We Come In Peace

Tuesday night, a horde of Simpsons fans descended on the Gladstone Hotel for the 1 year anniversary of Classic Simpsons Trivia Night. The main area, Melody Bar, as well as the Art Bar and the Ballroom were full. In addition to 3 rounds of Simpsons Trivia, there were 3 user-voted Simpsons episodes shown on the big screen.

This was a good night to attend my first ever Simpsons Trivia. The first 2 rounds were comprised of 20 questions each: 10 general Simpsons question, and 10 themed ones. The last round is a 10 questions lightning round. Episodes being shown included Bart vs. Australia, Homer Goes To College, and Last Exit To Springfield.

I found the questions ranged from fairly easy: Ralph Wiggum's name for the school admin is SuperNintendo Chalmers; to difficult: Everyone knows the Simpsons live at Evergreen Terrace, but not many knew that their neighbourhood is Pressboard Estates; to WTF: The Larry Davis Experience is the band that plays at most Simpsons' celebrations.

I left after round 2 because the mania was getting weird. I love the Simpsons but the over-the-top guffaws and the group recitation of almost every line of dialogue got tiresome. It's ironic that in the college episode there were 3 nerds who prided themselves on their obscure knowledge of Star Trek and Monty Python skits. But I don't think they would have felt at home here either ... because we were not among our kind! These were geeks, not nerds. I leave it to the reader to articulate the difference.