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I was thrilled to find out tonight that Jeopardy! was not pre-empted by basketball on Friday. Don't get me wrong - I like March Madness okay and I did fill out a bracket (or three). But I'd rather watch Jeopardy! then anything else. But while I'm talking basketball, I might mention that the Husker women (#1 seed) beat the University of Northern Iowa today. Now if only fellow Big 12 school Kansas could've beaten that school's men!
Anyway, Jeopardy! just snuck in there on Friday. In fact, the episode started with a "joining in progress" message, but all that was missed was the introduction of the players. Phew!
I should've played on my Challenger tonight; I was on a serious tear the whole game, and I felt in the groove right away. Today's episode featured 1-day champ Jim Banks of Connecticut (loved the Husker red sweater), Sarah Bright of LA, and Kristian Zoerhoff of IL. Near the end of Double Jeopardy, Kristian selected the Daily Double. He had $21200, Sarah had $6800, and Jim had $10800. I was impressed with how quickly Kristian knew he had to wager $500 and respond correctly (or really, $401) to put a lock on the game. And that's what he did. Here's the clue in Biblical Paintings: "In a fresco at the Sistine Chapel, Pietro Perugino depicted 'The Giving of the Keys' to him."* There was one more clue in the round, which Sarah answered correctly.
I got this Final Jeopardy right and no one else did, in 1940s Music History: "While writing for Billboard magazine, legendary producer Jerry Wexler coined this phrase to replace 'race music.'" (Hint: Sarah said hip hop, Jim said rock and roll, and Kristian said jazz.)
Tomorrow, I will be playing along on my Challenger. (Now watch me lose big.)
Here are some of my scores:
Jim Banks, CT 19599
Jessica Shafer, TX 17199
Amanda Baber, OK 1
Me 27602
Melissa Prepster, TX 19395
Ted Barnett, WI 7400
Jason Richards, ME 15000
Me 19402
*Peter, rhythm and blues
I had to go somewhat old-school and use a really, really old videotape full of old *NSYNC stuff to record that 6 p.m. Jeopardy! last night. Ironic clue from the Jeopardy! round in the category Broadway Debuts (worth $600): "Before 'Dancing with the Stars,' he got '*NSYNC' by playing TV dance-show host Corny Collins in 'Hairspray.'"* I paid the price for using that old tape, but it was worth it. And anyway that tape hadn't given me trouble before, that I recall! I wound up having to watch the show on "mute" and with closed captions because the voices were so distorted. Also, when I tried to pause the show to write down clues, the picture would blink on and off. So once again I'm referring to j-archive.com to get the clues I need. (Thank you!)
The game was a good one once again. Justin Bernbach of NY was back with 6 wins under his belt. His opponents were John Mariz of MD and Robert Kennedy (!) of NY. At the end of the Jeopardy round, Justin had $4600, John had $4800, and Robert had $5200. By the time Justin got the first Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round, though, he had amassed $17,000, thanks in part to nearly running the category Literary Titles. He added $5000 to his score on the Daily Double, in Awards and Honors: "In 1997 the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by Jody Williams and the ICBL, the International Campaign to ban these."
The second to last clue was the second Daily Double in the round, and John found it. Justin had $28,400, and John and Robert were tied with $8400 each. John wisely bet almost everything, $8000, and came up with a correct response in Eating Places: "In Germany it's a beer-hall and restaurant usually below street-level." (Props to anyone who had heard of this!) Justin got the last clue of the round correct, bringing his total to $30,400 for Final Jeopardy. The category was The Academy Awards: "Peter Finch was the first winner of a posthumous Best Actor Oscar; he was first to get two posthumous acting nominations." Robert was the only contestant to get the answer right, but of course it was too little, too late. He added $8001 to his $8400, while John lost $15,999 with his guess of Peter Sellers, and Justin lost $2600 with his guess of Heath Ledger. This makes Bernbach a 7-day champion.
*Lance Bass, landmines, rathskeller, James Dean
The NCAA tournament pre-empted Jeopardy! on Thursday, which was actually okay with me, because it was one of those "Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational" episodes. I haven't been watching those anyway because the clues are too easy and there is too much carrying on. I don't know if Friday's episode was pre-empted yet, because I wasn't able to watch it and won't be able to now for a couple of days. (Does anyone know?) Last night I was eager to watch GSN's midnight episode. I thought, "At last, my Jeopardy! fix!" Imagine my surprise when, notebook in hand and pen poised, the words "Back-to-School Week" appeared as Jeopardy! began. >l-( I will watch those episodes if they're brand-new, but reruns of them? No. My sister and I changed the channel at my suggestion (shocker!), and we wound up watching a few minutes of "What Not to Wear" on TLC.
There is another chance at redemption, though, because I can watch the weekly 6 p.m. Saturday night episode of Jeopardy! on a local channel. Come back for those deets.
How do you guys feel about both the celebrity invitational episodes and the Back-to-School Week episodes?
I'm wondering if anyone else knew what "zoris" were in the following $200 clue in the category Footwear: "Also called zoris, they're backless rubber sandals held on with a thong between the first two toes."* I looked it up just now in my big dictionary, and it's not in there. And I didn't know that a "thong" referred to the piece between the toes. I thought a "thong" was the whole shoe. I did respond correctly.
I was proud to answer two clues correctly this episode that no one answered on TV. The first was the $1000 in the category Film Titles in Foreign Lands: "Folks in Greece know this Eddie Murphy film as 'Daddies as Nannies.'" And I want to maintain my reputation: I haven't seen the movie!
The second one was in Double Jeopardy. This is the $800 clue in Picture Book Animals: "If You Give a _____ a Cookie."
At the end of the Jeopardy round, Amanda Baber of OK was in first place by $100 over Jayson Johnson of NC, thanks to a correct response to the last clue of the round. It was the Daily Double, found in the category Broke-Down Words (the numbers refer to the letters in the word): "My 1-2-3 is active hostility between nations and my 4-5-6-7 is a gated chamber in a canal or dam."
At the end of Double Jeopardy, the scores indicated that the contestants were pretty evenly-matched. Rachel Pildis, 1-day champ from IL, had $11800, Jayson had $12600, and Amanda had $15300. Rachel and Amanda got Final Jeopardy right, in the category Famous Americans: "About him F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, 'In the spring of '27, something bright and alien flashed across the sky.'" Amanda wagered $9900, easily enough to overtake Rachel, who wagered $4200.
Answers to last time's calendar clues: marriage (acceptable: wedding) and Lexington
*flip-flops, Daddy Day Care, mouse, warlock, Charles Lindbergh
I decided to play along with both yesterday's and today's GSN episodes of Jeopardy!, rather than write about them at greater length. You recall that Jason Richards was the champion. Below are my scores.
Thaddeus Grimes-Gruczka of NY $8600
Susan Daniels of RI $0
Jason Richards of ME $23000
Me $6400
Justin Porter of SC $5000
Caren Chancey of MD $10001
Jason Richards of ME $23100
Me $19398
In the last entry, I promised to tell you about one of the silliest responses that I can remember in Jeopardy!'s history. With a little help from j-archive.com, I was able to find it. Christian Haines is an excellent champion from a few years ago. This was the $1000 clue in I Love You Guys (contestants have to give the language in which 'I love you' is provided): "Yr wyf i'n dy garu di."* (Christian's response: Klingon.)
Here are two calendar clues: Literary Terms: "Edmund Spenser coined the term 'prothalamion' for a poem that celebrates an impending one of these events." And American Cities: "A leading market for race horses, this Kentucky city is the 'Horse Capital of the World.'"
*Welsh
Today's contestants were pretty evenly matched. Scores at the first break were $2200 for 1-day champ Robert Knecht Schmidt from OH, $4000 for Rachel Pildis from IL, and $2800 for Nick Gorski of VA. Another indicator: All of three of them gave ridiculous answers to a clue at some point in the game.
$1000 in Movies' Alternate Endings: "The original script for this Jamie Foxx film set in Saudi Arabia had his FBI team getting blown up."* (Robert's response: Miami Vice. Rachel seemed to enjoy that one!)
$400 in Story Problems: "12 hens each lay a half-dozen eggs, but 2 get broken; then a hen lays one more, leaving this many unbroken eggs." (Nick's response: 5)
And finally, $800 in Story Problems: "If a lepidopterist spots 4 butterflies, each with 3 black spots and 5 yellow spots, he spots this many spots." (Rachel's response: 60)
So can you think of any other ridiculous responses that you've seen in past episodes? One springs to mind for me, and I'll write about it in the next entry.
Nick was in the lead with $14800 at the end of the Double Jeopardy round, which surprisingly had 2 clues shy of 3 categories remaining when Alex announced that there was less than a minute to go in the round! Rachel had $9800, and Robert had $5400. The Final Jeopardy clue was a snap. Religion: "In 1875, she wrote, 'Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe.'" Robert got the right answer but wagered nothing! That hurts even a spectator! Rachel, too, got it right and added $2200 to her score, which makes $12000 and more than twice Robert's total at the end of Double Jeopardy anyway. Nick got it wrong and lost $4801, putting him in second place and making Rachel the champion!
And the answers to the last calendar clues: Devil in a Blue Dress and Michael Moore.
* The Kingdom, 71, 32, Mary Baker Eddy
Okay, maybe not the worst....
If you missed Friday's GSN episode of Jeopardy!, you missed quite a show. It was notable for how well one contestant did, and how poorly another one did. I recognized the guy who did well as soon as he appeared on the screen, which makes me think he's got more wins ahead: Jason Richards from Maine. The other two contestants were 1-day returning champ Elizabeth Randisi from NY and Zeb Schobernd from Oregon.
Jason started off strong by sweeping the Colleges and Universities category, including this Daily Double: "Of the Ivy League colleges, this one is alphabetically first."* Then he answered all but one clue correctly in the category Monuments: "The Iwo Jima monument on Parris Island represents the famous raising of the flag on this mountain." By the first commercial break, Jason had $7400, Elizabeth had 600, and Zeb had -$1000, in part because he responded "What is Mount Everest?" to the Monuments clue above. What?! Okay, why not Mount St. Helens? Or Mountain Dew?
In the second half of the Jeopardy round, Zeb did something else unthinkable (or should I say awful) when he answered "awful" to this $800 clue in Do You Have the Munchies?: "Though it sounds like the most terrible food, it's really just German for 'sausage.'" At the end of the round, Elizabeth had $1600, Zeb -$1800, and Jason $12600. Ouch.
Movie Directors stumped everyone on 2 of the first 3 clues in the category when Jason added a cool $3000 to his total on this Daily Double: "This 'Philadelphia Story' director was patriotically named for Admiral George Dewey." Jason went on to sweep Subatomic Mass Persuasion. Zeb missed the $2000 clue in the category: "In 1998 it was found that these particles that pass through everything at light speed do have mass." He said "photons." Jason did manage to answer a few clues correctly, though, and wound up on the plus side for Final Jeopardy. First, Jason (who else?) got a Daily Double and picked up $5500 in The Land Down Under: "Located in a national park, it's about 1 1/2 miles long and rises 1,142 feet above the desert floor." At the end of the round, Elizabeth had $6000, Zeb $1400, and Jason a staggering $37100. Yes, before Final Jeopardy! Something tells me I'm glad I didn't play along with the contestants on this one.
All three contestants missed the Final Jeopardy clue, although all three were on the right track. Presidential Relatives: "He defended civil rights as a representative from Massachusetts' 11th district from 1895-1901." Monday should be fun!
Here are two more calendar clues. $1000 in "Dress"ed: "Walter Mosley penned this mystery about detective Easy Rawlins searching for a woman in post-World War II Los Angeles." And for $1000 in Kick the Cannes: "In 2004, he became the first to win the Palme d'Or for a documentary since Jacques Cousteau in 1956."
*Brown, Mount Suribachi, wurst, George Cukor, neutrinos, Ayers Rock, John Francis Fitzgerald
At the end of Friday's Jeopardy round, Cyd Musni of Florida had $4600, Robert Knecht Schmidt of Ohio had $10600, and Sarah Rubin of MA had $600. Rubin did not answer ring in at all before the first break, and after the first break only answered two clues correctly.
Four clues remained on the board in Double Jeopardy when Cyd hit a Daily Double. The scores were: Cyd 5400, Robert 17400, Sarah 2600. Here is the clue in Luther: "After deeming his writings heretical, Pope Leo gave Luther 60 days to do this, from the Latin for 'sing again.'"* Cyd answered correctly and added $4000 to his score. He got the rest of the clues on the board except for this one, worth $800 in Luther: "Martin Luther spoke of Aristotle and this man of Ockham, as his teachers." Double Jeopardy ended, then, with Cyd having $11000, Robert $17400, and Sarah $2600. No one got this Final Jeopardy clue correct in Film Legends: "His only competitive Oscar win was for best score in 1973 for a 1952 film in which he had starred as a washed-up comic." A toughie! Cyd lost $10000, Robert lost 4601, and Sarah lost $23.00. I'll be curious to see what Robert can do next time. He doesn't strike me as a strong champion.
Incidentally, Cyd said "Deo Volente" again for a response, and this time Mr. Trebek said, "Pardon?"
Here are my most recent scores. To paraphrase Mr. Trebek on a Jeopardy! computer game I used to play, "I guess it just wasn't my day.":
Matthew Luter, MS 3000
Jennifer Buermann, NJ 0 (BTW, I noticed that she competed in the 2010 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament! I have to assume it was her, anyway. Same name, same state. She came in 174th overall, better than my 281st.)
David Madden, NJ 23999
Me 4798
Andy Rosenberg, NJ 13000
Caleb Whitaker, NC 2300
Monica Vidrio, CA 0
Me 5998
Tom Streit, FL 7200
Jeanie (Hey!) Kyle, AR 1198
Andy Rosenberg, NJ 15800
Me 10402
And here are the answers to the most recent calendar clues, respectively: dress rehearsal and Roman Polanski.
*recant, William of Ockham, Charlie Chaplin
Just when I thought I had been wrong about 10 or 11 stumpers being a lot in an episode, today's episode
had 4. I will keep counting....
Today's episode seemed evenly-matched in the first round. Cyd Musni, 1-day champ from FL, and
Leslie Sommer from CA each had $4600 at the end of the round, while Ryan Stander from MO had $3200. Then Double Jeopardy separated the men from, er, Leslie. Off the bat, Cyd swept a category
on the NFL, and picked up $3600 on a Daily Double at the end of that category: "When a team switched
cities in 1988, this new full team name contained two birds, one real, one mythic."* Cyd then answered the
next clue correctly, and the next one was the other Daily Double of the round. This time he lost $3000 on
it: Playtime: "There's only one character in 'The Belle of Amherst,' and it's her." I thought this was a
no-brainer, but I guess it wasn't. Cyd threw something out there I'd never heard of that closed captioning
spelled "Deo Volente." Strangely, this was the same response that he gave yesterday to a stumper I wrote
about when the answer was supposed to be "yellowhammer." When I looked online just now, I saw the
words supposedly mean, "God willing." Does anyone have any insight?
Later in the round, Ryan went on a tear and answered 9 clues in a row, including one that Leslie
answered incorrectly first. The clues were in the categories Biblical Megadeaths and 19th Century Africa.
Then, Cyd almost swept a category called Floral Patterns. Cyd ended the round with $15600, Ryan had
$16800, and Leslie had $7400.
The Final Jeopardy category was The Nuclear Age. Clue: "This country has 104 nuclear reactors, more
than any other country." Leslie and Ryan both guessed what I did, and Alex said he was expecting someone
to guess that. Cyd, however, answered correctly and nearly doubled his earnings for the day. I'm hoping
Alex will ask Cyd about "Deo Volente" tomorrow.
Finally, here are two calendar clues for you: $200 in "Dress"ed: "The final full-scale practice of a play before opening night." And for $200 in Kick the Cannes: "In 2002, this director's The Pianist took home the Palme d'Or." (Correct questions to appear in the next entry.)
*Phoenix Cardinals, Emily Dickinson, the United States
After watching today's Game Show Network episode of Jeopardy!, I think that unanswered clues are more common than I thought they were. I counted 11 (not counting Daily Doubles). I will give them to you one more time, except for the two that required a visual aid. (I will count them in the future, though, just because I'm curious.)
$600 in Musical Before and After: "Reggae widow who appears to Scrooge"* (Okay, there's one name associated with reggae. But really, do they expect us to know his WIFE'S name?)
$400 in Eagle-Eyed: "The symbol of this youth organization is an eagle super-imposed on a stylized iris."
$1000 in Eagle-Eyed: "This constellation that features the star Altair is in the shape of an eagle with a considerable wingspan."
$1000 in Musical Before and After: "5-Star general who rocked out the South with 'Fire on the Mountain.'"
$1600 in "Com": "Controversial 1969 Philip Roth novel that was made into a 1972 film."
$2000 in Sandra Bullock Movies: "Geeky research scientist Diane Farrow."
$2000 in Dot: "Connect the Dots: the British author of 'Pilgrimage' or a two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist softball player."
$2000 in Scientists: "This great experimenter also gave lectures to London kids; In 1860, he showed them combustion requires air."
$2000 in Onward to Ontario: "The War of 1812 Battle of Moraviantown in Canada was also known as the Battle of this Ontario river."
At the end of the Jeopardy round, Mark Barrett and Will Hester had $4800, and Elizabeth Randisi had $1200. Elizabeth was silent for a while during Double Jeopardy, then nailed a Daily Double and moved into the lead with her $2500 wager: Flags: "When there was just one of this country, Emperor Kojang chose white as the flag's background color." All three contestants got Final Jeopardy wrong, but Elizabeth held on to her lead to win the game: The Nobel Prizes: "For the first time in its history, the Nobel Prize for Literature was not awarded in this year." Clues like these raise more questions for me than they answer. I wonder if in future entries I should explore such clues in order to gain some understanding....
I played a few episodes of Jeopardy! that I had saved on my DVR. The scores are below. (Leave it to David Madden to make a person feel inadequate!)
Danelle Johnson, UT 4600
Eugene Manning, HI 10000
Celeste DiNucci, PA 0
Me 10798
Brad Jeffcoat, GA 15200
Reda Chambers, AZ 15600
Eugene Manning, HI 16400
Me 25602
Willy Jay, MD 2799
Catie Camille, NY 8800
David Madden, NJ 21400
Me 2800
*Rita Marley's ghost, the Boy Scouts of America, Aquila, the George Marshall Tucker Band, Portnoy's Complaint, Love Potion #9, Dot Richardson, Michael Faraday, the Thames, Korea, 1914
In the last entry, I thought that 10 unanswerable clues was a lot for an episode of Jeopardy! After watching last night's Game Show Network episode, I wonder if those clues are more common than I thought: That episode had 8, by my count. I'm going to keep more careful track of them at least in the near future. Now I ask you: Is a clue that was not answered by any contestant a good clue, or a bad one? I can't resist posting today's here. By the way, I recommend reading all the clues and then the answers, since they are all at the bottom of this entry. (Do you know of a better way to do this?):
$1000 in Oh My Gods!: The sub bearing the name of this trumpeter sea god and son of Poseidon was the first to travel around the world underwater.*
$1000 in They Kilt: In 1822, when this author organized a royal visit to Edinburgh, he wore a kilt and got George IV to sport one also.
$2000 in "Ox" Marks the Spot: Popular western U.S. perennial seen here :
$400 in Math: Number that's the greatest common factor of 15, 130, and 10000.
$800 in Math: Slow down when you approach this type of set that contains elements common to 2 other sets.
$1600 in Start Spreadin' the Noose: Washington denied his request to be shot like a gentleman and not hanged like a spy, which he was on October 2, 1780.
$2000 in Start Spreadin' the Noose: In 1987, Spandau prison officials reported that this Nazi had hanged himself at age 93.
$1200 in Mongo for Mongolia: In the 1990s, the Przewalski variety of this was reintroduced to Mongolia.
Alison Beightol from Florida, Mark Barrett from California, and 2-day champ Andy Rosenberg from New Jersey were the contestants in today's episode. Alex said that Andy could have won a lot more money in his two wins if he had wagered more on Final Jeopardy. I don't know about you, but I think $28000-plus is a decent haul for two days! At the end of the Double Jeopardy round, Alex said that this was the first time that Andy was catchable at the same point in the previous two games. Alison had $8000, Andy had $12400, and Mark had $9900 thanks to losing $2300 on this last clue of the round in the category Math (I knew this one right away!): "For a line, this is defined as the ratio of vertical to horizontal distance it covers."
Alison and Andy got Final Jeopardy wrong, while Mark got it right: Famous Englishmen: "In 2004, a top entry in a 6,000-mile albatross race was sponsored by a descendant of this man who died in 1834." Mark added $6100 to his total, while Andy lost $4401, making Mark, a teacher (though obviously not in math!), the champion.
*Triton, Sir Walter Scott, phlox, 5, intersection, Major John Andre, Rudolph Hess, horse, slope, Coleridge
Exciting news about this blog! Read until the end for the deets...
Today's episode starred Kyle Mathews from California, Cyd Musni from Florida, and 4-day champ Vijay Balse from India. I was really pulling for Vijay. I love to see a five-day champ! Plus, I found it endearing when he talked on a previous episode about making his wedding invitations himself with calligraphy. I was disappointed and surprised to see him in the hole at the end of the Jeopardy round!
The real stars of today's show, though, were the clues. I counted 10 clues (counting Final Jeopardy) that no one got right!:
$600 in Letter-Perfect Bands: "Deadbeat Club, Private Idaho."* (Hint: Previous responses in the category were U2 and REM.)
$400 in Globe-Trekkin': "Lund in this Scandinavian country isn't named for Ilsa Lund; It was founded before the year 1000." (Hint: Kyle guessed Denmark and Vijay guessed Norway.)
$800 in Globe-Trekkin': In 1856 American adventurer William Walker conquered this Central American country and ruled it as 'president.'
$1000 in Jerusalem's Noble Sanctuary: "When entering Al-Aqsa, worshippers must clean themselves, so this type of fountain was placed. Its name comes from the Latin from 'wash away.'"
$600 in The Other 2 Little Pigs Rebuild: "From a German word for 'crust,' this exterior finish of cement, sand, lime, and water is both pigs' siding choice now." (Hint: Cyd guessed concrete.)
$1200 in Filmmaking 101: "The slate that gets the action going on a film is also called this, from the sound it makes."
$1200 in Double Double Letters: "A dessert called 'fool' is traditionally made with this tart fruit."
$2000 in Double Double Letters: "Watch the birdie; This bird [image on the screen] with a colorful name."
$400 in Double Double Letters: "This clasp holds a girl's hair in place."
With a couple of clues remaining, Vijay hit the second Daily Double of the Double Jeopardy round. He was still pretty far behind with $3800. He wagered $3700 and got this clue right, in Double double letters: "A writer of 14-line poems." It was too little too late, as it turns out. As mentioned, no one got this Final Jeopardy clue correct in U.S. Places in Literature: "This fishing port is the setting for Kipling's 'Captains Courageous,' and the wreck of the Hesperus was nearby." (Hint: Vijay guessed Cape Cod, Kyle guessed Boston, and Cyd guessed San Francisco.) Vijay finished with $4600, Kyle with $3400, and Cyd won with $11199. We may see Vijay at the Tournament of Champions yet.
I have mentioned that I use a Jeopardy! Challenger to keep track of my score on days when I cannot blog - Today I see that there is one for sale on eBay! Bidding starts at just $1.99, and there is a buy-it-now option for $4.99. As of this writing, there were no bids. The auction ends in 6 days.
Here are my scores for Monday and Tuesday's episodes this week:
(Karen Hoffman, IL) $1000 (Kirby Nelson, WA) $6399 (Vijay Balse, India) $14399 (me) $12000
(Shelby Sadler, MD) $5200 (Becki Norris, IL) $6400 (Vijay Balse) $11599 (me) $24402
Now, for the cymbal crash at the end of the drumroll: My blog has a new address! Now I can be found at thejeopardyfan.com! Please spread the word. (You CAN still find me at thejeopardyfan.blogspot.com, though!)
*The B-52s, Sweden, Nicaragua, ablution, stucco, clapper, gooseberry, yellowhammer, barrette, sonneteer, Gloucester Massachusetts.
Now that I think about it, I feel a little bit better (but not much) about my last entry getting messed up - I had decided to start posting my own scores compared with those of the real players on the show, and two of the three games I posted didn't go so well. So I kind of have a fresh start, except that I did just tell you that they didn't go well. (You just don't know my scores.) ;-) I do intend to post my scores in the future for the days that I am not able to update the blog. I play with the old-school gadget " Jeopardy! Challenger" that was originally available in the 1980s. I got mine on eBay not very long ago, and for cheap. If anyone else plays along at home, I would love to see your scores, too!
I also feel better because - bonus! - there was an episode of Jeopardy! on today! One of the Omaha stations airs an episode every Saturday night at 6 p.m. This episode originally aired last year and starred Stephen Stiegel from North Carolina (think David Spade), Allison Lesh (think Lisa Loeb) from Oregon, and Justin Bernbach, a 4-day champion from New York (think Taylor Hicks). He amassed $88,000-something in his first four wins! And Mr. Trebek said that the previous day Justin had only won $7,000. So the previous three days were probably massacres.
I'm visiting my parents today, which means I got to watch the show with my dad. This is always a treat! It is my favorite way to watch the show. And you should've seen how engaged he was in the show this time, because he knew (I did ask him!) that I might mention him in the blog. He did really well today, and that's the truth. He was very happy in particular to get this clue right, in the category It Has to End With 'U': "A fast-growing climbing vine all over the United States."* I'd never heard of it!
I responded in kind by getting two right in Japanese Culture that no one got right here or on TV. For $400: "Japanese kites have been interpreted as offerings to the gods and a physical embodiment of prayers linking these two places."* And for $1600: "This fabric [held up by the Clue Crew's Kelly] has been dyed with 'sukomo,' this dye that was once used only by aristocracy."*
Justin led through much of the game, and would have had a lock on the game had Allison not answered the last clue correctly. Allison and Stephen wagered big but it didn't matter. Justin was the only one to get Final Jeopardy right: Big Countries: "Forbes Magazine uses 'BRIC,' an acronym for these four large nations advancing in economic power."*
Til next time!
*Kudzu, heaven and earth, indigo, Brazil Russia India China.
I'm not sure what happened to this entry - I posted it from my phone for the first time, so I guess something went wrong there. I don't have the original entry saved anywhere else, so it looks like there's nothing I can do. My apologies....
Friday's episode starred Miriam Carson from Pennsylvania, Todd Aiello from Illinois, and 1-day returning champ Vijay Balse, originally from Bombay, India. Carson looks so much like Meryl Streep it is scary! They didn't have a category about the Oscars today, so I have to assume that's why they featured an Oscar-winner's clone instead. They did have a fun category called "A Movie Before, Then Dinner After." (Sample clue: "Brat Pack detention in a 1985 film leads to a meal with 3 slices of toast, turkey, and bacon, and mayo."*) Today's contestants were pretty evenly-matched. Balse was in the lead going into Final Jeopardy. The category was "Plays," and the clue was super-easy again! And you know it's gotta be easy if I think it is: "Dialogue from this play: 'He didn't say he'd come.' 'And if he doesn't come?' 'We'll come tomorrow.'"* Every contestant got it right. Vijay was already in the l
Today's GSN episode starred Carol from Arizona, Mike from New Jersey, and 1-day champ Ray from Virginia. On yesterday's episode, Ray beat 1-day champ Victoria, who had unseated 19-day champ David Madden. I don't know about you, but I don't like to see "giant-slayers" last only a day. It seems to indicate that their win was a fluke and that they shouldn't have beat their opponent.
Anyway, Carol got off to a slow start, and was in the hole $2200 at the first commercial break. She stayed there until there were two categories remaining in the Jeopardy round, and then she flourished and even had the lead in the Double Jeopardy round, thanks in part to finding the two Daily Doubles and answering them correctly: Shakespeare's Women: "She says of her husband, 'His unkindness may defeat my life, but never taint my love.' She was right."* (Carol is a high school librarian, and that had to help with this category and with Final Jeopardy.)
And in the category Mountains: "The name of this sacred mountain is said to be derived from the Ainu word for 'fire.'"*
Going into Final Jeopardy, Mike had the lead with $16400, Carol had $15400, and champ Ray had $9200. The Final Jeopardy category was Novelists: "His great-granddad wrote the best-seller 'White Rose of Memphis,' a city 40 miles north of the county in which he was raised."* All three contestants got the right answer, but Mike wagered $14401 to Carol's $5674, and he became the new champion.
Does it bother anyone else when contestant's do these weird, meaningless-to-everyone-else wagers? I mean, why wager such an odd number? I think contestants shouldn't waste their opportunity and should be serious about wagering for the win. I mean, would you rather tell your own acquaintances about the relevance of some weird wager you made, or would you rather have the whole country recognize you as a Jeopardy!champion? In this case, even if Carol would've wagered everything, she would've lost because Mike wagered for the win. But still. She didn't do everything she could have done.
I was tearing off pages from my Jeopardy! page-a-day calendars (one from this year and one from last year) when I thought the clues might be fun to put on the blog. What Jeopardy! fan has ever seen enough clues, after all?
So here are two. Correct questions will be on the next entry:
American Literature; Final Jeopardy clue: "This 1854 series of essays on self-reliance was subtitled or, Life in the Woods."
Notorious (Hey, that was the Final Jeopardy category on yesterday's episode!); "In the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, seven members of this man's gang were shot dead."
Finally, I am going to miss blogging on the next few days due to other commitments. (Still going to watch the show, of course!) I expect to blog next about Friday's episode.
*Desdemona, Mount Fuji, Faulkner
Today's episode featured Amy from New Jersey, Anne from Massachusetts, and 2-day champ Ben from Georgia. I was happy to see that the first category of the Jeopardy round was "March 1st." It's Statehood Day here in Nebraska! Nebraska became a state on this day in 1867. None of the clues noted that, though. (Next year!)
In the Jeopardy round, Amy, a Ph.D. student in chemical biology, nearly swept the category "Multiple Diagnoses" that basically listed several names for one medical condition. A sample clue: "A rash? It's hives. Scratch that, allergic purpura. No, 'hidradentis suppurative,' inflammation of these glands."* (The correct question is at the end of this entry.) Later in the round, Amy swept a category about taxes.
Just after Mr. Trebek said there was less than a minute to go in the Double Jeopardy round, Amy hit a Daily Double in the category "Hodge Podge," which was not a miscellaneous category as I expected, but a category about people with the last name of Hodge. Amy had the lead already with $14200, and she wagered $3000. This was the clue: "In 1994, member of Parliament Margaret Hodge nominated this man as leader of Britain's Labour Party."* Her correct response put the win out of reach for her opponents. Going into Final Jeopardy, she had $17200, Anne had 6200, and Ben had 6600. Amy, however, got Final Jeopardy wrong while both her opponents got it right. "Notorious" was the category: "Often described as a redhead, this accused killer called her hair light brown on her 1890 passport application."*
I realized today that since starting this blog, I'm not as worried about coming up with a correct Final Jeopardy response in 30 seconds as I am about writing the whole clue in 30 seconds so I can put it on this blog. Phew!
Finally, there was another mention of the upcoming online Jeopardy test for teens, but this time, they said the test is TOMORROW, and there is still time to register.
* sweat, Tony Blair, Lizzie Borden
Today’s Game Show Network episode of Jeopardy! featured Ray from Virginia, Stacey from Texas, and 1-day champ Victoria from Georgia. Mr. Trebek mentioned that Victoria unseated David Madden, who had 19 wins. I am pretty sure this is the second-best run next to that of my hero, Ken Jennings. When I took the Jeopardy! test in Chicago in 2007, the Jeopardy! staff asked the test-takers that very question. Not only did someone identify Madden by name, but they knew how many games he had won! I was impressed…until the guy confessed he knew Madden personally. What are the odds? Anyway, Mr. Trebek could’ve said Victoria was a “giant-slayer,” but he didn’t. I love it when Alex says that, and I long to hear those words applied to me one day!
On today’s episode, Ray started out slow, and in fact didn’t answer a clue correctly until after the first commercial break. Victoria, on the other hand, ran the first category, which featured the late Don LaFontaine reading clues about food. Victoria seemed to relish the clues, no pun intended. She even gave a couple of answers in a voice intended to be similar to Don LaFontaine’s.
Ray was still in third place with $7200 (to Stacey’s $11,400 and Victoria’s $12,900) going into Final Jeopardy. He got Final Jeopardy right, though, and the other two did not. I was stumped myself. The category was “By the Numbers,” and the clue asked what this mnemonic helped people memorize: “How I Want a Drink, Alcoholic of Course.” (1) (The answer appears at the end of this entry.) Ray wagered $7000, thus making him the champion with $14,200.
Finally, sometimes (okay, frequently), my job will interfere with posting timely recaps of Jeopardy! I want to know: On those days, would you rather have brief updates with fewer details, or would you rather wait up to several days for more thorough updates? I've posted a poll, and I would love to know what you prefer.
Peace.
1 Pi
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