Ken's Jeopardy Adventure

Short version:

The weekend before last, the Jeopardy contestant search was in Charlottesville, and I took the contestant test on a whim. I qualified!

Long version:

I'm one of those people who watches Jeopardy and shouts out the correct answers all the time, so when the Jeopardy contestant search came to town I thought "what the heck," and went to try out. They were set up on Saturday at a local auto dealership. I walked in, sat down, and they handed me a 10-question test. Easy stuff, and I sailed right through in a couple of minutes. Handed it over to the guy running the test, he glanced at it and handed me a couple of sheets of paper.

"You did great -- come back tomorrow tomorrow to the Omni Hotel downtown at 11:30."

"What? I've got a race in Richmond in the morning."

"What kind of race?"

"A duathlon."

"Is that some kind of shooting race or something?"

"No. Run, bike, run. Kind of like a triathlon, only drier."

"Can you win money there?"

"Me? No, I'm not a pro."

"You can win money on Jeopardy -- you'll do well -- try to make it."

So, there I was on Saturday night -- not only getting my gear ready for the race, but packing a sports coat, shirt, and tie (the test invite for Sunday said to come dressed as you would if you were on TV). If I got the race done in about 2:30 and drove straight back, I might make it to the hotel by 11:30.

Race over, I hustled back to my car and hit the highway, zooming up I-64 back to Charlottesville. A quick change of clothes at a rest area and a dab of deodorant, and there I was, at the hotel at 11:25. A crowd of about 125 or so of us was ushered into a ballroom and sat down at tables. After a quick intro, and a video from Alex Trebeck, we took a 50 question written test. Eight seconds for each question, then on to the next. Pretty easy stuff, mainly. The tests were taken up to be graded, and a young lady on the Jeopardy crew took questions from the audience. Amazing how many people want to know what Alex Trebek is like in person.

Here comes the big moment. They start reading out names -- I've made the cut! The losers are ushered out, and the 20-25 survivors gather at the front of the room. A few forms to fill out, and a quick sample game and interview (our screen test, in effect) and I'm done.

Now the wait -- I'm in the contestant pool for 18 months. If they call me, I fly out to LA and give it a shot in person. No guarantees I'll actually make it onto the show, but I'm already starting to study -- I think I'll brush up on Shakespeare first.

- Ken

Ken's Jeopardy Adventure -- Epilogue

The co-author of this blog, Ken Nail appeared on "Jeopardy" this week. And while he didn't win, I, for one, still regard his appearance as a major accomplishment.

If you missed the show, you can view the stats of the game at J! Archive.com. This fan-run site meticulously records all the questions (and answers) for each game, tracks what each player won or lost and provides the kind of rigorous statistical analysis usually reserved for major league baseball.

There were a couple of places where Ken could have turned the game around -- even in Final Jeopardy (where it was clear only Ken knew the answer, but lost on a technicality). And if you're inclined to sniff at his performance, just try the board yourself at J! Archive. Chances are you'll gain some respect for what he and his fellow contestants were faced with.

Although he didn't fare as well as another Ken on "Jeopardy," we're still very proud of our own. Ken's posts are usually the most popular on the site, he's maintained an impressive exercise regimen and competes regularly, and has many more accomplishments as well. Winning's great, but so's qualifying for competition -- just ask those sitting on the sidelines.

Congratulations, Ken! (If nothing else, you've appeared on "Jeopardy" more often than I have.)

- Ralph

Day 232 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Ken's Jeopardy Adventure -- Part 2

Monday, February 9, 2009, Ken Nail, the co-writer of this blog appears on "Jeopardy" as a contestant. You may recall he tried out for the show back in May and made the cut. The actual taping was in early December.

It's one thing to be a watcher; quite another to be a participant. Everyone here at "C.E. Conversations (including our guest bloggers) are really proud of Ken. Watch tonight and you'll see the real brains of this outfit!


Ralph

Day 229 of the WJMA Web Watch. (I'll take "Missing Websites" for $100, Alex)

Where's Ken? Back from Boston!

Long-time readers have noted Ken's decreasing frequency of posts. And there's a good reason for that. While one of us has been typing away commenting on events in the world, the other has been out in the world doing things -- like training.

Training for the Boston Marathon.

Which Ken entered, and completed in the upper half of the pack. You can read the details of his race on his own blog, Milestones.We followed him through the Boston Athletic Association's website. With his electronic monitor we received updates in real time.

Take a peek at his post -- it was a well-run race, and an interesting first-person account.

Jeopardy contestant, Boston Marathon runner, and accomplished Nigerian scammer scammer. What next?

- Ralph

Pearls Before the Wheel

Stephen Pastis recently completed a brilliant story arc in Pearls Before Swine. In addition to providing five strips of stand-alone humor, he also made some pointed commentary about some comic strips that are long since past their prime. Monday's sequence sets up the premise: it's Comic Strip Week on Wheel of Fortune. And the first contestant to be introduced is Andy Capp. (click on images to enlarge)

Reg Smythe started Andy Capp in 1957, and even after his death in 1998, the strip shambles on. Pastis points out the obvious that readers seem to disregard in this "loveable" character. Capp never works, drinks constantly, and abuses his wife verbally and cheats on her as well. One has to wonder -- why is this strip still around?

Tuesday introduces the next contestant -- The title character from B.C. This is another legacy strip, started by Johnny Hart in 1958 and continued after his death in 2007.

Hart became a born-again Christian, and considered B.C. part of his ministry. In the latter part of his life B.C. became increasingly heavy-handed in its Christian messaging. B.C.'s opening remark nails the overt tone of Hart's latter strips perfectly.

Wednesday's sequence was something of a surprise. I didn't expect Pastis to introduce one of his own creations, but he did --  Larry the croc.

 

In retrospect, it was a perfect choice. There's a general perception that Wheel of Fortune contestants aren't always the brightest bunch (Jeopardy snags those). Having the dimmest character from the Pearls cast just reinforces that notion.

Thursday the game starts.

Andy Capp's too drunk to think, and B.C. tries to shoehorn Jesus into the answer. Both play out the worst traits of their respective characters.

Two important things happen in Friday's sequence. First is the obvious joke: Pastis is such a nobody that even with just one letter missing, Larry can't identify his creator.

But there's a more pointed commentary, too. Larry sets it up by mistaking Pastis for a homeless person. B.C., who's been proudly displaying his Christianity all week, immediately says he has no spare change. A mordant comment on the nature of B.C.'s (and by extension Hart's) faith.

And the final day is just for fun.

 

Another milestone -- and our top five posts

This weekend "CE Conversations" passed another major milestone. According to Feedburner, (which tracks the subscribers to our RSS feed and hits to our Feedburner mirror site), we've had over 30,000 views to our modest little blog. (The StatCounter down in the lower right of this page tracks direct traffic to this site, but it hasn't been activated very long).

Every 10,000 views, we take a look at the most -- and least -- popular posts of all time, to see what you like to read (and what you don't).

So here's our five most popular posts since we launched in August 2006.

5) A Worthy Supporting Role (Ken) -- commentary on Rex Ingram's role in "Sahara" and how it played against racial stereotypes.

4) Who needs an iPhone, when.... (Ken) -- suggesting an alternative to the iPhone madness. It was written about the first generation iPhone, but Ken's thoughts are still just as valid.

3) Kens' Jeopardy Adventure (Ken) -- a new entry to the top five. I wonder how many readers thought this was about Ken Jennings. If our Ken aquits himself well on the show, maybe it won't matter.

2) The RIAA and the low-price spread (Ralph) -- another new entry to the list. The story of how the dairy industry tried to turn consumers away from margarine and back to butter with archane legislation seemd to me to have interesting parallels with the record industry's current shenanigans.

And the most popular post to date remains,

1) Greenberg Revisited (Ralph) -- discussing the importance of well-researched price guides as opposed to relying on Ebay to determine the value of collectibles

When we started, both Ken and I were writing about an equal number of posts. But with the passage of time and Ken's increasingly rigorous triathlon training regimen, his contributions have become less frequent even as his race stats have improved.

Quality still trumps quality among CE Conversation readers, though. Despite his decreased posting schedule, Ken still has three of the top five posts -- and his overall total of views still bests mine.

- Ralph

Day 30 of the WJMA Web Watch.

An Updated Directory of Literature (sort of)

As promised, I'm posting my latest National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) novel. I finally finished with the preliminary editing, so here it is. By preliminary, I mean all I did was correct the spellings and the typos, made the character names consistent, and cleaned up the grammar a little.

This is writing in the raw, but that's part of the fun of NaNoWriMo -- producing a 50,000 word novel in a month. This particular piece, The Commissar Commands, continues the adventures of Raven. Raven is a mysterious crime fighter of the 1930's, and has been the subject of all my NaNoWriMo projects.

I've always enjoyed the pulp literature of the 1930's, and the breakneck speed at which most of it was written seemed very close to the NaNoWriMo spirit.

Below are links to all the novels. One thing to keep in mind: while the writing is done, the editing has yet to start in earnest on any of these. I've tried to clean up as many mistakes as I can find, but there may be some plot points that need fixing, chronologies that need tweaking, and other structural issues a professional editor would see and correct. It's only after they've been edited that I will officially offer them to the world (and you'll see them on Amazon).

Murder Squad
Men mysteriously die of a weapon that doesn't fire bullets! Toy police badges are left at the scene of the crime! What does it mean? Can Raven solve the puzzle before becoming the next victim?

The Crimson Cypher
A dead thief found in an isolated farm yard clutches a coded message in his hand -- a message that pits Raven and Crow against a merciless army of killers in an international race to rescue Police Commissioner Rowland from certain death and save America from saboteurs!

Death in Five States
A beautiful young heiress is trapped in an express train full of killers! Can Raven and Crow reach her in time as the train of doom hurtles across the country, leaving a trail of murder behind it?


The Purple Doom
A mysterious figure holds sway over New York society. His demands are simple: pay to live, or die the horrible death known as the Purple Doom! And after Commissioner Rowland and MacGuffey are attacked, Raven must fight alone to stop the Purple Doom from destroying an entire city! 

The Crime Broker
Business is booming in the underworld. Someone is investing in crime, and the police are overwhelmed. Can Raven help stem the tide of lawlessness and stop a powerful supercrook from taking over the city?

When the Commissar Commands
Who is behind the concerted attack on American industry? A vital new weapon to Uncle Sam's arsenal is in jeopardy, and even the Federal authorities are helpless. Can Raven stop a nest of spies and unmask their leader before the weapon is stolen?