A Spit of Tea

Stephen was, to put it mildly, surprised that now that the 2012 election is all over, done, history, the pundits are, believe it or not, already talking about who is going to run for president in 2016.

Stephen's comment was something like, "Ptuuuuiiii," but with hot tea hitting his desk as the liquid rushed out of his mouth. 2016??? Who is running in 2016???? I offer Stephen my sympathy. People want to go back to the normal humdrum of life for at least a little while. Enough already with election forecasts.

So, on a more festive note, Happy Diwali! Here's a brief article about Diwali over at national Geographic Kids.

In what could be considered controversial material, Stephen had a clip of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Sesame Street. She and one of the girl characters were talking about careers. The girl wanted to be a princess. Justice Sotomayor, tried to point her away from being a princess which is more of a "pretend" career and into something that requires education and training and skills. Eventually, the little girl decides that the life of a Supreme Court Justice is the career path for her.

Thankfully, Stephen has done his research. In the entire history of the Supreme Court, only four women have made it onto the bench. (You'd think they could afford comfortable chairs, but no, it's a bench, at least that's what I keep hearing about judges.) The four women who have been or currently are on SCOTUS are Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Stephen's guest last night, and yes it was a repeat episode, so it wasn't actually last night, was Newt. Oops, my bad. His guest was Newt Gingrich, former presidential contender. So Stephen and Newt have that in common. His latest book, Victory at Yorktown, is about a guy named George Washington, who therefore has something in common with Stephen and Newt, except that this guy actually was successful in his bid to become president.

In keeping on the theme of elections, Stephen asked for Newt's analysis of the election that just happened, the one where Barack Obama won re-election and Mitt Romney was defeated. Newt replied, "We were wrong."

Note: If  "Spit of Tea" is not to your liking, you can view "Spot of Tea" over here.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today

Stephen is off until next year, so I will fill in with whatever comes to mind. Last night on Saturday Night Live, the host was Jimmy Fallon. That' right, Stephen's sometime Best Friend for Six Months and now Eternal Enemy for Six Months. Most likely Stephen was home watching SNL because that friendship tie never ends even after six months. Lots of familiar faces were also on the show - Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Horatio Sanz, Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan. With those last three being on, you can probably guess what musical treat we all enjoyed -- that all time favorite, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today." If you didn't get to watch SNL last night, enjoy it here from a few years ago when the guys were all younger.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today

Radiohead in 24 hours

Only about 24 hours until Radiohead is on the first and possibly only hour-long The Colbert Report. Radiohead was just on Saturday Night live last night, so some of you should have seen them there if you were home and watching SNL.

I would tell you what I think the show will be like, but really, I have no clue. Other than I think it will be worth staying up late for. Tune in late tomorrow for highlights.

Dr. Brainio

A big treat Saturday when I watched Saturday Night Live was the popular cartoon series "The Ambiguously Gay Duo." It seems like it has been quite a long time since there was an episode on, so it was nice to finally catch up on what's happening. All the usual characters were on and then, they went from being animated to being actual living human beings, except for the one who looked like a lizard and except for the snake.

And who do you think was playing the part of Dr. Brainio? Why would I even ask if it wasn't, you guessed it, Stephen Colbert! He was marvelous, as is to be expected. This should qualify him for a Grammy nomination. I'm not sure what category it would be in, but someone will figure that part out.

Also taking part as real live beings were Jon Hamm, Jimmy Fallon, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, and Fred Armisen.

It makes sense that someone as intelligent as Stephen Colbert would play the part of Dr. Brainio.