Today’s LL Study Guide ranges from Pablo Picasso’s tongue-twisting baptismal name and his unprecedented 90th‑birthday honor at the Louvre, to the tiny club of G‑rated Best Picture nominees standing in contrast to the X‑rated winner Midnight Cowboy.

We also visit Leverkusen on the Rhine, where works team Bayer 04 Leverkusen finally shed their “Neverkusen” curse under Xabi Alonso while backed by pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and dig into the rise of fast‑fashion juggernaut Shein from its ZZKKO and SheInside days. Rounding things out: the conservation rescue of Texas Longhorn cattle by the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Texas mascot Bevo, and how Frank Sinatra’s “doo-be-doo-be-doo” scat on “Strangers in the Night” gave Scooby‑Doo his name and a half‑century of pop‑culture life.

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Study Notes

Question 1: Pablo Picasso’s Marathon Name & Louvre Honor

ART - [REDACTED] Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y [REDACTED]. What are the first and last names redacted from the preceding name, of the individual who became, in celebration of his 90th birthday in 1971, the first living artist to receive a special honour exhibition at the Grand Gallery of the Louvre Museum?

Answer: PABLO PICASSO

Pablo Picasso’s full baptismal name runs to more than a dozen components, beginning with Pablo and ending with the maternal surname Picasso. In 1971, for his 90th birthday, he became the first living artist to receive a special honor exhibition in the Louvre’s Grande Galerie, with eight of his works shown alongside Old Masters.

Connections

  • Guernica in the news: Picasso’s 1937 anti‑war mural Guernica is one of the world’s most famous paintings; it’s housed at Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofía and is regularly referenced in coverage of war and remembrance ceremonies, such as recent visits by leaders like Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Germany’s president.
  • Songs about Picasso: The Modern Lovers’ proto‑punk song “Pablo Picasso” (later covered by John Cale, Iggy Pop, and others) paints him as the archetypal charismatic artist whose advances were never rejected, embedding his name in rock history.
  • Biopics and dramas: James Ivory’s film Surviving Picasso (1996), starring Anthony Hopkins, dramatizes Picasso’s tumultuous relationships, while Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris features Picasso as a character in its time‑travel fantasy—both are easy entry points to his life and legend.
  • Museum retrospectives: Major retrospectives at MoMA, the Met, and other museums repeatedly reaffirm Picasso’s dominance in 20th‑century art; reading wall labels or audio guides at any big modern‑art show almost guarantees more context on his career milestones.

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Question 2: Best Picture Nominees Rated G (vs. Midnight Cowboy)

FILM - What is the most notable distinction shared by the Best Picture Oscar nominees Toy Story 3, Babe, Beauty and the Beast, Sounder, Fiddler on the Roof, Airport, Hello, Dolly!, and Oliver! (the only winner in this list)? It’s a distinction they share with no other nominees, and a distinction to which nominee (and winner) Midnight Cowboy stands alone in a direct contrast.

Answer: RATED G

All of those Best Picture nominees carried the G (General Audiences) rating under the Motion Picture Association system—unusually gentle content compared with most nominees—while Midnight Cowboy is famous as the only X‑rated film ever to win Best Picture (its rating was later revised to R).

Key facts to remember

  • The modern MPA rating system (G/PG/R/X, later adding PG‑13 and replacing X with NC‑17) was introduced in 1968.
  • Oliver! (1968) is the only G‑rated Best Picture winner, and later G‑rated Best Picture nominees are rare outliers like Airport, Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Sounder, Beauty and the Beast, Babe, and Toy Story 3.
  • Midnight Cowboy (1969) initially received an X rating for mature sexual themes and depictions of prostitution and homosexuality, making its Best Picture win historically unique before the rating was changed to R in 1971.

Connections

  • Stage musicals you might have seen: Oliver!, Hello, Dolly!, and Fiddler on the Roof were all smash Broadway or West End musicals before becoming G‑rated film versions that went on to Best Picture nods or wins; local theater productions or touring revivals keep those stories in circulation.
  • Disney Renaissance & animation history: Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture, long before there was a separate Best Animated Feature category, and both it and Toy Story 3 are widely discussed in documentaries and think‑pieces about animation’s fight for awards respect.
  • Surprisingly intense G‑rated films: Critics often note that movies like Sounder (about a Black sharecropper family in the Depression) and Babe (with frank depictions of farm slaughter and animal peril) feel weightier than their G ratings suggest—an example of how “G” has shifted over time.
  • The other extreme – X / NC‑17 lore: Essays about controversial cinema routinely bring up Midnight Cowboy as the lone X‑rated Best Picture winner, often alongside other once‑X‑rated films like A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris that pushed rating boundaries but didn’t win the top prize.

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Question 3: Bayer, Leverkusen & the 2023–24 Bundesliga Champs

GAMES/SPORT - The city of Leverkusen, which sits on the Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf, is home to the champions of the German Bundesliga from the 2023-24 season, and is also (relatedly) the headquarters of what multinational corporate giant?

Answer: BAYER

Leverkusen is a city on the eastern bank of the Rhine in North Rhine‑Westphalia, bordering Cologne to the south and Düsseldorf to the north. It’s both the home of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who won their first‑ever Bundesliga title in 2023–24 with an unbeaten league season, and the headquarters of multinational life‑science company Bayer AG, founded in 1863 and famous for pharmaceuticals like aspirin.

Connections

  • Works teams in world football: Bayer Leverkusen began in 1904 as a works club founded by employees of the Bayer factory, similar to other company‑backed clubs like PSV Eindhoven (Philips) and Arsenal’s early ties to an armaments works.
  • “Neverkusen” → “Neverlusen”: For years the club was mocked as “Neverkusen” for repeatedly finishing second and losing major finals, a narrative widely revisited when Xabi Alonso’s side won the 2023–24 title and set a European record unbeaten streak, inspiring new nicknames like “Neverlusen” or “Winnerkusen.”
  • Corporate brand in everyday life: Even if you’ve never watched the Bundesliga, Bayer’s name is everywhere via over‑the‑counter drugs (notably Aspirin, first marketed under that trademark in 1899) and agricultural products, making this a trivia answer you might have absorbed from medicine cabinets and news about agrochemicals.
  • Sports‑business documentaries and articles: Long‑form profiles of Alonso’s Leverkusen or pieces on the 50+1 rule often single out Bayer and Wolfsburg as exceptions due to their corporate origins, so reading about German football governance doubles as a way to lock in this Bayer–Leverkusen connection.

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Question 4: Shein’s Many Names – ZZKKO → SheInside → Shein

LIFESTYLE - Identify the fast fashion e-commerce platform that was founded in Nanjing, China, in 2008 as ZZKKO, and took its current name in 2015 after dropping the letters “side” from the end of an intermediate name it had adopted in 2011?

Answer: SHEIN

Shein is a fast‑fashion e‑commerce giant that began in Nanjing in 2008 under the name ZZKKO, later operated as SheInside (website registered 2011), and rebranded in 2015 to the shorter, more searchable name Shein—essentially dropping “‑side” from SheInside.

Connections

  • TikTok “Shein hauls”: On platforms like TikTok, the hashtag #SheinHaul has amassed billions of views as influencers unpack enormous orders on camera, turning the brand into a fixture of social‑media shopping culture and a case study in how algorithms fuel consumption.
  • News about labor and the Uyghur region: Investigations and parliamentary hearings in the U.K., U.S., and elsewhere have probed Shein over alleged use of cotton linked to forced Uyghur labor and broader supply‑chain opacity, making it a recurring name in human‑rights and trade‑policy coverage.
  • Climate and fast‑fashion debates: Shein features heavily in reporting on fashion’s environmental toll—its own sustainability report shows tens of millions of tons of CO₂ emissions, with most garments made from polyester and shipped globally by air—so articles about climate policy, French “anti‑fast‑fashion” bills, or microplastics often mention the brand.
  • Podcasts & essays on clothing culture: Shows like Articles of Interest and essays on TikTok haul culture frequently use Shein as Exhibit A for ultra‑fast fashion, tying it to questions of identity, trend cycles, and consumer psychology.

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Question 5: Texas Longhorns – From Near Extinction to Icon

SCIENCE - What now-flourishing bovid was saved from near extinction by the U.S. Forest Service in 1927, about a decade after a burnt-orange-and-white specimen named “Bevo” drew widespread attention to the breed?

Answer: TEXAS LONGHORN

The Texas Longhorn, a hardy cattle breed descended from Spanish and Anglo‑American stock, was nearly bred out of existence by the 1920s as ranchers switched to other beef breeds. In 1927 the U.S. Forest Service funded rangers Will C. Barnes and John Hatton to collect a small herd, which was established at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma—widely credited with saving the breed from extinction.

The earlier publicity‑boosting longhorn “Bevo” debuted as the University of Texas live mascot in 1916; his burnt‑orange and white coloring helped inspire UT’s school colors and turned the longhorn silhouette into a college‑sports icon.

Connections

  • State symbol & roadside art: In 1995, the Texas Legislature designated the Texas Longhorn as the official large mammal symbol of Texas, and longhorn statues or roadside sculptures are scattered across the state—places where even non‑ranchers absorb this imagery.
  • UT football culture: Watching a Texas Longhorns game, you’ll see Bevo XV on the sidelines, a massive steer whose horns span close to six feet; coverage of college mascots often revisits the breed’s conservation story, linking Saturday football directly to wildlife history.
  • Westerns and cattle‑drive movies: Classic Western films like The Texans, Red River, The Longhorn, and Canyon River used authentic Texas Longhorn herds to depict post‑Civil‑War cattle drives, cementing the breed’s look—huge sweeping horns, rangy build—in Hollywood’s image of the Old West.
  • Modern ranching & breed registries: Organizations such as the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America maintain registries and horn‑length standards (with trophy steers exceeding four feet of horn), so any article about heritage cattle or grass‑fed beef trends is likely to mention the Longhorn’s comeback.

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Question 6: Scooby‑Doo Named by Sinatra’s “Doo‑Be‑Doo‑Be‑Doo”

TELEVISION - Frank Sinatra’s 1966 recording of “Strangers in the Night” inspired the name of what title character from an animated series that premiered three years later?

Answer: SCOOBY DOO

Frank Sinatra’s 1966 hit “Strangers in the Night” ends with a playful scat—“doo‑be‑doo‑be‑doo”—that stuck in the mind of CBS programming executive Fred Silverman. In 1968, while developing a new Hanna‑Barbera mystery cartoon, Silverman adapted the scat into the name Scooby‑Doo, giving the cowardly Great Dane star of Scooby‑Doo, Where Are You! (which premiered in 1969) his now‑iconic moniker.

Connections

  • Song history & awards: “Strangers in the Night” was a global #1 single and won Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Arrangement, as well as a Golden Globe for best original song—so any Sinatra compilation or documentary about his late‑career hits will usually feature this track and its famous scat ending.
  • Enduring franchise: Since Scooby‑Doo, Where Are You! debuted on CBS in 1969, the franchise has expanded to numerous animated series, direct‑to‑video movies, and theatrical live‑action films like the 2002 Scooby‑Doo and its 2004 sequel, as well as a newly announced live‑action Netflix origin series—keeping Scooby in circulation for new generations.
  • Crossover episodes and parodies: Scooby‑Doo has crossed into series such as Supernatural and been spoofed in everything from sketch shows to commercials; recognizing the name’s Sinatra origin adds a fun layer when you hear characters mimic his “Scooby‑Dooby‑Doo” catchphrase.
  • Music trivia angle: Song‑analysis pieces often note that Sinatra’s ad‑libbed scat not only helped make “Strangers in the Night” memorable but also seeded Scooby‑Doo’s name, so music‑history reading can unexpectedly help with TV‑cartoon trivia.

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