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Tag: Trivia

  • Happy Birthday Song: Where Did It Come From?

    Happy birthday to you….

    Almost everyone knows the “Happy Birthday Song” in one form or another.

    While this is true of the song, there are some interesting tidbits about this particular melody you may not know.

    Surprisingly, one of the biggest mysteries to many people who know the song is where it came from.

    If you didn’t know, the “Happy Birthday Song” has been long attributed to Patty and Mildred Hill of Louisville, Kentucky.

    Despite being credited with the song, the two sisters did not sit down to a piano in 1893 to put together a birthday tune.

    In actuality, the pair put together the lyrics and melody for a song titled “Good Morning To All”:

    At this point you are probably wondering how “Good Morning To All” became a happy birthday song.

    It turns out that the Hills sisters are also credited with changing the lyrics to their morning greeting and creating the most popular song in history.

    The exact time at which the alleged changes were made isn’t known…and therein lies a major problem.

    In recent years the “Happy Birthday Song” has been the subject of a HUGE legal dispute.

    The copyright for the song is owned by Warner Music, which collects more than $2 million per year in licensing fees.

    Before you panic, know that you aren’t breaking the law by singing the song at parties. The copyright is for commercial usage, such as on television and in movies.

    The sisters are believed to have sung the reworked their song at birthday parties for guests, however some argue they may not have written the words. There’s no definite proof that they didn’t, but there’s no evidence that they did.

    The murky nature behind this aided in numerous performances of the song without the payment of royalties to the Hills family .

    Jessica Hill was upset enough over the failed attribution to her sisters to take the matter to court.

    The youngest Hill sister successfully demonstrated that the music for the “Happy Birthday Song” and “Good Morning To All” were absolutely identical. She was granted an official copyright for the song in 1935.

    Thanks to the Hills, children of all ages will be serenaded as they celebrate their birthdays.

    Yet thanks to this copyright issue, there is a bit of a letdown for those who love this famous song and believe it should belong to everyone.

    What do YOU think? Should the “Happy Birthday Song” be copyrighted? Do you believe the Hills write the lyrics? Comment below!

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • A Google A Day Trailer Shows Off Google+ Integration

    Last year Google partnered with The New York Times to launch a trivia game called A Google A Day. The game has players use Google search to find the answer to different trivia questions that are updated daily. Google set up a website for the game that uses a special version of Google’s search engine that leaves out real-time search results and other things that could tip the answer.

    One month ago, Google launched an app version of the game on Google+ Games, allowing players to compare their times, scores, and achievements. A Google A Day on Google+ keeps track of player stats and places players on a leaderboard with their Google+ friends. In case you had forgotten about the game, or never knew of it, Google has created a new trailer explaining how the game works and how it uses Google+:

    The game is a bit different than the web version of A Google A Day. Questions are split into three tiers of increasing difficulty and one ending bonus question. The questions come from six classic Trivial Pursuit categories: history, sports, geography, arts & literature, pop culture, and science. Answering questions unlocks higher tiers of questions, which are worth more points.

    The stats tab keeps track of player achievements, daily goals, and what power-ups they have available for use. It also categorizes answered questions into each separate category. With the friends tab, players can challenge their Google+ friends to answer individual questions they have already answered.

    And in case you don’t know where the Games section of Google+ is, try the left menu bar on the site near the bottom. From there you can select the directory tab at the top and find A Google A Day.

  • IMDB Trivia App Tests Your Movie Knowledge

    Everyone’s go-to site when it comes to stuff about film and TV has just launched their own trivia app, IMDB Trivia.

    IMDB Trivia is a free-to-play app, meaning that it’s a free download and the game itself is free – but you can purchase additional question packages if you run out of the free stuff. Upon opening the app, you’ll be prompted to select your game pack. Only one will be available at first, but other game packs can be unlocked by completing challenges in the game like answering a certain number of questions or scoring a particular amount of points. You can, of course, buy more question packs in-app as well.

    Each time you answer a question, you’ll get a little fun-fact about either the film, character, actors, or some other aspect of the question content. Some of the types of trivia exercises are reminiscent of games like Scene-It – name that quote, match that movie poster, and decipher the blurred celeb photo. Here’s a list of many of the game modes –

    • Five levels of increasing difficulty and many different ways to win
    • Catch a Star: Tap five correct answers before your time runs out
    • Movie Order: Arrange movies in order of release
    • Quotables: Match the quote to a movie, TV show, character or celebrity
    • Celebrity Photo Match: Match each of five celebrities with their movie, TV show, or character
    • Movie Poster Match: Match each of five posters with a movie or a TV show
    • Mystery celebrity: Guess the celebrity in a blurred photo

    The app is integrated with Apple Game Center, so you can compete with friends. You can also pause and resume your trivia games anytime.

    You can play without 3G or wi-fi access, but the question sets will be smaller. The two current trivia packs available to be purchased are “TV Favorites” and “Blockbuster Films.” They are both $0.99.

    Currently, it’s only available for iOS.

    Upon early testing, the app seems fun as hell. I don’t know about you, but I can see my phone battery dying at we speak.

  • Delish.com Launches Social Trivia Game On Facebook

    Food website Delish.com, operated jointly by Hearst Magazines Digital and MSN, have launched a social trivia game on Facebook called the Delish Challenge.

    The Delish Challenge features more than 1,000 food-related questions that tests users knowledge as they work their way up the restaurant ladder from busser to executive chef.  Along the way users gather virtual goods, which can be traded with friends, including sushi knives, wine glasses and spicy chilies, Trivia topics include desserts, healthy cooking, comfort food and regional cuisines.

    "Delish Challenge is a perfect extension of the fun and informative content we offer on Delish.com, and taps perfectly into people’s interest in trivia, gaming, and food," said Elizabeth Shepard, executive director of Delish.com.

     

    Delish-Challenge

     

    "We also know that our game will resonate with the massive audience we have built in partnership with MSN, and we’re excited to offer users an engaging, new way to participate on Delish. With Delish Challenge, we can reach even more people through Facebook’s amazing scale."

    The game is related to content on Delish.com via seasonal and topical quizzes, available on the game’s "Events" tab, that link directly from the Facebook game to the site. Upcoming quizzes include a "Guess the Box" cereal game, a bacon quiz and a guessing game involving unusual food-related images. Other customized quizzes will be developed and launched on Delish based on seasons, holidays and specialty food items.

    The Delish Challenge was created with social game development firm VoxPop. VoxPop said it is planning several more social games with other media across a variety of categories including music, sports, celebrities and TV.