Finding Fun in Inanimate Objects Quiz

Answer: The Magic Mat

"Titanic" is the 1997 epic romantic blockbuster set against the backdrop of the sinking of the famous ship on her maiden voyage. The movie was a huge financial success being the first movie to gross over one billion dollars - although it cost approximately $200 million which also made it the most expensive movie to have ever been made. It was also a success with the critics winning eleven of its nominated fourteen Academy Awards.

"The Piano" was released in 1993 and tells the story of Ada McGrath, a mute pianist, who is sent to marry a New Zealand settler in the mid 1800s. The movie won three Academy Awards and was also a huge financial success; at a cost of only $7 million to make it grossed more than $40 million at the box office.

"The Bridge on the River Kwai" is a 1957 movie set during WWII that tells the story of Japanese prisoners of war as they are forced to build the bridge which will enable the railway access over the river towards Burma. The movie is fictional but is based upon the construction of the Burma-Siam railway by the WWII POWs. It received huge acclaim on its release and won seven Academy Awards.

Answer: Pica

People with pica have the urge to eat things that are not generally classified as food. The most common cravings are for sand, dirt, faeces, chalk, clay, hair, rocks, glass and wood although people have been known to eat entire objects like one man who ate an entire bicycle (in parts). The term comes from the Latin word for a magpie as they are well known to eat most things.

Polyphagia is an excessive hunger and the eating of huge amounts of food. Osophagia refers to someone who is obsessed with fish and other seafood. Rumination Syndrome is a condition where food is consistently regurgitated after eating.

Answer: A Bug's Life

"A Bug's Life" (1998) is an animated movie but it features ants, grasshoppers and other living bugs not objects. Attributing human characteristics to animals is known as anthropomorphism.

"The Brave little Toaster" is a 1987 movie about a number of household appliances trying to make their way back home after being left behind at the summer cabin.

"Cars" is a 2006 release centered around a big car race and its competitors. The film co-starred Paul Newman and it has been said to be the highest grossing movie of his career! It was also his last movie prior to his retirement the following year.

Then there's the movie that started it all - the 1995 release of "Toy Story" about a group of animated toys that only come to life whenever the humans are gone. This was Pixar's first movie and the first computerised, feature length, animated movie.

Answer: Wuthering Heights

"Wuthering Heights", written in 1845, is Emily Brontë's only novel. Wuthering Heights is an old manor house on the Yorkshire moors belonging to the Earnshaws, who live there with their two children, Hindley and Catherine, and the orphan Heathcliff that Mr Earnshaw brings home.

Mansfield Park is the family estate of the rich Bertram family in Jane Austen's 1813 novel of the same name. Howard's End is the cottage belonging to the rich Ruth Wilcox in E.M. Forster's 1910 novel.

Charles Dickens's "The Old Curiosity Shop" (1840) is about a shop full of various odds and ends owned by a gentleman (whose name is never mentioned) and his 14-year-old orphaned granddaughter, Nell Trent, who comes to live with him.

Answer: Psychokinetic

Psychokinesis is defined as "The ability of the mind to influence matter, time, space, or energy by means unknown to current science." It is also known as telekinesis. The most common forms are either movement or distortion of objects.

Telepathy refers to being able to transfer thoughts or feelings to another person without the use of the five known senses. Clairvoyance is the ability to know what is happening at other locations and precognition is being able to divine the future.

Answer: Cast Away

Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems analyst, whose plane crashes in the ocean in this 2000 movie. He manages to reach an island only to find it is completely uninhabited. The movie follows the next four years on the island as he manages to survive using parts of the plane's cargo.

Early in the movie he becomes angry and throws a few things around in frustration - one of which happens to be a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball. Not long after this he draws a face on the ball and begins talking to it. Wilson becomes his only companion and he serves as a way to allow 'conversations' in a situation where there is really only one character.

Answer: John Keats

John Keats had an extremely prolific period in 1819 when he attempted to try and create a shorter lyrical poem. These have become known as his "Great Odes of 1819" and comprise six separate poems: "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode on Indolence", "Ode on Melancholy", "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode to Psyche" and "To Autumn".

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is attributed to his belief in the beauty of Classical Greek art. Like his other works it was not well received by the critics of the time but it is now considered to be one of the greatest odes of all time.

Keats died in 1821 from tuberculosis at the age of only 25.

Answer: HIV

HIV is what is referred to as a 'blood borne' disease meaning that it can only be transmitted by bodily fluids. The virus does not survive outside of the body and can only be transmitted from one infected person to another not via objects. The four accepted methods of transmission (from highest to lowest risks) are blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk.

Fomite transmission occurs when you touch an infected object and then touch your own mouth, eyes or nose without washing your hands. Different viruses last for different amounts of time on fomites and they also last for longer on harder surfaces. The 'flu and common cold virus can last anywhere from 2 - 8 hours on a hard surface.

Answer: Lumière

An enchantress places a curse upon the castle before the story begins. It is explained that she came to seek shelter one night in a storm and is turned away by Prince Adam. The curse turns Prince Adam into the Beast, his home into a monstrosity and all his servants into objects.

Lumière was the prince's maître d' and is now a candelabra. Cogsworth has gone from a butler to a clock, Mrs Potts is the head of the kitchen and has taken the form of a teapot while her son, Chip, is now a teacup.

Answer: Poltergeist

Poltergeists are described as mischievous spirits that haunt a person rather than a place. They have a reputation for being noisy and destructive, throwing objects around, knocking pictures off walls and have been reported to pinch and bite humans for no apparent reason.

There is a school of thought that believes that poltergeist activity is actually unknown psychokinetic activity from humans under stress - particularly disturbed children or teenagers.

The Banshee is a female spirit who is a portent of death, wailing when someone is about to die.

Leviathans are beings from before creation; they are known to be very powerful and hungry. It is said that God wanted to create more creatures and couldn't trust them not to destroy everything so he created Purgatory to contain them.

Hobgoblins are related to Brownies and are actually mostly helpful creatures. They like to dwell in human homes and will do small jobs while the household sleeps but they do take food in return for this work.