A reminder to go and support Letters and Numbers at http://lanfans.org/ if you have not already done so, and to also follow the other suggestions there to promote the show. It's gathering momentum, but still needs a lot of help to spread the word.
Rounds: Here.
So, onto the first semifinal, where Toby Baldwin takes on Matthew Thomason. Both contestants defeated series champions in order to make it this far, with Toby pulling off the upset of the series when he played very well to beat the formidable Andrew Fisher in the first quarterfinal. Matthew faced Tony Loui in his quarterfinal -- a rematch of the series two grand final -- and prevailed in mirror fashion to Tony's earlier win in that grand final.
The match started with a surprisingly difficult letters round, and Matthew did well to take an early lead there. He extended it in the second round when Toby fell victim to a phantom letter, but thereafter the contestants kept pace with each other for a while. Toby gained back some crucial ground in the second numbers game to get within range, and with the remaining main rounds shared the game was alive at the conundrum. Matthew solved it very quickly once again to ensure his place in the grand final with a 63 to 47 victory.
I had a poor start to the game, and I was not quite able to recover from it. I picked up enough to be just a little ahead of Matthew going into the conundrum, but for the third game in a row I was just beaten to the solution, pausing as the contestant's buzzer sounded. That's my second loss of the Masters Series, and the games are only getting tougher at this point.
Showing posts with label Toby Baldwin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toby Baldwin. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Ep 444 [M1] [QF1]: Andrew Fisher, Toby Baldwin (June 19, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Finally we are back to new episodes, and more specifically the inaugural Masters series. While it has been nice to get a reminder of contestants from previous series, I felt the repeats really began to wear towards the end; maybe next time (I'm certainly hoping that there is a next time!) they can just air the Masters Series immediately at the end of the regular series. I think that will work out better overall, to be honest.
A note about numbering: The website is calling this episode 444, and that is fair enough, I guess. But it is going to mess up the convenient ordering of episodes into groups of a hundred, so I wish they had applied a different numbering to it. I was tempted to invent my own numbering, but that would lead to confusion later down the track; maybe they will come up with some new numbering of their own and I can adjust these accordingly.
Anyway! New episodes! Finalists from each series so far! Are you excited? I am!
There's no real sense of the seedings, so I'll take the games as they come. The first contestant in the champion's seat is Andrew Fisher, the series champion from series 1; Richard notes that Andrew's debut score of 95 is still the single-game record. It is mentioned that Andrew came second in the 2011 World Scrabble Championships, confirming his outstanding ability with the letters.
Rather surprisingly, the challenger's position is occupied by Toby Baldwin, one of the semifinalists from series 4. It seems that Alan Nash -- the runner-up from that series -- was not able to make it, so Toby was called in as the next in line. (Well, that's a guess on my part; maybe they also asked Daniel Chua, the other semifinalist.) So it looks like I just needed eight people to be unable to make it, and I could have been asked. *chuckles*
Andrew is hot stuff with the letters, and I strongly expect him to pick up a good many points over Toby on those. I'm including the conundrum in that, of course -- Andrew usually solves it within a couple of seconds. The numbers could go a bit each way -- it really depends how they fall. Toby has the advantage of choosing the numbers twice, and he'll need to exercise that option well in order to win. Andrew is definitely vulnerable on the numbers, although he gets close quite often; Toby should be better overall on them, but has had his problems there -- during his main run of six episodes he had five invalid numbers solutions, and another round where he did not get within scoring range. If he repeats that kind of performance tonight then he will really struggle.
Indeed, the episode mostly went as expected: Andrew picked up points in the first two letters rounds, but then Toby shortened the gap to five in the first numbers round. A split letters round followed, and then Andrew pulled away once more, only for Toby to close up in the ensuing numbers round. Another split letters round followed -- Andrew clearly had a riskier play that he avoided, and quite reasonably so -- and once again Toby took the points in the numbers round to be ahead at the conundrum. And then... the very surprising occurred: Andrew did not solve the conundrum quickly. In fact, time just kept on ticking away, and it looked like Toby would win by default. Just shy of the 24 second mark, Toby buzzed in with the correct answer to take the underdog win, 52 to 37.
I had a very good game, marred only by being very slow on the conundrum -- I only just barely solved it within time (and that was after Toby had done so). But all my answers were optimal aside from a moderately obscure word in the first round that eluded everyone, and quite against my expectations I cruised to a comfortable win. The lack of potential full monties may well have been a factor; there was not even a sniff of one to be had, although some of the mixes were tantalising.
Finally we are back to new episodes, and more specifically the inaugural Masters series. While it has been nice to get a reminder of contestants from previous series, I felt the repeats really began to wear towards the end; maybe next time (I'm certainly hoping that there is a next time!) they can just air the Masters Series immediately at the end of the regular series. I think that will work out better overall, to be honest.
A note about numbering: The website is calling this episode 444, and that is fair enough, I guess. But it is going to mess up the convenient ordering of episodes into groups of a hundred, so I wish they had applied a different numbering to it. I was tempted to invent my own numbering, but that would lead to confusion later down the track; maybe they will come up with some new numbering of their own and I can adjust these accordingly.
Anyway! New episodes! Finalists from each series so far! Are you excited? I am!
There's no real sense of the seedings, so I'll take the games as they come. The first contestant in the champion's seat is Andrew Fisher, the series champion from series 1; Richard notes that Andrew's debut score of 95 is still the single-game record. It is mentioned that Andrew came second in the 2011 World Scrabble Championships, confirming his outstanding ability with the letters.
Rather surprisingly, the challenger's position is occupied by Toby Baldwin, one of the semifinalists from series 4. It seems that Alan Nash -- the runner-up from that series -- was not able to make it, so Toby was called in as the next in line. (Well, that's a guess on my part; maybe they also asked Daniel Chua, the other semifinalist.) So it looks like I just needed eight people to be unable to make it, and I could have been asked. *chuckles*
Andrew is hot stuff with the letters, and I strongly expect him to pick up a good many points over Toby on those. I'm including the conundrum in that, of course -- Andrew usually solves it within a couple of seconds. The numbers could go a bit each way -- it really depends how they fall. Toby has the advantage of choosing the numbers twice, and he'll need to exercise that option well in order to win. Andrew is definitely vulnerable on the numbers, although he gets close quite often; Toby should be better overall on them, but has had his problems there -- during his main run of six episodes he had five invalid numbers solutions, and another round where he did not get within scoring range. If he repeats that kind of performance tonight then he will really struggle.
Indeed, the episode mostly went as expected: Andrew picked up points in the first two letters rounds, but then Toby shortened the gap to five in the first numbers round. A split letters round followed, and then Andrew pulled away once more, only for Toby to close up in the ensuing numbers round. Another split letters round followed -- Andrew clearly had a riskier play that he avoided, and quite reasonably so -- and once again Toby took the points in the numbers round to be ahead at the conundrum. And then... the very surprising occurred: Andrew did not solve the conundrum quickly. In fact, time just kept on ticking away, and it looked like Toby would win by default. Just shy of the 24 second mark, Toby buzzed in with the correct answer to take the underdog win, 52 to 37.
I had a very good game, marred only by being very slow on the conundrum -- I only just barely solved it within time (and that was after Toby had done so). But all my answers were optimal aside from a moderately obscure word in the first round that eluded everyone, and quite against my expectations I cruised to a comfortable win. The lack of potential full monties may well have been a factor; there was not even a sniff of one to be had, although some of the mixes were tantalising.
Friday, 9 March 2012
Ep 399: [SF1] Alan Nash, Toby Baldwin (March 8, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
A little banter worth noting in the pre-game chat tonight. Richard mentions the many conundrum showdowns in the series so far, and Alan claims that it is part of the contestants' efforts to boost ratings for the show. Alan adds that they'll do their best to get another one tonight. Spoiler alert for all of two paragraphs: They do.
Toby mentions that he can almost form a sentence from all the conundrums that he has solved: FRIVOLOUS AGITATION; CORPORATE PORCUPINE OVERJOYED.
The lead switches back and forth several times, with neither contestant able to get a decisive break. Alan starts off with an invalid word to give Toby the early lead, but Toby follows up with an invalid answer on the numbers to hand the lead back to Alan. A good word sees Toby take the lead again, only to give it back to Alan with another invalid numbers round. Then another good word gives him the lead again, and he finally gets a valid answer in the numbers to take a ten point lead into the conundrum. Alan solves the conundrum quickly to tie the scores and force a second one, and then solves that second one even faster to take the win, 50 to 40. Those two crucial conundrums make up for the lack of one last night.
Meanwhile, I was having an erratic and not very satisfactory effort. I started with a careless invalid word without a decent fallback, and arguably that cost me this game. My numbers could have been better but those were harder finds, and my invalid guess at the first conundrum sealed the loss. A disappointing result after three good games, and incidentally my worst result of the series. My two worst scores have come against Alan in the finals series; a worrying sign.
As usual, details after the jump.
A little banter worth noting in the pre-game chat tonight. Richard mentions the many conundrum showdowns in the series so far, and Alan claims that it is part of the contestants' efforts to boost ratings for the show. Alan adds that they'll do their best to get another one tonight. Spoiler alert for all of two paragraphs: They do.
Toby mentions that he can almost form a sentence from all the conundrums that he has solved: FRIVOLOUS AGITATION; CORPORATE PORCUPINE OVERJOYED.
The lead switches back and forth several times, with neither contestant able to get a decisive break. Alan starts off with an invalid word to give Toby the early lead, but Toby follows up with an invalid answer on the numbers to hand the lead back to Alan. A good word sees Toby take the lead again, only to give it back to Alan with another invalid numbers round. Then another good word gives him the lead again, and he finally gets a valid answer in the numbers to take a ten point lead into the conundrum. Alan solves the conundrum quickly to tie the scores and force a second one, and then solves that second one even faster to take the win, 50 to 40. Those two crucial conundrums make up for the lack of one last night.
Meanwhile, I was having an erratic and not very satisfactory effort. I started with a careless invalid word without a decent fallback, and arguably that cost me this game. My numbers could have been better but those were harder finds, and my invalid guess at the first conundrum sealed the loss. A disappointing result after three good games, and incidentally my worst result of the series. My two worst scores have come against Alan in the finals series; a worrying sign.
As usual, details after the jump.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Ep 397: [QF4] Toby Baldwin, Shaun Ellis (March 6, 2012)
Rounds: Here.
Again, not much to the chat although we do get to see Shaun's improved poker face. It's a little scary, to be honest.
Once more there's some good back-and-forth, but two of Shaun's words are invalid which gives Toby crucial points. Toby needs it, too, because he concedes a lot of ground on the numbers, and was behind by more than the conundrum going into the final numbers round. Shaun erred, I feel, by choosing a difficult numbers option, and Toby was just able to outdo Shaun in it. That brought the match down to the conundrum yet again, with Shaun leading but not safe. Toby held his nerve to spot the answer with five seconds left on the clock, and scrapes through into the finals, 43 to 39.
Another slightly mixed performance from me today, including an invalid declaration in the first round that was quite bizarre in retrospect. I'd correctly judged that it wasn't going to cost me points, at least. I did miss a longer word in another round, but aside from that it was smooth sailing. Just like last night, I solved the conundrum eight seconds in for what ended up being a fairly easy win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Again, not much to the chat although we do get to see Shaun's improved poker face. It's a little scary, to be honest.
Once more there's some good back-and-forth, but two of Shaun's words are invalid which gives Toby crucial points. Toby needs it, too, because he concedes a lot of ground on the numbers, and was behind by more than the conundrum going into the final numbers round. Shaun erred, I feel, by choosing a difficult numbers option, and Toby was just able to outdo Shaun in it. That brought the match down to the conundrum yet again, with Shaun leading but not safe. Toby held his nerve to spot the answer with five seconds left on the clock, and scrapes through into the finals, 43 to 39.
Another slightly mixed performance from me today, including an invalid declaration in the first round that was quite bizarre in retrospect. I'd correctly judged that it wasn't going to cost me points, at least. I did miss a longer word in another round, but aside from that it was smooth sailing. Just like last night, I solved the conundrum eight seconds in for what ended up being a fairly easy win.
As usual, details after the jump.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Ep 335: Toby Baldwin, Richard Stevens (December 9, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Richard asks Toby for his review of memorable moments of the episodes so far. Toby notes that there have been several themes -- some of them his own generation -- and remarks with mild amusement that he has been trying to make David's life difficult when trying to match words to themes. From my perspective, only episode 333 really delivered in terms of a running theme for the show, but it did so very well.
Tonight's challenger is... another Richard. I'm going to avoid having to clarify which Richard I mean by not referring to Richard Morecroft again for the rest of this post.
Anyway, Richard Stevens is up; he is the managing director of a medical device distribution company who plays keyboards for a rock band. There's been quite a few musicians recently! His band is called Bang Shang a Lang and they play 70's and 80's covers at corporate events, and at pubs and clubs around Sydney.
It's yet another close game tonight, in part because the numbers once again pose stumbling blocks for the contestants -- a whopping five out of six declarations are invalid. They mostly match on the letters rounds, having the same word three of the five times, and the scores are tied going into the conundrum. Toby finds the solution seven seconds in to win the game 44 to 34, and becomes the second retiring champion of the series.
I almost had a very good game tonight; just some confusion over the final numbers stopped that. Once again I missed a full monty, but I'm not that upset about it this time -- it would have been good to find it, but icing on the cake.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard asks Toby for his review of memorable moments of the episodes so far. Toby notes that there have been several themes -- some of them his own generation -- and remarks with mild amusement that he has been trying to make David's life difficult when trying to match words to themes. From my perspective, only episode 333 really delivered in terms of a running theme for the show, but it did so very well.
Tonight's challenger is... another Richard. I'm going to avoid having to clarify which Richard I mean by not referring to Richard Morecroft again for the rest of this post.
Anyway, Richard Stevens is up; he is the managing director of a medical device distribution company who plays keyboards for a rock band. There's been quite a few musicians recently! His band is called Bang Shang a Lang and they play 70's and 80's covers at corporate events, and at pubs and clubs around Sydney.
It's yet another close game tonight, in part because the numbers once again pose stumbling blocks for the contestants -- a whopping five out of six declarations are invalid. They mostly match on the letters rounds, having the same word three of the five times, and the scores are tied going into the conundrum. Toby finds the solution seven seconds in to win the game 44 to 34, and becomes the second retiring champion of the series.
I almost had a very good game tonight; just some confusion over the final numbers stopped that. Once again I missed a full monty, but I'm not that upset about it this time -- it would have been good to find it, but icing on the cake.
As usual, details after the jump.
Ep 334: Toby Baldwin, Yasmin Khan (December 8, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Richard notes that we've had themes for the last two nights -- music two nights ago, and food last night. He asks Toby if there will be another theme tonight, and if he would care to nominate one. Toby refers to the quote about music being the food of love, so suggests that maybe love would be a suitable theme to follow those two. I'll say right now that David tries his best to make it work (with some success, admittedly) but it's mostly a stretch and I won't highlight it further.
Challenging Toby tonight is Yasmin Khan, a consultant and festival organiser. In fact, she's president of the organising committee of Eidfest, which is a festival for the Brisbane Muslim community to celebrate the end of Ramadan. She remarks that what they want to do in the festival is to highlight the diversity of the Muslim community; in particular, she says that "people always think that to be Muslim you have to be Arab, and to be Arab you have to Muslim, and we just want to dispel some of those myths".
It feels like the game should have been a bit closer than it was; both contestants find six- or seven-letter words consistently (which is the first time since Toby's first episode that six has been the minimum), but Toby has the better of it. Neither contestant is particularly convincing on the numbers tonight, but again Toby does slightly better and has a safe lead going into the conundrum. With neither solving it, he ends up winning with 48 points to 29.
I feel off my game tonight, with far too many sixes and missing the target on one of the numbers rounds. But I only drop one letters round as opposed to yesterday's pair, and solving the conundrum puts me past the 60 mark again. Definitely some improvement needed; hopefully I'll be able to find it tomorrow.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard notes that we've had themes for the last two nights -- music two nights ago, and food last night. He asks Toby if there will be another theme tonight, and if he would care to nominate one. Toby refers to the quote about music being the food of love, so suggests that maybe love would be a suitable theme to follow those two. I'll say right now that David tries his best to make it work (with some success, admittedly) but it's mostly a stretch and I won't highlight it further.
Challenging Toby tonight is Yasmin Khan, a consultant and festival organiser. In fact, she's president of the organising committee of Eidfest, which is a festival for the Brisbane Muslim community to celebrate the end of Ramadan. She remarks that what they want to do in the festival is to highlight the diversity of the Muslim community; in particular, she says that "people always think that to be Muslim you have to be Arab, and to be Arab you have to Muslim, and we just want to dispel some of those myths".
It feels like the game should have been a bit closer than it was; both contestants find six- or seven-letter words consistently (which is the first time since Toby's first episode that six has been the minimum), but Toby has the better of it. Neither contestant is particularly convincing on the numbers tonight, but again Toby does slightly better and has a safe lead going into the conundrum. With neither solving it, he ends up winning with 48 points to 29.
I feel off my game tonight, with far too many sixes and missing the target on one of the numbers rounds. But I only drop one letters round as opposed to yesterday's pair, and solving the conundrum puts me past the 60 mark again. Definitely some improvement needed; hopefully I'll be able to find it tomorrow.
As usual, details after the jump.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Ep 333: Toby Baldwin, George Solomos (December 7, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Richard mentions that Toby has an electronic interest, and asks him how he applies those electronic skills. Toby responds that he (not surprisingly) does so mostly in musical ways, and in particular is a fan of the "black arts" of valve amplifiers. He justifies that description by saying that it involves high voltages, high danger, and hasn't really been understood since the sixties. He thinks it is worth it, though, as they produce better sound, are more stable, and have greater longevity.
Going up against Toby is George Solomos, a transactional banker and business owner. Apparently George (together with his business partner) has developed a new social network. Although that's not necessarily concept-new, as he says that they have "basically re-created Facebook", making it a bit more user-friendly and with more of a business networking aspect. Richard observes that existing social networks are huge businesses, and asks if George thinks that they can match that success. As you would imagine, George is hoping that they will.
It's an odd game tonight: George is off the pace on the letters, consistently behind. Toby is even further off on the numbers, invalid twice and eight away on the third. With the letters rounds being of limited gain -- nothing more than sevens to be found tonight, which doesn't happen very often -- Toby is ahead but vulnerable going into the conundrum. He does well to find it, though, and takes a slightly shaky win, 43 to 24.
I was a bit off the pace here also, being beaten in two of the letters rounds and ending up with my lowest score since the 38 back in episode 314. I just barely scraped past 50, breaking the long run of 60+ scores.
As usual, details after the jump.
Richard mentions that Toby has an electronic interest, and asks him how he applies those electronic skills. Toby responds that he (not surprisingly) does so mostly in musical ways, and in particular is a fan of the "black arts" of valve amplifiers. He justifies that description by saying that it involves high voltages, high danger, and hasn't really been understood since the sixties. He thinks it is worth it, though, as they produce better sound, are more stable, and have greater longevity.
Going up against Toby is George Solomos, a transactional banker and business owner. Apparently George (together with his business partner) has developed a new social network. Although that's not necessarily concept-new, as he says that they have "basically re-created Facebook", making it a bit more user-friendly and with more of a business networking aspect. Richard observes that existing social networks are huge businesses, and asks if George thinks that they can match that success. As you would imagine, George is hoping that they will.
It's an odd game tonight: George is off the pace on the letters, consistently behind. Toby is even further off on the numbers, invalid twice and eight away on the third. With the letters rounds being of limited gain -- nothing more than sevens to be found tonight, which doesn't happen very often -- Toby is ahead but vulnerable going into the conundrum. He does well to find it, though, and takes a slightly shaky win, 43 to 24.
I was a bit off the pace here also, being beaten in two of the letters rounds and ending up with my lowest score since the 38 back in episode 314. I just barely scraped past 50, breaking the long run of 60+ scores.
As usual, details after the jump.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Ep 332: Toby Baldwin, Eleanor Lamb (December 6, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Yesterday we learned more about Toby's music interests, and today Richard asks him about what his pathology work involves. Toby processes and tests specimens, both from within the hospital and from outside it. A good deal of it is clinical trial work, so it is important to be extra careful with names and dates to ensure that the integrity of the trial is maintained. Richard has this view of Toby peering down microscopes, but Toby says that it is more a matter of operating "big machines", spinning samples down, and maintaining the very expensive equipment.
Tonight's challenger is Eleanor Lamb, a university student and musician. She plays trombone in a ska band, The Kujo Kings, and every week or two they'll have a gig somewhere in Melbourne (usually a pub or a bar, as is to be expected). The band has two EPs out, with Eleanor playing on one of them.
There's some awkward rounds early on (uncooperative letters, and a difficult numbers target), but then things settle down. Toby has the better of it, and a solution to the final numbers round sees him safely ahead for the conundrum. He solves the conundrum, too, winning the game 54 points to 28.
I really struggled in those first three rounds, missing a word I should have found and changing tacks at the wrong point in the numbers round (leading to two away, which I think is the worst for a while). But I had not fallen behind and the rest went as well as it could, complete with an early conundrum solution and a comfortable win in the end.
As usual, details after the jump.
Yesterday we learned more about Toby's music interests, and today Richard asks him about what his pathology work involves. Toby processes and tests specimens, both from within the hospital and from outside it. A good deal of it is clinical trial work, so it is important to be extra careful with names and dates to ensure that the integrity of the trial is maintained. Richard has this view of Toby peering down microscopes, but Toby says that it is more a matter of operating "big machines", spinning samples down, and maintaining the very expensive equipment.
Tonight's challenger is Eleanor Lamb, a university student and musician. She plays trombone in a ska band, The Kujo Kings, and every week or two they'll have a gig somewhere in Melbourne (usually a pub or a bar, as is to be expected). The band has two EPs out, with Eleanor playing on one of them.
There's some awkward rounds early on (uncooperative letters, and a difficult numbers target), but then things settle down. Toby has the better of it, and a solution to the final numbers round sees him safely ahead for the conundrum. He solves the conundrum, too, winning the game 54 points to 28.
I really struggled in those first three rounds, missing a word I should have found and changing tacks at the wrong point in the numbers round (leading to two away, which I think is the worst for a while). But I had not fallen behind and the rest went as well as it could, complete with an early conundrum solution and a comfortable win in the end.
As usual, details after the jump.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Ep 331: Toby Baldwin, Tom Museth (December 5, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Toby returns as the carry-over champion, and we learn that he's still very much involved with music. He considers it more of a passion now than a career, but he is actively involved with bands, doing live sound and studio recordings. He also plays instruments, usually in other people's bands; mostly heavier rock and punk rock, but he's "been known to dip [his] feet into the waters of country and pop music occasionally." Richard jokes that the punks might think those were pretty muddy waters, and I can't tell whether he intended that pun or if it was just coincidence. Toby grants that it is somewhat damaging to his street cred.
Tonight's challenger is Tom Museth, a technical editor, web developer, and former journalist. Richard asks more about the journalism; Tom started off with feature writing in magazines -- he mentions finance and horticultural ones specifically, but adds that it was "all kinds, really" -- and after a while migrated to newspapers, mostly doing investigative journalism. Then he moved into the production side of things, becoming a subeditor, so he's really covered quite the range of possibilities in journalism.
The contestants start off equal, but Tom mostly ends up a letter behind in the letters rounds, and somewhat worse off in the numbers rounds. Neither contestant got to the target in any of those, so there was certainly room for improvement. Toby is safely ahead going into the conundrum that neither of them solve, and takes the victory 48 to 13.
I was so glad to have unseen episodes to watch again after two weeks of familiar ones. This was tempered somewhat by the SBS video player being extremely uncooperative tonight. In fact, it took me somewhere around four hours of attempts before I was able to view the entire episode; at the worst parts, I would get maybe 30 seconds of new footage, then it would stall, and eventually say that "The selected item is not currently available". It is mind-boggling just how poor this is; properly buffering data is not hard!
Aside from that, this was a decent game for me. I finally found a nine within time (actually before it, since I was anticipating the final letter), and mostly optimal results for the rest. A missed numbers target and one shorter word than I would have liked are the only blemishes here. (And I'm putting the latter down to the frustrations of thee hours fighting with the website.) A comfortable victory, and my highest score of the series to date.
As usual, details after the jump.
Toby returns as the carry-over champion, and we learn that he's still very much involved with music. He considers it more of a passion now than a career, but he is actively involved with bands, doing live sound and studio recordings. He also plays instruments, usually in other people's bands; mostly heavier rock and punk rock, but he's "been known to dip [his] feet into the waters of country and pop music occasionally." Richard jokes that the punks might think those were pretty muddy waters, and I can't tell whether he intended that pun or if it was just coincidence. Toby grants that it is somewhat damaging to his street cred.
Tonight's challenger is Tom Museth, a technical editor, web developer, and former journalist. Richard asks more about the journalism; Tom started off with feature writing in magazines -- he mentions finance and horticultural ones specifically, but adds that it was "all kinds, really" -- and after a while migrated to newspapers, mostly doing investigative journalism. Then he moved into the production side of things, becoming a subeditor, so he's really covered quite the range of possibilities in journalism.
The contestants start off equal, but Tom mostly ends up a letter behind in the letters rounds, and somewhat worse off in the numbers rounds. Neither contestant got to the target in any of those, so there was certainly room for improvement. Toby is safely ahead going into the conundrum that neither of them solve, and takes the victory 48 to 13.
I was so glad to have unseen episodes to watch again after two weeks of familiar ones. This was tempered somewhat by the SBS video player being extremely uncooperative tonight. In fact, it took me somewhere around four hours of attempts before I was able to view the entire episode; at the worst parts, I would get maybe 30 seconds of new footage, then it would stall, and eventually say that "The selected item is not currently available". It is mind-boggling just how poor this is; properly buffering data is not hard!
Aside from that, this was a decent game for me. I finally found a nine within time (actually before it, since I was anticipating the final letter), and mostly optimal results for the rest. A missed numbers target and one shorter word than I would have liked are the only blemishes here. (And I'm putting the latter down to the frustrations of thee hours fighting with the website.) A comfortable victory, and my highest score of the series to date.
As usual, details after the jump.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Ep 330: Brett Edwards, Toby Baldwin (December 2, 2011)
Rounds: Here.
Disclaimer: I attended the filming of this show some months back; obviously this may lead to me recollecting some solutions that eluded me at the time, and my scoreline is not necessarily a fair one.
Richard asks Brett what being a navy auditor involved; Brett explains that it was about ensuring compliance with defense regulations. No-one wants to see the dreaded auditor! He didn't go to sea, but did have occasion to visit ships when they were in port.
Challenging Brett is Toby Baldwin, a pathology aide and former audio engineer. Richard notes that this is an unusual transition, and asks what prompted it. Toby responds that it was a combination of things, but mostly being very tired from working long days and being away on the road, and he wanted a bit of stability in his life. His former job involved doing live engineering for bands, recording bands, and fixing a lot of equipment. Richard remarks that pathology is probably a lot quieter, and Toby agrees. He says that fixing humans tends to be a lot easier and a lot more pleasant. I'm not sure that surgeons would agree...
As I've mentioned earlier, I met Toby during the audition, and we caught up a little during the day. In fact, we caught a taxi to the studio together in the morning as there was some large confusion about taxi bookings which gave some extra enjoyable time to chat with him. He just barely outpointed me in the previous game (at the time), so I was particularly keen to win this one.
It's another close game, and Brett seems back in form again, which is a relief. Brett just barely has the better of the vowel-heavy letters rounds, while Toby fractionally outdoes him in the numbers, and the scores are level going into the conundrum. Once again both contestants see the answer quickly and buzz in at approximately the same time, but Toby got there first and wins with a score of 59 to 49.
For my part, I did much better than both; there were plenty of longer words to be found (much like my game against Brett). In fact, in the audience this was a game where I held my own against David and Lily in the main eight rounds; I don't recall what happened with the conundrum. This time I get it instantly, due to its appearance on Countdown, rather than a memory of this episode. Either way, a comfortable win to me, although I probably did a point better in the audience due to round 2.
As usual, details after the jump.
Disclaimer: I attended the filming of this show some months back; obviously this may lead to me recollecting some solutions that eluded me at the time, and my scoreline is not necessarily a fair one.
Richard asks Brett what being a navy auditor involved; Brett explains that it was about ensuring compliance with defense regulations. No-one wants to see the dreaded auditor! He didn't go to sea, but did have occasion to visit ships when they were in port.
Challenging Brett is Toby Baldwin, a pathology aide and former audio engineer. Richard notes that this is an unusual transition, and asks what prompted it. Toby responds that it was a combination of things, but mostly being very tired from working long days and being away on the road, and he wanted a bit of stability in his life. His former job involved doing live engineering for bands, recording bands, and fixing a lot of equipment. Richard remarks that pathology is probably a lot quieter, and Toby agrees. He says that fixing humans tends to be a lot easier and a lot more pleasant. I'm not sure that surgeons would agree...
As I've mentioned earlier, I met Toby during the audition, and we caught up a little during the day. In fact, we caught a taxi to the studio together in the morning as there was some large confusion about taxi bookings which gave some extra enjoyable time to chat with him. He just barely outpointed me in the previous game (at the time), so I was particularly keen to win this one.
It's another close game, and Brett seems back in form again, which is a relief. Brett just barely has the better of the vowel-heavy letters rounds, while Toby fractionally outdoes him in the numbers, and the scores are level going into the conundrum. Once again both contestants see the answer quickly and buzz in at approximately the same time, but Toby got there first and wins with a score of 59 to 49.
For my part, I did much better than both; there were plenty of longer words to be found (much like my game against Brett). In fact, in the audience this was a game where I held my own against David and Lily in the main eight rounds; I don't recall what happened with the conundrum. This time I get it instantly, due to its appearance on Countdown, rather than a memory of this episode. Either way, a comfortable win to me, although I probably did a point better in the audience due to round 2.
As usual, details after the jump.
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