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Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:30:44 -0700

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! Are you gearing up for the 4th of July weekend? Here's an America-themed brainteaser for you:
In what city does American Dreams take place?

Movie Night: O, America

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:00:00 -0700

In keeping with this week's Independence Day theme, this week's Movie Night consists of three movies having to do with the U.S. of A. I've already recommended American Beauty in a previous installment of Movie Night, but that's another great one to watch this week!

American Pie
A staple in many an American teenager's cinematic repertoire, American Pie oozes with adolescent sexual frustration and poses hilarious worst-case scenarios. As a foursome of guys gets ready to graduate high school, they turn their attention to the one thing left to do before senior prom: lose that pesky virginity. They each approach this challenge in their individual ways and with varied results, though they all learn some kind of lesson in the end. Eugene Levy plays Jim's (Jason Biggs) well-meaning but horrendously awkward father in what has become one of his signature roles. American Pie also brought the term "MILF" into common usage, and anyone familiar with the movie now knows the ending to any story that starts with "This one time? At band camp?"

Two more movies if you read more

In America
There are scenes from this heartwarming family drama that bring tears to my eyes just thinking about them. The movie follows Irish parents Sarah (Samantha Morton) and Johnny (Paddy Considine) whose only son has died. So, they take their two young daughters to New York City in search of a new life and an escape from their grief. There they endure dismal living conditions, demeaning jobs and unbearable summer heat - but they also befriend an artist living downstairs (Djimon Hounsou) who helps them learn how to heal each other. The performances in this movie are deeply moving, particularly that of Samantha Morton, who will break your heart only to sew it back up again.

American Splendor
Paul Giamatti, in a role he was simply born to play, portrays Harvey Pekar in this biopic about the surly, misanthropic comic book writer who ultimately found himself famous. Working as a file clerk in Cleveland, Harvey Pekar wrote comic books about his life for over 20 years and called them American Splendor. The comics aren't adventurous or fantastical, but they rather detail the minutiae of Pekar's day-to-day experiences. Eventually he meets Joyce Barber (played to sardonic perfection by Hope Davis) and together the two navigate Harvey's newfound cult popularity. Pekar chronicled his average American life with humor and bleak honesty, and the movie captures this superbly. It also won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was honored with a prize at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Playlist: 50 Songs for 50 States

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:15:32 -0700

When I asked Buzz readers to come up with a song for all 50 of the United States, I knew you'd get it done. But I wasn't expecting you to do it so quickly! Less than 24 hours after I first posted the challenge last week, every state had at least one suggested song, and the options just kept rolling in. (Interesting bit of trivia: The last state to get a song suggestion was Utah.)

Picking the list for my 50 Songs for 50 States iMix was tough with so many great options. I tried to keep a balance of genres and artists, and to incorporate suggestions from as many of you as possible. I also tried to pick songs that were on iTunes, but unfortunately, the picks for Maine, Maryland and North Carolina weren't available. To make up for their absence, I added saritalasweeta's pick of a song to represent Washington, DC. If you'd like to make a playlist of your own or just see what everyone came up with, all of the suggestions are posted here.

I have to give shout-outs to tikilite, glam sugar, jenybugs and rhondak for coming up with full playlists of their own, and to D-Diggity for nearly making it through the whole country using nothing but Johnny Cash songs. To see my playlist, read more

Alabama: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynrd Skynrd
Alaska: "Alaska" by Dr. Dog
Arizona: "Hotel Arizona" by Wilco
Arkansas: "Arkansas Killing Time" by The Pine Box Boys
California: "California Girls" by the Beach Boys
Colorado: "The Colorado Trail" by Connie Dover
Connecticut: "Connecticut" by Judy Garland and Bing Crosby
Delaware: "Hello, I'm in Delaware" by City and Colour
Florida: "Florida" by Modest Mouse
Georgia: "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight
Hawaii: "Blue Hawaii" by Elvis
Idaho: "Private Idaho" by the B-52's
Illinois: "Lookin' Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Indiana: "Goin' Back to Indiana" by the Jackson Five
Iowa: "Iowa" by Dar Williams
Kansas: "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" by Jo Dee Messina
Kentucky: "Awnaw" by Nappy Roots
Louisiana: "Louisiana" by the Walkmen
Maine: "Maine" by They Might Be Giants
Maryland: "Maryland" by Vonda Shepard
Massachusetts: "U-Mass" by The Pixies
Michigan: "Say Yes! To Michigan" by Sufjan Stevens
Minnesota: "Minnesoter" by the Dandy Warhols
Mississippi: "Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)" by Sugarland
Missouri: "Missouri Waltz" by Johnny Cash
Montana: "Blue Rock Montana" by Willie Nelson
Nebraska: "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen
Nevada: "Stop in Nevada" by Billy Joel
New Hampshire: "New Hampshire" by Matt Pond PA
New Jersey: "Jersey Girl" by Tom Waits
New Mexico: "Crash and Burn" by Sheryl Crow
New York: "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon & Garfunkel
North Carolina: "North Carolina" by the Oranges Band
North Dakota: "North Dakota" by Lyle Lovett
Ohio: "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Oklahoma: "Oklahoma Hills" by Arlo Guthrie
Oregon: "Portland Oregon" by Loretta Lynn with Jack White
Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania 6-5000" by the Glenn Miller Band
Rhode Island: "Sweet Rhode Island Red" by Ike and Tina Turner
South Carolina: "From South Carolina" by Her Space Holiday
South Dakota: "South Dakota Hairdo" by Joe West
Tennessee: "Tennessee" by Arrested Development
Texas: "All my Ex's Live in Texas" by George Strait
Utah: "The History of Utah" by Camper Van Beethoven
Vermont: "Moonlight in Vermont" by Ella Fitzgerald
Virginia: "Virginia Moon" by Foo Fighters
Washington: "Four Hours In Washington" by M. Ward
West Virginia: "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver
Wisconsin: "Highway 51 Blues" by Bob Dylan
Wyoming: "Song of Wyoming" by Chris LeDoux
Washington, DC: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service

Happy 4th of July!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:30:38 -0700

Hope all you readers who have the day off from work are enjoying it! Check back later today to see the follow-up to my 50 Songs for 50 States challenge so you can have a nice, long all-American playlist to listen to as you sip lemonade and watch fireworks.

Tomorrow on Buzz I'll put you back to work naming that movie and recasting. So for now, kick back and enjoy the holiday!

Playlist Challenge: 50 Songs for 50 States

BuzzSugar — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:13:54 -0700

Okay, Buzz readers, I know how great you are at selecting new casts for classic shows and hunting down the most buzzworthy movies, books and albums around, so I know you can handle this all-American playlist challenge! In honor of July 4th (and the great party PartySugar's been planning), I challenge you to name one song for each of the 50 states so that put together, we can make a playlist of 50 songs celebrating every corner of the country.

The guidelines:

The state name can either be in the title of the song or in a song lyric.
If the state name is in a lyric, please provide the lyric in your comment.
Official state songs do not count.

So get thinking and put your ideas in the comments section below! I'll re-post this challenge over the weekend and then I'll do a follow-up post with the master playlist on Wednesday, July 4th. If there are multiple songs suggested for one state, I'll choose one of them to put on the playlist. Good luck!

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