News Quiz

No. 203: “Gloat, Little Gloat Worm”

Who said this to whom about what: “Keep on doing what you’re doing, and don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

by 5 p.m. ET Sunday to e-mail your answer to newsquiz@slate.com.

Monday’s Question (No. 203)–“Gloat, Little Gloat Worm”:Mattel, Al Gore, Landry’s Seafood Restaurants, and Cruel Intentions can all make the same boast. What?

“All can be purchased in Beijing.”–Daniel Radosh (Greg Diamond and David Ballard had a similar answer.)

“They are each based on a Jane Austen novel. (I could be wrong about Cruel Intentions.)”–Andrew Silow-Carroll

“Four things that drove Stanley Kubrick into self-imposed exile.”–Beth Sherman

“Each would have had more effect on the Balkans peace process than Bob Dole did.”–Joe Lengieza

“One makes Skipper. One wakes Tipper. One bakes Flipper. And one … to take a guess at what Peter Travers said in Rolling Stone, is ‘like Les Liaisons Dangereuses, but much, much hipper!’ “–Meg Wolitzer

Click for more answers.

Randy’s Wrap-Up

Ah, the smell of it. Many of you wallowed in the olfactory, particularly in the odor of corruption and fish. (If News Quiz were played by dogs, what a merry romp that would be! Crazy, hey? I give the Cabinet secretary; you give the scent.) Oscar nominee William Shakespeare alludes to fish aroma when he says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” His was another example of the bisexual symbolism of fish; it is one of the few things used to represent both male and female genitalia. “Stinking fish” was a derogatory Elizabethan reference to vaginal odor; and cod–as in cod piece–was slang for penis. Perhaps the fish is such a flexible metaphor because the general shape of its body is phallic, while its open mouth suggests the vaginal. So, who’s hungry? Anybody up for seafood?

Inductive, Funductive Answer

As Pamela Weishaar knew, (click for more Pamela Weishaar), “We’re No. 2!”

Mattel, the nation’s No. 1 toy company will become its second largest consumer software producer, behind Microsoft, when it completes its purchase of the Learning Company for $3.8 billion.

Al Gore requires no explanation except, perhaps, for his astonishing physical grace. The man moves like a young panther.

Landry’s is No. 2 in what the restaurant industry calls the “casual seafood” category. Last week, Landry’s agreed to buy Consolidated Restaurants for $84 million in stock and $80 million in assumed debt, giving Landry’s control over The Spaghetti Warehouse. For my money, nothing says good eating like “warehouse.”

Cruel Intentions was No. 2 at the box office this past weekend in what the movie industry calls the “dim-witted teen remake” category. (Analyze This was No. 1.)

You Be the MBA Extra

I give the revealing detail; you give the corporation.

Revealing Detail

1. Fourth quarter operating earnings fell 27 percent.

2. Laying off thousands of the lowest paid workers.

3. Last year’s pay for two co-chairman exceeds $26 million each.

4. Head of the corporation says linchpin of long-term strategic development is: “talent, talent, talent, talent, talent.”

5. Board of directors damned to hell for all eternity.

Answers

1-3. All refer to Citigroup

4. Quotes Charlotte Beers, new chairwoman of J. Walter Thompson advertising

5. Is conjectural; check with your spiritual leader

Common Denominators

Plastic parts and fish fragrance.

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