Spring 2012

Erik Bates won this round on June 1, 2012. There were 65 goos.

Players this round: Russ Wilhelm (65 goos solved, a perfect score), Justin Woods (64 goos solved), Steve West (64 goos solved), Aaron Shurtleff (63 goos solved), Steve Dunn (63 goos solved), Erik Bates (62 goos solved), Samir Mehta (62 goos solved), Chris Lemler (61 goos solved), Mike Rothstein (60 goos solved), Richard Slominsky (60 goos solved), LaVonne Lemler (58 goos solved), Matthew Preston (58 goos solved), Denise Sawicki (51 goos solved), Joanna Woods (51 goos solved), Lori Lancaster (11 goos solved), Laurie Laczkowski (10 goos solved), Mike Eberhart (6 goos solved), Ryan Dunn (6 goos solved), Tony Peters (6 goos solved), Sarah Kyle (5 goos solved), Jon Berry (3 goos solved), Chris Bourg (2 goos solved), Jason Lemler (2 goos solved), Shawn Brandt (2 goos solved), and Ronni Collins (1 goo solved).

Tupac Shakur

This Machiavellian rapper has published more albums in death than he did during his thug life. Go »

Jonathan Larson

The rent was too damn high for this New York playwright, who passed away three months before his most successful show opened in 1996. Go »

Eva Cassidy

Unknown in her lifetime, this DC-area singer went on to sell ten million records, starting with her rendition of the most famous song from The Wizard of Oz. Go »

John Kennedy Toole

You can avoid being a dunce by recognizing this New Orleans writer with the presidential name. Go »

Gustav Mahler

This Austrian composer was renowned as an orchestra conductor before his death, but his ten symphonies have made him even more famous in the century since then. Go »

Theodore Kaczynski

During the 20 years before his brother turned him in, this radical environmentalist was known for demonstrating his explosive temper by mail. Go »

Terry Nichols

Until 9/11, the bombing that this conspirator carried out with Timothy McVeigh was the deadliest act of terror in American history. Go »

Robert Hanssen

Selling FBI secrets to the Russians is unacceptable, unless you're Chris Cooper starring in a movie. Go »

Zacarias Moussaoui

This Frenchman's arrest a month before 9/11 prevented him from becoming the 20th hijacker. Go »

Larry Hoover

The streets of Chicago became safer after this messy criminal was cleaned up. Go »

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

As toddlers, they filled their sitcom house with laughter. As adults, they've reaped the financial rewards. Go »

James and Oliver Phelps

It must have been something, to see these twins beside their stunt doubles while filming scenes for the Harry Potter movies. Go »

Fallon and Felisha King

Atlanta didn't exactly cherish their R&B foursome, so these twins chose to strike out on their own. Who's the king? Go »

Mark and Scott Kelly

They're less famous for being a pair of astronaut twins than for one's wife surviving a shooting in the head. Go »

Ronde and Tiki Barber

One's a pirate in Tampa. The other used to be tall man in New York before retiring, but he's soon to play again. Go »

J. Edgar Hoover

The first director of the FBI, played on screen by Leonardo DiCaprio, was much more conflicted about his personal life than the ethics of his job. Go »

John Glenn

This real-life space cowboy took time between his space missions to be a Senator from Ohio. Go »

Dennis Lehane

Long before Shutter Island, this author explored a different geographical place in his novel about three childhood friends from Boston caught up in the same mystery as adults. Go »

Nelson Mandela

The nation's first black president once made Matthew Preston victorious. Go »

Charlie Parker

This saxophonist may have raised the bar for jazz musicians, but he spent his career as high as a bird. Go »

Andrew Garfield

In July, this young British actor will become the amazing Peter Parker. Go »

Michael David Cummings

The singer of "When Worlds Collide" is not as successful as his brother Rob Zombie. Go »

John Goodman

Roseanne's husband ain't afraid of no spiders. Go »

Spider Robinson

It's fitting that this Canadian writer earned the Robert A. Heinlein Award, since he's been a lifelong fan and even wrote a book based on Heinlein's idea. Go »

Alain Robert

This extreme athlete and publicity-seeking stuntman is so controversial, we can't even agree on what category he belongs to. Go »

Julius Caesar

This leader crossed the Rubicon and failed to beware the Ides of March. Go »

Virgil

The Greeks had Homer, but the Romans had this author of the Aeneid and the Georgics. Go »

Augustus

This summery ruler became Rome's first emperor after his defeat of Antony and Cleopatra. Go »

Gaius Marius

His military reforms made Rome's legions powerful, and led to his election as consul seven times. Go »

Valeria Messalina

Related by blood to several emperors, she married another, but was executed for plotting his death with her lover. Go »

Sandra Fluke

This Georgetown law student received a rare apology from Rush Limbaugh for personal attacks over her position on contraception funding. Go »

Bobbi Kristina Brown

Losing your mother, a world-famous R&B singer, to her drug problem must have been hard. Having this event shine a light on your own drug abuse while still a teen might have been harder. Go »

Mimi Alford

Not many people get famous today for something they did in 1962. But when that act was carrying on an affair with the U.S. president, and they were 19 at the time, one could see why it was kept secret for so long. Go »

Angela Corey

This state attorney might finally bring legal resolution to the death of Trayvon Martin. Go »

Pamela Druckerman

Qui a dit que les parents français ne sont pas mieux élever leurs enfants? Go »

Taylor Kitsch

This actor's cinematic trip to Mars last month was an even bigger flop than his barely-watched NBC series about high school football. Go »

Ray Bradbury

Before writing about tattooed men and book-burning, this sci-fi writer chronicled life on Mars. Go »

Percival Lowell

When an Italian astronomer discovered "canals" on Mars, this American businessman devoted the rest of his life to popularizing the idea of a Martian civilization. Oddly, his contributions to science later led to the discovery of Pluto. Go »

Orlando Figueroa

Two months ago, this longtime Mars expert was re-hired by NASA to plan its next robotic expedition to the red planet. Go »

Bruno Mars

Fans like this Hawaiian hooligan just the way he is. Go »

Robert De Niro

The star of Raging Bull, Cape Fear, Heat, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Angel Heart, and countless other dark films might be the king of neo-noir. Go »

Christopher Nolan

This writer-director can turn out neo-noir films both large like Inception and The Dark Knight and small like Following and Memento. Go »

Kathleen Turner

Her role as Matty Walker became such an iconic femme fatale that she was able to parodize the archetype as Jessica Rabbit. Go »

James Ellroy

He channeled his grief over his mother's murder into a novel about the Black Dahlia case, and went on to expose more of L.A.'s confidential secrets. Go »