University Challenge 23/11/09

[Moloko]

(nor the names of any of his, erm, co-stars -

Floella Benjamin and Jeremy Irons.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Floella Benjamin was in Playaway? I remember her from Playschool. Apparently she was my first love from afar... <This needs some kind of sickly faded heart-shaped smiley. Something really kitsch.

[citoyen]

Guttenplan does it again! He truly is the new Trimble. Mind you, Harris was also brilliant.

The final is going to be a humdinger - St John's have also been consistently excellent throughout the competition and have four equally strong team members.

d.

[Zipperhead]

Floella Benjamin was in Playaway? I remember her from Playschool. Apparently she was my first love from afar... <This needs some kind of sickly faded heart-shaped smiley. Something really kitsch.

I saw Floella last week, before going to Hayseed Dixie I went to another concert where she was the compere. She still looks good.

[her_welshness]

Guttenplan does it again! He truly is the new Trimble. Mind you, Harris was also brilliant.

The final is going to be a humdinger - St John's have also been consistently excellent throughout the competition and have four equally strong team members.

d.

Did not watch it, but Guttenplan like I said before is very very scary - you can see the cogs in the brain moving as fast as a ferret up a drainpipe.

[her_welshness]

Did anyone watch it last night? The Oxford team got well rogered by Guttenplan, they just got pipped to the post too many times. Things that I noticed about the winning team

1) They just let Guttenplan take over at times, and were just content to sip their water.
2) When Guttenplan did not know the answer (which was rare) he was really freaked to say the words 'I don't know'.
3) When he hoisted that trophy in the air, it was the embodiment of GEEK WIN.

[citoyen]

Did anyone watch it last night? The Oxford team got well rogered by Guttenplan, they just got pipped to the post too many times. Things that I noticed about the winning team

Brilliant spectacle but disappointing as a contest.

1) They just let Guttenplan take over at times, and were just content to sip their water.

I'm not so sure. He was nearly always quickest off the mark with the starter questions but Harris in particular contributed a lot with the bonus Qs.

3) When he hoisted that trophy in the air, it was the embodiment of GEEK WIN.

He fair ripped it out of Carol Ann Duffy's hand!

d.

[Nuncio]

Did anyone watch it last night? The Oxford team got well rogered by Guttenplan, they just got pipped to the post too many times. Things that I noticed about the winning team

1) They just let Guttenplan take over at times, and were just content to sip their water.
2) When Guttenplan did not know the answer (which was rare) he was really freaked to say the words 'I don't know'.
3) When he hoisted that trophy in the air, it was the embodiment of GEEK WIN.

Yes - we noticed and commented on all those things.  (Smart) Alex G  rarely consulted with the rest of the team, and even when he did he would sometimes ignore their suggestions and come out with the correct answer.  The rest of the team didn't seem to mind.  And why should they?  Strange to think they lost their first round contest and only went through as high-scoring losers.

[Manotea]

...When he hoisted that trophy in the air, it was the embodiment of GEEK WIN.

As Mrs Manotea said, he was never captain of the football team!

A hidden jewel of trash TV is 'Beauty and the Geek'. Its a slow burn pleasure though, you have to watch the whole series. Real feel good TV as diffident caricatures develop into friendly, self-confident people.

[Nuncio]

Tom B: are you in a position to guarantee that there will be a Great Gatsby related question every show?  It seems to me that's not far short of the average.

Sadly, no such guarantee can be given but I can't think we have that many. The database says there've been 7 starters with the word 'Gatsby' since 1994. One of these was about Fawlty Towers. A few years ago, the producer (jokingly) placed an informal limit of one Q per show on bikes and cycling...

I leave it to you to design a UC bingo card, Nuncio  

A whole Gatsby round last night.  Thanks Tom B (?)

Magdelen look to be strong contenders.

[Nuncio]

And a Gatsby question in last night's final. Thanks Tom B.

Well done to Manchester - an ‘entertaining’ team as Jeremy Paxman might have described them.  It looked as if the toffs of Pembroke, Cambridge were going to overhaul them with 2 or 3 minutes to go but the scumbags saw them off in the end.

[Karla]

Manchester have shown that it's possible to lose to UCL by a margin of 70 points, yet still win the series.  Good on them     

[citoyen]

And a Gatsby question in last night's final. Thanks Tom B.

Well done to Manchester - an ‘entertaining’ team as Jeremy Paxman might have described them.  It looked as if the toffs of Pembroke, Cambridge were going to overhaul them with 2 or 3 minutes to go but the scumbags saw them off in the end.

Any questions to which the answer was "Toxteth O'Grady, USA"?

d.

[Nuncio]

Sadly, no.