Pick ’em

1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?

Depends on the movie. I found the black and white for Schindler’s List to be very affecting. Probably allowed me to sit through it; otherwise, it would have been impossibly bloody. I liked Good Night, and Good Luck.

2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?

Doing my taxes. MEGO.

3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?

Favorite is vinyl, but on a practical sense, CDs. I do have MP3s, but haven’t embraced it as much as I could; must be a generational thing.

4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going … Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?

And do what? What would be the point? No.

5: Seriously, what do you consider the world’s most pressing issue now?

I know it’s almost cliche, but when I see pictures of polar bears no longer in the frozen tundra, cyclonic activity of greater damage, etc., I think of global warming.

6: How would you rectify the world’s most pressing issue?

If I were king, mass transit for a start. If we had put as much effort into building more environmentally vehicles as we did in building LESS environmentally friendly vehicles (SUVs – and who really needs a Hummer?), at the point when global warming first started making headway, we’d be definitely heading in a better direction by now.

7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?

Just one?
A friend was ill, and I didn’t realize how ill. I should have gone to visit.

8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?

Not sure that I would. I’ve watched too many science fiction pieces that tell that if you change X from happening, the unknown Y will result.

9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole’ Opry –Which do you choose?

I’m eclectic; I can go either way, though neither is my favorite.

10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you’d like to solve?

Who shot JFK? Oh, that’s been solved.

11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?

Garrison Keillor – I saw him speak in Albany a couple years ago. Lasagna – I like lasagna.

12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky — what’s the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?

There’s an old Temptations song called “You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here On Earth”. What I do, or don’t do with my life is not fear of a hell in the afterlife. I suppose at some level it may be, in some small part, a fear of hell on earth. Or to put it another way, bad karma’ll come and bite me in the butt.
***
Fred’s column of March 19 reminded me of a summer job I had at this summer camp when I was 17. Primarily, my job was to mow the lawn – there was a LOT of lawn to mow. Occasionally, however, I was given other tasks. I emptied the mouse traps in a few of the cabins, e.g.

One day, I was dispatched to fix someone’s television. In case I hadn’t mentioned it, I’m not all what one would call “handy”. Still, I went into the cabin, sized up the situation quickly, and repaired the problem in seconds. Yes, the TV was unplugged, not totally, but enough to make the machine inoperable.

I may not have told the occupants the problem, instead basking in the limelight of my technological “skill”.
***
Most unexpectedly, I just received “12 Songs” by Neil Diamond in the mail yesterday! Thanks! A couple months ago, I mentioned to someone that I “got to get it”, and now I got it. No, I didn’t have it before. Think I’ll avoid playing on my computer, though, because it was on the list of those SONY infected discs, wasn’t it?
***
An e-mail I received yesterday:

Dear Jeopardy! Fan –

This is the event you’ve been waiting for – you can take the Jeopardy! contestant test online!
That’s right, you can now take the Jeopardy! test from the comfort of your own computer.
Online testing will take place at JEOPARDY.com at the following dates and times*:
For those of you in the Eastern Time Zone: Tuesday, March 28th at 8:00 PM Eastern Time
For those of you in the Central and Mountain Time Zones: Wednesday, March 29th at 8:00 PM Central/ 7:00 PM Mountain Times
For those of you in the Pacific Time Zones (including Hawaii and Alaska): Thursday, March 30th at 8:00 PM Pacific Time
You must register in advance to take the test. Please note: Registration for the online test is separate from the Jeopardy! Newsletter or Contestant registration.
Registration closes on Thursday, March 30th at 7:45 PM PACIFIC TIME.
CLICK HERE to REGISTER NOW!
Passing this online test does not make you eligible to appear on JEOPARDY! or guarantee you a spot as a JEOPARDY! contestant. This is a preliminary screening only.
Eligibility Requirements:
You must be 18 or older participate.
*You may only take the online test once.
Duplicate entries could result in disqualification.
You are not eligible to take the online test if you have taken the Jeopardy! 50-question test since March 27th, 2005.
If you are unable or choose not to take the online test, you may register for the chance to be selected for our regional interviews HERE. Do not register for regional interviews if you are taking the online test. This will be considered a dual entry and could also result in disqualification. For a complete description of the audition process, eligibility requirements, and rules go to http://www.jeopardy.com/onlinetest/flash_index.php
Good Luck!
The Jeopardy! Contestant Team