Addiction has long plagued man (and woman).  (Even, as was shown at the Central Park Zoo a few years ago, polar bear.)   There are the standard traps—alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, and, if you are a polar bear, your 9 by 12 artificial arctic pool.   But addiction is not only a by-product of human nature, it’s also a creature of its time.  As a result, there are always new and interesting practices that people can get taken over by—crystal meth, online shopping, computer gaming, non-stop twittering or facebook checking (non-stop “stat” checking if you are a blogger), texting while driving, the 24 hour news cycle.  Even worse than an addiction to the 24-hour news is an addiction to the 24-hour celebrity news cycle;  worse than that, is the intense craving for celebrity status itself–the obsession with achieving fame.

Some addictions are obviously more damaging than others.  I, for example, view an addiction to either (a) Robert Pattinson, or (b) the Twilight books, as relatively benign.  They may be damaging to one’s reputation as a serious and/or thoughtful person, but they  are a relatively cheap indulgence, don’t truly harm others (except, perhaps, a thoroughly bemused spouse), and can even be satisfied in chocolate.  (See e.g. new Twilight assortments with foil wrapped and embedded portraits! )

Both Twilight and Pattinson also have the absolutely most healthy quality an addiction can have, which is that they get pretty boring pretty quickly.  (No offense, Rob; it’s not you so much as the dialogue.)

The addiction to the pursuit of celebrity status is a little more troubling.   Recent examples include Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the couple who crashed last week’s White House State Dinner, and Richard Heene, the father of the “Balloon Boy,”–all people apparently addicted to the pursuit of their fifteen minutes.

What’s more worrisome to me, however, is the Salahish, I mean salacious, pursuit of celebrity by people who once played serious and dignified roles in our culture.   I particularly mean people in the news business, who seem, increasingly, to want also to be people “in the news.”

In the early years of televised news, there was a dignity to the newscaster–Walter Cronkite, Frank McGee, David Brinkly, were TV personalities, but soberly somber.   We all know how this has changed in more recent years.   The reasons are obvious and not new—advertisers want ratings, outrageous and/or boorish commentators, perky blonde reporters, and “news” which is really entertainment (i.e. reality shows, sports, sensational crime shows) apparently achieve them.   Recently, however, the “celebritization” of newspeople on TV has not only become more intense, it has also spread to other sections of the press, which, due to commercial pressures and online versions, have  become increasingly TV-like.  For example, the New York Times now posts photos and videos, and advertises blogs and tweets, of its op-ed writers.  To some degree, this is useful;  you can better understand the overall stance of a commentator, and, if you like, you can read a lot more of them, but sometimes, well, you end up wanting to read a whole lot less.

Politicians increasingly crave “celebrity-style” status as well.  (Yes, Sarah Palin.)  As Colbert has demonstrated through his “Colbert bumps,” it’s better, election-wise, to be known, even if slightly ridiculed.  (Ideally, if apearing on Colbert,  it’s better to be known, and if ridiculed, also good humored.)

I guess people want circuses, even when bread is in short supply.

Watch Movies Online | Download Full Movies » Strangers with Candy
A prequel to the critically acclaimed series featuring Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie, ex-con who returns to high school in a bid to start her life.

GAZPACHOT: Strangers with candy…
Strangers with candy… I just cant stop looking at this photograph. What a long way weve come… By the way, I dont believe that Obamas deep bow in Japan was a sign of weakness. If the most powerful man in the world wants to buck …

Watch Movies Online | Download Full Movies » Strangers with Candy
Get Access to Download Full Strangers with Candy Movie Online , Download Strangers with Candy Movie , Watch Strangers with Candy Online Free , Strangers with Candy Movie Trailers Here. Watch full Strangers with Candy online streaming . …

TGIF: Strangers with candy.
Ill take Calitexicans bike for dessert. with a side of yehuda moon. easy on the flirting, Im vegetarian. – to go, thanks. los flowerized. flowerized.

If youve never seen the Strangers With Candy movie, DO IT NOW!
If youve never seen the Strangers With Candy movie, DO IT NOW!

rvb_slash: Then things got complicated…
“Strangers with candy.” He ushered him out closing the door behind him. Tucker grabbed his arm. “Church?” “Yea?” He answered turning toward him. Suddenly Tucker stood on his toes and pressed his lips to Churchs, clutching at his …

On Hulu Now: Strangers With Candy » The Yale Herald
A transcript, from Season 1, Episode 4 of Strangers With Candy: Jellineck: Say, Jerri. What was that all about? Jerri: Mr. Noblet wants me to snitch on a friend. Jellineck: Snitching doesnt seem like you, Jerri. …

Sprites Keeper: SPOOKY Cycle: "Go ask that stranger for candy."
My girls go at my husbands office so I dont know if that counts as asking strangers for candy (they are strangers, but we know a lot about them). Otherwise, they only go to the 8 houses in our neighborhood and while those people are …

<em>Glee</em> Recap: Strangers with Candy… The Musical! | Best …
VH1 Best Week Ever Blog – Comedians Michelle Collins, Dan Hopper, and Tom Ganjamie scour the internet for the funniest online video, pop culture news, and celebrity photos.

If I drink nothing but water, will it help me lose weight?
I’m taking a creative writing course down at a university because I want to be an author one day. I am currently 17 years old and I go to a private catholic high school. I am also in 11th grade. Turns out that I’m the only boy in that class…The other 7 students are girls and the professor is as well. The class is open discussion and stuff, so we all talk to one another and we also take turns reviewing each others work. There’s these 2 girls who sit across from me in that class: One is a junior, like me, and the others a sophomore…They’re both pretty but I think the sophomore is especially cute. I myself, I guess I’m not too bad looking… I’ve had girls tell me I’m cute before…Honestly, I’m a really shy person…I’m not very outgoing or enthusiastic. When I’m supposed to do something in class I’m usually really sarcastic and funny about it and I can make a lot of the girls in class laugh. I honestly don’t know what exactly these girls think of me….. I’m not interested in hooking up with them or anything, but I don’t know if they like me (in a friendly way) or if they’re just teasing me for fun and think I’m a loser… Some stuff that’s happened includes… 1.) On Halloween, just for fun, we played this game where we went around in a circle and had to make up a continuation of a random story… Everyone in the class laughed when I said something… (usually it was really random or stupid..) The sophomore, when it was her turn, said I got eaten by a bunch of zombies and she was like all “haha, your dead..” (kind of like a 5 year old) I would sometimes say some random horror icon entered the story when it was my turn… The junior across from me ‘freaked out’ in like a funny way and was like “WHAT IS WITH YOU AND THESE MONSTERS??” (She didn’t really say it in an angry way..) 2.) All the girls in class were constantly taking candy from the table and the 2 girls across from me started arguing (again, in a goofing off way) that the other one was going to get fat from eating all the candy. The sophomore then was like “I think YOU should get all the candy” (cuz i hadn’t taken any..) Then the Junior was like SHOVE THAT ALL IN YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW (it was a lot of candy..) I just smiled and I was like “Maybe next time…” 3.) These two girls have given very long reviews of my work in class, first off saying that they liked it, and explaining how it interested them, but also saying very dramatic things like “It was beautiful!” and “That was awesome!!” (I don’t think those were really sarcastic remarks though, I think they honestly liked what I wrote…) 4.) Today, the sophomore asked me why I never talked and begged me to talk more. The two girls asked what my full name was, age, where I lived, what it was like there, and they also talked about what their homes and schools were like…The sophomore asked me if I had seen that new horror movie “The Fourth Kind”, which I hadn’t, and said that it was so scary that she slept with her parents that night. 5.) The two girls started calling me by my entire name (First, middle and last) and asked if I thought they were annoying. Later, when walking around in a book store, they spotted me and I acted like I was running away and then the junior caught up to me and gave me a hug. The two of them then started following me around the store like stalkers so I just acted like I didn’t notice them. The junior commented on how she was acting like she was in kindergarten again. When we were walking around, she would keep looking back at me, smiling. 6.) While walking through the city, some dude came up to me (speaking in rhymes) and said he could tell I liked hip-hop. I told him “No, actually…” and he asked if there was something wrong with my head and I was just like “I guess so…” The sophomore came up to me and asked what happened and said I should have negotiated to get the cd the guy was selling for free. I said I wasn’t supposed to take things from strangers…what if I listened to the cd and then got HIV or something??… I think she thought that was kind of funny. I’m not interested in having girlfriends or hooking up with these girls..They live in a different city than I do anyway. Honestly, I don’t really have much experience being around girls, so I don’t really know what to think.

Do you think these girls like me in any way, shape or form?
I’m taking a creative writing course down at a university because I want to be an author one day. I am currently 17 years old and I go to a private catholic high school. I am also in 11th grade. Turns out that I’m the only boy in that class…The other 7 students are girls and the professor is as well. The class is open discussion and stuff, so we all talk to one another and we also take turns reviewing each others work. There’s these 2 girls who sit across from me in that class: One is a junior, like me, and the others a sophomore…They’re both pretty but I think the sophomore is especially cute. I myself, I guess I’m not too bad looking… I’ve had girls tell me I’m cute before…Honestly, I’m a really shy person…I’m not very outgoing or enthusiastic. When I’m supposed to do something in class I’m usually really sarcastic and funny about it and I can make a lot of the girls in class laugh. I honestly don’t know what exactly these girls think of me….. I’m not interested in hooking up with them or anything, but I don’t know if they like me (in a friendly way) or if they’re just teasing me for fun and think I’m a loser… Some stuff that’s happened includes… 1.) On Halloween, just for fun, we played this game where we went around in a circle and had to make up a continuation of a random story… Everyone in the class laughed when I said something… (usually it was really random or stupid..) The sophomore, when it was her turn, said I got eaten by a bunch of zombies and she was like all “haha, your dead..” (kind of like a 5 year old) I would sometimes say some random horror icon entered the story when it was my turn… The junior across from me ‘freaked out’ in like a funny way and was like “WHAT IS WITH YOU AND THESE MONSTERS??” (She didn’t really say it in an angry way..) 2.) All the girls in class were constantly taking candy from the table and the 2 girls across from me started arguing (again, in a goofing off way) that the other one was going to get fat from eating all the candy. The sophomore then was like “I think YOU should get all the candy” (cuz i hadn’t taken any..) Then the Junior was like SHOVE THAT ALL IN YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW (it was a lot of candy..) I just smiled and I was like “Maybe next time…” 3.) These two girls have given very long reviews of my work in class, first off saying that they liked it, and explaining how it interested them, but also saying very dramatic things like “It was beautiful!” and “That was awesome!!” (I don’t think those were really sarcastic remarks though, I think they honestly liked what I wrote…) 4.) Today, the sophomore asked me why I never talked and begged me to talk more. The two girls asked what my full name was, age, where I lived, what it was like there, and they also talked about what their homes and schools were like…The sophomore asked me if I had seen that new horror movie “The Fourth Kind”, which I hadn’t, and said that it was so scary that she slept with her parents that night. 5.) The two girls started calling me by my entire name (First, middle and last) and asked if I thought they were annoying. Later, when walking around in a book store, they spotted me and I acted like I was running away and then the junior caught up to me and gave me a hug. The two of them then started following me around the store like stalkers so I just acted like I didn’t notice them. The junior commented on how she was acting like she was in kindergarten again. When we were walking around, she would keep looking back at me, smiling. 6.) While walking through the city, some dude came up to me (speaking in rhymes) and said he could tell I liked hip-hop. I told him “No, actually…” and he asked if there was something wrong with my head and I was just like “I guess so…” The sophomore came up to me and asked what happened and said I should have negotiated to get the cd the guy was selling for free. I said I wasn’t supposed to take things from strangers…what if I listened to the cd and then got HIV or something??… I think she thought that was kind of funny. I’m not interested in having girlfriends or hooking up with these girls..They live in a different city than I do anyway. Honestly, I don’t really have much experience being around girls, so I don’t really know what to think.

Do you think these girls like me in anyway, shape or form?
i just got a new bike, and everyone (including strangers) have stopped me to tell me how nice it looks. my goal now, is to make the bicycle less appealing (no eye candy), and i’ve heard you can “tape” your bike. how? google search got me nowhere.

How do you duct tape a bicycle?
1.If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation? 2.If parents say, “Never take candy from strangers” then why do we celebrate Halloween? 3.Why do doctors leave the room when you change? They’re going to see you naked anyway. 4.If girls with large breasts work at Hooters, then do girls with one leg work at IHOP? 5.Why do we sing “Rock a bye baby” to lull a baby to sleep when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle on the ground? 6.Why do people say “heads up” when you should duck? 7.Why do they report power outages on TV?

How would you answer these random questions?

If parents say, “Never take candy from strangers” then why trick or treat?
I live in NSW Oz and on the 31st i had alot of children and teenagers come to my house. I was concerned as some of these children were little and were un supervised. We spend so much time explaining stranger danger to our children and make sure they know not to go into a strangers house, is halloween diminishing our efforts of keeping our kids safe?? Candy is enticing to children and there are so many ways people could use it to manipulate the innocence of a child. I think its an American tradition and one that they hold importantly and i respect that, but should we encourage it in Australia? If u asked any child the history of Halloween would they be able to explain it? Am i just over reacting or does anyone else feel the same?Its just a thought of mine and i would be interested to hear your thoughts. I am 20years old and a child care worker i do not have children of my own but i do know easily a child can be manipulated!

Parents of Aussie kids and halloween. your opinions please voice yours!!?
I live in NSW Oz and on the 31st i had alot of children and teenagers come to my house. I was concerned as some of these children were little and were un supervised. We spend so much time explaining stranger danger to our children and make sure they know not to go into a strangers house, is halloween diminishing our efforts of keeping our kids safe?? Candy is enticing to children and there are so many ways people could use it to manipulate the innocence of a child. I think its an American tradition and one that they hold importantly and i respect that, but should we encourage it in Australia? If u asked any child the history of Halloween would they be able to explain it? Am i just over reacting or does anyone else feel the same?Its just a thought of mine and i would be interested to hear your thoughts. I am 20years old and a child care worker i do not have children of my own but i do know easily a child can be manipulated!

Halloween i Australia what are your views? please read all opinions encouraged!?
Who had the best candy? Who’s candy was hard and long? And who went trick or treating a second time?first answer floppedooooh hooflex u had lots of it LOL

How many strangers gave you candy last night?
Okay, i’ve never ever been trick-or-treating. Not even as a little kid. Its wrong! The number of times people say to their kids ‘Don’t take candy from strangers, you don’t know what can happen’ Or ‘Don’t talk to strangers’ And by letting them go trick or treating your encourging them to knock on strangers doors and get candy from them! What do you think?

Trick-or-treating is WRONG (read decription)?
I know what most Australians do, but do Americans parents really send their kids out at night knocking on strangers doors, asking for candy?? Isnt this a bit dangerous?

Strangers with Candy is a television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10 p.m. (ET). It was replaced by the Comedy Central show Strip Mall.

The series’ main character, Jerri Blank (played by Amy Sedaris), was a runaway returning to high school as a freshman at age 46 at the fictional Flatpoint High School in the town of Flatpoint.

Created and written by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, and Mitch Rouse, the show was a spoof of the after school specials of the 1970s and 1980s and was also inspired, at least in part, by a 1970 public-service film, The Trip Back, that featured a reformed drug addict named Florrie Fisher (see “Origin” below). Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello, and Rouse were cast members of the short-lived Comedy Central series Exit 57; they, along with Greg Hollimon and many other stars of the series, were also alumni of Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe.

According to the show’s animated introduction, Jerri ran away from home and became “a boozer, a user, and a loser” after dropping out of high school as a teenager, supporting her drug habits through prostitution, stripping, and larceny. She has been to prison several times, the last time because she, in her words, “stole the TV.”

Every episode featured a theme or moral lesson, although the lessons were often amoral or warped; in an episode about eating disorders, Jerri learns that it’s OK to become an anorexic because it will get people to pay attention to you. When Jerri’s father passes away in the episode “The Goodbye Guy,” Jerri learns the valuable lesson, “You never really ‘lose’ your parents. Unless of course they die. Then they’re gone forever. And nothing will bring them back.” In another episode, Jerri learned that “violence really isn’t the only way to resolve a conflict, but it’s the only way to win it.”

Each episode ends with the cast and other featured actors from the episode dancing.

The series was first envisioned by Dinello and Colbert, both of whom had seen a Scared Straight!–type public-service film called The Trip Back, in which motivational speaker Florrie Fisher recalled her days as a New York prostitute to a group of high-school students. Seeing that Fisher strongly resembled their friend Amy Sedaris, they showed her a copy of the tape and, suitably impressed with Sedaris’s imitation of Fisher, began developing a series based around the idea of Fisher going back to high school herself. The three, along with Mitch Rouse, combined this concept with lampooning the after school specials they had all been subjected to in high school, along with the short-lived mid-1990s teen series My So-Called Life. Much of Jerri’s past is taken from anecdotes in The Trip Back, some of which were also included in Fisher’s autobiography, The Lonely Trip Back. Several lines of dialog in the series were taken verbatim from Fisher’s public-service film.

It is arguable that Jerri Blank has become even more famous than the woman that inspired her; while Strangers with Candy became a cult success, Florrie Fisher sank into obscurity in the 1980s. Today, much speculation among fans of the series revolves around finding out whatever happened to Fisher.

On February 7, 2006, movie company ThinkFilm announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to a feature film based on the series. The film, a prequel to the television show, was completed in 2004 and acquired by Warner Independent at Sundance in 2005, but release of the film was delayed due to legal clearance issues. Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello reprised their roles for the film; several other characters were recast. In addition to acting, Colbert is a co-producer and Dinello is a director for the film. Worldwide Pants, a production company owned by comedian David Letterman, was also a producer. This is the company’s first feature film production. A teaser trailer for the film was released in April 2006 (see “External links”). The initial theater release was June 28, 2006, in the New York City area, followed by the remainder of the United States on July 7. A DVD of the film was released in November 2006. Amy Sedaris said of Jerri Blank that “she’s like a rash; you never know when she’s going to pop up.”

strangers with candy movie, strangers with candy quotes, strangers with candy dvd, strangers with candy trailer, strangers with candy cast, strangers with candy school, strangers with candy episode guide, strangers with candy pictures, strangers with candy band, strangers with candy episodes, Jerri Blank, Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, Flatpoint High, high school, Noblet, DVD, Comedy Central, Greg Hollimon, episode, Geoffrey, Chuck, IMDB, Florrie Fisher, After-School Special

A bit late, but still worth a watch.  Colbert eviscerates Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri and reveals the latest in efforts of evil gay activists.

By the time you see Stephen Colberts wild ride on his Comedy Central show, itll be a neatly packaged laugh riot.

But in no way will it resemble reality.

Source:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/thetoydepartment/2009/11/test_2.html

Regular readers of this blog might recall my recounting — check that, my buddy Seth’s recounting — of The Omir Santos Incident.

With the game hanging in the balance, Mets Manager Jerry Manuel summoned Santos, owner of a career .650 OPS in the minor leagues, to pinch-hit with two outs and a chance to win it.

As Seth, a big Mets fan, screamed:

650 CAREER MINOR LEAGUE OPS!
he hits one grand slam and all of a sudden he’s carlton fucking fisk.
i almost always a) have patience with managers and b) give them the benefit of the doubt.
jerry manuel should be fired. today.
i am actually eating the stressball in my office.
i think i need a doughnut.

But wait, there was more. Santos wasn’t just brought in cold from the bench. Manuel summoned Santos from the bullpen, where he was warming up a pitcher. It took a good three minutes for Santos to pull off all his catcher’s gear, grab a bat, take some practice swings and scurry to the plate. Major League Baseball decided that this wasn’t just a colossally stupid move by the Mets manager. It was also, somehow, a nefarious attempt to ice Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom. So MLB fined the Mets for the move. Fined them! As I wrote at the time, to paraphrase Sir Dr. Stephen Colbert, DFA, this was The Craziest F#?king Thing I’d Ever Heard.

But wait, there’s more!

Matt Wieters is a supremely talented catcher who had a solid if unspectacular rookie season. Still, his performance was clearly the best by any rookie this year, a nearly 2-win performance according to FanGraphs. So when Topps released its All-Rookie Team today (h/t Baseball Think Factory), you had to figure that Wieters would get the call behind the plate.

Nope. Topps scoured the major league landscape, evaluated all rookie performances, and finally found their man.

Omir Santos.

Punting the game by pinch-hitting with a guy in the bullpen who’s spent his entire adult life proving he can’t hit a baseball? That’s ludicrous.

Fining the person who made the move by arguing that he was somehow trying to gain an advantage for his team? That’s The Craziest F#?king Thing I’ve Ever Heard.

Naming that same no-hit wonder to an All-Rookie team? That’s The Second-Craziest F#?king Thing I’ve Ever Heard.

UPDATE: Friend of the site, Beyond The Boxscore honcho and Baseball Prospectus contributor Tommy Bennett apparently read my mind. As I was composing this post, he sent this preposterous .jpeg along.

Oh, Omar Santos. We can’t quit you.

We’re fat, can barely fly, and love to get slaughtered!

(pic is from here)

I am behind the times… I probably should have written about Stephen Colbert’s callout of Canada a while ago, but hey, it’s been fun listening to the slagging and counter-attacks since it all started on November 5th.  If you are not sure what I’m talking about, American comedian Stephen Colbert has recently challenged his followers to support the American Speed Skating team after the team lost its sponsorship funding.  And he’s succeeding!  However, he’s also claiming that Canada is not allowing fair access for American speed skaters to the Richmond Olympic Oval!  You can watch his callout here (scroll forward to the 4 minute mark), and our “Chief Syrup Sucker’s” return challenge here.

Stephen Colbert - pushing Canada's buttons!

I hope that he does come up during the Olympics and take up the post of Olympic Ombudsman to prevent discrimination against American athletes (complete with uniform – a pink toque) as offered by our “Chief Syrup Sucker” Ted Townsend, the Senior Manager of Corporate Communications for the City of Richmond.

So far, it has been fun watching everyone get riled up!  Heck, I’m even riled up!  I’m no Saskatche-whiner!  Well, the mittens are down, we’ll just have to wait and see where it goes from here!

*     *     *     *     *

Have you entered someone for my latest pin contest yet??  I’m giving away a great Visa Mascot pin and all you have to do is get a friend to comment on a post this week with your name and the answer to the following question:

What are the names of the Mascots from the Montreal 1976 and the Calgary 1988 Olympics?

If you would like more than one entry to win this pin then make sure to tell more than one friend about 2010vanfan.ca!!  And don’t forget to enter your friend’s name too!  But get your entries in before the evening of Sunday, November 29th!

Win this pin for a friend!

*     *     *     *     *

It’s hard to believe that we’re less than 80 days away from the beginning of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics (and only 30 days from Christmas!)!  Where does the time go?  Anyhow, I’m always keen on finding out what people would like to see on this site, and on Saturday my very good friend Elspeth asked for videos!  I would love to host them here, and may in the future, but for now I’m playing with adding them to my 2010vanfan group page on Facebook and including links to there.  So here is my first experiment.  Let me know if it works, or if you have other ideas how I can accomplish this task!  And while you’re there, join the group for 2010vanfan updates!

The GE Plaza opened at Robson Square yesterday!  Here is a little video clip of the Vancouver 2010 Mascots skating during the opening.  I particularly like Quatchi playing tag with Miga!

Thank you merci!

guitar: Elvis Costello
vocals: Stephen Colbert

Love it!

(couldn’t find the video, but someone put the audio up!)

more Colbert goodies. My favorite (after ‘Cheap Reward’ of course) is ‘Charlene (I’m Right Behind You)’.

I must hand it to Stephen Colbert, he pulled quite the fast one last week. As many of you know, Mr. Colbert came out with guns blazing last week calling Canadians “iceholes” and “maple syrup suckers”, in response to the availability, or lack thereof, of venues in Vancouver for foreign athletes. The comments caused and uproar and even spurned Canadian officials to respond with offers and challenges aimed at Colbert.

What many of these officials, and probably many viewers, failed to realize is that Colbert has used this incident to pull the wool over all of our collective eyes. He was recently named the major sponsor of the American speed-skating team even though he will not personally donate any money to the squad. He intends to generate donations and sponsorship from his fans in ‘Colbert Nation’. One way of doing this is by generating attention to his cause, which he did by creating this patriotic controversy. By bashing Canada and making it seem like the Americans were wronged by being given limited practice time, he has created the illusion of an “Us versus Them” scenario. Good on Colbert.

By creating this controversy, he will most likely generate a large amount of viewer sponsorship, which in turn will increase the amount of exposure his ‘Colbert Nation’ will get. So let’s review this; Colbert bashes Canada,  rallies Americans against Canada, viewers sponsor Colbert’s team, Colbert’s show gets promoted on the world’s biggest stage for free essentially and WE are unsportsmanlike. I invite Mr. Colbert to look in the mirror.

While you may gain some fans south of the border, you have definitely lost (at least) one in the Great White North. I only have one thing left to say to Colbert; Suck it…our maple syrup, that is.

Dear Elvis Costello and Stephen Colbert, you win.

The love of my life.

Don’t be so creeped out.  He sent me this picture of us.

This article and embedded video is all about mocking Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri for vetoing legislation that would grant same-sex spouses the right to claim their partner’s body and plan funeral proceedings.  This is GREAT stuff!  Enjoy!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/17/colbert-destroys-ri-gover_n_360313.html

In light of my recent post about Biz Stone’s remarks about Rupert Murdoch’s displeasure over his News Corp titles being linked to by Google News, I decided to do some more research on Twitter. I’ve never really gotten the gist of it – I tried to get into it about a half a year ago, but couldn’t. I’ve always understood and appreciated the importance it has played in citizen journalism and political life – protests in Iran and updates on the Mumbai terror situation. Twitter has undoubtedly enhanced social media and revolutionized citizen media. We no longer receive day-old news. Updates are instantaneous and we can find out what is happening around the globe with the click of a button. I found this video on ComedyCentral.com – it’s pretty funny and made me realize aspects of Twitter that I did not know of before.

What really interested me about Stephen Colbert’s interview with Biz Stone was the co-founder’s plans for a business model. Many think that because Twitter does not generate any revenue, they lack a business model, which is untrue. Stone has sort of a delayed business plan, which he admits is a slow process. People can really learn something from Stone – not to rush into anything and let things unfold as they may.

We have studied different types of business models for online and independent newspapers/magazines in my Independent Media class. Most organizations subscribe to a consumer-supported business model, or an advertiser-supported business model. They either receive money from subscriptions or advertising. For the past two years Twitter has tested out alternative methods to rack in some revenue. Whether it’s partnering with businesses to get products more notoriety or enhancing features on their search bar, Stone is doing what he can to prevent his site from either accepting money from advertisers or charging users for subscriptions. Business Week blogger David L. Smith does a good job of outlining the test models.

Whether these models actually work are in question. But it would be interesting to see if any of them do work. They could fundamentally change the way independent businesses receive funding for their projects.

kayBEE.

Yesterday I came home to find a package waiting for me…

What could it be…

My copy of Peter & Max by Bill Willingham and…

… my awesome Stephen Colbert tote bag!

The best part is that I only spent a total of $5.18! That’s right, the shipping was free because it added up to over $25 and I had a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Oh the joys of frugal online shopping

AOL asked me to write a blog post this week on all the comic invective directed recently toward Glenn Beck, knowing that both his defenders and detractors would come out of the woodwork to wage war in the comments section.* And come they did, by the tens of thousands, thanks in part to a headline on the AOL welcome screen that overstated my concern about some of the more below-the-belt spoofs. (“Attacks on Beck Crossing the Line: Our Writer Says Recent Parodies Are Anything but Funny: Skits Under Fire”)

Now, I’m not a Beck fan, as even a cursory reading of the article would make clear. If anything, the assignment gave me an excuse to embed videos of several Beck-lampooning sketches, some of which I think are perfectly fair. The best of these was the Stephen Colbert monologue embedded at the top of this post, which perfectly mimics Beck’s performance style, calls him on his BS, and does so without resorting to ad hominem attacks. What I objected to was those sketches that got personal — Jon Stewart appearing to make fun of Beck’s recent health woes, Andy Cobb taking Beck’s icky incest fantasy from his book The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland out of context to imply that Beck really meant it (he did not; he was merely making an offensive analogy to gay relationships), and The Onion wishing for Beck to die a violent and gory death (a video that contains some NSFW language).

I’ll admit, I actually thought all of these were funny, even the ones I found squirm-inducing and inappropriate. But I also thought that they made the tactical and ethical mistake of stooping to Beck’s level. Ad hominem attacks, quoting people out of context, and wishing people dead may be things Beck does routinely, but his critics won’t win any converts by doing the same.

That seems unfair, that Beck’s critics should have to play by rules that he won’t follow, but only by maintaining a higher standard than Beck will his critics avoid being charged with hypocrisy, a charge Beck defenders will use as an excuse to ignore the substance of the criticism.

That doesn’t mean Beck shouldn’t be fair game for ridicule; indeed, I think ridicule may be the only thing that can discredit him. But there’s a right way to do it, one that allows his critics to maintain the moral high ground, and a wrong way. Besides, its easy enough to skewer Beck for his public actions; there’s enough fodder there without having to skewer him for who he is in private as well.

________

*By the way, there’s little that’s more depressing to me than the vast chasm, as seen in the comments section of my AOL post, between the pro- and anti-Beck factions. Both sides seem to live in mutually exclusive realities. Beck supporters believe he’s the lone voice of truth in journalism (which doesn’t speak well of the rest of the Fox News talking heads), the only person who’s asking tough questions of the Obama administration (which is somehow fascist, socialist, and communist at the same time), someone whose every assertion is backed by “facts” and “truth” (because no one is calling his red phone to challenge his claims), and someone who so frightens liberals (based on the kinds of attack clips embedded in my post) that he must be doing something right. The Beck loathers think he’s either an idiot, a loon, a huckster, or some combination of the three; an entertainer trying to pass himself off as a journalist; someone whose every assertion is a lie, backed by video clips carefully edited to distort and take out of context the quotes of his ideological foes; and as big a threat to America as Beck fans think President Obama is. Both sides are quick to resort to insults and name-calling (did no one actually read my post?), both dismiss evidence cited by the other side as tainted by the bias of its source, and neither seems able to agree on something as basic as the meaning of such concepts as “facts” and “truth.” How will we ever bridge such a gulf when we can’t even agree on basic premises?

I think Beck is a demagogue, but I also think the populist anger he taps into is genuine. His viewers get that they’re being robbed by powerful special interests, but not that Beck is channeling their anger toward the wrong targets (ACORN, SEIU, and other groups of relatively powerless blue-collar and minority Americans) — or that this self-described “rodeo clown” performs this act of misdirection at the behest of the real culprits, in order to hide their crimes and to distract Americans from who’s bamboozling them by sowing discord among them. It’s going to take a real Wizard of Oz moment to pull back the curtain on Beck; instead of a Toto, maybe it’ll be a satirist like the dogged Colbert who will expose him.

From Raw Story:

Sarah Palin has accused the reporters fact checking her new book of doing opposition research. Stephen Colbert says she knows the facts aren’t on her side.

WIN
When your show is supposed to be comedy, but is still more credible than other news shows.

(Stephen Colbert)

And his compadre

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SF Chronicle and L.A. Times both review Zadie Smith’s Changing My Mind.  The Millions comment on the reviews “non-committal, guarded praise” and go on to call it “wunderkind jealousy”.

The Guardian says of Smith, “criticism is a bodily pleasure“.

Time Out New York weighs in on Changing, name drops a bunch of other great writers while doing so.  End up liking the book.

Lit.

• The FBI kept an eye on Studs Terkel, considering him a “suspected communist”.  Surprised?  Saul Bellow wouldn’t have been, he though Terkel was a “Stalinist”.

• Over at HTML Giant, a video of author Mike Heppner.  The man has great concentration while driving and talking, this impressed a great deal. He also says that a Dan Brown book isn’t publishing, it’s a “buisness transaction”.  I like this guy.
  

• The Faster Times interview Palestinian author Ghada Karmi.

• Lit Kicks continues to “Ponder Proust“.

• “Our Man in Boston” tackles Boston Noir.

O-bow-ma

• A rabbi weighs in on our president bowing to a head of state.  Pulls out the Megillah.

• Conservatives expose Obama for the pinko he is.  Bowing =’s Stalinism.  Proof that when we are all in the work camps, we will probably be forced to be courteous to each other.

• Of course stupid liberal media goes ahead and tries to play clean up crew.

• Our favorite conservative pundit, Stephen Colbert weighs in, “that bow makes Obama look weaker than Rove’s chin!“

• Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. bowed.  But of course, I’m sure it was a different kind of bow.  One with authority and stuff.  Not some liberal/commie sorta gesture.

Playlists, top 10’s, etc.

• Author David Henry Sterry (Hos, Hookers, Call Girls & Rent Boys) gives us a playlist of the top 25 songs about sex workers.

• The Strokes vs. The Libertines in a battle for the decades #1 at NME.  Who wins?

• NPR picks the best recordings of the decade.  Awkward picture of Sam Beam (Iron and Wine), Norah Jones, Wilco, and Kelly Clarkson sorta sums up the decade where the line between “indie rock” and “mainstream” was totally blown up.  Thanks.

Okay, we are a teeny bit excited about the new Twilight film.  So what?

• Lev Grossman weighs in on the phenomenon.

• How New Moon is gonna save Hollywood.

• Meanwhile, we are a little bit more excited about the prospect of Lorelai and Rory Gimore making a movie full of snappy dialogue and L.L. Bean influenced styles.

And finally.

• McSweeney’s interview with a trapeze artist.

• Andy and Conan reunite via Zach Galifianakis.  Deep secrets are uncovered.

• Those Smurf movie jokes that Conan and Andy Dick make may not be that far fetched.