The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 3B
What dreams will come
Colbert
brings
bite to
print
By IMRAN SYED
DailyArts Writer
"This book isn't for people that
are good at reading. It's for real
Americans."
So said Stephen Colbert to Jon
Stewart in an
episode of "The I Am Amer-
Daily Show"
shortly before iCa (And So
the release of Can You!)
Colbert's new
book "I Am By Steven
America (And Colbert
So Can You!)." Grand Central
And not surpris-
ingly, he said it
best.
No, the book isn't simplistic
drivel like the hundreds of celeb-
rity "autobiographies" out there
(everyone from Lance Bass to Jer-
maine Dupri has one), those mir-
acles of grammar held together
by the unlikeliest of preposition-
subject combinations. I simply
mean the book is a very acces-
sible read for fans and newcom-
ers alike. It gets out the Colbert's
message while managing to main-
taina surprising amount of punch,
given that we only know Colbert
from his TV show and have only
our imagination as a guide as to
* how Colbert would deliver these
absurd musings.
Since starting out as a corre-
spondent on "The Daily Show" in
1997, Colbert has become some-
thing ofa pop-culture legend. Con-
veniently liberal college kids aside,
Colbert has made his mark among
wider audiences because of his
disarming personality, and, dare I
say, charm. He's a screaming luna-
tic, but in a world where scream-
ing lunatics win serious ratings
and have devoted followings (Bill
O'Reilly, "Papa Bear," as Colbert
calls him), the chord he strikes
KELSEY From page 1B
els. The loggia will be visible - and, hope-
fully, attention-grabbing - to pedestrians.
A second entrance will be added on the
Maynard side.
The renovation owes thanks to an $8.5
million donation the Kelsey Museum
received from Mary and Edwin Meader.
Edwin, who died earlier this year, gradu-
ated from the University in 1933. They
gave a previous donation to help build the
Rachel Upjohn Building for the University's.
Depression Center and have also supported
the School of Music, Theatre and Dance and
Hill Auditorium. The new addition will be
named the William E. Upjohn Exhibit Hall,
in honor of Mary's grandfather.
These processes set the reopening date
back somewhat, but the plans that the
Kelsey Museum staff has for the new exhib-
its should be worth the wait.
Imagine walking straight into the rem-
nants of an Egyptian marketplace. The
museum's upcoming exhibit, which dis-
plays artifacts from the ancient Egyptian
city of Karanis, will be the focal point on
the first floor of the new gallery. Lauren
Talalay, the museum's associate director,
plans to include a miniature cave under the
stairs that visitors can walk into. The cave
will house one artifact of which the Kelsey
is particularly proud.
"We have a mummified child's body that
visitors will be able to view inside the cave,"
Talalay said. Included also are CAT scan
images of the mummy obtained from the
University Hospital.
If you climb the stairs to the second floor,
you'll be surrounded by a series of life-size
watercolor paintings, recreations of wall
paintings from a section of Pompeii known
as the "Villa of the Mysteries." The water-
colors come from Maria Barroso in the
Egypt on
State Street?
Give it a couple
of years.
1920s, a famous Italian painter. Talalay said
they are the only known recreation of the
"Villa of the Mysteries" on display in North
America and, likely, the world.
There are also plans to showcase photos
of the actual wall paintings taken by the
Kelsey Museum's faculty members on a flat-
screen computer outside the room so visi-
tors can compare the two images.
"We hope this new addition will increase
our popularity around campus," Meier
said.
Hopefully he's right. The Kelsey Muse-
um's collection is a perfect foil to its bigger
brother across the street, and an important
part of the University's experience.
That eye is a little overdone, but whatever, he's funny.
is of t
satiric
himsel
erplate
to del
he's es
some c
headst
Col
less, bu
his sht
of bad
inc
sa
he perfect tenor for serious has no shortage of metaphorical
al skewings. While Stewart opportunities for the poor" are the
f can be called out as a boil- back-handedly incisive Colbert at
liberal hack, it's tougher his best. Like he did in his finest
egitimize Colbert, because hour - the underappreciated per-
sentially doing exactly what formance he put on at the White
of the most popular talking House Correspondents Dinner in
today do. April 2006 - Colbert is expertly
bert's persona is nearly peer- beguiling. At his best, the man
t the same cannot be said of can make you agree with concepts
ow, which has its fair share you've despised since birth. It's
jokes, sequences, shows or all in the inflection, phrasing and
righteous absurdity that Colbert
does so well.
Having released this book last
week and officially announced
.v . ol.t.ca his candidacy for president of the
United States last Tuesday night
tirist xvorks (he'll run only in South Carolina,
as both a Republican and a Demo-
crat), Colbert is ready to take his
on paper. infectious, obnoxious persona to
the next level. The book has its
dry spots, but it's still a fantastic
primer on who Colbert is, what
reeks. The book, written by he stands for and why we should
t and his team of writers, is be suspicious of anyone who seri-
means a tour-de-force - it ously argues in this way.
as often as Colbert's jokes People like Jon Stewart and
it on his show. Especially Keith Olbermann may be vying
he beginning of the book, to take back the. cable airwaves
we are provided with a from the lunacy of Fox News, but
-biography and life story, they're much too earnest and righ-
ok is slow and bogged down teous ever to get through to those
same sophomoric one-lin- infected with the divisive, bitter
t are found on "The Word," political rhetoric of the past sev-
lar nightly segment of "The eral years. Colbert is different. He
t Report" spoke to the president and his clos-
surprisingly, Colbert's fin- est friends and advisors in person
nmentary is found in later and lampooned them more thor-
rs addressing race, class, oughly to their faces than anyone
ration, science and, of has managed behind their backs.
,the media. Lines like "Real- He's impossible to ignore, and this
a liberal bias" and "America book is a testament to his genius.
even w
Colber
by no
stalls
fall fla
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where
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by the
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Colber
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