MrAtoz

It was also the name of a centaur in the Harry Potter books.

How is it the young people put it? I was today years old when I learned that "hawk" and "falcon" are not two different words for the same critter.

I said the Sea of Azov for FJ. But I was visualizing the Sea of Marmara, while calling it the wrong name. So I think that counts.

I like "Carefree Highway" as well. Also "Sundown" and "Canadian Railroad Trilogy." In a way, it's too bad that "Edmund Fitzgerald" is the song that everyone immediately associates him with. It may be the worst of his well-known songs. It's worth looking into his other stuff if you enjoy that type of music.

The clue itself said "John Quincy Adams." He would have been 15 years old at the time, the right age for that kind of snark.

I knew them but couldn't remember their name. I wanted to say "Williamson Brothers," even though I knew it wasn't right. Went back and forth between the Golden Horde and the Mongols. Let's just pretend that I decided on Golden Horde, shall we?

It's an interesting contrast. On The Chase, they have to act so confident and superior, always smarter than the mere mortals who are the contestants. It was fun to see Victoria so excited about winning.

Chief Bromden isn't really mute; he just pretends to be. The narration is an almost stream-of-consciousness thing, as if it's what's going through his mind as events happen. Within the story, he speaks out loud very little. I got FJ, but I'm not surprised that many people didn't. It was certainly on the obscure side.

Brandon was in the 2008 Teen Tournament, apparently, so it's not surprising that people don't remember him as a Jeopardy! contestant. As mentioned, he's become much more prominent since then, with big success on both Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and University Challenge. He's now a Chaser on both the American and Australian versions of The Chase. BTW, if you're not familiar with University Challenge, look up some episodes on YouTube some time. It's way harder than Jeopardy! could ever hope to be.

One of the things that people complained about with Arthur was his technique of jumping from category to category rather than playing all the clues in one category from top to bottom. Even though he didn't invent that practice--it's called "the Forrest bounce" for a reason--it really got a lot of attention (mostly negative) when he did it. Nowadays it's become so common as to be completely unremarkable. Somebody on one of the Jeopardy contestant Facebook groups pointed out that 10 years ago, the top three game winners were Ken Jennings (74 wins), Dave Madden (19 wins), and Arthur Chu (11 wins). All three of whom were on the stage together yesterday.

Sometimes in the same line: "And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd" Edited to add: I just checked the complete text of the speech. Shakespeare uses "Crispian" four times, and "Crispin" only three. If anything, calling it the St. Crispian's Day speech is more correct.

There is a break, lasting roughly as long as a commercial break lasts when you're watching. The game is played, as much as possible, in real time. You can't move around, but they do bring the contestants a little bottle of water to sip from. The bottles are marked 1, 2, and 3 (corresponding to the podium numbers), so that they can be sure to give you the same bottle every break. That way you don't drink from anybody else's bottle. Alex would talk to the audience during the breaks, answering questions and so forth. I assume Ken probably does the same, but don't know that for certain.

That's what I get from Yogesh a lot. He seems to be trying to make jokes, some of them even being self-deprecating, but he doesn't quite know how. He appears to have pretty poor people skills in general. I've had friends and relatives like that, and it can be tough for them at times. They try to do the same kind of friendly banter that other people do, but it just doesn't work for them, and they often can't figure out why.

It's a funny-sounding word, and also a word that doesn't sound like it should mean "beautiful."

I cut Brian a lot of slack, because so many people, up to and including SNL, were so incredibly mean to him when he was on before, for no good reason (no, a vague resemblance to Hitler is NOT a good reason to publicly insult a perfect stranger who has done you no harm). As far as I'm concerned, he gets to enjoy himself this time around.

I hadn't even known that a "Touring the Dales" special existed, so thanks to everyone for alerting me to it. I checked the schedule, and my PBS station is showing it again tomorrow, and also on Sunday, so I've got the DVR set to record it. So to @Driad and anyone else who might have missed it, check your local listings. It may be on again soon.

The Louis L'Amour clue amused me just because of how much L'Amour would have hated that clue existing. He was very unhappy with the way those Hopalong Cassidy books were edited, removing some of the rougher stuff in favor of a more sanitized Hopalong. Until the day that he died, he denied having written them anytime he was asked about it. Occasionally fans who recognized his writing style would bring them to him to autograph, and he always refused to do it.

According to the episode list on wikipedia, next week's episode, "On a Wing and a Prayer," which PBS is calling the "season finale," was the 2023 Christmas special. If memory serves, this is the way PBS has generally treated the Christmas specials, simply broadcasting them as the final episode of each season. Whereas in the UK there would have been a gap of a month or two since the most recent episode had aired, we in the US don't have to wait that long. Edited to add: As to why a veterinarian is learning to fly planes, I suppose the only answer is that that's what happened to Alf Wight, the real James Herriot. He served in the RAF and did become a pilot. Of the three main vet characters, "Tristan" was the only one to actually serve in the Veterinary Corps.

I guessed "The Lighthouse of Pharos," thinking that Pharos was a place rather than the Greek word for lighthouse. I wonder if that would have been counted right.

Three states claim Lincoln. Kentucky, where he was born. Indiana, where he spent his boyhood. And Illinois, where he had his law office and from which he ran for Senator and then for President. He's a popular fella, for some reason. 😀 I also guessed Ohio, for no really good reason. But I was surprised to learn that Lincoln was the first president born outside the original thirteen states. I would have thought it happened earlier.

I knew Ho Chi Minh didn't make sense. My only guess was Nguyen Van Thieu (although I couldn't actually remember his name), even though that didn't make sense either. Pol Pot never occurred to me.

While I knew of Juice Newton's recording of "Angel of the Morning," the one I'm most familiar with is Merilee Rush's version. Turns out that was also a cover! The first recording was by Evie Sands, which had very limited release and did not chart.

I don't follow the Contest threads, and only occasionally look in on this one, so I had not heard about Saber's passing. What very sad news! I only had a few direct interactions with her over the years, but she was very welcoming to me when I joined the board, and posts with her name beside them were always interesting and worth reading. Condolences to her family and friends.

According to wikipedia, the name Brunei is supposedly derived from "Baru nah," meaning either "There!" or "That's it!"

It's like they say about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: "They never lived, and so can never die."