James Arthur Baldwin (
August 2, 1924 --
December 1,
1987) was an
American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.
Baldwin's essays, such as the collection
Notes of a Native Son (
1955), explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in
Western societies, most notably in mid-20th-century
America, and their inevitable if unnameable tensions with personal identity, assumptions, uncertainties, yearning, and questing. Some Baldwin essays are book-length, for instance
The Fire Next Time (
1963),
No Name in the Street (
1972), and
The Devil Finds Work (
1976).
His novels and plays fictionalize fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures thwarting the equitable integration of not only blacks yet also of male homosexuals—depicting as well some internalized impediments to such individuals' quest for acceptance—namely in his second novel,
Giovanni's Room (
1956), written well before the equality of homosexuals was widely espoused in America. Baldwin's best-known novel is his first, Go
Tell It on the
Mountain (
1953).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin
The Daily Show with
Jon Stewart (called The Daily Show until
1999), is an
American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on
Comedy Central and, in
Canada,
The Comedy Network. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21,
1996, and was hosted by
Craig Kilborn until
December 1998. Jon Stewart took over as host in
January 1999, making the show more strongly focused on politics and the national media, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn's tenure. It is currently the longest running program on Comedy Central, and has won 18
Primetime Emmy Awards.
Describing itself as a fake news program, The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, and often, aspects of the show itself. The show typically opens with a long monologue from Jon Stewart relating to recent headlines and frequently features exchanges with one or more of several correspondents, who adopt absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against
Stewart's straight man persona. The final segment is devoted to a celebrity interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to nonfiction authors and political figures.
The program is popular among young audiences, with organizations such as the
Pew Research Center suggesting that 80% of regular viewers are between 18 and 49, and that 10% of the audience watch the show for its news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting, and 43% for entertainment, compared with 64% who watch
CNN for the news headlines.[1] Critics have chastised Stewart for not conducting sufficiently hard-hitting interviews with his political guests, some of whom he may have lampooned in previous segments. Stewart and other
Daily Show writers have responded to such criticism by saying that they do not have any journalistic responsibility and that as comedians their only duty is to provide entertainment. Stewart's appearance on the CNN show
Crossfire parodied this debate, where he chastised the CNN production and hosts for not conducting informative and current interviews on a news network.
In
2005, Comedy Central launched a spin-off show,
The Colbert Report, starring long-time Daily Show correspondent
Stephen Colbert. The two shows run consecutively and continue to have regular interaction with one another, and until early
2011 Stewart would often "toss" (create a bridge between shows) to
Colbert at the end of an episode. A weekly version called The Daily Show:
Global Edition has been created for overseas markets and airs on foreign networks.
In
2013, it was announced that host Jon Stewart would be taking a three month leave from the show to direct his first film titled
Rosewater and that correspondent
John Oliver would be replacing him as host for the summer months.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_show
- published: 13 Jan 2014
- views: 55963