Bube's: The Reverse Phoenix

I like the bleakness of this shot, taken after the post-trivia stampede for the door. The Jelly Roll Mortons are wallowing in their cups after a disastrous last round. They had been leading the three rounds previous. Their balcony mates, Transformers: Nutsacks in Disguise, ended up in first with a come from behind victory. The Toxic Olives and the Not-So-Wisemen were only three points back, so it was Becky vs. Brent in the Captain Jack-off, with Brent going quickly down in flames. The Tony Danza Slap! team had a good night, winning the consolation prize of a vintage Simpsons postcard book and seventh place. They chose Arrested Development as their theme for next week.

It was such a close night that Linuscratchitt (pictured), The Fool Monkey and the Tesla Death Rays were all one question away from first place, but all failed to make the top three.

Patterson's Bitches had to settle for an 'N Sync t-shirt from the trashbag.

Chuckles: Mmmmm.....Little Debbie!

Here's a pic of the post-game activity tonight, with the CACs displaying their you-provide-the-filling dessert shells.

It was one of those see-sawing nights, with teams rising and falling. Well, mainly falling in a extra-painful last round. In the end, the Lethal Amoebas knowledge of Russian put them on top, followed by the Florida-fortified I've Got Your Answer Right Here. KCC, the team responsible for Mongolia as a theme, were hopped up on horse milk and took third. Team Arrrrrrrrrrgh! beat their mother team, The Tidy Bowlers, by one point, but lost the chance to pick a theme, which went to the Bowlers. They chose the Tennessee as their theme.

We also welcomed back The Army of Northern Virginia, which pleased Sam to no end. And we scarfed down oodles of Little Debbie cakes, courtesy of Ubersnack, I mean Ubersmack.

VFW: Hot Tamales

Dasani shows off two Care Bears that she (eventually) won. She traded her red hot potato chips for the bears after some intense negotiations. I think Dasani was Room Two's secret weapon, since her team slipped to third place once she had to go home to bed. The Johnless B-52s took second and the freshly-rested We're No Biscuits returned after a hiatus to take first. The Foreplayers got the coveted seventh place spot and chose Cars of the 1950s as their theme for next week. This should thrill the Drunken Stepfathers, who were born in the 80s. Darla remarked that everyone was in a strange mood tonight. Must have been all the overly-spiced foods in the Trashbag.

Bube's: Wooly Brulee!

Charles and Bill adopted this lost soul and led the entire evening with the inappropriately named team The Fool Monkey Is Going to Miss a First-Round Geography Question. Tonight was the debut of a new sound system provided by fellow trivia-host J (thanks again!). It was also the debut of one of our stranger prizes: a creme brulee kit that was won by the Tony Danza Slap! team. They are actually going to build an entire party around it. But it will be BYOB (bring you own blowtorch).

P.S. The Wise Men chose recent Phillies baseball as their theme for next week.

Team America Fights Terrorists With Bourdeau's Butt Paste added James' boss/cousin Randy and took home the bronze, while Team Discovery Channel took the silver.

Spider-Pig is looking forward to the premiere of the Simpsons movie.

The Stone Cutters were extra generous with their Coco Krispie straws, handing them out to everyone who walked by.

The Weird Sisters were disgusted by their fourth round crash and burn.

Put Out the Red Light

Went to the Police concert Friday night in Hershey with my friend Ellen, who scored us seats in row 9 for free! I thought it was fantastic, with only one bad song (a funeral dirge version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me").

Here's a pic of Ellen. The ball of light in the right hand corner is Sting. Either my cellphone takes really crappy pictures, or Sting has become a god.

Chuckles: The Agony of DeFootie

The Friday Night Supper Club were newcomers to the show. They won some Apple Cinnamon Cheerios AND a "How to Kazoo" book (kazoo included). We're still waiting for the concert. They joined 15 other teams for a very close game, which featured a paddleball contest between KCC and the Tard Kart Heroes. In the end, it was theme-picking Ubersmack's footie knowledge that gave them a one point victory over the Talent Scouts. Bill and Marge of Out of the Vortex are still on a roll and came in third, despite their disastrous picture round. Dazed and Confused continued to do well, placing fourth, followed by Sparta (see below) and last week's champs, the Lethal Amoebas. We had a tie for seventh, so there will be two themes. It promises to be an odd evening (well, odder than usual) since the themes will be "Little Debbie Snack Cakes" (as chosen by I've Got Your Answer...Right Here!) and "Mongolia" (as chosen by KCC). Maybe I'll just combine them and make it "Mongolian Snack Cakes."

Here's three quarters of the Sparta team, after they sent Leonidas (AKA Dave) packing.

I Want to Buy This Shirt

VFW: Three Devoted Sisters

Cheryl brought along her two sisters, one of whom loooooooves Worcestershire chips, which Dennis was more than happy to get rid of. Nick, meanwhile, was horrified to once again get Fudge Stripes (see last week's post). Somewhere the Keebler elves are laughing their hats off. The B52s were also horrified that they got a pre-fondled muffin, courtesy of Nick. Trish at least was appreciative of her consolation prize, a seedless watermelon disguised as a bowling ball. On the scoring front, the Sisters team took seventh and chose "Hot Stuff" as their theme (this is a pretty broad topic, since they said it could be hot foods, hot music, hot people etc.). Nix Lix were sixth, Third Rock fifth, and D&M fourth. There was a tie between Shitz and Giggles and the B52s, with John taking on Mark in the Captain Jack-off. And winning by two points was Room Two, who almost aced the picture round, only missing Clyde's namesake, Clyde Barrow.

Bubes: Don't Screw Your Grandma

This was a fun night, with lots of teams going up and down on the leader board. In the end Out of the Vortex with the Two Billies beat the Oh My God They Killed the Nutsacks You Bastards! by one question. There was a tie for third, with Mona and the Trashy Grandmas (pictured above) beating Team Discovery Channel. Luckily the Grandmas knew how the tiebreaker is played better than me, since I accidentally gave away their gift certificate. In fifth was Pamela's Posse, followed by the return of the Fool Monkey and the seventh place Toxic Olives, who chose "Team America" as their theme for next week. Heck, yeah!

Wanna Adopt Some Cats?

If you ignore the overgrown jungle foliation, you can see a momma cat that has been hanging out in my yard, along with one of her two kittens. If you feel the urge to adopt some cats, please feel free to catch them (before they breed again). I had thought that she was a he and had been calling her Charlie, based on the little black patch under her nose. Then one day I noticed two furball kittens attached to her torso. So Charlie became Charlene.

Paul and Sheila are upset that I forgot to include this pic of them from last week.

Chuckles: Birthdays Everywhere

The Lethal Amoebas, featuring Birthday Boy Rob, were firing on all cylinders and got 9 out of ten right in the last round for an impressive 93 point victory. The Tard Kart Heroes, meanwhile, were upset that they didn't place after bringing along "old people." Ubersmack was also upset by an increase in Pabst prices, but were happy to place seventh. They chose Australian rules football as their theme for next week. Oy, oy, oy!

Jeanette and Stu from the Lititz VFW joined her brother and helped the What Was the Question? team (AKA the Tidy Bowlers) celebrate their second-place finish.

Carol, along with birthday girls Corrie (sp?) and Karen took the fifth (place, that is).

Sam tries to cheer up third place winners Bill and Marge.

VFW: The Land of Lincoln

Kirk's family and friends, otherwise known as Lincoln Road, took the lead in the picture round and held on to claim first. Room Two was second, followed by a tie for third between the B52s and Shitz and Giggles. So it was Jake vs. Paul, with Paul quickly going down in flames in record time.

The Vicky, Mike and Annie team transformed into the Vicky, Mike and Trish team once Annie went home. They scored seventh place and chose the wonderful world of Banking as their theme for next week.

Nick shows how thrilled she was to get a 12-pack of Fudge Stripe cookies, right after Tom had won a single pack.

Amy and Matt show how they re-fortify their brains after an exhausting night of trivia.

Bube's: Welcome to the Jungle

There was the sound of native drums in the background, since the stage was still decorated from a previous tiki party. The drumming must have inspired The Exploding Ovaries Don't Want to Work fro McCain Either (pictured above), since they grabbed the gold. Almost beating them were newcomers The 3 Girlz team (which was actually one boy and one girl). They were followed by the Three Muskmelons, Team Discovery Channel, the Tony Danza Slap! and the Beer Guys.

The Three Muskmelons almost missed the first round, but still got third!

With regular partner Janelle away in Ireland, Justin brought along Brian the Ringer. They managed to get seventh place and chose "South Park" as their theme for next week.

Captain Patchy Beard displays their Assorted Variety Pack of Pez Dispensers, won from the Trashbag of Deelite. They also scored the consolation prize of a George Foreman grill, which they almost left behind.

Chuckles: All Signs Point to D'oh!

The Tidy Bowlers hoped that the Simpsons magic eightball would give them some answers, but it was not to be. They are talking about changing their team name to Unpredictable Number of Members But Predictable Placing Every Time. Speaking of places, I Got Your Answer Right Here did not second guess themselves and took first place, winning by one question. Skirtland and the Lethal Amoebas tied for second. This time it was Alan vs. Steph and Skirtland kept their winless streak in tie-breakers intact.

Clueless in Lancaster took seventh and had a hard time deciding on their theme choice. It was a toss-up between board games and serial killers (or serial killers that used board games). They finally settled on board games.

The Cacs (pronounced "CAX" as in New England roosters) were a little leary (or should I say bleary) of having their picture taken. I think one of the ladies is in a witness protection program.

Picnic Trivia!

On Saturday I hosted a trivia show for the fine folks at NewComm Technologies. This was the fourth year that I had a show at their employee picnic. Next year we want to make some sort of trophy, since it's a great source of pride to win the competition. This is a pic of the No Names team, which had a stunning upset victory in the final round over the early favorites, the Dominators. The bronze went to the Unos, while Ethel's Gang, the Big Whiners and the Einsteins filled out the pack.

I'm Not Happy

This morning, I was in a huge hurry and on my way to work. I was
preoccupied with what my day held and I rear-ended a car at a stop
light because I was not really paying attention.

I had hot coffee in my lap and I was running late.
"Great, just great", I muttered.

The driver opened his door........leaned out of his car and stared at me.
He was a dwarf.

He got out, studied the damage on his bumper, and walked towards me
as I rolled down my window.

He said, "I'm not happy"...

To which I replied, "Well....which one are you then?

Bube's: Born on the Third of July

The appropriately named Sparklers team didn't go home empty-handed after I gave them a trio of Uncle Sam hats. They were celebrating the Third of July at Bube's, along with several new teams. The Kansas team won some Milano cookies from the Trashbag of Deelite, but traded them in for Susan the Four-Inch Doll of Evil. No Jail Time for Exploding Ovaries won seventh place and chose the TV drama The West Wing as their theme for next week. The Juicy Coutures and the Sparklers tied for fifth. The Whatevers and Papa Smurf were in fourth, the Toxic Olives third, and the Jelly Roll Mortons second. But the night belonged to the ABBA-loving quartet known as the Desperate Husbands.

Andy and Missy of Team Discovery Channel made a rare appearance, leaving Solen and Kyla in the parked car for the night. (Don't worry, they left the window cracked open.)

Craig and Kumiko were part of the third-place winning team, the Toxic Olives.

Beaker's Back was the team that picked the Muppet theme. Unfortunately, they did not win and had to settle for the most bizarre item from the Trashbag of Deelite - a gourd in the shape of Snoopy.

Here's a better look at the Snoopy gourd.

World-renowned artist Imogene Gross takes a break between rounds.

HGB missed the first two rounds, but vowed to come back again.

Afterwards, The Rainy Janes took the stage and played some original tunes, along with some covers. I had pegged them as bluegrass, but they had more of a folk-y vibe to them.

Kathy of the Goombahs and Stacy stayed to listen to the Janes.

Chuckles: Happy Birthday to Me!

The blessed event was actually Friday, but let's milk it for all it's worth.

Teams were following their light at Chuckles, attempting to answer questions on the long-running soap opera, Guiding Light. That category was chosen by the Price Is Right, who changed their name to I Got Your Answer Right Here just for the night. Whatever they call themselves, they took third. The silver went to the Lethal Amoebas. In first place was Ubersmack, who gave me a cake for my birthday (I swear the two events were unrelated.)

Arch-rivals Out of the Vortex and Skirtland duked it out for fourth and fifth, with the Vortex gaining a one-point edge. Last week's champs the Talent Scouts, took sixth and KCC once again got seventh. Those twisted gals chose "the pretzel" as their theme for next week.

After folks had their slices, Captain Jack got in on the feast.

What Captain Jack didn't eat, Tim was happy to finish.

Bube's: Trivia and Bluegrass!

This week at Bube's (July 3rd) we're having our regular trivia show at 8 P.M. and then a show by the bluegrass trio The Rainy Janes. You can get a preview (prehear?) of their music on their MySpace page. (Anyone who likes Nickelcreek can't be bad, in my book.) So come and play and stick around to celebrate the holiday.