In Lieu of Jeopardy.,..

We found something else to entertain us last night. Not quite the same but hey, what are you going to do when you live in a country where the virtues of Jeopardy have not been discovered. Ok, so we went to the 'Games' area on the interactive service of our cable program. There weren't any trivia games but something called "Stoned Invaders". We gave it a go. It was sort of like Space Invaders if you were getting high as a young 'un when playing Atari. There was a bong in the background instead of space. Ok, so first you need to shoot down joints, then bongs, then cannabis leaves....and then the munchies begin! First came pizza that shoots darts at your ship, then some chinese food, chocolate bars and hot dogs!

And then our entire system crashed. Far out!

Live From Manchester...

Yup, that's right...the blog has gone wild with all its satellite offices...Ealing, London, Berlin, and now Manchester....
I received my Ken Jennings trivia newsletter and I have got to say..I may have not met many Mormons (I have been to Utah twice) but I do think that Ken Jennings may be one of the funniest of the bunch!

GOOOOALLLL. (sorry for the interruption but England just scored. ie the reason that I am in Manchester)

Well, Ken has a section with Last Week's Answers and this is what went down:

2. The Siege Perilous was the name for the empty seat where?

The Round Table at Camelot. It was reserved for the knight who found the Grail. Many, many guesses of "Parliament" and the like. "Passover" was also a common guess of many players. We call those players "Gentiles."

So there you have it. Sometimes he's even a bit snarky!

Prep

I was checking out Ken Jennings' blog and found out he will be in New York City at the Union Square Barnes and Noble signing books on September 14 at 7 pm. You will find me there as well if the class I will be taking on Tuesday and Thursday nights starting on August 31 has a professor with a lenient attendance policy and if the class has a syllabus that does not include a quiz, presentation or interesting guest speaker on the 14th.
So, that being said - exciting, huh?! Whose in?!

In the meantime, to properly do my duty as a blog writer of Jeopardy-ish things, here's a link to a site for which Ken writes for from time to time and more interestingly, the site has great (i.e. short, informative) quizzes on a different topic each week. Quick to complete, even quicker to find out your score, and even quicker (wow - that is pretty quick) for you to determine if you know anything about the topic or are in need of a refresher course, say before a quiz night, board game night where Trivial Pursuit will be played, or better yet, before a night where you will be watching Jeopardy (or Jeopardys) at a friend's house.
Wow your friends! Amaze your family and look like a trivia whiz!

On another note, in the interest of not only "prepping" for competitions (you really never know where or how these types of questions can come up), if you are thinking I am embracing dorkiness just that one shade too much, it might have something to do with a fantastic book I just finished reading. (True, it might also have nothing to do with that).

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld is a fictional work told from a 20-something character's point of view. The view is about her 4 years at a prep school in the Northeast. The main character, Lee, is a smart, wallflower type who feels she is on the wrong side of the crowd. That is, not "in". It's a great book and I will leave it at that.

But what does this mean?
No, I did not go to prep school and no, I am not making a statement about my high school years. True, I was certainly not on the right side of the lunchroom most of the time I ate lunch in the cafeteria but what I enjoyed about the book so much was that Lee's feelings could hold to true to anyone in their high school years, as a private school attendee or not. Her inner thoughts and outward actions transcend (is that not the most book critic-ish word you have ever heard?) whatever clique you may have been in as a high school student. Even for those post-high schoolers who don't even know what clique they were in or for those who were not in a clique, I truly believe there is something in the book you will relate to. (that's the transcending part).
And that is really where I will leave it.

And that's all about the book I finished reading last week. (Had to get that LAST in there to make some sense of its relation to the niche topic.)

The blog never rests

Given my evening activity plans, it was easy for me to wake up today thinking there would not be an entry tonight. But in the end I was wrong. I mean, what really happened this evening is not indicated by the invitation alone. (The photo below may give you a clue.) But sometimes pictures just can't say it all.



So, on to the evening. I arrive at Gracie Mansion about 5:45 on one of the most beautiful nights of the summer. 80 degrees, low humidity, nice breeze kinda night. Also, feeling quite beautiful, if you must know. My hair came out great! I used the flat iron to straighten it encouraged by reports of no humidity this morning and thinking that I wanted to look nice on my first visit to Gracie Mansion. Immediately after check in, I am handed a card in which I am instructed a photo opp with the Mayor was going on right now and if I wanted to take advantage I should quickly get in line and fill out the card with my address so the aforementioned photo can be mailed to me. I comply. (Again, my hair did - still does as of this writing - look pretty good and well, even if it didn't, that is, even if the humidity had skyrocketed up and my hair was a frizz bomb, I would still have waited on line to meet His Honor.)
The line is abnormally fast, I whiz by the Mayor, while shaking his hand, smiling and having photo shot. I proceed to the BBQ under a lovely (and huge) tent, meet up with some familiar faces, grab a bite and wait for the Mayor to come on stage and do his Mayoral thing.



So, he presents us with this pretty cool tidbit. He explains he has just taken photos with approximately 700 people in under 45 minutes. It was 44 minutes he notes which means it was 4 seconds per person. Whoa. And I (will) have the photo to prove it!! check this space in the following weeks for a scan of said photo

Next the Mayor is cracking jokes left and right telling the audience of 1,000 that we each own 1/8 millionth of Gracie Mansion and if we want to live in it one day the lease will be up for grabs soon. Then he screams out, "I will be here all week, two shows on Saturday!" (hahaha) Actually, I thought that to myself as he continued his stand-up.

But then, oh then! He's not done. He's got a game for us to play. And surprise - it was New York City Jeopardy! He's going to pick party attendees to come up on stage and play a few rounds of trivia!

I practically pee in my pants. I am naturally freaking (actually I am starting to think it is not so natural - my reaction to anything Jeopardy! - but that is for another day and most likely, another venue).


I quickly turn to the woman on my right - she's with my bunch - tell her I am a Jeopardy freak right around the same time she tells me - "oh a Sony show." (She works for Sony Television - more on that in a bit) A friend overhears and says, "Jess - try to get up there." But I've been, too "Oh this is weird - Jeopardy! The blog! My readers!" that I've paused and didn't think fast enough. I shrug and I wave my hands semi-frantically in a 'Pick me! I kinda sorta want to go up there' way. But alas, we are too far from the stage and so others are selected to go on stage and answer questions about New York City. He even has buzzers for them in which they can ding in. Or honk. Or ring. (One is a bicycle horn, another a bicycle bell and the third, I don't recall as I don't think that 'contestant' used it)

So that's the photo above - three non-Jeopardy bloggers up answering questions about the Big Apple. One question informs us that Angelina (Angela in Bloomie talk) Jolie auctioned off a signed lunchbox with her likeness on it and gave the money to the Fund for New York City schools. Another informs us that the Executive Director of the Mayor's Volunteer Center was once a chef and another more interesting question lets us know that there are at least 500,000 trees in New York City (or maybe just Central Park - I can't remember). The reason I can't remember is I wasn't quite listening, as - remember the Sony TV friend?
Well, she hears (from me) that I love Jeopardy and her reaction was perfect. She immediately whips out her cell phone and starts texting a good friend who works on the show! Seems that Jeopardy schwag might be coming my way! To be continued. . .

So, a BBQ. At a famous house. An extravagant mansion. An estate, if you will. And Jeopardy comes up, it's there. It's everywhere!


Editor's Note:
Regarding last night's surprise (Celebrity Jeopardy coming to NYC this fall!) please note I have already sent in my application to receive 4 tickets and of course, I filled it out with my Jeopardy pen. Oddly, I didn't even specifically look for the pen, but in my practically robotic motions to print out the application and begin to fill it out, that was the pen my fingers reached for first. Really. It was only after I had begun to complete the form that I realized the coincidence.

The Yin & The Yang

We flipped on the tube as we sat down to dinner and decided to watch Jeopardy. A collective groan from the crowd was heard since it was the College Tournament but instead of watching something else (a recorded 30 Days by Morgan Spurlock to be precise) we thought Jeopardy better suited our multi-tasking. Sit, eat, watch.
(This anecdote of how we came about to be watching this particluar episode is neither the Yin nor the Yang)

The first category the kids selected was MC Trebek. And we loved it for a moment there. "MC" Trebek recited lines from rap songs such as Lose Yourself by Eminem, It's Getting Hot in Here by Nelly - Imagine, if you will a straight faced Alex,
"It's getting hot in here (so hot) so take off all your clothes" and then a line from Gin & Juice by Snoop Dogg.
It was the last two answers that bit our asses. And this is why. We're innocently watching/listening to the category getting the first three ($200, $400, $800) along with the contestants and then bam!
Answer: Mom busted in and said what's that noise. 'Aw, Mom you're just jealous it's' them"
Mom busted in and said what's that noise. 'Aw, Mom you're just jealous it's' them"
Mom busted in and said what's that noise. 'Aw, Mom you're just jealous it's' them"

Exactly.
We didn't hear a thing.
No one buzzed in.
You could here a pin drop, a cricket cricketing.
Nothing! The kids didn't know it.
A loud groan sounded (it was us).
And then, and then!!

MC Trebek for $2000, Alex.
Answer: I've been here for years. Rockin' my peers and puttin' suckas in fear. Momma said knock You Out.

Quiet. Silence. Not a peep.
I screamed, "No! No!"

And just like that. . . we decided to never watch the college tournament again!

And now the Yang. Sure we have a DVR and sure, this is how we always watch Jeopardy. But I am not the best with the rewinding and fast forwarding. Even though I'm fast approaching three years of practice with this particular piece of technology, let's just say I have many talents and fast forwarding through the commercials ain't one of 'em. (Let's not mention the times we've missed an entire (critical) scene or finale due to mishandling). But sometimes, just sometimes, catching a promo bit or commercial, if you will, is not necessarily so bad.

So, I press play.
Alex and what looks like the set of Final Jeopardy. The category is Family Fun.
Answer: It's the hottest ticket in New York this fall.

We both immediately scream out Mary Poppins!! (is this sad?) and we quickly learn this is a promo for a Jeopardy event and before I have a chance to laugh, I hear what the event is and ok - I can face it - I pretty much freak out. I got up quickly from the table put both hands over my head (like when I crossed the finish line at the marathon having just run 26.2 miles) and I lightly jog to my computer in the office on the other side of the apartment. My hands come down. I go to this site and well, the Yang to our earlier Yin.



This is the best day of my life!

Fine, Fine. . . I'll tell you.

I've got a new Sunday ritual and it involves a radio show. I know. Am I moving backwards? Wow. Radio. What a concept.
It's an NPR show called "Wait, Wait. . . Don't tell me!" on Sundays at 11 am and it involves testing contestants knowledge of current events from the previous week. The show is taped in front of a live audience in Chicago and the contestants are listeners who call in. There is also a celebrity panel which usually includes Paula Poundstone and Mo Rocca. Now I think there are different people every few weeks on said panel but all I've heard is Paula and Mo.

This week, old portions of prior shows were played (re-runs) but I was delighted. Your friend and mine, Ken Jennings, was on the show. Remember him? The last we heard of him here on AALNJ he was snarking it up. But this was pre-publicity hound Ken and pre-ken-jennings.com Ken. It was a cute bit. You definitely would have liked it. Basically Carl Kasell (I always think it is Carl Castle) and Peter Sagal (the show's hosts) came up with questions they thought the man-who-knows-everything (KJ) would not possibly know. Now it was only three questions and you might think, how do you listen to this show? But they've got funny banter, ok?! It is all about the funny banter now, isn't it?!
First they asked him a question based on the Worst Case Scenario Handbook. I thought that was pretty funny. Like, really one of the last items you would think a Ken Jennings type might know about. The other two questions were about Nascar and People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue. Believe it or not, Ken got all three correct. I did mention the questions are multiple choice right? Well, they are so, as much as this blog is about Ken Jennings worship, don't be thinking he REALLY knows everything since he could answer three questions about People's Sexiest Man Alive, Nascar, and the Worst Case Scenario Handbook. There was a funny comment in the end - I think it was Peter Segal who said something along the lines of..."I know, it was not only three multiple choice questions but it was three IN A ROW that you answered correctly." That Ken.

Anyway, that is all about this morning's radio show that has a little bit to do with a Jeopardy contestant and nothing to do with last night's Jeopardy.

But let's, for a moment, take note that both shows Jeopardy! and Wait, Wait. . . don't tell me! officially have exclamation points at the end of their names.

I want one. (whine)

From now on, I am Jess!

I liked college. (AKA I want a Shout out)

She wanted one so badly and without much waiting it appeared.

And now to our story.
The other night (sorry - it wasn't last night. I am clearly too honest for the damn blog title) I came home from class still in the "I love my new apartment, my new neighborhood, my new routine (new part-time job etc.)" mode and was flipping the channels. I could not for the life of me figure out what to watch and then - duh! - like a lost dog who has found its owner (I can only imagine as 1) I am not a dog and 2) I have never witnessed such a reunion) - I realized - Jeopardy! (and another thing - why in the world would I propose an analogy in which I compare myself to a dog?)
I am the dog?

After so many weeks (ok - it was probably max 2) away from it, it still isn't part of the new routine. And now that I think about it - maybe that is best. Maybe it should be something to be relished. Like an ice cream sundae, or a manicure (WITH the extra massage) (ok not sure what the deal is today with my references to things that I really shouldn't be referencing as, like the dog, I have never had a manicure and then the massage the nice ladies are always trying to upsell you with.) Yes, maybe Jeopardy should not be part of the routine but a game show only for special nights and special days. . . . . .
Nah.


So - the game. 3 female contestants. (definitely mention worthy)
We had Celeste (is Brooklyn-like with her full name, Celeste Denucci and her bob with chunky glasses a la Stella Daily)
She was trying to defend her family's name as her brother had been a champ sometime back and had lost after maybe two or three games. He did lose to someone who ended up in the season Tournament of Champions and ended up placing pretty well. Did I lose you here?!

Back to the introductions.
Erica, a sociologist who barely cracked a smile. Would you? Do you remember those Soc classes? I had to take one core. Imagine taking 'em as your major? Less smiling makes sense to me. Oh the other thing about Erica is she doesn't read books. She said this on national TV. I know next time I am looking for a sociologist to hire there's one I WON'T be calling and her name is Erica. She doesn't get her info from books. Only TV and the Internet.
Then there was Margaret. This is Jeopardy at its finest especially when I used to think there were never any contestants under age 100. (This was probably when I was like 12 and anyone over 50 seemed like they were 100). In any case, Margaret is a retired attorney who, it sounded like, is living it up. Golf, boating and the like. Don't forget weekly attendance at pub quizzes where she usually ends up finishing the keg and wearing a lampshade on her head. (I made that last part up)

Now let's really get on to the game. Yeesh.
There was a "Free" Enterprise category. Free kick was one of the answers. Love those HBC (Huntington Boys Club) soccer (oh sorry, football) references. There was also a "Throw it here" category having to do with people throwing items. "Who is Woodrow?" was the answer to This President was the 1st to attend a World Series game and throw out the first ball in 1915.
In this game, I also learned:
Cairo, with 8 million people, is the largest populated city in Africa.
Johnson & Johnson have been selling Band-Aids for 85 years.

Other categories included Pop Culture (me loves me some pop culture even though Duran Duran was NOT mentioned), Pronouns (me also loves the pronouns and simpleton-ly named categories) and Lass Words (a category filled with words of famous females (gee, how coincidental - three female contestants - and a whole category on female words)

Celeste selected both of the Daily Doubles and she also won the game. The champ remained the champ. The Final category was Oscar-Nominated Movies (would you like a little pop culture with your pop culture?!) and the clue was "One of the two Oscar nominated movies with Don Hewitt of '60 Minutes' as a character"
I immediately thought of one - The Insider and did not get the other (but I still would have gotten the question right since you only have to had written down one of the two). Kinda odd considering the other one was Good Night and Good Luck and I just had watched part of the movie on a certain flight back home from a certain European country where certain family members live.
One contestant (Marge) wrote down Roger and Me - nice shout out to Michael Moore but oh so wrong and then another, Erica (the soc's number you will lose) wrote down The Outsider. We had a good smug chuckle with that one. And then. . . and then. . . we had our own little daily double and we watched another episode. This is where the "Shout out" comes in.

Cutting to the chase, a certain someone told me her son was sick and then less than 24 hours later a category basically dedicated to the guy shows up. "Turn me Lewis" So we had all questions with Lewis in the answer. My personal favorite was Merriweather Lewis, who is the Lewis of Lewis and Clark. From now on, the almost one year old, Lewis I know is going to be Merriweather to me. How many times you think I can say Lewis in this here blog post?
This round also gave viewers who love the categories Pop Culture and Oscar-nominated movies (hi) the category of Actors and Actresses. This actor wrote Ash Wednesday and The Hottest State. Well, how do you like that? The question is "Who is Ethan Hawke?" and I have just happen to have a little anecdote about meeting Ethan Hawke (in his pre-married and now sadly pre-divorced days). A certain someone was with me and no! it wasn't Lewis. A classic image of certain someone usually pops into my head when I hear the name Ethan Hawke and it is a memory of an arm with a lighter and the call, "I have a light!" Yes, it is true. This story involved us - little 'ol us - giving a light to Ethan Hawke in the Village one night in the late 90s. (Mid to late 90s might be a more fit description of the time but the mid 90s was too long ago for me to be at peace with it! As cliched as it may sound - let's not go there.)
So there you have it, a request for a mention and it just couldn't be avoided.

So, Celeste won again even though she didn't get Final correct (the horror) and now she is a three time champ with $60,402. Nice work, Denucci!

That is all about some Jeopardys I watched in late July! (as the date indicates.)

Last Night's Quiz Night....

So...I still think it's all a hoax but last night, Glen and I were checking out some of the bad quiz shows on TV here and lo' and behold someone got a correct answer! There was not a large jackpot involved nor was the question one of those strange & vague 'add the numbers' b.s. but still, someone on the phone still won money. (50 quid)

It was somewhat thrilling.

Deny, Deny, Deny

He might deny such allegations but do you in some small way think Ken made comments on his blog with ulterior motives? In my humble opinion his postings (both the digs on Jeopardy and then the apology) were pretty funny (you knew I would say that, right? I mean, he is this blog's mascot after all) but were they really at the end of the day necessary? That then leads to an entire discussion (could take days) on the question of "Are blogs necessary? and we just won't go there. What I will tell you is his book is coming out September 12 and perhaps he (or his PR firm or his publicist - I assume he has a publicist who made him pose for the photo here) wanted to get his name back out there. What better way to do that then write something not very Mormon-ish (a word?) and not very similar to his all around nice demeanor.
Then again, a major reason I liked Ken all along as he was playing the game, was his off the cuff remarks, his out of the (little blue) box manner, his snarkiness and "What's a Ho?" (never gets old)
Please discuss. (Comments section)


But on to other matters such as Last Night's Jeopardy! (and the night before)
To be continued. . .

Editor's note: I just went to Ken's blog. His pageviews went from 1,800 on Tuesday to 573,000 the next day! Pre-orders for the book also went up. (oh for me? you really shouldn't have)
Me smells a promotion for some PR wanker somewhere in the West!

All is not well

in Jeopardy-ville. Haven't even read the article yet but felt it more important to put it up here for loyal readers. The people NEED to know!
More to come. . .

Proposal for Last Nights...

The Last Night's Jeopardy European chapter really misses the comaraderie of watching Jeopardy with our buddies. How about an iSight Jeopardy viewing at some point next week? Waddaya say? We will have our legit internet by Tuesday. Let us know if New York headquarters approves and we can set up a meeting for a later date.

Procrastination Part Deux

So - we don't have a splitter right now which means we can't be online wirelessly using the cable modem and watch TV (using the cable line) at the same time. Living with a techie means he'd we'd rather sit on the couch with our computers and it, therefore, makes watching last night's Jeopardy on Tivo down and out impossible. Also, we both now have commutes into Manhattan to contend with leaving less time for leisure activities such as watching Jeopardy. Kidding, of course.
No TV = No Jeopardy.
That's the bottom line.
Jeremy's no longer working from home (overall, this is a good thing BUT now I can never call him up in the middle of the day if I am at school and say things like, "Um. . there's a good Oprah on today that I wanted to see, can you Tivo it?!"). Plus starting today I, too now have a place to be at a certain time on certain days. In other words - a part-time job.
So, it was actually probably a nice thing that we couldn't snap on the TV while eating dinner but rather, we caught up on our trivia question-a-day calendars of which we have two for 2006. We have a Jeopardy one (duh) and a Trivial Pursuit one as well. One was a gift, the other we picked up a few days later when we saw it half price (post-January 1) at Barnes and Noble.

We had been neglectful of them for about two weeks so we have several questions to read and answer all at once. It was a bevy of trivia here at the new place!

We prefer the Jeopardy one (again, duh) because it usually has three to five questions in a row of the same category and you can really get into a groove that way (trust me). The Trivial Pursuit questions are all out of nowhere and pretty random.

Plus, the Jeopardy ones always have some sort of connection to something going on.
For example, last night's holiday celebration was spent at another Jeopardy-loving household and trivia talk came up. In fact, one of Jeremy's trivia partners was there along with another soon-to-be trivia partner. This soon-to-be trivia partner is a Canadian native (no, it wasn't Alex!) and the hope is that all Canadian questions will be answered quickly (and correctly) by him once he joins the team later this month.

Well, wouldn't you know it?! The Jeopardy category for the dates of approximately June 25 through June 30 was Canadian Provinces. Oh, how we wish Avi were in our messy, box-infested living room right then! But he wasn't so we trudged through and we did miserably.

By the end, Jeremy just kept saying, Newfoundland? And unfortunately that was never the correct guess answer.

So, that event being done, of course I had to write about it right away. And yes, the main reason being is that I should be studying.

I have a final tomorrow night. A final for a class in which I have missed the past two sessions. A final in which I could really bomb especially since I was hardcore at the beginning of June and rocked the midterm. A final that I really wish was next Thursday and not tomorrow Thursday.

Now dear reader, I hope you have enjoyed tonight's tales from Brooklyn (for the first time!). Procrastination Part Deux is officially ending right now.

What Is 4 More Years Of Hurt?

Just a quick posting before I cry all day editing the behind the scenes of England's defeat to Portugal last weekend...

So I've entered the stadium in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, ready for another day of joy/heartbreak (yeah, should have known better) and am walking to the media compound when, out of the corner of my eye, I notice a quiz going on. Upon further investigation, a popular soft drink is hosting a contest between an England and Portugal fan. They've easily answered all the preliminary questions so it comes down to sudden death. The music of choice to soundtrack the pivotal moment? Why the final Jeopardy theme of course! And - yep, you've guessed it - the Portuguese fella beat the Englishman and won. Perhaps I should have gone back to Berlin there and then and saved myself all the upset that was to come. But 40 years of hurt will now have to become 44 years at the very least (American readers might want to Google the 1966 World Cup at this point), which makes for plenty more Jeopardy posts before an Englishman can lift the World Cup.

Jeopardy is in on it, too

It's still all happening! And this is why.
Watched last night's Jeopardy. It being Monday that means it was Friday's Jeopardy. We don't usually bother with Saturday Jeopardy as they are all repeats (please say you knew that) and if we do watch 'em I certainly don't post about 'em. Puh-lease. I am trying to run a halfway, semi-normal,kinda decent blog here!

The categories were speaking to me. Ok, only about two of them, but when they speak, they speak.
Speaking of speaking, I "spoke" to a fellow blogger this afternoon. The one in Berlin.
And then I started to miss her. (Well, not started but just felt like it would be much cooler if I were there or she were here. That's all) And then, this evening I turned on Jeopardy.
Categories included:
Adam Sandler
The "IZE" have it
The Funny Brit
Prominent 20th Century Women

Those were the 4 that spoke to me.
This category was just fun! (well, it spoke to me in that I was like - oh! will my fellow bloggers love this one!)
Jepotry In this category a line of poetry was read with a word subbed out for Jeopardy. Contestants had to state the real word in the poem. It was a little off - oh so Jeopardy like though!

And better yet, the Adam Sandler clues were given by no other than Adam Sandler himself! (Did you think I was going to say the clue crew?) To promote his new movie Click, Adam was video'd for all five clues. $400 was something to the effect of Answer: In Happy Gilmore, I beat up this game show host. You're next Alex!!

Whoa, is this Jeopardy or Comedy Central's One Night Stand?
Heh. THIS is why we watch Jeopardy so religiously (when we are in the right country). Because we can!

It's All Happening*

And when I say all, I mean all.

Let's see what else can be crammed into a ten day period.
Just a quick rundown of real life things:

-We're closing on an apt in a few hours.
-We move into said apartment next week.
-The day before move, the event I've been planning the past 4 months comes together. The event involves over 400 people renovating a school in Newark and over 8 different vendors, each wonderful and complicated in their own ways (I know ALL there is to know about 16 foot trailers with men and women's bathrooms - wonder if that will help my trivia game?). Did I mention the over $2000 worth of Subway sandwiches I need to insure will be at the site by noon?

Now to clarify the above:
"We're closing on an apt in a few hours" noted as if this is just something that happens to us every now and then.
Um, no - this is huge!! Exciting, wonderful, yippee!
"We move into said apartment next week" Um, it is called packing. We need to do it and I need to do it without the luxury of the day before or the day before the day before (due to last minute items that will inevitably come up.)
But that is all the complaining you will hear from me because - we are moving! Yay. And by July 1 - so soon, we will be moved!
Oh - the complaining is also tempered by more of "it's all happening" proof.
Ken Jennings, of this blog's (and countless other blogs as well) fame, has commented on the last post. There's much I want to say about this but as I said over Greg's photo from earlier this month. . words. . cannot. . express. . plus because it is all happening at once. . time. . does. . . not . . . allow. . . formation. . . of. . . thoughts.

Toodles.





*This is my all time favorite line from the 2000 movie Almost Famous. A close second is "Rock stars have kidnapped my son!"
[Today is Frances McDormand's birthday.]

I am the smartest man alive!!

This post is all about last night's book (that I started reading). I know that last sentence may not be the best English, however, in an effort to remain consistent and for all postings to be about last night (but not about the movie About Last Night) then the sentence will just have to do.

The book is called The Know It All. A journalist (used loosely as he used to write for Entertainment Weekly) attempted to become the smartest person in the world by reading the encyclopedia cover to cover. In my attempt to write of all things having to do with Jeopardy, trivia contests and the like and in general, knowing it all, I thought it fitting that I start reading the book immediately. The urgency came to me earlier this week when I realized I had nothing to read for pleasure(aside from a Managerial Accounting book, that is). The book's been on my shelf for about 6 months since I took it off another shelf at Borders on Broadway and purchased it. The full surge of my first semester back in school made reading for fun rather prohibitive though I got some good ones in, this one never interested me due to its learning value.
Now that it's summer and I am only taking one class at a time (two sessions - five weeks each) I reached for it. And boy, am I glad. I love it! And readers of this blog will love it, too.

Not sure why I belittled the author of the book. Truth is,
I read Entertainment Weekly, weekly. (Due to points on a credit card I was given free subscriptions to loads of magazines about 6 months ago. We get a magazine practically daily. Magazines like Blender, Stuff, Outside, Harvard Business Review and EW. EW is the only one I read cover to cover.) I think I am just a bit jealous of his occupation.
The other reason I am not sure why I had to say "used loosely" is that as I mentioned, I am enjoying the book very much! Why can't I just be nice?!

So, the writer, AJ Jacobs is about my age and lives in NYC with his wife. It's fun to hear his tales of reading the EB (Encyclopedia Britannica) from end to end and to learn how he brings it up in conversation as much as possible.

I'm about 1/2 finished and so far, by far, the best section is the entry on frigate birds. In this entry Mr. Jacobs reveals the tale of his interview with blog fave, Alex Trebek. It's on page 99 of the book and if reading from end to end the tale of a man who reads the encyclopedia from end to end is just slightly too meta for you, just pick up the book in a bookstore and read this tidbit. I definitely love his initial encounter with Alex and the randomness of the man himself. The tale will make you smile. And if that is not the purpose of a tale, then what is?

A moment of silliness

In that I thought we had found a new Ken Jennings. How silly!

As someone who was once called Mrs. Jennings (stay tuned for the story), I am always on the lookout for the next Ken Jennings. I guess that, in itself, is silly. Two in one lifetime?! I highly doubt it on the one hand and on the other, I can't help but watch a two-day (or even sometimes one-day) champ, admire his or her trivia and buzzer skills and think to myself, "Is this the next Ken?!"

This "next" Ken came out of nowhere. So much so that at the beginning of the game I even remarked out loud in an not-so-nice moment "What a loser!" The category was Cheteau "Dif" and Craig (our contestant on the far right) answered "What is Diffuse?" for the $400 clue which was correct and then for the Daily Double (which was his and only his to answer) he answered "What is Diffuse?". I was CONfused. How could this person had made it through the rigorous screening? Come on, now!

So, you can imagine my surprise when he came alive in Double Jeopardy and put the current champ (Roberta of "I learned to read through Jeopardy" fame) to shame. She ended up coming in last place (dead last). By Final Jeopardy, Craig had runaway with the game. His score was so high no one could even hope to win.

On another note about this game, there was a category called Sing Sing. Answers included blogger favorite Duran Duran and the Go-Gos. I quite enjoyed the creative category, if you must know.

So back to the original story of silliness which involved Craig, a collector of antique hair bottles, current paramedic, former paratrooper and all around great guy (I made that last part up myself). He never cracked a smile, he seemed very regimented and he had over $114,000 after five days. THIS is when the "next ken?" question crossed my mind. Well, let's just say it didn't happen. Josh took it away from him with a rather troublesome Final Jeopardy. One so troublesome that it left us to go quickly to the computer and find out the true story.
The category was Transportation News. Answer: This city's iconic routemaster vehicles were just shy of 50 year service when they were retired in 2005.
Out of the three contestants, only Josh (the new champ) answered correctly but we were certainly puzzled. The answer was London and having just returned from a trip there (one of the best weekends of the year - ok, best day of my life!) and having ridden on the double decker buses to and fro the Ealing tube station but a mere two weeks before, we were screaming "bullshit" at the TV. What a sham! Until we read this. Those were not the vehicles we rode during our trip.

So, let's just acknowledge that this posting is more about last week's Jeopardy. It's most likely due to the fact that there was a surge of excitement here in AALJ land so only after I could settle down did it seem right to post again. The first was from the posted comment from June 14 when I found out there were readers of the blog NOT listed on the right hand side of the page. And truth be told, there are really only three readers listed as Jeremy isn't quite as excited about both watching and reading regularly about Jeopardy as some other people (yours truly) might be. The second was the post from Berlin. We are now officially multi-national as we've had postings from the US, England, AND Germany. But why keep track of these things, 'tis better to continue on to the one remaining anecdote of the day.
When and why was I called Mrs. Jennings?

The synopsis brings us to the Fall of 2004 when Ken has not started to make headlines but loyal (ahem) Jeopardy watchers know all about him. I mention him to my co-worker and give daily updates. We swap Jeopardy stories (perhaps the real beginnings of my fanaticism) where I learn of her Jeopardy watching grandmother. (scandalous!)
Next thing I know I am running the NYC Marathon in November 2004 and at the 12th or 13th mile come across friends in Queens cheering me on. There are a few signs made of oak tag (such a good word) with words of spirit - Run Jess Run! And there is one that makes me smile the widest.
"Go Mrs. Jennings!!!"

So there you have it. At the time, I had been engaged for 60 days but was taking the (nick)name of another. Now that is scandalous!

THIS IS...

not Jeopardy at all! Well, I wanted to add a post from abroad about some special television quiz shows here. As you guys remember from London there is a little show called Quiz Night Live that shows the viewer a numbers/math puzzle and sorry sacks call in with their answers. These 'contestants' pay for each call that they make to the studio...whether or not they get through. The hosts just tell (or yell) people to call as if it's their national duty to answer the puzzle. There is a cash prize ($1000s, no GBP symbol on this keyboard)for the winner who will never exist. It's a complete hoax but for some reason it seems legal and I personally have seen the same puzzle on the screen for weeks! I was happy that Jess and Jeremy were able to enjoy the fun.

I chalked it up to Crazy Brits and their TV..har har har. But nope...I arrive in Berlin and flip through the channels and there it is again, a form of Quiz Night Live in German. The prize was about 2000 € and even though I know about 10 words in German maybe, the host was the same....yelling at people to call in and guess.

There are other quiz shows on this continent and I plan to report to you about them in the near future. It's just difficult here with the language barrier and all.
Also, I miss Jeopardy and all. And that is about Last Night's...oh, no it's not.

Stop reading this and start procrastinating now!

So, this is really all about (or just kinda about) last night's movie.

I have been getting emails from Time Out NY for about 3 months regarding free movie tickets and other happenings in the city. For one reason or another, I have not had the opportunity to take much advantage of the offerings - I've had class, the movie hasn't interested me, etc. But last week was different. Wordplay tickets were offered for last night - game on!

I am not going to give a full review of the movie as there are just too many reviewers out there already. Let's just say that I highly recommend it to everyone who would ever come across this blog and actually stay to read it. And I will also say - I loved everything about the movie!

So, I have a midterm tomorrow and, of course, I am taking many breaks in my studying effort (trip to Whole Foods & the Greenmarket at Union Square, I.M.ing with anyone who is online, etc.) and one of those aforementioned breaks included going to the Wordplay Web Site.

Ellen Rothstein Ripstein is one of the crossword champs highlighted in the movie. She has won the Stamford, CT Crossword Tournament once and has been in the finals a record 14 times. She was very genuine and sweet and I just liked her & her attitude about being a crossword champion. . . so on the Wordplay site they have videos and write-ups on a few of the participants, including Ellen. I watched the interview with Ellen and in the last portion of the interview that I watched she mentioned a past crossword puzzle winner. No, it wasn't Ken Jennings but it was Stella! The Stella Daily of crossword tourney fame mentioned here in this very blog. It was cool. Ellen said Stella came in 6th last year and as mentioned here, in AALNJ, she came in 12th place this year (when Ellen said this I thought to myself, "Uh yeah tell me something I don't know). KJ, this blogs good 'ol mascot, came in 37th for those of you who don't remember the posting. Anyway, Ellen is a huge Stella supporter and thinks she will definitely win the crossword contest one of these days.

Ellen also talked about her very own Jeopardy stint. She was on in 1991 and said it was the "year of Jeopardy" because she basically prepared for a year until she was on. She got a Daily Double, thought of the right answer but somehow answered incorrectly (I liked that little anecdote. Not flashy, just basically, "Um. . . here is what happened to me"). She ended up coming in 2nd place.

Not so sure why I had to give you the run down on Ellen's entire interview. (Am I procrastinating?)
You can check out the site and hear it yourself though I am not really sure why that would be so necessary now.

So this is why I am a fan of procrastinating, my friend. It is not so much that it is worth it - but it definitely makes you smile. I think my new slogan (what the old one is I am not sure. Perhaps, did the penguin make you do it? a la William Madison) is

Procrastination - Just Do It!



PS This just in. I went to IMDB to check out quotes from the movie and saw that in the cast is Stella Daily. Hmm. . . don't recall seeing her says the oddly fanatical procrastinator.

Testatrix

This is so far, by far, the best word I have learned in my years, nay decades, watching Jeopardy. Or just the best one of recent memory. And like contestant (and new champion - sorry did I ruin the end for ya?) Roberta, I do get some of my basic knowledge from the show. Roberta in fact, during the interview noted that she learned how to read while watching Jeopardy hosted by Art Fleming in the 60s when she was 5/6 years old. Her mother would have her read the clues aloud as they popped up on the screen so she would have to learn to read - and fast!

Our contestants were Dan (the champ), Roberta (um, our soon-to-be new champ) and Quinn (some guy).
Last night's Jeopardy round included a category The Grateful Dead and Double Jeopardy included the category the Deadful Great. Oh you!
Also in Double - Bill Murray Quotes. Movies included: Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters (no - it was not "There's always room for Jello"), Stripes and Garfield. I was hoping a Lost in Translation quote would appear. Perhaps it is too alternative for our dear Jeopardy writers? Hmm.
I'll let you in on a little secret. As Alex reads out the categories prior to the round starting sometimes I will just scream out (it's not a very loud scream) something related to the category that could possibly be an answer. So, the contestants had just wrapped up one or two Double jeopardy categories and a contestant says, I'll take Fashion Designers for $200 Alex and I scream out - Donna Karan!
And what do you know, the clue was "This Designer started her DKNY line in 1989"
So, that was fun.

Also fun - Dan is from Canada. Final Jeopardy - Canadian Postal Abbreviations. Wow. What luck. Too bad Roberta was on the ball - she knows her Canadian Postal Abbreviations, too.

On another note, after a nice home cooked dinner by yours truly (peanut soba noodles with chicken) we sat down and flipped on Mr. and Mrs. Smith. In this flick, my favorite game show host, and yours, makes an appearance. The point is to show how smart Mrs. Smith is. Wow is she smart. She is walking through a room to get to another room to perform her duties (she is an assasin) and on the television, Alex (with a mustache)is on the Jeopardy set. She answers the question as she mazes through the first room. Who is Martha Stewart? is the line.
Love those Jeopardy movie appearances!

By the way, a testatrix is a woman who has made a legally valid will before death. I wonder if Mrs. Smith knows this.