Simple Simon? Not really
I'm only writing this because Tim canvassed my opinion
Simon Curtis scores eight on Mastermind and gets the lowest ever specialist subject round score. The press responds with headlines like Disastermind! Let's look at this more closely, hmm, shall we?
On the face of it the films of Jim Carrey looks like a pretty easy specialist subject round. Some knowledge, like the names of his film directors, his character names and general plot details, come easily to any quizzer. So even I thought I could do fine (perhaps eight or nine points without any prep) just by seeing the subject Simon was taking at the beginning of the programme.
In the end I scored myself and got a disappointing four points. I could, however, see exactly why Simon only got one. I empathised. Obviously what he hadn't counted on was the names of jobs, companies and specific plot details you would not see in film reviews coming up in such a number.
Personally, if I was going to take that subject I would have watched every film of his with a pad close to hand, writing down every place name, in fact, anything and everything that could possibly come up, and turning each fact into a short MM-style question. His filmography is not that long and there are only so many facts that could come up, so it wouldn't be too much of a hard ask (unlike my original idea of doing Hunter S Thompson ... I junked it because he wrote more than 20 books and they can be so very doorstoppy ... oh, and then someone did him on the show anyway; I mean took him as a specialist subject). If you are going to do Mastermind you have to cover every single base. You have to be methodical.
Sadly, Simon seems to have thought he could wing it on existing film fan knowledge, which was a fatal error. His admission that "I like Jim Carrey films but I think the mistake I made was not watching them again" is damning evidence of poor preparation. The mistake? It was the biggest mistake he could possibly make. It was not only watching them again, but noting the details that pass casual viewers by.
You can do it on a more general subject like the Oscars, but not on a popular actor like Carrey. That's because you can't just ask: who directed Carrey in this film? Which character did he play in this film? for every question. It gets very boring. Therefore, the setter will delve into the extraneous detail like the timing of particular transformations in The Mask. The kind of nerdish detail that comes from watching films over and over so many times that you are speaking characters' dialogue before they get the chance to (I'm doing it right now to The Empire Strikes Back in the background: "Impressive ... most impressive".) The kind of astonishing geekery exhibited in the darkest, greasiest corners of cyberspace.
But, I don't think it was an utter disaster. Someone who takes an ultra-narrow subject such as the first two Harry Potter films and then scores two on their GK round comes off as much more of a nitwit. The general knowledge is the best indicator of someone's quiz intelligence and a shellshocked seven is not at all bad. Anyone can screw up on the specialist subjects due to bad choices, even though the press obviously sees the score, reduces to its barenakes statistics and says: what a thicko! Which is not true. Headlines like "Man fails to remember Jim Carrey's job titles and psychiatric institutions in his films", however do not make for good news stories. Emphasising the "worst ever" aspects always does.
Anyway, it was on Jim Carrey, a man who has whored himself on crappy comedies like Liar, Liar and Fun with Dick and Jane instead of devoting himself wholly to interesting, nay transcendental work like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I'm biased, the ending always makes me shed a tear or two, even as David Cross explains how driving while stoned and drunk is fine because they cancel each other out ... yes, I've read the subtitles time and time again ... me sad). So who cares?
(Though I was disappointed by the lack of a Earth Girls Are Easy question).
Simon Curtis scores eight on Mastermind and gets the lowest ever specialist subject round score. The press responds with headlines like Disastermind! Let's look at this more closely, hmm, shall we?
On the face of it the films of Jim Carrey looks like a pretty easy specialist subject round. Some knowledge, like the names of his film directors, his character names and general plot details, come easily to any quizzer. So even I thought I could do fine (perhaps eight or nine points without any prep) just by seeing the subject Simon was taking at the beginning of the programme.
In the end I scored myself and got a disappointing four points. I could, however, see exactly why Simon only got one. I empathised. Obviously what he hadn't counted on was the names of jobs, companies and specific plot details you would not see in film reviews coming up in such a number.
Personally, if I was going to take that subject I would have watched every film of his with a pad close to hand, writing down every place name, in fact, anything and everything that could possibly come up, and turning each fact into a short MM-style question. His filmography is not that long and there are only so many facts that could come up, so it wouldn't be too much of a hard ask (unlike my original idea of doing Hunter S Thompson ... I junked it because he wrote more than 20 books and they can be so very doorstoppy ... oh, and then someone did him on the show anyway; I mean took him as a specialist subject). If you are going to do Mastermind you have to cover every single base. You have to be methodical.
Sadly, Simon seems to have thought he could wing it on existing film fan knowledge, which was a fatal error. His admission that "I like Jim Carrey films but I think the mistake I made was not watching them again" is damning evidence of poor preparation. The mistake? It was the biggest mistake he could possibly make. It was not only watching them again, but noting the details that pass casual viewers by.
You can do it on a more general subject like the Oscars, but not on a popular actor like Carrey. That's because you can't just ask: who directed Carrey in this film? Which character did he play in this film? for every question. It gets very boring. Therefore, the setter will delve into the extraneous detail like the timing of particular transformations in The Mask. The kind of nerdish detail that comes from watching films over and over so many times that you are speaking characters' dialogue before they get the chance to (I'm doing it right now to The Empire Strikes Back in the background: "Impressive ... most impressive".) The kind of astonishing geekery exhibited in the darkest, greasiest corners of cyberspace.
But, I don't think it was an utter disaster. Someone who takes an ultra-narrow subject such as the first two Harry Potter films and then scores two on their GK round comes off as much more of a nitwit. The general knowledge is the best indicator of someone's quiz intelligence and a shellshocked seven is not at all bad. Anyone can screw up on the specialist subjects due to bad choices, even though the press obviously sees the score, reduces to its barenakes statistics and says: what a thicko! Which is not true. Headlines like "Man fails to remember Jim Carrey's job titles and psychiatric institutions in his films", however do not make for good news stories. Emphasising the "worst ever" aspects always does.
Anyway, it was on Jim Carrey, a man who has whored himself on crappy comedies like Liar, Liar and Fun with Dick and Jane instead of devoting himself wholly to interesting, nay transcendental work like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I'm biased, the ending always makes me shed a tear or two, even as David Cross explains how driving while stoned and drunk is fine because they cancel each other out ... yes, I've read the subtitles time and time again ... me sad). So who cares?
(Though I was disappointed by the lack of a Earth Girls Are Easy question).
posted by That Quiz Guy at 4:27 PM
2 Comments:
I find it hard to fathom how a quiz show veteran would "Pass" when asked "What was the mountain in "How the Grich Stole Christmas".
Did he think it was a trick question? I ask because Mount Crumpit was where The Grinch hauled the things he stole in order to "...dump it.".
It isn't clear that The Grich lives on Mount Crumpit.
The story of The Grinch and the cartoon is little known in the UK so I wasn't entirely surprised he passed on that one.
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