Roger Ebert's Journal

Roger Ebert: Film hero. I used to keep a blog and mention and quote you liberally. I'm ecstatic that more of your writing will now be made available to the public.

- Joseph (uber fan)

PS Wishing you a safe and speedy recovery.

Posted by Jim Emerson???

JE replies: As you'll see from his latest entry, Roger is writing longhand right now. As his web editor, I posted it for him.

Mr. Ebert,

Sir Arthur C. Clarke was and will always be my favorite author, and I was greatly saddened by his passing. It pleases me to no end that you've not only written this piece about him, but that you've also chosen him as the first subject of this new blog. I've bookmarked it and I look forward to your future entries.

Ebert, you are the man.

Mr. Ebert,
Brilliant!! I couldn't be happier to see more of your writting(s), this blog, along with your reveiw page (RE.com) will be in the top of my 'favorites'. Thank You!

Remember that scene in "Network" when Howard Beal announced that the chairman of UBC had died, and then had to explain why the audience should care? I had the same experience announcing Clarke's passing to my high school literature class. Sad.

Also sad -- Mr. Clarke had said, publicly, repeatedly, that he would be the first passenger on the first commercial moon shuttle. In the sixties, he had every reason to think the day would come in his lifetime. But he made it to 90, yewt still didn't live to see it.

Meanwhile, an entire generation -- up to 35 years old! -- have never seen a man walk on the moon.

Clarification: The "click in the vacuum of space" debate actually did not involve a vacuum, but a claim by an Answer Man reader that in the shuttle sequence of 2001, you could hear a click as the stewardess grabbed the ballpoint pen that was floating in the air -- because it had been attached to a sheet of glass. Mr. Ebert and Mr. Clarke demonstrated there was no click. Nor is it logical there would be -- the scene played with only a music track; why would they put ambient sound on the soundtrack when they don't WANT any sounds?

What should have been audible had there been sound would be a ripping every time the stewardess took a step, as her velcro slipper detached from the carpet.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Roger! Please feel free to maintain the only blog on the Internet without pictures of kittens.

(I can't remember a newly coined word taking off as fast as "blog". From "web log" to "weblog" to "'blog", then almost immediately losing the apostrophe, and now it's everywhere. I can't believe we haven't seen a horror movie called "Deathblog".)

Interesting that you should receive that question. Even if there had been a "click" when she grabbed the pen, it wouldn't be a mistake. Sure space is a vacuum, but I'm pretty sure that the inside of the space ship that Haywood Floyd was traveling in was not a vacuum (at least I hope it wasn't, for his sake). Therefore sound waves would be transmitted normally. I think the reader who submitted that question may have been confusing "weightlessness" with "the vacuum of space".

It's nice to see you have a journal now! I've been a huge fan of your reviews for many years now, Mr. Ebert.

Dear Mr. Ebert,

Thank you for the entry on Arther C. Clarke. I'm excited that we'll be screening a 35mm (alas, no 70mm) print of the film in San Antonio this summer.

How great it is to see this blog up and running! For years, I have enjoyed your writing; it's illuminating and most of all, enjoyable. I can read the smile on your face when you write, if that makes sense.

And even with the Internet, I, too, and holding on to my Cinemania CD-ROM. It's a good tool to have for quick reference without having to wade through Internet muck. I'm just glad that Windows XP will still install it.

Yours sincerely,

Nathan Cone
San Antonio, TX

I remember being fourteen years old and discovering Arthur C. Clarke at my local library. I came across Rendezvous with Rama and read it from cover to cover in a single day (it was during a summer vacation when my trips to the library were on an almost daily basis). I was so haunted by the book that when school started back up, I suggested to my English teacher that it should be on our reading list. "Sorry," he said. "No sci-fi in this class, we are reading REAL books this year." I remember thinking, "REAL books?? How about a REAL teacher?!"

I am now 29 and I still remember in great detail what it was like to read that book for the very first time. Now if that isn't an impression from a REAL book, then I don't know what is.

On and on a side note, I wish you a speedy recovery Roger. I owe my love of movies to you. I remember seeing you and Gene reviewing films on TV when I was a kid and I was blown away at the sight of seeing two people that were so passionate about movies. It was then that I started to realize that there was a huge world of movies that was much larger than the Saturday afternoon stuff I would watch on the local Boston stations. I always wanted to say thank you for that Roger!!

Having read, for the first time, some of Arthur C. Clarke's stories I find them thought provoking, challenging and surprisingly witty. Thanks for sharing your memories of the man. I would like to add that, despite the frequency with which I use IMDb, part of me still wishes Cinemania were still going. For a long time I used it to look for Ebert reviews that predated your old website.

-Adam

Roger -- this blog is a great gift to your fans. Thank you for your memories of Mr. Clark.

Being a college student, after first watching "2001" I thought it was too long, too lacking in action, and, well, too boring. Yet this is one of the few movies I've seen in my short movie-viewing career that has stayed within me in the days and months after seeing it.

Glad to see you've started a blog, Mr. Ebert, which means I get to read your great writing even more often!

Leave it to His Majesty, Roger Ebert to have the best movie review site on
the 'net.

Sometimes I pretend Roger Ebert is sitting on the couch watching movieswith me. Last night Roger and we watched the bicycle chase scene and end of E.T. Roger knows I am from Southern Illinois. He
knows I have been to CHOATE a few times. I may have even met Stevie down there the first time in 1987. I remember a guy that thought he was a snake or something. We watched parts of A Simple Plan too!!! Sometimes(Especially when watching Wit), Roger and me will hold each other in a loving embrace because we are both crying. I think we shed a few tears during ET last night, come to think of it. And when the movies are done, we sit and have a jam session. We will sit and listen to Don't Drink the Water by The Dave Matthews Band over and over and over until Mom makes us turn it down. Oh and that silly little dance Roger does when we listen to SHAME ON THE NIGHT by Ronnie James Dio. I love to pretend Mr. Ebert comes over.

Somewhere in my collection of stuff I still have the Cinemania CD-ROM, as well as the original text-only collection of Ebert's reviews in hypertext. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Dear Mr. Ebert,

As a huge fan of your work, I'd like to wish you a speedy recovery and many long years of movie-watching and writing. This is a selfish desire, since friday mornings would be incomplete without reading good and bad reviews (especially the bad ones) on your website.

Vivek Govekar

Dear Roger,
I'm happy to hear you've started a blog. I've been a fan for a long time. I've prayed for your recovery and hope you continue to progress. If you ever come to Taiwan, I'd be happy to show you around. And maybe I could convince you to ask the Coen brothers to adapt and film A Confederacy of Dunces!
Peace
Perry in Taipei

Excellent starting point for your new blog. I look forward to reading your entries. Is it going to be random postings or is there a set schedule of days and topics that you'll cover a la James Berardinelli's Reel Thoughts?

Roger,

Great to have you back. After 30 years you are like family. Continued good health to you.

What a wonderful remembrance of a passionate and important writer.

Roger, continued good wishes for your health. You are an inspiration, both as a film critic and as a human being.

Roger,

I look forward to you blog, as I do your reviews, and I wish you a swift recovery from your ailments.

Now, on to nitpicking. :-)

- I'm a big fan of 2001:ASO. If I'm not mistaken, the stewardess clicks the ballpoint pen while she is walking down the Aisle of cabin in the Pan Am Spaceship. This click was performed in the air of the cabin (neither she nor Dr. Floyd are wearing a spacesuit), and, therefore, should be audible. So, Clarke's calling upon a cadre of experts to listen for the "click" seems misplaced. Is this really what happened?

It is quite mind-blowing that you had such a relationship with Sir Arthur C. Clark. Congrats on the new blog. Your writing has had an amazing impact on myself as a writer and lover of moving images (dating back to scouring your reviews on Compuserve in high school). I can very honestly make the assertion that my knowledge of film and my love of the written word would be nothing without your often heartfelt, sarcastic, witty, and very intelligent diatribes and poignant critical analysis.

Dear Mr. Ebert,

The fact that you and I have consistently seen eye to eye in regard to films has been a source of great validation for me over the years. That you -- being not only my favorite critic but one of my favorite writers, period -- and I would have in common as well an appreciation for Sir Arthur C. Clarke's vision and work is equally satisfying. I share your sense of loss in his passing.

I also share the enthusiasm of others of this, your new venture into the blogosphere. It'll be a daily stop for me, starting right now.

My thanks to you for your endeavors, and my best to you in your recovery.

Best wishes to you on your recovery.
I remember reading Clarke's Dolphin Island and became hooked on his writing. Glad to see you have a blog. Look forward to reading it. Have been a big fan for over twenty years when a roommate of mine got me hooked on film and film critcism and I took courses in university.

Hope your recovery is speedy.

The blog's the thing!

Great idea in starting a blog. Though I mainly use the site to read reviews, I will basically read anything you write. Indiscriminate reading? Perhaps. Worthwhile? Certainly.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you will keep the entries coming.

Best,
- Fan^2
(my name is Fan and I'm also a huge fan of yours)

Gates? I can assure it was Al Gore who is to blame for the demise of the Cinemania CD-ROM.

Mr. Ebert,

Thank you for your tribute to the great writer, Arthur C. Clarke. I look forward to reading many more of your blog entries. It's nice to have you back.

It's wonderful to know that you're recovering, I miss your writing so much (this is very selfish of me, I know). Each time we've had news of your health problems, it has been horrifying.

I began watching you and Gene Siskel on Sneak Previews from episode one when I was in high school. Now I teach high school English and am doubly greatful for your insight, (sometimes wonderfully acerbic) wit and deep knowledge. I think you must have a very generous nature to share your enthusiasm so intently.

You have introduced all of us to hundreds of films we would probably have never known of, from "Tampopo" to the "Blue, White, Red" trilogy...to "Children of Paradise."

The amount I owe you for the debt of years of enjoyment and cultural deepening I've gleaned with the benefit of your knowlege and understanding is staggering.

Thank you, Mister Ebert. Thank you very much indeed, I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

Vince Frost

Dear Mr. Ebert,
Thanks to Sir Arthur's 2001: A Space Odyssey, I regard his work put to film as the first thought provoking science fiction story, and set to such a high bar, science fiction films still struggle to touch it (though a few have come quite close).

Welcome to your first blog! I look forward to more posts and reviews as always. You've been in my prayers for several months. It's good news to see you working again. A swift recovery to you sir. Keep those thoughts lucid.

A humble fan,
John

My friend Brandon says he has hesitated to watch Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) because he thinks it looks cheesy. Knowing him to be a fan of good science fiction (if not great science fiction), I believe he would benefit from seeing this film, if only to enhance his knowledge and horizons as an aspiring science fiction filmmaker. What do you think? (I suspect I know the answer). P.S. Not to dishearten you, but he also didn't appreciate Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" (1976). He failed to see the point.

I have to say, as an undying fan of your film reviews, that I'm ecstatic that you've begun your own blog. I'll be reading it religiously from now on. Thank you, and keep up the wonderful work as always!

Re: Cinemania...

I agree!

I was a HUGE fan of Cinemania, and kept using it well into the IMDb era.

It combined the best aspects of the IMDb with Rotten Tomatoes and YouTube...all those great movie clips were part of the whole experience.

Good to know Sir Arthur was as big a believer in it as I was.

Just one more thing about him I respect.

Thank you for sharing your fond memories of a truly amazing and historical figure.

About the pen click, though. I can't hear the click either on my DVD. But such a sound would not be out of place since they are not in a vacuum. No one is wearing a breathing apparatus; the cabin is pressurized. Therefore, sound would travel just fine inside the "spaceplane".

I am absolutely delighted to be able to "hear" your words once again - ! :-) - (and have an opportunity to ponder your always interesting thoughts and impressions), and look forward to making your new Blog a new friend in the morning, as I sip coffee and muse about what to see (and avoid;-) IMHO you have been by far the most eloquent voice in film for (almost) as long as I've watched movies. All my prayers for a speedy recovery; and my awe at the extraordinary grace with which you're achieving it.

It is great to see this new blog. I look forward to adding it to my ever-expanding list of daily internet visits. I want to send my best wishes to you on a speedy recovery. I also want to wish you the best of luck with another Ebert-fest... Long may it continue to call attention to some of the best overlooked films of recent years.

TC Candler
PS -- Thanks for the mention a few months ago. It made my year!

Sir Arthur C. Clarke was a great writer. I was sad to hear he passed away. I enjoyed his novel "Childhood's End" when I read it as a teenager. I love the film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Also some his short stories such as "The Nine Billion Names of God" were great too. I belive Clarke died of post-polio syndrome. I am actually pursuing a graduate degree in theology. A Jesuit theologian I admire named Avery Dulles suffers from the same disease. Hopefully a cure can be found for that disease. Clarke was one of the best writers of the 20th Century.

I've always been in awe of Mr. Clarke, both for his mesmerizing science fiction and for how well he weathered the intial bewilderment with Kubrick's interpretion of "2001" (which I agree is the greatest of all science fiction films). He both accepted Kubrick's film and also attempted to build off it in a way that was fascinating if not alway successful. "2010" is a lesser film to be sure, and it perhaps answers too many questions, but I admire it as an intelligent, utterly reasonable response to Kubrick's impenetrable vision (likewise were the continuing books in the series). As Altman/Keillor noted in "A Prairie Home Companion," the death of an old man is never a tragedy. But I will miss his continuing contributions and dialogue to both the scientific and the literary world.

It is nice to be around for the start of something new from Roger Ebert. There are many fantastic films that I may never have been exposed to, at least not this early in life, had it not been for you, including things that I became interested in through links on your website. As a result of your Great Movies list, as well as Jim Emerson's Opening Shots project, I will be watching Playtime by Jacques Tati tonight.

It's great that Clarke was the subject of your first blog. If someone were to ask me what I thought the best film ever made was, I would probably answer 2001: A Space Odyssey.

With love and respect,
Matt

I loved Cinemania too. IMDb is not the same...

I'm so happy you have a blog now and I hope you post often! I look forward to reading your thoughts on all kinds of subjects. I once took your films class in Chicago. My friend and I still laugh about how you couldn't help but give away the gags in the Buster Keaton films we watched before we saw them.

"I love the idea of the new blog. Are all the great writer's gone? When can we expect your screenplays?"

I liked Clarke, and his passing and Vonnegut's passing got to me a bit.

I just hope Ray Bradbury never dies.

Thanks for the great post. I have one question though: why shouldn't the pen make a sound? The astro-stewardess is inside a spaceship, which presumably has canned air for the passengers to breath. Air that would transfer sound perfectly well.

Hope you will get well soon, Roger. We need you!

Dear Roger, great to read more from you (I just realized this is your first blog! Now I don't feel too bad at having started my own blog just last summer!) And great to read more of your stories on Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Thanks and here's looking forward to your next posts.
-Joel

P.S. Your post also reminds me of that '90s issue of a computing magazine of which I forget the name, where you and Gene Siskel rated the Internet and its resources... Among other things, Siskel: Thumbs down on the imdb. Ebert: Thumbs up. I still must have it somewhere.

It seems like I've been waiting for this for years! I'm so happy you finally got your own blog, Roger. Wishing you the best in your recovery and can't wait to see what you have in store for the future.