RIP Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013)
Love him or hate him the popular Pulitzer Prize winning film critic and television co-host with fellow critic Gene Siskel could make or break a movie with their trademark thumbs up or thumbs down, died on Thursday in Chicago after his long battle with cancer. His death was announced by The Chicago Sun-Times, where he had worked for forty two years.
Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which was poorly received on its release but is now regarded as a cult classic. Using a pseudonym Ebert collaborated with Meyer again for Up!, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, and was involved in the ill-fated Sex Pistols movie Who Killed Bambi? In April 2010, Ebert posted his screenplay of Who Killed Bambi? aka Anarchy in the UK on his blog.
On April 2, 2013, Ebert announced that he would be taking a “leave of presence” from his duties because of the hip fracture he suffered a few months earlier was determined to be cancer and he would be receiving radiation treatment. The closing sentence on his final blog post, two days before his death, said, “So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.”
The Three O’Clock are reuniting! With amazingly catchy tunes and chiming guitars they were one of the best bands of the era. Here’s hoping there’s a tour and a date in Chicago!
This is what’s in my head. If you don’t want to know, don’t read it. You have been warned.
I am facing tragedy for the second time this week. Facing tragedy as a human and as an American.
I nearly lost a colleague, a man whose work I admire, at the Clackamas Town Center shooting this past…
This is going to be fantastic. The old Deardorff is going to love this…
