14 February 2008
Jeopardy!
As some of you know, I've been in Los Angeles, where I was a contestant on Jeopardy!. (The bang ('!') is part of the name.)
It was a blast! I had a great time.
I won't disclose the results, because then you won't have as much motive to watch when the shows we taped this week are aired, week of 21 April. I show up on Wednesday, the 23rd, but I'll probably comment about all of them, since I was there.
Remember what I wrote once about the best dreams being the old dreams? The longer I live, the more I think there's something to that. Not that we're frozen at birth in all our desires and talents, not by any way, shape, or form; but rather that so much of what we would like to express and so many of the directions we'd like to go—the expressions and directions that just flow from within—well, they get stifled, with our own collusion, by the rest of the Universe. But I don't think they ever really go away, so it's fun to find a way to express some of them, even later in our lives.
When I was little, I wanted to be on game shows. Or to be the game show host. This week, I got to be on a game show. It was great! And, for a moment, they even let me stand in for Alex, since I had the moustache!
Addendum: Two other things I should mention.
(1) The Jeopardy! staff members were all great. A real pleasure. And so conscientious. One of the contestants who'll appear earlier in the week than me was in a wheelchair, so they had a director's chair set up for her to play from. The had to put it on a couple of platforms (all of us except the tallest stood on platforms). At the rehearsal, one of the stagehands joined the two platforms with a two-by-four. Between the rehearsal and the tapings, he had added a back rail, so the director's chair couldn't slide off backwards, and painted both the rail and the two-by-four to match the rest. A couple of us were impressed by the attention to detail. That attention permeates the production of the show.
(2) The other contestants were just great. I had a lot of fun shmoozing with them, as well as competing against them. And of course they were smart. I wish I had made better contact with each of them, so in the event any of you at the 12 February tapings are reading this, get in touch!
It was a blast! I had a great time.
I won't disclose the results, because then you won't have as much motive to watch when the shows we taped this week are aired, week of 21 April. I show up on Wednesday, the 23rd, but I'll probably comment about all of them, since I was there.
Remember what I wrote once about the best dreams being the old dreams? The longer I live, the more I think there's something to that. Not that we're frozen at birth in all our desires and talents, not by any way, shape, or form; but rather that so much of what we would like to express and so many of the directions we'd like to go—the expressions and directions that just flow from within—well, they get stifled, with our own collusion, by the rest of the Universe. But I don't think they ever really go away, so it's fun to find a way to express some of them, even later in our lives.
When I was little, I wanted to be on game shows. Or to be the game show host. This week, I got to be on a game show. It was great! And, for a moment, they even let me stand in for Alex, since I had the moustache!
Addendum: Two other things I should mention.
(1) The Jeopardy! staff members were all great. A real pleasure. And so conscientious. One of the contestants who'll appear earlier in the week than me was in a wheelchair, so they had a director's chair set up for her to play from. The had to put it on a couple of platforms (all of us except the tallest stood on platforms). At the rehearsal, one of the stagehands joined the two platforms with a two-by-four. Between the rehearsal and the tapings, he had added a back rail, so the director's chair couldn't slide off backwards, and painted both the rail and the two-by-four to match the rest. A couple of us were impressed by the attention to detail. That attention permeates the production of the show.
(2) The other contestants were just great. I had a lot of fun shmoozing with them, as well as competing against them. And of course they were smart. I wish I had made better contact with each of them, so in the event any of you at the 12 February tapings are reading this, get in touch!
02 February 2008
Read. Me.
Photo by Daryl Labello; background by Barbette Jensen.
Both Patty P. (here's hers) and I had our "Read" posters from the ERAU Hunt Library unveiled the other day.
Labels: erau, hunt, library, read, tim, wilson
