My wife recently finished it after falling in love with the cover while I was reading it last year, so I got to relive the seance, the trial, and the race to the finish. Loved it!

Almost done with Helen Humpreys's The Evening Chorus, and I'm wishing it was longer. It's her usual poetic, careful writing, and the jumping structure is an exciting change. A pleasant return to form after The Reinvention of Love—the only one of her novels I refused to finish.

I thought of Europe for FJ because of the dense population, then the Rhine because all those wines must come from fertile land. Turns out the Rhine is half as long as the Ganges and flows by half as many cities of over 100,000 people. Danube is much closer to the correct length, but lacks cities.

Hey thanks—we were watching 22 Jump Street last night and I'd forgotten where the original lobster scene was from. Good timing!

The tournament's page on jeopardy.com has a nice POV shot from Alex's podium (someone brought him an apple), showing a paper copy of the clues he reads, some lighting, and an ominous red button.

Especially since researching the previous three Teachers Tournaments tells you that 5-figure finishes are necessary. The lowest wild card scores were $13,600 and $11,601 in the two 2012 tournaments and $16,400 in 2013.

Agreed. This was my highest score of the week, plus I got FJ. I'd be happy to get a game like this if I was ever on the show.

Thanks to my wife for suggesting we watch Michel Gondry's film Mood Indigo last week—I wouldn't have got that Duke Ellington clue without her.

Oh, starting on Monday. Thanks for the warning!

I remember Scott doing the beloved "Hey Chuck, it's your cousin, Marvin Berry!" line, which could appear in the extended version of this clip.

It's been!

Magnum P.I.G.

Great, first I lose my decade-old job today, then I find out I've got to compete with the handsome sevesome for a new job.

I'm on page 250 and feeling the same way about The Martian. I don't find Watney that funny, it keeps repeating important concepts like I'm reading a romance novel and can't keep characters' names straight, and Rich Purnell's Asperger's came across as a parody ("Keep it under your hat." "I don't have a hat." "It's a…

She's so obsessed with boys. No concern over who will be her Meghan, Julie, or Elena.

Insult to injury! Last week my time in the contestant pool expired without a call from Trebek, then there's a contestant doing the CN Tower edge walk. I could have showed up with my edge walk photo and pointed out Toronto sites like Alex's old east-end neighbourhood or his former employer, the CBC:
www.cbc.ca/player/S…

Elliot took a long pause after getting "What is draughts" (despite his awkward pronunciation), which I believe was him waiting for the ran-the-category applause that never came. Maybe you don't get it if a Daily Double is involved, but I enjoyed Alex having to nudge him to pick again.

Two muppets, two Pussy Rioters, and at least two Nobel Prize winners (Kissinger and Krugman). Good crowd!

Looks like he's "street dancer" Lil Buck.

Ballet dancer David Hallberg … I've spent the last hour identifying folks in the crowd.