Triviala

2009 was the year of unemployment, busting banks and a wet summer that didn’t see the sun put his hat for long at all.

But as Britain continues to face the ‘big freeze’ and the coldest spell recorded for 20 years, it’s looking like a gloomy start to 2010. Over 1000 people from the UK and Ireland took part in a survey conducted by Triviala.com revealing that over the last decade, 30% asked were not looking forward to 2010 and cannot see the current economy taking a positive turn or recovering from the country’s state of recession.

Around a third of people said that they were basing their New Years resolutions around saving money with the usual promises of eating less chocolate, going to the gym more and curbing our bad habits taking a back seat.

Scott O Donnell, spokesman for Triviala.com said: “its not surprising the survey suggests 75% of people will be using more online discount vouchers in the coming year. We are all looking to the web for entertainment and ways to save.”

The survey also revealed that while more than half of the adults asked were looking to be taking less holidays this year, they were also expecting another rainy summer in the UK.

However, we aren’t expecting 2010 to be completely full of doom and gloom as it seems the British public are feeling positive about our sporting stars and events this year. Still riding high on England’s 2009 Ashes win, Jenson Button with his F1 victory and the medal winning rising stars of the 2008’s Beijing Olympics, a staggering 70% of people are feeling positive and holding out for more sporting success this year. As we all know, nothing beats watching Wimbledon on ‘Murray Mount’ and cheering on England at the pub during the World Cup. The stresses of work and financial worries are put aside for those 90 minutes.

So whilst we have come to the end of the noughties and started the year knee deep in snow, all is still not lost! 2010 could be the year for change- let’s hope for more sporting celebrations with gold medals to boot and fingers crossed we are brought a hot, hot summer after surviving a icy cold winter.

Years we were not looking forward to

1. 2010

2. 2000

3. 2009

4. 2008

5. 2001

6. 2007

7. 2002

8. 2005

9. 2006

10. 2004

Thanks to all of the people who participated in the survey.

Russell Brand is to wed ‘Waking up in Vegas’ singer Katy Perry after proposing to her on holiday in India on New Years Eve.

The eccentric funny man apparently sent a message to The Sun confirming the rumours texting in:

“It’s true. Much love”. Aww.

The news will no doubt be breaking hearts all over the country as the ‘lothario’ has been named one of the Sexiest Men in the World. Known for his crazy hair, skin tight black jeans and bed hopping antics, he has never been out of the spotlight over the last few years. His new fiancee hit the pop scene with her infectious number 1 single ‘I Kissed a Girl’ followed by some more Top 10 hits including ‘Hot and Cold’ and ‘Thinking of You’. Perry is also recognised for being one not too shy away from wearing wacky outfits on stage and hosting numerous award shows.

The couple only met 3 and a half months ago but are clearly loved up and have been inseperable ever since; Katy even managing to brave the recent cold and snowy weather in London! It seems Katy had been dazzled by Brand when they filmed a cameo together for the film ‘Get Him to the Greek’ in September saying: “My scene called for me to make out with him. And on the way down the stairs after the scene, I was hopping like a bunny. I hop like a bunny when I’m happy- I get a bit childlike”.

Well we hope they are truly happy together in Celebsville! And why not check out some of our wedding quizzes from celebrity dresses to fun trivia about that special day!

Also, fancy earning yourself some extra crowns? Then fill out our quickfire survey talking about what lies ahead for Britian in 2010!

The US actress Brittany Murphy collapsed at home in Los Angeles and was pronounced dead upon arrival at Cedars Sinai medical Center.  The star aged 32 is reported to have died from a heart attack.

She was found unconscious in the shower at her home which she shared with her husband British–born screenwriter Simon Monjack. Although the official cause of death is yet to be determined, the star seems to have died from natural causes.

Murphy starred in films such 8 mile, Clueless, Sin city and Don’t Say a word. Her family have said in a statement “She was our daughter, our wife, our love and a shining star. We ask you to respect our privacy at this time.”

Murphy’s ex-boyfriend Ashton Kutcher who co-starred with her in ‘Just Married’ paid tribute to her on twitter saying  “2day the world has lost a little piece of sunshine.”

Other celebrities have also paid their respects including Hillary Duff who wrote “RIP Brittany Murphy forever in our hearts”. Jessica Simpson also said “Brittany Murphy was an incredible ray of light to so many people. Her smile was contagious.”

In a special week of programming, Channel Four is inviting viewers to put on their 3D specs and celebrate 3D.

Have you tried it yet? Programmes in 3D include Derren Brown, The Paul O’Grady Show, Hannah Montana and T4.

Try some of our TV quizzes at Triviala.com !

Channel Four said: “We are not talking state of the art IMAX technology here, but some good old fashioned fun. The glasses that will work for Channel Four’s 3D week are the Amber and Blue ColourCode 3D glasses that are available for free in Sainsbury’s. 3D glasses with different colour lenses won’t work with the 3D Week programmes on Channel Four.”

The 3D glasses are apparently running low, so check quickly at your local Sainsbury’s.

Channel Four added: “The rest of the week sees three films and plenty of programmes in glorious 3D – make sure to check our listings page.”

Bookshops are rumoured to be the next victim of the credit crunch, with chains being forced to sell off stock in London.

The Daily Telegraph has reported that according to The Bookseller magazine, the Books Etc chain is likely to vanish from the high street by the end of the year.

The chain has started “clearance sales”  in its six London stores. There are a number of reasons why the chain failed, but it should be pointed out that Borders UK, who own it, still consists of 36 large Borders stores which continue to trade.

In other book news, Jordan aka Katie Price’s new autobiography is being penned in time for Christmas.

Picture courtesy of The Insider

But book chains including Blackwell’s and Waterstones have indicated that they will not be stocking her latest offering unless managers specifically request copies.

Well, we’re not suprised – there are far better books to be read! We have loads of book quizzes on our fun website including ones about Terry Pratchett and Dickens.

It has been reported that YouTube are planning on launching their own online trivia game, to be named Vidicule, to drive viewers to their content.

According to technology blog, NewTeeVee, the video sharing website was previewing a demo of the game last night. The game is based around short video clips from all over the site, which then related to trivia questions.

NewTeeVee commented: “It looks like the game promotes YouTube partner content — the sample that’s live now showcases clips from X-Men Evolution.”

Vidicule: Courtesy of NewTeeVee

Vidicule is made by the creators of Jellyvision Games, the developers behind popular 90′s computer game series, You Don’t Know Jack, which was a mix of trivia and comedy.

The Jellyvision site promises, “VIDICULE ™ combines videos and trivia questions into a doubly entertaining video video game game. Look for it on the web!” (Good one!)

Triviala will be launching our own video-based game in the new year, so look out for that!

Tomorrow is the big day! Triviala are giving away double crowns. How does it work? Easy. All crowns you earn on 26th April will be automatically doubled the following day.

So if you submit a quiz, you’ll be credited with 80 points; if you refer a friend, you’ll be credited with 20; if you answer a Triviala question correctly, you’ll be credited 4; if you submit a question to us you’ll be credited 6, etc. This goes for everything on the site.

Additionally, don’t forget that we’re now awarding 20 BONUS CROWNS every time you earn 100 crowns, and 40 when you reach 500.

Keep playing & good luck!

Boodle

Just today we’ve launched a brand new game: Quizmania.

It’s Triviala’s first multiplayer game, and a chance to go head-to-head in realtime against other players. It’s easy to play: go to the Quizmania page, enter the lobby, and games will be awaiting players. Either join others already there, or start a new game and wait for others to join you. The games can be between 2-4 players and you’ll each have to answer the same 15 questions, with faster answers gaining more points.

Just to note, though, that this game is still being worked on and tweaked by our technical team- so if there are any errors or bugs you see, let us know and we’ll try to work them out as soon as we can.

Also congratulations to Libraguy, today’s winner of the £500 Jackpot.

Although Triviala is now a global phenomenon, Triviala users from the Republic of Ireland were the first players outside of the UK to be eligible to win our prizes, and so this week we’d like to congratulate all our winners from Northern Ireland and the Irish republic: sk_fairy from Dublin was our first Irish Question of the Day winner on 1st May, and she joins our other Irish winners:

• brianomuireachaidh from Dublin is our most frequent winner, and has won Question of the Day once and Triviala 3 times, making a total of £65 in winnings!
• marymoss from Donegal won £15 on Triviala on 13th April
• jollyswagman from Limerick won £15 on Triviala on 16th February
• kymelq from Dublin won £15 on Triviala on 9th February

We would also like to extend our congratulations to supposedly unlucky users lucklessjean, neverwinowt and fatchance- between them, they’ve won 4 prizes totalling £60.

We’ve got some more crowns deals this week at Triviala. For tomorrow only (that’s 28^th April), we’ll give you 50 crowns for every friend you invite to Triviala who goes on to set up an account with us. We normally only give you 10, so start to invite friends…

We’re also working hard on bringing a whole new level of competitiveness to Triviala. The site will launch a brand-new feature this week. We can’t let you know what it is just yet, but we certainly think it’s going to improve the Triviala gaming experience for everyone. Come back towards the end of the week to see what we’ve done.

Congratulations to player markymark, who’s our latest Jackpot winner of £500.

Finally, there’s a user-generated quiz here by stephanie289 that we like quite a lot.

See you on the site!

Boodle