We welcomed back Tom and Nick, who promptly cornered the Oreo market and also said "Howdy, stranger!" to the newly toasted Paul (toasted meaning by the Florida sun.)

Bube's: Oh, So Close

The Chubby Stubbies are getting closer and closer to that elusive first place. Tonight they placed second, only 4 points behind the always challenging Flaming Mo-rons. The Toxic Ovaries (see below) came in third. Right behind them was the baby carrot-munching Lady Mondegreen, who chose constellations as their theme. Team Discovery Channel managed fifth place and chose the band Phish.

We welcomed back Wanda and Erica of the Stone Cutters and Nathan and Marie of the Pair of Lonely Nutsacks. Joining them in despair was Lonesome Bob. Also despairing were the Wise Men, who had an off night. Team MHA did really well on the last round and vowed to bring some teammates two weeks from now. The Incredible Edible Eggs, AKA the Undisputed Lords of the Universe, quit while the going was good.

Andy left the kids at home with Missy and put in a rare appearance with his teammates Seth and Tom. Once again, TDC got a strange book from the Trashbag of Deelite: The Big Book of International Insults.

Meredith and Lisa of the Exploding Ovaries joined Becky, Laura and Nate of the Toxic Olives to become the Toxic Ovaries (which has an edgier appeal than the Exploding Olives).

Chuckles: Ice, Ice Baby!

The weather was iffy all day Sunday, but we decided to go on with the show. Good thing, too, since nine teams braved the ice to compete. It must have been all those die-hard embalming trivia addicts. I could have used some of that formaldehyde, since I've been fighting a nasty cold the last couple of days.

The Talent Scouts, returning from a fruitless trip to Atlantic City, reversed their luck and took first place, beating the We Don't Need No Stinking Deric Ubersmack team by four points. There was a tie for third, which forced a Captain Jack-off between Ben of Skirtland and Jeff of Poor Charlie. Neither had faced the gator before, so it took some 'splainin' before they got the hang of it. Ben got bit twice, so Poor Charlie once again was in the winners' circle. Skirtland chose Broadway as their consolation theme. The Lethal Amoebas absorbed one of the Price Is Righters to transform themselves into the Symbiotic Microbes and took fifth. Jay was dee-lited to pick car rally racing as his theme.

The best prize of the night was a Japanese ink-painting kit, won by 8 Paws. And the new vocabulary word of the evening was aspirate, which Lee quickly made his own.

Some of you might recognize the Milmar crew, veteran trivia players from Curtis' days back at Lancaster Malt Brewery. They enjoyed the new-to-them picture round, but did not enjoy the final round.

VFW: Getting Freakie With It

It was cereal character night at the VFW, although a couple teams were confused and studied up on serial killers, which is a totally different topic altogether (There was that time when Sonny from Cocoa Puffs got off with the insanity defense, however...). No one except me seemed to remember the sugary goodness of Freakies cereal, so I've included a pic of the box. I think I even might still have that free magnet somewhere!

Chicks and Dicks must have eaten their Wheaties, since they won their third show in a row! Next was Room 2, followed by Shitz and Giggles and Friends (even though they were Shitzless in the last round). We're Here for the Beer placed fourth and chose United States natural disasters as their theme (I think the Beer team gets the prize for mosunique theme choices). The Picture Round's biggest fans, D&M, placed fifth and chose Kevin Costner movies.

Sheila of The B52s, meanwhile, is still filling out her answers.

Three Simple Rules, Amended

We need to amend our Earth Trivia rules, since a loophole has been discovered. Billy Warmth reworded his rules a while ago, so I'm going to paraphrase him:

1. No using your cell phone to find answers.
2. No blurting.
3. No reference sources. This includes laptops, PDAs, Internet-enabled devices, books, magazines, crib notes etc. (and that etc. covers a lot) Just use the knowledge in your head.

Officer Friendly now returns you to your regularly scheduled blog.

At Last: The Founding of M.H.A.

One of my life goals came one step closer to completion last night. I have always wanted to start a group called The Mike Horns of America (or MHA, for short). The only qualification would be that you have the name Mike Horn and be American (although I'm not ruling out international chapters at some later date.) With such a generic name, I figured there must be hundreds of us out there. My initial plan was to pluck some Horn, Mikes out of phonebooks and call them to invite them to join my group. But that sounded a little too creepy and stalkerish.

So the dream became a reality last night when Mike Horn of Williamsport came to Bube's. He had heard that Mike Horn hosted trivia there Tuesday nights and wanted to check out his doppelganger (which is still legal in the state of Pennsylvania). As you can see from the picture, we are practically identical twins! He heartily agreed to join the group, so we are now two members strong! Don't laugh, this is how the Masons got started!

Bube's: What's a Mondegreen?

Pat and Jen from Lady Mondegreen proudly display their can of Savory Vegetables from the Trashbag of Deelite. They had another cause for pride, since they placed second, right behind Britney Is Now Balder Than the Fool Monkey's Bum. One point behind them were the Pogue's biggest fans, The Chubby Stubbies. In fourth, due to a disastrous last round were the Jelly Roll Mortons. They chose Jethro Tull as their theme. In fifth was a scaled down version of Team Discovery Channel, as Tom and Seth chose Futurama as their theme.

Despite the ice and the absence of a few of the regular crews, we still had 14 teams battling it out. The Complete and Utter Bastards thought they show started at 7, but still stayed for the whole shebang. Worthles vowed to come back and Mike Horn of Williamsport (see above) vowed to bring reinforcements. The Slick Willies were out of practice and Nadine and Wilay hated the picture round. Tom, however, loved his Action heroine's Handbook, while the Chubby Stubbies left their opened box of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. Now, how am I supposed to re-gift that?

Kem and Vern vowed to come back, as long as I didn't ask any more "Saved by the Bell" questions.

Meanwhile, Back at Bube's

Last night I had a fantastic time judging a karaoke contest held by fellow trivia host J up at Bube's. Competition was fierce, with over 20 singers. At the end of the evening, it was a tie between good friends Skott (on the left) and Nathaniel (the one with the hair). They called themselves the Kirk and Spock of karaoke. Skott's high energy Loverboy song had put him in the final, as did Nat's spot-on "Strutter." To break the tie, J had them both sing the rock anthem known as "Piano Man." (which was a lot more entertaining than it sounds). Skott once again made the song his own, and won the top prize (a medieval feast for two). Rock on!

Chuckles: Yo!

It was a nice holiday-sized crowd at Chuckles tonight, as a bunch of folks braved the ice-choked streets of Lancaster. Paul of the APM team gathered his troops and drove in from King of Prussia. But the farthest travellers were the Michiganders (actually it was one Michigander and one Michigoose), who regretted that they had no trivia in their hometown.

It looked like The Price Is Right were going to make it two in a row, acing two of the four rounds (they were the only ones who remembered Adrian Zmed), but they flamed out in the last round and took fifth. Lori Jo's past musical crush Bon Jovi was chosen as their theme. Jay' past occupation came into play for the Lethal Amoeba's fourth-place theme choice: embalming.

The top three spots went to teams that steadily improved in each round. In fact, the big story of the night was the third-place finish of Poor Charlie. It's great to see some new faces in the winners' circle! Skirtland, led by "I'll Show You A..." Lee, beat Charlie by a point. And Ubersmack Now With Beth! leapt from fourth to first. Congrats to all! And congrats to the Tidy Bowlers, who brought along all their Bowlettes, forcing Chuckles to add a new wing to the building.

Afterwards, I had to bolt up to Mount Joy for more good times (see above post).

NO SHOW TONIGHT AT THE VFW!

Due to potentially hazardous driving conditions, there will be no show tonight at the VFW. (I'm starting to sound like a broken record!) Also: Happy V.D.!

NO SHOW TONIGHT AT BUBE'S!

Due to the winter travel advisory, there will be no show tonight (Feb. 13th) at Bube's. Stay warm and see you next week!

Chuckles: Playing by the Numbers

It was a controversial night at Chuckles, as odd numbers affected the scoring. First was the whole "how many Earth days does it take Mercury to make one orbit" brouhaha. Out of the Vortex and Ubersmack put down 88 days, whereas my source said 87.96. So I gave it to Laffy Taffy (who had 86). Deric threatened to call his sainted grandmother (pictured at right), who used to sing him to sleep with a planetary year lullaby. Apparently I was calling her a no-good lyin' ho (or something like that). I'm 97.82% sure I'll never hear the end of this.

The other number controversy was my aging of LeAnn Rimes by ten years. Luckily that question had no effect on the outcome. The Price Is Right were well rested, since we all had last week off. They ended up in first, followed by Skirtland and the hard-charging Amoebas. In fourth was the aforementioned Vortex, who picked an astronomical topic: the moons of the solar system. Uberbittersmack chose the Rocky series of films as their topic.

On the prize front, Allan said that he is giving his puppet kit to one of his well-deserving students. The Tidy Bowlers, meanwhile, are anxious to try out their harmonica.

Save the Date: Earth Day 2007!

What's Curtis been up to lately? We'll find out April 7th as he makes his annual excursion from sunny Florida to Mount Joy.

VFW: Duking It Out

I'm writing this blog entry on Sunday, so my memory is a little fuzzy about this week's show (and it's the day after my annual FeBREWary party, so that's not helping anything). I remember that Four Minus Bill had chosen Duke basketball as their theme, but they failed to crack the top five. (This just in: it was Sheila from Shitz and Giggles and not the Bill team that picked Duke. My bad, as they say) That honor went to Dennis and Melanie, who made up for lost time in the last round. They chose cereal characters as their theme. In fourth were Kirk and Bruce and the Lincoln Road Gang, who went with the Brady Bunch as their theme. Shitz and Giggles and Room Two failed to match Chicks and Dicks' impressive last round, as the Chicks made it to the top spot two weeks in a row. (I think Annie made it two in a row for the Ladies Auxiliary 50/50, too). And I do remember that there was a big difference of opinion on how great or horrible the kettle-cooked chips were.

Bube's: In Our Cups

Here's a team of trivia virgins known as the B, C, D Cups (I think they're in reverse order in the picture). They came very close to the top five, only missing it by one point. The fifth place spot went to the Chubby Stubbies, who chose the great band The Pogues as their theme for next week. It was a tie for third, with Brent of We're So Good, We Don't Need a Name falling to the Tesla Death Rays. They then chose "Saved by the Bell." The Fool Monkey on a Budget led the entire evening, but they were blindsided in the last round by the Hey Baby, Wanna Warm My Ovaries? team. The Os squeaked by the Monkey by a mere one point. Trashbag highlights included an unpopular bag of coleslaw and an extremely popular Sock Puppet kit.

Reminder: No Trivia Super Bowl Sunday!

See you Chuckles folks next Sunday, February 11th!