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Roger Ebert dead at age 70

I truly love movies. Back in the day, when I had time, it really didn’t matter what kind of movie was in the theater, if I had time I would go. I saw Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (one of the worst movies of all-time!!!). Nope, I wasn’t drunk. I went to the movies because I loved all of it. In the late 1980s, the sound systems got better. We got stadium seating and nice comfortable chairs. I really and truly love going to movies.

In both high school and college I took film criticism courses. I learned about jump cuts, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and D. W. Griffin. I learned about lighting and how it can tell a story. I simply loved movies but when I read about movies in the newspaper (we had newspapers back then) I despised the contempt most film critics had for just about everything. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about see Richard Corliss from Time Magazine.) Then, somehow, there was Roger Ebert. He was a guy who can enjoy a regular movie. The rest of the film critics, at least to me, seem to hate movies and love to find flaws which they can pick apart. It wasn’t that Roger Ebert didn’t see the flaws. He did. But he was able to see past the flaws and enjoy the movie anyway.

Almost none of the formal, stuffy-nosed critics liked the 1977 classic Star Wars. Roger Ebert did. As a matter of fact, Ebert was with us, the regular folks. He loved it. That may be one of the reasons that I truly enjoyed listening to and reading Roger Ebert. He was genuine.

I will truly miss Roger Ebert. As a matter fact, the last year or so, I’ve been following his tweets. He embraced technology, another aspect to enjoy about his personality.

My heart goes out to his family.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Roger Ebert loved movies.

Except for those he hated.

For a film with a daring director, a talented cast, a captivating plot or, ideally, all three, there could be no better advocate than Roger Ebert, who passionately celebrated and promoted excellence in film while deflating the awful, the derivative or the merely mediocre with an observant eye, a sharp wit and a depth of knowledge that delighted his millions of readers and viewers.

“No good film is too long,” he once wrote, a sentiment he felt strongly enough about to have engraved on pens. “No bad movie is short enough.”

By ecthompsonmd|2013-11-03T18:22:18-04:00April 7th, 2013|Movies|Comments Off

Where’s the Outrage? 11/4/06 Podcast

Wow, I have gotten behind in posting my radio show again. Here’s the podcast. (I thought that I would re-publish this since MSNBC has put out a documentary titled Hubris.)

Why aren’t elections held on Saturdays when most people are off? If you want folks to vote, then why would you hold elections on Tuesdays?

John Kerry’s gaffe. In the video, Kerry clearly loses his place. The Republicans go crazy over his gaffe. His reaction to the Republicans finger pointing was worse than the stumble in the first place.

How do you decide who to vote for? No, seriously. How do you know whom to trust? The newspapers? TV? The web? My answer is that you have to go to the web and read a ton. Start with the candidate’s web site, understanding that of course it will be biased. Then go to a site like that of the League of Women Voters. Trying to really find out information is an active process.

My guests are David Corn, former Washington Editor of The Nation, now with Mother Jones. We will continue our discussion of the new book he wrote with Michael Isikoff (writer for Time Magazine), Hubris, the Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. I also have an excellent interview with Geoffery Nunberg, author of Talking Right.

There’s more fun and information. Sit back and enjoy.

Remember I’m on iTunes.

The Errington Thompson Show [ 51:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By ecthompsonmd|2013-02-20T21:25:24-04:00February 19th, 2013|Podcasts|Comments Off

Beck calls out Palin

I’m sorry, but I find this funny. Glenn Beck calling out someone because they don’t have a pat answer is funny to me. I love it. Sarah Palin has a way of never really answering a question. She will throw out a talking point. It really doesn’t matter what question you ask her. She is able to fit a couple of talking points together to give you an answer.

From TPM:

During Sarah Palin’s interview with Glenn Beck today, something extraordinary happened — Beck challenged Palin on a stock, noncommittal answer to a question. Beck asked: “Who’s your favorite Founder?”

“You know, well, all of them, because they came collectively together with so much–” Palin began, in a manner much like her non-answers to Katie Couric’s questions about which newspapers she’s read (“All of them.”) and which Supreme Court decisions she’s disagreed with (which brought a similarly broad answer about how there are a lot of decisions).

“Bullcrap,” Beck interrupted. “Who’s your favorite.”

“–so much diverse and so much diversity in terms of belief, but collectively they came together — and they were led by, of course George Washington, so he’s got to rise to the top.” Palin then gave a short speech on Washington’s virtues.

Of course, Palin’s answer is superficial and wrong in many ways. George Washington wasn’t the leader of the Continental Congress. He didn’t write the constitution. Thomas Jefferson thought that Washington betrayed the ideals of the constitution which is why Jefferson left Washington’s Cabinet. But it is Sarah Palin, this is the exact answer that she should give. It is a conservative answer which is without depth or substance. Perfect.

By ecthompsonmd|2010-01-14T00:49:05-04:00January 14th, 2010|Media, Party Politics|Comments Off