Any Questions?
Fridays, 6:25 p.m. on Northeast Report Late Edition
- Hosted by Ian Pickus
- Local Host Mike Nothnagel and Ian Pickus
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty. Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
Last week's challenge: Start with the phrase SORRY ABOUT THAT. Rearrange the letters to spell a six-letter profession, a five-letter word for something that person might create, and a three-letter word for a computer key they might press while creating that thing. What are the words?
Answer: AUTHOR, STORY, TAB
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: KEN BURNS SUBJECTS
On-air questions: This week, PBS has been airing a much-anticipated new documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick focused on Ernest Hemingway, which the New York Times lauded as a “Big Two-Hearted Reconsideration.” In honor of Burns’ new film, I thought we would look back on some of his earlier much-imitated works. I’ll name some details about each, you name the subject of each film.
1. Featuring Roger Angell, Keith Olbermann and George Will from the media perspective, and Buck O’Neil, Marvin Miller and Bill “Spaceman” Lee from the inside, this project was followed up by a new chapter 16 years later calling The Tenth Inning.
2. With images of Unity Temple, the Johnson Wax Building and Taliesin, this 1998 project also features Maya Lin, Philip Johnson and Robert A.M. Stern.
3. Featuring Patricia Clarkson as the voice of Margaret Suckley — who born in Rhinebeck, New York in 1891 and was in Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1945 — this seven-part series is one of many Burns projects to include analysis from presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
4. Partially funded by the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, this project’s soundtrack includes songs such as “Echoes of Harlem,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and “Sugar Foot Stomp.”
5. Not featuring the voice of Hal Holbrook, which Ken Burns film subject was born in Florida. Missouri in 1835 and died in Connecticut in 1910 — both years when Halley’s Comet was visible from earth?
Extra credit1. Burns’ first project for PBS, what film from 1981 is narrated by the author David McCullough, who wrote a landmark 1972 book on the same subject?
2. Focusing on a tension between going as “mainstream as possible and the periodic reflexes to bring it back to its roots,” what Burns project features archival audio and photos from WSM radio in Nashville?
This week's challenge: Write down the nine-letter name of a 2013 award-winning documentary. Remove one pen stroke and you can spell the name of an award-winning network sitcom. What are the words?
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty.
Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
