ASS II – Round 7 – Unusual Deaths – Page 1

ASS II

Round 7 – Unusual Death

Packet by David Letzler et al.

Theme: All of the answers in this packet will relate to people or things that have suffered strange and unusual deaths.

TOSSUPS:

1) On Saturday Night Live, this phrase titled a Food Network show where the title act was undertaken over the objections of a murdered Will Forte diner. Inspired by Albert Fall’s Teapot Dome testimony, it comes as part of a speech where the addressee is told both that he is an afterbirth who should be in a jar on a mantle and that he is the Esau to his twin Paul’s Jacob. That addressee had been forced to proclaim himself a false prophet to confirm a contract, but is told by this phrase’s metaphor that the Bandy lands had already been exploited via the nearby tracts’ drainage before he is killed with a bowling pin. It gained popularity on YouTube when remixed to a Kelis song. FTP, name this four-word phrase uttered by Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood about the appropriation of a dairy beverage.

ANSWER: “I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!"

2) On Cumular Limit, a 2000 compilation disc by this band, previously unreleased songs like "Avron Knows" appeared along with alternative takes of "Ten Little Indians" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor". The Spanish scales are featured on a song by this band that was about someone who "always tries to put me down", "Evil Hearted You", while on another single the band draws from H. G. Wells' The Shape of Things To Come. Their one time lead vocalist, who later recorded for bands like Armageddon and Together, died from being electrocuted by his electric guitar. Under Keith Reif and Jim McCarthy, they had hits with "Heart Full of Soul" and "For Your Love." FTP, identify this British predecessor of Led Zeppelin, whose guitarists included Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton.

ANSWER: The Yardbirds

3) On a quest to retrieve a hammer, one of this game's protagonists is killed when a giant pile of crap falls on him, leading him to state that when you die, everything goes black and then you see the words "Game Over"; that quest was to test the Re-Animator. Another playable character in this completely circular game can do a spin attack in locations like Red Rock Creek and another can collect dead fish. When one of the characters sells his business, the chief antagonist gains control of 50% of Earth and later sics Destructor on the protagonists. The well received cutscenes from this game, which included a level on the surface of the sun, will be included as a bonus feature on the DVD, The Beast with a Billion Backs. FTP, identify this game that shares its name with its TV show source, a show featuring the voice talents of John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille and Billy West and which was created by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening.
ANSWER: Futurama (the videogame)

4) An award named for this man was first given to Alvin Dark and has most recently been given to Mike Timlin. An at-the-wall Al Simmons catch kept this man from being the first player to hit five homers in a game on the day he became the first American League player to hit four, an act that contributed to Ted Williams' ranking of him as the best hitter of all time in The Science of Hitting. A year after Jimmie Foxx, he won the American League Triple Crown, and he still holds the single-season AL record for RBIs and the MLB career record for grand slams. He became the first player elected to the Hall of Fame in a year he was active when, after declaring himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” he retired due to the effects of a disease so rare it was named after him. FTP, name this Yankee who played 2,130 straight games.

ANSWER: Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig

5) Despite his father's campaign to combat drug abuse in the music industry, Jonathan Melvoin, a touring keyboardist for this group, died of a heroin overdose. Their first show came in the wake of their lead singer and songwriter breaking up with The Marked, and their earliest recorded songs included "The Virgil". Shortly thereafter this band released an EP containing "Slunk", though they are better known for a song that repeats "she knows" a bunch of times, "Rhinoceros". They also released a video called Vieuphoria that included an acoustic performance of "Mayonaise", and more recently they've produced "Doomsday Clock" and "Tarantula" for the revival album Zeitgeist, which does not feature D'arcy Wretzky. Best known for songs like "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "Cherub Rock" and "Today", and albums like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, FTP, identify this Billy Corgan fronted band whose hits include "Tonight, Tonight" and "1979".

ANSWER: Smashing Pumpkins (accept Jonathan Melvoin early, not that anyone's going to pull that out)

6) This man originally performed under a mask and a pseudonym, but after a three-year absence he returned wearing garish, baggy pants and checkered suspenders to form High Energy with Koko B. Ware. He also teamed with Jim Neidhart, but found more success in a storyline emphasizing a feud with his brother, culminating with his pinfall victory in 1994. He employed his Enzuigiri Kick to complement Yokozuna's Banzai Drop later in his career, and would return to his previous gimmick as the Blue Blazer when teaming with Jeff Jarrett. He turned on Ken Shamrock at Mayhem in Manchester to join Nation of Destruction, and won a match at Wrestlemania X thanks to a victory roll. FTP, identify this wrestler who was killed when he landed chest first on a rope in the wrestling ring at Over the Edge in 1999 after falling some 76 feet, the younger brother of Bret, the Hitman.

ANSWER: Owen James Hart

7) It saw the death, to the song "Wouldn't It Be Nice," of a gay character named Andy Lippincott. Another character in it went by the names "Sal Putrid" and "Dr. Whoopee" and sold condoms in the '80s, the younger brother of a character known for his summer daydreams. Another of its characters ironically suffered a heart attack at the very moment he saw a Bachman's Warbler, Dick Davenport. Recent storylines involve the near-death of Toggle while listening to heavy metal in his tank, as well as the competition to get into the "Poetry of Barack Obama" class at WaldenUniversity; also recently, MIT and Rennselaer students got into a script war regarding what school Alex would attend. Its collection The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time chronicles the recovery of B. D. from from a roadside bomb that exploded near him in Fallujah, and other characters include Mike of the namesake family. FTP, identify this comic strip by Garry Trudeau.
ANSWER: Doonesbury

8) The first episode of VH1’s “Strange Frequency” saw the Devil causing this to happen to one rock god, and later to another guitarist. This happens to a friend of the singer of a Skeletons song during a Bulls-Celtics game, and was the cause of death for skateboarder Keenan Milton. Nigel Tufnel noted that you can't dust for this cause of death when describing how one of Spinal Tap's drummers died from it. It also happened to a drummer whose son played for Damnocracy and who soloed on “Moby Dick,” a frontman who sang “Let There Be Rock” and “Big Balls,” and a guitarist who recorded “1983 (A Merman I Should Be)” as well as “Little Wing.” FTP, name this method of death of Bon Scott, John Bonham, and Jimi Hendrix, an after-effect of drinking too much, which causes the regurgitation of material that leads to asphyxiation.

ANSWER: drowning in vomit (prompt on partial answers, or anything that mentions alcohol)

9) On an episode of "Thank God You're Here", this actress was thrust into a scenario involving her having to sell a new vodka drink. Her character was raped to death with a carrot in the horror film Jack Frost; other completely forgettable film roles she has recently played include Toni in The Grand and Michelle in Deal. More memorably, she foxtrotted through playgrounds and fountains with Derek Hough in a parody of her appearance on Dancing With the Stars and played Kelso’s knocked-up girlfriend Brooke on That 70s Show. She also played the sexiest of four Wisconsin flatmates in Love, Actually, and Justice, the sexiest of four leather-clad thieves in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. FTP, name this portrayer of horny foreign student Nadia in American Pie.

ANSWER: Shannon Elizabeth

10) He fired, blackballed, and then rehired one of his employees for treating a homeless man who did not keep up with his dialysis appointments. Following this character's death, a gay and lesbian program was ironically established in his honor. One character comes out as a lesbian to him in an attempt to prevent the firing of Kim Legaspi, a psychiatrist who is the lover of Kerry Weaver. He suffered an unusual accident in "Chaos Theory", the Season 9 premiere of the show he was on, which prevented him from continuing surgery. Just before his death, he fired Dr. Pratt and caught Dr. Morris smoking pot, part of a series of antics that resulted in only Elizabeth Corday showing up to his funeral. Played by Paul McCrane, FTP, identify this mean spirited surgeon on "ER" who had his hand chopped off by a helicopter, which proceeded to land on his head.
ANSWER: Dr. Robert "Rocket" Romano (accept either underlined answer)

11) One person to suffer this fate was a two sport athlete who led his Buckeyes to their only College World Series in 1966 and served as a coach for North CarolinaState. Besides Bo Rein, another player had this happen in the presence of Tyler Stranger, four seasons after only giving up a single in the entire month of August while pitching for Oakland. Another sports figure who suffered this fate switched to a heavier bat at the guidance of George Sisler and began his professional career with the Santurce Crabbers. A coach whom this happened to had earlier formulated the shift and coached players like Jim Crowley and Elmer Layden, members of the Four Horsemen. In Fall 1970, it happened to both the WichitaState and Marshall football teams. FTP, identify this method of death suffered by Cory Lidle, Knute Rockne and Roberto Clemente.
ANSWER: Dying in a Plane Crash (accept clear knowledge equivalents)

12) After the protagonist's mother is criticized by her husband for cooking gourmet food in this novel, she secretly serves up dog food to him. In this book, a rapist nicknamed Callonwolde, who earlier had come from the woods near a Coca-Cola plant to expose his penis to the protagonist's mother Lila, is eaten by Caesar, the central family's pet tiger. The title figure, the son of a shrimp boat captain, unleashes a guerrilla campaign to stop his mother and her new husband Mr. Newbury from turning Colleton into a location for building components for nuclear weapons. Narrated by a former high school teacher and football coach Tom Wingo and focusing on the attempted suicide of his sister Savannah, FTP, identify this Pat Conroy book turned into a movie where psychiatrist Dr. Lowenstein was played by Barbara Streisand.
ANSWER: The Prince of Tides

13) Chapter 12 of How To Be The Best at Everything (The Boy’s Book) explains how to avoid this fate. This act names a barnstar given on Wikipedia for particularly hilarious random comments, and Allan Sherman fears it might happen to him if left alone in CampGrenada’s forest. Werner Herzog recommended the destruction of the tape recording this act happening to Timothy Treadwell in a 2006 documentary, and it also finally happens to Lee Scoresby, by way of Iorek, in His Dark Materials. In The Big Lebowski, The Stranger notes that sometimes this happens to you, and sometimes it happens in reverse. FTP, give this method of death that presumably befalls Antigonus after he exits in A Winter’s Tale, as well as Goldilocks.

ANSWER: being eaten by a bear (accept equivalents)

14) On the BBC show "Coupling", Oliver claimed this event inspired his career, though Steve thinks he’s a gynecologist and not a comic book store owner. Before it occurs, its victim claims he’d had a horrible dream about smothering and notes he can’t wait to go home and get something good to eat. This event happens after Mother’s report of an SOS sends that victim, Lambert, and Dallas to an unnamed planet, after which they are illegally brought back inside by Ash. A scene parodying this event shows the original actor ordering the special instead of the soup, leading to a performance of “Hello My Baby!” that scares Barf and Lone Star. FTP, name this event, parodied in Spaceballs, from a 1979 Ridley Scott film, in which Kane dies birthing the creature later killed by Ripley.

ANSWER: the alien bursting out of John Hurt’s chest (accept equivalents, or Coupling’s phrase “the John Hurt moment”)

15) He had a recurring role as Celceix on the animated show, Cubix, and his name now graces what was formerly the MV Robert Hunter. He voiced an elephant seal named Trev in a George Miller directed film, and he gave backstage access to where he worked on a certain "Diaries" show. Besides appearing with penguins in Happy Feet, he was cleared in a "penguin probe" following the shooting of Ice Breaker. His best known television program featured episodes like "Suburban Killers", "Dangerous Americans" and "Wild Babies." No charges were pressed following his exposing his son Bob to the kinds of dangers he regularly faced, and his daughter continues his legacy by starring in "Bindi the Jungle Girl." FTP, identify this man whose mode of death now graces awards like "Most Scathing Personal Attack" and "Best AHAN Jr. Thread", a man also known as the Crocodile Hunter.

ANSWER: Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin

16) In the United States, Section 1018 of Title X requires the disclosure of the possibility of this, and the death of California Condor #245 was attributed to this, probably due to its diet. In 1994, bright red paprika in Hungary was found to cause this, and fears of it in the past year caused the FDA to remove bindi and sindoor from American shelves. In 2005, scientists concluded that this was the cause of death of Ludwig van Beethoven, and it was a common cause of colic, via wine, in the 17th and 18th centuries. The catalytic converter was developed to deal with gasoline that did not pose this risk, and anxiety over it also caused last summer's Fischer-Price recall of products painted in China. FTP, name this form of overexposure to element 82.

ANSWER: lead poisoning (or saturnism or plumbism; prompt on "colic" or "painter's colic" before mentioned)

17) A PSP game in this series will soon get the "Quest for Booty" downloadable content, while another recently released PSP game in this series sees one of its characters wearing a tuxedo and starring as a secret agent. In other games, enemies can be killed with a Zodiac or electrocuted via the Tesla Claw. The most recent console entry for this series sees the protagonists helping out the planet of Kerwan at the bequest of Captain Qwark, and as usual they're helped by The Plumber. Another weapon in this series a giant form of one of the title characters, which is used to combat the leader of Thugs-4-Less so that the player can participate in the Megacorp Games. Developed by Insomniac Studios, FTP, identify this platforming / shooter series for the Playstation consoles whose sequels have been subtitled "Tools of Destruction" and "Up Your Arsenal".

ANSWER: Ratchet & Clank

18) After winning this event five times between 1925 and 1930, Daphne Cozens died of an ectopic pregnancy, and in 1977 it became the only Grand Slam title of a man who died in 1994 of a carbon monoxide accident, Vitas Gerulitas. Between 1959 and 1978, the champion woman at this event was a native player all but three times, including the victories of Mary Reitano and Evonne Goolagong. Won on the men's side six times by Roy Emerson and by Andre Agassi four times, it saw the controversial discovery of a video of Marcos Baghdatis chanting anti-Turkish slogans in this past year's event, the finals of which saw Ana Ivanovic lose to Maria Sharapova and Jo-Wilifred Tsonga to Novak Djokovic. FTP, name this tennis Slam tournament held in January at MelbournePark.
ANSWER: The Australian Open

19) Arizona has recently seen an outbreak of nalgeri fowleri, an amoeba that does this. Doing this to defeated aliens restores health to Fins McGee, Lefty Lopez, and Half-Pipe Boyd in a recent Nintendo DS game, and is the major goal of Stubbs in Rebel Without a Pulse. It happens to turncoat FBI agent Paul Krendler at the end of Hannibal, and it's all that the chorus of a Jonathan Coulton song addressed as a memo to Todd wants to do. Many Heroes fans think that this act is how Sylar acquires others' powers, though it is more famously undertaken by the Tarman and other invaders of Lousiville, Kentucky in a Dan O’Bannon sequel to a 1968 George Romero film. For 10 points, name this act of lethal consumption preferred by zombies.