SPEC is bringing Steve Forbes to campus to speak at Irvine Auditorium on November 3rd. Lots of info here. Sounds like fun!
Now, we know what we have to gain from this – an engaging speech about politics and the economy from a guy who has a magazine named after him. It’s basically just him and Oprah when it comes to people with their own magazines, right? Well, them and Robert Entertainment Weekly. But why did Forbes agree to speak to Penn students? What’s he getting out of this? Not money – he’s got lots of that. And we bet it’s not because he just wanted to talk about his crush on the flat tax or how the economic crisis is going to affect all our lives as we graduate and look for jobs. He did it to stick it to Anderson Cooper. Warning: we’re just guessing with all this, but we’re really good at guessing things so follow along.
Everybody flipped out when Anderson Cooper came to speak last year. Forbes probably heard the chants and shrieks of “SILVER FOX, SILVER FOX” directed at Cooper and realized that somehow he was not at the top of the gray-haired-hunk charts. He thought and he thought and he came to the (correct) conclusion that the way into the hearts of the young ladies of America would be to beat Cooper at his own game by also doing a speaking engagement at a venue with an 11,000 pipe Curtis Organ. So he’s been practicing, guys. He is going to bring his A-game. He has to. And maybe this will lead to The Walkmen bringing THEIR A-game three days later once the bar has been raised to the level of Cooper-crushing excellence Forbes is going to try his best to achieve. Everybody wins! (Except Anderson Cooper, but whatever.)
Saucy, sassy and all-around fabulous Street editor and DP columnist Julie Steinberg managed to score an interview with our crush of crushes, Anderson Cooper, when he was on campus yesterday. Here’s what he had to say.
UTB: What was your favorite story to report or break? AC360: Hurricane Katrina was a really clear instance where authorities weren’t reporting what was happening on the ground. What the authorities were saying was plainly different than what was actually happening. There was a great need for reporters on the ground.
UTB: What the most physically or emotionally challenging story you’ve ever done? AC360: I spent three years reporting in Somalia and Rwanda. I was there for the famine in Somalia and the genocide in Rwanda — those two places had the most impact.
UTB: If you hosted a dinner party, which three literary or historical figures would you invite? AC360: I’m a bit of a social recluse, so it would probably be hard to have a dinner party, and I also don’t cook, so it would be a disastrous dinner party. UTB: OK, what about a tea party? AC360: Tea party I could do. Hmm, that’s a tricky question. I would invite Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain and James Joyce.
UTB: Would you ever go back to work for the CIA? AC360: Not in a million years. I had a summer internship there, and I didn’t choose to work there then, so I wouldn’t do it now.
UTB: Would you ever consider running for president? Maybe in 2012? Or, how about now? AC360: Never. I would be a terrible politician. It’s hard to speak with your heart when there are so many competing interests.
We just returned from Anderson Cooper’s speech at a packed-to-both-balconies Irvine Auditorium. Cooper was well-spoken, witty, self-effacing, and said he sounds “like a 12-year-old at an NSYNC concert” when he yells. It would not be an exaggeration to say he was adorable and perfect in every way.* Check out this clip from the opening of the speech:
Silver fox Anderson Cooper will be SPEC Connaissance’s fall speaker, the DP reports, and let us be the first to respond to that news with a hearty “hell yeah!” Aside from just existing in this world as his generally adorable self, Anderson’s accomplishments include Emmy awards, bestselling books, and hosting beloved reality series The Mole. Good choice, SPEC! Now get back to work, only six months left to fight over which crappy band should play Fling ‘09.
After the jump, we’ve culled some interesting facts from Anderson Cooper’s wikipedia page.
UTB: What was your favorite story to report or break?
Silver fox Anderson Cooper will be SPEC Connaissance’s fall speaker, the 