Trivial Pursuits
Mar. 23rd, 2014 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penpusherEvery Saturday morning, one of our local newscasts, NBC Today in New York does something a little bit extra. They give us a special fun trivia game!
Kaitlin Monte is the host of the game within the news program, which basically comes at the end of the hour, typically about forty five minutes into the proceedings. A USO entertainer, Former Miss America contestant (2nd Runner Up in 2011!) and anti-bullying advocate, Kaitlin could be considered the yang to Pat Kiernan's yin as far as NYC news related trivia hosts are concerned.
Now, the thing about this trivia game is the prize is a case of notoriety: i.e. you get your photo shown and your name mentioned on the following week's newscast. So, we're not talking about anything life changing here. And with a few thousand people playing each week, your odds of finishing first are actually longer than selecting the winning three digit number in a New York lottery game!
But that's not the point. It's really about having fun and chatting with the other players, because there is a fully functioning twitter app that allows you to tweet in real time to other people before, during and after the game. It was through that app, some of us got to know and like some of the other players through our random comments, tweets about the news stories of that day, or Produce Pete's food segments, or Pat Battle's fashion choices, or the theme of that particular quiz.
Last fall, I actually (almost half jokingly) suggested that we have a meet up so that we can all get a little better acquainted with our fellow players, and in fact, the idea caught on, thanks mostly to the efforts of Dalygirl09 who did the bulk of the legwork and logistical work involved in making it happen. She became a determined leader and started to set everything up.
We had planned to do this meet up with our group of regular trivia players back in December, under the famed Rockefeller Center tree before the holiday season ended. But, wouldn't you know it? A big snowstorm came along that day. Everyone was so appalled, it was decided to postpone the meet until the first Saturday in Spring.
And it couldn't have worked out better, as the weather was more like a warm day in late April, and some of our regulars showed up for the meet up!
Click for larger versions:
My Clown tendencies run deep
The earlier arrivals in front of the NBC Experience Store
Kaitlin was nice enough to grace our gathering, still sporting the Jay Godfrey Dress she wore on camera that morning!
The surprise for me was that Dalygirl09 had a prize for the most unique nametag, and since mine was sewn into my cap, I got the win: a stuffed NBC Peacock!
Kaitlin was as nice, friendly, attentive and as down to earth as you can imagine, and her guy, Chris was quite helpful handling all the phone cam photos. And I thought *I* was a juggler!
The Group of Us
And then Kaitlin recommended us to visit Le Pain Quotidien for our little brunch after party before Chris and she headed on their way. Our waitress there remembered Chris and her as "the cutest couple!" And, when we told our server about the whole trivia thing and the fact that Kaitlin was a TV personality, we got another player for the weekly game (assuming she isn't working a shift at the time)!
A toast to @kaitlinmonte and our trivia friends!
We've already promised to do another meet up maybe in May or early June, before it gets too hot!
Kaitlin Monte is the host of the game within the news program, which basically comes at the end of the hour, typically about forty five minutes into the proceedings. A USO entertainer, Former Miss America contestant (2nd Runner Up in 2011!) and anti-bullying advocate, Kaitlin could be considered the yang to Pat Kiernan's yin as far as NYC news related trivia hosts are concerned.
Now, the thing about this trivia game is the prize is a case of notoriety: i.e. you get your photo shown and your name mentioned on the following week's newscast. So, we're not talking about anything life changing here. And with a few thousand people playing each week, your odds of finishing first are actually longer than selecting the winning three digit number in a New York lottery game!
But that's not the point. It's really about having fun and chatting with the other players, because there is a fully functioning twitter app that allows you to tweet in real time to other people before, during and after the game. It was through that app, some of us got to know and like some of the other players through our random comments, tweets about the news stories of that day, or Produce Pete's food segments, or Pat Battle's fashion choices, or the theme of that particular quiz.
Last fall, I actually (almost half jokingly) suggested that we have a meet up so that we can all get a little better acquainted with our fellow players, and in fact, the idea caught on, thanks mostly to the efforts of Dalygirl09 who did the bulk of the legwork and logistical work involved in making it happen. She became a determined leader and started to set everything up.
We had planned to do this meet up with our group of regular trivia players back in December, under the famed Rockefeller Center tree before the holiday season ended. But, wouldn't you know it? A big snowstorm came along that day. Everyone was so appalled, it was decided to postpone the meet until the first Saturday in Spring.
And it couldn't have worked out better, as the weather was more like a warm day in late April, and some of our regulars showed up for the meet up!
Click for larger versions:
My Clown tendencies run deep
The earlier arrivals in front of the NBC Experience Store
Kaitlin was nice enough to grace our gathering, still sporting the Jay Godfrey Dress she wore on camera that morning!
The surprise for me was that Dalygirl09 had a prize for the most unique nametag, and since mine was sewn into my cap, I got the win: a stuffed NBC Peacock!
Kaitlin was as nice, friendly, attentive and as down to earth as you can imagine, and her guy, Chris was quite helpful handling all the phone cam photos. And I thought *I* was a juggler!
The Group of Us
And then Kaitlin recommended us to visit Le Pain Quotidien for our little brunch after party before Chris and she headed on their way. Our waitress there remembered Chris and her as "the cutest couple!" And, when we told our server about the whole trivia thing and the fact that Kaitlin was a TV personality, we got another player for the weekly game (assuming she isn't working a shift at the time)!
A toast to @kaitlinmonte and our trivia friends!
We've already promised to do another meet up maybe in May or early June, before it gets too hot!
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no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 06:59 pm (UTC)trivia
Date: 2014-03-23 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 07:32 pm (UTC)Re: trivia
Date: 2014-03-23 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-23 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-24 12:13 am (UTC)Meetup
Date: 2014-03-29 01:28 pm (UTC)Missed it
Date: 2014-03-29 02:03 pm (UTC)Trivial Pursuits
Date: 2014-03-29 03:10 pm (UTC)Nice story
Date: 2014-03-29 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-29 04:40 pm (UTC)Wish I was there next time. Well done !!!