Rounds: Here.
It's the third night for Luke Brattoni, and Richard lets us know that Luke is a keen cartoonist. That ties in with yesterday's story about him drawing cartoon licenses for kids. Luke says that this goes back to primary school -- when he first got a computer he started doodling in the paint program. He adds that he is OK at ink drawing, but the ability to adjust digital images is something that he finds really appealing.
Challenging Luke tonight is Kathryn James, a project officer in the international development sector. Richard asks what it is that Kathryn does within that sector; she responds first by explaining that international development includes both emergency relief and long term projects. At the moment, Kathryn is working on integrating disability into that, both in making people more aware of it and in making projects more accessible to disabilities.
(On first viewing, I don't think that I was left any the wiser as to what "international development" meant -- development spanning nations? I think that Kathryn could have explained that better, but it might be one of those situations where you're so immersed in the subject that you just assume everyone else knows what you mean. (Or maybe I am just less well-informed than I should be.) Anyway, at the time of filming, Kathryn had recently started working for CBM Australia, which aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world. So in this case, "international development" appears to mean the ongoing development of poorer countries by more affluent countries; similar to disaster relief, but taking a longer-term view.)
It was a very close game tonight -- definitely the closest of the series so far. Kathryn took the lead early with a good word in round one, but Luke rebounded in the next round to close the gap to a single point. An invalid word from Kathryn in round four saw Luke extend his lead, and the next few rounds were shared. In the last third of the game, Kathryn retook the lead in the letters only for Luke to take it back again in the numbers. It was anyone's game in the conundrum, and both contestants spotted the answer quickly and pressed the buzzers nearly simultaneously. But Kathryn was just that little bit quicker, coming from behind to win 46 to 44.
I had a good game, dropping two maxima but one of those I would not have chanced even if I had seen it. I did get beaten to the conundrum by both contestants, however, so there was room for improvement on that front.
Showing posts with label Luke Brattoni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke Brattoni. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Monday, 16 May 2016
Ep 104: Luke Brattoni, Aram Kalyanasundaram (May 16, 2016; originally aired December 23, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Richard welcomes Luke back as the carry-over champion, and Luke remarks that he is "delightfully surprised to be here". Richard then asks for more details about the work that Luke does with primary school children. Luke explains that it is an after school activity; they prepare an afternoon tea for the kids, clean up after them, and supervise them on the playground. Apparently there is a minor fad at the moment for fake IDs, so he has been drawing little cartoons on pieces of paper for seven-year-olds.
In the challenger's seat we have Aram Kalyanasundaram, an IT consultant in the retail industry whose dream job is to be a TV presenter. Aram has taken steps in that direction by working as a radio jockey in his college days, but since then has had to focus on work responsibilities.
Luke took the early lead, with Aram unable to score points in the first two rounds. But Aram struck back in the first numbers round, closing the gap to just three points. The letters continued to favour Luke -- Aram was only able to score points in one letters round, and that was shared with Luke -- and the numbers were not kind enough to Aram. Luke sealed the game by solving the final numbers round; Aram got the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but Luke got the win, 52 to 36. That's the first time this series that the challenger has not won.
I had a much better game than last week. I only dropped two maxima; one was a word I had written down but did not chance, while the other I found somewhat too late. So that's definitely progress for me.
Richard welcomes Luke back as the carry-over champion, and Luke remarks that he is "delightfully surprised to be here". Richard then asks for more details about the work that Luke does with primary school children. Luke explains that it is an after school activity; they prepare an afternoon tea for the kids, clean up after them, and supervise them on the playground. Apparently there is a minor fad at the moment for fake IDs, so he has been drawing little cartoons on pieces of paper for seven-year-olds.
In the challenger's seat we have Aram Kalyanasundaram, an IT consultant in the retail industry whose dream job is to be a TV presenter. Aram has taken steps in that direction by working as a radio jockey in his college days, but since then has had to focus on work responsibilities.
Luke took the early lead, with Aram unable to score points in the first two rounds. But Aram struck back in the first numbers round, closing the gap to just three points. The letters continued to favour Luke -- Aram was only able to score points in one letters round, and that was shared with Luke -- and the numbers were not kind enough to Aram. Luke sealed the game by solving the final numbers round; Aram got the consolation prize of solving the conundrum, but Luke got the win, 52 to 36. That's the first time this series that the challenger has not won.
I had a much better game than last week. I only dropped two maxima; one was a word I had written down but did not chance, while the other I found somewhat too late. So that's definitely progress for me.
Saturday, 14 May 2016
Ep 103: Raf Goodens, Luke Brattoni (May 13, 2016; originally aired December 22, 2010)
Rounds: Here.
Raf Goodens gets to try out the champion's seat tonight. Richard informs us that Raf moved to Australia from Belgium two and a half years ago, and says that Raf is quite an exception to the rest of his family. Raf says that he is the son of a pig farmer, and many of the rest of his family are pig farmers also. He adds that numbers have always appealed to him more.
Challenging Raf is Luke Brattoni, who currently works with primary school children. However, last year he completed a media degree, and hopes to work in TV, film, or internet entertainment. Richard segues a bit awkwardly from that to note that Luke is involved in rapping. Luke takes the opportunity to demonstrate, with something he prepared a little earlier:
Luke stumbled to start with, chancing a spelling that turned out not to be valid. But he recovered in the next round to take a marginal lead, then extended it in the first numbers game. It was mostly level-pegging after that, but Raf managed a key fightback in one of the middle letters rounds to close the gap to just four points. So it continued until the conundrum, and true to his word, Luke solved it first to seal the win, 53 to 39.
I'm still not playing near my best, and had a bad miss in the first numbers round. Fortunately I managed to scrape together enough of an advantage in the letters to be safe going into the conundrum, and it was sorely needed as I got just pipped to it. A wobbly end to the week, but I'll hope next week will be better once I've had some sleep.
Raf Goodens gets to try out the champion's seat tonight. Richard informs us that Raf moved to Australia from Belgium two and a half years ago, and says that Raf is quite an exception to the rest of his family. Raf says that he is the son of a pig farmer, and many of the rest of his family are pig farmers also. He adds that numbers have always appealed to him more.
Challenging Raf is Luke Brattoni, who currently works with primary school children. However, last year he completed a media degree, and hopes to work in TV, film, or internet entertainment. Richard segues a bit awkwardly from that to note that Luke is involved in rapping. Luke takes the opportunity to demonstrate, with something he prepared a little earlier:
Throw me a letter or number, I'll make my competitor wonder how a veteran was bettered by a kid admittedly dumber, causing a vendetta of umbrage, bitter and sombre, once I flip the alphabet and get the nine-letter conundrum.We'll see whether he manages to live up to that challenge.
Luke stumbled to start with, chancing a spelling that turned out not to be valid. But he recovered in the next round to take a marginal lead, then extended it in the first numbers game. It was mostly level-pegging after that, but Raf managed a key fightback in one of the middle letters rounds to close the gap to just four points. So it continued until the conundrum, and true to his word, Luke solved it first to seal the win, 53 to 39.
I'm still not playing near my best, and had a bad miss in the first numbers round. Fortunately I managed to scrape together enough of an advantage in the letters to be safe going into the conundrum, and it was sorely needed as I got just pipped to it. A wobbly end to the week, but I'll hope next week will be better once I've had some sleep.
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