To Become a Jeopardy Contestant - I Can Only Dream

It's that time of the year again when I take the online test to try to become a contestant on Jeopardy.  Each applicant is given 50 questions with 15 seconds to answer each one.  There were no Bob Dylan questions but there were a few related to chemistry.  I knew that Cu is the symbol for copper.  I have a masters degree in chemistry, but  even a high school student should know that one.

Anyway there must be thousands who take the test while only a few eventually become contestants.  There is certainly nothing to lose by trying.

The Wolf of Wall Street is the King of the F-Word

I am not writing this as a review of this movie, but as a comment as to the language used in it.  I don't know if I should blame Martin Scorcese, the producer, or Terence Winter the writer of the screenplay for the excessive use of the F-Word in this film.  I do not exaggerate when I say I must have heard F- about 1000 times from almost every character in this movie.  I think this vulgarity has been used so much that it has lost its meaning.  It is OK to use it in a movie, but was it necessary to include in almost almost every dialogue?

Bob Dylan Songs in Other Words from Jeopardy

"Borne Along By Gusts"  

"In The Manner Of A Moving Mineral Aggregate"
   
"Get Prone, Noblewoman, Get Prone"

"Pounding At The Gates Of Paradise"
   
"Honorific Hand Percussion Guy"

Beautiful The Carole King Musical

In recent years many “jukebox musicals” have failed likely because there is either a weak or no story line.  Karen is the Carole King fan in the family and really wanted to see Beautiful The Carole King Musical before a birthday or anniversary came up.  I was pleasantly surprised as it was a biography of Carole King with her songs interspersed throughout.  Perhaps the title is a little misleading since her personal and professional relationships with Gerry Goffin (her husband) and the songwriting team of  Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were detailed during the show.  Believe me this is NOT A JUKEBOX MUSICAL.  The songs and their performances by actors portraying the Drifters, Little Eva and others were integrated into the story line.

I know that many of my oldies enthusiast friends will be reading this.  I highly recommend that you see this show.  I expect that it will be as much of a success as Jersey Boys.

Review of the San Francisco Production in Variety

Does Televsion News Spend Too Much Time Covering Snowstorms and Their "Aftermath"?

The news media must properly advise the public that a snowstorm is coming and that people should prepare for it.  Meterology is not an exact science and it is often difficult to predict exact amounts of snowfall.  It is my experience that TV meteorolgists generally overpredict the amounts of snow.  I think it is better this way than to underestimate a snow event.

The prediction of 6 to 10 inches in NYC and its immediate suburbs today was correct.  It was a significant snowfall, but not the "blizzard of the century."  I do feel that TV news very often unnecessarily spends too much time covering the cleanup which I saracstically describe in the title above as the "aftermath".  Is it necessary for mainstream TV stations like WCBS, WNBC, and WABC to send crews out to different parts of the metropolitan to show how the cleanup is going once the storm has ended?  If a person is interested in extensive coverage they can turn to an all news station such as NY1 or News12.

Today I was annoyed since WABC-TV expanded its 12 noon newscast to one hour as I missed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  At that point the storm was over and they were covering the cleanup in different areas.

Snow Day Today

We got about 6 inches of snow, but it was very cold and windy so NJIT announced last night that the administrative offices which include the library are closed.  Certainly it would not be safe for people to travel by car or even by public transportation to get to work.  There are no classes at the present time anyway.  I'll try to do some reading today.

Random Thoughts on New Year's Day

My holiday vacation ended on an expected high note.  For the first time in a few years there was a complete category on Jeopardy devoted to Bob Dylan.  It was "Dylan Songs in Other Words."  Since Jeopardy is so fast paced it is impossible to write down the answers and questions.  There is a web site called Jeopardy Archive where all shows are documented.  In a few days when today's show is on that site, I'll post everything.  I was pleased that the 3 contestants got all 5 questions.

On this vacation I saw 3 college basketball games:

• St. Johns vs Columbia
• Kansas State vs Tulane
• Hofstra vs NJIT

I saw 3 movies:

• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• American Hustle
• Grudge Match

Visited 1 museum

• Jewish Museum

Went to 2 restaurants

• Ben's Deli in Bayside
• Applebees

There were 259 posts in Bruce's Journal in 2013 down from 292 in 2012.  My most prolific year was 2009 with 428 posts.

It is back to work tomorrow, but there is a forecast for a major snowstorm Thursday night into Friday.  Hopefully there will be enough snow to close NJIT.  There are only a few classes given during the Wintersession, but the library and all administrative offices are open.  I'll have to wait and see.