Fri-day, Fri-day, Jeopardy! on Friday...

Bet you thought you'd gotten rid of me, eh? OK, maybe you didn't think that. Anyhow, I've been woefully behind on Jeopardy! viewing this past week (as in, I hadn't been able to see any of the episodes since Monday, even though I've found a reliable place where they can be found, and that's all I'll say about that here), but today I decided to bite the bullet and at least look at the Archive for how last week's games went...except for Friday, which I decided to watch in its entirety because Jessica, one of the contestants, is a member of the Jeopardy! board, and I wanted to see how she did. (I actually kind of found out how she did when checking the Archive, since I saw the player lists for Monday and Tuesday. Oh well.)

To streamline this recap, and because it's late and I mostly just scribbled random thoughts and stats (OK, mostly thoughts) about the episode down as I went (I didn't pause and keep record of each clue like I did for Monday's game), I'm going to break down and resort to bullets. (A time-starved blogger's best friend. :)) Here we go...

• The three contestants (thank you, J! Archive!) were our returning champ Justin Sausville (whose 6-day cash winnings total $134,000, Amit Kurlekar, an attorney from Oakland, CA, and aforementioned J! boardie Jessica Burr, a book editor (and as we found out in the interviews, page turner for chamber music concerts, which I think is way cool) from Bloomfield, NJ.
• I went 4/5 in Presidential Inaugurations...even though I could sense a little inflection in Alex's voice for the JFK clue (I wonder if it was intentional?), I just couldn't place it in time, nor was the clue giving me a huge amount of help. Ronald Reagan was a pretty easy get for the Daily Double, though...you can't really forget a program dubbed "Star Wars" that easily.
• The Playoffs category was brutal for me, but then the writers threw me a bone and had a clue about BYU for $800 (Go Cougars!) and then a clue about TCU for $1000, which I normally wouldn't have known, but got fairly easily because we played them my freshman year, and I was at the game, and we lost and it was heartbreaking. Sniffle.
• I was happy to see a clue in the J! round about Branson, because I have a good friend that currently works there right now, and is actually the sound engineer for the Cat's Pajamas, an a cappella group that recently competed on "The Sing-Off." (And now, a break for our sponsors: Actually, this is just me quietly plugging my recaps of the show on my Wordpress blog. Ahem. :))
• I have quite honestly never heard of Virginia Apgar (the response to the first DD in the Double Jeopardy! round). Then again, I haven't had children, so I guess I have some sort of excuse. (It would be rather disturbing if I did have children, given my age, gender, and circumstances.)
• In a strange turn of events, I was about to pull out the name of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, but was unable to remember the name of Boo Radley, the character from "To Kill A Mockingbird," despite the fact that we read that book in high school and I loved it, and I have very little attachment to the aforementioned vaccine. (Guess seeing the commercials for it all the time helped?)
• The second DD in the DJ! round was about Kurt Vonnegut. It mentioned "several cleverly ironic sci-fi novels," which threw me off since I wasn't quite aware Vonnegut had written in the genre. My guess was Douglas Adams (of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame), and Justin's was Orson Scott Card.
• I swept the Oscar category except for the middle clue (about "Rain Man," which I'll probably end up seeing someday, seeing as it's, y'know, a classic or something), and I was glad they finished it, since Justin went to Paint In Oils with little time to spare, and I was afraid it would be a casualty. (I actually did surprisingly OK in that category. It may have been some knowledge from studying Art in AcDec years ago that somehow stuck with me, perhaps?)
• Just so this doesn't turn into Brandon's Storytelling Hour, the scores at the end of the DJ! round were Justin at $8400, Amit at $11400, and Jessica in the lead at $13000.
• The category for Final was American Business. The clue, in its entirety (once again, props to the Archive): "In the 1880s he developed Crystal A Caramels; a product under his own name came out in 1900" Jessica and I both said Werther. (I was holding out for the vain hope that he was somehow American.) Justin went with Russell Stover (which I thought was a good guess), and Amit got the correct response...Hershey. The caramels thing was huge neg-bait, I think. It really threw me off...who knew Hershey made caramels?
• Justin ended up grabbing 2nd place with $3799, Amit won with a score of $16801, and Jessica ended up with a score of $2399.

And there you have it. To close as always, the Coryats (it's only my second time keeping my score that way...the results were much better for me today):
9-23-11: Justin $12000     Amit $11800    Jessica $12200    Me $15200


I should be back here soon with a post about Tuesday's game (which I'll be watching in full, once again to root for a boardie). Sorry I disappeared for so long!

The Premiere...It's Here!

So I found a way to watch the J! premiere...on Tuesday. Why has it taken until Friday in the middle of the night for me to make the post about it? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that it involved being very busy. And possibly some kittens?

Basically, apologies for my delay in getting a recap up, but here we are. I took copious notes (yay for being able to pause!), and kept my Coryat for the first time, but it being two days since I saw the episode, said notes have become a bit incomprehensible. But just a bit. Anyways...here we go. This might be a bit crazy. :)

The season kicked off with a bit of a different entrance by Alex...he bypassed the sliding glass doors and instead walked out with...a cast, if I remember right. It was a nice gesture for him to thank those who had sent him well-wishes after his incident in San Francisco.

The first contestants of the new season were (sorry I don't have pictures like Jeanie often does):

• Jane Stimpson, a reference librarian from League City, TX.
• Glenn Edwards, an attorney from New York, NY.
• Our returning champion Justin Sausville, a urologist from Baltimore, MD, with a 2-day total of $58,401 in winnings.

Justin started things off by selecting "Who's Biblically Speaking" for $200. Glenn grabbed the first money of the game by correctly responding with John the Baptist. I got that clue as well...but the rest of the category was a trainwreck for me. I thought I knew the Bible, but my 3 clams and 1 neg for the other 4 clues in the row say otherwise...

It didn't take long for Justin to chime in, however, as he got the very next clue, "Americans In Paris," also for $200. (Woodrow Wilson was the correct response.) Jane also got a chance to shine before the first commercial break, getting the top 2 clues in the category "From 'B' to 'Y'" correct. At the commercial break, Justin had $2200, Glenn was leading with $4200, and Jane had $600.

The interviews were certainly, well, interesting...Jane talked about some weird foods she's eaten, one of them being fish ovaries from Spain. (Alex quipped, "Are you married?" Jane let it be known that she isn't.) Glenn has sung with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus for the past 15 years (a random personal connection...I believe we sang a great arrangement of "I Saw Three Ships" at BYU [in our own Men's Chorus] a few years ago that was commissioned for the group Glenn is in), and Justin has once dressed in drag, for a 'pageant' to raise money for the American Cancer Society. (He won. :))

After the interviews, I picked up a clue that ended up being a triple stumper ("Americans In Paris" for $1000; the correct response was Isadora Duncan), and ended up sweeping the category. (I didn't do so well in one of the next categories, "Nobel Prize Categories By Winner," though. 1/5...ouch.) Glenn found the first Daily Double of the game in the second-to-last clue of the round...the category was "Friends with Benefits" (Alex's warning during the category reveals: "Be careful...it may not be what you think it is." :)) and the clue was: "'My friend...told me that he wanted help before' this country 'died,' George Harrison sang in 1971; he had a benefit for it." Glenn answered correctly with Bangladesh, and picked up $1000. At the end of the round, the scores sat at $5600 each for both Justin and Glenn, and a healthy $2800 for Jane.

And holy wow, this is getting long. I'll try to keep it simple (but most likely will fail miserably, judging from past experiences). Jane opened the round by knowing that Macbeth ruled Scotland (or space, depending on which version you've seen) in the "The Country He Ruled" category for $400, and Justin followed up with the $800 clue, which asked about Haile Selassie's rule of Ethiopia. (This was yet another brutal 1/5 category for me at home. I said Spain for the $1600 clue, which asked about King Umberto I of Italy.) Justin got into a bit of trouble on the last clue of the category...he thought Canute IV ruled England, but it turns out Canute I did so (along with Denmark), and Canute IV actually ruled Denmark exclusively. (Gotta keep your Canutes straight, I guess.)

The "It's A Dogfight" category was very informative for me...now I know that the first jet engine dogfight occurred in 1950, and my notes for the $2000 clue read, "So THAT'S 'six o'clock.'" (Hey, I'm not very familiar with airplane positions. It happens to the best of us?) Also, it kept sounding like Justin was pronouncing dogfight as "dohg-fight." Hmmm. The next category, "Friends With Benefits" (this time about insurance benefits, and also not about...well, y'know), held the first Daily Double of the round. Justin lost $4000 on this seemingly easy clue that ended up having a strange outcome: "Matt's employer lets him choose among various benefits; it's this type of plan, like his favorite eating spot." Both Justin and I answered "a la carte plan" (isn't that a common term?), but it turns out the correct response according to the judges was "cafeteria plan." I've quite honestly never heard the latter term, so that surprised me.

The second DD belonged to Jane, in the category "Word & Phrase Origins": "This type of victory in which losses are ruinous is named for a cousin of Alexander the Great." I didn't know this one, but Jane did (it was "Pyrrhic victory," which just took about 10 tries for me to properly type) and gained $3600 to move up to $10000. (Her surprised reaction to pulling the response out of thin air was charming: "Oh, OK. Awesome!") A few clues later in the "Film Alias" category, I had no idea Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies was actually named Dougie Powers, and the players had no idea either, I guess, because it ended up being a triple stumper. (I've only seen the first movie, though, so I guess I have a small excuse.) Before they could finish the category, they went through Hispanic-American Firsts (Alex had a small slip-up and said Oscar Chavez instead of Cesar Chavez for the $400 clue, before catching himself), which, as a proud Hispanic-American, I'm glad to say I didn't completely embarrass myself on. Going back to film aliases, though, wasn't as smooth...the only clue I ended up getting in the category was about "The Talented Mr. Ripley," which I knew even though I haven't seen the film in question. Jane answered the final clue, about Keyser Soze of "The Usual Suspects" (there was a bit of talk on the J! board about how she pronounced it a bit incorrectly, and it was surprising the judges didn't overturn her correct response), to make things heading into Final Jeopardy! $9200, $14000, and $13600 for Justin, Glenn, and Jane respectively.

The Final Jeopardy! category was "American Writers," and the clue went as follows: "In the 1840s, he wrote, 'I can ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government." This one had me stumped (all my mind was going to was Alexis de Tocqueville, who was neither strictly American nor strictly a writer), and eventually I went with a WAG of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Henry David Thoreau was the correct response, and the reveal of Justin getting it right was a head-slapper. He wagered a somewhat non-strategic amount (all his money but a dollar), but it paid off for him in the end, as both Jane and Glenn answered incorrectly (Jane said Jacob Riis, while Glenn went for Walt Whitman), and wagered $10400 and $13000 respectively. (Glenn was shaking his head throughout the FJ! reveal, Alex said.) That made Justin a 3-day champion with $78,600 to his name. Can he continue his streak? Well, I guess you've already seen if he has or not. (And I have too...while I went to the look at the J! Archive to refresh my memory on some things, I saw the player listings for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Oops.)

Sorry this was such a long post...I guess it's to make up for all the time I missed? Sure, let's go with that. The next postings will probably be shorter, if I can help it. (Tuesday's and Wednesday's are so short, you can't even see them! :)) To close, my inaugural Coryat score, along with the Coryats for the three players on Monday (thank you for always diligently posting them, J! Archivists):

9-19-11: Justin Sausville $13200     Glenn Edwards $13800    Jane Stimpson $12000    Me $11200


See you soon with some more substitute posting.

Just Stopping By For A Little While...

Hi, everyone! My name is Brandon, and I'll be taking care of this here blog for Jeanie while she's on vacation. I may not be the amazing fountain of Jeopardy! commentary that she is, but I'll do my best to keep The Jeopardy! Fan running smoothly until her return. (And I'll do it without shamelessly promoting any of my other blogging endeavors. Oops, too late...)

Normally I would wait until the first game post to make such an introduction, but about that...unfortunately, my current work schedule prevents me from watching J! live about...100% of the time, for a while now, so me finding a way to see the premiere tomorrow (at some point) is still up in the air. I'd hate to be The Jeopardy! Fan caretaker and not post about the Season 28 premiere and everything...so I'll try my hardest to get a post up about it, in some way, shape, or form. For now, feel free to talk amongst yourselves, and I'll see you as soon as I can get my eyes on the next new Jeopardy! episode. I'm excited for the new season, and I hope you are too. :)

     Okay, as promised: a review of some former Jeopardy! champs who are playing the Summer Hiatus Challenge on the Jeopardy! message boards.  I can't believe I haven't done this since August 21st.  As of today, the only scores posted for Week 6 are Day 1.  The clues that day were really easy, so everyone did well.  (Notice no one had an incorrect response.)  Check out the link above and see how you'd do.
                                                                      correct     incorrect     no response    
Bill MacDonald (Rex Kramer)                            10               0                      0                   
Paul Wampler (paul5562)                                    10              0                       0                                         
Buddy Wright (aggiebud)                                       10              0                       0                  
Ryan Chaffee (mrbungle)                                    10               0                       0
Stefan Goodreau (seaborgium)                           10               0                       0
Alison Stone Roberg (Asphodel)                       10               0                        0
Me (thejeopardyfan)                                            9               3                        1
Nick Condon (njcondon)                                    7               0                       3
Megan Barnes (Rafferty Barnes)                       5               0                      5                   
Liz Murphy (emurphy)                                        [didn't play]                      
Hans von Walter (hanzz)                                     [didn't play]                                     
              
     Someone else will be blogging here for me when the Challenge ends.  I might suggest he post the final results, or it will wait until I'm back.
     Recent Coryats:
originally 5-10-11: Charley Tinkham 11600     Lori Kissell 18000     John Shoe 17000     Me 37600
     (My Coryat the first time I watched this episode was 30200!)
originally 11-4-05:
     Maria Wenglinsky 20400     Shelley Fellner-Rosenberg 6800     Kari Russ 7800     Me 11400
originally 11-7-05: Christopher Chilton 3200     Beth Cimini 16800     Antonia Wang 6800     Me 23200

     Sorry I don't have a lot of time tonight, but I wanted to post a link to the original entry on today's episode.  There you have it.  I don't have my Coryat with me, but I'll post it next time.

     Good news you guys: I found a middle school willing to host a local History Bee!  It was easy as pie, and I thank God.  When I was looking at websites of Lincoln's Catholic schools (assuming I'd have a better shot there), I noticed I know the secretary of one of them because her kids went to grade school with me.  I e-mailed her, and she responded already today with a "yes."  (I want to ask the school first before I mention them by name on the blog, but I'm sure that day will come eventually!)  In the meantime, if you are affiliated with a middle school close enough that you are interested in attending in March next year, please leave a comment below or e-mail me.  The Bee is also looking for a high school in maybe Lincoln or Omaha (but there's some flexibility) that will host a Bowl and Bee, so please leave a comment or e-mail me if you are interested in that.  I'm gonna work on finding one myself.
     As for the SHC: I will give you an update on week 6, once those results/scores start becoming available.  Hopefully they will all be in before I leave for my own hiatus (Germany!) one week from tomorrow.  And don't worry, I will not leave you hangin': An enthusiastic Jeopardy! fan and blogger in his own right will be taking over for me as the new season begins.  (He is also a regular on the Jeopardy! message boards, which is how I came to know him.)  I hate to miss the beginning of the new season, but I assure you I will get all caught up when I get back.  (I'll ask again, what did I ever do before my DVR?)  And I'll be checking in every now and then from Germany.
     Recent Coryats:
originally 10-30-09:
   Christine Valada 7000     Roopa Kalyanaraman Marcello 14000     Chris Rodrigues 16200     Me 27200
originally 11-16-09: Chris Rodrigues 10000    Melisa Paye-Mose 5800     Scott Wells 15200     Me 18000
originally 11-2-05:
   Maria Wenglinsky 15800     Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua 10400     David Braxton 9000     Me 15600
originally 5-4-11: Elisabeth Raab 12400     Lori Kissell 18600     Matt Polazzo 14800     Me 32600
     (The first time I watched this episode, my score was 25400!)
originally 11-3-05: Maria Wenglinsky 27800    Kingslea Bueltel 4400     Jim Gilcreast 7000     Me 14400
originally 5-6-11: Larry DeMoss 18000     Judd Hess 13400     Catherine Carson 1000     Me 24200
     (My score the first time I watched was 17600!  I wish I could see which ones I missed!)
originally 5-9-11: Larry DeMoss 15600     Dan Crosby 14200     Elisabeth Raab 5200     Me 17400
     (The first time I played this episode my score was 12200!)

     I didn't see today's episode (I do have it recorded at home and will watch it Monday), but here is the original entry on the episode I think aired today.
     Keeping track of former champs participating in the Summer Hiatus Challenge has been a bit bigger of a challenge in itself than I anticipated.  I know exactly what I'd do differently: I'd update the number of people's correct responses, incorrect responses, and "clams" (no guesses) as soon as correct responses/scores are posted each day, rather than trying to catch up when I get a chance to blog.  Now it just feels overwhelming.  You may recall that the Challenge has been sort of hit-and-miss as to when clues are posted, because the man who posts the questions has been ill.  So far, no scores are posted for this week 5.  I will update you soon.
     On a happier note, last night David Madden surprised me by initiating an Internet chat!  He wanted to give me some good news - The History Channel is sponsoring the History Bowl and Bee next year!  Also, he and I talked about getting a Bee and Bowl going in Nebraska, something I'm keen on doing.  Since I'm home this weekend (and near my own grade school), I'm going to approach the pastor about it this weekend.  Wish me luck.  If you happen to live in Lincoln or Omaha and think you know of a school that could host a Bee or Bowl, please leave a comment here or e-mail me at thejeopardyfan@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you!

     Here's a link to the original entry on today's episode.  I noticed when I looked back that this episode aired the day that I found out I had a Jeopardy! audition.  Memories!
     My Coryat today was 26000.  My Coryat the first time I watched was 25000.  So I'll take it.
     Recent Coryats:
originally 3-1-11: Raynell Cooper 16000    Kailyn LaPorte 14400   Raya Elias-Pushett 12400    Me 35800
     (The first time I watched this episode, my Coryat was 37000.)
originally 3-2-11: Raynell Cooper 10800    Kailyn LaPorte 11800   Raya Elias-Pushett 14400    Me 33000
     (The first time I watched this episode, my Coryat was 32000.)
originally 10-31-05: Joey Bland 14200     Maria Wenglinsky 13000     Steve Ostini -200     Me 6800
originally 11-1-05: Maria Wenglinsky 24400     Jeremy Evans 5800     Philip Huang 7600     Me 23000
originally 5-2-11: John Shoe 11400     Dan Crosby 18000     Kathy Casavant 11400     Me 23000
     (The first time I played this episode, my score was 19000.)