Final Jeopardy: U.S. Authors (2-1-18)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (2/1/2018) in the category “U.S. Authors” was:

In his 1958 essay “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose”, he compared a writing technique to a jazz musician’s style.

3x champ Ryan Fenster is up to $67,399 now. In Game 4, he takes on: Justin Earnshaw, from Cheyenne, WY; and Sara Helmers, from Washington, DC.

Round 1 Categories: Talkin’ Football – Literary Terms – “F” Stop – Introduction to Film – Geography 101 – Easy Course Load

Ryan found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Literary Terms” under the $1,000 clue on the 13th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,400, $2,000 more than Sara in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.

3 types of conflict are man against man, man against himself & this title of an anthology with Hemingway & Heyerdahl show

WHAT IS “MAN AGAINST NATURE”?

Ryan finished in the lead with $8,200. Sara was second with $3,000 and Justin was last with $2,600.

Round 2 Categories: Black History Notables – Adjectives – TV Shows in Other Words – Totally Metal, Dude – Civil Law – Stag, You’re It

Sara found the first Daily Double in “Totally Metal, Dude” under the $1,600 clue, with 10 clues to go after it. She was in third place with $9,400 now, $2,800 behind Ryan’s lead. She bet $2,000 and took a shot with a Geiger counter. That was WRONG.

A beam of cesium is a prime component of this extremely accurate device; the first experimental one was built in 1949. show

WHAT IS AN ATOMIC CLOCK?

Ryan found the last Daily Double in “TV Shows in Other Words” under the $1,600 clue. Just the $2,000 clue in the same category was left after it. All the scores changed on a reversal (see below). Ryan still had the lead but with $15,400 now, Justin had $12,200 and Sara had $6,600. Ryan bet $4,000 on the DD but couldn’t come up with a guess so he was WRONG, and lost double what he gained on the reversal.

“Homely Boop.”  show

WHAT IS “UGLY BETTY”?

Justin finished in the lead with $12,200. Ryan was next with $11,400 and Sara was in third place with $6,600.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS JACK KEROUAC?

In “What the Beats can teach us about writing,” David S. Wills says Jack Kerouac “is best known for his ‘spontaneous prose.’ Essentially, this meant writing quickly and almost unconsciously, without any call for editing…. [William S.] Burroughs had a similar concept, although he referred to it as ‘automatic writing’ and believed the words came from space, whereas Kerouac was instead writing from the heart without the interference of the brain.” You can read the essay (more like outline) here. (The video is shorter!)

Old Clue Ref: Before the reveal, Alex Trebek said “Somebody once commented on his best-seller, “that’s not writing, that’s typing.” That was Truman Capote and it’s been a clue 3 times, the last in 2014 (Writers Hatin’ on Writers).

Sara had F. Scott Fitzgerald, who died in 1940. She lost her $6,500 bet, leaving her with $100.

Ryan got it right. His “Keruac” spelling was okay. He bet $11,399, bringing him up to $22,799.

Justin wrote down Russell. He lost $11,000 and ended up with $1,200. Ryan Fenster is now a 4-day champ with $90,198.

Reversal: ADJECTIVES ($2000) If you can’t pay certain fees, a court may declare you this synonym for needy
Justin: destitute; Ryan: penurous (penurious); Sara: impoverished
The judges decided destitute was as good as indigent.
Justin got $4K; Sara and Ryan got back $2K each

A triple stumper from each round:

INTRODUCTION TO FILM ($200) 1962: “Introducing Peter O’Toole”

TV SHOWS IN OTHER WORDS ($400) “3 Pairs of Tootsies Down Below”

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “19th Century Books”

“Instinct,” “Hybridism” & “Geographical Distribution” are chapters in this book.. show

WHAT IS “THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”?

We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.