if only Jimmy Somerville had a more distinctive voice
― calzino, Monday, 14 March 2022 22:33 (two years ago) link
i knew the miyamoto mushashi question because the book always turns up in the amazon search results when i'm looking for the mizoguchi dvd
lots of maths guesses tonight, none of them correct (and some oddness with the buzzer the one time, did i imagine that, someone buzzed but was ignored and didn't get penalised)
titian is always worth a punt. that or velasquez.
― koogs, Monday, 14 March 2022 22:42 (two years ago) link
I wasn't really listening, and in any case only heard from halfway through the jazz music round.
But yeah, later rounds have always been harder than earlier, certainly during the Paxo era
― Mark G, Monday, 14 March 2022 23:31 (two years ago) link
Oh God, we were pitiful on the jazz round; I got Coleman, but we were kicking ourselves on all the others.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 07:46 (two years ago) link
i got dizzy with a half-educated guess but for the others i was just blurting out names
― koogs, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 08:01 (two years ago) link
I managed a "Don't say Duke Ellington, that's not a piano" but that's all.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 12:48 (two years ago) link
I got Thelonious Monk, think I got Ornette but somehow didn't get Yardbird.Did strike me again that early Ornette sounds a lot like a continuation of Bird.Oh yeah got Dizz too.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 13:23 (two years ago) link
I could watch Zeng answer geography questions for hours. What a maniac.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 19:59 (two years ago) link
Got 22 this week, or 21 if you don't count my final answer which was after the gong!
Amen, Georgia, Armenian, Minotaur, tesselation, chromosome, Egypt, Norfolk & Suffolk, non-sequitur, titanium, Boyne, Belfast, Shannon, verdigris, penalty, Paris Texas, Southwark, Lisbon, New York City, William S. Burroughs, accretion, Populus.
― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 20:03 (two years ago) link
18 for me, Midnight cowboy, Armenian, Beatrice, minotaur, cellular automata, tessellation, lamina, chromosome, Norfolk Suffolk, non sequitur, memento mori, verdigris, penalty kick, dashiel hammett, Paris texas, NYC, Burroughs, accretion
― ledge, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 20:15 (two years ago) link
Oh no spoilers
― ledge, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 20:21 (two years ago) link
11 for me this week, same as last week.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 23:49 (two years ago) link
I got Times Square then blanked on The Deuce while saying I watched that through & loved it. Tooth was paining quite badly & I was watching the show a day after i recorded it. THink I did get a few others .
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 20:00 (two years ago) link
King
― Number None, Thursday, 24 March 2022 08:55 (two years ago) link
I've noticed that they've really stepped up the difficulty of the pop music questions + bonuses of late.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Tuesday, 29 March 2022 02:03 (two years ago) link
I got Madonna but only because of the voice, I've never heard it before. Didn't get John Zorn so perhaps my lol at their guess of Eno was somewhat hypocritical.
― ledge, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 08:47 (two years ago) link
They weren't really paying attention to the "New York" portion of that question, I think. They kept throwing out British names, which is normally a good instinct on UC. It was impressive to watch Hutchinson (I think that's his name) pull things out of his memory, and actually bounce ideas off the rest of the team to come up with the right answer. Good captaining.
― trishyb, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 08:52 (two years ago) link
Having thought that the series was getting harder and harder and becoming impossible, I knew ... 12 correct answers last night in the SF !!
One was Buck Mulligan.
Also Madonna: I think I shared in others' feeling of "that sounds like Madonna, but I don't think I know the song, maybe it's the very early Madonna that people associate with a cool NYC".
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 11:22 (two years ago) link
Madonna I got because of the Ciccone Youth cover.
I nearly outguessed myself on the John Zorn question.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 13:01 (two years ago) link
Ah, I had the subtitles on and was in the kitchen when "Burning Up" came on, and yeah got that one no bother.
The music round (for me) easier than usual, didn't get John Zorn but the rest.
Had a lol at "Thompson Twins" for Kid Creole & the coconuts, but hey if you don't know then guess by all means...
Apart from that, yeah Reading in the final then. Average age is uh??
― Mark G, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 14:04 (two years ago) link
38
― conrad, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 14:47 (two years ago) link
Hutchinson is good but he's a hard man to warm to
― Number None, Tuesday, 29 March 2022 19:28 (two years ago) link
There is a bit of “let us pause while I consult the mind palace” about him. Don’t think I’ve heard a correct answer from the non-Hutchinson or Ounsley members of the team. I wonder if he gets a lot of INXS jokes from people who can’t remember Michael Hutchence’s name properly.
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 30 March 2022 03:04 (one year ago) link
I need to check out this John Zorn fellow. Hadn't heard of him!
16 this week for me...Dodie, Indo-European, Przewalski's horse, encephelization quotient, Cassini-Huygens, Voyager 2, Chatsworth, Madonna, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Laurie Anderson, hip, hoatzin, ostrich, Samuel Beckett, deuterium*, votes for women in Kuwait.* answer given & accepted Hydrogen 2, but same thing..
Looking forward to the final.
― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 30 March 2022 21:11 (one year ago) link
I always find the maths questions impossible by the way!
― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 30 March 2022 21:13 (one year ago) link
If you answer 2 to the maths questions usually get them right about 1 in 4 times.
― Dan Worsley, Wednesday, 30 March 2022 21:27 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I go for 0, 1 or 2
― kinder, Wednesday, 30 March 2022 21:42 (one year ago) link
FWIW I agree with Number None and Chuck Tatum about that player. I didn't like him.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 31 March 2022 08:44 (one year ago) link
Player? I suppose the word is Contestant.
I was quite impressed when he retrieved "anderson" to go with "laurie" when he didn't immediately know it but also agree about his "mind palace" vibe
― conrad, Thursday, 31 March 2022 10:24 (one year ago) link
OTOH I like that Hutchinson is undefensively consultative with his team (or with Ounsley at least). I don't like captains that grandstand at their team's expense.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 31 March 2022 11:00 (one year ago) link
I just can't agree with this. His genuine delight when the picture round about absurdist theatre came up was lovely.
― trishyb, Thursday, 31 March 2022 12:32 (one year ago) link
He's quite good value on Twitter as well.
― ailsa, Thursday, 31 March 2022 12:36 (one year ago) link
yay
― a spectre is haunting your mom (Noodle Vague), Monday, 4 April 2022 19:56 (one year ago) link
I wasn't sure who I wanted to win tonight.So good game. Funny last minute developments.But cool .Glad it was so close
― Stevolende, Monday, 4 April 2022 20:05 (one year ago) link
Well, goodbye UC, it was nice knowing you.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/16/jeremy-paxman-step-hosting-university-challenge/
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 10:35 (one year ago) link
Amol Rajan - the ultimate "risen without a trace" bbc presenter of this era. Does anyone actually like the odious cunt other than the management?
― calzino, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 10:41 (one year ago) link
putting aside all the culture war content and dubious "debates" he's made his bones from, his presenting style is unbearable.
― calzino, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 10:51 (one year ago) link
I don't like him, but he's not going to put me off watching it. Not yet, anyway. It'd have to be someone like Michael Portillo or Giles Coren before I would boycott it sight unseen.
― trishyb, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 11:22 (one year ago) link
"Look at his face, just look at his face"
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/07/11/50165641-10174307-image-a-18_1636283276609.jpg
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 11:27 (one year ago) link
one morning on the Today program he went into some false modesty confessional bs about how he sometimes suffers from imposter syndrome but support from his loving partner helped him get through it... yeah whatever. The insidious mumbling mediocrity should feel very bad!
― calzino, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 11:33 (one year ago) link
Just glad it's not Osman tbh
― seo layer (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 13:29 (one year ago) link
I agree with posters above about how bad Rajan is.
I'd like to agree with poster trishyb that it won't put me off, but ... maybe it will. Sad.
It's a contrast, to my mind, with MASTERMIND's appointment of a new presenter: somehow I've always liked Clive Myrie.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 18 August 2022 09:51 (one year ago) link
Surprised Romesh Ranganathan hasn't got the job yet.
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Thursday, 18 August 2022 09:57 (one year ago) link
Or Micah Richards.
― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Thursday, 18 August 2022 09:58 (one year ago) link
Why did editor Amol Rajan suddenly swing his newspaper behind David Cameron two days before the 2015 General Election?A senior political source has claimed to The Mail on Sunday that Mr Rajan – now a rising star at the BBC – had agreed to support the Conservatives if Mr Cameron agreed to attend the birthday party of his proprietor, the Russian businessman Evgeny Lebedev.
A senior political source has claimed to The Mail on Sunday that Mr Rajan – now a rising star at the BBC – had agreed to support the Conservatives if Mr Cameron agreed to attend the birthday party of his proprietor, the Russian businessman Evgeny Lebedev.
he learned early on that being an obsequious establishment creep is far more important than having ethics or actually being any good at your job, so the bbc was the perfect environment for him to prosper.
― calzino, Thursday, 18 August 2022 10:23 (one year ago) link
All else aside, he’s going to have to work on his mumble, which already jars on Today.
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 18 August 2022 11:16 (one year ago) link
maybe he's become so powerful that nobody dares tell him how his mumble is so bad that it would be fair to say he's not suited to the job.
― calzino, Thursday, 18 August 2022 11:29 (one year ago) link
I feel a bit that the presenter of UC should be someone who gives an impression of erudition, even if it's only an impression.
Bamber Gascoigne surely had that. Paxman was perhaps somewhat fraudulent in this regard, not really knowing much about the questions, but something about his reputation and style made up for it, and made him seem apt.
Who else could bring that? Stephen Fry (no thanks), Mary Beard (who genuinely knows enough to write some academic books, though I don't much like her), maybe one of the media-don historian people like Janina Ramirez, or media-don scientist like Hannah Fry - people who actually have PhDs. Mishal Husain, a good interviewer, I think has the poise for this role. Samira Ahmed too, would probably be ideal.
But Amol Rajan, I don't think qualifies.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:39 (one year ago) link
Outside of the questions, the tension -- about whether Paxman is going to make a comment, or make a face, or even give a non-backhanded compliment, which is his version of the "Hollywood Handshake" -- is key to the show. We all want to impress the stonefaced teacher or exact revenge on them. I think Samira Ahmed would've been good at this. Rajan seems like a bit of a blank, which takes a key enjoyment away from the show, even if he conquers the mumble. Also his expression seems to be in permanent "resting smug newspaper columnist" mode.
Counterpoint: it'll be fine.
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 18 August 2022 15:13 (one year ago) link