Ken Jennings

[yendi]

Ken Jennings has a blog and a quite nifty website to go with it (to be fair, he had one back when Jeopardy was on, listing his favorite films of all time, but this is a much more developed site). The site's as much fun to read as Ken's postings on the Jeopardy Message Boards were, largely because of comments like this one in the FAQ:

Q. You know, they're not podiums. They're lecterns. A speaker stands on a podium and behind a lectern.
A. Shut up.

And, of course, when someone on the message board section called him out for dissing Wyoming, his response is: Just doing my best to alienate my readership one state at a time. You're next, North Dakota.

Plus, the guy name-drops Aquaman, Ocean Master, and Black Manta in his first post.

Oh, and of course he's got a book about trivia coming out. His writing style is more than engaging enough to convince me that the book will be worth reading, too.

Comments

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

kjennings_blog, FWIW.

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's just precious.

Working from home and being my own boss has been pretty great, so I don't know if I'll ever go back to the tech industry full-time. That's really the only major purchase I've earmarked from the Jeopardy! millions: more time with my family. This FAQ answer has been a message from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: the Mormons!

Also? Trent Lott wanting me to blurb his memoirs. (”So good you’ll finally get over Strom losing in ‘48!” –Ken Jennings.”) No, sorry.

Fun!

[alexmegami]

Is it me, or does he really look like Alby from Big Love in this photo?

It's kind of creepy.

That said, this is awesome.

The Man doesn't want you writing your name backwards or in Cyrillic on the Jeopardy! podium. That's how he keeps you down.

despite evidence to the contrary in Napoleon Dynamite...

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Mormons are actually funny! :)

[tinhuviel.livejournal.com]

When Ken Jennings compared himself to Hermie, the Elf who wanted to be a dentist, I was instantly enamoured. This is a blog to roll about in for long periods of time. Thanks!

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised some yoyo hasn't referred to him as "Charles Van Mormon" yet.

[yendi]

Don't forget to read the forums. The guidelines post, for example, quotes The Simpsons: Staring at my sandals? That's a paddlin'. Paddlin' the school canoe? Ooo, you better believe that's a paddlin'.

[yendi]

I believe you now get to call yourself "yoyo." :-)

Re: despite evidence to the contrary in Napoleon Dynamite...

[yendi]

I'd say that Neil LaBute and Don Bluth proved that years ago.

ND simply proved that they could also be incredibly annoying.

[yendi]

It's quotes like that that make just randomly exploring the site a joy.

Fortunately, he's a hell of a lot more erudite than Alby.

[yendi]

The Lott line had me cracking up when I first encountered it (and we've been fans of his Mental Floss column for a while).

[yendi]

Danke! Although there's a lot of good stuff on the forums, too.

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

I subscribed to mental_floss (man, that formatting IS a bastard) when it first came out, but I didn't renew. I read fast and becasue of its sort of fluffy layout, I wasn't spending any real time with it. At least not enough to justify the continued expense. I still flip through it at the bookstore though and his column is delightful.

[trouvera.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the local PBS runs Jim Leherer at the same time as Jeopardy, so I don't see the latter that often, and missed most of the Ken Jennings phenomenon. I did however stop there one evening and I'm so glad I did, as I caught a wonderful wrong answer from KJ. I don't remember the category, but the 'answer' was "A garden tool and a invenerate seeker of pleasure".

Ken buzzed in and answered without missing a beat "What is a hoe?"

Trebek's face was priceless, there was a beat pause and then AT says no. No one else answers, and then AT in a disbelieving voice says "A rake, Ken, a rake." cut to commercial.

[mistercrabby.livejournal.com]

But we can never forget that kellinator got her Final Jeopardy! answer right and he got it wrong.