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This … is Jeopardy!

Posted in Internet, TV with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2020 by macmystery
Jeopardy_36_Hero

This … is Jeopardy! Well, … actually, it’s a pretty crappy little piece of art.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That’s what I did tonight. For the fourth year in a row, I tool the Jeopardy! online test in hopes of competing on the popular television quiz show.

All in all, I think I did well this time. That’s not really something I could say after the three previous attempts. But more about that later.

The test has changed since the last time I took it. I get the impression that the game has become even more popular, if that’s possible.

I would attribute that to the 2019 success of James Holzhauer. He went on an impressive 32-game run from April to June. He fell well short of the 75 episodes that Ken Jennings — widely considered the greatest Jeopardy champion of all-time and crowned as such in early 2020 — appeared on back in 2004.

But it wasn’t so much that Holzhauer won. It’s HOW he won. His gambling background, combined with his obvious breadth of knowledge, resulted in a much different strategy that most past champions had employed.

Rather than control the board and slowly accumulate money, methodically running through each category, Holzhauer would skip around the board attempting to find the Daily Double clues. And when he did find them, he would risk a lot of money and he would risk it early. He chose the most valuable clues first.

Often, his victories were runaways. He would risk all of his earnings, often doubling up — he was correct on 72 of the 76 Daily Double clues he hit during his 33 episodes — and leave his opponents desperately scrambling to earn enough money to even be in striking distance when Final Jeopardy! arrived.

Though he fell short of Jennings’ streak, he earned nearly as much money as Jennings in less than half as many episodes ($2,464,216 to $2,522,700) and claimed the record for largest one-game total winnings with $131,127.

He is the only player ever to earn at least $100,000 in an episode — he did it six times — and he was so confident in his Final Jeopardy! wagers, he often bet specific amounts so that his final total would be a significant number, like the birthdays of his daughter and wife.

Anyway, all of that was long-winded and was really just to point out how popular the show has become. After four weeks with Holzhauer as champion, Jeopardy’s ratings were up 30 percent.

So of course, more people are taking the test.

In years past, you would register for the test and be eligible to take it on the night of your choice — there were usually three options — during a week in the spring. Instead, with so many people attempting to take the test, Jeopardy! moved to allowing the test to be taken anytime.

The tests contain 50 questions. Prospective contestants are given 15 seconds to answer each. Unlike the show, you do not have to phrase it in the form of a question, and spelling does not count. The 50 questions come from 50 different categories.

And the questions can be tough. You don’t get a gimme category.

It pays not to get flustered. It snowballs. The first time I took it, that’s exactly what happened. I might have gotten a third of the answers correct, missing many questions I knew the answers to because I panicked. When I finished, I knew it was a disaster.

The next two attempts were better — I got more than half right each time — but that’s not nearly enough. If you pass the online test, you’re invited to an in-person audition where you’re given another test. You must get 35 or more right to advance to a full session, where you’ll play a shortened game of Jeopardy! and undergo a personality test.

I had a friend, Jason, with whom I worked at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. He passed the first test and was invited to the in-person audition. That’s as far as he got though.

So, if 35 right answers are required in the second stage, it’s probably a safe assumption it’s the same threshold for the first online test.

And that leaves me guessing. Unlike my first three attempts, I know I got well over half right. I know I got more than 30. But 35 … it’s gotta be right there.

Unlike the practice test, you don’t see the right answers after the test. So it’s very hard to know with certainty how you did.

And then Jeopardy! reserves a 12-month window during which the producers can invite you to an in-person audition.

Or not.

I guess I’ll know by this time next year.

 

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Bound for the Rock

Posted in Family, Movies, TV with tags , , , , , , , , , , on June 24, 2019 by macmystery
alcatraz-map
Tomorrow (later this morning, actually), I’m lucky enough to be heading to tour Alcatraz with friends, the Winston family and part of the Rothschild family. (Thank you, Will.)
 
I’ve seen the Rock from afar, but will actually get a close-up view for the first time, and it brings up a strange but treasured memory from when I was young.
 
There was a classic movie from 1962 called The Birdman of Alcatraz starring Burt Lancaster. It’s an old black-and-white picture about an inmate who worked with birds. But when I was a kid, maybe 7 or 8, I had no idea.
 
I’m sure we saw a promo for a re-run of the old movie on TBS or something. And somehow, my sister, then 5 or 6, and I crafted this character, the Birdman of Alcatraz. And we would take turns wearing a blanket around our neck as a cape and swooping around the den trying to get the other. Michele would say, “I’m a jail bird,” without any idea what that really meant. Just the things that kids do.
 
It’s goofy. But for whatever reason, all these years later, it has stuck in my head, like so many other seemingly meaningless things that, in all actuality, are the things you remember. And tomorrow when I’m seeing a famous prison for the first time, an unhappy place for a lot of people, I won’t be able to help but think about happy memories.

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R.I.P. Maj. Dick Winters, American hero

Posted in Books, History, Movies, TV, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2011 by macmystery

I first learned of Dick Winters’ death from a Facebook post by my friend Chris Otto of the York Daily-Record. He linked to a story Monday night from a Pennsylvania TV station reporting the World War II veteran’s death a week before. Here’s the Washington Post obit.

Winters became widely known, thanks to the Stephen Ambrose book and HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” which followed the E company, second battalion (Easy Company), of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Infantry from their formation through the Normandy invasion and on through Germany’s surrender.

As a history major, I found the book interesting, but honestly, the miniseries, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, is where I, and I’m guessing millions of other Americans, truly came to know about Winters. It’s hands down the best television I’ve ever seen.

The book, culled from interviews with surviving members of Easy Company, is historically accurate, and the miniseries follows the trend of the past 15 years where filmmakers, instead of glorifying war, have tried to accurately portray the horror and savagery of conflict and illustrate the sacrifices of those who risked or lost their lives.

Winters wasn’t originally in command of Easy Company. But just like in so many other situations in the group’s story, Winters took the reins and led by example when he was called to. He was concerned about each and every one of his men. And his men respected him for it and loved him in return.

According to the Washington Post, late in the war, one of Mr. Winters’s soldiers, Floyd Talbert, wrote a letter to the officer from a hospital in Indiana expressing gratitude for his loyalty and leadership.

“You are loved and will never be forgotten by any soldier that ever served under you,” Talbert wrote to Winters in 1945. “I would follow you into hell.”

We’ve reached a point in our history where the people who risked their lives and served their country are dying off and leaving us at an ever-increasing rate. Soon, what little first-hand knowledge we have of the great sacrifice the men like those of Easy Company made to, not only preserve our freedom, but to defeat the powers of evil, will have gone away.

I’m saddened by Winters’ passing, but I’m thankful he served. He lived to the age of 92 before losing his battle with Parkinson’s Disease. News of his death, more than a week ago, was kept quiet at his request. He didn’t seek glory. He exhibited class, even in death.

Thank you, Dick Winters. Though you may not have chosen the label, there’s no denying you are a hero.

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He’s gay … he’s not gay … it’s none of your damn business

Posted in Family, Internet, TV with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2010 by macmystery

So a couple of nights ago, I’m sitting in the living room with my wife Brooke. She’s got the laptop with her on the couch and she’s reading some other people’s blogs while I’m watching an episode of Psych on Netflix.

And she comes across this blog post from a woman about her son who wanted to be Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween. The woman talked about how much her son loved the character and his best friend, a little girl, also went as Daphne.

She also talked about the negative reaction the costume got from other parents.

She was very supportive of her son and basically told the other adults it wasn’t their concern what her son wanted to be for Halloween.

As my wife explained the woman’s blog, Nerdy Apple Bottom, and read the post to me, I found myself sympathizing with the mother.

So Thursday night, after work, I was working on the dashboard of my blog and noticed that her post about the costume, entitled “My Son Is Gay,” was the top post among all WordPress blogs.

(For what it’s worth, if you read the blog post, you’ll find that the title “My son is gay” is actually just the first line of the post. It’s immediately followed by “Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.”)

I didn’t think much of it, just thought I’d mention it to Brooke when I got a chance since it had sparked her interest.

Then at work on Friday, I was perusing CNN.com and found that her blog post had sparked an uproar. It was the top post on all the WordPress blogs because it had gotten more than a million hits in a day’s time.

She had gotten lots of feedback, mostly positive, but some negative and some downright ugly.

On CNN.com, there’s a video (click here) of her live phone interview on television. She holds her own with the reporter, who’s sympathetic, and a child psychologist.

I find it truly amazing the a 5-year-old child’s choice of a Halloween costume could cause such an uproar.

There are many people criticizing this mother for blogging about her son’s choice of costume. But that’s not what she did. She only blogged about her son’s choice of costume in response to the negative and ugly feedback she got from neighbors and other parents at her son’s school.

She told them to shove off. And she was right to.

It’s bad enough that we in this country spend a large portion of our time passing judgment on other adults.

But one 5-year-old’s choice of a Halloween costume … his choice to dress up just like his best friend … on a day, the one day every year, when everyone has the opportunity to pretend to be someone they’re not and it’s supposed to be OK … one 5-year-old’s choice of a Halloween costume shouldn’t cause this kind of furor. It shouldn’t draw venomous feedback from supposed adults and it shouldn’t make the national news.

In fact, the more I read some of the idiotic feedback she got, the more frustrated and angry I become, and he’s not even my child. I can only imagine what it must have been like to have to deal some of the people face-to-face.

And even after all of this, I’m at a loss of what to say.

My son and my daughter are free to pursue whatever dream they desire. I won’t dictate what road they take in life or who they love. I only hope that they grow up to be good people, they embrace their journeys in life and that they are lucky enough to find love.

I can’t imagine trying to dictate to them what should and shouldn’t make them happy. But I know I’m certainly not OK with anyone else trying to do it either.

So I guess if confronted with the same situation this mother was, I’d say the same thing she did in her blog post …

“It’s none of your damn business.”

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Wow! Who saw this coming?

Posted in Journalism, Politics, TV with tags , , , on August 18, 2010 by macmystery

Fair and balanced? Why start now?

Apparently, some people, particularly Democrats, are upset because Fox News’ parent company, News Corporation, made a $1 million donation to a Republican governor’s group. (Read here)

These people believe, shockingly, that this shows a lack of objectivity on Fox’s part and that the network’s coverage of Republican agendas, personalities, ideas, legislation and candidates will be favorable when compared to that of the Democrats.

Wow. No crap. What took you so damn long? Welcome to the real world.

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