Touching the Hand of God

Today I "shook" two hands that many would only dream of touching. I almost wet myself when I touched one, the other was nifty, but meh, didn't excite me.

A month ago I booked tickets for the Dr. Oz show, intending to go with my mother. Her flight, however, left the day before the show taping so I was left with two seats in the audience at 30 Rockefeller Center to see this glorified television doctor talk about health fads... at least I thought he was over-glorified. My mom loves this guy, but I never saw the appeal. Then I went to his show taping and was forced to watch an entire episode. He's actually quite an informative cat. On this particular episode, he talked about internet weight loss scams, asthmatic peoples, and self-defense, among other things. Seeing the magic behind the show (aka the amount of times he screws up and says "let's run it again") is interesting to witness. Later that day, however, I saw a true master practicing his craft.

Thanks to an incredibly generous friend, I was able to obtain a ticket to see a live taping of The Colbert Report. A dream. Seeing this show live was an utter dream. The taping began at 7:00pm. I got in line at 4:00. I wanted to be as close to Stephen as possible. I wanted to smell him (yes, my passion for Stephen is on the creepy side). If you ever watch the show, you'd be surprised how small the studio actually is, unlike Dr. Oz's ample space. Whenever Stephen runs from his desk to the interview table (by the fireplace) he over-exaggerates the run to make it seem father away than it is. It's actually like five steps.

Enough about the studio. Let's talk about how I was giddy as a school girl with a new My Little Pony. I almost cried when Stephen walked onto the set. Before the show, he always does a meet and greet with the audience. The fantastic part about this is he does it out of character. The narcissistic, cocky character that is Stephen Colbert gets set aside for a short moment and we get a view of the real Stephen.

The taping itself was a site to see. As is mentioned to the audience multiple times before we even enter the studio, Stephen is an improv actor. He did, after all, begin in sketch comedy. Therefore, to properly fuel Stephen, the audience is encouraged to laugh, hoot, holler, and enjoy themselves. Which is why you can hear me give an audible 'whoot' after Stephen mentions Boy Scouting around 3 minutes 23 seconds into the episode.

Once the cameras start rolling, Stephen just flows and never skips a beat. He takes about a 10 minute pause wherever a commercial break lies in the show. At that point, his director, producer, and make-up artist come to the desk and I assume brief each other on the following segment. Besides these little pauses, this comedic genius seems practically flawless. Even when his guests match him in whit. Such as tonight, Brother Guy Consolmagno, who talked about the Catholic church encouraging exploration of extraterrestrial life, and Sherman Alexie, a native American author who is fighting to keep books in print.

After the taping, Stephen sincerely thanked the audience for being a part of the show. I like to think that thank you was directed specifically at me. I proved it by diving over four chairs as he left the room to give him a high five. I'm never washing that hand again.

We're an Obamanation

Thoughts from Inauguration Day

I popped over to fellow blogger and good friend Will’s house this morning to watch the inauguration. It was nice being with another writer as we watched with our laptops at the ready. While he was writing for Moue Magazine and somewhat live blogging the whole time, I posted just a few thoughts as I watched:

 

I cringed a little when the boos for Bush started resonating throughout the crowd in D.C. After all, the guy did serve our country as a leader during some difficult times, so perhaps the American people should have showed a little respect. On the other hand, he created a lot of those difficulties himself. Perhaps the singing of “Hey, hey, hey good-bye” was a better audios to our former President…

However, props to the President’s Own USMC band for drowning out whatever boos were there.

To be honest though, inside I was booing for Bush just like the majority of America.

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Looking at Obama’s face as he walked down the corridor towards the podium, Will and I couldn’t help but to wonder what was going through his mind. From the stone emotional look on his face, I think his head must be in utter bombardment of emotions, thoughts, and mental preparation for his speech ahead.  Since I believe more people will be watching this one speech at this one moment than any other speech from an American President in history.

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From Diane Feinstein:

“Real and necessary change in our country”

From Rick Warren:

“United by our commitment to freedom”

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John Williams. As if he hasn’t defined iconic symbols enough with his movie scores, he now has defined a presidential office with his arrangement of Simple Gifs.  Brilliantly performed and composed, the piece started disjointed and in disarray, however came together via the recognizable melody of Simple Gifts played, not coincidentally, by a black clarinetist.

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From Barack Obama  himself

“Humbled by the task before us”

“Values are old and true. [They have been] the quiet forces of progress”

“A new era of responsibility.....duties that we seize gladly”

The political analysts summed up his speech with the phrase Obama himself has used time and again: We are summoned to responsibility.

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Perhaps the most interesting image, to me at least, was at the very end of the ceremony. Bush and Obama standing next to each other on capitol hill. Obama wearing a red tie, Bush wearing a blue tie.  I believe Obama said something to the effect of, “we are not just a collection of red and blue states….”

Then president Obama and vice-president Biden stood and watched as Marine One flew former president Bush out of Americans' lives, while the crowd again sang “hey, hey, hey, goodbye”

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And I never noticed Barack was left handed until today. 

"The Day America Became Cool Again"

11-4-2008


My dad left this morning, but truthfully I had more to be excited about the day rather than sulk in the fact that my visitor had left. IT'S ELECTION DAY.

Being in the United Kingdom during this historic election has completely changed my views on America and my feelings about being American. Ever since starting the continental tour in September, Europeans have been asking me what my political views are. I knew that the entire world kept it's eye on America, but I had no idea it would be like this.


It seemed many Londoners cared more about the election than some US citizens I know. My boss told me multiple times how unfair she thinks it is that people in the UK, and all over the world, have no say in an election that affect them so much. I completely agree with her.


With the "credit crunch" as it is called here and the world in an economic crisis, a war, and environmental systems at the breaking point, our election does matter to everyone. America is the superpower. I've heard that time and again in the states, and I always thought it was an egotistical statement that held some weight but couldn't be 100%. I've learned here is is absolutely true. The direction America takes will dictate the direction of the rest of the world.

That day at work I wore a suit with one of those little "I Voted" stickers on my tie as I had sent in my absentee ballot the week before.

I have never been more proud to wear a sticker in my life.

My co-workers applauded me saying they hoped more voted like me. I hoped the same. It was a long day awaiting the night that would dictate the future of so much.

I got home around 6pm and was so energetic for the night ahead. But I knew it wouldn't last, so I would have to nap. But I had all this energy, what to do? Run.


I ran 4 laps around Regent Park's inner circle all on pure adrenaline. This is going to sound ridiculously cheesey, but I felt like I was running with hope for a better tomorrow... I told you, cheesy. But seriously, every time I hear Obama speak (mostly on Youtube), I feel that many things which upset me about America can change, like tomorrow is going to be alright. I was having a great run just thinking about the future, about the hope that could come. I kept passing by two groups of cyclists, since we were heading opposite directions around the inner circle of Regents. Around the 3rd or 4th pass we started cheering each other on, giving a little "keep it up" shout. I could have ran all night, but I had more important things to do that night.

Like celebrate the future direction of America by partying on election night!

ISH Dean Kevin Coyne opened the bar from 11-3am for an election party. American flags were the decor of choice and for one night in London, it seemed everyone was from the states.... and it seemed all of them were democrats. Every time Obama took another state the bar would erupt in shouts of joy. Many were biting their nails earlier that day. My fear was that the young generation Obama had campaigned towards for the past two years would drop the ball, not make it to the polls. All I could do what hope for the best. Can I use the word hope more in this post?

As it turns out Obama supporters, young and old, showed up to the poles. I'm proud to say I sent in my vote via proxy, and while I wasn't able to be at the voting booth that day, I supported Obama in a different way:

Every time Obama took a state, we took Vodka Red Bulls. Which is probably why I didn't make it to his official victory around 4:30am GMT. But I was coherent for when he dominated Ohio and as far as I'm concerned that's when Barack Obama won the presidential election.

An ISH bartender gunning for Obama.

The title of this blog was a headline that one of the London evening newspapers ran the morning of November 5th. It's funny but it seemed the UK hated America a little less the next day.