JCC Roger Ebert has died

Rest in Peace, O Thumbed One.

Thanks for all the memories.

 

Watching Ebert on television for years was always a joy, as Siskel & Ebert & then Ebert & Roeper was one of my favorite television programs. I had also grew fond of his blog and kept up with his reviews on his website. Terribly sad to hear of his passing.

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...ebert-said-he-had-lived-a-great-and-full-life

 

I understood that reference Rogue Ten. Well plaid.

 

http://www.salon.com/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/

 

Two thumbs up, Rog.

 

Stay strong. People come and go in the blinking of an eye. We are not long for this world. The Force continually weaves new patterns.

But sad news. 70 is not a particularly advanced age for the western world. We haven't yet won the battle against cancer. But we've conquered other problems in medicine and cancer's day will eventually be through.

Y'know, I didn't always agree with Ebert, and even sympathize with Armond White to a degree, when he slammed Ebert for simplifying film criticism into thumbs-up/thumbs-down journalism, but when Ebert was on form, he was really on. And no-one did more to humanize film criticism -- if you actually listened, or more accurately, read what Ebert had to say. He had a quiet, introspective edge, but perfected the art of populism.

And that populism wasn't fake.

I have a friend on Facebook, who I met through another forum (non-Star Wars), who met Ebert a few years ago, and didn't have enough money (I know the feeling) to attend a special screening at one of his "Overlooked Film Festival"(s). Ebert furrowed his brow and said he'd get him in. There and then, he pulled out a small notepad, and proceeded to write out my friend an admittance pass on one of his personalized notepad pages.

The guy lived for film and had the common touch. Movies won't ever be quite the same.

 

usually when i say "literally" im being facetious

 

...dammit.

 

Fare thee well, sir.

 

So, from now on, who will Ebert's followers depend on to do their thinking for them?

 

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, star dust to star dust, for the duration of space-time. That's what Ebert believed, and I admire him for it.

 

For obvious reasons I've been researching head and neck cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) and lasting over 10 years with this horrible disease shows that Roger Ebert clearly had tremendous strength and tenacity.

A true inspiration to cancer sufferers everywhere.

In terms of his film reviews, he was always one of the few film critics I took notice of (not to the point where it would effect my opinion of a movie, but to the point where I would take notice, good or bad)

What I really liked about Ebert is that he never retrospectively changed his reviews to blend with public opinion. As such here is his original, glowing, three and a half out of four star review for The Phantom Menace;

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990517/REVIEWS/905170301/1023

I can tell you there aren't many good reviews for TPM from 1999 still on the internet.

The world has lost a true one off and movies have lost a true champion. A very sad day.

 

My father was diagnosed with both thyroid cancer and squamous cell neck cancer at the same time. The treatments for both are very different, and thyroid cancer is particularly treatable. My father underwent two procedures, did radioactive iodine treatment after his thyroid was removed, which typically does an excellent job mopping up after surgery. He underwent a combined chemo-radiation treatment for the neck cancer. Even though he didn't lose his lower jaw like Ebert, he lost his sense of taste and most of the function of his salivary glands due to the radiation. He also got pneumonia twice during the treatment and nearly died from that the second time. So, my heart goes out to anyone diagnosed with that, although overall the survival rate is pretty decent relative to something like pancreatic cancer.

 

From what I've discovered looking around the internet and asking medically trained people, the outlook for Head And Neck cancer greatly depends on the cause and you often get a better outcome if its caused by tobacco than if it's alcohol related or occurs idiopathically.

The other key issue is that its caught early, so cancer of the oral cavity (lips, bucal mucosa and front part of the tongue) often have a better outcome than cancers at the back of the mouth, base of the tongue, nasal cavity and throat/neck/glands because they tend to be visible and are caught before they spread.

Though as ever with cancer each and every case is unique and there is no hard and fast rule that applies to everybody.

 

The treatment can be as brutal as the disease itself. In my father's case, radiation did at least as much damage as the cancer, if not more. The mouth is delicate, and really doesn't enjoy being nuked.

 

It's going to be weird not seeing Ebert's review at the top of the critics list of almost all movies on imdb. In many ways this will have more of an effect on my life than most Hollywood or other famous people's deaths. A shame. I really did enjoy his reviews. RIP.

 

Yeah, thats what makes SCC in particular so difficult to treat, because it doesn't respond very well to chemo and it does respond quite well to radiation, but the mouth hates radiation.

Michael Douglas has come out of his battle with head and neck cancer looking pretty good though (he was stage IV, which means it must have been very advanced) so as ever there are no hard and fast rules.

 

Boo.

 

Westboro to show up

If ever a perfectly timed meteor striked was needed.

 

As one commenter correctly notes, I'm sure he'd be honored.