Answer: Five
"The Last Airbender" received nine nominations and won five. Now considered one of the worst movies of all time, the adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon series won for Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Picture, and Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3-D.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" from 1998 to 2004 and then attempted a movie career before returning to television as the host of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in 2009. During his time on the show (2009-2013), he also hosted the Emmy Awards in 2010 and released a Grammy Award-winning comedy album, "Blow Your Pants Off", in 2012. In 2013, the NBC network announced that he would replace Jay Leno as host of "The Tonight Show" when Leno retired the following year. Fallon became the sixth host of the long-running show, joining Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien and Leno.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: Gangnam Style
Released in July 2012, "Gangnam Style" was the first international hit for the musician named Psy. Psy (aka Park Jae-sang) was an established artist in his native South Korea, where "Gangnam Style" was his 18th hit single, but the catchy song went on to top the charts in over thirty countries. Its popularity was likely due to the video for the song, which featured the singer performing signature dance moves like "Riding the Horse" and "Lasso". By the end of 2012, the video had become the first to have over one billion views on the YouTube website, surpassing the record number of views held by Justin Bieber for his video to the song "Baby". Psy became an instant worldwide celebrity thanks to the video and even taught UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon how to perform the dance moves.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
Answer: U2
U2 grossed nearly $300 million worldwide and performed 44 sold out shows on the 2011 leg of their "360°" tour, which had started in 2009 to promote their album "No Line on the Horizon". The second and third place concert tours in 2011 vary depending on the source; "Billboard" had Bon Jovi in the second spot and Take That in the third spot, while "Rolling Stone" had them reversed.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: 24
Each of the 24-episode seasons covered one day in the life of Counter Terrorist Unit Agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland); the premise was that the show ran "in real time", with each hourly episode covering one hour of Bauer's day. The series premiered in late 2001 and earned a reputation for plot twists and killing off main cast members. After 192 episodes (eight days), "24" broadcast its final episode on May 24, 2010. The series returned in 2014 in a shortened format as "24: Live Another Day".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: K'Naan
The Somali-born rapper and Toronto resident rose to prominence in 2010 with the World Cup Anthem "Wavin' Flag." He also won for Songwriter of the Year.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: #OscarsSoWhite
In 2016, for the second year in a row, all of the Academy Award acting nominees and four of the director nominees were white. Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Will Smith, immediately called for a boycott of the Oscars after her husband failed to pick up a nomination for his leading role in the film "Concussion", and activist April Reign revived the hashtag "#OscarsSoWhite" that she had created the previous year to draw attention to the issue. Chris Rock had already been announced as the host of the 2016 ceremony, and he chose to appear, explaining that he was already losing too many gigs to Kevin Hart, but he added: "You realize, if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even have this job." The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences responded by opening its membership up to a larger and more diverse group of voters and by vowing to double its women/minority membership by 2020.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2016
Answer: Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey won the coveted "People" magazine title of "Sexiest Man Alive" during his heyday as a romantic lead in films such as "The Wedding Planner" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", but in the 2010s, he refocused his career on more dramatic roles, and in 2014, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as a cowboy with AIDS in the "Dallas Buyers Club". He also won acclaim for his role in the HBO cable channel series "True Detective", picking up a Critics' Choice Award. Other winners at the 2014 Academy Awards include "12 Years a Slave" for Best Picture, Alfonso Cuarón for Best Director ("Gravity"), Cate Blanchett for Best Actress ("Blue Jasmine"), Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor ("Dallas Buyers Club"), and Lupita Nyong'o for Best Supporting Actress ("12 Years a Slave").
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: Breaking Bad
"Breaking Bad" had an unlikely plot for a hit TV series: A mild-mannered chemistry teacher, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, decided to manufacture methamphetamine to support his family. But creative scripts by series creator Vince Gilligan and his staff and top notch performances from the cast made the show an Emmy favorite (it won 16 Emmys during its run from 2008 to 2013). For portraying protagonist Walter White, Bryan Cranston took home four Outstanding Lead Actor Emmys and reinvented his career (remember him as the goofy dad on "Malcolm in the Middle"?) Besides the Emmy accolades, "Breaking Bad" frequently showed up on lists of the best television shows of all time.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2013
Answer: House
English actor Hugh Laurie memorably played the cantankerous but brilliant Dr. Gregory House from 2004 to 2012, receiving six Emmy nominations along the way. On the show, House led a team of physicians who specialized in diagnosing unusual illnesses at a fictional hospital in New Jersey. The show had a standard formula: A patient would arrive with a mysterious illness, the team would try to pin down a diagnosis using a whiteboard and trial and error to eliminate options, and in the end, House would have an epiphany and solve the case. The characters of House and his enabling best friend, Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) were often compared to Sherlock Holmes and Watson; like Holmes, House was aloof and had a special gift for seeing things that others didn't. Both also had a drug habit and only took cases that interested them. And in case there was any doubt that the comparisons were intended, both Holmes and House lived at 221B Baker Street.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
Answer: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The "Harry Potter" series was based on seven novels, with the last novel being made into two films, one in 2010 and the other in 2011. The opening weekend for the final "Harry Potter" film brought in $168 million, beating the record set by "The Dark Knight" in 2008, and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide by the end of 2011. The top three films for 2011 were all sequels; "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" came in second with $1.1 billion in receipts, and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" came in third with $1 billion in receipts.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: Call of Duty: Black Ops
"Call of Duty: Black Ops" was the seventh instalment in the popular "Call of Duty" series and quickly became one of the best-selling video games of all time, earning over $1 billion in sales in six weeks. In the game, the action took place during the 1960s and mainly featured operations conducted in communist countries. Several characters from the "Call of Duty: World at War" video game made appearances, as did the zombie cooperation mode. In "Black Ops", the zombies were loose at the Pentagon.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: Dizzee Rascal
Considered a pioneer of the grime music genre, hip-hop artist Dizzee Rascal earned his first win after eight nominations.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: How I Met Your Mother
The theme of "How I Met Your Mother" or "HIMYM" was that in 2030, Ted Mosby was telling his kids the story of how their parents met, and each episode was part of that story. Early in the story, Ted had a relationship with Robin Scherbatsky, but they later married other people, with Ted finally marrying the mystery mother, Tracy McConnell. In the finale, we found out that Tracy had died, and Ted returned to Robin, at the urging of his kids. The ending wasn't popular with fans, and an alternate ending was included on the DVD which kept Ted with Tracy. During its run, "HIMYM" received 28 Emmy nominations and won nine for artwork, cinematography and editing.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: The Help
Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help" was actually released in 2009 and hit the best seller list in both 2009 and 2010, but it dominated the top of the list in 2011, spending fifteen weeks at number one as compared to the second place novel, Sara Gruen's "Water for Elephants" which spent eight weeks at number one. "The Help" was a story about African-American maids working for white families during the Civil Rights era in the Deep South. The film "The Help" was released in August, 2011, and received four Academy Award nominations, with Octavia Spencer winning the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: Alice in Wonderland
"Toy Story 3" was a Disney/Pixar collaboration, while Disney alone produced "Alice in Wonderland". Both films earned over a billion dollars in worldwide gross receipts. Third place went to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1". "Alice in Wonderland" was the ninth film in which director Tim Burton had worked with Johnny Depp, with Depp appearing as the Mad Hatter in the film. "Alice in Wonderland" won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design but received mixed reviews.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: Angus and Julia Stone
Angus and Julia Stone are folk rock and indie pop artists. They were nominated nine times and won for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Adult Alternative Album, Best Cover Art, and Producer of the Year.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: Beyonce
"Lemonade" was Beyonce's sixth studio album. Released in April 2016, it topped the charts in English-speaking countries and in other nations such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, and Sweden. Considered a visual concept album, it was released along with an hour-long video that originally aired on HBO cable network. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the album sold 2.5 million copies world-wide, as compared to Adele's "25", which sold 2.4 million copies, and Drake's "Views", which sold 2.3 million. At the Grammy awards the following year, Beyonce picked up the most nominations (nine) for her album, but she only won two ("Best Urban Contemporary Album" and "Best Music Video"). Adele picked up the main awards for "Record of the Year" and "Album of the Year".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2016
Answer: One Direction
The pop band One Direction became famous after their appearance on the British television show "The X Factor" in 2010. Their first four albums (as of 2014) topped the charts in many countries around the world, and they were the first band to have their first four albums debut at number one on the "Billboard" charts in the U.S. Their 2014 "Where We Are" tour started in April in Bogota, Colombia and ended in October in Miami, Florida. During the tour, the band played 69 shows in Europe, North America, and South America and earned $290 million. Coming in second place for highest-grossing tour of the year was former boy band star Justin Timberlake, and third place went to the always-on-tour Rolling Stones.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: Grand Theft Auto V
Released in September for both Playstation and Xbox 360, the fifth installment in the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series was a commercial and critical success, earning $800 million on its first day of release and receiving Game of the Year accolades from numerous entities, including Spike Video Game Awards, Golden Joystick Awards, Game Pro and Metacritic. The game play offered either first-person or third-person player options, and as with the other GTA games, the goal was to complete criminal missions. The game received praise for its design and for the ability to quickly switch between the three main characters. It did receive the usual criticism for its violence and its treatment of women. Other best-selling games of 2013 included "Call of Duty: Ghosts", "Pokemon X&Y" and "The Last of Us", which also received many votes for Game of the Year.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2013
Answer: The Artist
"The Artist" became the first silent film to win the Oscar for Best Picture since 1927's "Wings", making it only the second silent film to win the Best Picture Academy Award. The French film also took top honors in the Cesar Awards presented in France. In the film, Jean Dujardin portrayed George Valentin, a silent screen star whose career collapsed with the arrival of the talkies. Following a suicide attempt, he was rescued by Peppy (Berenice Bejo), an actress whose career he had helped initiate, and she repaid him by getting him a dancing role in her latest film, giving him a reason to live. Filmed in black and white, the movie only had a couple of sound sequences, including the ending where Valentin reveals his strong French accent with the line "With pleasure!"
The Academy Awards and British Academy Film Awards were in sync in 2012; not only did they both award "The Artist" as Best Film, both also awarded Michel Hazanavicius as Best Director for the film, Dujardin as Best Actor for the film, Meryl Streep as Best Actress for "The Iron Lady", Christopher Plummer as Best Supporting Actor for "Beginners", and Octavia Spencer as Best Supporting Actress for "The Help".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
Answer: Adele
As the "Los Angeles Times" put it, "To the surprise of virtually no one, Adele's "21" is officially the top-selling album of 2011", selling over fifteen million copies worldwide. The album remained in the "Billboard" Top Ten throughout the year from its release in early 2011, and Adele went on to win all six categories in which she was nominated at the Grammy Awards held in early 2012.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: Bon Jovi
Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi hit it big in 1986 with their "Slippery When Wet" album. Although they had taken hiatuses over the years, their albums continued to top the charts. Their 2010 tour was in support for their album "The Circle" and had 69 sell-out shows and grossed over $200 million worldwide. The second and third place concert tours in 2010 vary depending on the source; "Billboard" had U2 in the second spot and AC/DC in the third spot, while "Rolling Stone" had them reversed.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: South Park
"South Park" episodes "200" and "201" censored out images of Muhammad after death threats to the network. In response, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris came up with an idea to promote free speech, but she later went into hiding after death threats.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958 - 2016) released his first album in 1978, but it was during the MTV age that he became a household name, with his stylish videos being frequently played in the early years of MTV. Behind the showman was a talented musician who wrote his own songs, had a wide vocal range, and could play over 25 instruments. He earned seven Grammy awards over his career, and the music to his 1984 film "Purple Rain" won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. In the 1990s, Prince changed his name to a symbol for several years (reportedly called the "Love Symbol", but he was often referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince"), but he returned to being known as Prince in 2000. His death was listed as an accidental overdose of the prescription drug fentanyl.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2016
Answer: Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II made her acting debut in a five-minute film shown during the Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London. In the skit, James Bond (Daniel Craig) arrived at Buckingham Palace to escort the Queen to the Opening Ceremony. After a polite cough from Bond, the Queen greeted him, "Good Evening Mr. Bond". He then followed the Queen to the helicopter with Her Majesty's corgis scampering after them. When the helicopter arrived over the stadium, Bond opened the door and allowed "the Queen" to jump out first. The parachuting Queen could be seen descending just outside the stadium, and the illusion was complete when the real Queen entered the stadium moments later in the same attire as the parachutist. The parachuting Queen was actually Gary Connery and the parachuting Bond was Mark Sutton. Danny Boyle wrote and directed the film with the Queen's scenes reportedly being filmed in one take.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
Answer: Oprah Winfrey
During its run, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was the highest-rated talk show in American television history and picked up 47 Daytime Emmy Awards along the way. Memorable moments over the years included a rare interview with Michael Jackson, a couch-jumping Tom Cruise, Liberace's final television performance and a giveaway of new cars to everyone in the audience during one show. The final show was broadcast on May 25, 2011.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: Matt Smith
Matt Smith replaced David Tennant as the doctor in the second part of a two-part episode called "The End of Time" which aired in the U.K on December 31, 2009 and January 1, 2010. When the episode played in the U.S. on the BBC America channel, it brought in the highest ratings to date for the channel. Matt Smith would serve as the doctor until the end of 2013, when he was replaced by Peter Capaldi.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: Amitabh Bachran
Bachran won for his role in the comedy-drama "Paa." The Filmfare Awards honour the best in Indian film. "Paa" is based on the 1996 American film "Jack" about a boy who ages four times faster than normal. Amitabh plays the main character Auro, with his son Abhishek as his father.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: American Idol
Created by Simon Fuller and based on the British series "Pop Idol", "American Idol" was an immediate sensation when it debuted in 2002. The original panel of judges, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul, stayed with the show through eight seasons, and then other celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez, and Ellen Degeneres took turns judging the contestants. The show was known for its brutal criticism of contenders during the auditions, but for contestants who made it through to the "Hollywood" round, they were offered a chance at stardom with a recording contract. Although the initial series ended in 2016, it was announced in 2017 that the show would be revived the following year.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2016
Answer: Taylor Swift
Named for the year of her birth, "1989" featured 1980s-inspired songs and earned accolades as one of the best albums of the year from "Rolling Stone" magazine. The album was released on October 27, 2014 and debuted at number one on the U.S. "Billboard" charts with sales of 1.28 million copies in its first week of release. It also topped the charts in other countries such as Canada, China, Norway, and the U.K. Three singles from the album, "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood", also hit number one on the "Billboard" singles charts in the U.S.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Academy Award in 2013 for the title performance in "Lincoln". At the time, it had been his fifth Best Actor Oscar nomination; he had previously been nominated and won for "My Left Foot" (1990) and "There will be Blood" (2008) and been nominated for "In the Name of the Father" (1994) and "Gangs of New York" (2003). He had also received BAFTA nominations for all of those films plus "The Last of the Mohicans" (1993) and had won the BAFTA for "My Left Foot", "Gangs of New York", "There will be Blood" and "Lincoln". Known for being a method actor who would become completely immersed in his roles, Day-Lewis reportedly requested a year to prepare for the role of Abraham Lincoln, after Liam Neeson, who was originally cast in the role, pulled out. Although nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, "Lincoln" only won two: the acting award for Day-Lewis and Best Production Design.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2013
Answer: Adele
In 2009, Adele Adkins, who performed under the name "Adele", won the Best New Artist Grammy, and she lived up to the award. At the Grammy Awards that were held in February 2012, Adele won the awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for her 2011 album, "21", Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video for the song "Rolling in the Deep", and Best Pop Solo Performance for the song "Someone Like You". The album "21" was a monster hit and was the global best-selling album for both 2011 and 2012. Besides dominating the Grammy Awards, Adele also joined the list of performers of "James Bond" themes in 2012 with her recording of the theme to "Skyfall".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
Answer: Friday
Rebecca Black's parents paid a Los Angeles music production company, ARK Music Factory, to produce a music video for her, and the video became an Internet phenomenon after Michael J. Nelson (of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame) called it "the worst video ever made" on his "Twitter" account. The song "Friday" was written by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson of ARK Music Factory, and while the simplistic lyrics drew criticism as did Black's voice, Simon Cowell had nice things to say (for a change), crediting Black for creating so much controversy in a week.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2011
Answer: Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor had originally turned down director David Fincher's invitation to write and perform the score for the film due to scheduling issues, but after reading the script, he found time to work on it. Reznor shared the award with Atticus Ross, with whom Reznor had collaborated for over a decade. The score for "The Social Network" beat out competition from "The King's Speech" and "How to Train Your Dragon" to win the Oscar at the 83rd Academy Awards held in February, 2011, and it was worth it to see Reznor in a tux.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2010
Answer: Denmark
The Susanne Bier-directed film "Hævnen" (also known by its US title "In a Better World") revolves around the family of a Swedish doctor who occasionally goes to Sudan to treat war refugees.
From Quiz: The Year That Was 2010
Answer: Pokemon Go
Developed as a collaboration between Nintendo and Niantic for Android and iOS devices, the game was intended to get players up and moving by having them search for Pokemon creatures who appeared in real-life locations called PokeStops. PokeStops were often central places of interest, such as parks or shopping malls, and businesses could establish PokeStops at their locations to increase traffic. Although incredibly popular upon its release (server outages were reported due to the volume of users), it was also controversial due to accidents being caused by users pursuing Pokemons. Several U.S. cities had freeway signs that read "Pokemon Go is a no-go while driving", and some countries even regulated its use. Although the game itself was free, players could purchase additional items to use with the app, and the game generated more than $600 million in revenue within 90 days of its release.
From Quiz: Entertaining 2016
Answer: Buckets of ice water
The "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" was all the rage on the Internet in the summer of 2014. Although variations of the challenge had existed for a few years prior, the social media storm may have been ignited by "The Golf Channel" cable network when they aired a live ice bucket dump in June 2014. "The Today Show" anchor Matt Lauer then took the challenge live on the nationally broadcast American morning show in July 2014 at the urging of golfer Greg Norman, which set off the celebrity stampede. Among those posting videos were Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and Benedict Cumberbatch. One of the best videos posted as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge was from Patrick Stewart after he received a challenge from Ian McKellen. In Stewart's video, he was shown writing out a check to the charity and then removing a couple of cubes of ice from the ice bucket, putting it in a glass with whisky and drinking it. Classy, Picard!
From Quiz: Entertaining 2014
Answer: Cyndi Lauper
"Matilda the Musical" was the favorite going in, but "Kinky Boots" took top honors at the Tony awards in June 2013. Based on a 2005 film, the musical told the story of a struggling shoe factory that switched over to making high-heeled boots, popular with drag queens, to stay in business. Cyndi Lauper composed the music and lyrics for the show, and she became the first woman to win the award solo in that category. With her win, Lauper achieved "GET" status: Grammy, Emmy and Tony. She first won a Grammy back in 1985 as Best New Artist, and she won an Emmy in 1995 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in "Mad About You".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2013
Answer: Fifty Shades of Grey
Written by E.L. James, the book was developed from a fan fiction series called "Master of the Universe" which was based on the "Twilight" novels written by Stephenie Meyer. The central characters in "Fifty Shades of Grey", Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, were originally based on the "Twilight" characters of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, but when the story was considered to be too racy for fan fiction websites, James renamed the characters and published the work on her own website. In the story, Steele was a college student who met wealthy entrepreneur Grey when she went to interview him for an article, and the two embarked on a kinky dominance/submission relationship. Vintage Books acquired the publishing rights to the story, and two subsequent volumes were also released in 2012: "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed".
From Quiz: Entertaining 2012
