Siskel & Ebert & the Jugular (3)
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What does it feel like to resemble the Phantom of the Opera? You learn to live with it. I've never concerned myself overmuch about how I looked. I got a lot of practice at indifference during my years as the Michelin Man. Yes, years before I acquired my present problems, I was not merely fat, but was universally known as "the fat one," to distinguish me from "the thin one," who was Gene Siskel, who ...
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erikemery said:
This things just keeps going ... but it's got some good one-liners in it.
The third most important story of the year (7)
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HYDERABAD, India, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- About 6,000 Muslim clerics from around India approved a fatwa against terrorism Saturday at a conference in Hyderabad. The Muslim world has not been eager to hate America. For many Muslims, America with its religious freedom represented for decades a refuge against what all were pleased to call "godless Communism" and the USSR persecution of its Islamic republics. After the 9/11 attacks, there was a candlelight march in the ...
O, Synecdoche, my Synecdoche! (5)
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Fair warning: I begin with a parable, continue with vast generalizations, finally get around to an argument with Entertainment Weekly, and move on to Greek gods, "I Love Lucy" and a house on fire. The parable, The lodestars of John Doe's life are his wife, his children, his boss, his mistress, and his pastor. There are more, but these will do. He expects his wife to be grateful for his loyalty. His children to accept ...
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Jacob W said:
"I doubt that James Joyce's Ulysses had a big opening weekend. You start it and start it and start it, and you shore up in uncertainty and dismay. Then someone tells you, "It's an attempt to record one day in the life of some people in Dublin, mostly focusing on Leonard Bloom. It uses or parodies many literary styles and introduces a new one, the stream of consciousness, which defines itself. Try finding somebody Irish to read the tricky bits aloud." Voila! And now we celebrate Bloomsday, June 16."Ebert just gets better and better. I want to see this movie.
Your flag decal won't get you into heaven any more (1)
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2 weeks, 1 day
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Here I was all set to go Elitist on the country singer Lee Greenwood, and I pulled the rug out from under myself. I shared Rachel Maddow's incredulity that the limping duck George W. Bush had appointed Greenwood to the National Council of the Arts. I even had my first two sentences written in my head: "Remember how the Bush takeover squad at the White House complained the Clintonites had unplugged all the PCs on ...
This land was made for you and me - Roger Ebert's Journal (17)
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As the mighty tide swept the land on Tuesday night, I was transfixed. As the pundits pondered red states and blue states, projections and exit polls, I was swept with emotion. Not because America was "electing its first Black president." That comes a little late in the day. It was because America was electing the right President. Our long national nightmare is ending. America will not soon again start a war based on lies and ...
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billpoly said:
In typical eloquent form, Roger Ebert nailed this one on the head.
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Kraki said:
... so my things i disagree with, so little energy to respond..
OK, OK, already! I won't watch! Now are you happy? (6)
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2 weeks, 3 days
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I would like to apologize to CNN, MSNBC and Fox. I admit my guilt. I watched them on satellite TV. They told me not to. Every time I tuned in, they were advising me to visit their websites, visit them in Facebook, send them e-mails, join their chat rooms, post a comment and Twitter. I could even check when the polls closed in 49 states I don't live in, even though I voted early. I ...
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Jacob W said:
"I checked out Twitter. This is the deal. People can Twitter you. You can Twitter them This can be done with your cell phone. "N line @ Safeway. How U think $'s are at Kroger?" I have a friend who says he mingles with 9,000 Twits. I would rather gnaw the ears off a dead moose."
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Chung said:
hehehe
The pot and how to use it (15)
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2 weeks, 6 days
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First, get the Pot. You need the simplest rice cooker made. It comes with two speeds: Cook, and Warm. Not expensive. Now you're all set to cook meals for the rest of your life on two square feet of counter space, plus a chopping block. No, I am not putting you on the Rice Diet. Eat what you like. I am thinking of you, student in your dorm room. You, solitary writer, artist, musician, potter, ...
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an Michael said:
This is the single best Roger Ebert post ever.
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Dan N. said:
I don't know if Ebert's posting drunk, but I adore it.
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Snowmit said:
This is wonderful
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David G Mihalcik said:
ebert's blog is the best blog.
Roger's little rule book (30)
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3 weeks, 3 days
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There will be no further discussion of the "Tru Loved" matter. I have now devoted 5,000 words to it, and read more than 114,000 words of comments. The Miami Herald even did a round-up of their critics discussing Minutegate. But all those words were focused entirely on the single issue of not watching a movie all the way through. There are many other ethical issues involved in film criticism, and with the current unemployment crisis, ...
To flee or not to flee (2)
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3 weeks, 3 days
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The Miami Herald assembled its film critic Rene Rodriguez and all its other arts critics to weigh in on Minutegate, the debate over Roger Ebert's disclosure at the end of his first review of "Tru Loved" that it was based on the movie's first eight minutes. The story is here.
Definitely read me second (1)
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On Oct. 16 I published a review of "Tru Loved" in which, at the end, I noted that I stopped watching after eight minutes. I also published a blog entry, "Don't read me first!" discussing that decision and reporting that it horrified my editor, who wondered if my action was immoral. The entry has so far drawn almost 500 comments. I have read them all. I have arrived at some conclusions. How it happened in ...
Film Critic Roger Ebert Offers Tips on 'How to Read a Movie' (7)
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3 weeks, 5 days
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At left: Hitchcock's "Notorious." Bergman on strong axis. Grant at left. Bergman lighter, Grant shadowed. Grant above, Bergman below. Movement toward lower right. The attention and pressure is on her. I've mentioned from time to time the "shot at a time" sessions I do at film festivals and universities, sifting through a film with the help of the audience. The e-mails I receive indicate this is perceived as some kind of esoteric exercise. Actually, it's ...
I think I'm musing my mind - Roger Ebert's Journal (15)
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Blind people develop a more acute sense of hearing. Deaf people can better notice events on the periphery, and comprehend the quick movements of lips and sign language. What about people who lose the ability to speak? We expand other ways of communicating. There are three ways I can "speak." I can print notes. I can type on my laptop, and a built-in voice says them aloud. I can use my own pidgin sign language, ...
Thank you for smoking (1)
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This stamp honoring Bette Davis was issued by the U. S. Postal Service on Sept. 18. The portrait by Michael Deas was inspired by a still photo from "All About Eve." Notice anything missing? Before you even read this far, you were thinking, Where's her cigarette? Yes reader, the cigarette in the original photo has been eliminated. We are all familiar, I am sure, with the countless children and teenagers who have been lured into ...
"You give out too many stars" (2)
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That's what some people tell me. Maybe I do. I look myself up in Metacritic, which compiles statistics comparing critics, and I find: "On average, this critic grades 8.9 points higher than other critics (0-100 point scale)." Wow. What a pushover. Part of my problem may be caused by conversion of the detested star rating system. I consider 2.5 stars to be thumbs down; they consider 62.5 to be favorable. But let's not mince words: ...
The balcony is closed (1)
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Gene and me in the 1980s. Looking at this photograph by Chicago's Victor Skrebneski, Gene said, "Even our mothers don't think we look that good." (Photo by Victor Skrebneski) I was surprised how depressed I felt all day on July 21, when Richard and I announced we were leaving the "Ebert and Roeper" program. To be sure, our departures were voluntary. We hadn't been fired. And because of my health troubles, I hadn't appeared on ...
Confessions of a blogger (1)
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I've had my own corner of the internet even before the days of the web, back when I logged on to all-text Compuserve with my DEC Rainbow or Tandy 100. But I never wanted a blog. Yes, I made some enduring friends through my Compuserve forum, Andy Ihnatko for example, but eventually the task of reading and responding to countless messages became too time-consuming. I knew I wouldn't have to interact at such depth with ...
Zhang Yimou's gold medal (3)
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I was one of the allegedly three billion people watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on TV, and I think I received the intended message: China is here, big time. The scope, precision and beauty of the production was, you will agree, astonishing. The distinguished director Zhang Yimou was given $300 million and full rein of his imagination, and perhaps some of his background in opera was also useful. The sheer size of ...
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Dizziness said:
Roger Ebert hits the nail on the head. We are too individualistic too accomplish anything like 2,008 drummers in sync. Plus we'd find it boring.
In search of redemption (1)
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View image Kari Sylwan plays the maid who cradles a dead woman (Harriet Andersson) in Bergman's "Cries and Whispers." One of the most prolific and intelligent contributors to the comments section of the blog is Solomon Wakeling. I wrote in curiosity, asking to know more about him. He replied that he is a 24-year-old law student from Australia, and that one of his problems is, "I read too many books." There was one thing he ...
