Update: The Final Victory?
UPDATE: Colbert Claims Victory - Read now

Last night, Steven Colbert of The Colbert Report - one of my favorite TV personalities after John Stewart and David Letterman - accused The Decemberists indie rock band of stealing his idea of the green-scene animation contest.

On an episode of the show last month, Colbert asked his viewers to create an animation enhancement of a video Colbert made against a green back scene.

The low budget, shoddy shot video shows a crazed Colbert swinging around wildly making geeky gestures that only he can with a "laser sword" (a comic take on Star Wars) against a green back scene.

Nowadays, many movies ("Shrek" being one of the first), music videos and other visual media are recorded using a green back scene. The green screen (it was blue in the early days) allows animators to more easily add and fill in animated characters, special effects, backgrounds, spatial data and so on, thereby creating, a cyber collaboration, if you will.

On November 13, prior to the issue being reported on CNET, IRC posted a profile of The Decemberists that included a mention of their green-screen animation contest and its likeness to the Colbert video.

I was surprised, and somewhat excited last night when at the top of his program, Colbert blasted The Decemberists for holding a similar "fill in the green-scene" contest for their new music video O Valencia!.

So I asked the obvious question: Does Stephen Colbert read my blog?

If so, it's OK, I love you Stephen, even though your a conversative Republican (or at least play one on TV).

If you can't admit you regularily read my indie rock blog showcasing the best of indie music, then shame on you, Mr. Colbert!

A T-shirt is in the mail.

Now my challenge: Who got the story right the first time?

A - Indie Rock Cafe
B - The Colbert Report
C - CNET News
D - Stereogum
E - Pitchfork

Labels: CNET, Colbert Challenge, Green-Screen Challenge, Indie Rock Gossip, Indie Rock News, Indie Rock Video, Shrek, Steven Colbet Report, The Decemberists