Hello, Hubsters!
Well, this post was hard to write. Do you want to know why? Because it’s VERY difficult to type while you’re jumping up and down, cheering. And that’s what I’m still doing from last week. Every episode was amazing…and then we had that showstopping week-ender! I’m still trying to process it all. But, as my dance hero David Hallberg tweeted (with the link to the latest New York Times article on Stephen): ”Is there anything Stephen Colbert can’t/won’t do…?” My answer: No—he’ll try anything and everything if it will bring a little good to the world…and, of course, make us laugh. (He emphasizes the latter and downplays the former, but Stephen, we’re on to you!)
The Colbert Report begins the week with a very appropriate guest for Martin Luther King Day and ends with an expert from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while The Daily Show gives us a little political biography, two actors, and one TBA.
Monday, 1/16: Rev. Scott Douglas
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Birmingham, Alabama is an important city in the history of the civil rights movement, and in King’s life. It is also the home of the organization headed by Reverend Scott Douglas. He’s the executive director of Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), a “multi-faith, multi-racial organization dedicated to serving people in need, pursuing justice, and building stronger communities.” With representatives from over 20 religious faiths, GBW works with low-income people/families, and focuses on solving practical, immediate problems, be it buying groceries or paying the electric bill. At the same time as it dispenses charity, the organization engages in political action to enable long-term structural change in society. According to an article on The Birmingham News, Scott will discuss Alabama’s draconian immigration law, which has sent non-documented workers fleeing the state. (And as Stephen has pointed out, left fruit rotting on the tree without anyone to pick Alabama’s famed peaches.)
In 2009, Douglas ran for mayor of Birmingham, but he did not win the race.
Here’s a video of Douglas protesting new laws designed to suppress voters’ rights.
Like GBM on Facebook.
Read an article Scott Douglas wrote on MLK and the continuing struggle for equality today.
Here’s another article on the Alabama law, with more details and commentary from Douglas and others.
Tuesday, 1/17: Jennifer Granholm
PLEASE NOTE: At present, the link to the book A Governor’s Story is not working, but it is correct. It seems to be a temporary glitch on the site, so I’m leaving it in hopes the problem will be solved later.
Jennifer Granholm, the former two-time governor of Michigan, visited Jon less than six months ago to promote her book, A Governor’s Story. Now she has a nightly show of her own on Current TV (the post-MSNBC home of Keith Olbermann) called The War Room, and she’s coming to the Report to discuss this new venture. Granholm has said the show will focus on the 2012 elections, which presumably means she’ll be talking a lot about Stephen now that he’s in the race—oops, sorry, I meant to say, creating an exploratory committee to look at the possibility of him running for the President of South Carolina. Granholm promises a program that’s “dynamic, fun, and informative” for “political junkies.” With any luck, she’ll do as well in her ratings as she did in her second election for governor, where she received the largest number of votes ever cast for that position. The War Room is set to premiere this month, and if it’s successful, Current TV (co-owned by Al Gore) should be thrilld, because these days things have been a little touchy with Olbermann, their biggest star and only household name.
Huffington Post has written an article announcing the new show.
Read an interview with Granholm in Salon.
She answered questions for Politico.com—mostly rather lighthearted ones, rather than the hard-hitting political type.
Here’s a PBS video of Granholm discussing what it takes to help women win political office. By the way, Granholm is Canadian-born, so she won’t be joining the presidential race unless our laws change. (In which case she might have to do battle with Ah-nold Schwarzenegger.)
Granholm discusses her “sustainability legacy” in Michigan here.
To view my former post on Granholm, written for her TDS appearance and featuring more links, go here.
Wednesday, 1/18: David Frum
Tuesday was liberal; Wednesday it’s time for a conservative. David Frum is a columnist for CNN.com and Daily Beast/Newsweek; the author of six books, including Comeback: Conservatism that Can Win Again (2007); and editor of the FrumForum.com website. He also served as a special assistant to George W.–and wrote a New York Times bestselling memoir about the experience called The Right Man. (He seems to like punny titles.) Frum also worked on Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for president, which, as a native New Yorker, I think is almost enough to damn him for eternity.
In spite of Frum’s impeccable right-wing bona fides, he’s recently run into some problems with the Republicans, which he discussed in a recent article for New York Magazine called “When Did the GOP Lose Touch with Reality?” It’s actually a stunner for someone with Frum’s background, taking Republicans to task on a number of policy issues. In fact, the piece led to him being fired by the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute, and leaves him a bit in a no-man’s-land, because he’s definitely not a liberal, yet is rejected by many in the camp he self-identifies with.
Since Frum’s writing has focused on the primaries lately, and the GOP candidates (he seems to support Mitt), South Carolina is also on his mind. So I have the strong feeling we might be discussing Stephen’s exploration-for-a-run!
Frum has appeared on the Report before, back in 2008!
Follow Frum on Twitter.
Here’s a very recent Daily Beast article from Frum, on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital, the venture capital group Romney headed.
Here’s a link to some of his writings.
Frum accused Fox News of creating “an alternate knowledge system.” Or, as I would put it, an alternate lack-of-knowledge system.
Visit Frum at The Daily Beast to read his columns.
Thursday, 1/19: Carrie Rebora Barratt
Will Stephen wear his black turtleneck? After three nights of socially and politically oriented shows, he’ll end the week on another note—an artistic note. And we know how he likes to dress for a gallery visit! Carrie Rebora Barratt, who became the Associate Director for Collections and Administration at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010, is the author of American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915. Written to accompany one of the Met’s important exhibitions back in 2009, the book features essays by Barratt that illuminate nearly 200 paintings—artworks that captured Americans from an earlier age in the midst of their ordinary activities.
As a liaison between several departments, Barratt deals with almost every aspect of the Met—where she first worked as an intern during graduate school–from curatorial and preservation to research. She herself has curated several exhibits, including ones on artists Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, and Thomas Sully, as well as the American Stories show itself. She has a PhD from CUNY Graduate Center, and has received both the Chester Dale Fellowship and the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship.
Read a review of the American Stories exhibit from The New York Times.
Listen to Barratt talks about her fondness for the smaller “tiny things” in the Museum’s collection.
Here she is at the Museum, discussing American Stories.
She went to Colbert territory—Charleston—to speak at the Charleston Arts & Antiques Forum.
Know the iconic painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware?” Go to this podcast to hear Barratt provide some background on the work .
Now, let’s check in with our good friend, Jon Stewart!
Monday, 1/16: Jodi Kantor
Jodi Kantor has written one of the hottest new books out there: The Obamas, a portrait of the first couple, their marriage, and their life in the White House. Kantor’s work has already received a lot of press, and Obama spokespeople have dismissed much of the work as “hearsay.” The controversy continues, but the book will likely sell. Kantor, now a reporter for The New York Times, attended law school for a year before leaving to work for Slate. She later moved to the Times, first covering arts and then politics, particularly the Washington beat and the Obamas.
Read a review in the Washington Post, which doesn’t think the Obamas have much to worry about in terms of the book’s not-so-juicy gossip.
Here’s another, in The New York Times.
Visit Jodi Kantor’s website.
Follow her on Twitter.
Kantor and TV reporter Soledad O’Brien had a bit of an on-air confrontation.
Tuesday, 1/17: Liam Neeson
He’s played Jesus, Oskar Schindler, the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, Scottish warrior Rob Roy, and Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. Northern Ireland-born actor Liam Neeson is one of the contemporary greats, capable of moving from historical biopic to action thriller without missing a beat—and that includes the second round of Star Wars movies. The newest film for this towering former boxer is The Grey, an action-adventure about a drilling team trapped in frozen climes after their plane crashes; they’re threatened by wolves unhappy at the human presence in their territory. (Didn’t think wolves did that to humans, but who am I to say?) Neeson received the OBE from Queen Elizabeth and became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador this past year.
Now, I’ve got to tell you something funny I found: when searching ColbertNation.com just to make double-sure that Neeson had never appeared on TCR, I found that my memory was correct and he hadn’t. But the system must have thought I’d put in the wrong search terms, because up popped the words “Do you mean: Needs Jon?” on top of the page! Ha!
He appeared on The Daily Show in 2009.
Visit his IMDB page and the page for The Grey, where you can watch the trailer.
If you’re a fan, try this site, with loads of information.
Here’s an article from EW.com on the filming of The Grey and how they bonded on set.
He did an interview with Esquire magazine, which is incredibly poignant. (As you may remember, he lost his wife, the brilliant actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic freak accident.)
Wednesday, 1/18: TBA
Remains to be seen…
Thursday, 1/19: Elizabeth Banks
The week concludes with another actor. Elizabeth Banks earned her MFA from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and has starred in such films as Spider-Man, Catch Me if You Can (Spielberg), and Seabiscuit. Banks also appeared with a certain Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and received an Emmy® nomination for her role in Tina Fey’s 30 Rock. And she’s in what’s sure to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year: the film adaptation of the hit YA series, Hunger Games. Right now, however, the movie that’s out is Man on a Ledge, which combines the personal story of a man threatening to jump off a rooftop with a caper tale about a diamond heist taking place at the same time. Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, and Edward Burns (himself a renowned director) co-star. Up soon: What to Expect When You’re Expecting—an ironic title for the actress who had to have her own baby via a gestational surrogate.
Visit her IMDB page and the page for Man on a Ledge, complete with trailer.
Follow her on Twitter.
She discussed how glad she is to be in Hunger Games.
She appeared on the Craig Ferguson Show this past year.
Here’s her official My Space page.
Like her Facebook page.
That’s it for this week! Who are you most looking forward to? And everyone, let’s celebrate MLK by lifting every voice and singing!
To love, peace, equality, and having a beautiful dream for the world.
Better Know a Guest
Hello, Hubsters!
Well, this post was hard to write. Do you want to know why? Because it’s VERY difficult to type while you’re jumping up and down, cheering. And that’s what I’m still doing from last week. Every episode was amazing…and then we had that showstopping week-ender! I’m still trying to process it all. But, as my dance hero David Hallberg tweeted (with the link to the latest New York Times article on Stephen): ”Is there anything Stephen Colbert can’t/won’t do…?” My answer: No—he’ll try anything and everything if it will bring a little good to the world…and, of course, make us laugh. (He emphasizes the latter and downplays the former, but Stephen, we’re on to you!)
The Colbert Report begins the week with a very appropriate guest for Martin Luther King Day and ends with an expert from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while The Daily Show gives us a little political biography, two actors, and one TBA.
Monday, 1/16: Rev. Scott Douglas
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Birmingham, Alabama is an important city in the history of the civil rights movement, and in King’s life. It is also the home of the organization headed by Reverend Scott Douglas. He’s the executive director of Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), a “multi-faith, multi-racial organization dedicated to serving people in need, pursuing justice, and building stronger communities.” With representatives from over 20 religious faiths, GBW works with low-income people/families, and focuses on solving practical, immediate problems, be it buying groceries or paying the electric bill. At the same time as it dispenses charity, the organization engages in political action to enable long-term structural change in society. According to an article on The Birmingham News, Scott will discuss Alabama’s draconian immigration law, which has sent non-documented workers fleeing the state. (And as Stephen has pointed out, left fruit rotting on the tree without anyone to pick Alabama’s famed peaches.)
In 2009, Douglas ran for mayor of Birmingham, but he did not win the race.
Here’s a video of Douglas protesting new laws designed to suppress voters’ rights.
Like GBM on Facebook.
Read an article Scott Douglas wrote on MLK and the continuing struggle for equality today.
Here’s another article on the Alabama law, with more details and commentary from Douglas and others.
Tuesday, 1/17: Jennifer Granholm
PLEASE NOTE: At present, the link to the book A Governor’s Story is not working, but it is correct. It seems to be a temporary glitch on the site, so I’m leaving it in hopes the problem will be solved later.
Jennifer Granholm, the former two-time governor of Michigan, visited Jon less than six months ago to promote her book, A Governor’s Story. Now she has a nightly show of her own on Current TV (the post-MSNBC home of Keith Olbermann) called The War Room, and she’s coming to the Report to discuss this new venture. Granholm has said the show will focus on the 2012 elections, which presumably means she’ll be talking a lot about Stephen now that he’s in the race—oops, sorry, I meant to say, creating an exploratory committee to look at the possibility of him running for the President of South Carolina. Granholm promises a program that’s “dynamic, fun, and informative” for “political junkies.” With any luck, she’ll do as well in her ratings as she did in her second election for governor, where she received the largest number of votes ever cast for that position. The War Room is set to premiere this month, and if it’s successful, Current TV (co-owned by Al Gore) should be thrilld, because these days things have been a little touchy with Olbermann, their biggest star and only household name.
Huffington Post has written an article announcing the new show.
Read an interview with Granholm in Salon.
She answered questions for Politico.com—mostly rather lighthearted ones, rather than the hard-hitting political type.
Here’s a PBS video of Granholm discussing what it takes to help women win political office. By the way, Granholm is Canadian-born, so she won’t be joining the presidential race unless our laws change. (In which case she might have to do battle with Ah-nold Schwarzenegger.)
Granholm discusses her “sustainability legacy” in Michigan here.
To view my former post on Granholm, written for her TDS appearance and featuring more links, go here.
Wednesday, 1/18: David Frum
Tuesday was liberal; Wednesday it’s time for a conservative. David Frum is a columnist for CNN.com and Daily Beast/Newsweek; the author of six books, including Comeback: Conservatism that Can Win Again (2007); and editor of the FrumForum.com website. He also served as a special assistant to George W.–and wrote a New York Times bestselling memoir about the experience called The Right Man. (He seems to like punny titles.) Frum also worked on Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for president, which, as a native New Yorker, I think is almost enough to damn him for eternity.
In spite of Frum’s impeccable right-wing bona fides, he’s recently run into some problems with the Republicans, which he discussed in a recent article for New York Magazine called “When Did the GOP Lose Touch with Reality?” It’s actually a stunner for someone with Frum’s background, taking Republicans to task on a number of policy issues. In fact, the piece led to him being fired by the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute, and leaves him a bit in a no-man’s-land, because he’s definitely not a liberal, yet is rejected by many in the camp he self-identifies with.
Since Frum’s writing has focused on the primaries lately, and the GOP candidates (he seems to support Mitt), South Carolina is also on his mind. So I have the strong feeling we might be discussing Stephen’s exploration-for-a-run!
Frum has appeared on the Report before, back in 2008!
Follow Frum on Twitter.
Here’s a very recent Daily Beast article from Frum, on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital, the venture capital group Romney headed.
Here’s a link to some of his writings.
Frum accused Fox News of creating “an alternate knowledge system.” Or, as I would put it, an alternate lack-of-knowledge system.
Visit Frum at The Daily Beast to read his columns.
Thursday, 1/19: Carrie Rebora Barratt
Will Stephen wear his black turtleneck? After three nights of socially and politically oriented shows, he’ll end the week on another note—an artistic note. And we know how he likes to dress for a gallery visit! Carrie Rebora Barratt, who became the Associate Director for Collections and Administration at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010, is the author of American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915. Written to accompany one of the Met’s important exhibitions back in 2009, the book features essays by Barratt that illuminate nearly 200 paintings—artworks that captured Americans from an earlier age in the midst of their ordinary activities.
As a liaison between several departments, Barratt deals with almost every aspect of the Met—where she first worked as an intern during graduate school–from curatorial and preservation to research. She herself has curated several exhibits, including ones on artists Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, and Thomas Sully, as well as the American Stories show itself. She has a PhD from CUNY Graduate Center, and has received both the Chester Dale Fellowship and the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship.
Read a review of the American Stories exhibit from The New York Times.
Listen to Barratt talks about her fondness for the smaller “tiny things” in the Museum’s collection.
Here she is at the Museum, discussing American Stories.
She went to Colbert territory—Charleston—to speak at the Charleston Arts & Antiques Forum.
Know the iconic painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware?” Go to this podcast to hear Barratt provide some background on the work .
Now, let’s check in with our good friend, Jon Stewart!
Monday, 1/16: Jodi Kantor
Jodi Kantor has written one of the hottest new books out there: The Obamas, a portrait of the first couple, their marriage, and their life in the White House. Kantor’s work has already received a lot of press, and Obama spokespeople have dismissed much of the work as “hearsay.” The controversy continues, but the book will likely sell. Kantor, now a reporter for The New York Times, attended law school for a year before leaving to work for Slate. She later moved to the Times, first covering arts and then politics, particularly the Washington beat and the Obamas.
Read a review in the Washington Post, which doesn’t think the Obamas have much to worry about in terms of the book’s not-so-juicy gossip.
Here’s another, in The New York Times.
Visit Jodi Kantor’s website.
Follow her on Twitter.
Kantor and TV reporter Soledad O’Brien had a bit of an on-air confrontation.
Tuesday, 1/17: Liam Neeson
He’s played Jesus, Oskar Schindler, the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, Scottish warrior Rob Roy, and Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. Northern Ireland-born actor Liam Neeson is one of the contemporary greats, capable of moving from historical biopic to action thriller without missing a beat—and that includes the second round of Star Wars movies. The newest film for this towering former boxer is The Grey, an action-adventure about a drilling team trapped in frozen climes after their plane crashes; they’re threatened by wolves unhappy at the human presence in their territory. (Didn’t think wolves did that to humans, but who am I to say?) Neeson received the OBE from Queen Elizabeth and became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador this past year.
Now, I’ve got to tell you something funny I found: when searching ColbertNation.com just to make double-sure that Neeson had never appeared on TCR, I found that my memory was correct and he hadn’t. But the system must have thought I’d put in the wrong search terms, because up popped the words “Do you mean: Needs Jon?” on top of the page! Ha!
He appeared on The Daily Show in 2009.
Visit his IMDB page and the page for The Grey, where you can watch the trailer.
If you’re a fan, try this site, with loads of information.
Here’s an article from EW.com on the filming of The Grey and how they bonded on set.
He did an interview with Esquire magazine, which is incredibly poignant. (As you may remember, he lost his wife, the brilliant actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic freak accident.)
Wednesday, 1/18: TBA
Remains to be seen…
Thursday, 1/19: Elizabeth Banks
The week concludes with another actor. Elizabeth Banks earned her MFA from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and has starred in such films as Spider-Man, Catch Me if You Can (Spielberg), and Seabiscuit. Banks also appeared with a certain Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and received an Emmy® nomination for her role in Tina Fey’s 30 Rock. And she’s in what’s sure to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year: the film adaptation of the hit YA series, Hunger Games. Right now, however, the movie that’s out is Man on a Ledge, which combines the personal story of a man threatening to jump off a rooftop with a caper tale about a diamond heist taking place at the same time. Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, and Edward Burns (himself a renowned director) co-star. Up soon: What to Expect When You’re Expecting—an ironic title for the actress who had to have her own baby via a gestational surrogate.
Visit her IMDB page and the page for Man on a Ledge, complete with trailer.
Follow her on Twitter.
She discussed how glad she is to be in Hunger Games.
She appeared on the Craig Ferguson Show this past year.
Here’s her official My Space page.
Like her Facebook page.
That’s it for this week! Who are you most looking forward to? And everyone, let’s celebrate MLK by lifting every voice and singing!
To love, peace, equality, and having a beautiful dream for the world.