Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

Youngest son (and fellow Colbert Report junkie) clued me into the launch of a new app from the Colbert Nation which features clips of all of Stephen Colbert's " The Word ." Now you'll never be more than a screen tap away from Stephen's truthiness. This may be the single best reason ever to get an iPhone. You can view the featured (most recent) Word, or choose by date--all the way back to 2005. You can go by the title and by most popular. Or select Random and pull up some long-forgotten Wisdom from any of the past five seasons. Best 99 cents you'll ever spend! Screenshot shamelessly nicked from TheNoFactZone -- best source of information on All Things Colbert. Follow the link for more information and additional screenshots.

The Colbert Report's week in Baghdad is over now and by any measure was a great success, from the shout-outs from the likes of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Jim Webb, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, and Bush father and son to the interviews with the troops and their leaders. Here's a recap for the week, which hardly touches on the funniest bits. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Recap - Week of 6/8/09 www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq I've already mentioned bits from the first two nights. The funniest from Thursday's show surely had to be Stephen's interview with the commander of the Thunderbirds, and the subsequent film of his joyride. -- Oh my God! Favorite line (as he's strapped into the back of one of the Thunderbirds). Airman : Stephen, if you could just not touch anything back here... Stephen : Does this drop the bombs? While a lot of fun, the show made a number of serious points. S...

Another fab show from Stephen, with a follow up on his "basic training" film from yesterday. More silly and inspired. The drill sergent deserves an Emmy. This was followed on a long riff on "don't ask - don't tell," which was both pointed and funny. The best (though not the funniest bit) was his interview with two of the troops - a woman MP and Arab-American translator.Coupled with the "don't ask/don't tell" references made earlier, the unmissable point was how diverse today's army was. It transcended being a comedy show bit. For even more information, I recommend heading over to the No Fact Zone -- they've got some great content about this trip. I promise a link to tonight's show tomorrow sometime; as soon as it's available.

Just watched the first of the Colbert Reports broadcast from Iraq as part of USO entertainment for the troops stationed over there. Fantastic! I don't want to give anything away, but it was one of the best, with a pointed Word segment that the audience seemed to eat up, a couple of hilarious filmed segments, and some special guest appearances. I'll post a link or embed it when it appears on the ColbertNation.com website. One of the stated reasons for Colbert's doing this is to remind people there are still a bunch of people serving over there; a fact that has slowly been crowded from the front pages by news about the economy. By now you may have heard about Stephen's on-camera buzz cut -- he puts in a quick cameo in this clip as he tells a graduating class to stay strong. Thanks again to No Fact Zone for the tip off! A great American - whether in character or not. Thanks, Stephen! Update: here's the full episode from Monday on ColbertNation.com .

The New York Times is reporting Stephen Colbert is taping his show this week before the troops in Iraq. The shows will be aired starting June 8 (tomorrow). He's been talking about doing this for some time now. This ought to be an amazing set of shows This guy is amazing -- in addition to this trip, Colbert sponsors a site called d onorschoose.org which raises money for school supplies for children of soldiers, and uses the proceeds for his WristStrong bracelets (from when he broke his wrist during the show's warmup) to help injured veterans. Don't ever confuse the man with the character he plays. Thanks and a hat tip to the No Fact Zone for alerting me to this.

Birthday wishes to America's favorite faux right-wing blowhard. Stephen Colbert turns 45 today. What do you give a man who has everything , including our undying devotion? Head over to the No-Fact Zone for more fan-based adoration. Thanks for all the truthiness, Stephen!

Finally! A decision on the Node 3 naming contest. Astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams appeared as a guest on the Colbert Report tonight and announced NASA's decision. Cut to the chase: they are not naming Node 3 after him. (Surprised? If so, why?) The new Node 3 name will be...drumroll... Tranquility . Colbert affected mock surprise and outrage. "You promised you'd put my name in space!" he protested. Referring to notes written on her hand, Suni revealed that in August, NASA would be launching the "Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill" (a.k.a. the C.O.L.B.E.R.T). The treadmill will include the patch (see above). Suni said when astronauts need to work out, they'll say, "Time for me to jump on COLBERT." The thought obviously pleased Stephen. On the NASA page , Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, explained further, "Apollo 11 landed on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility 40 year...

Update! The NASA " Name the Node 3 Page " states they will announce the new Node 3 name on the Colbert Report on April 14! Can they dare call it anything besides Colbert? By choosing this venue to unveil the new name they are practically guaranteeing they've decided to name some part of the Node (if not the Node itself) after Stephen -- a toilet or urine processing unit at the very least. From the press release: NASA TO ANNOUNCE NEW SPACE STATION MODULE NAME APRIL 14 WASHINGTON -- NASA's newest module for the International Space Station will get a new name on April 14. The agency plans to make the announcement with the help of Expedition 14 and 15 astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." The program will air at 11:30 p.m. EDT. The name, which will not be publicly released until the program airs, was selected from thousands of unique suggestions submitted on NASA's Internet site, www.nasa.gov . The ...

Quick update on the Colbert/NASA naming battle. On tonight's Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert put it to NASA: two weeks and no announcement even thought he's the clear winner in NASA's online vote to name Node 3. Despite NASA's tight-lipped reaction to his victory, official support is beginning to surge. Traffic to posts on this site about the vote outcome has included more than a few hits from within NASA, indicating interest is running high within the agency itself. Congressman Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania has come out in support of Colbert, saying, "The people have spoken and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square. We insist on democracy in orbit." NASA, feeling the pressure, has implied its willingness to name Node 3's toilet after Colbert. No word yet on when America can expect an answer. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Space Module: Colbert - Urine Recycling Room comedycentral.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Na...

I confess I've been shamelessly whoring for hits the last week or so by continuing to post updates re: the Stephen Colbert / NASA Node 3 naming game. Over half my traffic came from searches on Google for "Colbert NASA" or some variant. As of this evening I'm the 6th and 10th search result on Google for those terms. Amazing. It shows just how popular this particular meme has become. Web stats generated by Google Analytics and Stat Counter (both free services) showed "Colbert" and "NASA" were the top search terms. Below are some of the more interesting places from where visitors came. housegate10.house.gov gnat.generalmills.com unallocated-(xxxxxxx).mcafee.com (xxxxxxx) .google.com (xxxxxxx).larc.nasa.gov Although Colbert / NASA are popular, other persistently popular pages include one on fixing up hard drive partition issues (I get a lot of foreign visitors for this one) and for a while, a page republishing some piece of spam I got. For about a...

Okay -- this is extremely unofficial and third hand, but after some Googling about, I found a post on the No Fact Zone which claims the final numbers on the Node 3 on-line vote were: Colbert: 230,539 Serenity: 190,196 Numbers (allegedly) courtesy of NASA’s Jacob Keaton. Hopefully releasing these won't be a career-limiting action on Keaton's part. It must be repeated, NASA has left themselves an out by stating the name should "reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station, and follow in the tradition set by Node 1- Unity- and Node 2- Harmony." Uh-huh. So the Firefly Fanboys may get naming rights, but Colbert Nation gets the glory. Again, in the spirit of compromise, if NASA can't bring themselves to name Node 3 after Stephen Colbert, the least they can do is name the Urine Processor Assembly after him. SCUPA -- it has a nice ring to it. A tinkle, as it were. ( Thanks to No Fact Zone for ferreting out the numbers . Consider them ...

Okay, the voting ended yesterday for NASA's Name That Module contest, er, survey. While the official results have not been announced, the unofficial tally seems to have it that Colbert whipped the competition , outpolling NASA's own fave, Serenity. Even the Firefly Fanboys couldn't come to the rescue. The "winner" is scheduled to be announced in April. Even before this started, NASA reserved the right to disregard the outcome of the vote, if they felt it didn't "reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station, and follow in the tradition set by Node 1- Unity - and Node 2- Harmony. " In other words, no way in hell are they going to name it "Colbert." Okay, we probably all knew that from the start. I'd like to suggest that NASA strongly consider, at the very least, naming the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) portion of the module after Stephen. It seems only fair. When astronauts are taking a number one, th...

Today was the day of our George Mason campus visit. We arrived (late) at the Johnson Center (home of the Admissions department) and joined our tour (already in progress) led by bright enthusiastic student Ambassadors, who answered parent and prospective student's questions. After a walk around the campus where the dorms and major academic buildings were pointed out, we grabbed lunch at the Johnson Center and hit the bookstore for GMU t-shirts and the like. We wandered over to the Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering, where we were fortunate enough to catch up with the Associate Chair of the department. She sat and talked with us about the program for a good 30 minutes -- not bad for having no appointment. We left extremely impressed and pleased with our choice of George Mason. All this is beginning to get real for youngest son. As it was only about 2:45, we headed into DC via the Metro. Students can take the free GMU shuttle to the Vienna/Fairfax station but w...

According to the Discovery Channel website, Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report is now outpolling NASA's officially sanctioned name for Module Number 3. As of March 11, the tally for "Colbert" stood just shy of 115,000 votes, with Serenity trailing at 98,641. More than 451,000 people have voted. If you haven't voted yet, go to the NASA site - you can vote once a day - and check the box labeled "Suggest your own" and enter Colbert . Hurry though. Voting ends March 20. UPDATE: NASA to announce name on the April 14th Colbert Report!

Ayn Rand is to Conservative/Libertarian Free Market True Believers what Mary Baker Eddy is to Christian Scientists (or is that what L. Ron Hubbard is to the Scientologists?). She is the originator and high priestess of "Objectivism," a religious cult for the non-religious which elevates the individual's tendency to be a self-absorbed, selfish prick to evidence of the divine. Its major tenet, boiled down to layman's terms, is "Fuck you, I got mine." As a side note, despite Libertarians' commendably progressive views on gay rights, Rand's views on homosexuality were considerably less enlightened: she held that it was immoral and disgusting . Some of her prophets (profits?) include Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, and pretty much the entire Cato Institute. As you might imagine, she's very popular on Wall Street and in Board Rooms all across America. The Randistras' Bible is her novel " Atlas Shrugged ," where in all the world's l...

Quick reminder: NASA is having a (we suspect) slightly bogus "vote" to name a new module on the International Space Station. Stephen Colbert has called on all loyal Colbert Nation fans to sneer at NASA's wimpy suggestions ("those are organic teas") and instead name it after him . Go to the NASA site - you can vote once a day - and check the box labeled "Suggest your own" and enter Colbert . Go on, you know you want to. Serenity, NASA's officially sanctioned name, is sinking fast. Hurry though. Voting ends March 20. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Stephen Becomes Scientology's Galactic Overlord Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Rap Battle Joke of the Day

It's bad enough Rush Limbaugh would rather have us suffer than see Obama successful. He's just a bloated loudmouth. But Pete Sessions? He's an elected official, sent to Washington by his Dallas constituents to represent their interests. Do they really want him to play Texas Taliban ? "Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," sez Pete. "We need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with." He goes on to say, "If they do not give us those options or opportunities then we will then become insurgency..." In other words, despite the fact we got our asses handed to us in the 2008 election, if we don't get our way, we're going to be as disruptive as hell . As usual, Stephen Colbert sums it up better than I ever could. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word - Loyal Opposition Colbe...

Lawrence Lessig, one of my heroes, was on Colbert Report last night, pushing his new book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy , about how current copyright law is hampering creativity and commercial opportunities, as well as criminalizing our youth. Lessig has written for years about copyright and intellectual property issues. His last 3 books are available for purchase as hard copy or free PDF download . The man walks the walk, not just talks the talk. Damn -- he gave as good as he got from Colbert, not an easy thing to do. Enjoy. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Lawrence Lessig Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview Here's a more extended presentation by Lessig (about an hour) from November 2008 at NYU.

Thanksgiving has nudged out Christmas as my favorite holiday. Maybe it has something to do with the Christmas displays appearing in stores before Halloween. Just to make it a Triple Colbert week, here's the cast of the Colbert Christmas Special singing Elvis Costello's (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding -- that's Elvis in the bear suit. I can't think of a better holiday message. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Peace, Love and Understanding Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview

If you've not seen the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special yet (shown on Comedy Central) you owe it to yourself to catch it next time it's shown. Or pony up $19.99 and buy the DVD (a portion of the proceeds benefit Feeding America ). Brilliantly cynical and cheery all at the same time. Here's a preview! The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c A Colbert Christmas: Another Christmas Song Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview