TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you will be shown an extract from a movie plot. You need to read the extract and create questions that can be answered from the extract. The questions should be well-formed and grammatically correct. The questions should be completely answerable from the given passage and should not require any external knowledge. Subjective questions are not allowed. Create questions that result in factoid answers. A simple rule of thumb to decide whether a question is factoid or not is to see if two different people with average reading/comprehension skills would come up with the same answer after reading the passage.
PROBLEM: In the country of Freedonia, wealthy socialite Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont) agrees to give the small country a sum of $20 million in order to save it from bankruptcy provided that Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is appointed the new leader. During the inaugural ceremony, Firefly courts the widowed Mrs. Teasdale and insults her friend Trentino (Louis Calhern), the scoundrelly ambassador of the neighboring country of Sylvania. Firefly then sings out that if Freedonians think that their country is bad off now, "Just wait 'til I get through it with" ('These Are the Laws of My Administration').Meanwhile, Trentino schemes with the seductive Latina singer Vera Marcal (Raquel Torres), telling her to keep Firefly out of the way while he tries to win Mrs. Teasdale's hand in marriage. Trentino also hires hot dog and peanut vendor Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Firefly's goofy and mute chauffeur Pinkie (Harpo Marx) to spy on Firefly. However, both Chicolini and Pinkie deal with a unfriendly lemonade vendor (Edgar Kennedy) off-and-on who thinks that Chicolini's peanut stand is taking away his business.Firefly presides over his cabinet. He refuses to discuss taxes or anything else that has to do with the government. He reduces workers hours by shortening their lunch breaks against the protest of his personal secretary Bob Rolland (Zeppo Marx). Next, Firefly hires Chicolini to be his secretary of war, believing he will annoy the rest of the cabinet. Firefly and Bob Rolland decide that they want to start a war with Sylvania by causing a personal feud with Trentino.At a picnic, Firefly interrupts Trentino's attempt to propose marriage to Mrs. Teasdale. When Trentino calls him an upstart, Firefly slaps him with a glove and declares war between Freedonia and Sylvania. Mrs. Teasdale arranges for the two men to make peace that night. Firefly jokingly asks Trentino what he called him earlier. When Trentino answers "upstart", Firefly slaps him again and once more declares war.Vera is a guest at Mrs. Teasdale's house. That same evening, she phones Trentino and tells him about her situation and that Firefly is there with Freedona's war plans for Sylvania. Trentino sends Chicolini and Pinkie to the house to steal the war plans. Chicolini locks Firefly in his bathroom and dresses up like him with eyeglasses and a fake thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. Pinkie also dresses up as Firefly as well. Both Chicolini and Pinkie try to fool Mrs. Teasdale into giving them the war plans. But Firefly breaks out of his bathroom and attempts to find the men impersonating him. In a famous sequence, Pinkie breaks a large mirror and mimic's Firefly's movements in what is later known as the 'Mirror Sequence'. Firefly is fooled for a time in thinking his look-alike is his reflection until Chicolini shows up and Firefly captures him, while Pinkie flees.Chicolini goes on trial, but the chaotic proceedings come to a halt when Mrs. Teasdale tells Firefly that Trentino is on his way to the courthouse to make one final effort to avoid war. Firefly agrees to apologize to Trentino for insulting him, but has second thoughts when he considers that Trentino may refuse to shake his hand of friendship. When Trentino enters, Firefly immediately slaps him instead of suffering a possible rejecting and being insulted. Trentino storms out, declaring war. Firefly, Chicolini, Pinkie and Bob Rolland all sing in chorus of the impending war ('The Country's Going To War').A 'Great War' breaks out between Freedonia and Sylvania. As Firefly receives news and orders from the front lines, an enemy artillery shell destroys part of his headquarters. He then produces a Tommy sub-machine gun but guns down many of his own men. To get new recruits, Pinkie is seen roaming the countryside and battlefields (stock footage from the battles of the first world war) carrying a placard that reads: "Join and Army and See the Navy".Chicolini shows up at Firefly's headquarters claiming that he just deserted from Trentino's armies and joined Freedonia because they serve better food. Mrs. Teasdale calls Firefly and claims that her house is under attack from enemy soldiers. Firefly, Chicolini, Pinkie, and Bob rush to her aid but they find themselves trapped at the house. Just when it looks like they will be defeated when enemy troops storm the house, they capture Trentino when his soldiers break into the house. The four men pellet Trentino with orange until he gives up. Firefly declares that: "Freedonia has won the war!" They continue to pellet the captive Trentino with oranges and other fruit. In the final shot, when the happy Mrs. Teasdale sings the Freedonia national anthem, the four men pelt her instead.

SOLUTION: Where does Trentino's attempt to propose marriage to Mrs. Teasdale?

PROBLEM: Gay Austrian fashion reporter BrÃ¼no Gehard is fired from his own television show, Funkyzeit mit BrÃ¼no (Funkytime with BrÃ¼no) after disrupting a Milan Fashion week catwalk (whose audience included Paul McCartney), and his lover Diesel leaves him for another man. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant, Lutz, he travels to the United States to become "the biggest gay Austrian celebrity since Hitler".BrÃ¼no unsuccessfully attempts an acting career as an extra on NBC's Medium. He then interviews Paula Abdul, using "Mexican chair-people" in place of furniture (Abdul goes along with everything, explaining how she aspires to help people, until a naked man, adorned with sushi, is wheeled into the room). He then produces a celebrity interview pilot, showing him dancing erotically, criticizing Jamie-Lynn Spears' fetus with reality TV star Brittny Gastineau, unsuccessfully attempting to "interview" actor Harrison Ford, and closing with a close-up of his penis being swung around by pelvic gyrations. A focus group reviewing the pilot hate it, calling it "worse than cancer". BrÃ¼no then decides to make a sex tape, thus he then interviews Ron Paul, claiming to have mistaken him for drag queen RuPaul. While waiting in a hotel room with Paul, BrÃ¼no flirts with him before undressing, causing Paul to leave angrily and call him "queerer than the blazes".BrÃ¼no consults a spiritualist to contact the deceased Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli for advice, miming various sex acts on the invisible "Pilatus". He consults charity PR consultants Nicole and Suzanne DeFosset to select a world problem to maximize his fame, choosing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He flies to Jerusalem to interview former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib and confuses hummus and Hamas. In an interview with Israeli and Palestinian professors he sings his own "Dove of Peace" while cajoling the two to caress each other's hands. He also meets with Ayman Abu Aita, a "terrorist group leader, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades" in a location described as a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, where he hopes to be kidnapped.[5][6] BrÃ¼no insults Abu Aita's hair then says that "King Osama" looks like a dirty wizard or a homeless Santa Claus. Abu Aita's translator orders BrÃ¼no to leave. He stops off in Nairobi to pick up a few things, including a child, saying he is "black gold".BrÃ¼no interviews parents of child models, asking if their toddlers would be ready to lose weight, undergo liposuction, operate "antiquated heavy machinery" or "amateur science", or dress in Nazi uniforms. On a talk show hosted by Richard Bey, he shows the African American audience a baby he named O.J., whom he acquired in Africa by "swapping him" for a U2 Product Red iPod. He shows photographs of the boy covered with bees, on a crucifix and in a Jacuzzi next to adults in a 69 position. The audience is appalled and social services take the baby from BrÃ¼no, driving him to depression. He goes to a diner to gorge on high-carb junk food. Lutz carries him back to a hotel room. After a night of sex, they awake to find themselves trapped in a bondage mechanism, unable to find the key. They call a hotel engineer for help and are asked to leave. After accosting a group of anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church while still in bondage gear and boarding a bus, BrÃ¼no and Lutz remove their equipment at Madison County Office of Alternative Sentencing and Release in Huntsville, Alabama.[7] After being arrested, Lutz says he loves BrÃ¼no, but BrÃ¼no tells him he does not love him, having been influenced by "carb goggles". Lutz leaves BrÃ¼no.After realizing the biggest names in Hollywood are straight (citing Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, and John Travolta), BrÃ¼no consults two Christian gay converters to help him become heterosexual. He attempts activities, such as learning karate, joining the National Guard, going hunting in Alabama, and attending a swingers party at which he is whipped by a dominatrix.Eight months later, a now-heterosexual BrÃ¼no, under the alias "Straight Dave", hosts a cage-fight match in Arkansas, "Straight Dave's Man Slammin' Maxout". Lutz appears at the event and calls BrÃ¼no a "faggot". The two fight, only to rekindle their love, making out and stripping in front of the shocked spectators who throw objects into the cage. The clip gets international press and the now-famous BrÃ¼no attempts to marry Lutz and gets O.J. back in exchange for a MacBook Pro. BrÃ¼no records a charity song, "Dove of Peace", featuring Bono, Elton John (seated at a piano on a Mexican "chair-person"), Chris Martin, Snoop Dogg, Sting, and Slash, at Abbey Road Studios.

SOLUTION: What is Bruno's pilot about?

PROBLEM: Dennis Mitchell is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents Henry and Alice, and is the bane of next door neighbor George Wilson's existence. Because of his trouble-making but unintentional behavior, his parents often struggle to find suitable babysitters to deal with him. On one night, they manage to get one named Polly and her boyfriend Mickey to babysit him, but repeated doorbell pranks from him push the two too far (not knowing he is behind this), and they end up pulling a prank on George when he rings the doorbell to scold Dennis after finding paint and wood in his food in an earlier incident. While all of this and the rest of the events in town go on, a burglar named Switchblade Sam (said name not mentioned in the film, only in the end credits) arrives in town and begins robbing houses, as well as striking fear into the children that he meets.Dennis' parents are both called away on business trips at the same time, and when everyone they know refuses to look after him, they turn to George and his wife Martha (who loves Dennis and sees him as a surrogate grandson) to look after him. George is further irritated by him spilling bath water on the bathroom floor, swapping chemicals, and bringing his pet dog, Ruff, into the house for a while. All of this is happening around the time the Summer Floraganza, a long-awaited event, is scheduled to happen. As a longtime member of the local garden club, George is chosen to host it. He is excited to have this honor, as he has been growing and nurturing a rare plant for forty years. After growing for the said length of time, its flower finally blooms, only to die several seconds later.Alice gets stuck at the airport due to a storm, thus forcing Dennis to stay with the Wilsons for an extra night, which coincides with the unveiling of the plant and its blooming to the members of the garden club. While that is happening, he is sent away for causing trouble (namely overturning the dessert table when he pushed a black button, which he found out opened the garage door), when he hears Switchblade Sam robbing the house. He goes downstairs, and finds George's gold coins missing. He runs outside to tell him just as the flower is beginning to bloom, which causes him and all the guests to miss its entire lifespan. Not knowing about the robbery, he severely scolds him, tells him that he has no use for him, and that he doesn't want to know or see him anymore. Shortly thereafter, Dennis gets on his bicycle (with a wagon attached) and rides off into the night, eventually bumping into Switchblade Sam in the woods. Sam then abducts him, intending to use the child as a hostage.Dennis' parents return home and learn of his departure, and they, the authorities, his friends (Joey, Margaret, and all the neighborhood kids), and George (who feels intense guilt and remorse after remembering all the things he said to him and having now discovered his house was burglarized and that Dennis actually had good intentions when he tried to tell him) search all night for him. Around the same time, Dennis unintentionally but effectively defeats Switchblade Sam by tying him up and handcuffing him, losing the key, and repeatedly setting him on fire, amongst other things. He returns to George's house the next morning with Switchblade Sam in his wagon, having also recovered George's gold coins, and Sam is taken into police custody by a slightly amused sheriff who had previously advised him to leave town. Dennis and George make up, and the Mitchells and Wilsons become friends on better terms. That night, George explains that he's learned some things about kids: kids are kids, and that one has to play by their rules, roll with the punches, and expect the unexpected.The film's end credits are accompanied with Dennis inadvertently humiliating his mother's egotistical coworker, Andrea, while she is using a photocopier. Dennis impishly whacks the "PRINT" button and runs away, with other workers looking on. Andrea loses her balance and her head gets pinned face-down on the scanner-bed, and the machine relentlessly flashes its blinding light in her eyes as it repeatedly "takes her picture" and spews out page after page of black-and-white "photos" showing her various agonized facial expressions as she writhes about on the scanner bed.

SOLUTION:
How long does it take for George's plant to grow before it blooms?