Thursday, April 20, 2017 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[davey]

For this FJ, I think it should have been reversed, i.e., they give you MM as the second highest paid actress for the year and ask for the highest paid.

Now that's really YEKIOYD, without even the alliteration hint....

[mcsheffrey]

Wow, I was surprised that FJ was a triple stumper and absolutely shocked that so many boardies here had trouble with it. This was quasi-instaget for me (I initially thought "Megan McCarthy" before correcting her first name).

As the TDs keep demonstrating, I have a very poor ability to estimate what other people know.

[davey]

Coryat: $30,800
42 R/2 W
DD: 2/3
FJ:
LT: "Dog Days Are Over"; "Good Riddance"; Star Trek

Another Amy Adams here, and another "would have rejected Melissa McCarthy even if I had thought of her." Frankly, it's amazing that a heavy-set, 46-year-old comic actress who just 10 years ago was a sidekick on a quirky dramedy is today the second-highest-paid woman in Hollywood.

That's the beauty of the movies - talent comes in all shapes and sizes and ages. One year's hot actress could be Cate Blanchett - or Jessica Tandy - or Cher.

The relation between talent and salary is not so straightforward. I doubt Jessica Tandy was top earner the year of Driving Miss Daisy.

[MarkBarrett]

For this FJ, I think it should have been reversed, i.e., they give you MM as the second highest paid actress for the year and ask for the highest paid.

Now that's really YEKIOYD, without even the alliteration hint....

I would have had JLaw instantly on the the reverse with no hint needed and as long as others are still reading this thread watch how many join me. It can be funny how some clues work one way and are killers a different way.

mcsheffrey: So, you're the one. WTG. It appears you won't have a lot of company in the weekly poll for checking the Thursday box.

[opusthepenguin]

Bible is in my wheelhouse but that bottom clue was YEKIOYD (Paul's letter to Romans).

Agreed. There's trivia and then there's the trivial. Happening to know where Paul says hi to a guy named Tertius is trivial.

[opusthepenguin]

Yesinia pestis is the plague bacillus, **SHOCK***@ ACC: bacterium, waiting for the BMS! Come on, already!

I guessed flea. Pestis seemed like a good species name for a flea.

Mrs the Penguin and I thought the same thing.

[Elijah Baley]

For this FJ, I think it should have been reversed, i.e., they give you MM as the second highest paid actress for the year and ask for the highest paid.

Now that's really YEKIOYD, without even the alliteration hint....

Well, I didn't mean that they couldn't dress up the clue with a least one hint (like, "this actress must have felt joyful at being the highest paid actress of 2016") - just that JLaw might have been more of what people think about in terms of a movie actress.

[opusthepenguin]

That Bible category was really tough. DD was at best a coinflip on Ruth/Esther, because who's to say they don't throw in Judith or one of the other female-titled apocrypha?

TPTB are to say. They don't refer to books from the Apocrypha as Bible books. So that leaves you with Ruth and Esther, the only two books named after females. If that's all you know, the clue was indeed a coin flip. But it's possible to know more. For example, you could know that the book of Ruth ends by tracing the lineage from her to David. You could know, as Kenny pointed out, that Ruth is included in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, upstream from David. You could know that the book of Esther takes place in a time after the Babylonian exile and hence long after David's kingship. For a clue in the $600 slot, that's not so much to ask. Especially since it was a DD and thus offered extra time to process the clue and sift through one's repository of knowledge on the subject.

[davey]

For this FJ, I think it should have been reversed, i.e., they give you MM as the second highest paid actress for the year and ask for the highest paid.

Now that's really YEKIOYD, without even the alliteration hint....

Well, I didn't mean that they couldn't dress up the clue with a least one hint (like, "this actress must have felt joyful at being the highest paid actress of 2016") - just that JLaw might have been more of what people think about in terms of a movie actress.

Hey, what happened to the beauty of the movies?... I'm starting to think that the writer who came up with this clue may have had a polemical purpose...
Anyway, I concede Mark Barrett's and your point, as I take it, that a Lawrence guess is more intuitive. But since The Hunger Games is over and Joy wasn't exactly a blockbuster, I might have assumed she'd been surpassed. (If her name had occurred to me at all, which I doubt.)

[hbomb1947]

For this FJ, I think it should have been reversed, i.e., they give you MM as the second highest paid actress for the year and ask for the highest paid.

Now that's really YEKIOYD, without even the alliteration hint....

I would have had JLaw instantly on the the reverse with no hint needed and as long as others are still reading this thread watch how many join me. It can be funny how some clues work one way and are killers a different way.

I've definitely seen multiple reports mentioning JLaw as the highest-earning actress. I agree that the reverse of last night's FJ clue would have played much easier.

[Spaceman Spiff]

No clue on FJ. Went with Amy Adams.
Surprised that MBarrett didn't catch the hint. In the game Alex made the comment "whatcha gonna do", I guess that is the hint for Ghostbusters remake. If you get this far, you will probably get the right answer.

Maybe it's because most of us are trying to forget the GB remake. They'd have better luck resurrecting the Ghost Busters that Filmation did (with Tracy the Gorilla).

And I, too, bit on Amy Adams.

[opusthepenguin]

No clue on FJ. Went with Amy Adams.

And I, too, bit on Amy Adams.

Same. I assume this will be a poll question. What's the over/under on how many percentage points higher she'll be than the correct response? I'd have gone with Adams even if McCarthy had occurred to me. Heck, if I'd thought of McCarthy first, I'd have crossed out her name at the 25-second mark and scribbled in A. Adams.

[econgator]

What's the over/under on how many percentage points higher she'll be than the correct response?

I'd put the over/under at about 65.

[MarkBarrett]

I quickly looked through the posts and counted:

Amy Adams: 13
Melissa McCarthy: 1 mcsheffrey (not including DBear getting it at 27 seconds)
Other guesses: 7 (Sarandon x 2, Cuoco, Lohan, Stone, Gadot, Bardot
No Guess: 12

It would seem we're looking at the rare single digits overall for MM with AA and no guess running neck and neck.

[badgerfellow]

Another Amy Adams here, and another "would have rejected Melissa McCarthy even if I had thought of her." Frankly, it's amazing that a heavy-set, 46-year-old comic actress who just 10 years ago was a sidekick on a quirky dramedy is today the second-highest-paid woman in Hollywood.

Agreed, although it's a very similar career arc to, say, Steve Carell. A guy who by his early 40s was little more than one of the Daily Show correspondents. And not even the funniest and most memorable one. And then suddenly became among the most highly-paid actors in the world. (One link claims he is THE highest paid actor in 2017)

Jury is out on who is more one-dimensional and overrated between Carell and McCarthy. I'll take Rob Corddry and Jenny McCarthy on Singled Out over either one.

If you haven't seen it, you should check out Foxcatcher then and tell me what you think of Carell in that movie. Far departure from his normal there. Little Miss Sunshine was pre Office, but also a much different role than most that Carell portrays.

I like Steve Carell, and I thought his performance in Foxcatcher was terrible in a pretty bad movie. His Oscar nomination was for the prosthetic nose...

Without going too far off topic on the game, agreed it wasn't a great movie (disappointed it wasn't better; USA Wrestling nearly died because of this incident), but I didn't think Carell was awful; just pointing out his role was different compared to his comedies. Oscar nomination worthy? Eh, borderline. He was better in The Big Short, imho.

[TenPoundHammer]

I've worked at a church for 12 years and I don't think we've ever read Ruth or Esther. Or Haggai. Or Malachi. Or any of those weird obscure books in the Bible that no one reads

[Volante]

Anyway, I concede Mark Barrett's and your point, as I take it, that a Lawrence guess is more intuitive. But since The Hunger Games is over and Joy wasn't exactly a blockbuster, I might have assumed she'd been surpassed. (If her name had occurred to me at all, which I doubt.)

We could change the hint from joyful to something 'blue' related... "Blue on screen, but real life in the green, she was the highest paid actress in 2016." I mean, not that, that one's awful (and not just for being too obvious) but you can see where I'm going with this.

Spoiler

Hint: Mystique

[hbomb1947]

I quickly looked through the posts and counted:

Amy Adams: 13
Melissa McCarthy: 1 mcsheffrey (not including DBear getting it at 27 seconds)
Other guesses: 7 (Sarandon x 2, Cuoco, Lohan, Stone, Gadot, Bardot
No Guess: 12

It would seem we're looking at the rare single digits overall for MM with AA and no guess running neck and neck.

Maybe even low single digits. Other than the infamous "flight simulator" clue, what have been the lowest-polling FJ's?

[Anachronism]

Came up with Cuoco at about 25 seconds. If I had thought of McCarthy, I would have gone with her. If I had then thought of Adams, I would have gone with her instead of McCarthy. I guess all those comedies add up.

The whole Forbes/pop culture thing never feels quite natural. But nothing about Hollywood is natural. Might as well go by salary in an industry that has a new award show seemingly every day of the year. I'm not certain actors and musicians do anything in their spare time other than dress up and congratulate themselves.

The only thing worse than Forbes money lists are Rolling Stone "best song of..." lists. There's no way to answer these questions without accepting these lists as some sort of authority. Thankfully, the J! writers don't seem to subscribe to Rolling Stone.

I'd definitely lean away from pop culture if I had a choice. Stopped playing Sporcle live when they started emphasizing it. But it grabs a younger crowd, and I'm sure the J! people are aware their core audience isn't getting any younger.

[seaborgium]

That Bible category was really tough. DD was at best a coinflip on Ruth/Esther, because who's to say they don't throw in Judith or one of the other female-titled apocrypha?

TPTB are to say. They don't refer to books from the Apocrypha as Bible books. So that leaves you with Ruth and Esther, the only two books named after females. If that's all you know, the clue was indeed a coin flip. But it's possible to know more. For example, you could know that the book of Ruth ends by tracing the lineage from her to David. You could know, as Kenny pointed out, that Ruth is included in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, upstream from David. You could know that the book of Esther takes place in a time after the Babylonian exile and hence long after David's kingship. For a clue in the $600 slot, that's not so much to ask. Especially since it was a DD and thus offered extra time to process the clue and sift through one's repository of knowledge on the subject.

I have the books of the Bible memorized in order, and after immediately narrowing it down to Ruth and Esther, I assumed the earlier, Ruth, would probably be it. Since the clue says the book's namesake was a forebear of David, I figured he would be showing up in the subsequent books, and thought about what followed Ruth in order to make sure I was pointed in the right direction. After coming up with the books of Samuel and the books of Kings, I had no question in my mind that she was the correct response.