Happy May Day!

In the English speaking world, May Day can be a lot of things. Most of us probably know it as a distress call (spelled as one word - “Mayday”). But it is also the government name of Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman, Sam Malone’s nickname on “Cheers,” and Grace Jones character from “A View to a Kill.”

As a holiday, May Day traces its origins back to the Roman festival of Floralia (The Roman goddess of Flowers) and is celebrated on the first of May throughout Europe. It was once common in the United States but kids these days just can’t be entertained by dancing around a Maypole anymore. Sad.

Finally, May Day is the alternate name of International Workers Day (also called Labour Day outside the US), established in 1889 as a day of international labor demonstrations. The date was chosen to commemorate the 1886 general strike for an 8 hour workday in America. The strike climaxed with The Haymarket Affair, a Chicago bombing and riot which resulted in the deaths of a dozen people and a sham trail.

Fun Facts are Fun!

Mom! Momma! Mommy! Mom! - Mom Trivia (5/13)

Mother’s Day is May 11th, don’t forget! Or do, I’m not your Mom. In honor of that, we’re going to do a Mother’s Day trivia on the following Tuesday with all kinds of shenanigans, from pregnancy fun facts to famous mothers of pop culture, it’s going to be one Mother of a Trivia! Calapooia Brewing, May 13th at 6 PM.

Punch a Nazi! - Antifascist Trivia (5/27)

As the band “Cheap Perfume” reassured us in 2019, It’s Okay to Punch Nazis! Fascists are not only history’s greatest villains but Hollywood’s as well, so let us celebrate intolerance of the intolerant and stand up to fascism, new & old, international & home-grown (in a very Dork Night fashion). From B.J. Blazkowicz to Indiana Jones, from Captain America to Inglourious Basterds. Calapooia Brewing, May 27th at 6 PM.

Fun Fact: The themes of this month’s trivia rarely intersect (except in the most broad of terms), but one the most ridiculous, and therefore one of my favorite, is the 1987 Troma Studios movie, “Surf Nazis Must Die.” After an apocalyptic earthquake ravages California, the Surf Nazis rule the coast, so it’s up to a black woman with a Luger named “Mama” to wipe them out. The movie is gratuitous in every way imaginable, and is just pure, exploitative grindhouse, a semi-self-aware mashup of Mad Max, Escape from New York, Point Break, and Foxy Brown. The trailer is on YouTube but it’s quite NSFW so I won’t link it.