Clever guy that I am, I'd been planning for weeks on using Frank Zappa's 1971 road movie, 200 Motels as the 200th movie quiz. Finally, the historic event rolled around, and I posted the picture clues on Sunday night and went to bed. When I woke up Monday morning, I learned that Jimmy Carl Black-- the cowboy in pic #1-- had just passed away the day before!

Since I don't want to be responsible for any more deaths, perhaps it's just as well that quiz #200 was already intended as the final entry of this blog. And the truth is, I was supposed to shut things down around the end of September, but I was so close to the 200 mark that I decided to be like Bartleby the scrivener-- I preferred not to leave, at least for awhile.

But now it really is time to close up shop. As the very last of the old CP bloggers to dodder off into the sunset, I have mixed emotions about turning out the lights after all these years and changes.

I'll certainly miss hearing from all the people who have played the quiz week after week, and the group that's been checking in over the past year or so is the best and funniest bunch I've ever had. Many weeks, they wrote the entry for me, and other than the improvement, no one ever missed me.

I've said a public goodbye to this blog a few times in the past, only to return like the bad penny I am. But this time the finger-painting on the wall regarding yours truly appears to be indelible. I'm not expecting to be showing up anywhere else, but go ahead and Google me now and then, if you're so inclined-- I'll appreciate the thought, if nothing else.

(You might also check in here and here-- there's still nothing more at either site than the last time I posted about them, but that may change.)

So congratulations and a truly fond farewell to the following quiz winners: Wayne Palmer, John Seffl, Joe Rosenberg, Mark Gisleson, Vick Mickunas, E. Yarber, BoneDog, The Curmudgeon, Bill Hearne, ron frigstad, Kevin Lafferty, Dave Mallow, Fred Lorence, Mick Arran, Thomas Miller. Tupac Sotut, Song-Un Lee, Christina O'Sullivan, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Kevin Musolino, and Bob Redwing.

And since it wasn't the easiest of quizzes to go out on, I'd be remiss if I didn't also say thanks to some other quiz regulars: Jim Moomey, letra minuscula, Dean Carlson, Bill Kelly, Tim Smit, Shannon M. Quinlan, Mojo Marshall, Denny Lynch, Vince Tuss, Paul Rignell, Bob Aulert, Donald Greene, Kenneth Gramer, Michael Mattson, Spencer Abbe, and Jack Sparks.

Finally, special thanks and sincerest gratitude to Corey Anderson for always being in my corner with an encouraging word (I don't think it's a coincidence that everybody else at the old CP named Corey as their favorite co-worker), and to Wayne Palmer and Eric Yarber, who have stuck with the quiz and yours truly since the very beginning (2003!)-- I've never met either but now count them both as good friends.

And to all of you . . .

(And of course you can still send me an email, so please do.)

A milestone of a quiz, if I do say so myself-- when I started this feature over five years ago, I had no idea it would go on for so long! So this seemed to be the perfect choice, even though it's far from the perfect movie. If you recognize it, send me an email by late Sunday with the title. If you're right-- and even if you're not-- you can join me next week for the bittersweet celebration of our final winner's circle. And that's not a clue.

"The quiz movie is Oliver Stone's The Hand-- but why??" "That's Stone himself [in pic clue #1] as 'Bum,' a role he continues to enact for many of us." "I just finished reading Michael Caine's autobiography and he mentioned the experience of making this film as one of his low points." "Saw it when I was a teenager. I think this was the moment that I realized, 'Oh, so good actors can make crappy movies, too!'"

Yes, there was no quiz winner love lost on Stone's second directorial effort. There was none at the box office in 1981, either-- it kept him from making another film for five years. (Too bad he didn't do it before Natural Born Killers.) Still, give it some credit: it was better than his first movie, Seizure, starring Jonathan "Barnabas" Frid.

So congratulations and a caress from the title character to the following winners: Bob Redwing, Shannon M. Quinlan, Tupac Sotut, Letra Minuscula, Larch Johnson, Dave Mallow, Wayne Palmer, Song-Un Lee, E. Yarber, Christina O'Sullivan, Thomas Miller, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Fred Lorence, BoneDog, TMiss, Michael Mattson, Bill Hearne, Tim Smit, Mick Arran, and Kevin Musolino.