Answer to 174 – Kevin Smith’s Clerks. Connect by means of a literary endeavour. (Connect is one step removed – the man caricatured tried to follow in the footsteps of somebody who could be connected to the man in the ad.)

Meeting announcement from Gopal: “You are invited to the QFI meeting to be held this weekend. The Quiz will be conducted by Venkatesh (Matti) who has done some wonderful quizzes for us in the past. Matti is a winner of several quizzes including the Tata Crucible quiz. Be there in large numbers to enjoy the…

172: Acclaimed Swedish band Opeth are making their Indian debut at Saarang 2009. The band name was derived from the word “Opet”, taken from the Wilbur Smith novel Sunbird, which meant “city of the moon”. These shoes are named after those lines. Why?

Mussaman Burj, supposedly where Shah Jahan spent his last days because of the view it offered of Taj Mahal. Connect the man to the fest.

John Charles Fields (of the Fields Medal) and an Archimedes wheel. The Fields medal carries many references to Archimedes. Whose last residence and why?

Steely Dan think their song “Cousin Dupree” was misappropriated to make the movie “You, Me and Dupree.” Read their hilarious letter here. What’s a Canadian mathematician got to do with that muddy thing?

“Numbers” by Kraftwerk, inspired “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa. Bambaataa internalized the drum pattern on “Numbers” so much that he ended up creating the music on this fantastic Nike commercial based on it. Why did the hippies want the hipster to apologize?

Bizet’s Carmen. Today’s question: This song inspired another very popular song, which in turn inspired the sounds on something which was all the rage a few years back. (Listen to it through the flash widget here or by downloading the file directly from this link.) Details? [blip.tv ?posts_id=1525682&dest=-1]

Hansa Wadkar, Smitha Patil playing her in Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika. Three black reinventions of what?