For another week . . .

Unfortunately, I'm going to be away for the next week, and most likely won't have access to a computer from which to post. Once I get back, however, I hope that posting will pick up again, somewhat uninterrupted.

Until then, take care, and have a great week!

Hard drive woes

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. One of the main reasons has been the fact that a few days ago, I started having problems with my external hard drive, which is where I store almost all of my video (especially the video I upload for this site). I've been focused more on trying to fix that (among other things), and less on posting. For that, I apologize -- as you know, I had been posting, on average, at least once a (week-)day for a while. That should happen again soon. For now, though, know that new videos are not appearing because of technical difficulties (and not a lack of content or dedication).

Thanks for your understanding, and hopefully, things will return to normal soon.

That's strange . . .

Yesterday, TDS and TCR broadcasted reruns of their episodes from last Wednesday, but according to the commercials that aired during last night's episodes, they should be back with new episodes today. Their respective websites, however, do not reflect this . . . which will it be?

UPDATE: The sites have been updated, and there are indeed new episodes starting tonight! Brian Williams will be the guest on TDS, and Bill Rhoden will be the guest on TCR.

(Note: The image, for those who are wondering, is from the July 26, 2006 episode.)

Filming "The Colbert Report"

Sorry for missing a post yesterday, and also for the fact that there haven't been any discussions centered around any TDS or TCR episodes for the past few days. Don't worry -- they'll come. I've just had a busy few days . . .

In the meantime, thought, I just wanted to share this link I came across (on the EZTV forums) -- this person went to a taping of The Colbert Report, and wrote about it on his or her LiveJournal page. The entry is here, and it is a very interesting read, especially for those of us who want to know what it's like at a taping (I know that I would really like to go at some point).

(NOTE: There is a bit of offensive language in the post.)
(Note #2: The image is from the June 14, 2006 episode, for those who were wondering.)

Colbert web-base

Here I was, thinking that ColbertNation was the only "fan"site devoted to Stephen Colbert, and more specifically, the Report, out there . . . but then I stumbled across a few others. Included among them are "Colbert's Heroes", the self-proclaimed "#2 Colbert Report Fan Site" (after ColbertNation, of course); "No Fact Zone.Net", which has establised itself as "a Stephen Colbert fan-operated blog and reference oriented web site", whose mission "is to aggregate as much information as possible about Stephen Colbert into a comprehensive web site, and to foster a community for the Colbert fans out there on the World Wide Web"; and "OSCLA: The Official Stephen Colbert Love Association", which is a small community of fans professing their love/lust for Colbert, the man (the name is a play on NAMBLA, which was also a running joke at The Daily Show).

It gets (even) more interesting, though -- and more politically charged. These aren't just fansites devoted to The Colbert Report -- for example, in response to Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, the website "Thank You Stephen Colbert" (I've known about this one since the Dinner) was started, encouraging people to post personal "thank-yous" to Stephen for what he said. At the time of this writing there are over 61,900 thank-yous, and that number is bound to keep rising. A seemingly-related (if in layout alone) site has also popped up, "Candidates for Colbert", which is devoted to helping to fundraise for candidates the site has determined "embody Stephen Colbert's spirit of courage and honor". Then there is "Colbertocrat.com", which is the internet base for a political party rallied around a single cause: "We want to compel Stephen Colbert to run for president." How serious they are is difficult to ascertain, but there are already 183 signatures on their petition.

And, last but not least, there is a fanfiction piece that is very funny -- and if you are a fan of both the Harry Potter series and The Colbert Report, you really should take the time to read it: "Harry Potter and the Eagle of Truth", by Christine Morgan. And then, of course, there is the as-yet-unpublished work of the good Dr. Colbert himself -- "Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Janson Adventure" (which might even be adapted as a comic book) -- but can that really be classified as fanfiction?

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland's TCR interview

"This has been called a 'do-nothing Congress'. Is it safe to say you're the do-nothingest?"

Another now-infamous "Better Know a District" segment, which originally aired on the June 14, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report. This installment interviewed Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, from Georgia's 8th district. What particularly lit up the internet and news venues was the moment where Stephen asked Rep. Westmoreland to name The Ten Commandments, which the representative is pushing to have displayed in certain public buildings. Westmoreland's inability to name them all earned him a lot of criticism from many people, who openly commented about it on the internet.

Rep. Westmoreland did say, however, when talking about his interview experience, that, "The only part about it I didn’t like was when (Colbert) asked me did I know the Ten Commandments. I named off seven, but on the show he only gave me credit for three [. . .] Other than that I had fun." In addition, this other article also quotes Westmoreland saying some things that clarify his stance on representation and sticking to his campaign literature.

This was the other interview mentioned during the July 25th episode of the Report, which addressed the network news' coverage of this, as well as Rep. Robert Wexler's, interview. You can watch the video here.