WWTBAM Bored

Aly Vini
New York City, NY

Aly is an example of the saying "don't judge a book by its cover". Although she's only 5'1" she's a rapper who talks a big game. Aly says she can throw down a bit and does a rap for Terry. Aly's +1 is her "old ball and chain, my best friend, my husband Aaron." He's not a rapper but he has other redeeming qualities.

Question #1: If you're shopping for a Bulgari handbag, you should look for which of these, since its logo uses the traditional Latin alphabet?
A - BOLGARI
B - QOLQARI
C - BVLGARI
D - BULGARI

Aly has never had a Bulgari handbag but she's heard of them and

Spoiler

she's pretty sure it isn't QOlQARI because she wouldn't know what that was

.

Spoiler

Answer: C (BVLGARI)
Value: $25,000
Bank: $25,000

Question #2: Often seen giving the "Vulcan salute, Pharrell Williams co-founded what record label, whose name was inspired by one of his favorite TV shows?
A - Star Trak Entertainment
B - Twi-Lite Zone
C - Soprano Records
D - A-Team Unlimited

Aly likes Pharrell but she's not a science fiction girl. She thinks the Vulcan salute looks like this (she does it very well) but that's not enough. She thinks she needs some help so she asks the audience.

Spoiler

Ask the Audience results:
A - 95%
B - 3%
C - 2%
D - 0%

Spoiler

Answer: A (Star Trak Entertainment)
Value: $1,000
Bank: $26,000

Question #3: Involving the removal of a gallbladder via robotic surgeon, the "Lindbergh Operation" was so named because the patient was in France while the doctors were where?

Aly thinks that this must have something to do with

Spoiler

Charles Lindburgh, who crossed the Atlantic from New York to Paris

.
A - London
B - New York City
C - Rio de Janiero
D - Moscow

Spoiler

Answer: B (New York City)
Value: $500
Bank: $26,500

Question #4: Giving the warning "Don't get too close, or you might get burned," Netflix allows you to stream an hour-long uninterrupted video of what?
A - a traffic cone
B - the night sky
C - a snoring man
D - a fireplace

Aly says this goes out to her father because he likes to watch

Spoiler

the fireplace show. She and her mother bought him a little fireplace that goes under the TV so that she can watch Millionaire or Brooklyn Nine-Nine

.

Spoiler

Answer: D (a fireplace)
Value: $7,000
Bank: $33,500

commercial break

Aly says that no one knows that she's on the show except for the audience and her husband. She didn't tell her mother because she is a classic Jewish mother and had the knack for passing neuroses on to others.

Question #5: Standing 147 feet tall, Disneyland's Matterhorn is almost exactly how many times shorter than the actual Swiss Matterhorn it's based on?
A - 10
B - 50
C - 100
D - 500

Aly says that the Matterhorn is very tall and you can't ski down it. She's never been to Disneyland or the Matterhorn. She hopes her husband will know this or can help her out, so she uses her +1.

Spoiler

Aaron says he's really proud of Aly and he thinks she'll love him a bit more because he thinks they can work it out. He says that when they go skiing in the Rockies they see mountains that are over 10,000 feet tall and the Matterhorn has to be higher. If it was 500 times taller that would be 70,000 feet and that's taller than anything he's seen. She wants to eliminate 100 because of the Rockies. They do some additional discussion - Aly says she doesn't like to know how tall the mountain is when she's skiing. They decide to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: C (100)
Value: $10,000 (jumped)
Bank: $33,500 (unchanged)

commercial break

Question #6: Many sports historians credit Dodgers Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke with spontaneously inventing the what during a home run celebration in 1977?
A - A-ok sign
B - high five
C - "Call me" gesture
D - sprinkler dance

Aly was hoping to see the wave up there but she's glad it isn't because she would have chosen it and gone home. She says

Spoiler

it would be strange if two people gave the A-ok sign, and doesn't think it's the "call me" gesture

. She's very nervous and can't decide if she wants to give her final answer. She decides not to chance it and opts to walk away.

Spoiler

Answer: B (high five)
Value: unrevealed
Bank: $16,750 (half the bank)

commercial break

MILLIONAIRE "QUESTION OF THE DAY": Along with her regular gig on the classic soap opera, "General Hospital" star Kirsten Storms made several appearances on its prime-time spinoff, called what?
A - "Nursing School"
B - "Off the Clock"
C - "Prescription for Love"
D - "Night Shift"

Spoiler

Answer: D ("Night Shift")

I had no idea on the QotD, but I did know the others. Good stack.

Aly looked lovely, but husband Aaron must have missed the memo, because he was in baggy jeans with his shirttail hanging out.

Aly would have been a great contestant if she was willing to take a few risks.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Aly Vini
New York City, NY

Aly is an example of the saying "don't judge a book by its cover". Although she's only 5'1" she's a rapper who talks a big game. Aly says she can throw down a bit and does a rap for Terry. Aly's +1 is her "old ball and chain, my best friend, my husband Aaron." He's not a rapper but he has other redeeming qualities.

She certainly had the personality that TPTB look for.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Question #1: If you're shopping for a Bulgari handbag, you should look for which of these, since its logo uses the traditional Latin alphabet?
A - BOLGARI
B - QOLQARI
C - BVLGARI
D - BULGARI

Aly has never had a Bulgari handbag but she's heard of them and

Spoiler

she's pretty sure it isn't QOlQARI because she wouldn't know what that was

.

Spoiler

Answer: C (BVLGARI)
Value: $25,000
Bank: $25,000

"Traditional Latin alphabet" means no "U".

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Question #5: Standing 147 feet tall, Disneyland's Matterhorn is almost exactly how many times shorter than the actual Swiss Matterhorn it's based on?
A - 10
B - 50
C - 100
D - 500

Aly says that the Matterhorn is very tall and you can't ski down it. She's never been to Disneyland or the Matterhorn. She hopes her husband will know this or can help her out, so she uses her +1.

Spoiler

Aaron says he's really proud of Aly and he thinks she'll love him a bit more because he thinks they can work it out. He says that when they go skiing in the Rockies they see mountains that are over 10,000 feet tall and the Matterhorn has to be higher. If it was 500 times taller that would be 70,000 feet and that's taller than anything he's seen. She wants to eliminate 100 because of the Rockies. They do some additional discussion - Aly says she doesn't like to know how tall the mountain is when she's skiing. They decide to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: C (100)
Value: $10,000 (jumped)
Bank: $33,500 (unchanged)

Evidently neither of them knew that the tallest mountain on earth is only 29,000 feet tall. After she jumped, Terry asked what she thought the answer was and she was right even though she seemed to have eliminated it during her discussion.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Question #6: Many sports historians credit Dodgers Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke with spontaneously inventing the what during a home run celebration in 1977?
A - A-ok sign
B - high five
C - "Call me" gesture
D - sprinkler dance

Aly was hoping to see the wave up there but she's glad it isn't because she would have chosen it and gone home. She says

Spoiler

it would be strange if two people gave the A-ok sign, and doesn't think it's the "call me" gesture

. She's very nervous and can't decide if she wants to give her final answer. She decides not to chance it and opts to walk away.

Spoiler

Answer: B (high five)
Value: unrevealed
Bank: $16,750 (half the bank)

Again she had the right answer but wasn't willing to risk it.

OK, my problem with contestant is her not knowing a "Vulcan salute" is Star Trek reference.

I'm Jewish, & was raised Conservative, which denotes not politics but a somewhat less observant of strictest interpretation of various religious rules than Orthodox. But I certainly should have seen that gesture of Cohen's & Levi's coopted by Leonard Nimoy to be the "Vulcan salute". Along with the "live long & prosper" phrase. Never saw it, never heard it. But once these had been brought to my attention, there's no way to not associate them with Star Trek. I have to wonder what world a trivia expert has to live in not to know this stuff.

ghostjmf wrote:OK, my problem with contestant is her not knowing a "Vulcan salute" is Star Trek reference.

I'm Jewish, & was raised Conservative, which denotes not politics but a somewhat less observant of strictest interpretation of various religious rules than Orthodox. But I certainly should have seen that gesture of Cohen's & Levi's coopted by Leonard Nimoy to be the "Vulcan salute". Along with the "live long & prosper" phrase. Never saw it, never heard it. But once these had been brought to my attention, there's no way to not associate them with Star Trek. I have to wonder what world a trivia expert has to live in not to know this stuff.

Yes, Leonard Nimoy adapted the Blessing of the Priests gesture into the Vulcan salute.



Aly is one of those people who's not into science fiction, so even though she could make a Vulcan salute, she couldn't identify the show it came from.

Thanks for explaining ghost's reference, jarnon.

jarnon wrote:Aly is one of those people who's not into science fiction, so even though she could make a Vulcan salute, she couldn't identify the show it came from.

Yeah. Two of the choices alluded to in the question (Sopranos and A-Team) aren't remotely science fiction, and the Twilight Zone is only partially so. Yet Aly immediately recognized the gesture and classified its genre, but didn't make link to the show? That's almost...Twilight Zone strange!

At the time in religious services when I guess I should have been observing (only symbolic since the destruction of the 2nd Temple around 2,000 years ago; they have no power over anything these days) the Levis & Cohens (of which Leonard Nimoy is one, I read somewhere, on his Mom's side) doing their thing, I was probably listening to the rabbi tell my dad & his brothers to stop discussing horses. As in horse races. Happened a lot.

They're called up to read from the Torah, I know that. The Cohanim & Levis, not my family. But I never saw them doing that gesture.

Cohns & Levis are very inbred, historically, but that's another story, too long to type in on el tablito.

ghostjmf wrote:But I never saw them doing that gesture.

I've seen the Blessing of the Priests a few times at Orthodox synagogues. They perform the ritual on major holidays (and also every Shabbat in Israel). At other Orthodox services, and in Conservative and Reform congregations, the Rabbi or Cantor leading the service recites the blessing without any ritual.

The Cohen (descendent of the priestly tribe) puts his tallit (prayer shawl) over his head and arms before giving the blessing. I've heard that's because the Shechinah (Divine Presence) rests on the Cohen during the ritual. So I've never seen the gesture myself either, just in pictures like the one I posted.

We belonged (as in paid dues) to the Conservative schul in town, but attended for a lot of the less-major holidays at one of the Orthodox schuls, as it was a lot closer to the house. I guess this was one at which the gesture either wasn't performed or wasn't visible to the congregation. I'm glad to hear it wasn't something obvious to all that I somehow missed, after all.

I seem to remember that in either "The Making of Star Trek" or "The Trouble with Tribbles" Leonard Nimoy mentioned that he "peeked" when the blessing was given and saw the hand gesture.

A ref I can't give at the moment bkz I haven't figured out how to paste refs on el tablito says the hand-covering stems from a rabbinical judgement that Cohanim with disfigured hands couldn't give the blessing, which was later softened to say they could but had to cover their disfigured hands. So now they all cover their hands in a sort of solidarity with the unfortunately disfigured Cohanim. And the congregation looks away for same reason. Except for L. Nimoy.


Customs are weird.

More about the priestly blessing: For over 3,000 years, it was performed by men only. Now the Women of the Wall, an organization that promotes egalitarian Jewish worship, is organizing a priestly blessing ceremony by and for women. And the Nimoy family is underwriting it.

Mr. Spock Gives Blessing to First-ever Female Priestly Benediction at Western Wall

In a move bound to draw opposition from the Orthodox establishment, feminist activists are planning to hold a first-ever priestly blessing ceremony at the Wailing Wall for and by women.

The event, scheduled to be held during the Passover holiday, is being organized by Women of the Wall, the multi-denominational prayer group that holds a monthly prayer service at the Jewish holy site. The blessing will be led by women who trace their lineage to the priestly class known as the “cohanim.”

Traditionally, this blessing is recited by men who trace their lineage to the priestly class. As part of the ritual, these cohanim bless the congregation with their hands raised and their fingers spread.

The Women of the Wall event is being held in collaboration with the estate of the late Leonard Nimoy, the Jewish actor best known for his role as Spock, the half Vulcan character in Star Trek who popularized the priestly gesture in his famous salute. Nimoy died last year.

Funding provided by the Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy estate is meant to help Women of the Wall advertise the event as well as bus in women from around the country so that they can attend at no cost.

In a statement, Women of the Wall noted that Nimoy “took something precious from antiquity and brought it to the ‘future.’ His benediction ‘Long live and prosper’ takes one of the best messages from the Jewish faith and transforms it into a universal message of peace, purpose and prosperity.”

The statement said the event was meant to “offer women a unique, spiritual and empowering experience on the Jewish world’s stage: the Western Wall.”

Twice a year, once during Sukkot and once during Passover, on the interim days of the holiday known as Chol Hamoed, a mass priestly blessing of the public is held at the Western Wall. The event is typically attended by thousands.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who serves as the custodian of the Western Wall, has in the past tried to block Women of the Wall from engaging in practices reserved exclusively for men in Orthodox Judaism.

Close to two months ago, the government approved an agreement that would have created a special prayer section at the southern expanse of the Western Wall, where non-Orthodox Jews could hold their own separate prayer services. According to the agreement, Women of the Wall were to have moved their prayer services to this new section.

But as opposition to the agreement among the ultra-Orthodox parties has mounted, its future now hangs in the balance. Rabinowitz, who was originally party to the agreement, has since withdrawn his support.