+Vespa Threnzulon If Colbert was as much of a prankster when he was a child as he is now, I'll bet he received more than a few disapproving comments from the nuns.
One of the greatest contemporary American writers. Funny guy. And a damn great songwriter. This dude has it all! (I wish they could have talked about "Tenth of December", though. That book is amazing!)
The song they sang in this segment could be the theme song for the Republican Party, most all the members of which seem to operate on the "I've got mine, too bad for you" philosophy, including refusing to provide a helping hand up to those in need based on the often faulty assumption that the other person's disadvantage is solely due to their own mistakes and lack of effort. The message of the song seems to be totally at odds with the viewpoint Saunders claims is held by the main character in the book, who gets ahead in life, but then looks back to help those who did not get ahead.
+Richard Archer He's being ironic. The words and the melody don't match because it's supposed to make you realize the words are wrong. He's respecting your intelligence by depending on you to see the irony and decipher the real message. You realized the lyrics represent the ideas of people you and the author don't agree with, so congratulations!
+Foreseen G. I saw the conflict between his stated point of view and the most superficial meaning of the song and did not think for a moment that it represented his personal belief, but missed the irony. Looks as though I will not need to put the rest of my life on hold waiting for news of my MacArthur Genius Fellowship award. I really connected with his concept of radical defense of tenderness. Unfortunately, the people who are most in need of hearing and understanding that message are unlikely to read his book and will not think beyond the easiest interpretation of the words in the song.
+Richard Archer I think he does mean the song to fit how the main character is feeling at that point in the story. Saunders says that the character is at the point where her problems have been pretty much solved and she's doing ok (She can see that the beautiful day is a beautiful day), but what she's feeling isn't as great as she thought it would be, because she knows that the antagonists are still unhappy in whatever their own situation is, and that unrest prevents them from being able to see how beautiful the day really is (Today is a beautiful day, but it doesn't seem beautiful to you.). I don't think it's a vindictive song, as in "Haha, this beautiful day is only for me and not for you!", but shows instead the empathy the character feels when she comes to understand that the others are still stuck in their general unhappiness. And then she makes the decision to try to help them. I think the audience wasn't supposed to laugh in any of the places they did, although at first listen it does sound like it could be a HAHA! kind of song. However, that interpretation just doesn't hold when you take into account Saunders' message of the importance of empathy.
Christy ibts "not for you, just for me, everything's fine far as I can see. Oh the world is a beautiful place, and it keeps getting better. As for you, what ever you did, too bad for you kid" Those lines don't go along with your explanation. If you listen closely to the lyrics, you'll see the song is vindictive. He is completely satisfied with his success and has no empathy.
I really liked his idea of 'empathy on training wheels' and was waiting for him to elaborate and address Stephen's question but tbh I have no idea where he was going with the bob thing...
+A I was under the impression he was talking about respecting the intelligence of the reader and thus you can't just write meaningless or filler sentences and that whole Bob part was about how he has to remove the filler and work more on meaningful prose to establish an empathetic connection with the reader.
I've read quite a bit of Saunders, and that remark didn't really make sense if you weren't familiar with his work. Ultimately his work is about the people, and not the actions, events, and nature of the world. So when he cuts his sentence down to just Bob, it reflects his short stories (which are necessarily very dense) focusing on the emotions and being of people instead of a really action-based plot.
+and then i said Yeah, and Saunders is saying that we might be going too hard in one direction. We as a country need to get closer to that balance again.
What a fulfilling interview. The diversity this show displays is off the charts. Colbeaaaar is just too quick-witted and too well informed for anyone to match him on late night. Tip of the hat , my man, tip of the hat.
George Saunders, John Irving, Yo-Yo Ma... no wonder Colbert is getting killed in the ratings. His show is just too good for the average late night crowd that seems to prefer Fallon's vapid games. I don't know how he's getting away with doing this but I'm happy he is and I'll keep watching as along as they keep him on the air. Great Letterman replacement and the best host on late night right now (along with Conan who still has the most stand-ups on TV - which I really appreciate).
The guitar is acoustic-electric. The jack allows the guitar to be plugged into an amp. Compare a classical guitar that does not have electric capabilities.
+The Skeptical Nerd brown shoes are for non-black jackets (gray, brown...) with black jacket he should wear black shoes, It's in Etiquette rules, no big deal but still...
