Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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Doug527
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Doug527 »

a1srvng wrote: I detest it when a contestant continually responds to an answer with the LAST NAME, trying to embarrassedly play it safe, totally demolishing the easygoing flow of a game.
Not only do the contestant coordinators suggest doing this, for flow-of-the-game purposes, but seriously? It's not "playing it safe", it's playing it SMART. If you're iffy on the first name or the pronunciation might be a doozy under the pressure of the moment (hot studio lights, cameras, audience), but you're pretty sure it's unambiguous last name-wise, you DEFINITELY just go for the last name if you think you can go with it. If you get a BMS, well, that's a risk you took.

Once you're actually playing and real money is on the line, your thoughts on this will change, I promise.

[Edited for coming off unintentionally too snappy.]
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by alietr »

Oh yeah, I'll request "I answered AQotWF" as one of the poll choices. Not that you wouldn't have done so anyway, Mark.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by TenPoundHammer »

Even I had no chance on FJ.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Budphrey »

a1srvng wrote:This is just a peeve of mine but I'd like to know how other people feel about it.

I detest it when a contestant continually responds to an answer with the LAST NAME, trying to embarrassedly play it safe, totally demolishing the easygoing flow of a game. Dave does this and it is irritating. Yesterday, he responded "Who is Curtis" for Jamie Lee Curtis. "Who is Curtis"? Do you mean Tony? Ken? If you asked "Star of "Misfits", would you say "Who is Monroe"? "Jailhouse Rock". Presley? "Former president who blah blah". "Who is Johnson" "Johnson"? Which one? Somehow these little men with their nervous precautions just spoil it. Instead of just rolling his eyes, I wish Alex would put a stop to it. We know you little guys are brilliant but why not try just answering(asking) the question.

I just refuse to watch these little guys and come back to the show when they're finally gone.
Too bad -- that's the way the game has been played ever since I was first watching it in the 1960s. Your complaint seems a lot like being irritated at football teams that always seem to call running plays when it's 2nd and 1. It's so darn safe and predictable. (Oh, by the way, it also contributes to winning games.)
Poo-tee-weet? So it goes.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Paucle »

dhkendall wrote:
econgator wrote:I was as clueless as the three contestants, SWAGging For Whom the Bell Tolls.
What is the "S" in "SWAGging" for??)
Was wondering too, it'd be super if you'd tell us!!
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by ayeembored »

I'm shocked that "Johnny Got His Gun" seems to be as obscure as it is. Like a previous poster, possibly it is the effect of having worked in a bookstore, but JGHG is one of those books that we always had on the shelf. I don't think we ever sold a copy, mind you, but that could be said for a lot of the books we carried just because a bookstore "should" carry them, like the sheep of this question, All Quiet on the Western Front
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by fowlerism »

bpmod wrote:Since the LAST NAME is all that is required unless specifically stated otherwise, contestants save a lot of time by not giving first names, especially when they are obvious.
As a former quizbowler I have a lot of respect for the "surname until prompted" rule, but I don't think that the method saves a lot of time, at least not on Jeopardy!. Unless it is a president, or a person known mostly by their last name, Alex will almost always repeat the full name for the viewers at home if you say only the last name. I would argue that this slows down games more than the contestant saying the full name. That said, if I were ever on the show I would follow this rule myself (except for cases where the first name is incredibly obvious).
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by mitchparov »

I went with All Quiet as well, though I was more than a little bit confident that it wasn't right.

Anyone know what order of taping this show was? (I.E. first show taped that day, second, etc.)? I only ask because if I remember right, Maggie mentioned "All Quiet on the Western Front" during the pre-taping briefing as an illustrative example for how they judge FJ! accuracy (with reference to this game). I just can't help wondering if the players may all have (even subconsciously) remembered that portion of the briefing and had AQOTWF in their minds as a result. If you're casting around for something to write down, it seems you might go for the last mostly-period-correct novel you heard someone mention...
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

Austin Powers wrote:I said "Johnny Got Your Gun"; I feel I should get partial credit for knowing it was the Trumbo book that they wanted.
For knowing that "it was the Trumbo book that they wanted" you get 1) the warm feeling the comes from knowing you were closer to a correct than the overwhelming majority of us, and 2) and incorrect ruling from the judges. Sorry.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

econgator wrote:Congrats on win #5, Dave!

I still wonder if Alex realized why you were laughing at the "leech" clue.

I was as clueless as the three contestants, SWAGging For Whom the Bell Tolls. I've never heard of either the author or the book, so I'm pretty much pegging this as my most difficult of the season.
Amen to that. I was pretty sure it was the wrong time period for AQotWF, but other than that I was also clueless. I guessed that it was from the period of the Spanish Civil War and WAGGED The Sun Also Rises, which I'm not sure is even about that war.

Never heard of the author, and maaaayyyyy have once upon a time heard the title. I agree this was pretty much Liederkranz material and also gets my vote for hardest FJ so far this season.

Good for Dave that he had it locked up. In a non-lock game he could have easily lost. Many congrats for becoming a 5-time champ. I'm betting his $78K total is the smallest 5-game total in a long time, and I am no less impressed for it.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

econgator wrote:
xxaaaxx wrote:I forgot to ask: is "mad as a wet hen" a common phrase? The rest of that category was a breeze, but that one had me staring at the screen.
I've heard of it and used it myself, but common? Not really.
May be a more southern and/or more rural saying, but yes, quite common.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

MarkBarrett wrote:
What was all that yelling I heard tonight? Oh, Artie Shaw! Or was it John Quincy Adams?
I thought the last DD was the J!-nerd in-joke of the night. If Dave had read "Prisoner of Trebekistan" he would have gotten a load of Bob Harris' experience with a question about an American who was elected to the House of Representatives after his term as president. IIRC that knocked Harris out of one of the bigger tournaments. Fortunately for Dave it didn't cost him much.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Volante »

Samer wrote:Anyone else feel that today's board was a "budget control" board?
Not for me, 27/30 in J!, 28 if I pulled the trigger on Doom. DJ had more holes, but a respectable showing.
Tehshigelisok wrote:
nserven wrote:Incidentally, Morris Dickstein's book Dancing in the Dark is an excellent primer of 1930s culture, though even having read it the only novel I could precall was The Grapes of Wrath.
"This book wastes too much time on a freaking turtle crossing a road and doesn't seem to actually get to the Joads until 400 pages in."
That's my line! (Wait, it's about the "Joads"?)
MarkBarrett wrote: Nice try by Dave to attempt to turn the Islands in the Stream category into a simple multiple choice.
Seconded. That was quite brilliant.

Another AQOTWF here. Knew it was wrong, had to put something down :| . Blacklisted took me immediately to Trumbo, but no chance on the title. Also couldn't come up with a respectable joke answer.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by mam418 »

Paucle wrote:
dhkendall wrote:
econgator wrote:I was as clueless as the three contestants, SWAGging For Whom the Bell Tolls.
What is the "S" in "SWAGging" for??)
Was wondering too, it'd be super if you'd tell us!!
Scientific, I believe. (A Scientific WAG being superior to a normal one, doncha know...) :D
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Austin Powers »

John Boy wrote:
Austin Powers wrote:I said "Johnny Got Your Gun"; I feel I should get partial credit for knowing it was the Trumbo book that they wanted.
For knowing that "it was the Trumbo book that they wanted" you get 1) the warm feeling the comes from knowing you were closer to a correct than the overwhelming majority of us, and 2) and incorrect ruling from the judges. Sorry.
Thanks, John Boy - I was under the impression that I would actually be getting a check from Sony for half of David's winnings. Keep on me.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by cheezguyty »

John Boy wrote:I'm betting his $78K total is the smallest 5-game total in a long time, and I am no less impressed for it.
It's the smallest since Christopher Short's 5-day total of $68,399 last April and the 6th smallest of the 47 contestants to reach that mark since the dollar amounts were doubled (the average during that time is $113,173). If Dave wins again on Thursday he must do so with at least $16,699 to avoid having the lowest ever total winnings by a superchampion.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Creed Bratton »

Jaksiel wrote:I didn't get the FJ!, but I have heard of the book because the song "One" by Metallica (and its video) are based on it.
I knew they "wanted the book that One was written about", had it going through my mind, had read an article about the book last week, and still couldn't pull it. :?
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by BigDaddyJ »

John Boy wrote:I thought the last DD was the J!-nerd in-joke of the night. If Dave had read "Prisoner of Trebekistan" he would have gotten a load of Bob Harris' experience with a question about an American who was elected to the House of Representatives after his term as president. IIRC that knocked Harris out of one of the bigger tournaments. Fortunately for Dave it didn't cost him much.
I read "Prisoner of Trebekistan" a couple of years ago (highly recommend it!) and still managed to forget that little fact. I knew it was either Madison, Monroe, or JQA, because it had to be a president who was out of office before 1830 (the year given in the clue), and Washington, Adams the elder, and Jefferson were all deceased by then. Unfortunately, I guessed Monroe. I was surprised that one of the contestants guessed Van Buren, who wasn't even elected president until 1836.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Snaxx »

mam418 wrote:
Paucle wrote:
dhkendall wrote: What is the "S" in "SWAGging" for??)
Was wondering too, it'd be super if you'd tell us!!
Scientific, I believe. (A Scientific WAG being superior to a normal one, doncha know...) :D
"SWAG" often came up on the "WWTBAM Bored" (WWTBA Millionaire)... 'Scientific' and 'Silly' were the top two responses for the S.
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Re: Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Snaxx »

Tehshigelisok wrote:
bpmod wrote:
Tehshigelisok wrote:I don't get what was so funny about Leech. Explain?
You are kidding this time, right?

Brian
Guess who never pays attention to the contestants' surnames?
Alex Trebek too, based on his reaction.

The question got a write-up on the front page of the doctor's local paper (York, PA).
Dr. Doug Arbittier said he was surprised when he saw the answer on the CBS television game show "Jeopardy!"

The game show provides answers for which contestants must supply the right questions.

On Wednesday's show, the $400 Double Jeopardy! answer was "Doug Arbittier's collection of medical antiques in York, Pa., includes colorful jars that held these bloodsuckers," the doctor said.

Dave Leach of Atlanta supplied the correct "What are leeches?" question, said Arbittier of York Township.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_19680154
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