NITK Fine Print 2021 MELAS Quiz - Finals

MELAS Quiz
Conducted and researched by:
Rithwik Rao

Special Thanks to:
● Literary, Stage and Debating Society, NITK
● Amal Mohan, Guinea Pig
● Swastik Udupa, Guinea Pig
● Dhruv Warrior, Guinea Pig
● Aditi Gupta, Guinea Pig
● Shashank Singit, for sacrificing his participation in order to assist me

And Then There Were Eight:
The Finals

Basic rules
- Keep your videos on throughout the quiz and place your camera in such a
position that your hands are visible.
- Do not Google. Googling can be discovered from your answers.
- Any signs of malpractice will lead to direct disqualification.
- I am the God. I am the one who knocks. My decision is final.

Rounds
1) Written Round - 6 questions
2) Infinite Bounce/Pounce - 12 questions
3) Written Round - 6 questions
4) Infinite Bounce/Pounce - 12 questions

Rules
Theme: Puns
Written round of 6 questions. Send all 6 answers as one message.
Please stay muted until we discuss the answers unless you want hints, want to
block hints or have any doubts related to the question.
+10 for each correct answer.

1
This book is a biography published late last century which narrates the stories of
soldiers in the Confederate army who fought under the command of Robert E
Lee in the late part of the American Civil War.
The book offers a compelling social history of the wretched soldiers in the army
with most of them suffering from clinical depression. It is a detailed record of
the soldiers’ experiences based on the research on more than 1200 wartime
letters and diaries by the soldiers.
What is the title of the book which is a pun on the name of another famous book
which was published at around the same time when these events happened?

2
Since the mid 2010s, a documentary web series has been telling us the historical
stories of thefts, smuggling, confiscations and disappearances of various famous
or unknown works by renowned painters and a few artefacts. The web series digs
deep into how these treasures were looted, stolen or vanished into the archives
through re-enactment and analyses by detectives, art pundits and historians.
The name of the web series is a punny take on the title of a first of the four in a
famous film franchise which has spanned across last and the current centuries
and the name is obtained by replacing only one letter in the film’s title.
What is the name of this web series?

3
In October 2008, an Australian newspaper had a part of the headline as “How
very ___________…” referring to the Australian cricket team losing the Border-
Gavaskar trophy in Mohali with one game in hand in the series.
The text below the headline talked about how recent retirements of legends like
Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist had hit hard on them. It
mainly spoke on how the cricket team had lost their confidence and the disputes
in the dressing room between the team members.
FITB which was an apt pun involving a player’s name.

4
This product named _______ is
manufactured by a certain British company
and pays tongue-in-cheek homage to a
gruesome late 19th century incident related
to a person, X. The catchphrase of this goes
“X couldn’t undo his mistake but with this
_______, you can undo yours.”
Which incident does this product pay a
homage to? What is the product’s name, a
pun obtained by adding one letter to what
this product is, which in turn, is an object of
daily use by especially schoolchildren?

5
This person’s popular name X was first used by him during his days as a conman
to introduce himself to his targets. The name itself is a pun on an optimistic
phrase and the phrase sounded very similar to this name.
After his life as a conman, he chose a certain profession but he realized he can’t
succeed in it by honest efforts and also had a huge obstacle by using his real
name since his own brother was a big man in the same profession. Thus, for the
sake of publicity and moving on from a guilt, he went back to use his old name X
to help the crooked get out of trouble. The name X itself sounded like the phrase
to let them know there was nothing to worry as long as he handled the situation.
What is his name X? What’s the phrase?

6
On his return flight to London after his three month vacation, X was developing
a new alter ego of sorts for an upcoming project that he was involved in. X spent
a lot of time on deciding a name for this particular project with his manager.
At one instant, when they were having a meal amidst this discussion, the
manager picked up one of the chips packets and saw letters S and P on them.
“What’s that mean? Oh Y and Z” he said while he was munching. X misheard
these words and said that it was a good name. He conveyed the name on to the
other three involved in the project to which they all agreed.
What portion of the project’s name, which was an aural pun on the manager’s
quote, was derived from this incident?

4
This product named _______ is
manufactured by a certain British company
and pays tongue-in-cheek homage to a
gruesome late 19th century incident related to
a person, X. The catchphrase of this goes “X
couldn’t undo his mistake but with this
_______, you can undo yours.”
Which incident does this product pay a
homage to? What is the product’s name, a pun
obtained by adding one letter to what this
product is, which in turn, is an object of daily
use by especially schoolchildren?

Vincent Van Gogh cutting off his own ear
Earaser

5
This person’s popular name X was first used by him during his days as a conman
to introduce himself to his targets. The name itself is a pun on an optimistic
phrase and the phrase sounded very similar to this name.
After his life as a conman, he chose a certain profession but he realized he can’t
succeed in it by honest efforts and also had a huge obstacle by using his real
name since his own brother was a big man in the same profession. Thus, for the
sake of publicity and moving on from a guilt, he went back to use his old name X
to help the crooked get out of trouble. The name X itself sounded like the phrase
to let them know there was nothing to worry as long as he handled the situation.
Give me his good name X. What’s the phrase?

Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
“It’s all good man”

6
On his return flight to London after his three month vacation, X was developing
a new alter ego of sorts for an upcoming project that he was involved in.X spent a
lot of time on deciding a name for this particular project with his manager.
At one instant, when they were having a meal amidst this discussion, the
manager picked up one of the chips packets and saw letters S and P on them.
“What’s that mean? Oh Y and Z” he said while he was munching. X misheard
these words and said that it was a good name. He conveyed the name on to the
other three involved in the project to which they all agreed.
What portion of the project’s name, which was an aural pun on the manager’s
quote, was derived from this incident?

Rules
Infinite Bounce/Pounce Round
Clockwise
12 questions
Pounce: +10/-5. Pounce through messaging. Let me know just before you pounce,
through the mic. Pounce only after the full question is read out. If a question has
two parts then both parts must be given correctly on the pounce
Bounce: +10/0. Bounces on the mic. Bounce only after I say “Pounce is closed”.
Mics to be muted unless you are bouncing, pouncing, asking doubts or blocking
hints.

1
In a certain episode of the Simpsons, Homer takes a nap in the middle of
Springfield museum after observing the museum’s art collection.
While napping, he has a nightmare of sorts where he is attacked by several
characters. His first attacker is a character, who comes to him in a wheel that
inscribes and circumscribes a square, punches and kicks him multiple times
using his hands and legs within a few seconds. The last attacker throws several
cans at him, but before doing that, he says “Soup’s on, fat boy!”
Who was the first attacker and the last attacker in Homer’s dream?

2
The book X had its foundation in the end of 20th century when the author came
across a news story of an unauthorized forced ban of a traditional sport in his
Asian homeland which was found to be difficult to swallow.
Though the initial version faced a lot of rejections, the author decided to extend
it after a 2-year hiatus. Six months into his effort for the extension, a strong
reason that seeked global attention to his homeland, resulted as a motivating
factor for him to re-submit the extended version which eventually became X. X
provided insight into the country about the culture and difficulties faced which
changed the rudimentary negative picture that the world had about this nation.
ID the book X. What was the motivating factor-cum-claim to fame of this book?

3
Shown in pic is of an actor who was a
familiar name to Marathi theatre and the
Marathi film industry throughout his
career. However, most of the Indian
masses know him due to a 3 minute
cameo that he played in a late 2000s
Bollywood flick who has left a big impact
extending to even memes.
Which character is he most famously
known for?

Venugopal Iyer from Dhamaal (or rather, Prabhakarna
Sripalavardhana………….Venugopal Iyer)

4
In the olden days, every vinyl disc had two sides - a side A and a side B. By
placing the side A facing upwards and side B facing downwards, one would listen
to the song which appeared on the front side of the vinyl’s cover.
Shown in next slide is the side B of a certain vinyl record from about four
decades ago. The eye-catching feature of this vinyl record was its very apt and
unique outline, in contrast to the traditional circular outline that vinyl discs
have. This was actually a marketing gimmick to attract Europeans by making
them look at side A of the vinyl disc and to listen to the song the vinyl contained.
One prominent result of this was that the song reached #3 in Britain.
Which song’s innovatively designed vinyl record was this?

5
Although the director is the one accustomed to scream “Action!”, a particular
sci-fi production had takes where the lead actress had the same authority for
filming of certain climactic scenes. This was because only she could estimate and
control the timing of a fluid to visibly drip so that the sequences involving the
exhibition of her character’s unique traits come out perfectly.
During an interview about two years ago, the actress said these scenes were one
of the hardest to film because she would usually come across three problems:
faulty estimation of the timing of the fluid flow, the fluid preventing her to
deliver her dialogues clearly and she had to be in the exact same position and
posture as in the immediately preceding scenes.
Which production? Which climactic scenes are being talked about?

Stranger Things
Eleven’s nosebleeds while using psychic powers

6
It is a common tradition to name the stadiums or the stands of the stadiums after
cricketers who have graced the game. However, the cricketer X has a cricket
stadium seat named after him.
This seat (pic in next slide) of a stadium in the Southern hemisphere has been
immortalized in the name of X to commemorate his crucial innings of brilliance
that lead his team to a historic first in the 21st century, although X was a regular
for his team for a short time. To visibly distinguish the seat, it has been painted
in green to remind who the opponents were when X produced this unforgettable
innings which is the most memorable moment of the player’s career.
Who is the seat named after (X)? Why is this specific stadium seat immortalized
in his honour?

X - Grant Elliott
His winning six against SA in ICC WC 2015 SF landed here

7
The following translated extracts are from a poem written by a German author.
What is the exact subject of this poem?
“Two men and one woman as if this were mere
chance
But what grabs me is the erotic pleasure of
complete emptiness.
They don’t say a word and why should they?
Both of them are smoking but there is no
smoke.
I bet she wrote him a letter
Whatever it said, he’s no longer the man who’d
read her letters twice”
“The other man is by himself, remembering a
woman,
She wore a red dress too. That was ages ago.
He likes knowing women like this still exist
But he’s no longer interested.
What might have been between them back
then?
I bet he wanted her.
I bet she said no”

8
Sometime in the 2000s, a certain American short-term fake production company
was established and the company had a website of their own.
For it’s lone production, they recorded interviews around the United States and
suddenly produced the release forms to the interviewees along with financial
compensation in advance. People from this “company” were present during the
recordings of the interviews to ensure that the situation was under control by
citing third-world country problems when the interviewees found it difficult to
cooperate with the odd questions asked to them.
Where were these clips of interviews used to the eventual disgust of the
interviewees?

9
_______ Circle is an American organization with an aim of educating the
straight citizens about the discrimination faced by LGBT people and their
relatives with respect to civil and political rights.
The organization is named after a famous literary character who, on a small
scale, worked tirelessly and sincerely for the welfare of a class of people which
was opposite to the class associated with him. The symbolism of the character is
met here by the straight allies fighting for LGBT rights.
Which fictional character lends his name to this organization?

Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird

10
In the audio is a piece of music composed originally for a Hollywood movie five
decades ago.
The musical piece was then renamed in honour of a juvenile five years after its
release, after it was used in a mini-documentary by an American televising
company which was a collection of this juvenile’s performances that caught the
world’s attention. There has also been a common misinterpretation that the
piece of music was used regularly for the juvenile’s performances themselves.
Who was this juvenile?
(Audio removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Kc2NlFMHo)

11
In 2013, a particular American science website posted a blog titled “Why the X was
not __ _______” talking about how a famous scene X is not scientifically fatal.
The research blog mentions that an object like a bullet, which has a large force
imparted to it, enters the orbit and easily passes through all brain layers which
results in excessive bleeding to death. A certain object of a smaller diameter,
however, does not have much force imparted to it. So, it always follows the path of
least resistance that the brain layers offer. By following this path, the object will
have to pass through a large number of brain layers and get stuck which will result
in no damage to the organs supplying blood to the brain and hence won’t be fatal.
Which 21st century movie scene am I talking about (X)? Complete the apt title by
filling in the blanks.

Joker’s Pencil Trick from The Dark Knight
So Serious

12
This song had its inception during the band’s practice sessions when one of them
played a guitar riff between the songs they were practicing. The other members
then based their own chords on this riff and within a day, the lead singer wrote a
song based on his then girlfriend who reminded him of good memories in his
hard times of childhood.
Later on, when the band exhibited what they could come up with to their
producer, he felt something was missing towards the end of the song. This was
when the lead singer was not sure and asked a question to the band members
about how to proceed to complete it. The producer then suggested to use this
question as a rhetorical and repetitive lyric towards the end of the song.
Which song with an iconic introductory riff? What was the rhetorical lyric?

Sweet Child o’ Mine
“Where do we go now?”

Rules
Theme: MELAS in Biz
Written round of 6 questions. Send all 6 answers as one message.
Please stay muted until we discuss the answers unless you want hints, want to
block hints or have any doubts related to the question.
+10 for each correct answer.

1
There are a quite a few fan theories as to why X has been nicknamed Y, which is
also the name of an American multinational company.
One popular fan theory is because X delivered in critical times of his career.
Another popular one is because X is timely and fast in both running around and
making quick decisions similar to how Y functions in their operations.
ID X and Y.

2
In the mid 2000s, an advertising poster by a certain French international
clothing company landed themselves in hot soup when they were asked to
remove the posters in parts of southern Europe, where it was deemed
controversial. The company tried to defend the poster by saying it wasn’t meant
to hurt sentiments but that it was an embodiment of women empowerment.
By looking at some of the cutouts of the poster in the next slide, tell me what the
whole poster was inspired by.

3
A California-based company, best known for laying foundations for certain
skyscrapers in the financial district of San Francisco, proclaims to be a big name
in laying down strong underground foundations through deep drilling and also in
manufacturing robust drilling rigs and other equipment for foundation work. The
company has been a winner in various infrastructure award categories.
When they advertised themselves through an article in a business magazine, an
apt title was chosen for the article, same as the title of a song from almost a
decade ago which also “laid a foundation” for a certain individual in their career.
What was the title of the article?

4
This food brand was established in mid 1990s when Paramount Pictures decided
to collaborate with a Californian primarily non-vegetarian food chain, based on a
previous venture of the former.
Shockingly, the company opened its first restaurant in a Californian town and
not in a certain Southern state. The brand has now established it’s branches in
the countries Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada, Mariana Islands and
Philippines.
Which brand is this?

5
KPMG, the famous accounting firm, published an article in 2015 to justify why a
certain campaigning model, involving very limited number of supplementaries
along with the primary product, was a brilliant marketing strategy.
Some of these justifications included the following points: i) Hoping to obtain the
absolutely free but precious supplementaries, the buyers of the products had
nothing to lose as they would at least be privileged with the primary product in
hand. ii) It played around with human quality of adamancy as masses would go
on buying the primary products greedily for the sake of the supplementaries. iii)
The distribution of the supplementaries, with respect to time and locations, was
smartly spread out to accelerate the hype train worldwide.
Which campaign is this which was first introduced in the mid 1960s by a World
War veteran?

6
Herno is an Italian brand that manufactures apparel such as raincoats, sweaters
and jackets. Their products are focused on modern customers who desire a
blend of symbolic craftsmanship and smooth taste.
After making their products familiar to people in Germany without much of
intention, a person X helped Herno gain popularity in Britain since less than 5
years ago by regularly sporting their jackets and coats to survive the typical rain
and chill of English weather.
Who is X?

1
There are a quite a few fan theories as to why X has been nicknamed Y by his
fans, which is also the name of an American multinational company.
One popular one is because X delivered in critical times of his career. Another
popular one is because X is timely and fast in both running around and making
quick decisions similar to how Y functions in their operations.
ID X and Y.

The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci

3
A California-based company, best known for laying foundations for certain
skyscrapers in the financial district of San Francisco, proclaims to be a big name
in laying down strong underground foundations through deep drilling and also in
manufacturing robust drilling rigs and other equipment for foundation work. The
company has been a winner in various infrastructure award categories such as
structural engineering, safety engineering, etc.
When they advertised themselves through an article in a business magazine, an
apt title was chosen for the article, same as the title of a song from almost a
decade ago which also “laid a foundation” for a certain individual in their career.
What was the title of the article?

5
KPMG, the famous accounting firm, published an article in 2015 to justify why a
certain campaigning model, involving very limited number of supplementaries
along with the primary product, was an excellent marketing strategy.
Some of these justifications included the following points: i) Hoping to obtain the
absolutely free but precious supplementaries, the buyers of the products had
nothing to lose as they would at least be privileged with the primary product in
hand. ii) It played around with human quality of adamancy as masses would go
on buying the primary products greedily for the sake of the supplementaries. iii)
The distribution of the supplementaries, with respect to time and locations, was
smartly spread out to accelerate the hype train worldwide.
Which campaign is this which was first introduced in the mid 1960s by a World
War veteran?

The Golden Ticket campaign from Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory

Rules
Infinite Bounce/Pounce Round
Anti-clockwise
12 questions
Pounce: +10/-5. Pounce through messaging. Let me know just before you pounce,
through the mic. Pounce only after the full question is read out. If a question has
two parts then both parts must be given correctly on the pounce
Bounce: +10/0. Bounces on the mic. Bounce only after I say “Pounce is closed”.
Mics to be muted unless you are bouncing, pouncing, asking doubts or blocking
hints.

1
X went on to be named so due to the fact that a certain Daniel, who initially
formed X on his own, was born on a day of a nearby sovereign’s historic
significance.
One of X’s most famous works Y, which also has historical contexts, is a possible
interpretation of two victims of a disaster having a conversation during the times
of turmoil. The work involves part of their conversations which talk about the
tumbling walls of their city and the dark clouds engulfing the sky above them.
ID X and Y.

X - Bastille
Y - Pompeii
“And the walls kept tumbling
down in the city that we loved
Grey clouds roll over the hills
bringing darkness from above”

2
In July 2016, an Associate Justice of a US Supreme Court was summoned to a
South European city to preside over a mock appeal of an old verdict between X
and Y on the 500th anniversary of the foundation of arguably the world’s first
ghetto in the city.
After two hours of arguments and twenty minutes of deliberations, the
revamped verdict was to restore back the property and religious freedom to X,
although what he required in the original trial was not promised to be given. As
for Y, who was declared as a fraudster, she was sanctioned by having to attend
law degrees at universities where the other two judges taught.
Who were these people X and Y?

3
The woman (pic is shown in next slide) is known to be a Jack of some trades at
least by involving her career in costume designing, writing and painting.
Despite the current octogenarian's talents in multiple fields throughout several
years, her childhood was spent in times of turmoil with a large group of mostly
senior counterparts. A key feature of her appearance during her childhood stood
out in the memories of this group. One of those counterparts, later in his life,
talked about his own experiences in the times of turmoil which was adapted into
a work that involved in-and-out appearances by a character that was based on
the child version of this woman.
Which character was modeled on her?

The Girl in Red from Schindler’s List

4
In July 2018, an American travel agency introduced a new tour package of 8
days/7 nights in Spain, Morocco and Egypt retracing a famous travel route,
courtesy a South American, but with a modern tweak. The journey starts with a
train ride from Madrid to Seville through the Sierra Morena mountains.
The rest of the highlights of the trip goes like this in order: exploring Seville, a
ferry ride from Gibraltar to Tangier, exploring Tangier and Casablanca, a flight
to Cairo, camel rides in the Egyptian Sahara, an overstay on Nile houseboats and
the trip finally concludes with a visit to the Great Pyramids of Giza. All the
tourists received a souvenir at the end of the tour at the Cairo Airport.
Which famous route did the tour retrace? What was the souvenir received at the
end of the tour?

Santiago’s journey in The Alchemist
A copy of The Alchemist

5
Deflategate was a 2015 National Football League (NFL) controversy involving the
allegation that the then New England Patriots player Tom Brady (gOaT oF aLL
sPOrTs) ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs during the Patriot’s match
against Indianapolis Colts.
Four days after the incident, a cartoon mocking the incident was published in an
Indianapolis based magazine which was a parody of a famous entity from the last
century. The two significant differences between the cartoon and the entity were
that the deflated American footballs replaced certain unusually deformed objects
in the original and the name of the Patriots coach appearing at the bottom right
corner, to show as if it was signed by him.
Which entity got parodied in this cartoon?

Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory

6
This is an audio clip of “Paravashanadenu”, a Kannada song sung by Sonu Nigam
for the 2011 Sandalwood film Paramathma.
Which famous song loosely inspires this melody with one small part noticeably
ripped off?
(Audio removed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJbl08pV0p0 (0:07-1:19))

Hotel California by The Eagles

7
In the game League of Legends, there exists a character whose two powers are
allusions to a famous mid 19th century literary work.
One is the unorthodox weapons he uses to attack his enemies which are
considered as bad omens. The character usually releases these weapons from his
shoulder. The other power is a spell that he casts to immobilize his enemies
which is a slight modification of a famous phrase from this work, replacing only
one letter.
What weapons are used by him? What spell does he utter to immobilize his
enemies?

Ravens
Nevermove (a slight change from Nevermore)

8
The iconic oration of this sentence was not a part of the screenplay but was an
impromptu performance when the director told him to give in his best attempt
in the last scene to be shot when the script just gave a brief description about
what he was supposed to do.
Years later, the actor said that it just came to the tip of his tongue and was
repeatedly ringing in his head since the time he visited a concert of a famous
individual in New York, a few days before this scene was filmed. He said that the
origin of the words were when the singer replied to the crowd’s unstoppable
chants of his name by pretending to show humility and asking “___ ___
_______ __ __?”
Which iconic line is being talked about over here?

“You talkin’ to me?” from Taxi Driver

9
Shown here is a doll of a comic character
who is one of the main characters in a comic
book series which was originally illustrated
in Portuguese.
A feature of this character, however,
inspired someone to do something while he
was in the Far East about two decades ago.
What was drawn inspiration from this comic
character?

Ronaldo’s haircut at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

10
In the very late part of the 19th century, the residents of a municipality situated
80 kms northwest of Paris, were not happy with a newcomer’s actions when he
brought in certain imports from South America and Egypt because they felt that
these imports could poison the municipal water supply of the town, which came
from a small tributary of the Seine.
The residents went on to register a complaint to the city council of the
municipality, who eventually ordered the newcomer to get rid of his imports but
the newcomer did not agree to this.
Had the newcomer agreed to the city council’s orders, what would have not
existed today?

Claude Monet’s Water Lilies paintings

11
About 5 years ago, a cinematographer residing in a central European city was
consulted by a director for an upcoming project. He was told that the lighting for
most of the project had to be a mix of gloominess and clarity.
To test out the desired aesthetic, he went on an expedition to a forest on the
outskirts of this city with an intern because the forest was an important backdrop
in this production. While the photos of the intern were being clicked on a rainy
day, something in the pictures stood out to catch the director’s eye when the
pictures were shown. Thus, the director decided to use similar entities for the
main characters, a choice that turned out to be iconic.
This is the story behind what iconic choice of an entity in the production?

12
A 2018 rap single by a certain Scandinavian rapper featured many other amateur
rappers and the song has a basic plot to it where the main artist asks all the
other rappers featured if they have stolen his skin cream. The last amateur
rapper to be chronologically featured in this song is X. Before X starts his rap, he
is introduced by this rap sequence [translated]:
"I don't think this works. We have to change strategy. This is just going to be
nonsense and conspiracy theory. We need a genius and a real MC. A master brain
that does not offer any referral."
Who is X? Using what apt translated word does X end the song?

NITK Fine Print 2021 MELAS Quiz - Finals

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NITK Fine Print 2021 MELAS Quiz - Finals