Hipsters but no trivia? No guff!

Man, I meant this to be the content for my first post, since it had just happened when I founded HiC (does that brand of juicebox still exist?), but I kept forgetting and so here it is now:

Last week I met up with a friend of a friend of a friend from Yale (that is an exact calculation) for drinks/dinner at an honest to god Phnom Penh hipster bar. It's called Cafe Ya, it's tiny and down the street from sketchy-looking guesthouses, and the owners were doing needlepoint at the table next to us. The other patrons: A middle-aged tattoed dude, a permanent expat/journalist who looked like Stanley Tucci, and an Asian-American chick with an asymmetrical haircut who asked me to be in her punk band. Need I say more?

It was awesome and we're hanging out again! Friend!

Part 2: after such monumental coolitude, a disappointment was sure to follow. I rallied my housemates to triv it up at the Lazy Gecko at the lakefront (backpackerville) on Thursday. While my veggie burger was tasty and the crowd inittowinit-looking, the "registration handout" was my first hint of dissatisfaction. It explained the format: 5 rounds, 10 questions each with "categories" like "TV and Movies," "Geography," and, worst of all for its sheer lack of elan, "Random Trivia." At least they asked for team names. I could tell I didn't have the groundswell of support necessary to name us LGBT Soundsystem, though it's now my permanent default in all competitive situations requiring self-nomenclature, so we went with Dr Rithy's Rejects, a nod to the questionable level of care offered at the "western" "clinic" in town.

You know what? The level of disdain I am feeling for the content of this post so far is requiring me to cut it short. I'll give you two exemplary questions and 2 quotes from the organizers.

1. What is the name of James Blunt's debut album?

2. What does a somnambulist do?

1. "We get the questions from a book and the book says Greenland's a country."

2. "After __ round(s), __ points for 'An Idiot Says What'...what!" (every time!)


I worked myself up pretty good and was thoroughly let down by the PP trivia scene. There's another bar in town that is apparently much better but I think perhaps nothing beats home.