song of the day: true colors / Cyndi Lauper
word of the day: hooroosh / a cry or noise of excitement or confusion
monk of the day: Dave Tolmie (mr., you rule. gasho....)

Stephen Colbert is a genius. i cannot get over this guy. i just saw his piece on The Daily Show (the episode this week where Clinton was the gues) and i'm blown away once again by his self-possessed brilliance. Colbert (as correspondant) went to the Democratic convention and went around assembling a group to interview, he gathered a jew, an indian (native american variety), an arab, another indian (eastern), a lesbian, a black man, a tree hugger, and on and on- a group of a dozen or so ethnic and single issue democrats. he got them all in one room, and conducted a rapid-fire interview of the whole group, referring to them all by their categorical-monickers "jew" "gay-guy" "tree-hugger", etc, and brought the deft piece to a perfect crescendo by inciting them to all argue with each other. it would be so easy for this kind of edgy humor to go south, it takes a very particular gift to pull off this kind of stuff, and he just nails these assignments over and over. he shoots so high, he takes on very difficult comedic tasks, and just hits home runs every time. i've seen him for years on the Daily Show, i've purchased all three seasons of Strangers With Candy (where he co-starred with Amy Sedaris), have listened to Wigfield (his audio book) many times, and he positively sets the bar every time. he's the brightest, sharpest comedian i know of. so often this guy says things, it's not even funny writing, but his delivery, his confidence, his body language, subtle delivery- the whole constellation of his vibe just gets across this rich, ironic, hilariously sharp humor. but it's not mean spirited. i mean, it's almost habitual the way he deals with politically incorrect, off-color, edgy material, but he pulls it off without a hitch. i hope he has a long, long career.