Beating Around 'Em Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kings Row

"Kings Row", released in 1942, also starred Ann Sheridan and Robert Cummings and was directed by three-time 'Best Director' nominee Sam Wood. "Kings Row" was considered one of Reagan's best supporting roles; he had no legs for a portion of the movie.

When "Kings Row" made it to the 15th Academy Awards in 1943, it took three nominations but lost them all. "Mrs. Miniver" took 'Best Picture'. Reagan would continue in cinema for another twenty years before taking the U.S. presidency for most of the 1980s.

Answer: Persian Gulf

Occurring during late 1990 and early 1991, the Persian Gulf War consisted of both Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm and involved, by and large, a series of U.S.-led nations against the forces of Iraq. Fuelled by oil claims and the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait, the war resulted in victory for the Coalition forces; the U.S. ended up leaving Iraq (at least in an official sense) in March 1991, eight months after the war was declared. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would take center-stage again during the Iraq War post-9/11, ultimately being sentenced to death and executed in 2006.

Answer: Gerald Ford

The bad neighbours of the show may have very well been Homer and Bart who, in an effort to go to war against the new neighbours across the road, did some pretty horrible stuff in their effort to maintain the status quo on Evergreen Terrace. In the end of the episode, Homer and Bart succeed and former President Gerald Ford moves in and invites Homer over for beer and nachos.

"Two Bad Neighbors", released in the show's seventh season, is considered one of the crown jewels of the show's classic 'golden years'. It was the second episode chiefly-written by Ken Keeler, who also went on to write the pilot (and more than a dozen other episodes) for "Futurama".

Answer: The Cold War

Although this was signed off in 1992, the Cold War (which commenced almost immediately after World War II) seemed to become less of an issue when the USSR started to fracture in a series of failed coups and revolutions. The Berlin Wall fell, tearing down the Iron Curtain in 1989, and it seemed like the rest of Western Europe would start to change.

It did. Within the next few years, Czechoslovakia split into two, Bulgaria reclaimed itself from Communist rule, Romania reclaimed land, Ukraine found independence, and nations broke from Yugoslavia which, ultimately, dissolved completely in 1992.

Answer: Saxophone

"The Arsenio Hall Show" ran for five seasons on CBS between 1989 and 1994 with the comedian hosting more than a thousand episodes over the run. It was popular from the outset but, in its fifth year, ratings took a dive due to a general over-saturation of late-night programming. Hall would generally vanish from film and TV for a good period after that, only reemerging to appear on game shows ("Hollywood Squares", for instance) and reality TV (he won the fifth season of "Celebrity Apprentice"). Clinton appeared on the show in 1992 when he was running for his first term; his appearance, in which he played "Heartbreak Hotel", is considered by many to have been a factor in shifting younger voters to vote for him a few months later.

Answer: Truth to Power

"An Inconvenient Truth", a film featuring a detailed slide show performed by Gore on thousands of occasions, seemingly single-handedly sparked a widespread discussion on climate change (then mainly referred to as 'global warming') upon its release in 2006 going on to win two Oscars and, for Gore specifically, a Nobel Peace Prize.

He followed it up eleven years later with "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power" which, while just as timely, did not create the zeitgeist the original appeared to have sparked.

The events of the sequel led up to the signing of the Paris Agreement, restricting greenhouse gas emissions; Donald Trump reversed Barack Obama's decision to sign the agreement shortly after taking office becoming the only leading power in the world (of the 194 countries to sign the agreement) to withdraw.

Answer: Primary schooler

Although prenatal reading is claimed by some to be be beneficial, "The Pet Goat" is actually a story written specifically to teach young children. The text is very specifically educational and aimed to teach phonics and basic vocabulary. The story, which appeared very notably in Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11", is about a goat who foils a robbery and secures its place on the farm.
The author, Engelmann, is also known for his development of student behavioural theories. He helped develop Direct Instruction techniques for learning in the United States.

Answer: You

Although The "TIME" Magazine Person of the Year is typically a person of high status (politically or culturally) or a group of people who influenced the world in a major way for their year of nomination, the spotlight fell on...well...everyone in 2006. The 'You' of the cover story was reflective (the cover actually had a metallic space to emulate a computer screen) because the influential force of the year was online content creators and users. The year before that, the honour went to Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates (as 'The Good Samaritans') and the year after it went to Vladimir Putin.

On the other side of this clue, the NETFLIX TV show "You" (originally on LIfetime) was based on Caroline Kepnes' thriller novel of the same name (and its subsequent sequel, "Hidden Bodies". It's a rare case in which streaming numbers on NETFLIX (instead of ratings from the parent network) actually resulted in the renewal.

Answer: Josh Brolin

Interestingly, each of these characters has had vastly different receptions; the movies have unquestionably gotten better over time as he's picked up these roles. "Jonah Hex" was first, in 2010, and was based on the DC western-fantasy comics of the same name. Cable came into being for "Deadpool 2" in 2018 (based on the Marvel hero). Brolin was also, of course, Thanos-- the baddest of the evils in the MCU for the entire 'Infinity Saga'.

He first showed up at the end of "Guardians of the Galaxy" in 2014, becoming the primary antagonist in time for "Infinity War" and "Endgame". Brolin is previously known for his 'Best Supporting Actor' Oscar nomination for "Milk".

Answer: The No Child Left Behind Act

Introduced in 2002, No Child Left Behind was instrumental in reshaping public school curriculums for more than a decade, putting the onus on federal influence to improve annual standardized test scores not only for students, but for educators. Many considered the act to be a flop and over the years, the plan to bring the lowest students up to the bare minimum (without attending to anything beyond that for higher achievers) proved highly problematic.

Heavy reforms and amendments led to the entirety of the act being split into parts and placed back into the hands of individual states with the Every Student Succeeds Act.