Thumbs Way Down.

Well. I had planned on writing a follow up to the last post on books by giving a current list of what I have been reading and a few words about  said books. It was going to be a thoughtful and hopefully entertaining look at some  (okay, three) of the more popular, interesting, and at one point controversial books in history.

And then Roger Ebert died.

This may sound a little strange, but Roger Ebert has always been one of my heroes. I didn't realize it either until today. He'd just always been my favorite movie critic, but when I read the news I felt a sense of loss that one doesn't normally get when a famous person dies. It felt the same way you feel when you hear an old acquaintance has passed. Not close family or dear friend, but someone you'd known and always had great admiration and respect for. Someone who always had something interesting to say, cut to the heart of the matter and was largely entertaining. The kind of friend who you felt you could pick up with where you left off should your paths ever cross again. That's how I felt this afternoon.

I grew up watching "Sneak Previews" as a kid late night weekends on our local PBS station, Channel 9. Apart from the Siskel/Ebert spats that everybody loved to watch, I particularly enjoyed Ebert's reviews. He was clearly a smart guy, and a film expert (if not a bit of a snob), but seemed like a regular guy too. Perhaps that's really what I was affected by, another one of my childhood memories that I can no longer revisit. That safe and warm nostalgia we all have which unfortunately gets eaten away a little bit at a time. Well, that, and I really liked the guy.

I tended to agree with Ebert's reviews more so than any other critic out there. Medved? Shalit? Roeper?Psssht...please. Roger was the real deal. He pulled no punches and told the truth as he saw it. This is what any good writer does, Ebert just wrote about movies as opposed to writing a novel or poetry. But movies are a shared experience and a reflection of those who make them and the times they are made in. So when a critic writes, they are commenting on not just the art or artist, but on the work and its statement about society as a whole. A little heady there maybe, but that's why criticism is so important to the arts. And Roger Ebert did it better than anybody.

When I was young I thought Roger Ebert had the coolest job in the world apart from being a professional musician. I now play in a rock band and have two blogs where I review stuff from time to time. At least some of that is due to him.

So yes, in an indirect way he was a hero to me. We are all aware that he spent the last part of his life battling cancer which left him unable to speak and without his lower jaw. Cancer took his speaking voice but he continued to write reviews for years, proving that a powerful voice can never truly be taken away. He fought bravely, and remained mostly positive. The day before he died he issued a statement that the cancer had reentered his body and he was going to start slowing down and only review the movies he wanted to review. It's a shame he didn't get to continue with his passion but I pray he is in a better place. Where they only show good films.

So rest in peace, Roger Ebert. And we'll see you at the movies.