Here are today's Invitational Tournament contestants:
- Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California, who has one win in the final round;
- Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada, winner of yesterday's game; and
- Roger Craig, an applied scientist originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, still seeking a final-round victory.
I overheard some of his more ridiculous quotes, but I did not put a dollar in.
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| The Orphans |
Today's Top Pick is a total shot in the dark: the director of this film has no track record, I've never heard of the lead actors, and it's French. It's a buddy action film called The Orphans. It's about two men who seek to help the vengeance seeking teenage daughter of a dead woman they both used to date back in the day. The trailer looks fun with a lot of practical stunt work and humor. It could be crap, but it's only 95 minutes, so at least it isn't a big investment.
Just missing Top Pick is the Emma Thompson action-thriller, Dead of Winter. Thompson plays a woman who stumbles onto a situation where a young woman is being held captive. Thompson decides to do something about it because she's Emma fucking Thompson and I can never get enough of her playing a bad ass.
We've also got the premiere of Strip Law, an animated comedy about a lawyer in Las Vegas (Adam Scott) and the crazy cases he takes on. The animation is not particularly impressive, but I got some laughs from the trailer. This is the first series for show creator Cullen Crawford, who mostly seems known for writing for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Might be fun.
⭐🎥 The Orphans (Netflix, 3:01 AM) 'Two childhood friends must overcome their differences when their old flame dies in a suspicious car accident and her teenage daughter seeks revenge.'✔️
Here are today's Invitational Tournament contestants:
- Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California, winner of yesterday's opening game of the final round;
- Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada; and
- Roger Craig, an applied scientist originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
No, I'm not planning a return to journalism. I'm interviewing to be a sales associate at a mattress store. I'm at the point where I don't think I can support myself anymore as a delivery driver. (And I'm having some come to Jesus talks with myself about living within my means.) The sales job would pay more than double what I currently make, plus commission. Anyway, I'll catch up with vintage Broadway soon.
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| Via CB |
The first task sees the sewers coming unstuck with delicate lace and slippery satins.
Because I'm still resisting making the Olympics a Top Pick, tonight's choice is Murder in Glitterball City, a two-part true crime documentary premiering on HBO. Seriously, if we took away true crime from TV and/or streaming, most of Hulu's new programming would be non-existent.
So you're supposed to be fasting now. No snacks!
No meat from mammal or fowl.
Enjoy!
Here are today's Invitational Tournament contestants:
- Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California;
- Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada; and
- Roger Craig, an applied scientist originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Jeopardy!
NAMES IN SPORTS // QUOTABLE NOTABLES // WELL, THAT'S PATHETIC // A GOOD OLD JOB // HOW'D THEY COME UP WITH IT? // FORESTRY FICTION
DD1 - 600 - A GOOD OLD JOB - The name of this profession is also the action done by the worker who pulls a handle to make fizzy nonpotent potables flow (Andrew doubled to 9,600.)
Scores at first break: Roger 3,800, Long 1,600, Andrew 3,600.
Scores entering DJ: Roger 5,800, Long 1,600, Andrew 10,400.
Double Jeopardy!
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD // IDIOMS & EXPRESSIONS // THAT DRINK IS NAMED FOR ME! // A MUSICAL LANGUAGE LESSON // GOING DOWN IN HISTORY // BEAUTIFUL THINGS
DD2 - 1,600 - PEOPLE OF THE WORLD - At about 70 million, the Hausa are the largest group in this African country, about 30% (On the first clue of the round, Long added 2,000.)
DD3 - 2,000 - IDIOMS & EXPRESSIONS - To insist on a point until people start to doubt you & it is to do this, spoken by Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet" (Long lost 6,400 on a true DD vs. 14,800 for Andrew.)
Andrew opened a clear lead by doubling on DD1, Long dropped to 0 trying to catch up on DD3, and Roger never really got rolling but managed to keep the game alive into FJ at 10,600 v. 16,400 for Andrew and 2,000 for Long.
Final Jeopardy!
AMERICAN AUTHORS - She wrote the foreword for a 1971 cookbook sponsored by the Jackson Symphony League
Everyone was incorrect on FJ. Andrew had a big enough lead that he was able to hang on, dropping 4,801 to win with 11,599.
Final scores: Roger 0, Long 67, Andrew 11,599.
Judging the writers: Odd writing on DD1, as the "action" is really not the same, but only the second word of the profession the clue wanted, which might by why Andrew only gave the second word before being told to BMS.
That's before their time: No one knew Warren Zevon's "Poor Poor...Me" who deserves commiseration is pitiful.
Correct Qs: DD1 - What is soda jerk? (Andrew's initial response was just "jerk".) DD2 - What is Nigeria? DD3 - What is "protest too much"? FJ - Who was Eudora Welty?
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| Happy Birthday, Yoko Ono (Born 1933), Via Tumblr |
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| 56 Days |
An idiot sandwich! Here's what's on television for tonight, Wednesday, February 18!
Our Top Pick tonight is 56 Days (Amazon Prime Video, 3 a.m.). For anyone who wants to know how streamers are finding their niche, Amazon provides a romance crime thriller that feeds on the young demo's nostalgia with former Disney stars leading. The hot-and-heavy romance between Liv and Maddie's Dove Cameron and Victorious' Avan Jogia ends with one of them... melted? Karla Souza and Dorian Missick will find out which one is dead.
Elsewhere, Star Search finds its star, Parenthood happens under the sea, Ten Pound Poms returns for us Americans, Gordon Ramsay gets docuseries treatment, Shrinking goes to school, and Rental Family once had Oscar buzz.
Here are today's Invitational Tournament contestants:
- Drew Goins, a journalist from Washington, D.C.;
- Karen Farrell, a professional lecturer of international affairs from Chesapeake, Virginia; and
- Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada.
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| The National Bird Of The British Virgin Islands Is The Mourning Dove, Via Birdfy |
Tonight's Top Pick is Will Trent, because we haven't done it in a while, and I'm going through my Giphy files deciding what to keep and what to toss.
Here are today's Invitational Tournament contestants:
- Alison Betts, a creative executive originally from San Jose, California
- Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California; and
- Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York City.
