Thursday, October 8, 2009

Random Acts of Thursday - Algeria? I hardly know ya!


Yes, that's my high school. Note the sealed window openings in the 4th floor torture chamber.

High school sucked. Angsty teens, myself included. I only enjoyed the academic part of the whole thing, because I'm a nerd that way. And while I've always been a voracious reader, there's one book I could never get through. Never finished it in French, never finished it in English. I ruined a perfect 4.0 senior year by not writing a paper about the book I never read, and it dropped my semester grade from an A to a C in AP English.
lousy existentialists!
Mr. Ceci informed me, during a discussion about this, that I needed to fight my perfectionism, that a job worth doing is worth doing poorly. In other words, better to get some credit than refuse to be less than perfect and get no credit. These words ring true to me today. Just look at my blog!
I've NEVER read the book. Ever. My knowledge of the book comes only from a Cure song. Ah, The Cure. Goth before Goth was cool. The REASON Goth was cool. Before it became 'emo' and added rainbow socks and cute backpacks to the equation.
Besides, I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a faggy goth kid. Conformists.

Now, it's Quiz Time!
1) What is the book of which I speak?
2) What Cure song is based on this book?
3) What iconic American singer, while not goth, still wore black and shot a man in Reno, giving him a song that relates to the Cure song and the book, as well as the building shown above?
4) Why did he shoot that man?
5) What other song by this iconic American ebony-clad singer was covered by the band you failed to identify in last week's RAOT?

Remember. Show your work, keep your eyes on your own paper, pencils down when finished. If you want, you can go watch some cool music videos here.

12 comments:

Bev said...

Yay, finally a quiz I can do! And it's all because I was also Goth before Goth was cool. I even had a crush on Robert Smith, and he's fuuuuuug. ;)

1. "The Stranger," by Albert Camu. Unlike you, I read it, and quite liked it. ;)

2. The Cure song is "Killing an Arab," and I frakin' love it. "Standing on the beach with a gun in my hand...."

3. The man in black, Johnny Cash.

4. Just to watch him die, of course!

5. hmmm, not sure. "Walk the Line?" or "Ring of Fire?"

Harmony said...

Okay..I immediately thought Johnny Cash. Because you know, the whole man in black thing.

However the book and relating ties to The Cure is driving me batty. So here is my answer all in question form:

1. The Outsider?
2. Killing an Arab?
3. Johnny Cash
4. Just to watch him die

Harmony said...

Damn I walked away from the computer mid comment. Fraking kids!

Sarah the Author said...

A job worth doing is worth doing poorly...ah yes, the greatest lesson we ever learned in high school! I'm with you, Elliott, I hated everything about high school, except for the class portion of it because that's what I wrote stories. Seriously. I probably could have been a 4.0 student if I'd just taken a note once in a while...but I figured a 3.2 was good enough for where I was heading. LOL!

Bev said...

Don'tcha hate it when you spot a typo in somthign yuo wrot erlier?

I meant to say, "Camus."

Oh, and btw, high school was okay for me, and working hard and going to college sure got me far. Just look at me - livin' the dream in a fabulous career! Oh, wait... crap!

Elliott said...

Bev - I wasn't going to say anything, it being phonetic and all, but now that you mention it, spelling counts. (Thanks again, Mr. Ceci!) Not bad, though, 80%. I can't give you credit on #5, you could go research last week's questions and probably get the whole answer.

Harm - Alternate titles are acceptable, especially since it's been translated from French more than once. However, since you didn't even attempt #5, you get an incomplete.

And I understand the interruption, I started writing this an hour ago!

Harmony said...

Okay..for #5 I'll go with Ring of Fire. I'd hate to have an incomplete.

Elliott said...

That would give Harmony a 90% (10% for not finishing on time, you know...)

As for last week's quiz, you're not doing so well...

Harmony said...

Holy hell, last week's quiz is melting my tiny little brain.

How about a clue.

Elliott said...

Silly me, I thought asking for the recipe was a hint. Willard Whyte's corporation didn't actually have any business in this geographic area, but Blofeld put his secret lair on the map.

How smart is that?

Bev said...

80%? I call BS.

I'm with Harmony - last week's quiz makes my brain hurt.

Elliott said...

Bevvers, I could make spelling count...

Okay, check this out...I hate giving additional hints, and I'm not going to spoon-feed you the answers from last week, but here...consider it like the times your parents would tell you to go look up a word you don't know.

http://www.mexrad.com/FoodApp.htm

Note, none of their dishes are the one I had in mind as the extra credit, but a little hunting should get you everything you need.

Be nice and share!

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