Entertaining 2016 Trivia Quiz

Answer: David Bowie and Alan Rickman

Both deaths were shocking to fans because the men had kept their illnesses private, with only family and close friends aware of their grave condition. David Bowie had just released his 25th studio album "Blackstar" two days before his death from liver cancer. Bowie had first emerged on the music scene in the 1960s, but it was in the early 1970s that he made his mark in the glam rock genre. He reinvented himself in the 1980s with MTV and had several hit songs, including "Let's Dance" which hit number one in the U.S. and U.K. Besides music, he also dabbled in film with roles in 1976's "The Man Who Fell to Earth", 1986's "Labyrinth" and 2006's "The Prestige", among others.

Alan Rickman started his career in the British theatre in the 1970s, but it was in the 1980s that he received success, starting with a Tony nomination in 1987 for "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" He then moved on to Hollywood where he became known for his scene-stealing roles in films such as "Die Hard" and "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", winning a BAFTA for the latter performance. He also picked up BAFTA nominations for his work in "Truly, Madly, Deeply", "Sense and Sensibility", and "Michael Collins". But his most famous role was probably that of Severus Snape in the eight "Harry Potter" films. Rickman was able to add depth to the character, thanks to a heads-up provided to him by author J.K. Rowling: "She gave me one tiny, little, left of field piece of information that helped me think that he (Snape) was more complicated, and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought".

Answer: #OscarsSoWhite

In 2016, for the second year in a row, all of the Academy Award acting nominees and four of the director nominees were white. Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Will Smith, immediately called for a boycott of the Oscars after her husband failed to pick up a nomination for his leading role in the film "Concussion", and activist April Reign revived the hashtag "#OscarsSoWhite" that she had created the previous year to draw attention to the issue. Chris Rock had already been announced as the host of the 2016 ceremony, and he chose to appear, explaining that he was already losing too many gigs to Kevin Hart, but he added: "You realize, if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even have this job." The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences responded by opening its membership up to a larger and more diverse group of voters and by vowing to double its women/minority membership by 2020.

Answer: Captain America: Civil War

Released in April 2016, "Captain America: Civil War" featured several of the Avengers, including Iron Man, Falcon, Black Widow, and Scarlet Witch battling each other to determine whether the United Nations should control their activities. The film grossed $1.2 billion worldwide, taking the number one spot over "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", "Finding Dory", "Zootopia", and "The Jungle Book (2016)", respectively.

Other comic book-inspired films in the top twenty in world-wide receipts were "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" in 7th place with $873 million, "Deadpool" in 9th place with $783 million, "Suicide Squad" in 10th place with $746 million, "Doctor Strange" in 11th place with $665 million, and "X-Men: Apocalypse" in 13th place with $530 million.

Answer: Beyonce

"Lemonade" was Beyonce's sixth studio album. Released in April 2016, it topped the charts in English-speaking countries and in other nations such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, and Sweden. Considered a visual concept album, it was released along with an hour-long video that originally aired on HBO cable network. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the album sold 2.5 million copies world-wide, as compared to Adele's "25", which sold 2.4 million copies, and Drake's "Views", which sold 2.3 million.

At the Grammy awards the following year, Beyonce picked up the most nominations (nine) for her album, but she only won two ("Best Urban Contemporary Album" and "Best Music Video"). Adele picked up the main awards for "Record of the Year" and "Album of the Year".

Answer: Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson (1958 - 2016) released his first album in 1978, but it was during the MTV age that he became a household name, with his stylish videos being frequently played in the early years of MTV. Behind the showman was a talented musician who wrote his own songs, had a wide vocal range, and could play over 25 instruments.

He earned seven Grammy awards over his career, and the music to his 1984 film "Purple Rain" won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. In the 1990s, Prince changed his name to a symbol for several years (reportedly called the "Love Symbol", but he was often referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince"), but he returned to being known as Prince in 2000.

His death was listed as an accidental overdose of the prescription drug fentanyl.

Answer: American Idol

Created by Simon Fuller and based on the British series "Pop Idol", "American Idol" was an immediate sensation when it debuted in 2002. The original panel of judges, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul, stayed with the show through eight seasons, and then other celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez, and Ellen Degeneres took turns judging the contestants.

The show was known for its brutal criticism of contenders during the auditions, but for contestants who made it through to the "Hollywood" round, they were offered a chance at stardom with a recording contract.

Although the initial series ended in 2016, it was announced in 2017 that the show would be revived the following year.

Answer: Pokemon Go

Developed as a collaboration between Nintendo and Niantic for Android and iOS devices, the game was intended to get players up and moving by having them search for Pokemon creatures who appeared in real-life locations called PokeStops. PokeStops were often central places of interest, such as parks or shopping malls, and businesses could establish PokeStops at their locations to increase traffic.

Although incredibly popular upon its release (server outages were reported due to the volume of users), it was also controversial due to accidents being caused by users pursuing Pokemons. Several U.S. cities had freeway signs that read "Pokemon Go is a no-go while driving", and some countries even regulated its use.

Although the game itself was free, players could purchase additional items to use with the app, and the game generated more than $600 million in revenue within 90 days of its release.

Answer: The Girl on the Train

"The Girl on the Train" topped "The New York Times" fiction best seller list several times in 2016 in the weeks of January 17th and 24th, August 7th, September 4th and 11th, and October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. The novel had debuted at number one in 2015, and by October 2016 was estimated to have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Author Paula Hawkins had previously written romantic novels without much success until she turned to darker material with "The Girl on the Train".

The story followed a first-person narrative told by three women whose lives were interconnected.

When one of the women disappeared, the other two became involved in solving the mystery. The film version released in October 2016 starred Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, and Allison Janney.

Answer: Saturday Night Live

"Saturday Night Live" debuted way back in 1975, and although the show has periodically been criticized as not being funny, it has done well enough in the ratings to survive for several decades. But in 2016, perennial host Alec Baldwin appeared in Donald Trump impersonations that captured Trump's mannerisms, and with Kate McKinnon's somewhat needy impersonation of Hillary Clinton, the cold opening to the show became a fixture on video channels. Trump's criticism of the show only managed to encourage viewership, and according to "Variety", the show scored its best ratings in twenty years thanks to its political coverage.

Answer: Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds

Probably best known for playing Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films, Carrie Fisher (1956 - 2016) was the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. She followed her parents into show business, appearing in films such as "The Blues Brothers", "Hannah and Her Sisters", and "When Harry Met Sally". She was also a successful author, both as a novelist and as a screenwriter. She wrote the screenplay for her semi-autobiographical novel "Postcards from the Edge", which earned Meryl Streep a Best Actress Oscar nomination; Fisher herself received a BAFTA nomination for the adapted screenplay. Fisher died four days after collapsing on a flight from London to L.A.

Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (1932 - 2016) had her breakout role at the age of twenty in 1952's "Singin' in the Rain" in which she danced and sang with Hollywood legends Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Some of her other films included "The Affairs of Dobie Gillis", "Tammy and the Bachelor", "How the West Was Won", and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also had a U.S. Billboard number one song with "Tammy", the theme song to "Tammy and the Bachelor". Besides her film career, she also appeared in theatre and on television, and she was an avid collector of Hollywood memorabilia. According to her son, Todd Fisher, Reynolds had a medical emergency on December 28th while the two were planning for his sister Carrie's funeral, and she died later that day from a stroke.

The lights on Broadway were dimmed for a minute in honor of Reynolds and Fisher on January 6th, 2017.