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Any Questions #318 - "Famous MacKenzies"

WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel welcome a special guest to the program: actor Mackenzie Astin.

Last week's challenge
Start with the phrase PENNY-FARTHING. Change one letter to an A (not the one that's already there) and you can rearrange the result to spell the two-word name of something used for cooking and a four-letter word for something you need while you're using that thing. What are they?
Answer: If you change an N to an A, you can spell FRYING PAN and HEAT.

THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: FAMOUS MACKENZIES
On-air questions: It is once again Special Guest Answerer time here on Any Questions?. This time around, we've got an actor whose credits include the film Iron Will and the TV shows Mad Men and Lost and House and The Facts of Life and The Magicians…and I could go on and on but then we wouldn't have time for the trivia, so I'll just stop there and say: Mackenzie Astin, welcome to Any Questions?! Since our Special Guest Answerer's name is Mackenzie, this week we've got questions about famous Mackenzies.

1. In November of 2013, MacKenzie Bezos wrote a 1-star review of a book titled The Everything Store. In the review, she claimed the book had multiple inaccuracies and was a misrepresentation of the culture at what online retailer?
2. Dougal, Colum, and Brianna are three members of Clan Mackenzie, an 18th-century family living in the Scottish Highlands. They are characters in a series of historical time travel novels by author Diana Gabaldon adapted into a 2014 series on the Starz network titled what?
3. Goalie Mackenzie Skapski was on the roster of the Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League when he was called up in February of 2014 to the Wolf Pack's NHL affiliate after their goalie Henrik Lundqvist was injured during a game. What NHL team is the Wolf Pack affiliated with?
4. The Mackenzie River is the largest and longest river in Canada, and the second-longest in North America, behind the Mississippi River. It begins in a lake in the Northwest Territories and flows some 1700 kilometers north where it drains into what ocean?
5. First appearing in an episode of the animated series Futurama titled "Fry and the Slurm Factory", a worm named Slurms MacKenzie is the mascot for a soft drink called Slurm. The character is a parody of Spuds MacKenzie, who was, from 1987 to 1989, the mascot for what beverage brand?

Extra credit
1. Dancers and actresses Mackenzie Ziegler and her sister Maddie gained fame when they appeared from 2011- to 2016 on what Lifetime reality series?
2. Singer Shirley Manson began her musical career in the 1980s with a band called Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. Currently, Manson is the lead singer for what band, which recorded the theme song for the 1999 James Bond film The World is Not Enough?

This week's challenge
Start with the name of our special guest MACK ASTIN. Add a letter and you can rearrange the result to spell a five-letter word for what Harry Houdini was known for, and a five-letter word for things he often used. What are the words?

ANSWERS
On-air questions

1. Amazon
2. Outlander
3. New York Rangers
4. Arctic Ocean
5. Budweiser

Extra credit
1. Dance Moms
2. Garbage

 

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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