Archive for Colbert Nation
Great news – Viacom is not going to sue us!
Posted by: | CommentsI just got off the phone with Tony Fox, whom you might remember as the gentleman who I wrote the letter to last night. He wanted to convey to the readers of No Fact Zone, and other fan blogs, that his words were misconstrued. According to Fox, the original intent of Fox’s interview with the Hollywood Reporter was to give a bit more clarification for an article about Hulu discontinuing the availability of Comedy Central programming through their site. Here’s the official statement from Tony Fox:
“The Hollywood Reporter story, and headline in particular, is completely wrong. We have always tried to be as permissive as possible when looking at what might be fair use, and we haven’t changed our approach at all. Frankly, fair use works for us. We have never made it a practice to sue bloggers for the use of Comedy Central clips, and there’s no reason to believe that would be more likely today.”
Fox also made it very clear to me that, as we operate today, Viacom was very accepting of our fair use of their materials, and they encourage organic fan activity. And they specifically appreciate the No Fact Zone community.
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Because you know you’ve been singing this all day
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes I post things just for me. This is one of those times.
My partner in crime, MsInterpreted, found the full-length video of the snippet that they showed last night of that silly Trolalalalala song. It’s had over 700,000 views, so I’m guessing it’s some sort of viral video that I simply hadn’t seen yet. It makes me laugh so very hard.
The thing that I love most about this song is no matter what your native language, you can sing along!
EDIT:
Also, if anyone knows how to gank audio from a YouTube video, I would love love LOVE this to be my new ringtone.
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Please don’t sue us – An open letter to Tony Fox, PR rep for Viacom
Posted by: | CommentsDear Mr. Fox:
My name is DB Ferguson, and I run NoFactZone.net, a blog which many consider to be the best independent Stephen Colbert fan site on the web. We’ve been blogging about Stephen Colbert since July 17, 2006, so close to 4 years. We have an all-volunteer staff of 13 Completists, who blog 7 days a week to bring the Colbert Nation the most up to date news about Stephen Colbert and the ‘Colbert Report’. We receive on average over 60,000 unique visits a month and over 100,000 page views. We’ve had over 2.5 million unique hits over the course of our blog, and every one of those hits was free to readers and positively biased towards Stephen Colbert.
Before I go any further, I would like to praise the access to videos that you have given through ColbertNation.com. I’ve been a fan for a very long time, and I remember the horrid shape of the official ‘Colbert Nation’ site and the videos for the first couple of years of the show. I remember struggling to even watch a video, and there was no way that a video was getting embedded. We at No Fact Zone mostly linked to YouTube videos, until they were taken down, not because we wanted to make money off of the videos, but because we wanted to share the greatness that is Stephen Colbert with anyone who would listen. In the fall of 2008, ColbertNation.com made a game changing move. They started streaming both full videos as well as embeddable clips. And the way that the new media department tagged the videos and the way that the videos were searchable was so amazingly wonderful. I still visit the official ‘Colbert Nation’ site almost every day, and when I do, I almost always stop to watch a video or two. Sometimes it’s something recent, but often it’s something from the vaults, something I haven’t seen in years, but I just have a hankering to watch. I’m quite grateful for the fact that Viacom listened to their viewers and gave them access to videos. I will be the first to admit that there are processes in the video experience that should be upgraded, but all in all, it’s head and shoulders over what was being offered for a very long time.
That being said, I was a bit distressed when I read at the Hollywood Reporter that Viacom will start suing bloggers who use unauthorized clips of the ‘Daily Show’. From the tone of the interview, it sounds like this edict applies to all Comedy Central shows, including the main topic of our blog, the ‘Colbert Report’. Now, I use authorized clips of the ‘Colbert Report’ and the ‘Daily Show’, with the rare exception of fanvids (virtually all of which have been removed from the original servers and are no longer available). I do screencaps sometimes, I’ll admit to that. And we often post the videos of the shows without the embed frame, as I prefer to feature the video as large as it will go on my site. But I’m using video that streams directly from Viacom and ColbertNation.com, ads and all.
You said in your interview with the Hollywood Reporter that “My feeling is if (websites) are making money on our copyrighted content, then that is a problem.” When I tell people I am the webmaster of a very popular web site, the first thing people ask is “How much money do you make?” And I can say, in all honesty, not a dime. I take pride in the fact that I do this site not because I am making money, but I do it simply for the love and the passion of blogging about a man and a show that I have grown to respect and admire. We’re more than a news site, we’re a community.
To further alleviate any concern you may have about us profiting off of Viacom’s intellectual property, let me be perfectly transparent about our finances here at No Fact Zone. Our server costs run us $129 a month. Our host graciously manages our box for free. You see that ad in the far right corner? That’s our lone ad on the site. Wanna know how much I made in February 2010 from that ad? $1.62. No, seriously. $1.62. We’ve received donations for our server, which sit in a fund that our host keeps and uses to pay our server fees. But the blogging staff doesn’t see a dime; the donations go straight to the server fees. Our staff gets no pay, no perks, nothing except the satisfaction that what we are doing is producing something we as a fan community can be proud of.
Look, I understand that you don’t want blogs profiting from your content. I know of quite a few high profile blogs that take clips and post them under their own frame. Those sites have lots of ads, and paid staff, and make lots and lots of money. I can see how that would irk you. Our site is just a simple fan blog, with some of the hardest core ‘Colbert Report’ fans on the net, whose sole mission is to praise Stephen Colbert, all glory to his name, peace be upon him. We are one shiny, happy lovefest here, a 100% biased constantly updated ad for your show that we sustain at our own expense. If you have a problem with something we’ve posted, please, shoot me an e-mail. I’ll be more than happy to take it down if you feel that somehow, for example, a screencap of Stephen Colbert in a cute outfit is going to financially hurt Viacom in some way. We want to make this work. We want to praise, and we want to blog, and we want to be a community that does not live in fear of the people who also bring us what we so very much enjoy and love.
Thank you for listening to the fans.
Sincerely,
DB Ferguson
Webmaster and founder, NoFactZone.net
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Reasons why it sucks that Hulu is dropping Comedy Central programming
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For those of us who primarily watch the ‘Colbert Report’ and the ‘Daily Show’ on Hulu, today is a sad day. Hulu’s Senior VP of Content and Distrubution, Andy Forssell, made an announcement on the Hulu blog that as of next Tuesday, March 9, Hulu will not be carrying any Comedy Central shows. Now, granted, people in the US can continue to watch both clips and full versions of shows on ColbertNation.com and TheDailyShow.com. But for months now, virtually the only whole shows that I would watch of the ‘Colbert Report’ were on Hulu. And I have to be honest – I’m a bit peeved about this decision.
But why, you may ask, would this rub me the wrong way so much if I have access to the show via the official sites? Well, let me tell you. Are my reasons selfish? You betcha. Am I being whiny? Yeah, probably. But I got something to say! Which leads me to my first reason …
1) No more free ‘Strangers With Candy’
On occasion, I want to do a screencap of ‘Strangers With Candy’ for the site, or maybe just sit down and have a mini-marathon of some of my favorite SWC episodes. Now, I have the DVD’s, but sometimes, it’s nice to just be able to watch the shows on the computer. Plus it also allowed us to embed relevant clips here on No Fact Zone as the need would arise. Well, we can say goodbye to the pole and the hole … no more full episodes of one of my very favorite Stephen Colbert projects.
2) The viewing experience is smoother and the ads more relevant on Hulu than on ColbertNation.com
Trust me when I say I have watched a lot of videos, both full episodes and segment clips, on Hulu and ColbertNation.com. And I choose Hulu 95% of the time. The only time I ever watch full episodes on ColbertNation.com is when I want a particularly large screencap. The main reason for this is the ads.
Now, I’m not adverse to ads. People have to pay the bills, and I can respect that. But Hulu gives me multiple options for viewing ads, and once I’ve seen an ad for a particular segment of the show, I can watch that segment repeatedly without being bombarded with ads. Each break comes with a different ad, and sometimes I am even given the option of watching a full 2 minute ad and then the entire show is ad free. This is an excellent opportunity, and I really like it when the ads are movies because I actually enjoy watching the trailers.
With Comedy Central.com, I have to watch 3-4 ads before I can watch any part of the show. But let’s say I want to skip to the interview. I am forced to watch 2 minutes of ads, and often it’s the same ad over and over and over and over and over, before I ever get to any content. If I decide to rewind and go from the third section to the first, I have to watch another ad, and sometimes even two. The pause feature isn’t nearly as smooth, and it’s just a much more frustrating experience.
I know I might be an exception to how a normal user might use the site. I think I can safely say that when it comes to the ColbertNation.com videos, I’m a bit of a power user. But if I’m having this much trouble, surely others who watch the video are having the same issues.
3) Hulu gives the option of embedding only a small segment of a video.
I absolutely LOVE this feature! If I want to embed a part of the show – say, a musical number, or a snippet of dialogue – Hulu allows me to pick the exact snippet of the full episode that I want to embed, and put parameters in the code to install the code. I can also designate what size I want the Hulu video to be through a simple HTML adjustment, to best fit within the parameters of the body of the blog (although the default 512px width is a good size anyway). With the ColbertNation.com videos, I cannot embed the whole episode, and the sections of the show only allow a certain parameter of viewing experience – it tells you the size of the segment, the frame (with ads for other Comedy Central projects), and another aspect of Comedy Central videos that I simply cannot stand …
4) ColbertNation.com embed code screws up my LiveJournal feed.
About 10% of my syndicated site readers are LiveJournal users. Many of what I would call the Power User Zoners read the site via LiveJournal. But when the RSS feed syndicates code from an official Comedy Central video, LiveJournal simply cannot read the code. The Hulu video embeds lovely in any RSS feed or browser where it appears.
5) This is going to totally hose my morning schedule.
I warned you at the beginning of this post that my reasons were selfish, so let me spell this out a bit clearer. Hulu posts their videos of the ‘Colbert Report’ right around 5:45a CST or so. ColbertNation.com posts their full episode HD video around 7:30a CST. I normally start my episode guide by 6:20a so that I can have it done by 7:30a so I can get ready for work. And considering I spend over an hour a day typing and talking about and analyzing every episode of the show, I tend to only watch it once. So my options are: a) watch it on my TiVo, in standard def, and type the guide every morning on my netbook, or b) wait until CN.com posts the videos so that I can do the typing and editing on my Mac, but risk running late for work every day.
So, yes, this makes me cranky. We work darn hard around here to do the best that we can do and still have a little bit of a life away from the computer. I’ve had a very nice, smooth morning schedule for months after I started using Hulu as my primary source for shows. Also, I can watch the show in HD from Hulu on my shiny new iMac screen. But now? Phhhtt.
Thanks for listening to me rant. How many of you watch the shows on Hulu? And how will you be watching the shows now?
And, while you can, let’s pour a forty of Formula 401 on the ground to honor the death of ‘Colbert Report’ Hulu videos.
h/t to my old friend vdovault as well as MrTigger and Roland
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Episode 6029 (3/1/2010)
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EPISODE NUMBER: 6029 (March 1, 2010)
GUESTS: Michael Bublé, Don Cheadle
SEGMENTS: Barack Obama mentions Stephen (twice!), Stephane Colbert, Vancouverage
VIDEOS: Monday, March 1, 2010
It’s good to see that Stephen is still milking the Vancouver coverage. Here’s hoping that we get to see even more goodies that we were tipped off about both on the ColbertNation.com site, and maybe even the show!
It’s so funny to see Stephen mention himself as being mentioned by someone famous. It’s so meta. And having Stephen be mentioned twice by the president’s office is quite hysterical. Stephen’s metaphor of the parties being a married couple and the “issue” being a baby was another excellent example of Stephen being able to explain any situation in the most bizarre of terms.
Is it just me, or did Stephane Colbert look like a young Jerry Lewis? Maybe it was the glasses and hair. And yay for the Michael Bublé interview! With the singing! It was deliciously awkward.
What did all of you enjoy about the episode tonight?
- You all know two things know about me. I’m not a fan of the President, and I’m not an egomaniac. But last week, the President mentioned me twice!
- But not quite as excited as I am about the most powerful man in the world saying my name in space.
- The only way it could have been more boring is if they were curling.
- And to this day, when the wind whips around the moor, you can still hear the teeth saying “Remember to floss!”
- Repeat after me: F@#k ‘em! If those “30 million people” want health care, let them get a better job, or join the Army, or go to Canada, or eat Flintstones vitamins – it’s not our problem! Stop faking caregasms!
- Stephane Colbert: Yes. You damned pig’s vagina.
- Being in Vancouver for the last two weeks really helped me get past all the lazy stereotypes of Canadians being beaver humping moose jockeys.
- It would certainly make a lot more sense than what the Russians did last night by promoting their games with radioactive space ovaries.
- I paid my $12 bucks, you do the work.
- Why aren’t you doing heroin for Darfur?
- The nicest drug addicts you’ve ever met in your life.
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Stephen Colbert’s Skate Expectations – Exclusive Outtake Videos on ColbertNation.com
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t headed over to ColbertNation.com recently, you may have missed the exclusive Olympic videos that they are featuring on the site. Here’s my favorite of the videos posted so far.
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Stephen Colbert issues call for Canadian members of the Colbert Nation
Posted by: | CommentsUPDATED BELOW
Here’s one for all you “syrup-suckers” out there. ;)
Stephen will be taping public interviews on False Creek during his trip, and he wants YOU to be there [emphasis added]:
Colbert issues open invitation to Vancouver tapings
The Globe and Mail By Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail
Posted Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:53 PM ETWhen The Colbert Report is in Vancouver next week for the 2010 Olympics, the show will be taping interviews in a public park on False Creek, and host Stephen Colbert is extending an invitation for the north-of-the-border contingent of Colbert Nation to show up.
“It’s sort of come one, come all,” Colbert told The Globe and Mail Thursday.
“[The set is] festival style: big stage and speakers and large-screen TVs for people to see.”
The show will be taped Wednesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. at Creekside Park, next to Telus World of Science, which has been converted to Sochi World for the 2010 Games.
“We’re going to do it outside with the beautiful backdrop of the water behind us and be able to see the Olympic Village off in the distance,” Colbert said from his New York office.
. . .
There’s more information on Stephen’s trip to the Olympics in this AP article (h/t to Ann G. and Melanie W. for this one!):
Colbert heads to Olympics for medals and mockery
By Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer. . .
[Stephen's] preparing for the big event. While The Colbert Report is in repeats next week, the comedian will be in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the first week of the Olympics. He’ll be there recording a wealth of material for his show (to air beginning Feb. 22), attending events, conducting interviews and doing a kind of half-show from a stage set up outside the Olympic center.
“We’ll bring snow because I don’t think Vancouver has any,” he said in an interview, taking a swipe at the city’s sometimes watery precipitation.
. . .
As part of an arrangement made with NBC and NBC Universal Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol (who recently appeared on The Report ), Colbert will be allowed to film inside the Richmond Olympic Oval. In exchange, he will join Bob Costas for commentary Feb. 17 on NBC.
But for all of his satire, it’s clear Colbert has a genuine love of the Olympics.
“It’s a festival,” he says. “What a great, rare honor it’s been to be helpful in any way to these beautiful athletes. I’m really in awe of what they do and I want to be there to support them.”
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a bit of a dork about Olympics, and I’m sure I’ll be glued to my TV for a lot of the events. Having Stephen there will just be icing on the cake; I can practically hear that Olympic theme now!
UPDATED TO ADD: The link on the Colbert Nation suggests a 9:15 am arrival time for people wishing to attend the live tapings in Vancouver. Please plan accordingly, and have fun!
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Stephen Colbert is not making money off of Twitter
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I’ve gotten multiple messages today about a story that is circulating about Stephen Colbert making money off of Twitter. The story, reported by such mainstream news outlets as the New York Post, and by blogs such as MediaBistro, goes a little something like this: Stephen Colbert is on the Twitter ad service Ad.ly, and is being paid to promote products in his tweets. He is one of many “Publishers” who is paid to promote products within his Twitter feed.
There’s only one problem with this widely reported story – they’ve got the wrong Stephen.
Back in the summer of 2008, we wrote a story that basically said that, at the time, there was no official Twitter feed for Stephen Colbert. This was confirmed by our sources at Comedy Central. At the time, there were two major fake Stephens – @StephenColbert (currently at 382,677 followers) and @StephenTColbert (currently at 97,597 followers). The controversy about @stephentcolbert actually got so big that he “came out” as a fake in a blog post that said, in part:
While perusing twitter, (I do have a personal account, but it is highly unlikely that a living soul will ever come across it), I found that someone was posting under the name of “StephenColbert”, the host of my favourite television program. The account consisted of a number of quotes from the show and had not been updated in quite a few months. Finding my own life extremely boring, certainly not “twitterable”, I thought it would be humourous to create another Colbert account, this one updated with some regularity and more than just quotes, but I ended posting quotes anyway due to the lack of my personal creativity. I began to notice that while twittering back and forth with people some of them reacted as if I was the real-deal. I thought that if they enjoyed thinking that they were actually interacting with Colbert, why deny them that small pleasure, as I assumed the majority of people that followed the account knew it was all done in jest. I also had a lot of fun doing it.
The account eventually made the front page of Digg, and @stephentcolbert admitted to the fraud and went on. Or so it seemed.
Now @stephentcolbert is one of the Ad.ly “Publishers”, making money off of tweeting to people, most of who are under the assumption that Stephen Colbert is actually tweeting this information. A person is making money, possibly significant, from tweets made on this fake Stephen account.
Stephen Colbert (and Viacom lawyers) have always been very gentle on fan sites, even fan sites that claim to be Stephen himself. So I doubt that this person will be hounded by anyone legal to call them on their fraud. However, for those many people who have send e-mails and twitters of concern to the site, let me make this very clear.
1) Stephen Colbert’s official Twitter site is @stephenathome.
This is the only verified Twitter account affiliated with Stephen Colbert. Any other that you may stumble across is NOT Stephen Colbert.
2) Stephen Colbert is not affiliated with Ad.ly.
The person who Ad.ly is using to say that Stephen Colbert is one of their “publishers” is NOT Stephen Colbert. It is a fake account who has admitted to its fakeness and is now reaping financial benefits from duping Stephen Colbert fans.
This also means that Stephen is not making some money on the side through his tweets. The official Twitter account continues to simply be an Easter Egg for the hard core “C-Section” fans.
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