by Roger Ebert passed away this week. Cancer sucks.
No one growing up now will get how I and others looked forward to seeing Siskel & Ebert’s show. They argued about movies, they showed clips — it was the only thing of its kind at the time. I thought Ebert had better taste and the better of most of their arguments on the show but when I got older I think I appreciated Siskel more.
Now they’re both gone. The role of the critic in the era of the Internet is different. There is no more scarcity of reviews and very little in the way of gatekeepers to expressing your opinion about art and culture. Still even in this new connected world, Ebert was very relevant, active on Twitter and really good at it too.
For all I know a hundred editorial cartoonists drew St. Peter giving Roger a thumbs up or a closed balcony. I did see this tribute from Multiplex which I really liked:
