Comments on: Ken Jennings: Confessions of a Trivial Mind

Ken Jennings: Confessions of a Trivial Mind

Gator — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:20:41 -0800

"So, like many of you, I'm sure, I have this huge styrofoam version of my head sitting in the garage." -- Ken Jennings, former unstoppable Jeopardy! killing machine, blogs. [Who?]

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:27:38 -0800

"Offer void where prohibited by law or your mom." Woah, Ken, pretty quick with the "your mom" jokes there! Pretty sassy for a Mormon!

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:34:25 -0800

That "your mom joke" is like one of those things that sounds dirty but isn't. If you carefully parse it, it doesn't really make any kind of inappropriate sexual or derogatory references to anyone's mom. Bummer.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:39:54 -0800

He should get off his mom. I just did.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:43:12 -0800

I'll take "Another 15 Minutes" for $500, Alex.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:45:33 -0800

Sam Raimi/Peter Buck separated-at-birth jokes ..... Ken Jennings lying in a hammock reading mental floss ..... a long and pointless post about an appeals court case involving quiz books ..... I think I feel a migraine coming on.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:47:32 -0800

Haha blucevalo, I felt the same way but then read your post and thought "ooh I missed the appeal court case" and went back to the blog.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:49:33 -0800

Interestingly (to me), Jennings was the top rookie entrant in this year's American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (last year's tournament was the subject of the just-released documentary Wordplay). The overall winner last year and this year was a 21-year-old kid who I'm willing to bet could have schooled Jennings on Jeopardy.

By: sohcahtoa

sohcahtoa — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:55:11 -0800

Is he saying many of us have a styrofoam Ken, or a styrofoam copy of our own head? The movers lost mine.

By: Atreides

Atreides — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:58:56 -0800

I wouldn't be so quick to compare crossword puzzles to Jeopardy. One aspect of crossword puzzle solving is simply having solved a lot of crossword puzzles. A lot of the same answers will pop up and the solver learns how to think appropiately as well. Jeopardy is just general knowledge, period. (Not that it stresses the brain often.)

By: empath

empath — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 09:59:12 -0800

He's making a living doing what he loves. I can't begrudge him that. I'd love to be a professional know-it-all.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:00:32 -0800

I actually found the whole site pretty engaging. The guy has a sense of humour, is self-deprecating and writes reasonably well. If you're not interested in trivia stuff at all, well, probably not interesting, but otherwise, pretty cool.

By: dances_with_sneetches

dances_with_sneetches — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:12:41 -0800

I agree jacquily. I wish I could have 3 million to start my blog about nothing.

By: Megafly

Megafly — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:16:04 -0800

I do love his column in "Mental Floss" I keep trying to come up with a good one to send to him. I figure it's harder to link 2 things in 6 jumps if they start out close together and I've been working on it for months.

By: LooseFilter

LooseFilter — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:19:55 -0800

I clicked on the link thinking "really? how could this possibly be worth the FPP?", and found it pretty funny and engaging. But then, I'm a fan of obscure, pop-culture-y, intellectual-nerd humor. And he's genuinely witty, IMO.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:23:45 -0800

"You think you're pretty smart, don't you, Trebek? What with your Drago mustache and your greasy hair!"

By: frecklefaerie

frecklefaerie — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:27:45 -0800

He might not be keeping the blog for fame's sake... Though I don't think I ever played him, I was involved in the college quizbowl circuit and I recognize a lot of the names from the suggestion page. I think he keeps this blog because he has friends and fans.

By: frecklefaerie

frecklefaerie — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:39:07 -0800

Also, it was a really big deal in the QB community that "one of our own" did well on Jeopardy, because, as this wapo article states, quizbowlers do notoriously bad at Jeopardy.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:42:52 -0800

He always seemed like a fun guy on Jeopardy!, thanks for the link, Gator. ninjew: That's 'dago moustache'.

By: macmac

macmac — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:52:55 -0800

Also, it was a really big deal in the QB community that "one of our own" did well on Jeopardy, because, as this wapo article states, quizbowlers do notoriously bad at Jeopardy. You know, that's funny, because in one of his blog posts, he points out that most of the big winners on game shows were quiz bowl vets.

By: macmac

macmac — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:53:48 -0800

On post-view, I use too many commas in my writing. ,.

By: I Foody

I Foody — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 12:37:46 -0800

Look at the picture of Ken Jennings reading "mental floss" pay attention to the thumb on the cover of the magazine. I swear I did a double take thinking that that thumb was Ken Jenning's cock sticking out.

By: frecklefaerie

frecklefaerie — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 13:52:31 -0800

macmac: hmm, looking over that list I see the absence of quite a few J! losers I personally know. That list seems dominated by folks who were proud of how they did.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:57:29 -0800

I was amused by this sentence on his 'about' page: "ESPN: The Magazine called him "smarmy (and) punchable," with "the personality of a hall monitor," thus continuing America's long national struggle between jocks and nerds." Come on. That's pretty funny.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:00:44 -0800

I laughed at much of his site, pleasantly. He's not just smart, but he's genuinely witty. I can't understand why he's a Mormon.

By: Symeon

Symeon — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:58:58 -0800

Ken was regularly posting on the Television Without Pity forums during his run on Jeopardy. All in all, he seemed like a standup guy.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 17:43:47 -0800

No comments on his "blog" = no blog. IMNSHO. Yeah, I'm a snob, whataboutit?

By: Frank Grimes

Frank Grimes — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:03:15 -0800

I Foody, his thumb has put more points on the board than his cock. (sorry, Ken, congrats on being so smart)

By: hob

hob — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:32:32 -0800

I've got a syrofoam bust of Nefertiti, but with an extra set of eyes. Does that count?

By: Dreama

Dreama — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:03:35 -0800

Eh, he's still got the wee beady eyes. He makes me twitch. (No, this is not just because I lost on Jeopardy. Really. I swear.)

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:39:44 -0800

I liked his blog. Thought it was funny and engaging. Will be reading it again soon. One time I folllowed a long and rambling circuit of Ken Jennings links which led me to a Trebek/Jennings pornographic fanfic on Livejournal. I am convinced that you can find slash featuring everyone who ever lived on Livejournal if you just look hard enough.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:55:10 -0800

Is he saying many of us have a styrofoam Ken, or a styrofoam copy of our own head? Now, through the magic of eBay, we really could have a styrofoam Ken.

By: danb

danb — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:07:59 -0800

He's a funny guy, and it's an interesting blog. I just wish that he would tone down a) pimping his book, and b) the proselytizing. Just a bit, you know? Then it'd be great. As it is, it has a bad aftertaste because it feels somewhat insincere.