Oz in Jeopardy! (A Little Bit)

There was not a lot of Oz content in the Tournament of Champions quarterfinal match shown on Tuesday, February 19. But there was some Oz-ish content. First off, during the contestant interviews after the first commercial break, Ashok commented on one of his incorrect Final Jeopardy! responses (as seen in this blog entry). The Wizard of Oz didn't come up, but his brother did get him a copy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and made sure he knew about it. Then, after the second break, came the Double Jeopardy! round, in which the final two categories were

and There was no Oz content in either category, however. The first one was about other famous movie wizards, and the second was about roads painted by famous artists (which is a specialized category that I doubt we're going to see very often again).

Today's Not-at-all New Oz Comic

I don't know how I missed this edition of Bizarro back when it ran in 2011. Fortunately, my man in Japan, Michael-sensei, alerted me to it, and I'm passing the alert on to you. Enjoy!

Save the Chesterton Oz Festival

The Chesterton Oz Festival in Indiana, one of the oldest and longest-running of the many Oz festivals around the country, is in danger of disappearing. They need new sponsors. So, as you can imagine, there's a petition going around, but it hasn't got many signatures yet. You can help! So go sign it already! Then spread the word!

Oz in Jeopardy! Tournament Edition

They did it again! Two Oz clues in two consecutive games. But this time around, they really mattered. Oh, not the clues themselves, but the games they are in. You see, this is February. Which means sweeps on television, where shows trot out the big guns so that more people will watch. Which means Jeopardy! has back-to-back tournaments, and both of these clues were in tournament games — two different tournaments, even.

First up, on February 12, was the second game of the two-day finals of this year's Teen Tournament. Our players were, from left to right, Nilai, a freshman from Georgia; Barrett, a senior from Kentucky; and Leonard, a senior from Arkansas. It was getting towards the end of the Double Jeopardy! round when this clue turned up for $1200 in the category Film Fest:

Barrett rang in first and correctly responded, "What is The Wizard of Oz?" It didn't help him much, however. Although he was a close second after the first match, he was way behind Nilai at that point — and then they both ran into a buzzsaw named Leonard. He was a distant third after the first match, but he then went on a tear, and made a gutsy move on a Daily Double that paid off, and he managed to salt away not only the game but also the title. It was one of the best finishes to a tournament I've seen in some time!

The next day was the first match of this year's Tournament of Champions, where the best players from the previous year return and duke it out for a lot of money and, more importantly, bragging rights. And when I saw that a category in the Jeopardy! round was Gingham Style, I just knew Oz would come up. Sure enough, in only the second clue of the game, for $400:

Jason, at the middle lectern, rang in first and said, "Who is Judy Garland?" which is, of course, correct. (They don't get many wrong answers in this tournament!) He did not go on to win, but came a close second, and may very well have enough to qualify for the semifinals as a wild card. We'll find out tonight!

The Latest Oz Comics Reading

There were two more Oz-related titles in the last comics order:

• Fables #125. After over a decade, Snow White finally gets an arc named for her. But there's no Oz content in this issue. Next!
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West ongoing #3 (which Big Dog doesn't have up on its site anywhere yet). After an encounter with some angry apple trees, Scarecrow is reunited with Tin Man and Lion, and introduces them to Tip and the Sawhorse. The Field Mice have it out with the Wheelers, and General Jinjur is having some issues with Pipt. I am really enjoying this series, but I gotta wonder when Gale and Toto are returning.

The 2013 Winkie Conventon Research Table

(I'm putting this up in just about every Oz- and writing-related forum that I can think of, I may as well include it here.)

2013 WINKIE RESEARCH TABLE

Submissions are invited for the 2013 Winkie Research Table. Our goal is to put on a great research table, with a large number of quality submissions, to encourage new writers and artists, and to explore a large range of Oz expression.

Authors, Researchers and Artists are invited to submit their work for consideration for awards at the 2013 Winkie Con. The three categories that will be judged are Fiction, Non-fiction, and Art.

There is no entry fee. All work must be original, related to the world of Oz, and not previously published of exhibited in any form, including online and digital publication. Items may also be submitted for the 2013 Winkie Convention Program Book or may have already been accepted for publications to be released after the convention, but please send a separate copy in to the research table.

Fred Otto Prize for Oz Fiction

$100 First Prize
$50 Second Prize

"Oz Fiction" is defined as any original, fictitious story about or pertaining to the Land of Oz as originally created by author L. Frank Baum in the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and its sequels, but stories need not be confined to Baum's vision. Submissions about or pertaining to the Land of Oz in any of its forms will be accepted. Stories may follow on from Oz books, Oz plays, Oz movies, Magic Land, or any other version of Oz.

Maximum length for submissions is 10,000 words long. Excerpts from longer pieces will also be accepted. Work should be submitted electronically. Hard copy may be submitted if needed.

Use standard manuscript style: double-spaced, 12 point type, 1 inch margins, page numbers at top right. Include your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number at the top of the first page of each submission. Include the title of your submission halfway down the first page and at the top left of every subsequent page.

Electronic submissions in .pdf, .txt, .rtf, and .doc formats will be accepted until April 30, 2013 at research@winkies.org. Put the words "Oz Fiction" in the e-mail subject line. Hard copy submissions will be accepted until April 15, 2013 at Eric Gjovaag, 1521 S 15th St., Sunnyside, WA 98944-2513. All submissions will also be submitted to the editor of "Oziana", the International Wizard of Oz Club's annual fiction anthology, for consideration.

Warren Hollister Prize for Oz Non-Fiction

$100 First Prize
$50 Second Prize

"Oz Non-Fiction" is defined as any original, non-fiction article or essay about or pertaining to the Land of Oz as originally created by author L. Frank Baum in the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and its sequels, but stories need not be confined to Baum's vision. Submissions about or pertaining to the Land of Oz in any of its forms will be accepted. Submissions may follow on from Oz books, Oz plays, Oz movies, Magic Land, or any other version or aspect of Oz.

Maximum length for submissions is 10,000 words long. Excerpts from longer pieces will also be accepted. Work should be submitted electronically. Hard copy may be submitted if needed.

Electronic submissions in .pdf, .txt, .rtf, and .doc formats will be accepted until April 30, 2013 at research@winkies.org. Put the words "Oz Non-Fiction" in the e-mail subject line. Hard copy submissions will be accepted until April 15, 2013 at Eric Gjovaag, 1521 S 15th St., Sunnyside, WA 98944-2513. All submissions will also be submitted to the editor of "The Baum Bugle", the International Wizard of Oz Club's journal, for consideration.

Rob Roy MacVeigh Prize for Oz Artwork

$100 First Prize
$50 Second Prize

"Oz Art" is defined as any original expression that does not fall into either of the other two categories, and is about or pertaining to the Land of Oz as originally created by author L. Frank Baum in the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and its sequels, but stories need not be confined to Baum's vision. Submissions about or pertaining to the Land of Oz in any of its forms will be accepted. Submissions may follow on from Oz books, Oz plays, Oz movies, Magic Land, or any other version or aspect of Oz.

Artwork will be judged at the Winkie Convention. Therefore all art submissions need to be either brought to or sent to the convention, or arrangements must be made by the artist to deliver and, if needed, return pieces. Any portable form of art or craft work is acceptable, but costumes are only eligible for either the research table or the costume contest, not both.

If you wish to enter art for the research table, please inform the research table folks at research@winkies.org and provide a description or electronic version by May 30, 2013. Put the words "Oz Artwork" in the e-mail subject line. Hard copy submissions will be accepted until April 15, 2013 at Eric Gjovaag, 1521 S 15th St., Sunnyside, WA 98944-2513. All submissions that can be printed will also be submitted to the editor of "Oziana", the International Wizard of Oz Club's annual fiction anthology, for consideration.

Awards

Prizes will be awarded at the 2013 Winkie Con, June 21-23, 2013. To enter and win you need not be present at the Winkie Con, though attendance is encouraged: http://hungrytigerpress.blogspot.com/p/winkie-convention.html http://hungrytigerpress.com/winkiecon_registration_2013.pdf To enter and win you need not be a member of the International Wizard of Oz Club, though membership is encouraged: http://www.ozclub.org/The_International_Wizard_of_Oz_Club.html Winners not in attendance will be notified in the week following the 2013 Winkie Con and prizes mailed. To keep things fair, each winner will be limited to only one award in a category.

For further inquiries and questions, e-mail research@winkies.org.

Today's Mystery Oz Comic

This comic was recently posted on Facebook. Trouble is, I have no idea which comic it is, or what year it was published (although we at least have the 6-30 for a date). Go ahead and enjoy it, but if you can also help identify it, that would be awesome. UPDATE: Thanks to Jared (for those who don't read the comments), we now know that that's the June 30, 2007 edition of Tundra. (Since their archives only start in 2008, we can't link to the original.) Jared also shared this other cartoon from the same artist.

The Latest Oz Reading

The new comics order came the other day. And you know what that means, don't you? That's right, new Oz comics! The first thing I read was Marvel's The Road to Oz #4. Yup, still good! This issue covers the escape from the Scoodlers through to the gang's meeting with Tik-Tok and Billina and the arrival at the Tin Woodman's new palace. So about the only new thing in here was Johnny Dooit. He looks pretty impressive (the little bowler hat was a nice touch), but what really suckered me in was his toolbox. Wow, Skottie Young really went to town on that!

Today's Oz Comic

Kids, go take a look at today's One Big Happy, then take a look again at that photo in the third panel. Is that the Scarecrow on the left? It sure looks like it to me! Then, who's that on the right? Could it be the Wizard? So that must be an old photo of an Oz convention! After all, the Easter Bunny is a character in the Oz books, too. (Don't believe me? Take a look at Merry Go Round in Oz again.)

Okay, Super Bowl is done for me

It's not even halftime yet, but I don't need to watch any more of the game now, as I've already seen this:

Not a lot that appears to be new, it all looks pretty familiar from earlier promos. The big ol' cloud of flying monkeys at the end was pretty cool, though. (Imagine that in 3-D!)

Oz in Jeopardy!

Someone among the Jeopardy! writers must have Oz books on the mind right now, since Oz literary clues popped up two days in a row. First up, in the game for January 21 (my birthday, in fact), this clue popped up for $400 in the Jeopardy! round, in the category Table of Contents (you have to identify the book based on the given chapter(s) named):

Barbara, the challenger in the middle, rang in first and correctly responded, "What is Wicked?" And for once, the one who got the Oz clue right went on to win the game! So, the very next day, Barbara uncovered one of the two Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy! round, which was under the $800 in the category Literary Last Lines (identify the book by its last line): Barbara had had a rough game to that point, but she had $2000 and decided to make it a true daily double by betting it all. Of course, she correctly said, "What is The Wizard of Oz?" and doubled her score. However, she ran into more troubles and a couple of other good players, and came in third. Still, nice knowledge of Oz there!

Today's Blast from the Past Oz Comic

I've shown "vintage" Oz comics here before, but never quite like this! F. Douglas Wall found this old 2008 edition of Pardon My Planet, giving us a very clever mash-up of two old movies.

Something to Look Forward to Sunday

Not interested in rooting for the '49ers or the Ravens on Sunday? Well, you may want to watch the big game anyway! It looks like there's going to be a spot for Oz the Great and Powerful! There's even a preview for the spot right here!