To Stephen Colbert! *raises glass*

Thanks to kuwdora for bringing this to my attention.

Stephen Colbert is my hero. Last night, he gave this amazing, brave speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. He excoriated Bush and most of Washington--it's breath-taking. I, admittedly, have not seen the whole thing (darn being-in-another-country!) but I read about it here
and I managed to find a clip of the second half of his speech, which I've uploaded so you can see it, too.

Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Dinner (26mb .mov file)

If anyone knows where the full thing might be posted, please, please let me know.

ETA: Thanks to aurora_84, the whole thing on YouTube:

Part I
Part II
Part III

ETA2: And now amireal has the whole thing up on her site here.

I don't really have any deep political thoughts to share--I tend to be too emotional, too fucking angry to engage in the reasoned debate these issues deserve. But the thing is, we're not getting any reasoned debate. The only people willing or courageous enough to speak for us are comedians. But watch the clip. I'm both chilled and heartened by the reaction Colbert receives.

Nobody's laughing.

Fic Rec: After the Other by siriaeve

Everyone, drop what you're doing and read this now:

After the Other by siriaeve

It's an SGA AU, set in Ireland. It's McKay/Sheppard with a wonderful Zelenka. And it's...

I don't really have the words to describe how much I love this fic. Siria manages to describe both the characters and the setting in ways that make me know them all over again, in ways that make me wish I could know them better, truer, like she does. The story is a snapshot into a much larger, richer world, and reading it, you long for more (I wish she would write a novel set in this universe), and feel lucky for what you get to see (but it's perfect the way it is).

This story is tragic and hopeful. It's John and it's Rodney, and it's Ireland, the way I want to remember it when I leave.

Go. Read. For the third or the fourth or the twelfth time, I'll be doing so again.

Love or knowing, or Trin attempts SGA meta

Here's something I was thinking about on my way back from the grocery store (besides, "Oh, please don't start raining yet" and "Why is there both a covered wagon and a DeLorean parked at the top of Grafton Street?"):

Because I have an inclination toward high drama (no!) I sometimes wonder which I would pick if I were offered the choice between being a great novelist and achieving personal happiness. The fact that I don't know the answer is a little frightening to me: the thought of writing something of importance, something lasting and true, is a great temptation to me, even at the cost of more private fulfilment; in the long run, I tend to think, which carries with it the greater benefit to humanity? Love or legacy; I feel like I should instantly turn toward the former, and I can't, quite.

But enough of my emo angst. Let's talk about Rodney's. Maybe it was the DeLorean, but walking home from Dunnes, I started to wonder which he would choose: love or knowledge. Or rather, because the answer to that seems all too clear, I started to wonder under what circumstances I--or we, the puppeteers--could get him to choose love. To clarify: if he chooses knowledge, he gets the certainty of making great, lasting contributions to humanity's understanding of the universe, and he gets the promise of being recognized for these contributions; if he chooses love, he might still do good work, but there's no guarantee of anything more. If he chooses knowledge, there are no provisions for his heart at all. It's an irrelevance.

What would make him choose love?

(I've thought about this, and the only way I can see him choosing love would be if he were already in love--if he was clearly giving something up. But I'd love to hear alternate suggestions.)

Then there's the really scary part: trying to apply this question to John. I...I can't even frame it properly. Because love, I think, is very far from John's list of personal goals, but aside from "defeating the Wraith" and "not letting people die"--immediate stuff, necessitated by his situation--I'm not even sure what his goals are. What does John want? If--based purely on canon--I had to construct Rodney's Ultimate Happy Ending right now, it would be really easy. His brilliance allows them to defeat the Wraith, everyone lauds him as a genius, he makes this important scientific discovery, and this one, comes up with a Unified Field Theory, wins the Nobel Prize, and has Samantha Carter tell him that she thinks he's the most brilliant man in two galaxies and she would like to sex him now, please. (Actually, as endings go, I think this one is sort of awesome.) But what about John? What would his Ultimate Happy Ending be? Yeah, they defeat the Wraith, and...his favorite football team wins the Super Bowl? Maybe?

Seriously: John, honey, what do you want? How can we make it better? Aside from a world where you never lost anyone, where everyone is alive and whole, I don't even know what to tempt you with.

But I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

ETA: Oooh! But first go read toft_froggy's Five Things You May Not Know About John Sheppard. Wow.