Arctic Mark in Stanley Park

The results are finally in!! Well, my results at least. I heard back today from the CBC about my individual score on "Test The Nation II: Watch Your Language!" and my score was - wait for it - 59 correct answers out of 70 questions! This works out to a little over 84%, which is a pretty respectable score, if I do say so myself :-) I will always be humbled, though, (as will all the other contestants) by the knowledge that I was outgunned by a 17-year-old high school student from the Word Gamers team who works part-time designing crossword puzzles for the New York Times. This whiz-kid apparently scored a perfect 70 out of 70, and won a $5000 travel voucher for his efforts. You can't help but hate - I mean love! - him. I do feel a special kinship with him, though, because my part-time job in Grade 11 was also in the field of journalism: delivering newspapers by car to apartment blocks at 6 am.

No word yet on the broadcast date for the show, although the producer, Molly Duignan, told me that the CBC brass are tickled pink over the high ratings for "Test The Nation: IQ" on Sunday, March 18. Apparently there were about 1.5 million viewers for the show that night. That's a lot of eyeballs for advertisers (about 3 million - yes, as you can tell, I'm also a "mathlete" - bring on the "Test The Nation" Math Quiz!), so I'm thinking it's looking good for an indefinite run of different "Test The Nation" shows for the foreseeable future. There'll be quizzes on all kinds of subjects: math, science, history, sports, the arts, geography, dental hygiene...the possibilities are limitless.

Well, it seems that the recent epidemic of NQSM (National Quiz Show Mania) is dying down a little now (at least in my own feverish brain), so it's about time to shift my focus back to all things northern, and return to writing posts about local life again. I guess that means I'll have to get out and take some more pictures soon, too, now that we've passed the vernal equinox, and now have slightly more than 12 hours of daylight per day.

But in the meantime, I'm still always available for press conferences, photo-ops, backstage parties, and of course, autographs.

ciao for now, dahlings,

let's do brunch soon,

you look FAB-ulous,

have your people call mine,

[fake kiss]


Mark