Reading Roger Ebert’s Facebook postings had been a lovely experience. He would share blog entries, posts from guest commenters about older films re-reviewed from different POVs, his entries in the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contests. This morning, I logged in to see a post from his wife: “Roger absolutely felt all the love and good wishes you sent his way. Thank you and Bless You! Chaz”
It was very touching to see her do this in the midst of her own grief and loss.
Ok I was already getting a little choked up from the statement Chaz put out… but this Onion article is extremely touching, gave me chills and got my eyes a little watery. What a phenomenal force of good, learning, experience and laughs The Onion really is. If only all media could be as poignant and meaningful. Bravo Onion for dealing with Ebert’s death in this phenomenal way.
Wow. Just… wow.
#7 on that list is his review of North, which was also responsible for one of my favorite Friar’s Club/Comedy Central roast moments. At the roast of Rob Reiner, Richard Belzer read Ebert’s review of the movie while Reiner sat there. The video isn’t on YouTube as far as I can tell, but the review is here. The way I remember it, Reiner laughed so hard he cried.
Roger Ebert seemed like a long-time friend of mine, even though we never met or communicated. I have watched nearly every episode of At the Movies since its inception on PBS in the mid-1970’s: I sometimes scheduled my evenings around it to make sure I could see it (thank God for VCRs and now DVRs).
It was my way to keep up on current movies and trends (Rocky Horror? What’s that?) for someone in a small rural city. I was surprised the first time that I saw him and Gene Siskel on the Tonight show - they weren’t supposed to be big Hollywood stars, they were normal people, and talked like normal people.
I also bought his books and read his newspaper columns - great writing! His reviews of “bad” movies were always a hoot, and often made me want to see them just to see how terrible movies could be.
I like the comparison of Lennon/McCartney and Siskel/Ebert - the pair was better than the whole. When I hear a new song on the radio, I often ask myself, “What would John Lennon think about it?” Now I’ll have to do the same thing with movies - “What would Roger Ebert think about it?”
Huh? Just… huh?
I feel the same way about Tim Russert and politics.
It’s a very odd thing to drop into a RIP thread. Basically, “you’re grieving wrong!”
No, it is a matter of honoring his legacy. As I said, he was an open and outspoken atheist, and the term “passed away” implies that he “passed” to somewhere else, instead of acknowledging that Ebert himself believed that when brain activity ceases, existence does as well.
People are welcome to grieve as they wish, but IMO using a religious euphemism instead of the accurate and neutral term is roughly analogous to the baptizing the dead. It’s unwelcome and disrespectful.
I respected the man, and I’ll miss his work.
So? Funerals aren’t for the dead.
That said, I never equated “passed away” with any kind of religious connotation. It was just the polite way of saying “He/She is DEAD!”
“Passed” has no religious connotations that I’ve ever heard. He’s “passing” from existence to non-existence.
This debate really doesn’t belong in this thread though.
We disagree than. I’ve seen this change over the last decade or so, and I can’t see any reason for it other than giving a religious spin to death. It is possible that the religious environment we live in in the US is so pervasive that not everyone even notices.
Feel free to cease to exist from this thread anytime.
gaffa, this is turning into a hijack. Maybe you should start another thread to discuss that phrase.
Don’t post this kind of thing outside The BBQ Pit.
Ebert was the one who told Oprah, one day when the two of them were having lunch together, the word that changed her life: SYNDICATION!
Yep, if I recall correctly they actually were on a date. He drew up some numbers on a napkin to show her what syndication would mean vs her current local deal - and the rest is history.
OK, so he did one thing that was detrimental to humanity. He was still a great guy!
I’m sure Gene and Roger are talking about *Sleepless in Seattle *being a rip-off of An Affair to Remember, which wasn’t a very good movie to begin with.
Dear Og, I hope they have something newer to talk about than that. 
KtK-Just a (dated) TV reference.