IQ: Did you host a classic film show on an Ontario-specific TV channel?
(For some reason, I am having a real problem thinking of “Y” people!)
1: You are not Ymir, the Venusian monster from Ray Harryhausen’s first color film 20 Million Miles To Earth.
2: You are correct about Martin Yan.
3: You are not Yoko Ono.
Nothing in the DQ answers so far rules out a performer of some sort. Canadian writer/performer? I can’t think of any ‘Y’ people from SCTV or Kids in the Hall.
DQ1: Are you a performer of some sort?
I’ll hold on to DQ2 while I ponder some more.
No, I’m not Elwy Yost, blessed be his memory. Saturday Night at the Movies on TVO was how this film buff got his fix for years, and the interviews between features were outstanding. Elwy Yost remembered films that writers, directors and actors had forgotten about, and his deep love of cinema was evident in every word he spoke.
No.
Summary - Y
- Real person.
- Last name begins with the letter ‘Y’.
- Still alive.
- Not American.
- Male.
- Born since 1950.
- Not European.
- Entertainer.
- I am from North America.
- I do not do my work in front of live audiences.
- I have won major awards for my work.
- I am a writer.
- Not Mexican.
- Not a novelist.
- I write in English.
- Not a performer
Outstanding DQs -
3 to Elendil’s Heir, who has offered them around
1 to ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness
I’ll use one of Elendil’s Heir’s DQs:
Do the works you author consist mainly of non-book projects such as films, plays, TV or radio scripts, etc.?
“North American” to me means from the U.S., Canada or Mexico (a la NAFTA). Anything further south in this hemisphere is Central or South American (or Caribbean, I suppose). May we have a clarification, please, Ministre?
Yes, you may. In my opinion, the question ‘Are you American?’ is intended to refer to a citizen of the United States of America, and would not cover a Greenlander, Canadian, Mexican or Jamaican person. I correctly answered ‘No, I am not an American’. ‘Though I could be mistaken for one’ is a way of saying that this persons’ citizenship may not have leaped out at you.
There is no descriptor other than the name of the country for the region of North America where this person comes from. Geographically speaking, North America includes Central America, Greenland and the Carribean. Culturally speaking, most people use North America to describe Mexico, the USA and Canada only, a la NAFTA. Our language can be so painfully imprecise, sometimes.
I will come out and say ‘I am Canadian’, largely because I don’t want you folks to waste a DQ on that with only 3 left to go.
Yes.
Summary - Y
- Real person.
- Last name begins with the letter ‘Y’.
- Still alive.
- Not American.
- Male.
- Born since 1950.
- Not European.
- Entertainer.
- I am from North America.
- I do not do my work in front of live audiences.
- I have won major awards for my work.
- I am a writer.
- Not Mexican.
- Not a novelist.
- I write in English.
- Not a performer
- I am a scriptwriter, possibly including films, plays, TV or radio scripts, etc.
Freebie to compensate for linguistic imprecision - I am Canadian.
Outstanding DQs -
2 in the name of Elendil’s Heir, who has offered them around
1 to ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness
Thanks for clearing that up, Ministre.
No point asking any more IQs. Any DQs anyone else would like to ask? I’m still stumped.
I’ll take one of EH’s DQs:
DQ: Do you write for a strongly visual medium (e.g. TV, theater) as opposed to audio?
Yes.
Summary - Y
- Real person.
- Last name begins with the letter ‘Y’.
- Still alive.
- Not American.
- Male.
- Born since 1950.
- Not European.
- Entertainer.
- I am from North America.
- I do not do my work in front of live audiences.
- I have won major awards for my work.
- I am a writer.
- Not Mexican.
- Not a novelist.
- I write in English.
- Not a performer
- I am a scriptwriter, possibly including films, plays, TV or radio scripts, etc.
- I write for a strongly visual medium like TV, Theatre or Film.
Freebie to compensate for linguistic imprecision - I am Canadian.
Outstanding DQs -
1 in the name of Elendil’s Heir, who has offered them around
1 to ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness
Well, Hell, it would seem that I’ve gone and done it again…
What’s going to help? Do you want hints as to what might be a useful DQ? Other types of hints? I just want to put this puppy down and get on with the game.
I have to say that I fear that the ‘Canadian’ thing may be throwing you folks a bit - I’m not speaking of someone that won a Gemini award for ‘Atanarjuat II’ that only ran in a Toronto rep cinema for a week. He has won and been nominated for awards you would have heard of (and probably watched the ceremony for) for works you would have likely seen and certainly heard of.
For the record, I’m not a very good DM in D & D, either - I kept devising places that nobody could get out of alive…
Well, Zacharias Kunuk did win a Best Director Genie award for Atanarjuat. 
(In fairness, I’ll admit that I had to Google that.)
Nope, I’m stumped. I vote for some kind of hint.
Well, you have been the closest so far…
I’ve got a google-aided guess… it sounds like we’re at the point where we’re okaying these, but I’ll put it in a spoiler box in case anybody’s way more stubborn than I am.
Are you Graham Yost?
My own guess would be that Enginerd has it.
I’ll use up my last one trying to narrow down the award.
DQ: Have you won an Oscar for either Best Screenplay (either Original or Adapted) or Best Director?
No.
It is, however, moot, as Enginerd and Spoons have indeed guessed correctly - I am
Graham Yost.
Graham’s films include ‘Broken Arrow’ and ‘Hard Rain’, the awards include a pair of Emmys, (out of four nominations) he is the creator of ‘Justified’.
But his biggest claim to fame is undoubtedly the film ‘Speed’. Speed was the first film script he sold, according to this interview.
I will leave it to the rest of you to determine who should start the next round.
Does anybody who hasn’t gone yet want to start the next round? I’m happy to do it, but I’m all for getting more poster involved as well.
I’ve heard of those movies and the TV show, of course, but never of him. Enginerd, you haven’t been “It” yet, have you? I’d say you should start the next round.
And have a look here: Botticelli - the letters we've used so far - Thread Games - Straight Dope Message Board
Well done, Enginerd!
As an aside, I had no problem crafting a question around Elwy Yost, Graham’s father (I actually managed to speak with Elwy about movies a few times, as he worked in a building across the street from where I was working back in the early 1980s, and I often encountered him in the area). But Graham was more difficult. I had a feeling that Elwy’s son had done some work in film, but I was unsure exactly what; and moreover, not exactly sure what his name was. It is difficult to craft an IQ under such conditions, so I’m glad that Enginerd could come up with his name.
So, Enginerd, take us into the next round!