Here's the short version, the highlights of what I missed when I was away from civilization, i.e. a place where The Colbert Report was not on the TV machine.
For one thing, Stephen suggested that Doris Kearns Goodwin was friendly, very friendly with Lincoln. He also took the opportunity to suggest that viewers purchase his books. (I have already purchased most of his books and I'm still working my way through "I Am a Pole And So Can You.")
There was a wonderful discussion of Super PACs. Karl Rove's Super PAC elected 1.29% -- can that be correct??? --- of the candidates they he spent big money on. His donors are kind of pissed.
Stephen had a Super PAC. He's a little bit worried about the fallout and so he blamed any problems on Jon Stewart who had control of the Super PAC for only one week. Jon showed up to complain but didn't stick around for long. However, friend of the show Trevor Potter did show up and as usual he had wonderful news for Stephen. Again with just simple forms or signed letters, Stephen is able to take advantage of great legal ideas and abracadabra! Stephen has the leftover money (we're talking something like $800,000) free and clear with no strings attached. No one need ever know.
I have got to get me a Super PAC.
Ken Burns was on to talk about two of his documentaries, "The Dust Bowl" and "The Central Park Five." Ken Burns said of the Dust Bowl that it was "bad" and that Oklahoma begged for the big federal government to come to Oklahoma and help them with the problem in their state. The Central Park Five is about waiting for justice to be served and about Ken Burns saying No to someone.
Moving on to another episode, Stephen had his "Who's Attacking Me Now?" segment. Turns out it's Canada's Maple Stream media. Apparently, they are upset with something Stephen said in his book "America Again."(Note: good Christmas gift.) In a CBC news poll, though, 76.64% of poll takers said Stephen's mention of Windsor, Canada thought it was good for the city. So, I don't see why they would complain. "You're welcome Windsor. You just got the Colbert Bump," said Stephen. No matter what Stephen says about you, in the end, it's going to be good.
Tony Kushner, screenwriter for the Lincoln movie, stopped by to talk about old Uncle Pennyface. He seemed to agree with Doris Kearns Goodwin and remarked that Lincoln had huge feet. I think we can all agree that Lincoln was a great president.
Whew, briefly, I'm caught up with most of the episodes. Just in time for tonight!
Showing posts with label Ken Burns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ken Burns. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Prohibition and Vacation
Well, no, I'm not actually going on vacation, but I will be super busy next week and I don't know if I will even be able to watch TV when Stephen is on. So, I may or may not have posts up for next week.
But don't despair. I think you can watch a lot of the video of the Prohibition film that Ken Burns did. You may remember I wrote about that previously. Anyway, go over to PBS and click on all the links to watch the Prohibition series. I did watch when it was on TV and it was more interesting than I expected. It's not just about people not being able to drink alcohol. There's a lot of insight into what the country was like at various times during that period. It touches on the economics, the politics, religion and changing roles of many groups of people.
It's definitely worth the time to watch. (I admit, I did not check out the links to see if the whole series was there, but it probably is.)
But don't despair. I think you can watch a lot of the video of the Prohibition film that Ken Burns did. You may remember I wrote about that previously. Anyway, go over to PBS and click on all the links to watch the Prohibition series. I did watch when it was on TV and it was more interesting than I expected. It's not just about people not being able to drink alcohol. There's a lot of insight into what the country was like at various times during that period. It touches on the economics, the politics, religion and changing roles of many groups of people.
It's definitely worth the time to watch. (I admit, I did not check out the links to see if the whole series was there, but it probably is.)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Oops Jew
It's Rosh Hashanah time again and you know what that means. That's right, it's time for the Atone Phone. And this year it was John Lithgow that called Stephen at 1-888-oops-jew. However, it was a mistake. John was actually calling 1-888-nors-lez.
Stephen mentioned some well-known celebrities tonight. Apparently they like to swim, but only the thin people actually went in the water. I didn't really get that part of the show.
But the really interesting part tonight was the interview. His guest was Ken Burns to talk about his upcoming three-part film about Prohibition. It premieres October 2, 3, and 4 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS (Check Local Listings)
The short discussion that Stephen and Ken had about Prohibition was very interesting. While most people say Prohibition didn't work, it had the support of nearly everyone when it started. It solved some problems, but it created new problems. There were many loopholes. It was strict to the point of being ridiculous in some instances. And lots of people drank anyway, including women.
From the PBS website comes this sentence that is applicable for today if you think about what's going on now: "But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality." Hmmm. I would think that along with history of Prohibition and commentary about it, we might expect to see parallels to today's political climate discussed. As Ken Burns quoted from Ecclesiastes 1:9, "There is nothing new under the sun."
Stephen mentioned some well-known celebrities tonight. Apparently they like to swim, but only the thin people actually went in the water. I didn't really get that part of the show.
But the really interesting part tonight was the interview. His guest was Ken Burns to talk about his upcoming three-part film about Prohibition. It premieres October 2, 3, and 4 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS (Check Local Listings)
The short discussion that Stephen and Ken had about Prohibition was very interesting. While most people say Prohibition didn't work, it had the support of nearly everyone when it started. It solved some problems, but it created new problems. There were many loopholes. It was strict to the point of being ridiculous in some instances. And lots of people drank anyway, including women.
From the PBS website comes this sentence that is applicable for today if you think about what's going on now: "But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality." Hmmm. I would think that along with history of Prohibition and commentary about it, we might expect to see parallels to today's political climate discussed. As Ken Burns quoted from Ecclesiastes 1:9, "There is nothing new under the sun."
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