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Come Again?

By Randy CohenPosted Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET

No. 154: "Come Again?"

Who said this about what? "What are we going to tell him, not to come? Don't come? I can prevent him from coming?"

by noon ET Wednesday to e-mail your answer to newsquiz@slate.com.

Monday's question (No. 153)--"Get the 60 Point":
I give the lead, you give the headline. From the current St. Petersburg Times of Russia:

Sasha is a scrawny 15-year-old with big brown eyes and floppy hair. He lives with his mother and grandmother, gets frustrated with school and wants to be a carpenter or a car mechanic when he grows up. He sounds like a normal teen-age boy. Except for the fact that he used to buy half a liter of gasoline a day and ...

" Buy a Boy!"--Jennifer Miller

"Meet Natasha, the Flame-Retardant Granny."--Tim Carvell (Andrew Silow-Carroll had a similar answer.)

"St. Pete Teen Has Hot Idea for Local Synagogues!"--Evan Cornog

"First TV Movie Announced From Aaron Spelling-Todd Solondz Team."--Andrew Milner

" 'I'm Not Like My Brothers': Fourth Hanson Turns Up in St. Petersburg."--Susan Burton

Click here for more responses.

Randy's Wrap-Up
Many responses treated the question as a fill in the blank, which it was not. Once again, News Quiz has lost its innocence for the first time and must urge you to read the directions. But what tone to take--chiding? chastising? scourging? What is the right level of force, as Rudolph Giuliani never asks himself?
Even for those who read the instructions and used a No. 2 pencil, completely filling in each little circle, there's something uncomfortable about this question, exploiting as it does the suffering of a child. Lenny Bruce used to refer to "people like myself and J. Edgar Hoover, who thrive on the continuation of greed, misery, and despair." I do believe that News Quiz responses are more Brucian than Hooverian in their relationship to suffering. And, after all, the lead did include the word "floppy." That's just asking for it.

Triumph of Capitalism Answer
"Drugs Hit Hard in Well-Placed City," as John Kenyon knew (click here or, if you prefer, here), writing from Russia and hence unfairly exploiting actual knowledge.
Sasha "used to buy half a liter of gasoline a day and inhale the fumes after school." Now he's in the teen-age boys ward of Psychiatric Hospital No. 3.
Alice Agnado writes: "Sasha and the other boys in his ward are among the most hapless victims of the city's exploding drug problem. Russia's relaxed borders have made St. Petersburg a major hub in the country's drug trade, serving as both a lucrative gateway for traffic abroad and a local breeding ground for a new and vulnerable generation of addicts--some as young as seven years old.
"The fight against drugs is complicated by rampant corruption within the police force. Off the record, police officers admit that many fellow officers--one detective's estimate was 30 percent--are corrupt.
"Sasha and his chums await a letter of apology from Ronald Reagan explaining his joy at the collapse of the Soviet Union." (Final sentence added by News Quiz.)

The Man Can't Bust Our Music Extra
(Pop music journalism around the world.)

Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates)

In an exclusive interview, A.R. Rahman, the "King of Indian Pop," speaks to Vasanti Sundaram:

V.S.: Marriage, was it a risk?
A.R.R.: Of course! (Lets out his infectious laugh) My marriage ... hmm. ... I felt my family was a better judge because I hardly knew life outside music. I asked my mother to select the girl and I had a very traditional and old-fashioned marriage.

(Incidentally, his wife, Saira, is the sister-in-law of the Malayalam superstar Rehman.)

Oman Daily Observer

"In his Wrangler jeans and Reebok T-shirt, he could be mistaken for one of the teeny-bopper college lads who spends a better part of his day with friends. Bunking lectures, driving fast cars and partying. At home, his room resembles a music shop, with a vast repertoire of cassettes, CDs and posters of pop stars adorning his walls. But hold it. He's no ordinary boy.
"Amaan Ali Bangash, son of the famous sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, bears the great responsibility of carrying the baton of musical tradition that his father has passed on to him."

Variety (Sydney, Australia)

"The Wiggles, an Australian band sometimes referred to as the 'fab four for the under 5s,' are planning their assault on American tykes.
"They have sold more than 800,000 CDs and 1.5 million videos Down Under in addition to shooting a TV series and feature film. Dallas-based Lyric Studios, which is best known for its 'Barney' brand, has clinched a five-year deal to distribute the Wiggles' seven videos, eight CDs and new products Stateside.
"The Wiggles--Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, Greg Page and Murray Cook--play an average of 500 concerts a year, performing alongside the characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword."

Randy Cohen writes News Quiz for Slate.

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