Queen of the Cotswolds

What is... PAINSWICK? No, this is not really Jeopardy related but this video needed to be posted someplace online. And it's too large a file to email. (except now that i think about it, we did read a lot of quiz questions on the way to this adorable little village so it IS appropos for the blog)


And this is where we stayed. Balderdash!

Long time no see.

Hi jeops...how's it hanging? This came up on thepage.time.com. Jeopardy is just such a force, it's everywhere.
That's it.

Stop Looking at Me, Swan!

Two of my favorite things came together in a big way this week. Trivia and Billy Madison.

First in Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia email, readers were asked, "What actor founded Happy Madison Productions to produce his movies?"

Then while watching the College Championship Finals today, in Double Jeopardy the category was Happy Madison and each of the five clues were given by Adam Sandler!

What does it mean?

Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, Lucille Leseur

AALNJ is growing!

There is much to post about in the new year as you can see. But to get the first thing out there -- > come summertime there will be a new Jeopardy watcher (not so much a Jeopardy question answerer)! We're having a baby!

The Anti-Jeopardy

These t-shirts are blasphemous!

Increase in traffic...maybe?

Well, it's top 10 list time as I am sure you see from specials in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and most things published at this time of year. Alessandra Stanley's piece titled:
'Robots, Lies and Smoking for $800, Alex'has a nice message of our blog's namesake. Perhaps this will have a trickle down effect on all things Jeopardy! and in turn...this blog.

We won't hold our breath, though.

A Further Announcement...And The Question That Dare Not Speak Its Name

I feel I speak for everyone on the ABAALNJ team (that includes you, Ivy) by being happy and relieved that Alex Trebek is out of hospital after his "minor" heart attack. I've pasted the AP story below. A couple of things strike me as interesting from this (and I've discussed the first issue with Liza but as none of you live with us, it's exclusive blog content!).

1. I'm frankly staggered that Trebek, after going through his ordeal, is such a showbiz pro that his statements actually refer to the fact that the Jeopardy production had recorded enough new shows that they didn't need to go into re-runs. Now this is nuts: would anyone out there really be annoyed at sitting through old episodes...BECAUSE THE MAN SUFFERED A HEART ATTACK?!?

2. Now I'm not wishing to sound morbid but I couldn't help but think the following had Alex not pulled through (and, you know, I just mean a long layoff because clearly the guy is never gonna die). Which TV presenter would be your choice to take over from the legend that is Trebek? If Drew Carey = Bob Barker then please come forward and fill in the gap for ? = Alex Trebek. My sentimental choice (I took a photo of the man!) would have to be for Ken Jennings but I'm sure you can come up with better suggestions.


'Jeopardy' Host Trebek Out of Hospital
Dec. 15, 2007, 6:32 PM EST

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek is out of the hospital and plans to spend the holidays at home with his family as he recovers from a heart attack.

"I'm truly overwhelmed by the great show of support and compassion expressed in the past few days to me, my family and my co-workers," Trebek said Saturday after his release from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in a statement relayed by "Jeopardy" publicist Jeff Ritter.

"Even though I know 'Jeopardy' is a very popular program, I was still surprised at the number of people who took time from their schedules to call or send a note of encouragement," Trebek said.

Trebek, 67, was hospitalized Monday night after being stricken with what Ritter said was a minor heart attack.

The game show host promised to return to the "Jeopardy" studio on Jan. 14 to tape the program's "Teen Tournament." In the meantime, he said, enough episodes were taped before he was hospitalized so that people who tune in over the holidays are still seeing new shows.

"Jeopardy has been one of television's top-rated syndicated programs for more than 20 years. The Canadian-born Trebek has been its host since 1984.

He has been nominated for daytime Emmy Awards for game show host and has won twice, most recently in 2006.

Trebek, who holds a philosophy degree from the University of Ottawa, was a TV and radio reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Company before moving to the United States. He became a U.S. citizen in 1998.

An announcement...

We here are very excited about the latest comment on AALNJ blog. Someone has come through with the transcript and video of SNL's Jeopardy! 1999. (first aired 1976)
Find the transcript here and the video here. That person is our commenter and friend, Ivy.

Ivy has helped us and come through in numerous ways-- 1) this transcript 2) celebrity jeopardy contestant naming and in many other ways...

And I would like to name her, 'Official Researcher!' (Exclamation point included) This is a voluntary position and the responsibilities are totally up to you!

Thanks and hope you all enjoy the links..(that means you, Glen, Jess, maybe Jer and possibly Harley...anyone else out there reading? Dad?)

Jeopardy in Jeopardy?

This is our 100th post, people and with the news we heard today (ie Alex Trebek had a heart attack)-- I find it fitting that it's about Alex. Of course, I really wish it were under better circumstances but this post is a get well note.

Dear Alex,
I just heard that news that you are not well and we at LNJ/AALNJ wish you a speedy recovery and all the best. Also, no rush to get back to taping straight away. Get better first-- reruns are fine for a little while-- so many classics out there. (see prev posts)

Enjoy the flowers and no, I am not crazy!

xo
The gang at lastnightsjeopardy

Jeopardy Everywhere....

So I was reading the new Steve Martin book, Born Standing Up and at the endish, he brings up a skit from the 70s...Jeopardy 1999! So, I immediately go to Youtube because...this I gotta see. This is unfortunate-- it was nowhere to be found. Perhaps skits from SNL circa 1976 are not allowed on youtube, just the ones that you can watch, er, like on Saturday. Anyway, if someone can find this and post it or give me details so I can visualize...please do so on this blog. Just a script would be worthy of a post! One line...the contestants...anything.

Thanks all....

'Tis the season

So it has been almost a month since the last post. That doesn't mean Jeopardy hasn't been a part of our lives. We had a great visit from the London wing of AALNJ over Thanksgiving and we did partake in not only turkey and stuffing but some quality Jeopardy home viewing gathered round the 'ol 42 incher. A week after that I was listening to an NPR podcast of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" that was a revue of sorts with guests from years past. I was lucky enough to listen to Ken Jennings answer three questions in which the writers of the show tried to stump "the man who knows everything" (the name they bestowed upon him). He got them all correct. Whatta guy.

Then we went to trivia last Monday. Our team name was Gingerbread Men, Nutmeg Woman. This was due to the gingerbread samples our teammate Dom had brought for us. Delicious! But even more delicious was our 2nd place ranking. We were in a tiebreaker and beat out the other team who due to our smarts, came in lowly 3rd place. This was out of a large number of teams though - the largest I had seen - 20!

And then there was yesterday. Doing The New York Times Monday crossword is the best way to boost your self-esteem. I urge all of you out there feeling low. . . wait it out until next Monday and then grab the paper. Go to the Arts section, find that crossword puzzle and complete it. You will. I promise.
Yesterday's 6 Across: "Jeopardy" whiz Jennings.
Nice way to start the week, huh? Your muse in the crossword puzzle.
Well, I hope the rest of the week (my second to last in business school) goes as swimmingly, starting with the final I have later tonight.

Fingers crossed. I hope it works!

That's right. There's no title to this post. I am speechless. We are speechless.
I was wondering what it would take to bring an AALNJ writer back and well, after tonight's super exciting last 10 seconds (yes, the last 10 seconds!) - - I am back.
This week and last we'd been tuning in at about 8:30 each night to watch the Tournament of Champions. Always great matches. Great challenging questions. Tonight was no different. But THIS was different. Two contestants answered Final Jeopardy correctly. The answer was "What is 8 and a half?" (for the category Movies). They each had $15,401 due to their wagers. The guy in the lead had $15,400 and answered Final Jeopardy incorrectly. So whoa - a tie! Who doesn't love a tie in Jeopardy ?! They are so very rare.
But wait.
In week two of Jeopardy's Tournament of Champions we need one winner from the Monday through Wednesday night shows so the three can compete in the two day Final.
So, what to do?!
They were ready. Those Jeopardy people. Next thing you know we are back on Alex talking a mile a minute saying that
1. There hadn't been a tiebreaker in about 20 years and
bam!
2. The tiebreaker's gonna start. It looks like final - the category is "Child's Play" and whoever buzzes in and answers correctly wins. And you must answer correctly. (well, duh) You can't win by default.

It was a tense 2 seconds and then - ding - the answer. Alex reads it.
Celeste buzzes in and as she can barely believe what has just happened (Jeopardy history!) and I can tell she can barely believes how lucky she is that she knows the answer - she answers correctly! Alex lets her know, her arms flail in the air (well, where else would they flail?) and she exclaims, "All right!" And how.

And just like that I had to post.

For those of you reading who didn't get to see it, not to worry. It's saved on our DVR. I know - how lucky are you that you know me and are staying with us this weekend?! I will gladly re-watch the 10 seconds again with you. See you soon!

To win Pub Quiz, answer (some of) these questions:

Not in this order and not in their entirety, either from Monday night:
Answers to come next week

1. 50 Cent said he'd retire if what other rapper's upcoming album outsold his upcoming album. (thanks to perezhilton.com, I got this one for the team!)

2. Name one of Mars' moons (there are two).


3. Who drew this photo? (the photo seen below)

4. Name the main island in Japan (a question from our CASH CAB ride!).

5. What were the last names of the kids in Peter Pan?

6. What is the world's smallest country that is also a city?

7. Commissioner Gordon is the commissioner of what city?

8. Name one of the Lions that sit outside of the New York Public Library (actually, we didn't get this correct).

9. During the scene at the Copacabana in GoodFellas starting when they enter through the back and all the way up until they are seated at the club, what song is playing? (LOVE this question, though we did get it wrong)


10. What are

• Monterosso al Mare

• Vernazza

• Corniglia

• Manarola

• Riomaggiore

(again, we got this wrong - we answered "types of Olive Oil" - hahaha [a hahaha in hindsight, of course])

Answer: A great way to end a three-day weekend.

What is with a three-peat?!

Dear Readers,
Now seems as good a time as any to get this thing back up and rollin'. Summer's semi-officially over and the big news. . . our team placed first in the Last Exit pub quiz tonight. Again! And again! That is, we have won for the last three times.
The first time - I wasn't on the team - but the second two times I contributed. Oh yeah I did.
More to come. . .

The Password is "rhubarb"....

Hi All,
So, this was on Time.com:


15 Best Game Show Hosts. According to a Time source, (LNJ contributor, Glen) the listing isn't in any sort of order, it's just a list. I would hope this is true...because when I was scrolling, Alex was number 12 beaten out by Bob Eubanks, among others. (blasphemy!)

Also, what's this all about 'no discernible personality' -- I would advise the writer of the Alex article to refer to Wednesday, February 22, blog posting #2 when we discuss an episode where Alex mentions his pick up truck. No discernible personality. Tsk. Tsk.

May Day is a play day

It’s our anniversary – no, not this blog’s anniversary, silly!
It was on this date, approximately 720 days ago, that Jeremy and I ceremoniously wed in front of family and friends. It was also on this day that I wore a white dress – it was sparkly and white (no veil) and I felt like the luckiest person in the world.
Today is no different. Ok – there’s no sparkly dress on me (I am not wearing white either) but I was awoken this morning by an enthusiastic “Happy Anniversary!” And as I was getting ready for my day (which included a breakfast reception at school and then an 8 hour day at my new “internship summer” employer) I was called into the second bedroom where my beloved and my pet cat were sitting. He called me in and said, “Jess, come see what I got Duncan for his birthday!”
Yes. Our cat’s birthday is the same day as our anniversary. Not sure what to make of it – but it is what it is.
Anyway, it was a trick. He held a jewelry-looking box to Duncan’s confused face and said – “Here Duncan.”
I hadn’t had my coffee – what was I to think? Well, I will tell you what I thought (for about 20 seconds.)
“Hmm…that is a Claypot box in a size I have never had. How did Jeremy get it and what did he get Duncan at Claypot?”
Heh. I was really fooled. Of course, I must repeat, I hadn’t had my morning cup of Joe at this point.
Anyway, turns out the box from Claypot was for me and a beautiful bracelet lay in it for me to display. A great start to the day!
But the luck doesn’t end there. I will wrap it up quickly as the evening awaits a mere two blocks from our home (lucky). A French-bistro dinner (lucky) with a trivia night at 9 in the adjoining bar! (sounds almost too good to be true!)

And this isn’t really lucky but a mere coincidence that I would be celebrating a special day and this headline appears on the cnn.com page – “New US citizenship test reads like ‘Jeopardy’”! It was a video – find it here (for a little while anyway) and while I am usually not a CNN video-downloader (hate the commercials and you know what, sometimes it just takes too long) of course, I watched. As it was downloading I thought, "Hmm what does this mean. Will people really have to respond with a question? "
Answer: “Red, White and Blue”
Question: “What is the American Flag?”
It didn’t really make sense. And as I was told (by the video I watched only ½ of) it is just that the test is more difficult now that it was in the past.
So, that’s the update and that is the Jeopardy news.

Good night and good luck.

West Virgina is for Loers

We thought it was a great name. Tonight we went to Last Exit on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn to play trivia.

Basically, when West Virginia won the NIT basketball tourney earlier this week, the T-shirts that had been pre-made saying West Virginia NIT champs had spelled Virginia with one less "i" making it an incorrect spelling.

So, we named our team "West Virgina is for Loers". The Emcee regarded it as "very clever". This AFTER he read it wrong and asked if there was a misspelling! (There was and it was deliberate.)

Whether or not West Virginia is for Lovers (or Virginia for that matter), I do not know. But I do know that we came in first place tonight!! And there was an all important question regarding the March 16, 2007 Jeopardy game. Why did it make history? Oh please. Challenge me, would ya?! Challenge me!!! Three way tie for those readers who have not read recent posts.

So as I write this, I am thinking about the 40 bucks I won (and Jeremy won 40 too!) and listening to Ohio State U lose to Florida in the NCAA basketball tournament. Usually I wouldn't care but had OSU won, I would be in the money of something to the tune of 250 MORE bucks (more than than 40 already in my pocket.) As it turns out, I will have come in second place so I will be getting something to the tune of 60 bucks.

Woo hoo! Though there was no searching for the afikomen in my Passover celebrations of late, I certainly have some extra gelt!

This is it!

This is live blogging. . . Category - Women of the 1930s.
1 of the men who shot her realized when he saw her body that she'd often waited on him at a cafe in sallas. Jeremy's guess: Who is Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde.

(Bonnie Parker - thanks to Anders who doubled his $8000.)
Jamey - also go it right. (and now he too has $16000)
So did Scott!! And he bet so that he also had $16000!! A three way tie! Wow. That is so anti-climatic that I can't even write anymore. Comments?

Jeopardy! in Pop Culture

This is one of the Double Jeopardy categories. How cool.

So - the end of Double Jeopardy and the scores are
Scott
$13,400
Anders
$8000
Jamey
$8000
It is not clear what the historical event will be. So we wait. . .