I agree with Megan, natch. And yeah, Orson Welles gives The Third Man quite a kick in the butt, but maybe the brevity of his role is why it works so well.

Esquire has an utterly heartbreaking and beautiful article about Roger Ebert: [link]

I FINALLY had the experience where I look for a movie on the TV schedule on a whim, and it's there! With Laura. I just read the book, and read that the author wasn't crazy about the movie, but still. (There's this Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp reprint series that is not movies, but still of interest!)

That was a great article, Corwood. I often feel that I hear Ebert's posts in his speaking voice, because he writes like he sounds, if you'll follow me. And because I heard his voice for, I don't know, twenty years?

I FINALLY had the experience where I look for a movie on the TV schedule on a whim, and it's there! With Laura. I just read the book, and read that the author wasn't crazy about the movie, but still. (There's this Femmes Fatales: Women Write Pulp reprint series that is not movies, but still of interest!)

There was a novel that begat Laura? Did not know that (and I had a brief discussion with a friend of mine last night who'd just seen it for the first time).

Dear lord, that Ebert article was very, very hard to read. That is one dedicated man.

I often feel that I hear Ebert's posts in his speaking voice, because he writes like he sounds, if you'll follow me.

I feel exactly the same way. In the picture of Ebert on the first page, I was struck by the disparity between the sharpness of his eyes and the slackness of his face.

oh my allergies. What a great article.

Dear lord, that Ebert article was very, very hard to read. That is one dedicated man.

The part about Siskel just killed me.

I shouldn't have read it at work, it's hard to talk tech support on the phone when you're all choked up.

I will think of Roger Ebert every time I see a movie shopping bag with a baguette popping out the top or a dude walking by with a pane of glass. Because on one of his shows with Siskel, they did some kind of Cliche Roundup thing, and those were Roger's 'faves"...I guess I remember his more than Siskel's because I had never thought about them, and then, bang, there they were, everywhere. ETA: I know our disabilities are very different, but I was struck by his writing so much in long-hand. When I write in longhand, my style totally suffers. I get spare, and stuff, but more in a fragmented way than a Hemingway way. Also, Ebert gets both fanboy and humanity points for not writing reviews that would be essentially "Fuck you, how can you still care about this? My life is pretty fucked."Sometimes I write and take stuff out on people so I couldn't blame him if he did, but he doesn't. That is a standup human being, let alone movie critic.But I think to him, that would be like peeing in baptismal water or something.

That was a beautiful and heartbreaking piece.