JC’s Confessions #1

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert does a recurring skit, now a best-selling book, called Midnight Confessions, in which he “confesses” to his audience with the disclaimer that he isn’t sure these things are really sins but that he does “feel bad about them.” While Stephen and his writers are famously funny, I am not, so my JC’s Confessions will be somewhat more serious reflections, but they will be things that I feel bad about. Stephen’s audience always forgives him at the end of the segment; I’m not expecting that – and these aren’t really sins – but comments are always welcome.
~ JC

Given that this is the first in what is meant to be a series of posts, I thought it should be a confession that relates to blogging.

So, I confess that, at a time when I have not been a model blogger for months on end, I am trying to start a blog series of my own. To illustrate how slowly my blogging-wheels have been turning, I had the idea to do this over a year ago and wrote the above introduction, which is meant to recur each time I post a confession, last May. It’s been sitting in my drafts folder until I dragged it out to be today’s Just Jot It January post.

And to illustrate how I am not being a model blogger, while I have been posting every day in January, thanks to Just Jot It January and a bit of a stubborn streak, I have not been following through as one should. I think I have only visited all the other blogs that posted one day this month, and a few others haphazardly here and there. With the time constraints of care-taking/daily life, I have been using my limited blogging time for writing posts and responding to comments, leaving little time for reading and commenting on others’ blogs, and for that I am very sorry.

JC’s Confessions is not meant to be a bloggers-join-in series, like Linda Hill‘s Just Jot It January, One-Liner Wednesdays, or Stream of Consciousness Saturdays, although people could choose to do their own “confessions”, if they were so moved.

How long will it be before I post a second installment in this series? With luck, soon…

PS In deference to today’s JusJoJan prompt, I will point out that confessions are often cathartic.
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Join us for Just Jot It January! Today’s pingback link is here:  https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/27/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-27th/
More information and prompts here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/31/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2019-rules/

sharing a meal with whom?

On the CBS Saturday morning news show, they always have a segment called “The Dish” in which a chef makes their signature dishes for the show’s hosts. There is an interview on their history, restaurants, and cuisine. At the end, they sign a plate and answer the final question, “If you could share this meal with anyone, past or present, who would it be?”

I am not a chef, but I’ve thought about whom I would choose as dining companions – Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert. I’ve watched them both on television for a long time. They are both smart and earnest and have a good sense of humor. Like me, they were raised in the Catholic church. I think that we would have a very interesting conversation.

Whom would you invite?
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Join us for Just Jot It January! Today’s pingback link is here:  https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/24/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-24th/
More information and prompts here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/31/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2019-rules/

SoCS: tempted by Stephen Colbert

I am tempted to stay up late so I can watch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert when it actually airs, as opposed to recording it with a DVR and watching it the next evening. Even though this is the first week, there are clips of it on the morning news every morning.

I am so glad that the show is off to a great start. I loved Stephen on The Daily Show and watched the entire run of The Colbert Report (the T is silent!) with B, always on delay by DVR.

Despite the temptation to stay up late, 11:35 is way past my 10 PM bedtime, so Stephen will just have to wait inside our little black DVR box until the next evening when we get to see what everyone else was laughing about the night before.

It’s not all laughing, of course. While Stephen is a comedian, he is also a very philosophical and intellectual person. That can come out much more readily in his new show, where he gets to be (somewhat) more himself, as opposed to his former idiot-pundit persona on The Colbert Report. It must be a relief, especially when dealing with such sensitive topics as losing a son, as in the case of the interview with Joe Biden. Stephen lost his father and two brothers to a plane crash when he was ten, so he knows a lot about loss. It’s good that he can let that human side show, now that he doesn’t have to be in character all the time.

How about you all? Are you watching Stephen late at night, on delay, or not at all? Of course, this applies to US folks more than those in other countries, unless you can view it on the web.

For anyone who wishes to watch the Biden interview, CBS has it posted in two segments:  http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/Pc4LDUqN8wMyGkYP2ngp3WWQpNLfXpRz/vice-president-joe-biden-interview-part-1/
http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/E73677BA-3D99-0881-3FC2-BA98560FCC49/vice-president-joe-biden-interview-part-2/
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Linda’s prompt for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “temp.”  Join us! Find out how here:   http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/11/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1215/ 

One-Liner Wednesday: Stephen Colbert on failing

“You gotta learn to love when you’re failing.… The embracing of that, the discomfort of failing in front of an audience, leads you to penetrate through the fear that blinds you.”
– Stephen Colbert, from the GQ interview http://www.gq.com/story/stephen-colbert-gq-cover-story

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here:  http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/02/one-liner-wednesday-its-all-about-self-motivation/

SoCS: Saying good-bye to Jon Stewart

My last brush with enthusiasm was watching the last episode with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night. It actually aired Thursday night, but for years my husband and I have recorded it for later viewing. We aren’t generally up watching television at 11:00 PM when The Daily Show is on in our time zone.

The audience was enthusiastic in greeting Jon, of course, and also the parade of returning correspondents, especially John Oliver and Stephen Colbert. Stephen got to do the official scripted tribute which involved copious, geeky Tolkien references, and then went off-script with a lovely thank you to Jon about how he was such a great example and helped them all learn to be better in their careers and as persons.

The audience was more subdued with the recorded segment on all the behind-the-scene people and Jon’s own message and good-bye, which was appropriate as it was more serious and because people love Jon and will miss hearing from him.

Our family will miss him, too, although I am glad he is getting to go out at the top of his game and to be with his family – and then he can do other things professionally as the spirit and opportunities arise. Jon is only a few years younger than I am and The Daily Show is pitched toward the young adult demographic, so it’s not surprising that he would want to turn things over to the younger generation, like incoming host Trevor and the current young correspondents.

The enthusiasm ramped back up at the end of the show, when Jon’s Moment of Zen involved a live performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was nice to see Jon and his family and all the correspondents jumping up and down and dancing. It was nice to have a happy send-off.

Thanks for everything, Jon! Have a great next phase of life, whatever you decide to do!
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “enthuse.”  Come join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/08/07/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-815/

 

Colbert and Tyson on Pluto

I had to post this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXazEYi3P8&feature=youtu.be with Stephen Colbert interviewing Neil deGrasse Tyson about Pluto. Both are favorites of mine. Enjoy!

SoCS: The T is silent

I wasn’t sure what I would write about using the prompt of including the letter T until I read this:  http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/2014s-runner-person-year about how Stephen Colbert was the runner-up to Pope Francis to be National Catholic Reporter’s Person of the Year.

We are fans of Stephen Colbert and his just-completed nine-year run of The Colbert Report. I wrote about it here.

When I told my family about the NCR piece, our daughter T immediately began to concoct a segment of “Who’s Not Honoring Me Now?” about how Stephen (in character) didn’t much care for this pope but that now it was personal.

In real life, Stephen Colbert is a practicing Catholic and I’m sure is fond of Pope Francis. That would be the Stephen who pronounces the T at the end of his last name.

From the first promos of The Colbert Report, it was pointed out that both the T at the end of Colbert and the T at the end of Report are silent. It was how you could tell that someone was familiar with the show or not. Fans would never have pronounced those Ts.

Stephen, being runner-up to Pope Francis is still a great gig!

This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, with the prompt being the letter T: http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-january-315/ .  It is also part of Linda’s Just Jot It January:  http://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/ . Come join in the fun!

Badge by Doobster @Mindful Digressions

Farewell, Colbert Report!

We have watched – okay, recorded and watched at a more reasonable hour – the entire run of The Colbert Report. We will miss Stephen’s smart, wickedly funny but pointed humor and wish him well with his new gig, after, one hopes, a well-deserved rest.

In tribute, I offer this link to a clip of the song from his finale with the people labelled. I knew it had to exist somewhere…