Well Chuckolytes, I'm outta here (yes, this time is for real).
Like all good things, and let me tell you, this site has been nothing but a good thing; it must come to an end. The parent company that runs this site (Cerebral Itch) is redistributing creative resources to explore new ventures like iPhone apps which leaves little else to do this site up right. And one or two posts a month is not doing it up right and a disservice to Chuck and you, the readers. With that said, the site will stay up and the e-cards will remain available for the foreseeable future.
As I've written before, the biggest joy gleaned from this project was the people I met. Simply, Chuck is a lucky guy to have a fanbase like all of you.
And lastly, thank you Chuck. Thank you for letting a total stranger entertain a bunch of other total strangers with foolishness and Photoshop. You were a hell of a sport.
Bittersweet is about the only word that comes close to the feeling of today. This is the last post for Viva Chuck Todd.
I say it all in the below video, but it needs to be put in "print" just how thankful I am to all of you who made this site a joy to do everyday for the past six months. It has been a fantastic experience just in "meeting" those of you who frequented this site and made your presence known. I know personally that Chuck is forever grateful to all of you for your words of support and encouragement through this historic election season.
As the dust settles in our electoral process, this seemed like the logical time to sign-off and go back to what I get paid to do. With that said, there might be some posts in the future as events dictate; so be sure to sign up for updates via email using the Feedburner box to the left- but for the most part, I'm done.
This site and all related Chuck Todd sites (Chuckolyte.com and Chuck08.com) will remain live as will our spin-off site, Viva Rachel Maddow.
Before I go, special thanks need to go out to Chuck's G, Kim, Kristian, Willie Geist, Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Capehart, each and every proud Chuckolyte card holder, Ol' Man Barnacle, of course The Chuck and most importantly, Tim Russert for hiring that numbers guy from The Hotline.
Thank you all again for one hell of a fun experience.
Watch this clip and you tell us whether or not Tina Fey and the Saturday Night Live writers sent a little Gladys Wood third-grade class shout out to the Viva Chuck Todd family. We like to think so; then again, we like to think a lot of things.
In the slick new online mag Culture 11, Chuckolytes were exclusively examined. Everyone you read about in the article are card-carrying Chuckolytes and we couldn't be prouder. We know what a cool and passionate lot you all are, now the world can know the same thing.
The creators of Viva Chuck Todd are very proud to announce that Viva Rachel Maddow is now hot and ready for prime time, just like it's namesake.
Maddites (that's right, you heard us, "Maddites") now have a place to follow their favorite Doctor of Political Science and clock cleaner of conservative asshats. And just like Viva Chuck Todd, the site will be a stunning success only with the involvement and contributions of it's readers. So, start commenting and sending those emails about what you would like to see on this site alongside the patented "Viva" flavah.
So let's just say right now that given the chance we'd drop everything and happily be Rachel Maddow's scantily clad house boy or girl forever. This woman is funny, classy, brilliant and also happened to know who the hell we were when we rushed the stage she was on in The Big Tent.
This is how it went down: She was moderating a discussion with the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt on the Internet and Politics. It was a packed house but we were ready with our video camera and Viva Chuck Todd schwag. When the discussion ended, desperate techies with their resumes waving rushed Schmidt and those of us with a borderline dysfunctional adoration complex for Rachel shouted for her attention like 11 year-old Jonas Brothers fangirls. Being that Paul, our editor-in-chief is 6'5" and 220lbs the other geeks didn't stand a chance. He reached over the masses, handing Rachel a Chuckolyte pin, to which in all the chaos she said, "what's this?" That's when Paul held up his trusty yellow Viva Chuck Todd messenger bag and Rachel immediately recognized us. Now this is where we get all misty. Rachel squealed with glee and hugged Paul. After we brought Paul back to consciousness, we told her how popular her e-cards had become and she laughed mentioning that she'd received a bunch. We asked her if she'd say hi to all the Viva Chuck Todd fans and of course she obliged. You may be able to make it out in the video, but if not, after she said "hi" to all of you, Paul threw out the question "guess who owns 'Viva Rachel Maddow'?" Rachel looked down at us with a bit of a mischievous smile and a wink saying "I know, I know". Then...she was gone.
And we can't end this post without wishing Rachel with all sincerity, best wishes on the debut of her new MSNBC show, Monday, September 8 at 9pm EST. In celebration of that hallowed event, VivaRachelMaddow.com will officially launch on the same day. It will have all the flava you've come to know and love with Viva Chuck Todd along with some new surprises - bookmark it now.
So we crashed The Big Tent in Denver and found the man of the hour, DailyKos founder, Markos Moulitsas signing his new book, Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era. We had to get in his face and present him with some Viva Chuck Todd schwag. Being the solid and accommodating chap he is, he agreed to give a shout out to the Viva Chuck Todd fans. Okay fine, it's obvious he didn't know who the hell we were, but he gets major points in our book for playing along.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind for the Viva Chuck Todd staff since we touched down in Denver yesterday. Yes, you are correct in the fact that we were supposed to fly out last Saturday, but poor managerial skills by our office manager Kelly resulted in her delegating the travel booking responsibilities to one of the interns; who in turn booked us tickets to the Republican Convention in St. Paul leaving last Saturday. Yep, she transposed the events and dates and gave us literally tickets to nowhere (no offense St. Paul).
So we finally made it to the mile high city and got to see history first-hand. And that history would be a live Morning Joe taping at Sam's #3 diner in Downtown Denver. Angels sang as we walked through the door and saw the lights, the cameras and the back of Scarborough and Mika's heads. Through the glare we were able to see our man Willie and Ol' Man Barnacle. Simply...we wept. Once we composed ourselves, we split into teams to notify the appropriate people that the staff of Viva Chuck Todd had arrived. It's not presumptuous, that's just the way we roll.
And let us just say right now, that there were never a more hospitable group of people than the Morning Joe staff and their guests. We met everyone. Scarborough, Mika, Ol' Man Barnacle, David Schuster, Jonathan Capehart, Andrea Mitchell, Courtney Hazelet and of course, Our Man Willie. Who, lit up and welcomed us like a family member when we introduced ourselves. When presented with their Chuckloyte packets, Both Joe and Willie sincerely enjoyed getting their honorary Chuckolyte cards and Joe slapped his Chuckolyte pin on his lapel immediately. Willie in fact gave us a moment of his valuable time to personally address the Viva Chuck Todd fans along with the lovely Ms. Hazelett.
Once the excitement of being in the presence of such 21st Century media greatness ebbed, we realized that there were a couple of people who, shall we say, we have been less than cricket with. The first being Ol' Man Barnacle. Our editor Paul was chatting it up with him in quite a convivial manner which caused us to breathe a sigh of relief. It appears that Ol' Man Barnacle likes his curmudgeonly title and Viva Chuck Todd. He too enjoyed getting his Chuckolyte membership packet and shared some great Pat Buchanan stories with us. A true mensch.
Another chap we were a little nervous about confronting was Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart. Let's be frank, there's only so much ribbing a gentleman can take about his fashion sense. Well, Capehart laughed out loud in astonishment when our editor Paul introduced himself. Capehart, personable to say the least and was all quite good humored about the whole thing. The two of them even compared their silk Gordian knot cufflinks. Trust us, we rolled our eyes too. Capehart was kind enough to give us a moment of his time as well:
There's plenty more to report on what happened this morning, but we'll leave it there for right now. We have some absolutely plastered staff to scoop up and get into a taxi. But tomorrow we will be on the street in front of the MSNBC media megalith interviewing actual Chuck Todd fans and maybe we'll hear from the surprise MSNBC personality as well.
First off, welcome to all the new Chuckolytes who found their way here via the fantastic article on The Chuck in the Los Angeles Times. We hope you like what we've done with the place. Secondly, existing Chuckolytes, if you haven't seen it already, go get yourself a copy or read it here.
Frankly, we at the Viva Chuck Todd Weekend Desk are just glad our boss Paul didn't embarrass us in the article. And because of that fact, Monday should be a real treat listening to him go on blah, blah, blah on how he was quoted in the L.A. Times. It's not like he didn't do any damage. In the space of one paragraph he most likely got us chopped off of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann's Christmas card list. Nice going boss, nice going.
As with all ridiculously fast-growing organizations, VivaChuckTodd.tv has had to endure the agony with the ecstasy. Last week we experienced both our most agonizing and ecstatic moments with the relocation to our beautiful new Viva Chuck Todd/Chuck'08 offices in downtown San Diego. This herculean task was done while most of the editorial staff took a much needed summer vacation - thus explaining the anemic coverage of a reasonably interesting Chuck Todd week (see the below retroactive posts). With that said, we're back, tanned, rested and ready to follow The Chuck into the abyss of this wacky election.
Here are the pics of the old and new digs - enjoy:
In today's culture, there are very few places that classify you as a pop star. One of those places is still the venerable TV Guide. The Chuck sat for a light-hearted Q&A and discussed all things Chuck: Politics, University of Miami college football, the french horn and of course Viva Chuck Todd! When asked about the popularity of the fansites dedicated to him, The Chuck dispensed with his trademark humility and gave the following answer:
"It seems like the right thing to do is be embarrassed about it... but it's kind of cool. It's harmless, and I hope it stays harmless. It's better to have a fan site than a hate site."
The editors of Viva Chuck Todd would like to assure The Chuck that we will never post or endorse anything that we feel The Chuck would find objectionable. With that said, The Chuck needs to get himself on the Colbert Report and/or Daily Show to cinch his true pop star status. A shoot with Annie Liebowitz for Vanity Fair would be advisable as well.
Here is a HotlineTV clip from roughly a year and a half ago of The Chuck and John Mercurio analyzing the pros and cons of former presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton snagging the presidency. The Chuck is prescient, on-point and swimming in earth tones.
Out of 500 votes, an overwhelming 57% demanded that Chuck never let his hirsute chin see the light of day. The editors of Viva Chuck Todd could not agree more.
Check out the new poll: When Chuck gets his own show, who should be his "wingman"?
There is one person that we all need to thank for making Viva Chuck Todd the site that it is today. That person is MSNBC's Morning Joe Co-Host, Willie Geist.
We say that because the editors here at Viva Chuck Todd never saw Morning Joe from May 28th and really did not have any idea with how much good humor and enthusiasm Geist introduced Viva Chuck Todd to the country. Well, thanks to Viva Chuck Todd Field Media Consultant, Debra A. who shot us a DVD of said show via priority mail; we finally got to see what so many had told us about. That was the day that Willie broadsided The Chuck on-air live with a printout and screenshots of Viva Chuck Todd. Where he read to him the first Chuck Poll, gave results, threw out the URL and even got Mika (and begrudgingly, ol' man Barnacle) in on the act.
Then, as if it couldn't get better. At the end of the show, during the "What I learned today" segment. He declared that Viva Chuck Todd would be his new home page and signed off chanting, freaking chanting people! chanting our name.
And to that we say: A huge Viva Chuck Todd Gracias to you Willie Geist!
I urge our readers to fill the comment section with kind words for Willie, urging him to join us here on Viva Chuck Todd and thanking him for bringing us all together.
Thanks again Willie
p.s. Oh, and sorry about the "man-boy" crack in that earlier post
GROUND RULES - the arbiter Prior to beginning the game, the group must pick an official arbiter who will make all official decisions. Their word is law.
DRINKING CUES
Every time Chuck appears on screen for the first time for a new segment, every one in the room must yell out “Chuck Todd!” as loud as possible and take a drink. The last one to yell out “Chuck Todd!” has to finish whatever’s in their glass, bottle, can, etc. Consult arbiter for who yelled out “Chuck Todd!” last.
Any time someone refers to him as “Chucky T” everyone drinks.
Any time Matthews makes a stupid analogy like “you’re like Spock to my Kirk,” everyone drinks. Arbiter will have final say as to what qualifies as a stupid analogy, though not a hard call to make.
Every time Chuck says, “you got it” everyone drinks.
Every time Chuck goes to the map, everyone takes a drink. When he circles a county, everyone drinks twice, when he circles a state, everyone does a shot.
Every time the “Viva Chuck Todd” web site is mentioned, everyone does a shot. And if by chance they mention the drinking game, everyone does two shots.
If you'd like to print out a handy official Chuck Toddy-y Drinking Game reference card click here. Please keep us all apprised of your condition as the night goes on by commenting at this post freely and often. Best of luck, celebrate responsibly and make sure that the only person who has a better night than you is Obama.
As Mr. Todd's star rises, so do his ensembles in their sophistication and presentation.
This evening during his appearance on Countdown with Keith Olbermann (another fellow who certainly knows his way around your better Gotham haberdasheries), Mr. Todd graced us with a bold and some might say provocative pinstripe suit. The actual pinstripe pattern departed from the norm by being variegated in width. The pattern was brought to heel by the rich midnight blue of the suit. Letting the suit pattern take the lead, the shirt choice was smart and safe in that is was a simple solid Reykjavik-frost blue silk dress shirt with a wide spread 3" points collar.
It was unfortunate that Mr. Todd chose to go with a standard four-in-hand knot and not the classic Windsor knot. The gorge was rendered anemic by this choice and brought too much notice to the albeit sumptuous yet ever so slightly distracting sheen of his shirt. We would've also preferred French cuffs and sterling cuff links for Mr. Todd which would have taken advantage of the camera angles that involved both he and Mr. Olbermann. We were rendered aghast by shoulder puckering that we can only hope has led to the dismissal of the tailor responsible.
All in all, it was one more successful step in the ascension of Mr. Todd's fashion journey from disheveled wonk to sleek professorial media star.
A big "gracias" to VivaChuckTodd.tv field fashion correspondent, Devon O'Toole
Thank god for our field correspondents. I received the below email minutes ago and realized that this is exactly what online communities are designed for: coming up with a Chuck Todd-themed drinking game!
Wow, is this RBC thing boring.
Been racking my brain all day trying to figure out the rules and regulations for a Chuck Todd drinking game. I have a few ideas but would love to get lots more input from the group.
Any ideas out there?
Viva Chuck Todd! Patrick
Field Correspondent and 2009 Viva Chuck Todd-fest Bartender
Once all the bluster and passion left for lunch. The Chuck quietly gave Senator Clinton her out. "Concede to the math; not to Obama". Whether or not that's in the cards remains to be seen, but her advisors have to see a silver lining in the simplicity of Chuck's point that there is a nuanced and face-saving grace that awaits her if she decides to end her campaign this week. It was another classic Chuck Todd moment: succinct, unassuming and brilliant.
Behold. Above is an actual screenshot of the email we received yesterday.
After politely replying to her with some skepticism, we'll just merely state that it took one email for Dorothy to put our cynical minds to rest. She was a pleasure to correspond with and an honor to meet (albeit online). And, we kid you not; she concluded one of her emails with this valediction: "Chuck's grandmother, hereafter known as Chuck's G".
I thought my 5-year old dumpling, who literally kisses the screen whenever Chuck Todd appears, was his youngest fan, but it looks like he's got a couple young fans too.
Whenever my daughter won't come when I call her, I tell her Chuck Todd is on TV and she comes a-runnin'! And she used to be afraid of guys with beards until The Chuck as well, so he cures phobias as well.
A Viva Chuck Todd Gracias to VivaChuckTodd.tv Field ReporterDina
Oh and Dina, I think I speak for everyone reading that we need to see a picture of this adorable and well-placed devotion - the editors
