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The unusual proportions of the subjects in a famous 1907 painting was based on the martyrs standing behind St. John in El Greco’s The Opening of the Fifth Seal. The artist was also influenced by African masks while depicting the figures at their seedy establishment. Which painting thus resulted?
Which Mamluk military general reinstated the Abbasid Caliphate following two major events: inflicting a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France in 1254 and later winning the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, marking the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army?
Originally appearing in The Washington Post in 1986 and popularised by the novel GenerationX: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, what term alluding to a fast-food chain is defined by Merriam-Webster as a "low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement"?
The New-Western or American style gin is a successor to what style of cheap gin made in amateur conditions without undergoing a distillation process? Getting its name from the ceramic lined "apparatus" in which they were made en masse during the prohibition era, the name is generally applied to any home made spirit made in very bare settings.
The Son of a Migrant from Syria is a 2015 mural by graffiti artist Banksy. The mural was located in the Calais Jungle, a nickname for the encampment near Calais, France where migrants live as they attempt to enter the United Kingdom. The artwork depicts whom — the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States — as a traveling migrant?
In 1662, King Charles II decided to impose a tax on what? Since counting residents was more challenging, it was seen as simpler to just count these permanent features in homes, seen as a sign of comfortable living and prosperity. Attempts to sidestep the tax led to serious accidents, such as one in 1684 that destroyed 20 homes. It was repealed in England by monarchs William and Mary in 1689.
In the second verse of "Don't Blame Me," Swift sings, "I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy." This is potentially an allusion to the love interest of the titular character in which 1925 novel? She also namedrops the titular character in her song “This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things”, saying she feels so [blank] for the whole year, picturised to a hedonistic party.
In 2021, the NGO St+art India launched the #DonateAWall initiative in Kolkata to paint murals across the city. In which Kolkata neighbourhood is this mural (visual) located? Considered to be the centre of the Bengali film industry, it is only fitting that the neighbourhood is served by the Mahanayak Uttam Kumar metro station.
Which member of the ape family locomotes by swinging from branch to branch at break-neck speeds and walk bipedally with their arms raised for balance? Found in rainforests of Bangladesh, North East India, Southern China, and Indonesian isles - they're the fastest of all tree-dwelling, non flying mammals, and also share their name with a less-known Marvel villain.
22 February: Patti pays tribute to which poet best known for the collection A Coney Island of the Mind? He also co-founded City Lights, an independent bookstore-publisher, and was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg's Howl, resulting in a widely publicised obscene trial.
Which zodiac constellation has Rey redrawn here? He explains that the back half of stars are dimmer because the animal is 'charging' through water to meet Europa.
Using an alter ego called [Blank] Barbie, Nicki Minaj epitomizes the craze for the hot pink Barbiecore fashion aesthetic, even collaborating with Aqua to recreate "Barbie Girl" for the 2023 movie. Which district in Tokyo's Shibuya region, known for its fashion and youth subculture, does she use to describe herself and her fan base?
Though the IPL logo designers have clarified that it is not based on any player, many ex-players including the likes of Sehwag continue to believe it is based on which retired cricketer, known for his ability to hit shots to every bit of the ground's circumference as the bat swings in the logo might indicate?
As per Spotify Wrapped 2023, a 2018 number (visual) from the album High As Hope by which British indie rock band is among the most added to the "Logan Roy" playlist? The titular lead vocalist of the band is among the few female artists of the 21st century to headline at Glastonbury.
What container (8), made of ornate perforated metal and filled with aromatic substances, was historically used to ward off bad smells? This instrument gets its name from French for "apple of ambergris", and saw usage during times of the bubonic plague.
What title (7) is a given to an editor who targets new editors and crushes their soul? They suck the energy out of their victims to a point that the fallen individual will never edit again, or worse, transform into a [blank] themselves.
Which app uses an approval system called "kudos"? The system allows the community to appreciate and encourage each other's athletic achievements.
While most animals are either diurnal or nocturnal, some have adapted to be most active at the end of the day, when temperatures are lower but there is enough light to seek out food. Bobcats, possums, some rabbits and even some owl species are examples. What word from the Latin for 'twilight' is used to describe such creatures?
This is the logo of a Japanese beer brand which features an ancient hybrid Chinese mythical creature. The creature supposedly appeared to the pregnant mother of Confucius and also foreshadowed the great sage's death. Identify the creature, which shares its name with the brand.
The most common nickname of this disease was German Measles, named after the nationality of the scientist who first described this disease. Which disease, whose modern name comes from the Latin word for red because of the characteristic rash that appears on infected people's bodies?
Lady Gaga's dress included the national flower of Puerto Rico. A relative of the hibiscus, it gets its name from Spanish for "witch" owing to its use in witchcraft. What is it called (4), incidentally the same as the movement that opposed Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl?
Identify this film referenced by DeMarisco where he frames Buck Showalter, the Mets' manager with a red filter and an overlay of the game on his face. The film - a tale of female vengeance - makes use of crash zoom and a sound effect called the "ironside siren".
This promotional mural was part of the "Ghetto Biennial" that takes place in which Caribbean capital city? Following a successful first edition in December 2009 and a tragic natural disaster just a month later, subsequent exhibitions at the event have made use of ruined infrastructure as an artistic motif.
Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea is the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is within the Hellenic Trench that extends from close to the south shore of Crete and ends near which island just offshore Anatolia? It is nicknamed the "Island of the Sun".
What battle was fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet? It is named after a Northern European peninsula that gets its name from a tribe that used to inhabit the region and not from the way Denmark protrudes out of Germany.
This 1988 film begins with Detective Frank Drebin beating up Gaddafi, Gorbachev, Arafat, Castro, Ayatollah Khomeini and Idi Amin. The rest of the film deals with him trying to foil an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II. Which film from the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker stable? It would go on to have 2 sequels in the 1990s. (Don't need the exact name; franchise name will do)
S11E16 of The Simpsons follows this character after he wins a beer-pouring contest and becomes upset when his image is cut off from the Duff Beer calendar. Although plastic surgery transforms him to have a handsome face, his internal character remains largely the same. What is the title of this episode, a pun that incorporates the character's name into the title of a mythologically named 1913 play?
Identify this show about the childhood of a theoretical physicist at Caltech. One of the most successful spin-off series, it shows the prodigy growing up with his unintellectual family in Medford, Texas.
You could just order this in the US, but feastofstarlight.com teaches you how to recreate this sweet roll, with a specific spice flavour. The recipe is a tribute to the 6th and final season of which tv series where the titular character works with the franchise known for this, while hiding from the law? Ideally, the photo should have been in black and white!
Folk etymology is when new words are adopted from a foreign language, but they're misheard or erroneously recorded, and an attempt is made to make them more English-sounding. WHAT ENGLISH WORD did we get from the Old English word 'bryd-guma', where 'guma' means "man"? When this word was being adopted, English already had a similar-sounding word that meant stable boy or manservant. This caused speakers to simplify 'bryd-guma' to something more English-sounding.
This 2013 Emmy Award-winning documentary film by Jehane Noujaim covers the 2011 protests that led to the “resignation” of a military dictator and the ousting of the next head of state. These protests were centred around which quadrilateral (visual) in an African capital? It took on its current name, meaning “liberation”, after a 1952 revolution that transformed the country from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.
What function is served by the Windows shortcut of Windows+D, allowing users to return to a highly customisable central space within the system?
Which civilisation was known for its “portraiture pottery”, ceramic vessels featuring highly individualised representations of human faces? With their lands set between the Pacific Ocean and the Andean cordillera, this culture thrived from 100—800 CE with their namesake capital near present-day Trujillo in Peru.
After President Donald Trump shrank the boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 700,000 acres to make way for mining operations, poet Mary Mattingly exhibited this work titled Between Bears Ears and Daneros Mine to show how humans purposefully impact climate systems. The text on the photograph was chosen from whose 1953 work, the final volume of a trilogy of novels which begins with Molloy and continues with Malone Dies?
Prop Culture is an anthology series that features host Dan Lanigan hunting down iconic props from various Disney films. Episode 6 has Dan finding various props from a film that include a reindeer sleigh, medieval weapons and animatronic heads (visual). Which film, the first in a trilogy, did these props appear in?
He is the main antagonist of a literary work and he wields his sword with his left hand, because the right hand was chopped off by the protagonist. He gets his name from the iron implement that substitutes his chopped off right hand. Which character?
What family of spacecraft developed by SpaceX has become one of the primary means to ferry crews to and from the ISS? Its mythical name stems from the Peter, Paul and Mary song "Puff, the Magic [blank]" as a response to critics who considered SpaceX's projects to be impossible.
Which Olympic sport is contested within a layout with the following dimensions?
What two-word, eponymous 2017 biopic deals with an author's love and marriage to a (then) more famous author, the creation of her most famous work as part of a dare when she and a bunch of her friends were cooped in during a vacation in Geneva, and her subsequent struggle for attribution for the work that publishers thought was written by her husband?
What decorative technique involves creating designs by 'scratching' through a surface layer to reveal a contrasting colour or material beneath? It originated in the Lombardy region during the Italian renaissance.
The Red Bull Ring in which city will be the host for the Austrian Moto GP 2022? Appropriately meaning "play/game mountain", the city's name is more familiar to us as the name of a legendary American film director.
________ (8) is a racehorse which won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Breeders' Cup Distaff and 19 of her 20 starts. The 2010 American Horse of the Year, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. She was named after the first word in the title of a 1980 music album by a British rock band. It is an invented word combining the names of a popular form of Buddhist meditation practice and the person who was the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. What name?
The Portrait of Madame Récamier by Jacques-Louis David was the basis for the pose of the concubine depicted in a famous 1814 painting. Identify the 1814 painting and its artist. It in turn was appropriated by the Guerrilla Girls who asked "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?".
Identify this 2009 song, remixed by Uiia Cat.
Birch used to be the most popular choice of wood to make what sporting equipment? It responded well to heat, allowing manufacturers to easily curve and create a 'blade'. Today, carbon fibre composites are the materials of choice.
WHICH Israeli defense technology company was founded as Ministry of Defense's R&D laboratory for the development of weapons and military technology? They also developed the much-idolized Iron Dome technology, deriving their name from an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Identify this Russian/Georgian dish, consisting of lamb meat marinated overnight in spices, vinegar and onions, before being grilled over an open flame on large metal skewers. Despite its association with Russia, and other ex-Soviet republics, it is of Turkish origin.
Identify this style of watch hand (5), which has a clean, minimalist design. It can also refer to something used by an orchestra conductor and in a group track and field event.
What style of tilework is inspired from the namesake form of traditional porcelain ware that is popular in Thailand? With a name that translates to "five colours", this technique of using multi-coloured enamels on a white porcelain base originated under the Ming dynasty but began to take its current form during the Ayutthaya period.
Massachuesetts Institute of Technology has delivered the most Nobel Prize winners in Economic Sciences. Which Turkish-American economist, who won the Nobel Prize in 2024 along with Simon Johnson and James A Robinson was ranked third in a 2011 list of America's favourite living economists ? He has taught at MIT since 1993.
Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" opens with the death of the "grand master" of what fraternal organization founded in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in an attempt to create a chivalrous order that he claimed was the latest front of a secret society that existed on Mount Zion? Its goal was to install Merovingian bloodline to the throne of France. Before it spurred Brown's imagination, it was the subject of the 1988 non-fiction work The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail.
What alliterative name was given to the leaked documents originating from the Central American law firm Mossack Fonseca? It revealed offshore tax fraud being committed by several HNIs and large corporations.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Trinidadian Olympian Ato Boldon wore these distinctive reflective sunglasses designed by Oakley that was dubbed by many as looking excessive. What were these glasses called, owing to the direction from which it wrapped around the athlete's head?
Which light sponge cake was baked to celebrate the wedding of Princess Victoria to Prince Louis in 1884? It gets its name from the German town that was the seat of the prince's family.
The Mad Men episode titled ____________ (12) looks at what lays ahead for SCDP and its employees. The episode's title stems from Don's visit to a popular theme park in California, which sets the course for his future. The title refers to one of the themed sections of the park and shares its name with an electronic music festival. What is the title? (12)
Who is this Tunisian footballer? This Montpellier attacking midfielder scored the only goal in his nation’s upset win vs. France at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Many Hispanic surnames trace their origins to Arabic words. Which Hispanic surname derives from the Arabic word for "lord" (sayyid) and would be most familiar to us as part of the adopted name of a mercenary born as Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar in 1043?
Subtitled "or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon", what is the one-word title of Robert Hooke's historically significant 1668 work that included never before seen zoomed-in illustrations of insects and plants? The word also describes the small, cramped handwriting seen among those with Parkinson's Disease (PD).
The villains Emerald Weapon and Sephiroth (visual), 5th and 8th on Vulture's list of hardest video game bosses, feature in the seventh installment of which RPG by Square Enix? The franchise got its alliterative name because the developers thought it would be the ultimate illusion created by them before the company went bankrupt.
These flags (visual), most of which feature a traditional canoe called Camakau, were shortlisted as part of a 2015 exercise to change the flag of which country? After a historic sporting victory the next year, where the current flag was waved enthusiastically, the government dropped this plan. The current flag features among other things a lion, sugar cane, a coconut palm, a dove, and bananas.
Manjunath Nayaker is a PR professional based out of Bangalore. Most Indians would recognise him as a child actor for having played the protagonist in which popular TV series of the 1980s that was filmed primarily in Agumbe, a small town in Karnataka's Western Ghats?
Which shade of red is a vivid hue that gets its name from the fact that 'senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church' wear cassocks of this hue, even though the colour of the cassocks is commonly understood to be scarlet? A group of American passerine birds (buntings) of this shade also share the same name.
John F. Kennedy wore a version of the Cartier ____ (4) with an 18k gold case and brown alligator strap, an anniversary gift from Jacqueline. Which model (4), whose original design was inspired by certain armoured military vehicles (by Renault) deployed during WW1?
“This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” shouted journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi while throwing a pair of shoes at which dignitary during a news conference? To his credit the intended recipient of this missile ducked successfully and later humourously observed, “All I can report is a size 10.” Who was this agile target?