The document describes a quiz being conducted by Shriya Atmakuri and Mukund Poddar. It provides rules for the quiz and then asks multiple choice questions on topics ranging from films, music, art and literature. Some questions reference popular culture like TV shows and movies to test participants' knowledge. Partial points will be awarded based on the quizmasters' discretion.

1. Ab toh MELA lagega
by
Shriya Atmakuri
Mukund Poddar

2. Prelims
This is a rules slide
Every quiz needs a rules slide, we were told.
This is the first time I am conducting a quiz, so I don’t know
But I hear Mod...oops QM is God
Also, partial points only when we deem it valid.

3. 1
Identify what this is
an homage too.

4. 2
Carlos Munoz Portal, 37, was found slain in his car on an unnamed dirt road in the
community of San Bartolo Actopan in northeast Mexico state on September 11.
The circumstances of his death and who could have been involved remain
unclear, but the complexity of the case underscores the dense web of criminal
activity and organizations present in that part of central Mexico.
Why is this incident mentioned in a MELA quiz?

5. 3*
Which show’s popularity with the Chinese audiences is being reported with the
following headlines:

6. 4
John Oliver, in his wildly popular show Last Week Tonight, talked about the taking
down of confederate statues from the southern states in his episode on 8th
October. During this show, he said, “All people, living and dead, exist on what I’m
going to call call the Hitler-X spectrum from bad to good,” Oliver joked, showing a
good-to-bad grid with Hitler’s face at one end and X’s mug at the other.
This was to show X’s general image as an overall Mr Goody-two-shoes. Which
very prolific actor did he cast in this role?

7. 5
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was a fast friend of Nikola Tesla’s, and a very
famous person in his own right, if not more. However, we all know him by a
different name. The story Clemens promulgated for choosing this name was about
how he used to work as a steamboat pilot, and one of his duties was checking the
depth of the river, a practice known as “_______ the _____”. However recent
sources mention how he was an avid reader of a humour magazine Vanity Fair,
not the one we know. The name he chose appeared in this magazine a full two
years before he first used it.

8. 6*
In Victorian England, this festival was a very marginal affair, and while Price
Albert’s marriage with Queen Victoria in 1840 brought a lot of German customs
over, this festival was still a small part of it. The commercialisation of this festival
can largely be attributed to this piece of work, which brought in the aspects of
charity that often characterises it today.
The author is additionally credited with popularising the term X to the point he
might as well have coined it.
Identify the work.

9. 7*
During the release of the album a lot of rumours were circulating on various
college campuses (their primary audience) about a certain band-member’s death.
It is claimed that the band was looking to capitalise on these rumours with this
album cover, where a figure in white was to signify clergy, another in black, the
pallbearer, the third in line and barefoot was the dead member, and the last one
was the gravedigger.

10. 8
North Korea recently (within the last decade) celebrated the centenary of its
founding. As part of the state narrative, this year was supposed to be prosperous
for not just their country, but the entire world to be erupting in joy. However, a
certain Hollywood movie largely undercut this narrative with its gory depiction of
the times involved. As a result, North Korea banned any form of this movie from
playing in the country.
Which movie?

11. 9
Moore stated that he felt that X was meant to be a person of color, he stated: "The
more you see X go through the process of losing control of herself and then
becoming a physical threat, the more glaringly apparent it becomes that, unlike
her sisters, X is coded as a person of color. Everything about X is designed to set
her apart from the original __ _. One imagines it’s to signal that she’s a new kind
of __ meant to be more reflective of the show’s diverse audience. She’s taller, has
skin a shade of brown that’s deeper than a tan, purple eyes, and electric blue hair.
X reads as distinctly non-white and decidedly multi-ethnic."
Id X

12. 10
On Sep 28th this year, George RR Martin tweeted "Another wedding to plan"
alarming many Game of Thrones fans for obvious reasons.
What event prompted this tweet?

13. 11*
In an interview with The Rolling Stone, Alex Chilton was asked “What do you think
of ______’s cover of In the Streets?”
His reply was “I have never heard it”, prompting the question, “So you don’t watch
the show?”
Chilton said “No, but I get $X everytime it airs, so to me it is ‘___ ___ Show’ ”
What is the show being talked about?

14. 12*
This song is inspired by the happenings over Lake Geneva on the night of
December 4, 1971. The band was sitting at their hotel window watching a Frank
Zappa concert taking place across the lake (one of the bandmembers was a part
of the audience there), when tragedy struck the concert due to human folly.
Claude Nobs was helping out clear the venue, pulling kids out of the ground and
helping them out; something for which he has been immortalised as “Funky
Claude”. Identify the song.

15. 13
In a recently released “romantic” novel, the classic book Tess of the D’Ubervilles
by Thomas Hardy forms a “plot-point”. The male protagonist gifts a first edition
copy of this book to the female protagonist in an effort to win her over. The female
protagonist is a Lit major.
Name the novel.

16. 14
In the song American Pie by Don
McLean (get your heads out of the
gutter people), he mentions a
certain event in 1959 where a
plane crash killed three musicians:
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and
J.P. Richardson.
By what name is this event well
known?

17. 15
How is this cafe in
Arles, France
immortalised in
the world of art?

18. 16
This form of art derives its name from the town of X in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is
primarily used to depict various deities and uses coloured stones and gold foil to
depict the grandeur of the entities. It also uses putty to create a raised effect in
some parts of the painting to give it a 3D effect.
Identify the art form.

19. 17*
Danielle Bregoli appeared in a reality show last year, during which the host was
trying to convince her to mend her ways. After an alleged period of reform, she
has reportedly gone back to her old ways, but in a more moderate level.
However, the smart teen used the fame she gained to leverage her directionless
music career. However, in yet another example of the internet trumping all logic,
Danielle bagged a multi-million dollar, multi-album deal with Atlantic Records, the
label that used to produce the like of Led Zeppelin.
What cause this shithead to gain her fame?

20. 18
Identify the object that was at a center of a petition in 2016, when a Pakistani
lawyer called for India to return it to Lahore, where it allegedly belongs. This object
is important for two main reasons, academically speaking. The first is that is
shows the extent of metal workmanship achieved at the era it is from, and the
second is that it shows the evolution of a specific art form there.

21. 19
X and Y are today regarded as geniuses and linked to the turn of the century
(19th-20th) “Art Nouveau” and Surrealist movements. Both were initially ridiculed
by contemporary art critics for their daring ingenuity. Both were deeply committed
to a strong sense of Catalan national identity.
X created buildings that lived, “breathed” and moved. He transformed the
“modernist movement” of architecture at the end of the nineteenth century into a
stunning art form admired throughout the world. Y was regarded as a skilled
draftsman but his genius lay in the composition of striking and bizarre images in
his surrealist work although some of his techniques imitated those of Renaissance
painters such as Velazquez
Appropriately, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named their 2007 exhibit on
Catalan art as ‘Barcelona and Modernity: X to Y’

22. 20
X was initially named Les Échassiers ("The Waders"). They toured Quebec in
1980 as a performing troupe. Their initial financial hardship was relieved in 1983
by a government grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, as part of the 450th
anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's voyage to Canada.
X expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to 19
shows in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica. The shows employ
approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and generate an estimated
annual revenue exceeding US$810 million. The multiple permanent Las Vegas
shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city's visitors,
adding to the 90 million people who have experienced X's shows worldwide.

23. Answers

24. 1
Identify what this is
an homage too.

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey

26. 2
Carlos Munoz Portal, 37, was found slain in his car on an unnamed dirt road in the
community of San Bartolo Actopan in northeast Mexico state on September 11.
The circumstances of his death and who could have been involved remain
unclear, but the complexity of the case underscores the dense web of criminal
activity and organizations present in that part of central Mexico.
Why is this incident mentioned in a MELA quiz?

27. He was a location scout for Narcos

28. 3*
Which show’s popularity with the Chinese audiences is being reported with the
following headlines:

29. House of Cards

30. 4
John Oliver, in his wildly popular show Last Week Tonight, talked about the taking
down of confederate statues from the southern states in his episode on 8th
October. During this show, he said, “All people, living and dead, exist on what I’m
going to call call the Hitler-X spectrum from bad to good,” Oliver joked, showing a
good-to-bad grid with Hitler’s face at one end and X’s mug at the other.
This was to show X’s general image as an overall Mr Goody-two-shoes. Which
very prolific actor did he cast in this role?

31. Tom Hanks

32. 5
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was a fast friend of Nikola Tesla’s, and a very
famous person in his own right, if not more. However, we all know him by a
different name. The story Clemens promulgated for choosing this name was about
how he used to work as a steamboat pilot, and one of his duties was checking the
depth of the river, a practice known as “_______ the _____”. However recent
sources mention how he was an avid reader of a humour magazine Vanity Fair,
not the one we know. The name he chose appeared in this magazine a full two
years before he first used it.

33. Mark Twain

34. 6*
In Victorian England, this festival was a very marginal affair, and while Price
Albert’s marriage with Queen Victoria in 1840 brought a lot of German customs
over, this festival was still a small part of it. The commercialisation of this festival
can largely be attributed to this piece of work, which brought in the aspects of
charity that often characterises it today.
The author is additionally credited with popularising the term X to the point he
might as well have coined it.
Identify the work.

35. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

36. 7*
During the release of the album a lot of rumours were circulating on various
college campuses (their primary audience) about a certain band-member’s death.
It is claimed that the band was looking to capitalise on these rumours with this
album cover, where a figure in white was to signify clergy, another in black, the
pallbearer, the third in line and barefoot was the dead member, and the last one
was the gravedigger.

37. Abbey Road

38. 8
North Korea recently (within the last decade) celebrated the centenary of its
founding. As part of the state narrative, this year was supposed to be prosperous
for not just their country, but the entire world to be erupting in joy. However, a
certain Hollywood movie largely undercut this narrative with its gory depiction of
the times involved. As a result, North Korea banned any form of this movie from
playing in the country.
Which movie?

39. 2012

40. 9
Moore stated that he felt that X was meant to be a person of color, he stated: "The
more you see X go through the process of losing control of herself and then
becoming a physical threat, the more glaringly apparent it becomes that, unlike
her sisters, X is coded as a person of color. Everything about X is designed to set
her apart from the original __ _. One imagines it’s to signal that she’s a new kind
of __ meant to be more reflective of the show’s diverse audience. She’s taller, has
skin a shade of brown that’s deeper than a tan, purple eyes, and electric blue hair.
X reads as distinctly non-white and decidedly multi-ethnic."
Id X

41. Bliss (The New Powerpuff Girl)

42. 10
On Sep 28th this year, George RR Martin tweeted "Another wedding to plan"
alarming many Game of Thrones fans for obvious reasons.
What event prompted this tweet?

43. Engagement of Kit Harington and Rose Leslie

44. 11*
In an interview with The Rolling Stone, Alex Chilton was asked “What do you think
of ______’s cover of In the Streets?”
His reply was “I have never heard it”, prompting the question, “So you don’t watch
the show?”
Chilton said “No, but I get $X everytime it airs, so to me it is ‘___ ___ Show’ ”
What is the show being talked about?

45. That 70’s Show

46. 12*
This song is inspired by the happenings over Lake Geneva on the night of
December 4, 1971. The band was sitting at their hotel window watching a Frank
Zappa concert taking place across the lake (one of the bandmembers was a part
of the audience there), when tragedy struck the concert due to human folly.
Claude Nobs was helping out clear the venue, pulling kids out of the ground and
helping them out; something for which he has been immortalised as “Funky
Claude”. Identify the song.

47. Smoke on the Water

48. 13
In a recently released “romantic” novel, the classic book Tess of the D’Ubervilles
by Thomas Hardy forms a “plot-point”. The male protagonist gifts a first edition
copy of this book to the female protagonist in an effort to win her over. The female
protagonist is a Lit major.
Name the novel.

49. 50 Shades of Grey

50. 14
In the song American Pie by Don
McLean (get your heads out of the
gutter people), he mentions a
certain event in 1959 where a
plane crash killed three musicians:
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and
J.P. Richardson.
By what name is this event well
known?

51. The Day the Music Died

52. 15
How is this cafe in
Arles, France
immortalised in
the world of art?

53. Cafe Terrace at Night by Van Gogh

54. 16
This form of art derives its name from the town of X in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is
primarily used to depict various deities and uses coloured stones and gold foil to
depict the grandeur of the entities. It also uses putty to create a raised effect in
some parts of the painting to give it a 3D effect.
Identify the art form.

55. Tanjore (from Thanjavur)

56. 17*
Danielle Bregoli appeared in a reality show last year, during which the host was
trying to convince her to mend her ways. After an alleged period of reform, she
has reportedly gone back to her old ways, but in a more moderate level.
However, the smart teen used the fame she gained to leverage her directionless
music career. However, in yet another example of the internet trumping all logic,
Danielle bagged a multi-million dollar, multi-album deal with Atlantic Records, the
label that used to produce the like of Led Zeppelin.
What cause this shithead to gain her fame?

57. How Bow Dah

58. 18
Identify the object that was at a center of a petition in 2016, when a Pakistani
lawyer called for India to return it to Lahore, where it allegedly belongs. This object
is important for two main reasons, academically speaking. The first is that is
shows the extent of metal workmanship achieved at the era it is from, and the
second is that it shows the evolution of a specific art form there.

59. Bronze Dancing Girl

60. 19
X and Y are today regarded as geniuses and linked to the turn of the century
(19th-20th) “Art Nouveau” and Surrealist movements. Both were initially ridiculed
by contemporary art critics for their daring ingenuity. Both were deeply committed
to a strong sense of Catalan national identity.
X created buildings that lived, “breathed” and moved. He transformed the
“modernist movement” of architecture at the end of the nineteenth century into a
stunning art form admired throughout the world. Y was regarded as a skilled
draftsman but his genius lay in the composition of striking and bizarre images in
his surrealist work although some of his techniques imitated those of Renaissance
painters such as Velazquez
Appropriately, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named their 2007 exhibit on
Catalan art as ‘Barcelona and Modernity: X to Y’

61. X- Anthony Gaudi Y- Salvador Dali

62. 20
X was initially named Les Échassiers ("The Waders"). They toured Quebec in
1980 as a performing troupe. Their initial financial hardship was relieved in 1983
by a government grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, as part of the 450th
anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's voyage to Canada.
X expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to 19
shows in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica. The shows employ
approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and generate an estimated
annual revenue exceeding US$810 million. The multiple permanent Las Vegas
shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city's visitors,
adding to the 90 million people who have experienced X's shows worldwide.

63. Cirque du Soleil