Wake up, little Jeanie

     Remember how the official Jeopardy! message boards came back not very long ago?  Well they're down again, as of about 9:10 p.m. Central.  The whole Jeopardy! site had been down, but now that appears to be working.
     I took my phone in today to see if the people there could get it to send picture messages again.  The guy couldn't figure out why it said so much memory was being taken up when there was nothing left on the phone.  Huh, imagine that!  I'm vindicated.  I'll spare you the details but I had to leave and come back a couple times, and I cut my nap short.  Nonetheless...contestant pictures are back!

Dan McShane

Stephanie Walker

Brandon Libby (Did you see how incredibly nervous he looked when introduced?)

     The Jeopardy round was not kind to me, while Double Jeopardy went well.  The lesson that will sink in this time?  Be awake longer before I try to play.  I spelled "available" in response to this clue in Spell It: -able or -ible?: "This adjective can describe a bachelor worthy of marriage or an NFL receiver who's allowed to catch a forward pass."  I said "malleable" in response to this next one in the same category: "From the Latin for 'bend,' it means capable of being bent repeatedly without damage."
     At the first break, 4-time champ Dan was leading with 4600, while Brandon had 1000 and Stephanie had 1800.
     Then I said "Google Maps" on this clue in World Potpourri: "I'm enjoying the street view feature of this service introduced in 2005--Hey, who parked in my driveway?"  Then "WHO" on this one in the same category: "In 1999 50,000 people protested in Seattle against this international business group."  The next clue was the Daily Double, which Stephanie found in Literary Character Personal Trainer.  She had 3200, Brandon had 1000, and Dan had 4200.  Stephanie wagered 1600 on this clue: "Ok, Mr. 'Christmas Carol' ghost!  Time to use that chain you 'forged in life,' 'link by link' for resistance work!"  She got it right.
     Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning with 7 clues left in the Jeopardy round.  One of them was not revealed, but it was in Did You Get the Number of That Symphony?  My final goof-up of the round was "GMC" on this one in Business Biggies: "After nearly 100 years, this company cut its Oldsmobile brand from its line in 2004."  The scores at the end of the round: Dan with 4800, Brandon with 1800, and Stephanie with 7200.
     I got my groove back in the Double Jeopardy round, going 4/5 in 3 categories and sweeping one to start off: It's Good to Be "King".
     Stephanie found the first Daily Double, in History.  Dan had answered 3 in that category, and Stephanie answered the fourth.  She had 10000 while Dan had 10400 and Brandon had 2200.  Stephanie wagered 3000 on this clue: "In 1720 Victor Amadeus II of Savoy gave Sicily to Austria in exchange for this other large island."  She got it right!
     Brandon found the next Daily Double, in U.S.A.  He had 8200, Dan had 13600, and Stephanie had 11800.  He too wagered 3000, on this clue: "From 1863 to 1865 this northern Louisiana city served as the Confederate state capital."  He and I got it right.
     Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning with 7 clues left, and 2 were left covered.  I was happy with Dan, who dove for the higher dollar-value clues then.  He finished the round with 18800, while Brandon had 11200 and Stephanie had 13400.
     The Final Jeopardy category was Women Authors.  This was the clue: "1 of the 2 American women authors nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938."  Brandon got one of them, and I got the other. Stephanie and Dan got it wrong!  Brandon gained 8000.  I'd have wagered 400.  Stephanie lost 13000.  I'd have wagered 2600.  Dan lost 8801.  Is it just me or did Dan wager 800 more than he needed to...?  At any rate, Brandon is your new champion, which means he will play Preston Nicholson tomorrow.  My Coryat today was probably 22400 23600!
     My Coryat for this GSN episode was 16800.  Strangely, this episode featured a category about palindromes, like yesterday's new episode, and there was even a clue about "rotator."