Jeopardy! category: OPERA CHARACTERS (13-06-2014)
$1600 clue: This court jester arranges to have the Duke of Mantua killed, but his own daughter Gilda switches places & is killed instead
The gist: This clue comes with a late-category curtain call for Mr. Giuseppe Verdi. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: OPERA CHARACTERS (13-06-2014)
$1200 clue: While reading fortunes in a pack of cards, she sees death for herself & her lover Don Jose
The gist: Back in the 19th century, if you’re going to name your opera after a gypsy (the libretto’s word, not mine), she’s going to be reading someone’s fortune. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: OPERA CHARACTERS (13-06-2014)
$800 clue: 14 guardian angels descend a ladder to protect this brother & sister in the woods
The gist: It’s pretty handy to have 14 angels to protect you in the forest after you’ve just been put to sleep by a mysterious figure known as the “Sandman.” Continue reading
Here’s a category that I’ve chosen just because I’m woefully ignorant of it, and any categories on the topic that come up on the shoe are basically a wash as far as I’m concerned. So in the spirit of self-improvement, this week we’ll be taking a close look at the magical, musical world of OPERA CHARACTERS. This was a Double Jeopardy! category that appeared on the June 13, 2014 show, which also happens to have been my birthday, so there’s yet another reason to choose it.
Jeopardy! category: OPERA CHARACTERS (13-06-2014)
$400 clue: This slave girl & her mistress Amneris are both in love with Radames, a captain in the Egyptian Army
The gist: The title character, she was an Ethiopian princess before Radames captured her and gave her to the Pharaoh. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: MAMMALS (29-10-2012)
Clue: Ancient Romans knew this animal featured in their circuses as a hippotigris
The gist: Sorry, no donkey FJ! clues except ones we’ve already talked about, so here’s the next best thing(?). Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY (28-05-2014)
$1000 clue: In 1879 this young Scot documented his adventures in France in “Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes”
The gist: Modestine, the author’s pack donkey, was in many ways the quintessential traveling companion – stubborn, moody, and easily annoyed, but nonetheless helpful and strangely comforting when needed. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY (28-05-2014)
$800 clue: Titania says “thou art as wise as thou art beautiful” to this Shakespeare character recently made an ass
The gist: Even if Titania was being sincere in her admiration of the donkey-headed figure (as she was under the spell of a love potion at the time), being as wise and beautiful as a donkey is traditionally not much of a compliment. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY (28-05-2014)
$600 clue: Not quite Rocinante, the mount used by this character is a brown donkey
The gist: Not Rocinante in stature, no, but not too far off alphabetically – the donkey is just Rucio. Continue reading
Jeopardy! category: PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY (28-05-2014)
$200 clue: This title boy & his pal Lamp-Wick get turned into donkeys; later he “becomes a marionette once more”
The gist: Lured to a land full of toys, turned into a donkey, and then skinned alive by fish to turn him into his original form. Children’s lit at its best. Continue reading
I hope you didn’t find the new posting schedule too jarring (and I’m sure I’m flattering myself in thinking some of you might have), but I really did have a great time with last installment’s category – exoplanets are just really, really cool. This week we’ll be going just about as far from exoplanets as you can, with an entire category devoted to donkeys in fiction. I’m actually a big fan of categories like this one, that take a seemingly random thing and build clues around it. I find they can open up a new way of looking at a topic – you’d probably never have thought about all the donkeys you’ve met in culture until you see a bunch of them thrown at you at once, like we get here.
Jeopardy! category: PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY (28-05-2014)
$200 clue: Clover, a horse in this Orwell book, asks Benjamin the donkey to read her their sixth commandment
The gist: The two horses, Clover and Boxer, are the kind, loyal muscle of the operation, but they’re a bit lacking in brains. Continue reading