Wet Entertainment for Empedocles Quiz

Answer: "Waterworld" (1995)

"Waterworld" was the movie we're looking for. After the meltdown of the polar icecaps, the sea level has risen for over 7,600 m. Almost all the earth is covered by sea, and mankind has forgotten land life. A former mariner has turned to professional selling of dirt, which he digs up at the ocean's bottom. When the Smokers (a gang of thugs) track down a young girl named Enola and her warden Helen, the Mariner comes to their rescue.
"Red River" is a western starring John Wayne and Joanne Dru, about a cattle farmer who sets out to drive his herd to the market.
"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is the title of several movies. The one I've mentioned, stars Stephen Rea as Nikos and Ling Chu as Li. Nikos, a crew member of a merchant ship, is past mid-life and falls in love with the young girl Li who lives on a sampan.
"On Golden Pond" has some splendid acting by Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, playing a retired couple that meets the stepson of their daughter's fiancé.

Answer: Baywatch

"Baywatch" aired from 1989 until 2001, for 242 episodes. David Hasselhoff was cast as the elder lifeguard (Mitch Buchannon) leading a number of young enthusiastic lifeguards. One of these younger rescuers was C.J. Parker, a blonde bombshell played by Pamela Anderson.
"Windkracht 10" (1997-1998) was a drama series about a naval team performing rescues at sea. Setting was the North Sea shore in Belgium, with the headquarters of the rescue team being in the coast town Koksijde. The main roles were for Warre Borgmans and Gene Bervoets.
"Bondi Rescue" is an Australian reality show starting in 2006, about the real lifeguards at Bondi Beach, New South Wales. It is narrated by Andrew Günsberg.
"Lifeguard" (2012-2013) was a documentary series narrated by Christopher Emerson.

Answer: Richard Adams

Richard Adams (1920-2016) was the English author of "Watership Down" (1972). Although the title fits into this quiz, the story does not. It tells about a small number of rabbits leaving their warren, as men are about to intrude on it. The following trek to a more suitable place, is full of dangerous adventures.
Beatrix Potter is known for her children's stories such as "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" (1901) and "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck" (1908). The duck fits in this quiz' theme.
Bukowski published "Hot Water Music" in 1983 - a collection of anecdotes in an impoverished suburb.
"Three Men in a Boat" (1889) was Jerome K Jerome's account of a boat trip on the Thames. It may have been intended as a travel guide, but turned into absurd comedy.

Answer: Claude Monet

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was one of the leading French Impressionists. In fact the artistic movement was named after one of Monet's paintings: "Impression: soleil levant", showing sunrise over a harbour at foggy weather.
Monet started painting in 1858, but it was only in 1872 that he first reached fame. Most of his paintings were refused by the Académie des Beaux-Arts (the French Academy of Fine Art), because they were too modern. In 1863 Monet and others opened an exposition of their own: the "Salon des Refusés" ("Exposition for the Refused"). Later Monet made series of the same landscape in various seasons and various weather circumstances.
In 1892 Monet moved to a house with large garden in Giverny (Normandy), which was turned into a museum after his death. The garden contains many different flowering plants, and Monet painted these over and over again - with a special attention for the water lilies in a pond across which was erected a pedestrian bridge in Japanese style.
Impressionism was a revolutionary art movement: no more painting in dark studios, but outdoors; colour schemes based upon scientific research; every day's themes instead of mythical and biblical stories...
Renoir's painting "Le déjeuner des canotiers" ("Luncheon of the Boating Party"); Caillebotte's "Les périssoires" ("The Canoteers") and Seurat's "La Seine à la Grande-Jatte" ("The River Seine at La Grande-Jatte") are typical paintings fitting in a wet theme.

Answer: Simon and Garfunkel

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started singing together in the 1950s, at first under the stage name "Tom and Jerry". Between 1963 and 1970 they released five studio albums, of which "Bridge over Troubled Waters" was the final one. The title song was a poetic metaphor for "I'll be there for you".

The text includes the lines "...when times get rough // and friends just can't be found // like a bridge over troubled water // I will lay me down". Deep Purple had a hit in 1972 with "Smoke on the Water". Otis Redding recorded "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" in 1967, which became a huge posthumous success. Gene Kelly is known for the title song of the movie "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). 

Answer: Gene Hackman

"The Poseidon Adventure" is set aboard the cruise ship Poseidon, that has had many years of service and now leaves New York for a final commercial trip to Athens. On New Years' Eve, the ship is hit by a tsunami and capsizes. A group of passengers led by Reverend Scott tries to find a way out...
Some of you will immediately have spotted the watery connection in the title: the ship Poseidon was named after the Greek god of the sea.
The cast for "The Poseidon Adventure" has some very prominent names, including five people who already had won an Oscar.
Gene Hackman (born 1930) started acting in 1961, mostly for television series. His best known role is detective Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection" (1971), a role that gave him his first Oscar.
I've included the red herrings for the following movies with a water-relating title: John Wayne for "Rio Bravo" (1959), Kirk Douglas for the Italian production "Ulisse" (1954, translated as "Odyssey" and based upon Homer's story on Odysseus' adventures when sailing home), and Robert Redford for "A River Runs Through It" (1992). None of these red herrings appeared in "The Poseidon Adventure".

Answer: Who Pays the Ferryman?

"Who Pays the Ferryman?" (1977) stars Jack Hedley as Alan Haldane. He has sold his shipyard in the UK and goes back to Crete, where he fought together with the Greek Resistance during the Second world War. During his stay with the Resistance Haldane had a love affair with a local woman called Melina Matakis. When Haldane returns to Crete, he stumbles upon Annika Zeferis (role by Betty Arvaniti), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Melina...
"The Love Boat" (1977-1987) was a comedy about a cruise ship in the Pacific. The main characters were Captain Merill Stubing, doctor Adam Bricker and the bartender Isaac Washington.
"Black Sails" (2014-2017) included characters such as Captain Flint, John Silver and Anne Bonny. It combined themes from the book "Treasure Island" with historical piracy.
"Shipping Wars" (2012-2015) was a reality show about heavy duty moving companies.

Answer: Aquaman

Aquaman first appeared in the comic strips in 1941. He is a superhero especially adapted to a life underwater, and one of the founders of the Justice League of America - together with for instance Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
The red herrings are some of the villains from the "Aquaman" series. Black Manta (real name David Hyde), King Shark (real name Nanaue) and Scavenger (real name Peter Mortimer) all take on Aquaman at one time or another. 

Answer: Sailing

Rod Stewart had a 1975 hit with "Sailing". The lyrics start with "I am sailing // I am sailing // Home again // 'cross the sea".
Rod Stewart was born in 1945. He started his musical career in 1961 with various groups, among which the Jeff Beck Group (1967-1969) and The Small Faces (1969-1975). His solo career started in 1969 too, and his first great hit was "Maggie May" (1971).
Elvis Costello was "Ship Building" in 1997. The Radios were swimming, as they suggested in "Swimming in the Pool" (1990). And Soundgarden kept on "Rowing" in 2012.

Answer: David Hockney

"A Bigger Splash" is a quite well known artwork. It shows (in relatively basic colours) a swimming pool on a bright sunny day. In the background you can distinguish a house (one storey only) and two palm trees. In the front of the painting there is a yellow diving board, and the focus of attention goes to the place where a diver (invisible on the painting) has just leapt into, illustrated by the water drops splashing out.
Hockney was born in England in 1937 and moved to California in 1964. He did not only paint and make prints or photo collages, but also authored several books.
Hokusai (1760-1849) is best known for his woodcut "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".
Vanderpas is a Canadian artist who graduated in fine arts in 1983. She has made many paintings of water, of which I admire the waterscapes: the bottom of a creek with the different stones on it, and clear water overhead.
Samantha French graduated in art in 2005. Her characteristic paintings depict swimmers in the water, and this in a photorealistic style.