Those of my friends that have spent enough time with me know that my life is driven by the pursuit of two passions. One is pretty well known, but the other one, although not spoken of often, is my true white whale. I want to be a Jeopardy contestant! My whole life it seems that my dream has remained just beyond my outstretched hands, a broken buzzer-click away:

As many of you now know I failed in my Jeopardy contestant test today. It’s okay though cause I felt quite good about the number I got right. Failure is good. Throughout your life you may need to fail at something several times before you get that internal push you need to succeed. The enemy (The Jeopardy exam) has now drawn first blood on me and I will thrive with such a debilitating condition. I shall stalk my enemy relentlessly now. I shall read Encyclopedias for fun. I shall go to the library and become intimate with 19th century American Novels. I shall formulate “Before and After” phrases such as Linda Blair Witch and Stevie Wonder Bread. I shall post the “Ten Rules of Taking the Jeopardy Test” that the “Jeopardy Clue Crew” gave to us before the exam. I shall overcome (cue Rocky music). [Link]

I’m still bitter from that defeat nearly three years ago. I turned increasingly to alcohol and blogs after my failure, hoping that they could fill the void within my soul. I probably got like 38 out of 50 questions right on the exam…but I will never know for sure. They don’t tell you how many you got wrong, nor do they tell you how many you needed to answer correctly. That cruelest of cabals, euphemistically known as “The Jeopardy Clue Crew,” holds all the power. The path to Trebek is long and difficult. The jerk next to me who passed the test advised me to read an almanac. I wanted to say, “do I look like a farmer?” I didn’t though because I knew he spoke the truth. Once upon a time I did read an almanac for leisure, but adulthood had falsely convinced me that such a thing was uncool. Tonight a young Jedi will try to accomplish what I never could. Papa Chakravarthy has made the Jeopardy Teen Finals:

A true playa

Paul Laurence Dunbar High School [Kentucky] student Papa Chakravarthy, 14, is one of 15 students competing on the Jeopardy Teen Tournament, which runs tonight through Feb. 17.

Papa’s first appearance on the game show will be Thursday, said Jeopardy spokeswoman Sara Kaplan. If he wins that round, he will continue in the tournament.

Each player is guaranteed winnings of at least $5,000, and the overall winner is guaranteed $75,000. [Link]

In the pre-game interview last night (a semi-finals match that he went on to win) the 14 year old spoke of his neurosurgeon aspirations. Jerk. I squealed like a little girl when he missed a Daily Double, the answer to which was “New Delhi.” Even Trebek chided him for letting down his people for that one. So what if I also guessed “Phnom Phen?” This isn’t about me.

I turn 30 in two weeks. I may already be past my prime. I can no longer remember the finer details of the Spanish Civil War, nor all the works of Tennessee Williams. Still, I plan on giving it one more shot, with almanac in hand. Clue Crew, from hell’s dark heart I shall stab at thee.

To watch an interview with Papa click on the picture at the right and then the link under his profile.

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Growing up in what was initially a one-TV household, I was often forced to watch what my mom and sister were watching. From the 3-4 slot, this usually meant a heavy dose of Luke and Laura, Edward and Lila, Frisco and Felicia, and Tony and Bobby. For those of you that I know what I am talking about, we were General Hospital addicts. I hate to admit it, but I knew I had a problem when I started referring to it as GH, and would have conversations, that to anyone not familiar with the soap, would seem like jibber-jabber. I finally kicked my soap habit my sophomore year after studying abroad and now of course, work thankfully gets in the way. But when tipster Noelle (and all the other SM tipsters) informed us awhile back that television’s newest soap opera Passions was going Bollywood, I thought why couldn’t GH do that? Anyway, we over here at SM headquarters apologize for not mentioning this earlier, but most of the mutineers aren’t usually home to watch the show during the day, and for that reason we also wanted to wait for a video clip of the Bollywood item to be available before posting. So, now that the clip is available, you can find the video here. More information on the shoot, the clothes, the song, the choreography, and the video is available here. (The video only opens up in MS Explorer.) From what I gather from my five minute perusal of the show clips, the Bollywood triangle involves three characters: Ethan, Gwen, and Theresa. Gwen is scared of Theresa’s attempts to lure Ethan away from her, and convinces Ethan to travel with her to India so they could renew their vows. This is where the dance number begins and then turns into full on Bollywood melodrama. Featuring an ensemble cast of desi background dancers, Gwen and Ethan’s impending infinite bliss, and romp around the tree of life (I have no idea what that is about) is interrupted by the appearence of temptress Theresa in a ‘minimalist’ version of a sari and a black veil.

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Keep an eye out for Rani Karnik, a NYC lawyer auditioning for the new season of American Idol who saves some money by reusing her Halloween costume:

In law school, she was president of an org which bears the best name ever:

I’m a lawyer by day, actor by night. [Link]

My Extracurricular Activities at Penn Law: President, South Asian Law Students Association (“SALSA”)… Prior Education: 2000, B.A. in English… Columbia University… [Link]

She also does voiceover work, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the photo, in which she’s apparently advertising an ottoman. She’s a disciple of Vanna White’s Path of the Open Hand, horizontal variation.

Related post: American Idol bhangra remix, South Asian crooners belt it out on ‘Idol’, Devika Mathur — one Righteous sister, Can an American Idol save a Bombay dream

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