When’s the last time you visited Colbert University? Well, that’s too long.
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For those of you who may be new to the No Fact Zone family of web sites, our sister site, Colbert University, has been described as a viewer’s companion to The Colbert Report. I think that’s a severe understatement – it’s more like a massive encyclopedia of everything that has ever been on The Colbert Report, ever. The site is laid out like a college course review, with “Colbert 101” basic courses, and more advanced and topic-specific courses of study for those who have been watching the show a while. Virtually every time I do research on the site, I learn something I did not know. But be warned – it’s seriously easy to get lost on the site, digging and learning and watching videos and just immersing yourself in the Colbert University experience.
The site is updated on a very regular basis. Our Senior West Coast Correspondent over here, WordsWithGrace, is the head guru and Senior Communications Specialist and Reference Librarian over at Colbert University. Quite frankly, the site would not be there without all of her hard and dedicated work over there, and I am very grateful she’s decided to tackle this project with the gusto that she has.
She also has a crew of hard working Faculty Associates that help her with gathering information and completing projects. For example, every month, Vigwig creates a new It-Getter’s quiz every month to test your knowledge of what’s going on with the show. The April quiz is up and posted – go take it and see how you fare!
Another project that the CU crew is working on is spearheaded by Lisa (who you may know by her frequent contributions to our comments here at NFZ). She’s getting a list of authors together who have appeared on the show, by subject. Check out her progress on this project over at ‘The Colbert Report’ Extra Credit Reading List section of Colbert University.
And if you really, seriously want to know every single little thing about “Stephen Colbert”, you need to go visit the Character Data pages. NFZ Senior International Correspondent Jennie has gone through every single episode through the end of 2007 with a fine tooth comb, and pulled out facts about the character in seriously specific details. To be quite honest, this is one of my favorite sections of the site, and I get lost every time I open one of the different courses in this segment.
Once you’ve gone through the site, and you really feel like you’ve mastered the content, you can now print out your very own Colbert University degree! Click below to go to the PDF of our new offering for fans of the Colbert University web site and create your own CU degree, suitable for college dorm rooms, cubicles, and home offices everywhere. (My favorite touch is the eagle’s feet – instead of holding an olive branch and arrows, he’s holding arrows and more arrows. Ha!)
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15 Comments
April 21st, 2008 at 12:02 am
Thanks for the shout out DB! The new diploma and logo look great – the double arrows in the eagle’s talons are a perfect touch.
WordsWithGrace has been doing an amazing job with CU and working with her has been a real pleasure. I strive to keep the monthly quizzes as informative and entertaining as I can so I hope readers find them so.
I’ll be attending a taping this Thursday and, if called on in the Q&A, I hope to be able to mention NFZ and CU to the MAN himself. :)
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:14 am
Double arrows, oy! That means the country is always at war. :(
(Trivia: the eagle facing the arrows is symbolic of a country at war; Truman issued an Executive Order changing the Presidential Seal to have the eagle facing the olive branch, specifically noting that it was to symbolize both honor and peace.)
Of course, it makes perfect sense for a Colbert logo …
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:17 am
My answer to your question of “When’s the last time you visited Colbert University?”: Today. So ha!
I got wonderfully lost amongst the volumes of information as you pointed out. It’s like a TCR themed trip down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. I always seem to find something new while I’m there. You guys never cease to amaze.
I LOVE the diploma. Definitely going up in my dorm.
Vigwig-
I hope you get a chance to ask a question! That would be awesome. Have fun on Thursday!
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April 21st, 2008 at 1:48 am
haha, i remember i went to colbert university to get my fix of character breaks. god i love those. one of my favorites is harriet tubman running an intergalactic space train (The Word: We Shall Overcome).
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April 21st, 2008 at 2:44 am
Hey, thanks for the shout out, DB! Compiling the reading list is way too much fun. For some reason, HTML coding is somewhat Zenlike…don’t ask me why though.
Props to WordsWithGrace for bearing with my endless pages of code and being so patient, to Vigwig for tres cool quizzes and the new Nailings course (awesomeness), and to Jennie for amazing compilation of the character data — I honestly don’t know how you do it.
Oh, LOVE the diploma! I swear, as soon as we get some more colored ink for our printer at home, that baby’s going on the wall for sure.
PS–Vigwig, have fun on Thursday! Such a bummer we won’t get to hang in line at the show…
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April 21st, 2008 at 3:34 am
What a beautiful diploma DB & her conspirator(s) have created! CU truly is a labor of love and a collaborative effort, and it’s great fun working with and for everyone. We’ve just spruced up the “What’s New” section of our homepage tonight to cover some of the recent treasures we’ve added — it’s a challenge keeping up with Stephen!
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April 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am
@ Lisa, bummer indeed, I’ll miss you on the TCR line and will be thinking of all the Zoners this Thursday. No matter how warm it is out I’ll be wearing my Colbert Nation hoodie and a CU pin – – if NFZ had a Tee Shirt I’d wear that too – gotta represent right? And belated thanks to both Lisa and Jennie for their awesome work – it is a huge labor of love for all of us. :)
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April 21st, 2008 at 10:46 am
@ Ms Interpreted:
“Double arrows, oy! That means the country is always at war.”
Of course we’re always at war: the culture wars must be won for the good of the Colbert Nation! : )
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Really dumb question, since I’m not the insider some of you are. Is Stephen aware of NFZ?
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April 21st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
@ColbertFaninChicago
From our Site FAQ:
10) DOES STEPHEN KNOW ABOUT THIS SITE?
I believe so, yes. (Yes, Part II) But, while we have never been hunted down by Viacom lawyers (Praise Bob!), and have a few people from the network with whom we correspond on rare occasions, we in no way have the “blessing” of the show. That being said, we don’t do this for praise from the network, or from Stephen, we only do this to bring praise and glory to Stephen’s name, peace be upon him.
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April 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Pssst! There are tickets available for June shows right now! Go grab ‘em up before they disappear (like the ones for May shows just did!).
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April 21st, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Thank you to everyone over at CU for all of the hard work. I know that I have personally spent many lost hours educating myself about the show and character and their is much more I still need to get to. It is an amazing resouce.
@DB,
I love the diploma!
@vigwig,
If you get to ask Stephen about NFZ and CU, please let us know what he says about us.
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April 21st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Finally a diploma! I passed the Final Exam a few months ago, and I’m looking around goin, “Well…don’t I get something to show for it?”
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April 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
What’s up? Whenever I click on the link to the diploma, I get a blank grey screen.
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April 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
@ vigwig,
I hear ya on the t-shirt…I think we need to make some NFZ merch!
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