Author Archive
Fantasy Colbert League Weekly: April 27 – 30
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Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of ‘Colbert Report’ guests, created in the spirit of the oft-enjoyed Fantasy Colbert League. While we can’t start up the online version of the game again, we can make it so that you can get the information you need about the guests before they come on the show.
Just like you, we want to be it-getters before the interviews start. So we’ve compiled brief bios, issues or events that Stephen might bring up during the interview, and a fun Fract (Freedom Fact) to impress your fellow viewers during the commercial breaks. Read, enjoy, and see if you can anticipate how Stephen might nail each of the following guests!
Note: As always, guests are subject to change.
Monday, 4/27: The Decemberists
If you don’t know The Decemberists by now, you’ve been living under a rock. This alt-rock group got into a feud with Stephen in 2006 over Stephen’s Green Screen Challenge, culminating in the Rock and Awe: Countdown to Guitarmageddon that pitted Stephen against lead guitarist Chris Funk. The Decemberists are headed out on Phase Two of their “A Short Fazed Hovel” Tour. Their latest album, ‘The Hazards of Love,’ is now available.
- Fract: The guitar Chris Funk played during the Guitarmageddon was sold on Ebay for $2,225 in a charity auction to benefit the Portland youth organization p:ear. Not bad!
Tuesday, 4/28: Richard Engel, Daniel Gross
Journalist Richard Engel was recently promoted to the position of NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent. He joined NBC in 2003 and spent years in Iraq covering the dangers of life there during the war. He has survived bombings and kidnappings, and has seen colleagues injured by explosions. In 2006, Engel won both an Emmy for his work in Lebanon as well as the Edward R. Murrow award for his report title ‘Baghdad E.R.’ He has lived in the Middle East for 12 years.
Author and economist Daniel Gross is a senior editor at Newsweek. He writes the ‘Money Culture’ column for Newsweek and the ‘Moneybox’ column for Slate magazine. His latest book, titled ‘Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation
- Fract: As a youth, Richard Engel suffered from dyslexia and learning difficulties, but after attending a wilderness survival program in Wyoming, he was able to overcome them, move to Cairo, learn Arabic, and begin a freelance journalism career.
Wednesday, 4/29: David Kessler
Dr. David Kessler served as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under Presidents Bush and Clinton. He left the FDA to head the Yale School of Medicine and then the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, but stepped down after the school had some financial troubles. His latest book is ‘The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
- Fract: For ‘The End of Overeating,’ Dr. Kessler dug through the dumpsters behind Chili’s restaurants to uncover the ingredient labels of their recipes.
Thursday, 4/30: Ethan Nadelman
Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, is a returning guest on the Report: he visited on January 8, 2007 and then on March 12, 2008 to take part in Stephen’s ‘Better Know A Lobby(ist)’ series. The Drug Policy Alliance was established in 2000, merging Nadelmann’s Lindesmith Center with another organization to advocate for scientific drug policies that also take compassion and human rights into consideration.
- Fract: Nadelmann has taken a large role in the debate over the legalization of marijuana. Will he and Stephen celebrate a belated April 20 during the interview?
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Sunday morning Eye Candy
Posted by: | CommentsI hope you all don’t mind if I pop in a couple more times with photos of Stephen from the DonorsChoose.org and Gates Foundation event last week. You don’t mind, right? Great!
Stephen’s not easy to capture when he talks with his hands, and the stage was set for TV lighting, but I’d go play photographer at an event like this any time. Seriously.
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Stephen Colbert, DonorsChoose.org, and the Gates Foundation: a news and photo recap
Posted by: | CommentsStephen Colbert’s visit to the Manhattan Bridges High School has hit the mainstream media (including the bloggers Ms Interpreted and I met at the high school itself. . . new media represent!). Here’s a roundup of what the news outlets had to say.
From the Associated Press:
Colbert: Does Bill Gates ever talk about me?
Colbert pushed his real-life cause as he mentioned one that has long been the obsession of his fake-news-host persona: “As I endeavor to protect our children from bears, donorschoose.org is protecting public school kids from classrooms that lack the materials necessary to rigorously prepare them for college.”
From the Seattle Times:
Stephen Colbert teams with Gates, protects children from bears
TV personality Stephen Colbert was around to “moderate” the event, keeping the potentially vehement charity announcement from becoming too extreme. . . He’s a board member of DonorsChoose.org. But considering the organization has 13 other board members and 26 advisers, he’s really not that special.. . . Under the “Double Your Impact” initiative funded by Gates, requests that promote college-readiness will be eligible for 50 percent funding from DonorsChoose. Projects would include things like student trips to college campuses, classroom books and SAT/ACT preparation materials.
From GothamSchools.org:
At a city school, Stephen Colbert earnestly reports on new grant
Colbert, who sits on the site’s board, made the announcement in the style of his televised interviews, before an audience of students at Manhattan Bridges High School, but without any of his usual mean comments. (He did draw laughs with an awkward attempt to use Spanish, the native language of many Bridges students, to explain that he was a “perdedor gigante,” or giant loser, when he was in high school.) The panel he interviewed included Vicki Phillips, the head of Gates’ education division; DonorsChoose founder Charles Best; and a Manhattan Bridges English teacher.
And last but not least, from our new friend of the blog, DetentionSlip.org:
DonorsChoose, Stephen Colbert & Gates Foundation join forces to promote college readiness
Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org founder, explained how the non-profit came about after a discussion in a teachers lounge. The organization allows teachers to post projects they are seeking funding for on the DonorsChoose website, then, “citizen philanthropists” can fund the projects whole or in part with any amount of money.They are all about transparency as well, allowing the donors to pick which projects to fund, and giving them a breakdown of how every cent is spent.
The Gates Foundation got involved to match donations 1 for 1 for projects specifically targeted at helping students go on to college.
Great to meet you, Anthony! And now, enjoy a little photographic recap of the DonorsChoose.org event. Click on the images to view them full size:
Additional photos under the cut: Read More→
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Fantasy Colbert League Weekly: April 20 – 23
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of ‘Colbert Report’ guests, created in the spirit of the oft-enjoyed Fantasy Colbert League. While we can’t start up the online version of the game again, we can make it so that you can get the information you need about the guests before they come on the show.
Just like you, we want to be it-getters before the interviews start. So we’ve compiled brief bios, issues or events that Stephen might bring up during the interview, and a fun Fract (Freedom Fact) to impress your fellow viewers during the commercial breaks. Read, enjoy, and see if you can anticipate how Stephen might nail each of the following guests!
Note: As always, guests are subject to change.
Monday, 4/20: Ken Quinn, Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Second Mate Ken Quinn serves on the Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia on April 8. The crew regained control of the ship, but Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage, and Quinn and other crew members were held for 12 hours before they were released. Phillips was held in a covered lifeboat until U.S. Navy snipers shot and killed three pirates who were holding him, taking a fourth pirate prisoner. The crew has finally returned to the United States despite complications of additional pirate attacks, which delayed their reunion with their captain. The pirate attacks continue; the latest attack on a Norwegian tanker was thwarted in the Gulf of Aden this past weekend.
Joe Arpaio was elected sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, in 1992. Since then, he has kept up an 80% approval rating while creating and maintaining the ‘Alcatraz of Arizona,’ the Maricopa County Jail that includes the Tent City Jail: a yard where inmates live in surplus army tents from the Korean War. Sheriff Arpaio provides minimal comfort in the high Arizona temperatures for his inmates, but offers educational and therapeutic courses during their stay in Tent City. These practices have earned him widespread support as well as criticism, by groups like Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Arpaio has written a book titled ‘Joe’s Law: America’s Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else That Threatens America
- Fract: Maricopa County inmates are given pink underwear, sheets, socks and towels to deter them from stealing the items. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office now sells replica pink underwear, along with pink handcuffs, is online to benefit the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Youth Assistance Foundation.
Tuesday, 4/21: Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils team for 28 years, and a number of his students have continued on to impressive careers, including NBA players Grant Hill, Shane Battier, and Bobby Hurley. ‘Coach K,’ as they call him, was selected to coach the USA men’s basketball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing – which went on to win the gold medal. Krzyzewski’s latest book, ‘The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team
- Fract: The floor of Duke’s basketball venue, Cameron Stadium, is named ‘Coach “K” Court.’ In a more tongue-twisting nod to the coach, the grassy area outside of the stadium has been named Krzyzewskiville (or ‘K-Ville.’) Say that five times fast.
Wednesday, 4/22: Ira Glass
Radio host Ira Glass has hosted Chicago Public Radio’s ‘This American Life‘ since 1995. In 2007, ‘This American Life’ premiered on television to show and tell a number of unique stories such as the saga of a cloned Brahma bull named Chance, an elderly screenwriter, an improv group, and the stepson of a one-hit wonder. The second season of the show won Emmys in 2008 for outstanding non-fiction series and direction, and the DVDs of Seasons One and Two are available. On Thursday April 23rd, a two-hour episode of ‘This American Life – Live!’ will be taped and aired live in over 400 movie screens around the nation. The show will feature contributions by Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, David Rakoff, and Joss Whedon.
- Fract: The live show’s theme will be ‘Return to the Scene of the Crime,’ and will include a story illustrated on Post-It notes by artist Arthur Jones and a musical number performed by Joss Whedon, creator of ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.’
Thursday, 4/23: Elizabeth Bintliff
Elizabeth Bintliff is the West Africa Program Officer at the headquarters of Heifer International, a non-profit organization that aims to end hunger and poverty while taking care of the Earth to ensure food and resources will be available to future generations. Begun in 1944, Heifer International teaches environmentally sound agricultural and livestock development methods. The organization also provides livestock such as cows and goats to enable people to begin providing for themselves without damaging their environment. Today, Heifer is established in over 57 countries, including the United States, and possesses a variety of educational and informational resources online and in person.
- Fract: The program, originally called ‘Heifers for Relief,’ uses young cows who have not yet given birth who will supply a continued source of both milk and support for the families that receive them. Each family is asked to ‘pass on the gift’ and donate the female offspring of their heifer to another family in need.
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All You Need to Know: 4/05/09 Edition
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Happy April, Zoners! Hope you got a good joke in on somebody – or at least survived the jokes played on you. It’s nice to have the Report back this week with all new shows. And the No Fact Zone has debuted a few new regular posts by some great new posters on some great and familiar subjects – like Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show. Check them out below!
Episode Guides:
- Episode 5041 (March 30, 2009) – Journalist Emily Yoffe, Astronomer Derrick Pitts
- Episode 5042 (March 31, 2009) – Journalist David Plotz
- Episode 5043 (April 1, 2009) – Author and Economist Dambisa Moyo
- Episode 5044 (April 2, 2009) – Twitter co-founder Biz Stone
The Colbert Report Episode News:
- Stephen T. Colbert appreciates the ladies – enough to have them as the main guests on the Report, often. Cheers to the Women of the Colbert Nation!
- Congratulations to Tom Purcell, the newest Co-Executive Producer for The Colbert Report!
- Guest Alert! Queen Noor of Jordan will be visiting the Report next week.
- Newspaper lobbyist John Sturm talks about his Better Know a Lobbyist segment on The Colbert Report. Glad you did it, Mr. Sturm!
Mainstream Media:
- Check out another clip of behind the scenes at the ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ movie recording sessions. Sounds like a good time!
- Stephen Colbert will be this year’s commencement speaker at the Medical University of South Carolina. Lucky graduates!
No Fact Zone Weekly Features:
- Klassic Kolbert, the Daily Show Edition: Correspondent Stephen Colbert does a few segments on spaaaaaace!
- Six Degrees, the Daily Show Edition: Kristen Schaal, Eric Drysdale, and John Oliver.
- The Daily Show Toss Recap for the week of 3/30/2009: two tosses this week, including one on April Fool’s Day!
The Zeitgeist Is Back And Ready To Rock!
- Zeitgeist for March 30, 2009: The Colbert iiiiin spaaaaaace!!!! Edition
- Zeitgeist for April 2, 2009: The Glenn Beck Takedown Edition
No Fact Zone News:
- Site News! New features at No Fact Zone, including a whole bunch of new exclusive regular posts, some technical improvements, and some Zoner-requested features. There’s something for everyone!
- The No Fact Zone didn’t expect stories on April 2nd to be April Fool’s Day stories. Silly us!
Check out what’s new at Colbert University!
- Colbert University Course of the Week: The Colbert Report Promos
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Is it just me or have we been gifted with a lot of behind-the-scenes blogging from it-getting Report guests lately? Whatever it is, keep it coming! Wednesday’s guest, author Juan Cole, has posted a report from his visit to the set. Check out his post for the full report plus photos.
Informed Comment: Blogging Colbert
Thursday, March 19, 2009…the Colbert crew kindly gave me a tour of the studio (I like studios, and sort of collect visits to them). I impudently asked if I could sit at Mr. Colbert’s anchor desk, and the staff kindly said yes… As I was getting behind the desk I almost tripped on something, and looked down to find a . . . pitchfork. Gee, I thought, this will be a tough interview.
…
It was a wonderful experience to be on the Colbert Report. Unlike some academics, I watch a lot of television, and don’t think you can understand American society if you don’t. I really think that the Comedy Bloc from 11-12 ET on Comedy Central, of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, is a little space of sanity and reality in American public life. Comedy, satire and parody allow these two very intelligent and perceptive gentlemen to be brutally frank about the foibles of American society. To any extent I could join in that enterprise, it was my privilege.
(Fortunately, said pitchfork was for another segment and not for the interview.) I’m glad you had an enjoyable visit, Mr. Cole, and thank you for sharing it with us!
Juan Cole, author of ‘Engaging the Muslim World’:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Juan Cole | ||||
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Tip of the hat to pixleslie for the link!
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Fantasy Colbert League Weekly: March 16 – 19
Posted by: | CommentsWelcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of ‘Colbert Report’ guests, created in the spirit of the oft-enjoyed Fantasy Colbert League. While we can’t start up the online version of the game again, we can make it so that you can get the information you need about the guests before they come on the show.
Just like you, we want to be it-getters before the interviews start. So we’ve compiled brief bios, issues or events that Stephen might bring up during the interview, and a fun Fract (Freedom Fact) to impress your fellow viewers during the commercial breaks. Read, enjoy, and see if you can anticipate how Stephen might nail each of the following guests!
Note: As always, guests are subject to change.
Monday, 3/16: Jonathan Chait, Neil Gaiman
All right, kids – you wished for it, and now distinguished author Neil Gaiman, who was arguably more excited for Stephen to mock him for winning a Newbery award than to actually win the award itself, is coming to the Report! He won the Newbery for ‘The Graveyard Book,’ a tale of a boy raised in a graveyard. I would’ve loved this book when I was in middle school. Look for a fascinating exchange of wits tonight!
Columnist Jonathan Chait is a senior editor at The New Republic and contributes to The New Republic’s group blog called The Plank. According to said blog, Chait will be visiting Stephen to talk about his column ‘Wasting Away in Hooverville.’
- Fract: Gaiman’s ‘The Graveyard Book’ will be made into a movie, joining ‘Stardust‘ and ‘Coraline‘ in the list of Gaiman’s books-turned-movies.
Tuesday, 3/17: David Grann
Author David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, writing about – as he says – ‘everything from New York City’s antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid.’ His work is The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- Fract: In 2005, Grann hiked deep into the Amazon to retrace Fawcett’s steps, giving his wife as few details as possible about the natives who kidnapped the last party of people looking for Fawcett in 1996.
Wednesday, 3/18: Juan Cole
Professor Juan Cole is president of the Global Americana Institute, a nonprofit group working to get American literary classics translated into Arabic. A professor of history at the University of Michigan, Cole teaches and writes about Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the conflicts with Iraq. His latest work is ‘Engaging the Muslim World
- Fract: Cole’s weblog, ‘Informed Consent,’ which he has written since 2002, won a number of awards between 2004 and 2006. He believes that academics should not worry about risking their careers when they consider starting a blog.
Thursday, 3/19: John McCardell
John McCardell Jr., formerly the president of Middlebury College in Vermont, founded the nonprofit organization Choose Responsibility to help teens and parents discuss and debate the effects of the legal drinking age (which is 21 years old in the United States). Founded in 2006, Choose Responsibility was born out of a study and now proposes a series of changes to the laws that will focus attention on 18- through 20-year-olds as well as 21-year-olds. Let’s see how Stephen reacts to this, both as a father and as an interviewer.
- Fract: According to a recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, the United States has a high rate of alcohol-related accidents compared to other countries where the legal drinking age is 20 years old or younger.
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All You Need to Know: 03/015/09 Edition
Posted by: | Comments Hello Zoners, time for another weekly roundup. The Colbert Completists are still a little giddy from the shout-out Stephen gave this humble site on Thursday night’s show. We’ve added a few new weekly posts for your reading enjoyment – check them out below! Don’t forget to set your DVRs to record Stephen on the Today Show on Thursday morning. Enjoy!
Pour a cup of coffee, toast yourself a bagel, and come chat in our new Weekend Brunch post!
Episode Guides:
- Episode 5033 (March 9, 2009) – Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis, folk singer Lisa Hannigan
- Episode 5034 (March 10, 2009) – NASA Operations administrator William Gerstenmaier, Dr. Jay Keasling
- Episode 5035 (March 11, 2009) – Journalist and author Howard Fineman
- Episode 5036 (March 12, 2009) – Professor Simon Johnson, Professor Peter Singer
The Four Horsemen of the Apopcalypse: Your Weekly Guide to Stephen’s Pop Culture References
The Colbert Report Episode News:
- Catch up with the Daily Show and Colbert Report Global Edition for the week of March 2nd.
- Yee-OW! No Fact Zone finds itself on the receiving end of the Colbert Bump on Thursday night, and it feels so good. Thanks, Stephen!
- Guest Alert! Author Neil Gaiman will visit The Colbert Report on Monday, March 16.
Mainstream Media:
- No, Stephen Colbert is not selling men’s clothing in Iran, despite the photographic evidence.
- Creativity magazine honors Stephen as one of the 50 most creative people in 2009. It’s not your everyday honor but it’s a well-deserved one on Stephen’s part!
- Tha Academy changes the Emmy rules so that Series hosts won’t compete against ’specials’ any longer. . . but now it looks like the Academy is actually eliminating the Emmy for individual performance in a variety series or special. That’s really not cool!
- Papa Bear Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck (he doesn’t have a nickname yet) discuss the potential feud between Glenn and Stephen Colbert. Could Glenn vs. Stephen become the next Jim vs. Jon?
Name That NASA Node:
- Go go Colbert Nation! On March 10, Stephen Colbert leads the votes in the NASA Node 3 naming contest.
- On March 12, ‘Colbert’ leads the naming contest by over 35,000 votes! Rock on!
Shiny New Segments at the No Fact Zone
- Add to your reading list and vote for your favorite author in the First Ever Stephen T. Colbert Book Club For The Literary Excellence!
- The Stephen T. Colbert Book Club for The Literary Excellence poll has closed, and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Death by Black Hole is the chosen tome. I’m going to go crack open my signed copy (not to rub it in or anything. . . but he is second only to Stephen in ‘coolest person to meet in person’ status.)
- It’s officially in its spot just below the Episode Guides (above), but make sure you check out the Four Horsemen of the Apopcalypse: No Fact Zone’s new pop culture reference guide to the week’s episodes.
- The Fangirl Suit Report has expanded into its own post, complete with visual aids. It’s like a condensed version of Eye Candy!
We Call It The Joy Machine:
- Design student Alex Meiser creates a very cool fan art picture of Stephen Colbert using only typefont letters.
- In another bit of inspiration, artist Sean McLean paints a portrait of Stephen painting a self-portrait.
- Online shopping alert: Comedy Central has ‘Che Colbert’ t-shirts available. Much better than your average Busted Tees shirt.
Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert:
- A hearty congratulations to Colbert Report audience coordinator Mark Malkoff for winning the PR Week Campaign of the Year Award for his Ikea series. Couldn’t happen to a harder-working guy!
- Hulu now has Season 3 of ‘Strangers With Candy.’ Do you want to spend a full day watching the whole thing? Don’t even try to resist. . .
- Because it’s the interview everyone’s talking about this week: Jon Stewart takes Jim Cramer apart on The Daily Show. The unedited interview sort of takes your breath away.
No Fact Zone News:
- Colbert University gives us the rundown on a currently-hot course: OMG! SPACE! (The official course title is SCI 301: Space.)
Check out what’s new at Colbert University!
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